‘Quite correct, First Lieutenant,’ Nava said.
Fawn winced again. ‘She’s a little irked about the misunderstanding.’
‘You must know her quite well,’ Melissa said. ‘Most people can’t figure out what she’s feeling, um, ever really.’
‘I’ve known her for a while, yes. You look surprised. Melissa Connelly, right?’
‘That’s me. I suppose you know who all of us are, being in the ASF. Uh, I’d just forgotten that the SAS-squared uniform was based on the ASF uniform. It looks good in black and gold.’
Smoothing the front of her dress, Fawn smiled. ‘I’ve seen worse uniforms.’
‘I can’t imagine what idiot decided to put a huge hole in the front of it,’ Nava said. She wandered over to a spare seat and sat down.
Mitsuko was a little perplexed; she had never seen Nava sulk before, but that was definitely the impression she was getting. ‘What brings you here, Fawn?’ Mitsuko asked.
‘I heard Nava was in town and wanted to check up on her,’ Fawn replied, ‘but I also heard that she was part of the student team from SAS-squared, so I wanted to look in and check out the competition. I’m going to be on the same panel as you, Mitsuko Trenton.’
‘Suki, since we’re being informal. I don’t think we’ll be competing. I had Nava profile all the other panel members and you don’t seem like you’ll disagree with us.’
Fawn glanced at Nava, an eyebrow raised. ‘She does have some training in intelligence analysis…’
‘Which I hadn’t mentioned,’ Nava said.
Blushing, Fawn waved the implied rebuke away. ‘Yes, well, how should I know what you’ve actually told anyone?’
‘Just assume it’s nothing and work from there.’
‘Nava doesn’t really talk about her life before school,’ Melissa said. ‘She said… No, I suggested it was bad memories, and she didn’t contradict me, but maybe it’s because she’s not allowed to.’
‘She did explain that some of it was secret,’ Courtney added. ‘That the operation where she was found was classified and talking about her past would reveal too much.’
‘All true,’ Fawn said.
‘Including the part about it not being my favourite memories,’ Nava added. ‘I wasn’t lying, Mel. I wasn’t telling the whole truth either.’
‘Well, no,’ Melissa said. ‘I don’t think you lie very much. Maybe at all.’
‘I’m not that virtuous. Lying a lot is simply a sure way of being identified as a pathological liar. Anyway, maybe we could take this opportunity to grill the lieutenant regarding the ASF’s attitude to sorcery education.’
‘What?!’ Fawn exclaimed.
‘Excellent idea!’ Mitsuko said, grinning broadly.
Fawn raised her hands and backed up a step. ‘You know, “grill” is such an emotive–’
‘I think we have an uncooperative witness,’ Nava said, getting to her feet. ‘I’ll get the ropes.’
‘You do remember no one can tell when you’re joking, right?’ Fawn asked, backing up another step.
‘We don’t really have any ropes,’ Melissa said. Then she noticed Nava looking at her. ‘We, uh, d-don’t, do we?’ She glanced at Mitsuko to find her blushing. ‘Okay. I stand corrected.’
~~~
‘Okay,’ Nava said, ‘what’s this really about?’
She was in one of the offices with Fawn because the lieutenant had said she wanted to have a quick chat, catch up on how she was doing, stuff like that. But Fawn got regular updates from both Nava and the school, so there was no real need for ‘catching up.’ There had to be another motive.
‘Well, I did just want to check up on you,’ Fawn said. ‘You’re doing okay? No problems you haven’t mentioned?’
‘Nothing. I’m enjoying my time at SAS-squared. I’m learning. I’m also having fun.’
‘Yes. With ropes, apparently.’ That just got a look from Nava, so Fawn went on. ‘Your relationship with Mitsuko isn’t going to be a problem, is it?’
‘I don’t know. Is it?’
Fawn frowned. ‘Not until it is. Her family went sniffing around when you took on that bodyguard job for her. We’re not naïve enough to believe they didn’t get pretty much the full story.’
‘If they told Suki, she’s a phenomenally better actress than I think she is.’
‘It’s quite possible that they didn’t. If they got even half of the story, they’re probably aware that you can keep their daughter safe. I’m… a little surprised that they didn’t object more to the more, um, intimate relationship.’
‘I think they did,’ Nava replied. ‘She never said anything, but she got tense around them while we were staying at her home in spring. I think, from the way she reacted, that they don’t want her to damage her reputation unless she’s sure. Since I’m of the same opinion, I can’t fault them. I’m perfectly happy to enjoy my time with her and, if it all falls apart, I hope we can salvage a friendship out of it.’
‘You say that now… You’re not emotionless, Nava. You hide your emotions extremely well, but you still feel them. The end of a love affair is never fun.’
Nava shrugged. ‘I’ll let you know. Now, how about getting to the point, First Lieutenant.’
Fawn scowled. ‘Why won’t you use my name?’
‘If you remove my rank, I will. The point?’
‘We’ve picked up some troublesome intel over the past couple of months,’ Fawn said, still looking a little annoyed. ‘We think that the Redwings are working with another group, small-timers called Free Beherbergen.’
‘Huh. We were talking about them yesterday. Kyle’s from Beherbergen. But I’d imagine you knew that.’
‘Obviously. He was checked out when he first came to Shinden. To be honest, it was a formality. Free Beherbergen consider anyone in the House clan a traitor.’
‘Befreit Beherbergen, I’m told. Kyle doesn’t think much of them, but they’re a thorn in his side for another reason. Anyway, you’re saying they’ve hooked up with the Redwings?’
Fawn
