and armature. But a clock would just be a luxury. There are plenty of public clocks I can look at, and the church bells, of course.'
'Are you saving your money for something important?'
The question surprised her. It seemed intrusive, although she didn't have any reason not to answer. 'Retirement, I guess. I don't know. I don't need much to be happy. Just a few friends, my wings, and the sky.'
'That sounds like a good way to live.'
'It is. Although seeing the way you exalteds live makes me feel a little deprived.' She looked around. 'My room is going to seem awfully bare when I go back to it.'
'I have nothing for you to envy.'
She remembered his spartan living quarters. 'But you don't have to live like that. Don't you like paintings, or comfortable chairs, or nice furniture?'
'I live on Tertius. I don't want to attract thieves.'
'So why not move to Secundus and be more comfortable? You told me you had money.'
'Maybe I'm like an icarus. I don't need much to be happy.'
'Are you? Happy?'
His shoulder twitched, and he turned as he reached the top of the stairs. Late afternoon light from one of the second-story windows ran in a bright bar across his face.
'I was happier before my brother died.'
'I'm sorry.' She touched his sleeve as she joined him. 'I mean, are you satisfied with the way you live? Don't you ever feel left out, seeing all the things Alister and Viera own?'
'I chose to walk away from all that.' Looking ill at ease, he disengaged his arm and pushed up his glasses. 'Alister's office is the door behind you. I'm sure it's a mess.'
She pushed open the door and gave a sad laugh, looking around. Cristof had guessed correctly. Alister incorporated his floor filing system at home as well as in the Tower. She picked her way inside, setting her wine glass on a bookshelf.
'I can't believe he got anything done like this.'
'Somehow he managed.' Cristof followed her inside, making his way to the desk. 'I assume he learned how to read this mess the same way he learned how to read the holes on a punch card.'
'He joked about it, the first time I met him.'
'He joked about a lot of things.' Cristof looked around, his expression unreadable. 'I'll go through his desk. I think that the important part of this disarray will be in the glass-fronted cabinet over there, where he kept his programs. Why don't you start there?'
Taya nodded and squeezed around a pile of books to get to the cabinet. She reached for the door, then paused.
'Is the cabinet supposed to be locked?'
'Oh, of course. He kept his Council programs in there. Do you need me to pry it open?' Cristof started to reach for his pocket, then frowned. 'I have a small repair kit in my coat downstairs. It has a screwdriver.'
'No, the door's unlocked. That's why I asked.' Taya pushed the doors aside, revealing shelves full of long, labeled boxes. Unlike the rest of his filing system, this one was obviously alphabetical. Three boxes were missing from the 'C' section. Marks in the dust on the shelves indicated that they had been removed recently.
'There's a program missing. Clockwork Heart, I'll bet.'
'What?' Cristof joined her. 'Maybe his team took it. This might have been the copy they were running last night.'
'How would they have gotten it?'
'I'll check with Mitta.' They both stood shoulder-to-shoulder, reading the labels off the other boxes.
'Well, at least he didn't keep the Labyrinth program in here,' Taya said.
'He wouldn't be that careless.' Cristof closed the cabinet door and glanced at the lock. 'It wasn't forced.' He shrugged. 'Either he took it or his team did. Maybe he was still tinkering with it down at the lab, since it was coming up for vote in Council.'
They continued the search, each settling down with a separate stack of papers. Several times Taya looked up to catch Cristof staring at nothing, his thin face tight and miserable. She didn't say anything, and after a few minutes he always started working again, rubbing his eyes.
The sight depressed her. For brief moments at a time she could forget about the deaths, but their memory always returned, casting a pall over everything. Even though his irascibility exasperated her, she had to respect the way Cristof kept pushing forward. It would have been easier for him to just give up and grieve.
Work's therapeutic.
If only he weren't so stubborn about hiding his feelings.
She sighed.
'What's wrong?' Cristof turned, his face almost invisible in the shadows that stretched across the room. Taya realized she'd been straining to see the papers in front of her for the last ten minutes or so. The sun had set below the mountains.
'It's dark.'
'Oh.' He stood, rummaged through the desk for matches and lit a gas lamp on the wall. 'Better?'
'Yes.' She studied the shadows that hollowed out his cheeks and eyes. 'How are you doing?'
'I haven't found anything that seems relevant.'
'That's not what I meant.'
He hesitated, then shrugged.
'I told you I wasn't going to burst into tears.'
'I wouldn't think any less of you if you did.'
'It's not going to happen.' His voice brooked no disagreement. She sighed and dropped flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling. The leather of her flight suit creaked as she folded her arms under her head.
'Don't you ever relax that iron grip you keep on yourself?'
'I'll relax it when this is over.'
She lifted her head to glance at him. He sat rigidly in his chair.
'Sure you will.' She sighed again. 'I'm sorry. I'm just thinking out loud. If I start getting annoying, just tell me.'
'You're long past ‘start.’'
She dropped her head again and smiled at the ceiling. If he could be sarcastic, he couldn't be too bad off.
'I'm starving. Can we take a break for dinner?'
'I plan to avoid eating until after our flight tomorrow, but don't let me stop you.'
'You should eat something,' she urged him. 'You don't want to get light-headed out there.'
'I don't think that's avoidable, and I'd rather not get sick, as well.'
'I told you, I'll take care of you.' She propped herself back up on her elbows. 'Anyway, come to dinner with me. Even if you're not hungry, it'll be better than sitting up here on your own. Then we can go ask Kyle if he took Alister's copy of Clockwork Heart.'
'Now you're my voice and my counselor?' He stood, casting dark, narrow shadows against the opposite wall.
'Sure,' she said, holding out a hand. 'I don't know what it's like for exalteds, but among icarii, after you've eaten, argued, and cried together, you're friends.'
He looked at her hand, then drew back.
'Then perhaps we should avoid sharing a meal,' he said, turning away.
'What?' Taya gaped. 'What in the Lady's name does that mean? An exalted can't be friends with an icarus?'
