Daugters of Hungry Ghosts

"The fewer people who know a secret, the easier it is to keep. This is why the most insidious secrets, the ones that might be more easily called oversights, are so difficult to find. If not even the originator of the problem is aware of it, then how can anyone prevent it from running its course? Thus we must be careful, in all things, to avoid making invisible mistakes and creating unintentional secrets that hide in the fabric of our lives."

-from The Practical Farmer's Guide to Machinery by Bertran Lieu

Sid was surprised when Halen sent him a message cancelling his lesson for the morning. Grateful, in a way as well, because the lessons had only been getting harder and more painful, but still surprised. He was even more surprised when he encountered Sandreas in the halls of Stonecourt (probably not an accidental meeting, as nothing ever was with Sandreas) and Halen wasn't with him.

It piqued Sid's curiosity, so he stopped first by Halen's home, down in one of Stonecourt's sublevels, and knocked. There was no response, so Sid checked the one other place that Halen might reasonably be, which was his office, tucked in among the normal security suite on the ground floor, far to the back of the sprawling building. Halen rarely used it, as he conducted most of his business while standing at Aymon's side, but there were a few times when Sid had seen him call meetings of the security team, and the heads of it gathered with him there.

So Sid made his way back there, and found Halen in his office, speaking with Admiral Astwani. It clearly wasn't too secret of a meeting, because Sid could peer in through the window on the door and see it happening, but it was an odd one. Admiral Astwani was the man in charge of all the planetary security forces. Well, he was at the top of that chain of command, anyway. Sid somehow doubted that he was involved with any day to day business at all.

Halen had noticed him peering through the window, and stood up from his desk and opened the door. Sid flattened himself against the wall, looking appropriately chagrined at disrupting the meeting.

"Sid, good to see you. Come in," Halen said, so Sid had no choice but to come in and make a polite greeting to the Admiral, who he had met on enough occasions to know him, but not enough to make conversation flow smoothly.

"I'll get right on that," Astwani said to Halen. "Like you said, subtlety will be the key word."

"I trust that you will find the right people for the job."

"It would probably be easier and more delicately taken care of if the IIF were involved, but I understand your reservations." The IIF was the Imperial Intelligence Force, the mention of which made the back of Sid's neck crawl. He had met with their leader several times, and the woman gave him the creeps. They did important work, he supposed, and he would have to get used to it, but that didn't mean he had to love them.

Sid looked between the two men, wondering what exactly had been discussed.

"A hammer can be just as delicate as a toothpick, if you wield it correctly," Halen said. "Thank you for your time, Admiral."

"Of course." Astwani and Halen stood, Astwani shook Halen's hand and nodded at Sid. "Have a good day, Second Welslak."

Sid flushed slightly, very surprised that Astwani had called him Second. "Thank you," he said. But Astwani was already out the door.

Halen sat back down in his chair heavily. "I'm surprised to see you here," he said.

"I am contractually obligated to have my nose in everyone's business," Sid said. "You don't usually cancel on me without good reason."

"Sorry about that. Putting out fires."

"I can tell. Mind telling me which fire in particular you've been extinguishing?"

Halen smiled, a grim thing, and pushed a manilla folder across his desk at Sid. Sid opened it, and did not like what he saw. Blown up, grainy video stills stared back at him, clearly showing the familiar face of Kino and the slightly less familiar face of Sylva Calor, along with a third woman that Sid didn't recognize at all. The timestamp in the corner indicated that the photos were from the night before, and they came from a train station on Hanathue.

He stared at the photos and his brain felt curiously empty, like he should have had five thousand questions and thoughts rattling around in it, but all he could do was stare, fixated, at Kino's flat face, her badly cut hair, her ill fitting jumpsuit, her gloved hands.

"That's where her sister is, isn't it?" Sid finally managed to ask. "Hanathue?"

"Yes," Halen said. "I'm surprised that they're risking it."

"Where's Yan?"

"Probably still on the First Star."

"And where's the First Star?"

Halen slid another piece of paper towards him, showing a starmap, with various points of light labeled in grey text boxes. One, Xuanhuan station, was circled in red, and had a date written next to it.

"They're there?"

"They were there," Halen said. "This is where Kino and Calor got off."

Sid shook his head. "I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"Do they have a deathwish? Are they desperate? Are they just stupid? If I was them, I wouldn't be showing my face anywhere."

Halen took the photo of Kino, poked at her face with one of his thick fingers. "She probably has the first of that list," Halen said. "Though I can't be sure."

"Great."

"Indeed. Well, either way," Halen leaned back in his seat. "It's helpful for us, I suppose."

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence, and Halen studied him. "I can feel you're reluctant," he said.

"Yan was my best friend," Sid said. "You going to hold that against me?"

"You don't have to be defensive."

"It's my nature."

"Maybe so. Regardless, you don't have to do anything. I'm having this taken care of."

"Does Sandreas know?"

"Of course he knows. I simply spoke to Admiral Astwani myself to keep this as quiet as it can be."

"It's going to race all the way down his chain of command," Sid said. "He's just dealing with that, right?" He pointed to the photo of Kino, Calor, and the unknown woman.

"Yes. We still have the Guild chasing the First Star, though they will be meeting up with a Fleet ship soon."

"You have a location to ambush the First Star?" Sid asked.

"They came down to Hanathue from Xuanhuan. Unless they have other contacts who are going to pick them up, the route they took down is the only route back up."

"So they'll return to Xuanhuan?"

"Can't be sure, but I would say that's our most likely location to catch them."

Sid ran a hand through his hair. "What ship is going out there?"

"That hasn't been decided yet." Halen paused for a second. "Aymon told me that you didn't immediately jump to ask to go chase them down, as soon as you learned that they had been sighted at Malstaire."

"I don't know," Sid said. "On one hand, I understand that I'm not, you know."

"What?"

"Expendable, I guess."

"I wouldn't have considered you expendable, even before all of this."

"Sure. But you know what I mean."

"I do."

"So I know that it's not realistic for me to go anywhere. It's dumb to want to chase Yan down. And even if I did chase her down, what the fuck would I do? Like, would I have the presence of mind to be able to actually, do something?" Sid waved his hands.

"I know how you feel."

Sid nodded. "But at the same time..." He trailed off.

"You feel like it's fate."

"Did Sandreas tell you I said that?"

"Yes."

"And I just want to feel like I'm doing something in general. Maybe that's stupid."

"It's not stupid. But you're right that it would be a terrible idea for you to try to go after her."

"Yes. A terrible idea."

Halen laughed. "I wouldn't even have to be able to hear your heart to know that you're still conflicted on that."

Sid sighed. "I'm going to try not to do anything famously stupid."

"Infamously stupid is more like it."

"Are you going to forbid me outright from trying to go after her?"

"You're not my student," Halen said. "I don't actually have that power."

"Are you going to tell Sandreas to forbid me?"

"He already knows exactly what I would say. Look, Sid, let's see how the business on Hanathue plays out, and then we can decide what we're going to do."

"You keep me updated on it, alright?"

"Of course. It's a bit of a delicate situation."

"Really? Well, aside from the obvious?"

"Do you know anything about Kino's sister?"

"I barely even knew she had one," Sid said. "Until it was mentioned that she lived on Hanathue, anyway. I guess Kino had always talked about leaving Falmar in the plural, like 'we had to go to Hanathue', but I thought that was just referring to the whole class of refugees."

"Who knows what she was referring to," Halen said. "But regardless, this is her sister." He turned his computer screen around so that Sid could see it.

The picture was like looking back in time, at a five years younger Kino that he had glimpsed wandering the Academy halls. They were identical, except this girl was smiling, which Kino never did.

"Bina Warez," Halen said.

"Different last name?"

"She was adopted, and took the family's name."

"Oh. Makes sense. Where is she now?" Sid had to think that if she was associated with Kino, it would be best to arrest her. Even if that wasn't exactly a moral action, it was one that made sense.

"Still living with her family," Halen said. "Thalia Warez is the mother, and Shoto Warez is the father." Halen pulled up another photo, showing the whole little family. They looked quite rich, dressed in what Sid assumed were nice clothing on Hanathue: brightly colored shirts with long flowing sleeves and headwear that braided through their hair.

"They're the delicate situation, I would have to assume."

"You would guess correctly," Halen said. "The father, Shoto, is a politician."

"What type?"

"The independently wealthy type, unfortunately."

"That's not what I was asking."

"He's a powerhouse on the Hanathue council," Halen said. "Could easily become governor, but doesn't want that kind of attention."

"Where's his money come from?"

"Connections with the Guild. His family business, though it's really too large to be even called that, is the leader in a consortium that organizes basically all off planet trade for the planet."

"Hm."

"Incidentally, if we pull the adoption records, that's how he ended up with Bina here," Halen said. "He took first dibs on a cute baby."

"But not Kino."

"No, not Kino."

Sid glanced up at Halen, looking away from the photographs for a second. "Do you feel sorry for her?"

Halen shrugged. "I can think it's a shame for siblings to be split up as children, and still want her dead."

"You're a contradictory man," Sid said.

"And so are you."

"So, what's going to happen?"

"I can't have Kino arrested directly, obviously," Halen said. "That would cause too much of a problem. Admiral Astwani's people are going to deal with it as quietly as possible."

Sid made the rather evocative sign for assassination, along with raised eyebrows to indicate a question.

"I'm leaving the methods up to the people on the ground," Halen said. "It might be for the best if they aren't returned here alive."

"Why?"

"Because that sets up dangerous avenues for escape on their part, rescue on Yan's and her confederates, and weakness on ours."

"You think that..." Sid paused and gathered his thoughts. "You would be weak, if you faced them?"

"I was before, in a way," Halen said. "And I have no idea what the future will bring. Like I said, I know how you feel."

"I feel like I should pray for their success, or something, but I don't even know if I can bring myself to do that."

"Were you ever the praying type?"

"They tried their best to put it into me at the Academy," Sid said. "But not really. I think Yan used to be better at it than I was."

"Well," Halen said. "If you feel like praying for something, it's never a bad idea to pray for their souls." He pushed the picture of Kino back across the desk. Sid picked it up, folded it, and put it in his pocket.

For Sylva and Kino, the first order of business in the morning was acquiring less conspicuous clothing. Sylva asked about where the best place to shop was in the hotel lobby, and the woman at the desk explained how they could order over the net. They ordered some clothes that they thought would look nondescript in the city, and a courier brought it to their hotel room. It was a handy thing, to have a robust system. Generally on Emerri, if Sylva had wanted to buy clothes over the net, she would have had to wait a few days to have them delivered. One couldn't simply have a nearby shop send them over.

That was just one of the weird differences in planetary culture, she supposed. Somewhat of a luxury, here on Hanathue.

Kino looked practically like a peacock, when she was finished dressing, in a shirt with trailing sleeves in deep blues and greens. Sylva had chosen a muted orange shirt, with dappled pink flowers on it. Paradoxically, they would have stood out more if they had worn something plainer. Everyone on Hanathue dressed like plain colors didn't exist except in uniforms. Sylva watched people walk by out the window of their hotel room, saw a gaggle of school children run past dressed in little bright blue jumpers. It was cute.

"Did you used to wear that uniform?" Sylva asked Kino.

"Different one," Kino said, with no further elaboration.

Sylva flopped on the bed. "Makes me miss my cassock."

"I don't," Kino said.

"Well, you're a weirdo. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

The day was still brisk, as it was late in the season, but the sun was bright and it warmed the sidewalks and air enough to make it tolerable to walk without a jacket.

"You know where we're going?" Sylva asked, following behind Kino. She didn't know how Kino seemed to know where she was going-- after all, if Sylva had been asked to navigate a city that she had only lived in until age ten, she wouldn't have been able to do it it all. But Kino nodded and walked along confidently.

They passed through the business area of the city, and then through the downtown area. It was a long walk, and Sylva again thought about complaining that they should get a bus or a car. After a while, the crowded shops faded out to intermix with older looking brick buildings-- homes and apartments.

Kino stopped abruptly and pulled Sylva into a nearby coffee shop. Sylva protested meekly, but Kino said nothing, just dragged her by the sleeve of her shirt. They entered the rich smelling cafe underneath a jingling bell.

Kino got in line and Sylva, entirely confused, stood beside her. They ordered, and Sylva ended up with a (in her opinion) overpriced coffee and muffin that she didn't want. Kino pulled her over to a table in the corner, right near the window. The window was slightly smeared with steam, and Kino rubbed it off to look out.

"I appreciate taking a break from our long and tedious walk," Sylva complained, "But is there a reason that we're here?"

Kino didn't answer, just stared out the window. Sylva sighed and drank her coffee, burning her lips.

They stayed there so long in awkward silence that Sylva finished her coffee and muffin and stared out into space, not sure what was going on. Kino could take the lead, sure, but she was impatient. She pulled out her phone and randomly browsed Hanathue news, attempting to catch up on what had been happening throughout the Empire while she had been out of the loop.

"Good news," Sylva said, though Kino ignored her. "You haven't been declared dead yet."

Kino shushed her with a wave of her hand, and Sylva frowned. Several more minutes passed, with nothing happening except for Sylva growing progressively more annoyed. She made her displeasure known by sighing loudly at Kino. Eventually, Kino seemed to get the hint, because she peeled off her right glove and grabbed Sylva's hand across the table so that they could speak through the power. Sylva tried to let this touch appear casual, as though they were simply two women out on a date in a coffee shop, holding hands, rather than two fugitives from the law who kinda hated each other, doing something weird and probably not wanted by the owners of the cafe they were in.

Kino didn't send Sylva words, exactly, just a fuzzy mental picture, what she was seeing out of her own eyes. She was focused in on one man who was walking down the street outside, on the other side of the road, who was wearing the same colorful Hanathue clothes as anyone else, and looked in every way nondescript. He walked without stopping, and he didn't look around at anything in particular.

"So what?" Sylva asked through the power, hoping that the message was coming across.

In answer, Kino provided a pure sense of knowledge, that this man had walked around the block six times since they had been sitting here, and that that house (her vision that she was sharing with Sylva narrowed and focused in one one tall brick building, twined all over with ivy), was the one in which her sister lived.

Sylva formulated a question. "Imperial?"

Kino gave a mental shrug, accompanied by the information that Bina's adopted family was rich and powerful on Hanathue, so it could also simply be their own guard.

"And where is Bina?" Sylva asked.

School.

"When does school let out?"

Another mental shrug.

"We can't stay here forever."

But we also can't leave. The twinge of anxiety that Kino clearly felt when she looked at the guard was odd to Sylva, since she had generally thought of Kino as completely stoic and emotionless. At least in terms of her outer shell, and in every other situation than the first night they had been on the First Star, when Sylva had patched up Kino's hand.

"We'll probably have to find somewhere else to wait," Sylva said. "Maybe we can try the invisibility trick, or something. How are we going to talk to your sister? Do you think her parents know about you?"

The questions spilled out of Sylva without ceasing, and Kino withdrew her hand, possibly just to stop the deluge. Sylva frowned.

"You need a plan," Sylva said aloud.

"I'll think of one. Let me just wait a little."

They were silent again. Sylva got up and got some more overpriced coffee. She didn't feel that bad about spending money, since the First Star had a fairly big stash of it. She sat back down and also texted Keep, asking about how her business deal (or whatever Keep was up to on Hanathue) was going.

Keep responded almost immediately that things were going well, which was a small relief for Sylva. She had latched on to the idea of Keep being their failsafe, their fallback, their escape route off the planet, and so it was nice to know that Keep was doing whatever she had come for.

They waited in the cafe, and then Kino shifted, sitting up straight. "What?" Sylva asked.

Kino nodded her head ever so slightly, and Sylva looked in the indicated direction. A gaggle of girls, all teenagers dressed in identical school uniforms, were coming down the road, approaching the cafe.

"Is that...?" Sylva asked. Kino shushed her, then stood up rapidly as the girls got even closer and one of them lingered outside the door. Kino grabbed Sylva and pulled her towards the back of the restaurant, and Sylva had barely enough time to gather all their belongings before she was bodily dragged away. The two crammed themselves into the small bathroom in the back, and Sylva made an apologetic face at the cafe staff who gave them both a somewhat amused and confused face.

"The fuck, Kino?" Sylva asked, when the door to the bathroom was shut behind them. The fluorescent light cast an ugly blue tint over the scene, and though the tiny room was relatively clean, it was not pleasant to be in a bathroom in general.

"That's my sister," Kino said.

"Which one?"

Kino grabbed Sylva's hand again, and gave her an image of one of the girls, the one who had been in the center of the gaggle. She looked exactly like a younger Kino, but she had a vivacious smile, and wore her hair short and dyed blue on the spiky tips. Jewelry that Sylva had to think was a violation of her school uniform policy dangled in gaudy strands from her neck and jangled at her wrists.

"She seems fun," Sylva said. "But we're trapped in the bathroom."

"We're not trapped," Kino said flatly.

"Then what are we going to do? Are you going to talk to her?"

"I'm going to put a note in her pocket," Kino said.

Sylva frowned. "And how?"

"Are you a power user or are you not?"

In response, Sylva folded her arms and huffed, leaning against the bathroom door and not looking at Kino.

"Give me a piece of paper," Kino said. "And a pen."

Sylva fished around in her bag and pulled out a napkin and a pen. Kino pressed the napkin against the wall and, with some difficulty, scrawled a note on it in pen.

"She's not going to just think this is garbage?" Sylva asked. "I would, if I found that in the bottom of my bag."

"She won't," Kino said. "I know her."

"Do you? Because I thought you said you hadn't seen her in ten years."

Kino didn't dignify that with a response, and neatly folded the napkin note.

"What does it say?"

"Time and place," Kino said.

"And she'll listen?"

"It has my code on it. She has to."

Sylva had her doubts.

With the power, Kino held the napkin in the air, closed her eyes, and sent it sliding out under the bathroom door into the cafe beyond. Sylva couldn't follow or see what she was doing, but she trusted Kino to be an adept power user, so she didn't worry that the napkin had found its way into Bina's pocket.

"Now, are we going to leave here? Somebody else is probably going to need the bathroom eventually."

"Can you learn patience?" Kino asked, unexpectedly showing anger towards Sylva. Sylva flinched back, surprised.

"Fine. We can stay here forever then," she grumbled.

"We wait until they leave."

"Aren't the people who run this place going to get suspicious?"

"Fine. Fine." Kino stood in front of the mirror, wet a paper towel and rubbed it clean. Even in the weird lighting, Sylva could see Kino's facial features warp and shift, as she used the power to bend the way light hit them, making her nose longer and broader, her eyes larger, her chin flatter, inching her eyebrows down her face. She looked like a different person.

"Should I do you?"

"No point. She doesn't know me," Sylva said, gesturing to the door of the bathroom. "After you."

Kino exited, and Sylva followed her out. They passed by the tittering cafe employees without making eye contact with them. Sylva stole a glimpse of Kino's sister as she walked out-- the girl was chatting amicably with her friends, as though she hadn't a care in the world, and smiling to light up the room. Sylva avoided staring too much, as she didn't actually want to attract attention to herself.

They made it out onto the street, and Sylva was very careful to not look at the man who continued to patrol around the block. They skirted the house, which looked quite luxe compared to some of the others that they had passed. It wasn't that there was anything that different about the brick facade, or the ivy, but perhaps it was the way it was upkept, and it was clear that only one family lived in the place, even though it could easily hold three, and the way that the little wall out in front bore a name and number, and there was a gate, and a camera. Sylva looked away.

They walked probably a kilometer before they stopped again.

"When and where are we meeting your sister?"

"A park," Kino said.

Like that was helpful at all.

The sun was setting, and the temperature had dropped quite precipitously from the afternoon. Sylva and Kino sat on a park bench. Sylva had been shivering, but Kino had picked up a few rocks from the ground and had passed them to her. Sylva had discovered that they were quite warm,and she tucked them into her pockets and held them in her hands, grateful for the small kindness of an improved temperature.

The park was mostly empty. Clearly most sane people were not interested in being out at night, especially when it looked like it was going to rain, and the +wind shook the few remaining leaves on the trees with gusts that sounded like a baby's rattle.

The time had come and passed for Bina to appear, but they had really nothing better to do but to wait, so they waited. Sylva was definitely giving up hope, but Kino seemed to only grow more and more tense as the minutes past, peering expectantly at every stranger who moved through the gathering gloom.

"I'd say we give it another half an hour," Sylva said. "If she doesn't come, she doesn't come, and we figure something else out."

Kino didn't respond, so Sylva resorted once again to sighing and moving the hot rock between her hands.

Out of the darkness, down the long cobblestone path, there came one solitary figure. They were dressed in a long coat made of a dark blue material, oddly muted compared tothe usual Hanathue fashion, and as they passed under a nearby lamp, the green tips of their hair caught the light. Kino saw this and stood. Sylva stood as well.

They waited for Bina to come closer in a truly awkward silence.

"Kino?" Bina finally said, coming close enough that they could see eachother's faces. Her voice was like Kino's, but expressive, light and charming.

"Hi, Bina," Kino said. "It's been a while." Kino had her hands in her pockets, and her shoulders were slumped, as though she were pre-emptively preparing for some sort of rejection.

Bina laughed and came the last few meters forward, and she threw her arms around Kino, who stiffened up immediately. "God, I did not expect to see you. Maybe ever," she said. "What is going on?"

"Is there some place private that we can talk?" Sylva asked, feeling nervous now that the light had truly gone from the park. There were shadows everywhere, and she didn't like the thought of what could be waiting in them,having followed Bina out on her nighttime journey.

Bina looked at her curiously. "Are you a friend of Kino's?" she asked.

Sylva laughed. "Friend. Sure. I'm Sylva." She shook out her hand to shake, and Bina did, her jewelry rattling cheerfully underneath her coat.

"Pleasure to meet you," Bina said. "Why don't we go back to my house?" Bina asked. "My parents I'm sure would be happy to see you."

Kino shook her head. "Let's talk somewhere else first. The circumstances are a little strange right now."

"I can tell," Bina said. She scratched her head thoughtfully. "Follow me," she said.

"Where?" Kino asked.

"I have key access to the pool I work at," Bina said.

"You work at a pool?" Sylva asked.

"I'm a lifeguard. On weekends, mostly. And after school."

"Cool." Although Sylva tried to be calm, following Bina down the ever darkening streets was somewhat of a nervewracking experience. She kept her power up around herself, as much as she could, anyway. Though she doubted it would do much good (what could she even do?) it felt better to be prepared with it on hand than not.

The pool in question was in the basement of a tall, brightly lit building. The three walked around the back, through the alleyways, and Bina keyed them in to the doors, led them down a flight of steps, and flipped on the lights in a swelteringly hot and cavernous pool room.

"Are there people upstairs?" Sylv asked.

"Pool has restricted hours," Bina said. "Mostly because it takes more staff to run." She shrugged and pulled off her coat, tossing it onto a nearby set of bleachers before sitting down herself. She ran a hand over her spiky green-tipped hair. "This is crazy," she said. "Are you ready to explain what's going on?"

Sylva paced back and forth along the edge of the pool, very grateful to be in out of the cold. Kino sat down on the pool deck in front of Bina, looking up at her sister and studying her.

"I've missed you," Kino said.

"Hah, yeah." Bina looked around awkwardly. "How have you been?"

"I--" Kino shook her head. "Where can I even start?"

"Maybe tell me what was going on with your last letter," Bina said. "You had me worried."

"Why didn't you leave?" Kino asked. "Why didn't you get out?"

"I can't just LEAVE," Bina said, waving her arms. "I have a family, a life. And I'm sixteen. I can't exactly just, you know, up and out."

"It would have been safer."

Bina shook her head. "But you didn't tell me why. Tell me now. What are you doing here? Why all this?" She seemed nervous, agitated, and Sylva couldn't blame her. "I don't even remember the last time I saw you," Bina said quietly. "How long ago was it?"

"Eleven years," Kino said. "You were five."

"God," Bina said. "I don't remember it at all."

"I know."

"I'm glad you wrote to me, though," she said. "I'm glad we kept in touch."

"I wouldn't have forgotten about you," Kino said.

"I know you wouldn't. I know you didn't. And..."

"What?"

"I'm sorry about my parents," Bina said. "They shouldn't have... You know. I think about it kinda a lot."

Kino shrugged, still looking up at her sister. "It's not your fault."

"I know it's not. But it still feels like shit, you know? Like I wish I could have done something."

"You were a baby."

"They feel bad about it now, though," Bina said. "Bet they wish they'd have taken you in when they had the chance."

Kino laughed, a hollow sound, and it echoed terribly in the pool room. "No, they don't," Kino said.

Bina folded her arms, bracelets jingling. "It would be a boon to have a daughter who's apprentice to First Sandreas. Even just a daughter that's a sensitive."

Kino laughed again.

"What?" Bina asked.

"I should tell you what's going on," Kino said. "Your parents dodged a bullet with me."

"Okay, tell me," Bina said. "You know, after your letter, I called up Stonecourt, tried to get in contact with them and ask where you were, if you were okay, and they told me you were with the Fleet out of contact range."

"I wasn't with the Fleet," Kino said.

"Obviously."

"It's so hard to tell you," Kino said. "I don't want you to be in danger. I thought, if I came here, I might find out that you were dead."

"Just tell her the story," Sylva said, and she kicked at the water of the pool, getting her shoe thoroughly wet. "You're already here."

And so Kino did, fumblingly, haltingly, telling the story that Sylva had never heard. It started when she was at the Academy, how she had fallen in to drug running out of loneliness and a desire to make a bit of cash, and then from there how the man who had employed her had found different work, working for the Dark Hands-- that was Mahmoud, who Sylva had met-- and how he had convinced her to use her position as a graduating Academy student to try to ingratiate herself with the high ups in the Empire. How that plan had gone as well as it possibly could, and how Kino had become First Sandreas's apprentice. Sylva's blood boiled when Kino recounted the series of decisions that had led to Yan's kidnapping, and then briefly cooled when Kino mentioned Sylva's role in the rescue. The return to Emerri. The Emperor. Then the flight and the fighting and eventually, the story that led to one place, the basement of this building, the sweaty pool room, staring up at her sister's wide-eyed face. She omitted most of the graphic detail, Sylva noticed. There was no mention of what had happened to her hand under her glove.

"That's the story," Kino said. "It isn't much."

Bina was pale, shaking her head. "That's crazy."

"It's true."

"Why did you come here? This is so stupid."

"I had to know you were alive," Kino said. "And I had other things that I needed to do on the planet. But I wanted to see you."

"Why?" Bina asked. "Why would you get me all wrapped up in this?"

"Because I thought that someone might have killed you. I needed to know that you were alive."

"My father would never let that happen," Bina said. "Never."

Kino twisted her gloved hands together. "Do you know that there are people watching your house?"

"What?"

"There are people patrolling your house, following you," Kino said. "They might have followed you here."

"Wouldn't they have just come inhere to attack us if they had?" Sylva asked. "Like, obviously they're here to catch us." She gestured between herself and Kino. "They wouldn't just let us have this friendly conversation."

Kino shrugged. "I don't know. But there are people watching your house."

"Does my dad know about this?" Bina asked.

"Probably not," Kino said. "Not unless he's more deeply ingrained in Imperial politics than I thought."

Bina shook her head. "Should I tell him? Should you tell him?"

Kino smoothed out the fabric of her cassock on her lap. "Come with me," she said.

"What?"

"Come with me off Hanathue. You aren't safe here."

"No!" The intensity with which Bina delivered her rejection cut through the air of the pool room like a knife.

Kino was taken aback. "But--"

"I'm sorry," Bina said. "I shouldn't have yelled. But I told you. I can't leave."

Kino was still, and she honestly looked like she was on the verge of crying. "Please," she said.

"I have a life here," Bina said. "And I'm sorry that you got pulled into, well, all of that, but I can't just leave. I have a family."

"I'm your family."

"I don't know you," Bina said. "I'm sorry, but it's the truth! You're my sister, and I care about you, obviously, but I can't-- I don't know anything about you." Bina frowned. "I don't want to be mean."

"Your life is in danger here."

"And it wouldn't be worse with you, going around with pirates? No, thanks," Bina said.

"She's not wrong," Sylva said, coming to stand next to Kino. "We can't take another kid on the First Star."

"There's Chanam."

"Chanam doesn't count, for like six different reasons," Sylva said. "Look. We got what we came here for. Your sister is fine. She's not in immediate danger. We should do the rest of our tasks and get out of here."

"You should talk to my dad," Bina said. "If you think I really am in trouble. He can protect me."

"And what would I say?" Kino asked. "I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry."

"No, Kino, it's okay." Bina rubbed her temples, sending her bracelets jingling again. "I'm sorry. This is all just so much."

"I know. I shouldn't have dragged you into it."

"No, it's-- I'm glad you came. I thought that something bad had happened to you. When I got your letter, I mean. And no one would tell me exactly where you were."

"This is the bad thing that's happening to her," Sylva muttered, and Bina looked between the both of them, clearly unhappy.

"Let's go talk to my dad."

"No," Kino said. "I don't want anybody else to know about this. It would just cause problems. And you can't tell him either. Not a single word to anyone about what I've said."

"You can't just do that to me," Bina said. "I can't keep secrets like that."

Kino glanced at Sylva.

"What?" Sylva asked.

"You can make her keep the secret," Kino said.

"What? No I can't."

"Iri told me that you can mess with the information in people's heads."

"God, Kino, don't scare me or her like that," Sylva said, gesturing to Bina, who was flinching back from her sister. "I can't do that," Sylva said, turning to Bina and lowering her voice. "And even if I could, I don't need to be an asshole. As long as you keep the secret."

Kino shrugged. "Just trying to be practical."

Sylva rolled her eyes. "Practical my ass."

"Okay, I won't say anything. I promise," Bina said. "I'm not like you."'

"I know."

"We should get out of here," Sylva said. "We've been here too long. Probably someone will start looking for you."

"Fine." Kino stood up and stretched.

"Are you leaving?" Bina asked.

"We'll be on the planet for a bit longer," Sylva said. "Our ride out isn't for a bit."

"Ok, so I can see you again."

Kino shook her head. "I shouldn't."

Bina grabbed Kino's hand, her left one, and Sylva, upon seeing the action, gave an involuntary flinch. "But I want to see you more," Bina said. "I'll skip school tomorrow. We can do something fun."

"We have to stay out of sight," Kino said, trying to tug her hand away. Bina held on, and Kino's hand slipped out of the glove, revealing her amputated fingers. Kino tried to grab the glove and put it back on before Bina saw it, but she was too late, and Bina made a wordless sort of cry and looked at the damage.

"Oh God," she said.

Kino grabbed the glove and put it back on. "We should go."

Bina had tears in her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around Kino, who stood there stiffly and accepted the hug.

"I'll skip school tomorrow," Bina said. "I want to at least have a day with you. Before you go. I don't know when I'll see you again."

"It's dangerous," Kino said, but her voice came out muffled against her sister's shoulder.

"I don't care. I spent years without seeing you. I want... I want to have something to remember you by."

"You could come with me," Kino said, offering again.

"I can't." Bina let go. "But at least let me have this."

Kino glanced at Sylva, who shrugged.

"Okay."

"Tomorrow. Ten hours. We'll meet where we met tonight," Bina said, with clearly false confidence in her voice.