I pulled on my gloves and followed him down. I’d been in the wardroom a handful of times. Buck swung in his bunk, reading a leather-bound pocket book by candlelight, laughing quietly to himself. The carpenter, a dworgh named Ben Kobe, sat cross-legged on the floor, meticulously scraping char from the barrels of his many pipes. He was roughly the same height as Smoke, but slimmer, with a neatly trimmed beard and dark hair pulled off his face in a knot at the nape of his neck. Echo and Smoke were at a small table, a fierce game of Able Whacks between them. To my surprise, Smoke pushed a chair out with his foot. I took it.
“How is it going, Ensign?” asked Echo.
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. He quickly looked down at the cards in his hands.
“Oh, stop blubbing,” said Smoke. “It’s not like we need a chaser to close a gap.”
“I’m not blubbing,” I muttered.
“Blub, blub, blub.”
Fahr slid up a chair and passed me a cup. I stared into it, wishing for whiskee instead of rum.
“Thanavar was right,” Fahr said. “The chimeric leans into wylde magik, and that makes it dodgy.”
“Dodgy?” asked Echo.
“Unpredictable,” said Fahr.
“Well, itisa natural form,” said Echo. “You homani like to order the runes, organize and categorize them as if you can better control them that way.”
“Arcana,” I muttered. “The Navy way.”
“Indeed,” said Echo. “But we fauns have practiced wylde magik for centuries, without the books and academies of the Empire.”
“Bollycocks,” said Smoke. “Magik is magik. It’s all learned somewhere.”
“The mages at Berryburn Yard said wylde magik is for witches,” I said.
“The mages at Berryburn Yard are ninnyhammers,” said Smoke. “They’d fog a duck if the Navy asked ’em to.”
Echo tsked and turned to me.
“‘Witch’ is simply a belittling term for a wylde,” said the doc. “Your mother did well for herself as one, yes?”
I shrugged.
“Where’s she now?” asked Fahr.
“I left when I was twelve. She could be dead or serving in High Temple for all I know.”
“She could be deadandserving in High Temple for all they’d know,” said Smoke.
Fahr laughed. “Well, you may owe your new magik to her,” he said.
“I owe her nothing,” I said. “She was heartless and cruel, and I’m glad to be gone.”
“Blub, blub, blub,” said Smoke.
They said nothing more, and I regretted my outburst. Once again, my true alchemy had reared its ugly head. I had stomped all over a perfectly normal conversation with my big-mouthed boots, and this time, it wasn’t my mother to blame.
Finally, Echo sat back.
“Well, we’ll be in the Hall of Silence tomorrow,” he said. “You spinners should get some rest.”
“Sliver of suns while the corridor runs,” said Smoke. “My lads are on dawn watch, so I’ll catch me snores now.”
He downed his cup and pushed away from the table, humming to himself about suns and runs and witches and wine. Heglanced at Echo.
