Grief and worry could only be used so often to excuse bad behavior.Bez was getting very close to exhausting her patience.
“If a sacrifice is needed, my companions and I won’t hesitate.That is the mark of a true oshota,” Bez said with a look at Finn that had Kira bristling.
“I’m such a martyr.Look at me,” Jin mocked before making an obnoxious gagging sound.“Spare me.Those two have made so many sacrifices that it’s no longer worth mentioning.”Jin pointed at Kira.“That one slowly killed herself withkipoisoning because she didn’t want someone else risking themselves on the battlefield.Didn’t bother telling anyone what was happening either.Just soldiered on, dying a little more each time.”Jin’s finger swung toward Finn.“Idiot number two threw himself at an Osiri while trying to protect idiot number one.”
“You were also among those I was trying to protect,” Finn murmured.
Jin acted like he didn’t hear, too invested in making his point to stop now.“That’s just one instance.I’m too lazy to remember the rest.If you want to compare ‘sacrifices’, I’m game.We’ll win every time.Our ‘sacrifices’ at least got results.Yours just ends in pointless death.”
“No one is sacrificing anything,” Kira interrupted.
She felt that needed to be said.
Also, if Jin wasn’t careful, Bez might decide to chuck him into that death trap.
“Quit stirring the pot,” Kira warned Jin with an edge of steel in her voice.“You’ve made your point.”
“But it’s so much fun to see what rises to the surface,” Jin snarked.
Uh huh.Like they had time for that.
“Can you do it?”Kira asked, struggling for patience.
“Do my ears mislead me or did I just hear you admit you have need of my skills?”Jin quipped.
“Just answer the question.”
“First—I want to hear you say it.Say—‘Jin, thank God you’re here.Your superior intellect is exactly what this mission needed.’”
“How about instead I say ‘Jin, if you don’t quit fooling around, I’ll have Dylan escort you back to Ta Sa’Riel.’”
“You’re no fun.”
Kira smiled to herself as Jin shuffled around to face the room’s entrance.She’d thought that might do the trick.
Noticing the aghast expressions on Bez and the rest’s faces, Kira frowned.“Now what?”
“You can’t actually be thinking of sending a child in there,” Pye protested.“Children are precious.No matter how trying they are, it is never appropriate to sacrifice them.”
Az nodded, looking serious.“Caius wouldn’t forgive us if a child’s life was ended in exchange for his.”
“Who said anything about sending Jin in there?”Kira asked in confusion.
These Tuann were so all over the place that she was exhausted just dealing with them.
“Again—not a child,” Jin quipped, kneeling at the threshold of the room as he set his backpack on the ground next to him and dug through it.
“You look like a child.How old can you be?”Bez asked in exasperation.
Jin busied himself withdrawing robotic figurines.“Kira, how old are we?”
“Graydon said ninety-three.”
Kira needed to figure out what day their birthday was.They might be ninety-four now.
Jin lined up a squirrel, a hummingbird, and a figure that looked like a chaterling.
“How is that possible?”Az asked.
