It was the presence of the pityrodia augustensis.It bothered her.
For some reason, she couldn’t get the image of a gangly girl, her hair all a tangle, out of her mind.More so than anyone else, that girl had always clung to the background.Never engaging unless forced.Even then, her words had been rarer than kindness.
If that girl crossed her path today, Kira wasn’t sure she’d recognize her.
The others had called her the master’s pet.She’d been kept separate for the most part.Spared some of the brutality the rest of them received on an almost daily basis.
It had bred resentment among some.
Kira had never really noticed or taken an interest.Too focused on her own problems to worry about someone else’s.The only reason she halfway remembered the girl was because Elise had mentioned her in passing once.Her name had been so unusual that it had stuck with Kira.
“Hang on a minute.This is strange.Almost all of these plants are Tuann,” Jin said, sounding puzzled.“I don’t understand.How did they get here?”
Kira had a theory.A wild one.So fantastical that she almost couldn’t bring herself to consider it.
“We decided on Titan as our base of operations because there were no signs of the forty-three’s presence.But what if we were wrong?”Kira asked.
“What are you saying?”
“Patch me through to Alexander.”
Kira was pretty sure she knew who he was supposed to be meeting.And that things weren’t going to go as planned.
“Standby,” Jin said.
Moments passed before Alexander appeared on the holovid.“I’m in the middle of something.”
“This’ll only take a moment.Who are you supposed to be meeting.”
Alexander’s features filled with impatience.“I’m hanging up.”
“Is it Pityrodia Augustensis?”Kira demanded.
Alexander paused, suspicion entering his eyes.“Why are you asking me that?”
“Is that Roake’s heir?”someone demanded from out of sight.
Kira thought she recognized the voice as belonging to the interim lord of House Asanth.
“One moment,” Alexander murmured, the scenery changing as he moved away.“Kira, you have ten seconds and then I’m hanging up.”
Don’t curse him out.Don’t curse him out,Kira chanted.
“Do you know where I was a few minutes ago?In a cargo container someone had turned into a conservatory.”
Alexander’s sigh was loud and long suffering.“If that’s all you have to say—”
“Shut up and just listen, will you?Someone used shaped charges to take out one of that container’s walls.There are signs of hot weapons everywhere.We have a video of Caius and a hooded figure fleeing with a child.Should I go on?”
As Kira spoke, Alexander’s expression slowly changed.First surprise.Then wariness.Finally, concern.
“When you set up this meeting did you actually talk to Pityrodia?”Kira asked.
“She prefers to go by Gus,” Alexander murmured.
Kira would too if she had a name like that.
“From your expression, I’m taking it that the details for this meet flowed through an intermediary.Who was it?”
