Safe.
Stron felt safe, even here, in this underworld.
The other female disappeared into a door, and Adryel made herself re-center her thoughts back to this meeting at hand.
Focus on Knobb opening the wine with practiced ease. He poured himself a drink, and then poured two more, one for each of them, leaving them on the table.
And then he proceeded to smell the wine. “A delicate aroma worth savoring.”
Stron picked up his own glass, and handed Adryel hers.
She lifted the glass to her nose, mimicking the way Stron held the glass. It didn’t smell that different to her, but she could play the part.
“Very nice,” she said.
Knobb sipped the drink. “Yes. Very.” His gaze darted from Stron back to Adryel, and she leaned into him more, not liking being appraised by Knobb at all.
“What do you need from me, Stron?”
Stron gestured to one of the chairs in the corner for Adryel to sit in, and took another seat in the grouping, the one that put himself between Adryel and Knobb.
She shifted until her balance was right in the stiff Kantenan body armor she’d put on earlier. At first she remained still, but just seeing that female walk through the room made her nervous. She started tapping her foot on the floor, out of sight, because she just wanted to get through this. It felt way too much like the time she spent working for the Rhysgarrds.
“What do you know about the Kantenan guests?” Stron asked.
She felt Stron’s hand on her knee.
When he put his hand on her knee, it steadied the tapping.
Knobb shrugged. If he noticed the intimate gesture between them, he didn’t acknowledge it.
“I hear a lot of things. Some true,” he said, gazing at Adryel, then back at Stron. “Some not so accurate.”
Adryel sighed. She did not want to be in here anymore. It was time to go. “Seriously, are you two going to play this dumb game?”
Both of them looked at her.
Stron looked absolutely shocked.
Knobb looked amused.
“Look. Obviously, I’m not from around here. You likely know why me and my friends are here. A lot of my friends are dead right now. What do you know about that?”
“Direct is always refreshing,” Knobb said. He glanced at Stron. “You could learn something from that.”
“You like direct? Fine, let’s be direct,” Adryel continued. She was in no mood to play around. The longer she was down here, the stronger her feeling of dread built in her. “Who blew up my ship?”
“Why would I know that?”
Adryel stammered. Really, all she had was Baba’s belief that he’d know the answers to that question.
Stron, though took over. “Baba.”
Knobb nodded. “So Baba told you to ask me about the bombing.”
“We never said it was a bombing,” Stron said. “Ships can blow up for lots of reasons.”
Knobb’s smile flickered over his red skin, wicked and amused. “They can. But I’m fairly certain this was an internal job.”
