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The word made anger rise, hot and immediate.

“Why isn't this in the council archive?”

“Because families asked me not to put it there.”

Kesta stopped. Sera's expression hardened slightly.

“Some parents refused examination entirely. Others allowed me to treat symptoms but not record them. Several had already watched family members disappear after being marked medically unusual. Their fear was not irrational.”

“No.”

Kesta looked down at Iri's tablet.

“It's not.”

That changed the problem. She could investigate without turning children into another set of experimental subjects, but only if the families trusted what happened to the information.

“We need to offer examinations.”

“Offer.”

Sera emphasized the word.

“Yes.”

“And if they refuse?”

“Then they refuse.”

A faint tension left the healer's shoulders. By midday, three families had come.

By evening, there were eleven.

Kesta refused to create a line of children waiting to be measured. Each family sat with her first, usually with Sera nearby and sometimes with Tavi when equipment required him. Kesta explained what she wanted to examine, what the devices could record, and exactly where any information would go.

One father, a broad-scaled male with two small daughters pressed against his sides, stared suspiciously at the scanner.

“Will Dreven see it?”

“Not unless you agree or something we find creates an immediate danger to the camp.”

“Will the empire?”

“Not through me.”

The man searched her face. Kesta knew better than to expect the answer to create instant trust. Trust came later, in smaller proofs. She turned the scanner face-down while a mother described changes in fertility. Sera destroyed a written history when another family decided they wanted no permanent copy. Tavi built identification codes that could not be reversed unless both his key and Pela's archive key were present. The medical patterns were disturbing.

One boy suffered deep bone pain at approximately the same point in every orbital cycle. Two sisters fell asleep simultaneously for exactly eleven minutes each afternoon regardless of where they were or what they were doing. A Kharovian infant developed a bright silver ring around the base of his tail following every major supply drop, the discoloration fading within two days. Iri's irregular heartbeat was the clearest.

Kesta had her sitting on the examination table when Lina brought lunch.

“I was told you forget food when something becomes interesting.”

Kesta looked up from the monitor.

“By whom?”

Lina's mouth curved. “Everyone.”