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She drank half of it in one go. Ashter lay curled against her feet instead of his usual spot by the window, one eye tracking her smallest movement with the vigilance of a creature convinced she might tip over if left unsupervised.

The actual problem that morning, once the water and half a cup of tea had done their work, was a folded pay letter. It lay beside her cup, the crease worn pale from being opened and closed too many times. She held it flat beneath one hand, squinting at the same line for what had to be the sixth time like the ink had wronged her.

I poured tea and set the pot between us.

"Has the amount changed?"

Her eyes lifted without her head moving. "I'm checking."

"For what?"

"I don't know yet."

Fair answer, from someone who hadn't known until yesterday that she needed an account to receive money already issued in her name. Knowing the Council, it wouldn't have surprised me if she hadn't known she'd get paid at all.

Alex appeared over her other shoulder before I could ask anything else, leaning close enough to read until Jade covered the letter with her palm.

"Privacy."

"I know what your pay is. We all got the same deployment allowance."

"Then you don't need to read mine."

Alex stole the untouched corner of her toast instead, moving before she could put a knife through his hand.

Corian came in carrying a leather document case and set it beside the letter. "The exchange opens at ninth bell. We should leave within the hour if we want to finish before the markets become crowded."

Jade looked from the case to him. "Finish what?"

"Opening the account. They verify the Citadel payment mark, register your signature, and bind a coin crystal to you. Half an hour, maybe less."

Corian pulled out the chair at the end of the table without sitting in it. He'd dressed for the city rather than duty, a dark shirt and fitted coat replacing the field uniform, boots polished well enough that Alex looked down at his own and sighed.

"Once that's done, we can come home."

"No," Alex said from the pantry.

Corian's expression didn't move. "No?"

Alex came back with an apple. "Once that's done, we're buying her clothes."

Jade folded the pay letter closed. "I have clothes."

"You have Citadel clothing." Alex pointed the apple at her black shirt. "Field clothes, training clothes, two uniforms, and more field clothes pretending to be different because one pair of trousers has an extra pocket. That's not a wardrobe. That's an equipment inventory."

"They're clothes. I wear them. That makes them a wardrobe."

Halver came in from the outside kitchen carrying a pan, catching enough of the argument to add, "You also own one coat."

Jade turned in her chair. "I only have one body."

"The coat isn't warm enough for winter."

"It's survived three winters."

"You spent those winters inside the Citadel."

She looked genuinely betrayed by his use of facts. Under the table, Ashter's eyes caught the light, fixed on Halver as though he'd personally engineered the whole conversation. The effect lasted exactly as long as it took Halver to set fried bread in front of her with several strips of cooked meat on the side.