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There were six of them, surrounded by waterproof packs, sample cases and more equipment than any reasonable person needed to look at water and plants. Three wore the green-edged field coats used by Citadel researchers. Another had already begun checking a stack of specimen containers despite the fact we weren't even through the portal.

The man standing in the center of them turned when we approached.

My feet stopped.

"Jade."

Councilor Dannian Raymer smiled.

Not the polite smile Council members usually wore when they wanted something from me. A real one, warm enough to deepen the lines around his eyes as he handed the papers he'd been holding to another researcher and crossed toward us.

"Hi, darling."

Then he hugged me. My body went rigid before my brain caught up. Dannian noticed, of course he noticed. His arms loosened almost immediately, giving me enough space to step away if I wanted. I didn't. After half a second, I forced my shoulders down and awkwardly returned the hug.

"Hello."

He laughed quietly as he released me. "Still enthusiastic about affection, I see."

"I accepted it."

"You did. I'm honored."

Alex made a small sound behind me.

Dannian was one of very few Council members whose presence had never made me immediately want to locate the nearest exit. He'd been around for most of my childhood, although unlike the others he rarely appeared in rooms carrying assessment forms.

He'd run a large portion of my Menagerie training instead.

Rift ecology, creature behavior, anatomy and the practical difference between something being dangerous and something needing to die. That last one had mattered. Dannian had been the first Master who stopped an exercise because I said I didn't want to hurt the creature involved. He hadn't demanded an explanation, hadn't told me the point of training was to follow instructions and hadn't sent a report to the Council suggesting my reluctance required correction.

He'd simply changed the exercise.

"You're leading the research team?" I asked.

"I am."

"You weren't named in the brief."

"I'm wounded that you didn't recognize my work from the aggressively unnecessary number of specimen containers."

I looked toward the mountain of cases.

"That should have been obvious."

"Exactly."

Corian stepped forward and offered his hand. "Councilor Raymer."

"Corian." Dannian shook it. "You can drop Councilor while we're out there. If something with too many teeth is chasing me, I'm unlikely to stop and correct your etiquette."

Alex looked delighted. "I like him."

Corian shook his head. "You like everyone who undermines me."

"Correct."

Dannian's attention moved across the rest of Nephrite as introductions were made, pausing long enough to scratch behind Ashter's ear like he'd done it a hundred times before. Ashter leaned into it, tail sweeping twice against the stone floor. He already knew Nykos, which shouldn't have surprised me now that I knew Nykos was apparently royalty, and greeted Halver and Alex with the easy familiarity of someone who had spent enough years around the Citadel to know most people eventually.