Qiwi reached out to touch Floria's hand, not knowing if the other might simply strike her. This was a pain she saw in various people. Some she could reach. Others, like Ezr Vinh, held it so rigidly secret that all she felt was a hint of hidden, pulsing rage.

Floria was silent, hunched over on herself. But after a moment she grasped Qiwi's hand in both her own and bowed her head toward it, weeping. Her words were choked, almost unintelligible. "...don't blame you... .I really don't. I know 'bout your father." She gasped on silent sobs, and after a moment her words came more clearly. "I know you love this Tomas Nau. That's okay. He couldn't manage without you, but we'd probably all be dead then, too."

Qiwi put her other arm around the woman's shoulders. "But I don't love him." The words popped out, surprising her. And Floria looked up, surprised too.

"I mean, I respect him. He saved me when things were worst, after Jimmy killed my mother. But—" Strange to be talking to Floria like this, saying words that before she had said only inside herself. Tomas needed her. He was a good man raised in a terrible, evil system. The proof of his goodness was that he had come as far as he had, that he understood the evil and worked to end it. Qiwi doubted that she could have done as much; she would have been more like Rita and Jau, dumbly accepting, grateful to have evaded the net of Focus. Tomas Nau really wanted to change things. But love him? For all his humor, love, wisdom, there was a...remoteness...to Tomas. She hoped he never realized she felt that about him.And I hope subversive Floria has disabled Ritser's bugs.

Qiwi pushed the thoughts away. For a moment she and Floria just stared at each other, surprised to see the other's heart exposed.Hmm. She gave Floria a little pat on the shoulder. "I've known you for more than a year of shared Watch, and this is the first time there's been any hint you felt this way... ."

Floria released Qiwi's hand, and wiped at the tears that still stood in her eyes. Her voice was almost under control. "Yeah. Before, I could always keep a lid on it. ‘Lie low,' I told myself, ‘and be a proper little conquered Peddler.' We're naturally good at that, don't you think? Maybe it comes from having the long view. But now...You know I had a sister in-fleet?"

"No."I'm sorry. There had been so many Qeng Ho in the fleet before the fighting, and little Qiwi had known so few.

"Luan was a wild card, not too bright, but good with people...the sort a wise Fleet Captain throws in the mix." A smile came close to surfacing, then drowned in bleak remembrance. "I have a doctorate in chemical engineering, but they Focused Luan and left me free. It should have beenme, but they took her instead."

Floria's face twisted with guilt that should not have been. Maybe Floria was immune to permanent infection by the mindrot, like many of the Qeng Ho. Or maybe not. Tomas needed at least as many free as Focused, else the system would die the death of details. Qiwi opened her mouth to explain, but Floria wasn't listening.

"I lived with that. And I kept track of Luan. They Focused her on theirart . Watch-on-Watch, she and her gang carved out those friezes on Hammerfest. You probably saw her a hundred times."

Yes, that is surely true.The carving gangs were the lowest of the Focused jobs. It wasn't the high creation of Ali Lin or the translators. The patterns of the Emergent "legend art" left nothing to creativity. The workers beetled down the diamond corridors, centimeter by centimeter, scooping tiny bits from the walls according to the master pattern. Ritser's original plan had been that the project burn up all the "waste human resources," working them without medical care unto death.

"But they don't work Watch-on-Watch anymore, Floria." That had been one of Qiwi's earliest triumphs over Ritser Brughel. The carving was made lighter work, and medical resources were made available to all who remained awake. The carvers would live through the Exile, to the manumissions that Tomas had promised.

Floria nodded. "Right, and even though our Watches were almost disjoint, I still kept track of Luan. I used to hang around the corridors, pretending to be passing through whenever other people came along. I even talked to her about that damn filthy art she loved; it was the only thing she could talk about, ‘The Defeat of the Frenkisch Orc.' " Floria all but spat the title. Her anger faded, and she seemed to wilt. "Even so, I still could see her and maybe, if I was a good little Peddler, she would be free someday. But now..." She turned to look at Qiwi and her voice once more lost its steadiness. "...now she's gone, not even on the roster. They claim her coffin failed. They claim she died in coldsleep. The lying, treacherous,bastards..."

Qeng Ho coldsleep boxes were so safe that the failure rate was a kind of statistical guess, at least under proper use and for spans of less than 4Gsec. Emergent equipment was flakier, and since the fighting, nobody's gear was absolutely trustable. Luan's death was most likely a terrible accident, just another echo of the madness that had nearly killed them all.And how can I convince poor Floria of this? "I guess we can't be certain of anything we are told, Floria. The Emergents have an evil system. But... I was on one hundred percent Watch for a long time. I'm on fifty percent even now. I've been into almost everything. And you know, in all that time, I haven't caught Tomas in a lie."

"Okay," grudgingly.

"And why would anyone want to kill Luan?"

"I didn't say ‘kill.' And maybe your Tomas doesn't know. See, I wasn't the only one who hung around the diamond carvers. Twice, I saw Ritser Brughel. Once he had all the women together, and was behind them, just watching. The other time...the other time it was just him and Luan."

"Oh." The word came out very small.

"I don't have evidence. What I saw was nothing more than a gesture, a posture, a look on a man's face. And so I was silent, and now Luan is gone."

Floria's paranoia suddenly seemed quite plausible. Ritser Brughelwas a monster, a monster barely held in check by the Podmaster system. The memory of their confrontation had never left Qiwi, theslap slap slap of his steel baton in his hands as he raged at her. At the time, Qiwi had felt angry triumph at putting him down. Since, she'd realized how scared she should have been. Without Tomas, she surely would have died then...or worse. Ritser knew what would happen if he was caught.

Faking a death, even committing an unsanctioned execution, was tricky. The Podmasters had their own peculiar record-keeping requirements. Unless Ritser was very clever, there would be clues. "Listen, Floria. There are ways I can check on this. You could be right about Luan, but one way or another we'll find out the truth. And if you're right—well, there's no way Tomas can put up with such abuse. He needs all the Qeng Ho cooperating, or none of us have a chance."

Floria looked at her solemnly, then reached round to give her a fierce hug. Qiwi could feel the shivers that passed through her body, but she wasn't crying. After a long moment, Floria said, "Thank you. Thank you. This last Msec, I've been so frightened...so ashamed."

"Ashamed?"

"I love Luan, but Focus made her a stranger. I should have screamed bloody murder when I heard she was gone. Hell, I should have complained when I saw Brughel with her. But I was afraid for myself. Now..." Floria loosened her grip and regarded Qiwi with a shaky smile. "Now, maybe I've endangered someone else, too. But at least you have a chance...and you know, it's possible that she's alive even now, Qiwi. If we can find her soon enough."

Qiwi raised her palm. "Maybe, maybe. Let's see what I can discover."

"Yes." They finished their tea, discussed everything Floria could remember about her sister and what she had seen. She was doing her best now to seem calm, but relief and nervousness made her words come a bit too fast, made her gestures a bit too broad.