Antillar Maximus

"I look like the crows've already picked me over, yes," he agrees with a sigh. "I know. And I'm sure Kitai will be by soon to drag me back into bed. But while I'm still up, I'm getting something done."

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Max barks a sudden laugh and leers, "I'm sure that Kitai will drag you back to bed and you'll still be up."

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That gets Max a shove and a mock-glare.

"Do you ever manage to pull your mind from the gutter?"

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"Oh," Max grins unrepentantly, "Are you saying I'm wrong?"

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"I'm saying--"

He scrubs his face again.

"I don't know what I'm saying."

Kitai was rather up front about their activities. So up front, on fact, that they'd been caught a few times already by messengers bringing information to him. Tavi, however, was the only one who turned red.

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Max laughs heartily. "It's about time, Calderan. There were days back at the Academy when I despaired of you ever finding a woman," he teases.

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"I was already claimed," he points out with a small laugh of his own. "Well and truly claimed. By the Marat Ambassador, no less."

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Max lets out a long-suffering sigh, "You weren't when you first arrived. You spent two years avoiding all the perfectly ~~attractive~~ nice girls I tried to set you up with."

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"First of all," he points out. "I was busy. On top of that, whether I knew it or not, I was already claimed. And I seriously doubt Kitai would have taken to some other girl on my arm all that well."

He hadn't told Max the extent of his bond with Kitai, but the other man was a trained Cursor. Surely he'd noticed that the pale girl's eyes matched his own exactly.

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What Max noticed, and what he admitted to noticing, were certainly two different things. But on this point, he was willing to concede that Tavi was right. Thinking about it, he laughs, "Great Furies, that would have been something to see." Kitai had made an impression on Max, even if she were a Marat.

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"In the manner of things I'd rather leave to the crows," he says with a faint smile of his own.

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Kitai's silent movement, coupled with the distraction of an ongoing conversation, mean that the first hint of her approach comes when she speaks, "What is it you would rather leave to the crows, Aleran?"

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He doesn't startle. That's the last thing her voice does to him.

The tips of his ears, however, go a little red.

"Nothing important, Kitai," he tells her with a smile.

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Her expression doesn't change as she stares at Tavi for a long moment, then she shakes her head, "I don't think I will ever understand you, Aleran."

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"Probably not. It's my only chance, after all."

He gives Max a sideways look before returning his attention to her.

"Anything around the camp I should know?"

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"Other than that you Alerans are all crazy?" her tone is serious. "The camp followers have been discussing leaving. They are glad that you have won, but I do not think they believe you can do it again."

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"Bloody crows," he growls before shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. Too short, still.

"What does Mistress... I mean, Tribune Cymnea have to say about it?"

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"She is doing what she can, and many listen to her, but there are mutters that of course she wants everyone to stay since you made her Tribune." She shakes her head, "Your people are too divided, Aleran. None of the clans could survive if they spent all their time arguing over who was in charge and whether or not to obey them."

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"But they're still my people," he points out quietly. "And their difficulties don't make it any less my duty to lead them."

And take care of them.

"Find out some of the leaders of this so called 'deserters' group and tell them they've been promoted to Subtribunes under Tribune Cymnea. If they're going to organize the camp followers, let's have them do it for us instead of against us."

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Kitai shakes her head in doubt rather than refusal, "You would put those who oppose you in positions of power?"

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"It'll keep them in sight," he says with a smile. "And it'll turn their own rhetoric against them. Add to that the fact that they'll be so busy doing their work that they won't have time to inspire others to leave and it's the best solution I can see. Fear isn't going to work, because I can't make them more scared of me than they are of the Canim. And as we haven't actually gotten anything from the capitol, yet, I can't use that. So I'm going to have to tire the insurrection out of them."

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Still shaking her head, this time in bemusement, Kitai answers, "You are often right about these sorts of things, maybe it is because you yourself share the same sort of craziness."

Her tone and stance shift suddenly, "And what are you doing out here anyway?"

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He slings his thumb towards Max.

"I was getting a status report and about to go looking for you. Why?"

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"Because," she reaches out to poke him squarely in the chest, "You should be asleep."

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