Kaze bows to Richter.
"Mr. Richter, I believe your new torch power is influencing your actions if not your long-term decisions. Do you need to set it aside while you plan?"
"No! It's MINE and I ..."
He sees how people are watching him.
"You're ... right, of course," he says slowly. "Christine, would you kindly hold my Torch while we work out our course of action?"
"Sure, Mr. R," she says, and carefully palms the burning brand off of Richter.
"Whoo!" she says afterward. "You're right, it does feel ... different. No wonder Scorchy was always so up!"
"It might be a demon," says Kaze mildly.
Christine: "Wait, what?"
Richter: "Oh, I'm sure it's not a DEMON ... per se. Just a spirit with strong inclinations, forceful opinions on ... burning things ... odd, I feel a bit less focused without it. Christine, if I could just borrow that back for a moment --"
Christine: "A DEMON? I want this thing out of me!"
She makes shooing motions with her hands, and foot-long streamers of flame leap forth.
Mrs. Sullivan captures the flames and confines them against her bosom.
"It is not a demon, Miss Tay-un," she says soothingly. "You will grow used to it in time. Do not be alarmed."
That seems to help, some.
Richter: "Well, never mind ... I can see this is going to be difficult. I'll soldier on without it. Now, ladies and gents: go straight for Hitomi, or keep him under the eye until we're ready? Is there really a lot else we need to do?"
Kaze, after raising an eyebrow at Mrs. Sullivan to see if it acceptable since she is otherwise occupied, elegantly pours Mr. Richter--and anyone else who wants it--some tea.
"While it would be... wrong--and foolish... to set the local, mundane authorities on him, perhaps other allies might be employed to delay him... or herd him ... into a more advantageous position for us. It would have to be someone who was working at a distance, not knowing what he was being asked to do--or someone who could shield himself and any others involved."
She adds hastily, "...I do not recommend keeping them uninformed as a matter of guile, but rather one of caution. Should he be using powers of detection."
Richter: "Sure, sure ... he's still a Reader, after all. He'll know what they know."
"Come to think of it, though, there's no reason we can't use a private eye."
"And you can hire such a person... without it being traced?"
ReplyDeleteRichter: "Aw, sure, the right kind of money papers over a lot of questions ... all of 'em, for a certain type of guy."
ReplyDeleteSaburo, who has remained silent up till now: "The longer we let him recover, the stronger Hitomi will be when he returns. We should attack, even if we have no chance of success, to cost him the initiative."
He stands up.
"I volunteer to attack Hitomi to buy you more time. You will use this time wisely, I hope."
Richter is nonplussed.
"Suicide isn't good strategy," he says.
"Begging your pardon, but is it not so that when you went over the top in the Great War, you knew you were likely to die? But you did so for the sake of your race. It seems to me that the situations are alike, but perhaps you will explain to me how they are not."
Kaze shakes her head.
Delete"Saburo, if anyone should be buying time, it should be I. He will not immediately attack me."
She gives a slight smile and shrug of her shoulders.
"I could no doubt delay him for several hours if I offered to serve him tea--properly."
"For our ways are not your ways, Mr. Richter."
Nick Voinovich: "In the spirit of cultural curiosity, what exactly does 'properly' serving tea constitute? In your ways."
ReplyDelete"To explain would also require hours--as well as demonstration... and regretfully, we are not at our leisure."
ReplyDeleteAmused. "The chaji celebrates both inner and outer beauty. Properly done, it occupies perhaps four hours."
That explains exactly none of what Nick wanted to know -- but it does remind him that if the answer is as he fears, he would rather it weren't stated in mixed company.
ReplyDelete