Roofrats 20

"So, would you prefer now, or do you have to report back, want to get a rest...?" She got up and took a step or two in Weft's direction.

Weft stepped backwards the same amount. "I-I'm not clean," he blurted.

Nico stopped dead and said, "You don't look that dirty." Oh. "Or is that a spiritual-religious thing?"

"Yes," said a relieved Weft, "I'd get you both ritually impure if I came too near."

I doubt I'm ritually pure by your standards, anyway. She kept that to herself, and a tiny, impish impulse of trying to hug him as a demonstration in check.

"Well, then. When would it suit you?"

"I can talk right now if you don't mind me keeping my distance. Otherwise... getting cleaned up takes an hour or more." Weft had a hangdog expression. He'd obviously wasted her time already and didn't want to waste more.

Having gotten the idea that wossname, Tort?, didn't like Weft, she did not want to have that talk in front of him. And apart from that-

"That's no problem. I can take a walk and come back later. It's not like I had any other plans." She sounded cheerful, and she really didn't mind at all.

Weft wiped off the blood under his eye. A little more welled up. "If... it... sorry for the inconvenience," he settled on.

"Weft, I'll catch up with you later, when I can hug you without having to take a bath," the novice told him, picking up his paperwork again.

"Thanks, Tort." Weft gave Nico another look, then slunk off.

"There are nice parks round here," the youngster mentioned to Nico.

"Yes, I noticed," Nico answered cheerfully. "Thanks a lot for the interesting chat."

"My pleasure," he said, equally genuinely if not more. "And thank you for warning me about the rain of husks."

"You're welcome." Half turning to leave already, she said, "Ah, speaking of warnings... There are quite a few parts where 'moron' is more or less a swearword, so you might want to avoid it when talking about valued people to aliens." She had difficulties staying angry at the boy, so that did not come out with the sarcastic edge she had planned.

"Hmm." The youngster smiled. "They don't believe in shielding us from harsh truths here. Or that stupidity is something of which to be ashamed. 'Alien' is used as a term of abuse in some places, too. Thank you once again, though; I'll take your kind counsel under advisement."

For example most people in this city have a rather low opinion of aliens. "Sorry I kept you from your work. Good bye!"

Nico headed out of the yard, chuckling under her breath. Slippery fellow. She thought that if they weren't so discouraged from thinking, they wouldn't have turned into 'morons', but she didn't feel like argiung.

Paying no attention to the other two's parting words, Weft headed to the basement of one of the buildings. There he stripped and dipped himself into one of the specially consecrated baths - not for long enough to wet his hair through, of course, or it would have been flat and lifeless for days - afterwards emerging and washing in the normal manner with flannels.

After this he put on a light bathrobe, fixed his hair, checked he didn't need to wax and placed his used clothes and cloths into a hopper ready for washing. Then he headed into one of the smaller rooms used for repurification. It was small and plain with a wooden grille for a floor, the boiler room being beneath that and providing a pleasant warmth.

Weft lit some dish candles, which slowly filled the air with the smell of aseptic flowers while he knelt, prayed and remade his vows.

It wouldn't have been very exciting to watch.

He emerged, dressed (in the appropriate colours instead of black, now he wasn't on a job), applied disinfectant to the cut beneath his eye while contemplating how clumsy he'd been to acquire it, then headed out to meet Nico.

Really he didn't want to do anything but curl up close to his brothers until he stopped feeling sick from the murder he'd committed, but he had guessed Nico had found out about the guard detail and intended to chew him out, and it was forbidden to avoid any rightful consequences of your actions.

(Except for murder and any other laws you broke in the course of your duties. But special arrangements were made for that.)

Weft asked in which direction Nico had left, received an answer and headed for the appropriate park. He climbed a wall rather than use the gate and paused to look around.

A couple of kids was watching him in awe, so he winked at them and performed a backward somersault onto a branch. The park trees were veterans when it came to this kind of treatment, and didn't complain about a light adult hopping from tree to tree while he looked for someone.

Nico, by contrast, was on the way back towards the monastery in a more pedestrian fashion. She'd wanted to be back early, but misjudged the time. Anyone familiar with her species of body language, or body language of her species, would read her as 'eager' rather than 'angry/aggressive'.

There was a certain amount of rustling overhead.

The trees in Offwhite's parks, certainly in well-tended districts, were cultivated to strict standards. Though broad in the trunk and branch, they were all of modest height, none of them as tall as the city's largest buildings.

One particular one just ahead of Nico also contained a Weft, who swung nonchalantly down and landed on his feet, making very little noise in the process. He was now more colourful, less tattered and making a good attempt not to look ill.

"I believe you wanted me, ma'am?" he tweeted, rejecting an urge to bow with a flourish as entirely unprofessional.

All things considered, she was rather unsurprised about the entrance. "Yes. Thanks for meeting me so soon." She looked in the middle distance for a moment, recovering the point where she wanted to begin.

"So. I heard that I got a minder assigned without being told, because you thought if I knew about it I'd go off and try to get killed. But things tend to get distorted in retelling, so I'd really like to hear from you what the idea was." She sounded rather chipper, though there was a slight edge when she mentioned Weft's supposed motivation.

Ah, straight to the point. He sobered up fast.

"That about covers it, except for it being my idea. I told them you might get annoyed and interfere if you knew."

Nico put a hand over her eyes to rub her temples. "I'm a bit confused. Could you please elaborate who had which idea?" Half a beat later she added, "I'm not planning to complain to anyone else, just like to know what happened."

"Oh, you can complain. I'll find you someone better to complain to if you want. See, when I got told to follow you I was asked if you were the type who'd like flashing a bodyguard around or who'd find it inconvenient. And I said probably the second, because I thought if we told you 'hey, defenceless person, we think you're in danger', you might take it as a challenge.

"You're free to tell me I was wrong and suggest I go and get myself run over if you like. It's fine." Weft, serious-faced and not the slightest bit furtive, watched her and wondered what she was thinking.