He gave a weary sigh."I'm arbitrary now!As Guild Master, I have more than a partner's stake in keeping your brain unscrambled."
"I didn't want you to be Guild Master."
"You've made that clear," he said, and his eyes flashed at her before once again he relented."We were the best duet the Guild ever had.I've seen the printout of our aggregate cuttings.Impressive!"The smile he gave her was suddenly boyish, and she felt her heart unseize as the Lars she knew so intimately surfaced briefly."Now let's scramble.I'm not risking you, or me."
In far better charity with each other, they returned to the Guild.By then the storm warnings were far-flung, and sleds from all sectors began pouring into the Hangar.Lars was calling for assistance to unload their crystal just as the flight officer handed him a comunit with the message that the call had top priority.
"I'll take ours through Sorting," Killa told him when he looked expectantly at her.
For a moment she watched his tall figure stride to the nearest exit, his head bent as he listened to the priority call.Someone else needing black crystal?
Guild Master's cut also took priority in the Sorting Shed and Killa waved her cartons toward Clodine's stall.She ignored the Sorter's initial nervousness and did her best to be pleasant.It was the cut that helped restore Clodine to their previous easy relationship.The market price of the blues would have been enough to appease the most desperate singer.
Once assured of the hefty credit balance, Killashandra became aware of externals-like the crystal pong emanating from her person and her clothes.Jauntily she strode to her quarters.As she palmed open the door, she heard the radiant liquid ploshing into the tub and smiled.That was nice of Lars.A good long soak, something to eat, and she would be back to normal.Well, as normal as any crystal singer ever was.At least she had worked free of all that crystal cramp.Good cutting was what she had really needed to cure it.
The moment she toggled the food dispenser, the screen lit up to display Lars's face.
"Killa?That's a handy total on the blues," he said.
"Shards, I wanted to tell you myself," she said, feeling a surge of disgruntlement.
"I've ordered up a meal here, if you'd care to join me…" The hesitant tone of his invitation struck her as atypical, but it pleased her that this Guild Master was not as autocratic as Lanzecki had been.
"I think I might at that," Killa said graciously, and canceled the order she had just placed.Dinner with Lars, or for that matter, dinner with the Guild Master, tagged elusive wisps of memory, most of them pleasant.
Looking at the garments in her closet, she picked the one that suited a slightly smug mood and dressed carefully, spending time to comb out her snaggled hair and arrange it attractively.She ought to get it cut short again, she reflected.It had been a nuisance in the Ranges, sweating up and falling into her eyes when she wanted a clear view of her cuts.She peered at her face: she had a tan again, making her eyes brighter, canceling the yellow that had begun to tint the white.She pulled her hands down her cheeks: they were still gaunt, and were those age grooves from her nose to her mouth?She grimaced to smooth them away.Then she frowned.She did look older.She must be very careful not to tax her symbiont again as badly as she must have done to look this way.
As she entered the Guild Master's offices, the first thing she saw was the empty desk, its surface clear of pencil files or any work at all.She frowned.Trag?No, Trag was gone.Lars had not found a suitable assistant.He would have to.No wonder he had been snapping at her in the Ranges.She knew from the amount of work she had seen Lanzecki get through-and that with Trag's help-that the Guild Mastership was no sinecure.She snorted to herself: Lars had been a damned fool to get roped into the job.She bet he hadn't been sailing once since he had become Guild Master!
"When" was not a word she often used, but it suddenly flicked across her consciousness.When had he taken over from Lanzecki?She grunted, canceling that irritating consideration as she continued across the floor to the inner office.
Lars was deep in contemplation of whatever was on his desk screen.He had had time to shower and change; his hair was still damp.To one side, in front of the wide window that overlooked the immense doors of the Hangar, a table had been set, and the enticing odors of some of her favorite foods wafted to her.Becoming aware of someone else in the room, he looked up with a scowl that shifted into a smile as he jumped to his feet.
"Sunny!"He gestured for her to join him at the table, then seated her.
"What are you after now?" she asked, a teasing note in her voice to draw the sting of her cynicism.
"Ah, lovey," he said, dropping a kiss on her cheek before he took his own seat, "give me credit for some altruism."
"Why should I?"
Grinning at her, he searched her face and was evidently satisfied by what he saw.She cocked her head at him.
"So?"
"Eat first, talk later.I'd like to see a little more flesh on your bones before we go out again."
She groaned."So we're not going back out as soon as the storm clears?"
In place of an answer, he served generous portions of her favorite foods on to her plate.When he started to help himself, she saw that he had ordered the nicco spikes she hated even to smell.He grinned when she twitched her nose in disgust.
"You see, I'm not catering entirely to you, Killa Ree, and no, we're not able to go out immediately.Black crystal's not the only one of our products in demand."He ended the sentence abruptly."I'd be able to go quicker if you could see your way clear to giving me a little help."
"I thought helping you was finding black.I'll go alone."
"No!"The single word was so forceful that she stared at him in surprise.Lars hadn't used to take such a tone with her.She bristled, but he reached for her arm, shaking some of the milsi stalks from her half-raised spoon, before his touch softened in apology."No, Killa.Too dangerous.You're not completely over the deprivation and you'd thrall.Especially if you were cutting black alone."
While she still resisted his prohibition, she had to admit that she would be extremely vulnerable to black thrall.She also had to admit that she had been in a terrible state when they had gone out: as near as made no never mind to being a crystallized cripple.They might have been searching for black crystal, but she was bloody lucky they hadn't found any.Green thrall had been deep enough.She owed him a lot for risking his own neck taking her out at all in that state.
"So, what do you need done, Guild Master?" she asked flippantly.
He smiled, with genuine relief."Thanks, Sunny, I really appreciate it."
"So?"
"Eat first," he said."I can't think when my stomach's clinging to my backbone."
She was hungrier than she had thought and quite willing to concentrate on eating.Odd how a full belly could reduce resistance to unpalatable business.
When they had cleared the last morsel from the platters, Lars leaned back, patting his stomach and smiling.
"That's better.Now, if you could finish rounding up the figures and prices on the accounts I have on the screen, then I can go salve wounded feelings."
"Whose?"
"Clarend and Ritwili have legitimate grievances which must be addressed, and I've a delegation to meet at Shankill that I can no longer postpone."
"I might be better with the delegation than with the files," she suggested warily.
"It's the sort of thing you've done for Lanzecki before.D'you remember the Apharian contingent?Well, I've got the Blackwell Triad looking for favors now.Similar circumstances, similar solution, but I need the account figures on hand."
"Bor-ring," she said, rolling her eyes.
"A lot of what I have to do is boring, and yet…" Lars regarded her, his wide mouth curling in a grin,"I rather like finding out how this Guild hangs together against all comers."