Lois Bujold - Cryoburn

Mina leaned toward Miles-san and whispered anxiously, “That big guy isn’t a policeman, is he?”

“Used to be,” Miles-san whispered back gravely, “but now he works for me. Alas, Armsman Roic had to give up all his policeman’s principles when he entered my service.”

The big man cast Mina a pious nod.

Mina settled back, looking relieved, and let the slim man, who Miles-san introduced as Raven and said was a doctor from Escobar, attend to her feet. Vorlynkin watched closely, frowning, till he seemed to be satisfied with the skills displayed, then straightened up and narrowed his eyes at Jin. The big fellow, Armsman Roic, filled two glasses with water and set them on the table; Mina seized hers and drank thirstily, and Jin followed suit more warily.

When he’d washed down the dry lump in his throat, which actually had little to do with thirst, Jin embarked once more on his interrupted explanation of what had happened to the consulate’s money. Vorlynkin winced when Jin came to the part about the drug dealers and/or smugglers, but at Miles-san’s restraining hand-gesture, the consul let Jin stumble all the way to the end before saying, “We know. We traced the packet to the police evidence rooms, and picked up your arrest report, too.”

So they did believe him. That was something, anyway.

“Yes,” said Miles-san, “and I’m sure the consul thanks you for keeping mum and preserving his reputation. Don’t you, Vorlynkin?”

Vorlynkin’s lips compressed in an expression anything but grateful, but he choked out a, “Certainly.”

Then, through what Jin reluctantly recognized as a skillful series of questions—some put to Jin though many to Mina—Miles-san drew out the story of Jin’s escape from the custody of his aunt and uncle. By the time Johannes returned, balancing a stack of pizza boxes, two liters of milk, and more beer, Jin was afraid there wasn’t much Miles-san didn’t understand about Aunt Lorna, Uncle Hikaru, and cousins Tetsu and Ken. It made Jin feel uncomfortably exposed.

Miles-san kicked a stepstool to the sink and made Jin and Mina wash their hands, following up himself as if to enforce the good example. Lieutenant Johannes watched him mount the stepstool, glanced at the impassive Roic, and bit his lip. Miles-san, the consul, Jin and Mina then sat four around the kitchen table, that being all the chairs there were; Roic and the others leaned against the counter. Setting out the boxes and a roll of disposable wipes, the lieutenant said, “I checked the comconsole. Both these kids were reported missing yesterday. Every police officer in town must be on the lookout for them.”

Consul Vorlynkin pressed a hand to the bridge of his nose.

Jin bolted upright in alarm. “You can’t turn us in!”

Miles-san waved him back down. “No one is doing anything till after we eat.” He looked over the aromatic offering. “What, no vegetables? Don’t you two need vegetables?”

“No, we don’t!” said Mina. Jin shook his head vigorously in support.

Miles-san bit into his slice. “Ah, perhaps not. This does seem very healthy. And tasty.”

Mina, at least, dove readily into the first hot food they’d had for two days. Jin, overwhelmed by the aroma, followed suit. The consulate bought good pizza, not the cheapest frozen kind that Aunt Lorna served. The consul barely sipped his beer, Miles-san had water, and big Roic, to Jin’s surprise, after first pouring out for Jin and Mina, helped himself to a small glass of milk.

All this redirection might have worked to calm Jin, except Vorlynkin, after swallowing his first bite, said, “The consulate can’t harbor runaways, Lord Vorkosigan. Their guardians must be frantic.”

“We don’t want to stay here,” said Jin. “I want to get back to my creatures!”

Miles-san waved his nibbled pizza slice in the air. “Asylum?”

“That’s not amusing even as a joke,” said Vorlynkin. “Do you have any idea of the legal complications involved in giving political asylum to minors?”

“I’m not sure I was joking, exactly,” Miles-san said mildly. “But wait for the children to eat, please.”

Vorlynkin’s jaw tightened, but he nodded. After Jin and Mina could eat no more, and Johannes offered more wipes and put the leftovers away in the refrigerator for breakfast, just like at home, Miles-san leaned back in his chair and said, “I suggest we repair downstairs. The seats will be more comfortable.”

The other Barrayarans all gave Miles-san funny looks, but recalling Uncle Hikaru’s daily after-dinner saying, when shifting into his big chair, of Out of the bleachers and into the box seats! , Jin saw no objection to this. Yet when they’d all shuffled down the stairs after Miles-san, the room into which he led them only boasted four chairs, all officey-looking swivel types. Miles-san gestured Mina and Jin into a seat each, took one himself, and left the other three men to sort themselves out. Johannes parked one haunch on the long table shoved up to the wall, Raven-sensei copied him, and Vorlynkin, mouth pinched, dropped into the remaining chair.

“This is a funny vid room,” Mina remarked, staring around and swinging her feet, now encased in a pair of Miles-san’s socks donated to keep her bandages clean. When Roic closed the door and blandly sat cross-legged on the floor beside it, the air grew awfully hushed, and for the first time Jin wondered if this was a safe place to have brought her, and not just from the risk of being betrayed to the authorities. He kind of trusted Miles-san, or he would have been inclined to grab her and bolt. Though given Roic and that thick door, would that impulse have come too late…

Miles-san laced his hands together between his knees, and said, “Suze the Secretary told me something of the story of your mother, Jin, Mina. So when I got back here I looked up what I could about her on the planetary net. It made me very curious. I really don’t understand how it was she came to be frozen, when she wasn’t sick or dying, or even convicted of any crime.”

Jin’s tasty dinner suddenly felt like lead in his stomach.

“What do you—either of you—remember about your mother?” Miles-san went on. “Not personal things, but about her work, her cause. Especially anything that might have happened about the time of the riot at her rally, or just before she was arrested?”

Jin and Mina looked at each other uneasily. Jin said, “Mom didn’t talk to us much about her work. When she was doing anything, she mostly left us at Aunt Lorna’s unless I was in school. Then she just left Mina.”

“Aunt Lorna wasn’t too happy about all the babysitting,” Mina said.

“Yah, she said she hadn’t volunteered for this and didn’t much like being drafted.”

“And she was sorry about Daddy, but maybe if Mommy really cared that much she’d do better to stay home and look after his kids herself.” Mina looked away, frowning.

Jin put in hastily, “But she only said things like that when she was feeling ’specially cranky.” Not that he was fond of Aunt Lorna, but these galactics were outsiders, after all, and it felt funny to be talking about his family like this in front of them. And Mom had said you should always try to be fair.

“Didn’t your mother ever take you along to her meetings?”

Mina shook her head. “She said they weren’t for kids, and we’d just get bored and kick up a fuss.”

“Huh.” Miles-san rubbed his chin. “When I was a youngster Jin’s age, at home, I was often permitted to sit in on my father’s meetings with his, er, professional colleagues. My grandfather had done the same with him. I learned more just by the osmosis than I realized at the time. Of course, I had to stay quiet and make myself useful, or leave, naturally.”