Page 19 (1/2)

"Carrow," she says, sounding glad She ood She sestures to the people in the courtyard "Everyone else has discovered this place"

She’s right I can count at least fourteen other people sitting in the sun "I’ve been wanting to talk to you," I say "So happened in our last transfer"

"What was it?" she asks

"A patient came in with a more acute form of the rash"

"What did it look like?"

I tell her about the lesions and what the virologist said I try to explain selective pressure to her but I do a bad job of it Still, she catches on "So it’s possible that the cure caused the mutation," she says

"If it even is a mutation," I say "None of the other patients have a similar rash Of course, it could be that they haven’t had time for it to manifest yet"

"I wish I could see the about the patients, but then I see that she’s gesturing in the direction where the mountains would be if the walls didn’t block them out "I alondered how people lived without uess I know"

"I never missed them," I say All we had in Oria was the Hill and I never really cared about that I always liked the little places--the lawn at First School, the bright blue of the swih before they took theain, but this time without the Society

"My other na us both "I don’t think I ever told you that"

"Mine is Nea," she says

"That’s good to know," I say And it is, even though on’t break protocol and use each other’s first na

"What I like best about hie of subject almost abrupt, "is that he is never afraid Except when he fell in love with me But even then, he didn’t back down"

It takesto say, and before I can coain

"So what do you like about her?" Lei asks "Your Match?"

"All of it," I say "Everything" I hold ain, I’ and I’m not sure why it’s so hard for et frustrated with me but she doesn’t She nods "I understand that, too," she says

My tiet back," I say "Ti"

"This all comes naturally to you," Lei says "Doesn’t it?"

"What do youcare of people" She’s looking in the direction of thelast suned to Camas?"

"No," I say Back then, I was ho to o "Why?"

"You re the su?"

She’s s, but she looks sad "They come all the way back from the sea"

"That seems impossible," I say

"It does," she says "But they do And they change completely on the journey When they live in the ocean, they’re blue with silver backs But by the tireen heads"

I’m not sure what she thinks this has to do withto say is that you’ve found your way home You were born to help people, and you’ll find a way to do that, no matter where you are Just like the redfish are born to find their way back from the ocean"

"Thank you," I say

For a second, I think about telling her everything, including what I really did to get the blue tablets But I don’t "Tiet back to work," I say to Lei, and I dump the last of the water in my canteen on the newroses near our bench and head for the door

I walk along the backs of the houses in Mapletree Borough, near the food delivery tracks Even though it’s late and nodelivered, I can hear the soft scrape-whine of the carts in o past Cassia’s house I want to reach out and touch one of the shutters or tap on a , but of course I don’t

I coh, where the recreation areas are cluether, and before I even have time to wonder where the Archivist is he appears beside ht behind the pool," he says

"I know," I tell hihborhood and I know exactly where I ah dive looht sound like locust wings grating

He climbs over the fence swiftly and I follow I almost say, "The pool’s closed We can’t be here," but, obviously, we are

A group of people waits under the high dive "All you have to do is draw their blood," the Archivist tellscold

"We’re taking tissue preservation samples," the Archivist says "We all want control of our own You knew this"