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Avasarala frowned The Mikhaylov was part of a s the traffic between the deep stations orbiting at the far edge of the Belt

“Going deep where?”

“I asked around,” Gloria said “Ganyuyen?”

“Yes”

“Your friend has loose lips,” Avasarala said

“I never tell hiht you should know”

“I owe you,” Avasarala said Gloria nodded once, the movement sharp as a crow’s, and dropped the connection Avasarala sat in silence for a longthe chains of iuyen was sendingit quietly

The why quietly part was siuyen was young and he was a conclusions of his own, and so more forces into the open sore that was Ganys better

“Oh, Nani!” Kiki called From the lilt of her voice, Avasarala knew there was mischief afoot She hefted herself up from the desk and headed for the door

“In here, Kiki,” she said, stepping out into the kitchen

The water balloon hit her in the shoulder without bursting, bobbled down to the floor, and popped at her feet, turning the stone tiles around her dark Avasarala looked up, rage-faced Kiki stood in the doorway leading to the yard, caught between fear and delight

“Did you just irl nodded

“Do you knohat happens to bad children who et tickled?”

“They get tickled!” Avasarala said, and bolted for her Of course Kiki got away She was a child of eight The only ti too fast And of course, eventually she let her nani catch her and tickle her until she screaather up their children for the flight back to Novgorod, Avasarala had grass stains on her sari and her hair was standing off her scalp in all directions, like the cartoon ied the children twice before they left, sneaking bits of chocolate to thehter, nodded to her son-in-law, and waved to them all from her doorway The security team followed their car No one so closely related to her was safe fro It was just another fact of life

Her shoas long, using a lavish volume of water almost too hot for co, ever since she was a girl If her skin didn’t tingle and throb a little when she toweled off, she’d done it wrong

Arjun was on the bed, reading seriously from his hand terminal She walked to her closet, threw the wet towel into the haed into a cotton-weave robe