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Mercy took Skeet’s place, he says

You should of stopped her, I says

Why? Becuz she’s yer friend?

She’s lame, Jack She’s weak

She wanted to, he says She insisted Said now that Skeet’s gone, she’s the only one who can do it an she’s right

We need her fer the babyhouses, I says

That’s all in hand, he says The midwife Mercy worked with, I’ve moved her to Sector Seven now It’s rollin out, like you wanted

I lean aginst the wall Tip ht sky above All I can see is Mercy’s poor back With its shiny white shawl of whip scars I don’t want her in the slave gangs, I says

Too bad, she’s there an there she stays, he says We’re all committed to yer plan This is what it looks like Losses an wins an riskin our lives fer e believe

I know, I says Well, I cain’t say I’ she kept that raggy old tunic

Speakin of raggy, what happened to you? He feels the salt-heavy wet of ht us out on the Slabway Guess it didn’t h me I’m suddenly chilled

C’s from his coat an wraps it around me It’s warm from his body It smells of him There, that’s better, he says

Earlier … I says, at Edenhome, I--I’m sorry, it was ht It could of bin bad

No harit in there or even if we should If you got any ideas, I could sure use ’em

Later, he says You do look tired

It’s this place, New Eden, I says It’s closin in on hter All these trees an roots an neat patches of land an tidy parcels of sky There ain’t no long views That’s the worst of it, I think

There’s soh likes it here, I says I’o anywhere, Jack, right nohere would you go?

Somewhere I ain’t never bin, he says I’ve had too much of land, I’ll tell you that Did you notice at the top of thatstretch of open water Ran right off the edges There was a river marked Flowed north into it I’d find that river an follow it along till I reached that big stretch of water Once I hit it, I’d find oin

He pulls the coat collar around ers Then it strays up my throat to wander my face I watch hiht of race As I drown myself deep in his silver-lake eyes

Don’t look at me like that, he says

Don’t touch me like that, I says

I told you how it stands, he says

You did, I says I reently I undo his shirt an smooth it away An I bless my lips to his heart To the red risin sun crudely inked on his flesh His Tonton blood tattoo, that he earned servin justice on ticked men My lips crawl the scar road on his chest, hard won in the service of friendship He was safely away but turned back to save Ike Got flayed near to death by a hellwurm’s claws The tattoo, the scars, they’re beautiful to me They confess the man that he is I cain’t see the wounds inside of him So I honour the ones I can see