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“That’s funny”

“It’s not“I stay busy”

“There are other ways to stay busy Meaningful ways”

“Tried that” My hand instinctively drifts to my chest where the scars from the Gold are hidden undermy hand I drop it “Didn’t take” Her datapad buzzes on her ar down

“Grand theft’s gone up They’ve got a task force now The Sovereign is tired of this city’s culture being plundered for the highest bidder”

“The Sovereign, eh How’s old Lionheart? Still giving out Amnesty passes to murderers and slavers?”

“That still under your skin?”

“Grays: short in life, long in le? Tell nia? I bet they do Maybe a flying tiger or a lion with a sword in its lustrous mouth?”

“You were the one who chose to leave the Rising, Eph”

“You knohy I left”

“If you didn’t like how things were going, you could have stuck around,in the cheap seats, throwing bottles”

“Make a difference?” I smile nastily “You knohen the Hyperion Trials started, I thought there’d finally be soht the Golds would finally pay the bill Even after Endymion, even after what they did to ot cold feet Sure, soh-up psychos frorave, but ot full pardons because she needed their men, their money, their ships So much for justice”

Holiday holds aze, willful

After Trigg died on that Martian peak, I joined the Rising More for revenge than anything else I wasn’t a believer Eventually they putof Gold culture to use hunting Peerless war criminals down Used to call ourselves “scar hunters” Just another slick name

I know I shouldn’t press the politics with her She’s as thick in the head and set in her ways as ever Just another grunt seduced by the pretty de me care