Thresholder

“Alright,” said Perry. “Try to hit me.”

He was in Moon Stance, one of the most basic that Moon Gate taught: feet wide apart and body low to the ground. The first sphere, Li Xiaoling, was in the same stance, with no small amount of anger in his eyes. Perry wasn’t well-liked among the first spheres, for a variety of reasons. He was a foreigner, and they knew that he had jumped up to the second sphere with hardly any training at all. He was also still weak, by second sphere standards, even with three weeks of training and meditation under his belt. And there was the whole issue with Marchand, who they thought might be a man trapped inside armor and mind controlled into being a slave.

Li Xiaoling came in close, and Perry executed the Lunar Sling, grabbing the fist as it whistled by and using the power of the punch to flip Li Xiaoling onto the ground. Three weeks ago, he would have said that it was perfect, but now he could see the flaws that still remained in his technique. His wrist had turned slightly too much, which caused his leg to twist a fraction, which put him off balance for any followup. He would have to fix that later, run the exercise another dozen times with a focus on that one specific thing, and even then, there would still be flaws remaining.

“Good,” said Perry as he helped Li Xiaoling to his feet. “You have fine form and powerful fists.”

“Thank you,” he replied. There was no warmth in his voice, and he didn’t meet Perry’s eyes.

All of the students were a little cold to him, and Perry just shrugged it off. He wanted to make a good impression. After three weeks, he had been asked to do something he actually knew how to do, which was acting as a teaching assistant. He’d been watching the classes off and on, and knew more or less what the style was. He’d practiced the moves, mostly in private, and sometimes with Luo Yanhua. She had described him as ‘competent’, which had felt good given her previous assessments of his technique. There was a long, long way to go, but he was finally at the base of the mountain. That was one of the reasons he’d been asked to help train the students.

Maya was watching from the sidelines, arms crossed. They saw each other at meals and sometimes at night, but otherwise didn’t overlap their schedules all that much. She hadn’t been putting in the time to learn Moon Gate’s techniques, and from what she’d said, most of her effort had gone toward what she called interlinking, an attempt to get different ‘magic systems’ to speak with one another. So far, that hadn’t paid off, which might have been why she was a little cross with him.

Zhang Meihua was the next to come at him, and he slowed himself down, allowing her to strike him. This was, in certain conditions, an acceptable way to teach — he was standing in for someone of her own skill level, not reacting as quickly as he could. There were rules about how and when something like that could be done, and they didn’t necessarily make sense to Perry. You weren’t supposed to say that you were slowing down, nor was your opponent, you were both supposed to understand that was what happened. Letting her hit land was a way of saying ‘good job, well done’.

Zhang Meihua got back into position right away, serious and set, face like stone. She went again, and again Perry tried his best to mimic someone of her level. He took the hit to the shoulder, what they called a splashing strike.

She reset a third time, breathing a little harder, and her form was slightly off, her stance too wide. He dodged — not overly faster, just as a first sphere would — and struck her in the clavicle, which sent her off her footing but not to the ground, wincing in pain.

“Why was that wrong?” she asked. It was just shy of a demand, which would have been unacceptable given the difference in rank.

Perry stepped back, studying her, miming the emotional remove of the second sphere teachers. The evening sun was draping the courtyard in hues of gold, and wind was rustling through the trees. A few people had stopped to watch the exchange, and as the moments passed, the silence grew.

“Your stance,” Perry began, pointing at her feet. “It was too wide. We keep a wide stance for power, low to the earth, but for balance and control you need to be higher. When you’re that wide, you’re practically inviting your opponent to topple you over.” He spread his legs wide, exaggerating how she’d been. “It’s easy to tip.”

She nodded.

“Secondly, your breathing,” he said, voice calm and steady. The trick was to focus on facts, even if it felt like she was judging him. “Your breath is as important as your movement. Exhale when you strike, inhale when you move or evade. You were resetting fast, because you wanted to get it right, have a fast turnaround, but that meant your body was starved for air. Your rhythm was off. You want to maintain the rhythm, conserve energy.”

She nodded again, slower this time.

He pointed to her shoulder. “You exposed yourself to that attack. The splashing strike is powerful, but it leaves you open if the execution isn’t perfect. You let yourself be sloppy.”

She was silent for a moment, cheeks pink, breathing returning to normal. “Thank you, teacher,” she said, giving him a rigid bow.

“Again?” he asked.

“We’re losing the light,” said Luo Yanhua, who was striding toward him. “We will bring this training session to its end.”

The students wandered off, and Perry watched them go. He turned to Luo Yanhua. “How did I do?”

“You had said you were a teacher, before you traveled worlds,” she said.

“Not really,” said Perry. “I had a position that was like this, a teaching assistant, though not full time. I was a tutor too, for a bit, on different subjects.”

“You did well enough,” said Luo Yanhua. “I’m more impressed by your knowledge and ability to disassemble it than by your teaching.”

“Is that not what teaching is?” asked Perry.

Luo Yanhua shrugged. “Many teachers do not feel so.”

“How are people supposed to learn if they can’t have it broken down?” asked Perry. “Holistically? I mean, a teacher who can’t unravel and explain things is probably a pretty poor teacher. It’s not enough to know that something is wrong, you’ve got to explain why it’s wrong, what to change, and what the ramifications are.”

“I would be careful with how you speak,” said Luo Yanhua. “There are some who might take offense.”

Perry nodded, and tried a more diplomatic way of saying it. Some of the teachers had never learned how to teach, and as gifted as they might be at martial arts, weren’t very good at explaining the fundamentals nor giving useful instructions. “Teaching, like martial arts itself, has a number of techniques to it. I’ve tried my best to follow both the techniques I know, and the ones I’ve seen here.”

“Mmm,” said Luo Yanhua, not quite mollified.

“You didn’t answer the question of how I did,” said Perry.

“You were acceptable,” said Luo Yanhua. “You have your own style, which I’m not certain I agree with. You told Zhang Meihua exactly what she did wrong, which deprives her of discovering the truth for herself. She will be unable to reflect on her mistakes, unable to have those revelations that would elevate her.”

“I guess,” said Perry. It seemed to him that reflecting on your mistakes was easier when you had someone point out what those mistakes actually were. It was immensely frustrating to fail and not understand why you had failed. “In my experience … maybe my experience doesn’t apply here.”

“Perhaps not,” said Luo Yanhua. “You did not teach in a temple?”

“No,” said Perry. “A university. I don’t know what that’s translating to, but … a place specifically focused on teaching and learning.”

“Many scholars?” asked Luo Yanhua.

“Off the top of my head, I don’t know exact numbers,” said Perry. “Maybe … three hundred teachers, two thousand students?”

She was silent for a moment. “A great academy.”

“Not by the standards of my world,” said Perry. “I think we were ranked something like eightieth in prestige, probably less in terms of size. That’s for my nation though, not my entire world.”

Luo Yanhua shook her head. “Such things you say sometimes.”

Perry nodded. “Different worlds.”

“And yet no martial techniques,” said Luo Yanhua. “No spheres.”

“Our people lacked spirit roots,” said Perry. He didn’t know whether that was true, but it was the best explanation he could come up with. It was that, or different metaphysics which somehow didn’t apply to him. But then, he had a spirit root. It was all confusing, and he didn’t like to think about it, which he did a lot.

“Come,” said Luo Yanhua. “There are things I must share with you.”

Perry frowned, but followed her anyhow, with a brief wave to Maya, who went on her own way.

Second sphere seemed less special, now that he had some time under his belt. Some of the abilities you apparently got for free, or nearly so. The temple had precious few mirrors in it, highly polished bronze rather than glass, and he hadn’t had much of a chance to see his changed appearance, but his skin was soft and perfect, looking almost airbrushed, pores much smaller than they’d been. His hair looked like it had been done by a stylist, and even his beard was well-trimmed in spite of him putting in no extra effort with it. He’d tried shaving, but he’d have a five o’clock shadow by noon, and felt that it looked more tidy grown out.

He was wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing when he woke up in the temple, and though he’d been in them for three weeks, they weren’t dirty or soiled in the slightest. Early on he’d seen some dirt at the hems, but it had fallen off as he looked at it, and thereafter, his clothes had stayed clean — not just clean, but immaculate, no snags or loose threads, and always sitting better on him. He wondered what he would look like in a proper suit, whether he would look sharp instead of slightly out of place, but that was an issue for another time.

What he really wanted was to see if it had any effect on his power armor. If whatever was going on with the clothes could go on with the armor, if there was a way of funneling his vital energy into repairing it, he was going to push for that as much as he possibly could. Luo Yanhua had only told him that it would come in time, and he really hoped that she wasn’t deliberately keeping anything from him.

They went to what had become their customary spot, a large, flat stone beside the perfectly still lake. It was wide enough for both of them to sit cross-legged on, and she took her position next to him. The light was fading, but they had quite a bit of time until it was dark.

“Do you know why I was asked to teach today?” asked Luo Yanhua.

“No,” said Perry. “I assumed that it was just due to your academic commitments, or your place within the temple.”

“One of our members went missing this morning,” said Luo Yanhua. “The others were out looking for him.”

“Okay,” Perry said slowly. “What’s the natural assumption?”

“We would assume that he had pressing business elsewhere, and simply neglected to tell anyone where he was going,” said Luo Yanhua. “It’s inconsiderate, but the most likely outcome. However, he was gone for too long, and a number of disciples were tasked with seeking him out. That was just after lunch.”

Perry nodded. “A search party?” In spite of what Maya had speculated on, gossip actually traveled pretty slowly through the temple. The second spheres in particular were taciturn, as a rule.

“They found him dead,” said Luo Yanhua. “He had been cut into pieces that were six inches across. The head had been quartered. We don’t know how he died, but we think that the cutting was done after death with a sharp blade. It wasn’t an animal, nor a mythical beast. There were no rites, and no burial.”

Perry stayed silent. His mind was churning with possibilities. “Worm Gate?” he asked.

“No,” said Luo Yanhua, shaking her head. “We are opposed to them, but none of their members would do such a thing, something so far beyond common decency.”

“Then … who?” asked Perry.

“At this stage, we don’t know,” said Luo Yanhua. “I have said before that I’ve fought dangerous people, those who have dabbled in dark arts. From what I’ve been told, this might be one of those people, someone who has so firmly untethered themselves from society that they must draw their power from elsewhere. The body of a second sphere can contain an enormous amount of energy, their vessels and meridians pulled from them, all manner of things. It was difficult to tell, but this might have been done.” She pursed her lips. “There is another possibility, aside from the dark arts.”

“A thresholder?” asked Perry. That was where his mind had gone, almost immediately.

“Yes,” nodded Luo Yanhua. “Someone who is not integrated into our society, who has power unlike our own, a skilled warrior. You warned us of this.”

Perry almost stood up. “Then I need to go out there, with Marchand, and see if there’s anything that I can find. Maya too. We have senses you don’t, ways of tracking someone like us. They might even be making themselves known for the purposes of drawing us out.”

“You want your armor,” said Luo Yanhua. “Bold of you to ask for it so directly.” She looked out on the lake. “You’ve done well at Crystal Lake, but the full moons approach, and we have yet to make a determination on your armor and its nature.”

“I didn’t mean to be bold, if boldness wasn’t warranted,” said Perry. “The death of a second sphere disciple seems, to me, a matter of such importance that it demands attention.”

Luo Yanhua was silent for a moment. “Grandmaster Li Meifeng spoke with me this morning,” she said. “The full moon represents a problem for you, as the wolf will be at its strongest, and you are less likely to be able to hold it back.”

“I think I’ll be fine,” said Perry. “I’ve been getting some exposure therapy at night, letting it shine on me a bit, and the shutters on my room can be covered with spare blankets, which should let me get through the night.”

He had trained with Luo Yanhua a few times, though less than he would have liked, and was coming close to cracking the vessel, if only he had more time. He had woken up the last two nights, sweating heavily, and the transformation seemed like it was to blame. His plan, for the worst day of the lunar cycle, was to simply stay awake through the entire night. Maya would also be on hand to bathe him in sunlight, if that wasn’t enough.

“Grandmaster Li Meifeng would like for you to leave the temple during that time,” said Luo Yanhua. “She is concerned that your transformation might threaten both students and teachers.”

“No,” said Perry. “I have it under control, especially if you’re there to help me.”

“Perry,” said Luo Yanhua. Her voice was gentle. “I trust that you have control. But if Worm Gate has not moved against us, then it seems likely that the other thresholder has shown up. First Silver Fish Temple was wounded with the loss of a promising member, though there is agreement that he inflicted that loss upon himself. Now the same has happened to a member of Crystal Lake Temple, this time for reasons that remain unknown.”

It took a moment for it to click. “I’m being directed out of the temple, at a time when we must acknowledge my danger to other people, at a time when there very much appears to be a threat outside of the temple — whether that threat is another thresholder or as expected, Worm Gate. You’re putting the dangerous guy where the threat is.”

Luo Yanhua was watching him closely. “You are not being instructed to move against Worm Gate. No member of Moon Gate could attack them, not without causing a furthering of tensions, which in turn would lead to more conflict.”

No member — which is why I have been reminded almost every day that I’m not a member.

“Understood,” said Perry. “Where is Worm Gate’s closest temple? What can you tell me about it?”

“Moth Lantern Hall lies three miles to the west, carved from the rock in ancient times,” said Luo Yanhua. “It is a satellite temple for them, no more than a few members, no children or families. There might be as few as two or three.”

Perry nodded. And you want me to kill them in retaliation, or at least put the fear of god into them. Investigate in a way that you cannot, at least. “You think that the attacker would have come from there?” he asked.

“We do not think that Worm Gate is responsible … unless they have a thresholder of their own. They could not — would not — direct such a person against us, but such a person might make moves of their own volition, and yes, they might have been stationed at Moth Lantern Hall.” Luo Yanhua was giving him The Look. “This killing would not fall on the shoulders of Worm Gate, though they would reap the rewards. It would be the opening move in increased tensions.”

Perry nodded again. “I understand,” he said, giving her his own Look in return.

She hadn’t given him instructions and hadn’t coerced him. Her hands were clean. If he went off and killed everyone in Moth Lantern Hall, it would be just retaliation for the killing of one of their disciples, and if he failed, it was no sweat off their brow. At the very least, he was being let off the leash, so to speak.

“Take Maya with you when you leave,” said Luo Yanhua. “She is your companion, and might keep you safe while you undergo the trial of the moonlight.”

“Of course,” said Perry. Unclear numbers at Moth Lantern Hall. One against two would be shit odds. If it comes to fighting, which it might, better to have Maya.

Luo Yanhua watched him for a moment. “We still have not unraveled the mysteries of your armor. Master Shan Yin has retreated to Silver Fish Temple, and Grandmaster Li Meifeng consults with Marchand in his stead, tracing the pathways of power.”

Perry pursed his lips. He had been listening to recordings of those conversations, but would prefer not to reveal that to her. The ‘pathways’ were just electricity, he was pretty sure, though they talked about it in technical language he couldn’t entirely follow.

“You’re taking your time to come to a determination,” said Perry, trying to sound approving.

“It is a matter of some import,” said Luo Yanhua. “Marchand is insistent that he belongs to you, and that even if he did not, he would stay by your side.”

“I suppose that doesn’t make things easier for you,” said Perry. “It would be better if we could say that we were simply partners, bonded to each other. But it wouldn’t exactly be true.”

“No,” said Luo Yanhua. She rose from where she was sitting. “If the trial of moonlight goes well, you will have some favor to spare within Moon Gate.”

It was far from a promise that they would release Marchand to him, but it was as good as he was going to get. Obviously this might be a way of stringing him along, and trapping a man in a suit of armor seemed to be something that they would never stomach, but if he could get out of this without subterfuge and violence, that would be much better.

He found Maya, who was in what had become her usual spot near a small waterfall. The water emptied into the lake without so much as a splash, and was very nearly silent in a way that Perry found unnerving. The lake was a large one, and there were all kinds of places for people to set up around the edges of it, which ended up becoming a bit like their office, though it was nothing so formal. This was a pleasure which was only extended to the second sphere, given the first spheres were training in the courtyard so often.

“What’s up?” asked Maya, cracking an eyelid. She’d been sitting in the lotus position, which she tended to prefer.

“We’re leaving,” said Perry. “Someone died, got torn apart, actually, and they think that it was Worm Gate. It’s the closest we’ve come to word of a third thresholder.”

“Who died?” asked Maya.

“A second sphere,” said Perry. “He got diced up. Marchand can play back the conversation, if you’d like.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Maya.

Perry sat and waited while Maya listened to the earpiece. As had become his habit, he worked on his vessels and meridians, though the gains would be very minor. Minor gains added up in the long run though, and if his comparative advantage was that he could meditate in the same way he used to idly look at his phone while standing in line, then he was going to do that every chance he got.

“I hate that shit,” said Maya when she handed the earpiece back. “I would respect it so much more if they just said ‘hey, go kill these guys for us’.”

“Yeah,” said Perry. “It’s so they can put our heads on the chopping block if it all goes wrong. I mean, we’re deniable assets. CIA stuff.”

“I draw the line at ousting a democratically elected president,” said Maya. She stood up, shook out her limbs, and then rubbed her chin. “You know, they’ve got pretty much no leverage over me.”

“You want to get the other thresholder, right?” asked Perry.

“I do,” said Maya. “But you’re the one whose back is up against the wall.”

Perry rolled his eyes. “Are we allies or not?”

“We’re allies,” nodded Maya. “But I’m not entirely sure I could kill a second sphere on my lonesome, if they’re a fighter, which all the second sphere are. And you’ve also got to think that if this is the third thresholder, it might be a trap.”

“What, draw us out of the temple and get us alone?” asked Perry. “Yeah, I guess.”

“And you want to walk right into it, huh?” asked Maya. “Without the suit?”

“I’m stronger than I was three weeks ago,” said Perry.

“If someone hit the gym for three weeks, would you say ‘oh wow, you must be buff’?” asked Maya.

“I mean,” said Perry. “No, but you do get a lot of gains right off the bat. Right?”

“I haven’t seen the inside of a gym since high school,” said Maya. “You were a gym bro?”

“I went to the gym, mostly to stay in shape,” said Perry.

“Huh, I bought these muscles on the black market,” said Maya. “Anyway, we only just barely beat out that one dude —”

“Zhang Lingxiu, Dragon-Tiger Guardian,” Perry supplied.

“— so what makes you think that we can either take on someone who’s strong enough to chop a second sphere into little bits?” she asked. “Or if we go to Moth Lantern Hall, what makes you think we can beat half a dozen second sphere guys?”

“Shooting them would work,” said Perry. “It worked on Zhang. I don’t think there’s anything they can do against a headshot. And I mean, we’re going to talk first, see what they say, if they’re even responsible. We’re not members of Moon Gate. We have leeway.”

“I’m pretty sure that Zhang would have lived if he hadn’t been fighting us at the same time,” said Maya. “You shot him in the chest and he kept on trucking. And you don’t have the suit, which means you don’t have the gun.”

“So we take a page from your playbook,” said Perry. “We go into Moth Lantern Hall in the dead of night and slit some throats.”

“Alright,” said Maya. “Let’s do it.”

“Really?” asked Perry. He frowned at her.

“You know what, sure,” said Maya. “And I know that Luo Yanhua wants us to go gank some bastards, but if we come back having not done that, all this ‘deniable asset’ stuff means that she can’t be that outwardly angry with us, right?”

“No,” said Perry. “We talk first, or at least surveil. Use the drone, seed some nanite listeners, that kind of thing.”

“I just want you to remember that I’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart,” said Maya.

“There’s one other thing to worry about, besides going up against people who are stronger than us, have superior numbers, and the home advantage,” said Perry. “How serious do we think cosmic karma actually is?”

Maya shrugged. Perry waited, but that was all the input she had.

“I don’t want to assume that what they say about it is bunk, and want to err on the side of it not being, but … the evidence is pretty thin on the ground, and a lot of what we’ve seen offered as proof it actually exists could be explained through other means.” He frowned. “And we’re not from here, nor are we hooked in with the local government or the sect or anything else. But it does have to be a consideration.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” said Maya. “We can’t test it without breaking some rules, right?”

“In theory we’re members in good standing right now, cosmically speaking,” said Perry. “But if we go in and slit some throats, then yeah, we’re crossing a line, and it’s a line that might put us in debt and need to be repaid.”

“But,” said Maya, brushing a curl of hair from her face, “If you think about it, whoever cut up that second sphere into pieces should also be in debt, right?”

“Maybe,” said Perry.

“Kind of sucks that there are cosmic laws,” said Maya. “I mean, there’s no one to petition if you think that the laws are terrible, right?”

“Sure,” said Perry. “But we talk first, right?”

Maya shrugged. “I’ll follow your lead. Everything I know about Worm Gate says that they’re on my shit list.”

“The puppet thing?” asked Perry.

Maya nodded. “Their elder moving human bodies around like they’re tools is beyond terrible. It’s absolutely a stain against everyone in the sect.”

“It’s voluntary,” said Perry.

Maya laughed. “Come on.”

“There’s a chance for coercion,” said Perry. “There’s probably some expectation that you’ll give your body over. I don’t know though, if I could set my body on autopilot while doing farmwork and be free to think my own thoughts in the meantime … I can see why it would raise your hackles.”

“You’re already practicing the apologetics?” asked Maya.

“No,” said Perry. “Not entirely.” He looked across the lake, at the temple. “They see Worm Gate as a threat, as competition, but they don’t condemn what’s done there, not like we would. It’s weird. I’m trying to get a handle on it, explain it away.”

“They’re bastards,” said Maya.

“Moon Gate?” asked Perry.

Maya nodded. “You’re trying to view them as reasonable people. You’re trying to say ‘oh, maybe there’s some logical reason that they say and do the things we do.” She shook her head.

“You think they’re bastards,” said Perry. “That there’s nothing mitigating, it’s as bad as it looks. They’d puppet the first spheres around if they could, and they’d do it without volunteers — or with coercing the volunteers.”

“Yup,” nodded Maya. “You’ve kept your eyes open. You’ve seen how it is here. There’s a pecking order, with the bulk of the students kept in line by the promise that someday they’re going to be second sphere too, able to push around those beneath him. And sometimes, they’re kept in line by a swift punch to the face, or the suggestion of a quick punch to the face.”

Perry felt his lips tighten. The second sphere weren’t simply leeches, they served useful functions, especially with the fall of the Grouse Kingdom and the bandits that were roaming the area. The temple protected those within it. He knew that line of thinking wouldn’t really work on Maya, but it tempered his understanding.

“Ah come on, I’m not going to move against them,” said Maya. “I’m not strong enough. I’m not a moron. I just want your eyes open to what’s going on here.”

“My eyes are wide open,” said Perry. “I’m not sticking around here.”

“Good,” said Maya.

The light had gone, and lightning bugs were swarming over the lake. The moons were shining, edging to full, enough that Perry had to make an effort to keep anything from stirring within him. It remained to be seen whether he could endure the full moon without turning into the wolf, but he could feel the crack in the vessel, energy flowing out of it. It presented as heightened senses, more power in his muscles, his hairs standing up on end, and a desire to fight or fuck. He adjusted to it, not trying to tamp it down, but letting it flow through him, like wind through the branches of a tree.

“You alright?” asked Maya.

“Yeah,” said Perry. “Fine.”

“Then get some rest, we’ll set off tomorrow, I guess,” she said. “You want to play Columbo before we get to fisticuffs?”

“I’ll work on my impression,” said Perry. “‘Just one more thing’.”

“Terrible,” said Maya.

He made his way back to the temple, trying to take some pleasure in the heightening that came with moons that weren’t quite full. It was like taking enjoyment from a rainy day or a brisk wind, the kind of thing that he thought could easily sour his mood if he let it.

Xiyan was waiting for him, by the door of his room, as she often was.

“I’m going to be leaving in the morning,” said Perry.

“Am I to come with?” asked Xiyan. Her hands were behind her back, head low, deferential in a way that he’d tried to convince her not to be.

“No,” said Perry. “It’ll be too dangerous. You’ll stay here. I don’t think there’s anything in particular you need to be doing during that time.”

She bowed to him, and he kept his face still so she wouldn’t see his frown.

She was almost a friend. He’d talked to her plenty, using the excuse of training his ability to translate, though she’d wanted to hear more about the worlds he’d been to, and deflected away from telling him about her life. She told stories much more readily than she spoke about her life, which was pleasant enough, if not terribly instructive.

“Will you return?” asked Xiyan. Her voice was small.

“Oh,” said Perry. “Yes.” He hesitated. She was no great beauty, and the shy and obedient act didn’t really do it for him, but she had grown on him over the weeks. He already had an ally in the form of Maya, and an assistant in the form of Marchand, but it was nice to have someone who was just a person. He didn’t think he’d have felt the same way if she were second sphere.

“Are you taking your armor?” asked Xiyan. “Will you be safe?”

“The armor will be in the armory,” said Perry. “I’ll have Maya with me though. We’ll be fine.” Fineish.

She shifted in front of him, as though she meant to give him a hug and was thinking better of it. Perry had been clear about boundaries and propriety, in part because he thought she might have been paired with him in order to trap him into behavior they could hold against him, but there was something appealing about the thought of a hug. Maybe it was that the moon was full, or that for the past three weeks the only physical contact he’d had with anyone had been getting punched and kicked.

She smelled like mulberries and sea salt, and a tinge of iron.

“Get some rest,” said Perry. He moved past her, opening the door of his room. “You’ll be able to take it easy for a few days.” It wasn’t as though he ever asked much of her anyway.

It was the moons having an effect on him, he decided once the door was closed. In another few days, they would all be at their fullest, and while he thought he could keep from transforming, it was another question entirely whether he could keep from getting himself into trouble.