She made her way to the other armchair and threw herself into it with a sigh. Gyre couldn’t help but wince at the sight of her. Her left arm was gone, barely even a stump remaining at the shoulder, and the wound still thickly swathed in gauze. The left side of her face and what he could see of her neck were covered with angry red welts where sparks from the blaster bolt had landed, already hardening into shiny, coin-shaped scars. She’d lost considerable weight, and her skin hung loose on her bones.

For all that, though, she smiled when she saw him, eyes alight. “Gyre! It’s so good to see you. We all thought—”

“That I was dead? Lynnia was saying.” Gyre smiled back. “It’s good to see you too. When I left, you were still with the healers in the Spike. You’re looking—”

“Like shit?” Sarah laughed. “You don’t have to pretend; I can use a mirror. It’s better than it was a week ago.” She looked down at herself. “Apparently the armor I was wearing saved my life, even if the surgeon did have to spend hours picking bits of broken metal out of my tit. Trade-offs, I guess.”

“I’m sorry,” Gyre said.

“Why? You didn’t shoot me.” She caught Gyre’s look and leaned forward. “Listen. What happened to us isn’t your fault. It was the risk we all ran, and we knew it. I know that you think you could have helped if you’d been there, but those were centarchs that ambushed us. Probably you’d just be dead too.”

I could have warned you. Gyre swallowed and forced himself to nod. Sarah watched him curiously, then abruptly sat up straight.

“Chosen defend, Gyre, your eye! What happened?”

“Ah.” Gyre brushed his hand over the scars, feeling the hard lump of metal in the abused socket. “It’s a long story—”

But Sarah was already out of her chair, coming closer and waving her hand from side to side.

“It focuses!” she said, and laughed with delight. “You can see, can’t you? I’ve never heard of arcana like this. Where did you—”

Gyre held up a hand. “I can’t tell you much. Anything, really.”

“Just a hint?”

“Sorry.”

She looked at him quizzically for a moment, then shrugged. The movement seemed to pain her, and she wobbled as she made her way back to her chair.

“Well,” she said, “if you came hoping to get the crew back together, you’re going to be disappointed. I’m about all that’s left.”

“What about Ibb?”

“Gone straight and playing the good husband and father, from what I hear. I don’t blame him. He has more to lose than the rest of us.”

“Has the Republic come after you?”