“Mm,” Thurfian said, peering at the record. Kivu was about as obscure a family as the Chiss Ascendancy had ever spawned. No wonder he’d never heard of them. “And you contacted us why?”

“Because the Mitth still have two appointment slots left for this year,” Ba’kif said. “If you don’t bring Vurawn in, he won’t have another chance until next year.”

“Would that be such a catastrophe?”

Ba’kif’s face hardened. “Yes, I believe it would,” he said, offering his own questis. “Here’s his school record.”

Thurfian pursed his lips as he scrolled down the screen. He’d seen better, but not very often. “I don’t see any indication that his family has prepped him for military service.”

“No, they haven’t,” Ba’kif confirmed. “It’s a smaller family, without the resources or access the Mitth have for such things.”

“If they thought he was so exceptional, they should have found or made the resources,” Thurfian said tartly. “So you think the Mitth should step to the front and just welcome him in with no questions asked?”

“Ask all the questions you like,” Ba’kif said. “I’ve arranged for him to be pulled out of first class for an interview.”

Thurfian smiled tightly. “Are the Aristocra that predictable?”

“The Aristocra? No.” Ba’kif matched Thurfian’s smile. “But their rivalries are.”

“I imagine so,” Thurfian conceded, lowering his eyes again to Vurawn’s records. If the boy lived up to even half of his potential, he would be a worthy addition to the Mitth family.

Once, thousands of years ago, families had been just that: groups of people bound by blood and marriage and closed to everyone else. But the inherent limitations of such a system had led to decline and stratification, and some of the patriarchs had begun experimenting with methods for absorbing outsiders that didn’t involve marriage. The result had been the current system, where likely prospects could be brought in as merit adoptives, with those who proved themselves especially worthy rising to Trial-born and possibly even ranking distant.

Vurawn certainly fit the criteria for becoming a merit adoptive. More important, if the Mitth took him the Irizi wouldn’t be able to snatch him up. One of the many family rivalries Ba’kif was no doubt thinking of when he spoke of predictability.

But even that was beside the point. The Syndicure had finally agreed to the Defense Force’s long-standing pleas to expand its capabilities and mandate, and the newly formed Expansionary Defense Fleet was the result. Its mission was to watch over Chiss interests in the parts of the Chaos extending beyond the Ascendancy’s borders, to learn who was out there and assess their level of threat.