"When my father was eleven," said Miles reasonably, "he became aide-de-camp to the general-my-grandfather in a full-scale civil war.  By age thirteen he'd helped to bring down an emperor.  I didn't figure an afternoon's jaunt across his home town and back—on a peaceful planet at that—to be beyond Jin's capacity."  Yet apparently, he'd figured wrong.  Miles winced inside.  He hadn't thought through the implications of Jin's runaway status in a heavily-monitored place like this, even while picking his own route to avoid notice as a matter of routine.  The boy would be frantic for his animals by now, and that was the least of it.  "My mistake to fix, then.  I don't abandon my people if I can help it.  We'll just have to retrieve him."

Vorlynkin's jaw dropped.  "He's a minor child.  How?  We have no rights to him!"

"He was carrying all our petty cash, too," put in Johannes.  "I'd have gone after that myself, but I had no way to prove it was ours."  He frowned at Miles, the exactly as you directed complaint implied.

Well, there's always your ping tracer, but before Miles could voice the thought, Vorlynkin went on.

"If your underage courier talks, I expect the Northbridge police will be calling us.  With some very hard-to-answer questions."

Miles paused, alert.  "Have they?"

"No.  Not yet."

And if they didn't call, it would imply Jin had kept his mouth shut, and under conditions that had to be quite frightening to him.  "That's . . . interesting."

"Where did you pick up that boy, my lord?" said Vorlynkin.

"Actually, he found me.  On the street, more or less."  Miles did some rapid internal editing.  He had, after all, given Suze his tacit word not to reveal her lair in exchange for information, and he had certainly received information, even if he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with it yet.  "You read my note to you, right?"

Vorlynkin nodded.

"Well, as I said, the drug the kidnappers tried to sedate me with triggered manic hallucinations instead, and I ended up lost in the Cryocombs."  No need to say for how long; the situation was certainly elastic enough to cover the missing day he'd spent with Jin and company.  "When I came to my senses and found my way out, I was still a bit paranoid about my kidnappers finding me again, and too exhausted to go on.  Jin kindly helped me, and I owe him."

Vorlynkin stared at Miles very hard.  "Are you saying you weren't in your right mind?"

"That might actually be a good explanation, should one be needed.  Does this consulate keep a local lawyer?"

"On retainer, yes."