She wished she could be as cool and useful as them . . .

Athena blinked. She was being an idiot.

Turning, she found the guy with the biggest beard, which she suspected was a sign of importance, and tugged at his sleeve.

He paused in listening to one of the other guys telling a story about how he got into this big fight with some thugs and bent her way. “What’s up, little lady?” he asked.

Athena swallowed. “Hey, could I be as tough as you guys?” she asked.

The man blinked, his beard twitched, then he roared with laughter. He patted her head, then sat on the stool next to hers with one elbow on the bar. “So you wanna be tough, eh?”

Athena nodded. That would be for the best.

He rubbed his chin, mouth working left and right. “I dunno. You’re a bit small to be tough.”

She balled her fists together. “There have to be other ways to be tough!” she said.

The big guy chuckled. “Well, half of it’s looking the part, I guess. People don’t wanna mess with folks who look like they can hold their own in a scrap.”

Athena nodded. In her mind she was making notes. Her superior intellect hadn’t brought her as much good as she would have hoped. She’d need to supplement it with more toughness. And if this guy was right, that meant looking the part.

A glance around the room revealed a lot of really tough-looking guys. They were big and muscly and tall. She probably couldn’t be those things. But they all wore leather and black clothes and stood around in weird ways. “I’ll need a nice jacket,” she said.

The guy laughed. “Sure! I think we might even have something out back.”

“And what’s the other half?” Athena asked.

“Huh?”

“The other half to being tough.” She wanted to know the full secret, not just part of it.

“Oh, that’s all in your head. See, you get a lot of pansies coming around with nice Arlies and new coats, all puffed up and tough-looking, but when it’s time to throw fists, they’re all cowards. Don’t matter how strong they are, they don’t have the bal—brains for it.”

He gestured into the crowd.

“But some of these guys? Some are old, some are weak, but when they take a knock on the head they get right back up and swing back twice as hard. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to fight. That’s not part of being tough. Being tough means even when the going gets hard, you’re always ready to go harder.”

Su snorted. “What kind of half-brained idea is that?” she asked.