I walked in a slow circle. My knee throbbed with each step, but the pain didn’t get any worse. I could walk without a limp if I focused, but it wasn’t super fun. Getting old sucked sometimes. At thirty-four I wasn’t exactly ancient, but after more than a decade of war, I felt old. Minor injuries that wouldn’t have phased me at twenty now took me days to recover from.

Torran watched me with his arms folded across his chest. On my second lap, he said, “I did not expect you to include your crew in the punishment.”

I talked while continuing to walk. “It takes two people to fight, and one of them was mine. Kee could’ve stopped Eli, if she’d been thinking straight. Your team could’ve stopped Varro. No one did, so they will all share the punishment. If nothing else, it’ll give them something to complain about together.”

“Varro didn’t know he was attacking you.”

I glanced back at Torran and found him scowling, whether at me or Varro, I didn’t know. “I gathered that,” I said. “If he’d knowingly thrown a punch at me, his punishment would’ve been far worse.”

“He could’ve hurt you.”

I chuckled drily. “This wasn’t my first fight, either as participant or referee. I know how to take a punch. Of course, I’m not as young as I once was. Or as stupid, I hope. There was a time when I would’ve waded in with bare fists. Now I let technology shoulder some of the burden.”

“You stunned him even though I had him contained.”

I shrugged. “He deserved it, especially after throwing a blind punch. As you said, he could’ve hurt someone. And the shock was the extra punishment he and Eli got for being the ones stupid enough to start throwing punches. Maybe next time they’ll think first.”

A grin tipped up the corner of Torran’s mouth. “Maybe.”

The grin transformed his face, and I ordered my wayward pulse back to its normal rhythm.

A whisper of sound from the door announced Havil’s arrival. Kee popped her head in behind him. “Eli is fine. We’re headed up to our quarters. Anja is down in maintenance if you need something. I sent her an update.” She looked meaningfully between me and the two Valoffs in the room.

“Thank you. I will see you at dinner.”

Kee gave me a solemn nod and disappeared.

Havil stopped next to Torran. “Where are you hurt?”

“Right knee. It’s an old injury that I aggravated. I just need rest and ice.”

“I would like to examine it, if that’s okay with you,” he said quietly. “I may be able to help.”