He’d pushed it too far. He could tell after the meeting that more of the officers were wondering what he was doing there, why he wasn’t synced. A couple had brief, inquiring words with Surit as the group broke up. Tennal avoided them. Not well enough, though, because he ended up in the lift alone with Surit, who had also made a surprisingly fast exit.

Tennal stuck to the corner, keeping his breathing even, aware of the priming itch in his head like a siren blaring in the distance. Surit didn’t seem any more comfortable. He folded himself into the opposite corner without much success. The lift wasn’t big.

“Do you think I’m going to bite?” Tennal said.

“Excuse me,” Surit said, shifting his hip against the wall. He looked steadily past Tennal at the floor.

Tennal was prickling with the effort of navigating his way through the meeting, synapses still firing in random and unhelpful directions. It would be a terrible idea to pick a fight with the man he needed to keep at a distance. “So,” he said, “is this your new strategy? Maybe engaging with me will convince me to sync with you?”

Surit lifted his head. His flat, brown-eyed gaze met Tennal’s with an impact that made Tennal feel like he’d just run into a wall.

“No,” Surit said.

Tennal tapped his fingers against the wall behind him. “You were lying, weren’t you?” he said. “About the import regulations. You couldn’t remember something like that.”

He saw Surit stiffen—not so impervious after all. Tennal still couldn’t feel anything from him. There was a long pause, during which Tennal wondered if Surit was even strong enough to write him. Maybe he wasn’t a Rank One. “I remember things,” Surit said at last. “Details. I would prefer it if you didn’t accuse me of lying.”

“Oh, well, in that case,” Tennal said. “You should try it. It makes meetings go so much faster.”

“I’m sure it does,” Surit said. “You didn’t seem keen on shortening that session.”

Tennal gave him a broad smile. “You should have written me quiet instead. Maybe you could have succeeded where our honorable leader failed.”

Surit looked back at the door and said, “She shouldn’t have done that.”

“Guidance lead us,” Tennal said, his voice overly shocked. “Casual writing? In the Orshan army? What are we coming to?”

“You shouldn’t have sworn in front of a senior officer,” Surit snapped. “Nor should you have gone to an officers’ meeting high on mood alterers! You were lucky she didn’t notice.”

The remnants of the soothers were still in Tennal’s system, softening the worst of the edges, but they had nearly worn off, and he was frankly surprised Surit had noticed anything. “I do my best thinking when I’m high.”