“You’re right,” said Umbo. “Maybe your mother and Hadda­mander will be the first to die in their tents on the battlefield.”

Param shook her head. “You say all these things much too easily.”

“I want to avoid the deaths of the obedient soldiers on both sides,” said Umbo.

“I want to, too,” said Param. “But it’s not enough for us just to win. The enemy’s army has to experience real, terrifying loss.”

“I remember when Olivenko first said that exact phrase,” said Umbo.

“He’s a counselor,” said Param. “A wise queen listens to wise counsel.”

Umbo fell silent.

“The way I listened to you,” said Param. “When you told us that the world still ends on schedule. Even though you had never told me you checked every day.”

Umbo fell silent. In embarrassment?

“I listen to you more than anyone,” said Param.

“Since nobody listens to me at all,” said Umbo, smiling at her, “that’s not hard to achieve.”

“I meant that I listen to you more than I listen to anyone else,” said Param. “And not because you’re my husband, and I love you. Though you are, and I do.”

He showed no reaction.

“I listen to you because you speak rarely, but when you do, it always matters and you’re always wise.”

“Or if I’m not,” said Umbo, “I can always go back and clean up the mess.”

“Tidiness in a man is a worthy trait,” said Param.

He kissed her. A brief kiss. More than brotherly, but far from passionate.

She kissed him in reply, with all the passion she wished he would bring to his kisses.

“Do you think this is the right time for that?” he asked softly, when they broke from the second kiss.

“Tell me when you start believing that I’m truly your wife,” said Param.

“When that happens,” said Umbo, “I won’t have to tell you. You’ll know.”

Chapter 27: Retrieving the Mice

CHAPTER 27

Retrieving the Mice

Because Noxon could see his and Ram’s paths—and the paths of the mice inside the box—he was able to return only a few seconds after he and Ram had left them buried.

They had explained the mice to Deborah and Anthropologist Wheaton, including all the disobedience and attempted betrayals. “Why don’t you just leave them there?” asked Wheaton.

“Because I promised I’d come back and let them out,” said Noxon.

“It’s one of his better traits,” said Ram. “But it’s also a serious weakness. And the mice really are dangerous and tricky.”

“Are we in danger from them?” asked Wheaton. Noxon could see that it was Deborah he was worried about.

“Yes,” said Noxon. “But only in the sense that the entire human race is in danger. Or that, if they were to kill me, the rest of you would be stranded in ancient Peru, thousands of years before any humans come to the Americas.”