“No,” Miss Militia said. “Kind of. They don’t punish for minor crimes the way we do. They don’t have traffic laws or drug laws in the same way. But they punish harshly for wrongdoing or even accidents. Luis is arguing for holding. Aian is arguing for us to be held in a reconstruction facility.”

Aian was the guy in the muumuu, though the outfit wasn’t bright and hung heavier than a normal muumuu. His beard was thick and dark, his eyes narrow. His hair was long but tied back straight against the scalp. When speaking, he repeatedly held up or held out a hand, bent back so the wrist stuck forward, fingers and thumb curled in to rest against the flat palm.

“Reconstruction sounds scarier than castigation,” Sveta said, “assuming it means what I think it means.”

Rain guessed, “Break someone down, build them up the way you want, instead of just… breaking them?”

“Yes,” Miss Militia said. “And I agree, Sveta. But I’m not sure if they plan to actually punish us or take action. It would be the quality of the facilities given. Food, the amount of sleep we’re allowed, outside communication.”

“You don’t sound certain they’re not going to punish us or do something more serious.”

“This is symbolic,” Miss Militia said. “They want to stress they have power. If they do want to punish us I’ll argue to take on the punishment on behalf of my subordinates. There’s precedent.”

“Punishment like… lashes?” Rain asked.

“Flogging was mentioned,” Miss Militia said, stoic, doing double duty in explaining and listening. “They’ve argued down to bloodless lashes.”

“Beating?” Rain asked.

“I understand it to be water,” Miss Militia said. “I won’t say more out of concern for Lookout, here.”

“If you’re afraid of scaring me, don’t worry. I hang out with Heartbroken. I don’t scare easy. I’d rather know. I like knowing stuff.”

“She would,” Ashley said.

“Water buckets. They tie you in place and splash you, hot enough to almost burn or ice water, no rhyme, reason, or timing.”

“You’d faint,” Tristan said. “We’ve looked into stuff relating to cold water because Byron. With hot water and sudden temperature changes, you’re talking syncope—fainting, arrythmia, low blood pressure?”

“They may give drugs to keep us from fainting. I suspect they’d rather we faint, they wake us up or wait until we wake naturally, then resume the process. There’s a very real motivation here to see us brought low and repeated faintings would qualify, I think.”

“If I could swap out to Byron that’d work,” Tristan said.

“If it comes down to bloodless lashings for Byron, Tristan, then it’ll be your entire team, Vista, Golem, and myself,” Miss Militia said.

“I’m kind of regretting agreeing to cooperate,” Tristan said.