“Vroom,” Kenzie said, without turning to look at us.

She’d been just a little subdued.

“And it doesn’t change, then. It is what it is?” Tristan asked. “For both of you, I guess?”

“Yeah,” Sveta said. “Or—I don’t know, but I’m strong enough. I’m not going to go try to figure out what I can do to make these things stronger.”

As Tristan glanced at me, I made a rectangle with my fingers. “It’s complicated. It fluctuates. I could name some terms and things that apply there, but I don’t want to bore you.”

“I’ve been bored enough times. I know a lot of the terms. Sechen ranges?”

“That’s one of them. Powers often get stronger with certain influencing factors. You read up on that?”

“We did a ton of testing with Reach, and we saw a lot of parahuman science people while we were trying to figure out a solution. They think it’s a straight multiplier. I have one point three to one point six times the strength and overall fitness.”

“Handy,” I said. “And Byron?”

“A bit of resistance to temperature extremes. He gets a higher percent, he’d probably remember his specific numbers better than I do, but unless it’s winter or we’re dealing with a heat wave, it doesn’t apply as often.”

“On the note of Byron… the second part to my question is, how does the exercise thing work for Byron? Because exercise is monotonous enough when you’re getting something out of it.”

“He commented on that a while ago, actually. We negotiated something. He made a short list of movies, and I watch his movies while I work out. Similar thing with the trips here and back. I sometimes give him extra time, especially if I have something to think about, which is most times these days.”

“That sounds pretty good.”

“Wasn’t always good,” Tristan said. “Moonsong had some things right, back at the Wardens’ place. I wasn’t always good at being fair. It went the other way, Byron—”

Tristan stopped there.

“I won’t finish that thought. Byron is Byron, and I’m me, and I’ve got to own my shit without comparing. I wasn’t always good at being fair,” Tristan said. “I’m good at a lot of things. I can kick ass and look pretty great while doing it, I’m tenacious, I tend to finish what I set my mind to. But fair is hard.”

“It is,” I said.

“It’s hard enough figuring out how to be fair to ourselves,” Sveta said.

“Too true,” I said. I glanced over at Kenzie.

“Punching bag?” Tristan asked. He pointed at the corner, next to Chris’s whiteboard. “I don’t need to do anything special for you guys?”