“Sir?” he said, suddenly uncertain. This was not the reaction he had anticipated.

She fought back a grin in order to continue, still regarding the floor’s uneven surface. “It just makes me so sad, soldier.”

“Sir, I didn’t mean to make you sad, sir!”

She pretended to rub away a tear. “Yes, just so very sad.” She raised her head and looked him straight in the face. “So very sad to have to kick your ass. And you know how I’m going to do it.”

“Warball!” they chorused.

Many training games are used in the armies of the Holy Hive Mind, but most of them do not actually resemble games so much as contests of strength and endurance and skill at battle. There is one exception, a game whose origin no one knows, but which almost every intelligent race plays in their own fashion. Warball.

They gathered readily enough, all but Lassite, who pled tiredness, and Lolola, who simply turned up her nose. But of the rest, even Atlanta joined, although she confessed that she’d never played before.

“Never played!” the twins chorused in astonishment. “But everyone plays!”

Atlanta flushed red and darted a look at the captain. She didn’t have the right words to explain that things were different in the palace. Didn’t know how to gracefully say, “That’s a commoner’s game,” and, thankfully, was smart enough to realize that she shouldn’t say it in the first place.

“It’s the only game we play,” Talon told Atlanta.

“That’s not true,” his twin corrected, “but it’s definitely the best game. They used to just play it in armies but now there are civilian leagues too. And there’s rules for the different species, so it’s supposed to always be even no matter where you’re playing it, but no one believes that.” He thumped his chest. “We’re very good at it.”

“What makes it the best game?” she asked curiously. They’d met in the hallway outside their new warball room, and the were-lions were opportuning her to play on their side, promising they’d stay in human form themselves to make sure she came to no harm.

They both considered. “You jump and think and have to move,” Thorn said.

“And think about how other people are thinking,” Talon added. “Captain says it’s high-speed strategy an’ team building. Dabry says it’s a good way for us to burn off energy.”

Atlanta nodded. She could well understand why the sergeant might have said that. The two were almost exhausting to be around sometimes: sunny spirited and full of enthusiasm and, above all, energy.

“It’s good practice for everyone, but you should make sure your bodyguards know how to play it. Maybe play it with them, even.”

She blinked. “My bodyguards?”

The twins exchanged abashed looks.