Page 88 of Guiding Reason

Yamara sighed and made his way to the bathroom on unsteady feet. Orrey moved to help him, but Yamara waved him off.

“It’s just coming up from sleep, and channeling. How you managed staying on your feet outside the walls, I have no idea.”

Orrey wasn’t sure how to respond, and it felt too intrusive to follow Yamara into the bathroom anyway, so he waited, looked around the room.

The single bag with the Golden Indigoes color still sat in the exact same spot on the floor. A few items of clothing were spread out on a chair, nothing too untidy, just as if Yamara had made a choice of what to wear quickly.

The other Conduit took barely five minutes inside the bathroom and looked considerably more awake when he came back out.

“Did you get good food?”

Orrey shrugged. “Lapatea seems to think so. The Agri-Team lead sent us to this place called the Glass & Iron.”

Yamara nodded once. “That is very good food. Thank you for waking me.”

“Well, Vin asked me to.”

Another nod. “I heard you say that.”

The two of them walked back to the living space. At the end of the hallway, Vin relaxed when he saw them, though the Guardian didn’t say anything.

29

HYRAN

OpenLog/entry

There is a celebration, and no one told me! The only warning I had was Butler Bot 20 telling me that the Tower AI had told it what the Municipal AI had told the G&C Center AI (which talks to the Tower AI), which is that the Argentean Op-AI awarded Conduit Orrey the rank of third as an operative.

I prepared layer cake. It was meant as a surprise. I will serve it even if Glass & Iron never would. I hope Conduit Orrey will enjoy it.

(From Butler Bot 35’s personal log.)

The team that wasn’t quite his yet but starting to feel at least familiar all took their seats around the table. Hyran wanted the chair with the best view of the door to the suite, but Col shooed him away from that with an “I sit there” that allowed no argument.

“Are you sure you don’t want to change into that dress?” Lapatea looked at Taros, who had put the boxes aside on the floor so they could spread out the food on the table.

Taros sat next to Hyran, and surprisingly, the animosity Taros had sprouted like his blades seemed to have gone out of him.

Taros nodded. “I don’t think he wanted me to wear it for dinner. Sorry, Orrey, I know it’s your celebration, but…” The Guardian shrugged. “Kashana.”

Orrey chuckled. “I don’t know what that means, but it’s fine. Col, I should thank you for all of this.”

Orrey and Senlas sat opposite Hyran and Col, and Yamara, looking tired, sat on Orrey’s other side.

“Pfft. I should have done it sooner. I know Senny can always back you up when needed, but”—Col made a halfway dismissive gesture at the telekineticist—”He needs all this prompting.”

“Prompting?” Senlas asked, frowning. “When have I ever needed prompting?”

Col leaned over to Orrey. “And as you can see, the best prompting is the type they don’t notice.”

Orrey nodded while petting his Guardian’s hand. “He’s always happy to back me up.”

Col nodded like an approving teacher.

“Orrey did high-level operative prompting when Sen and Karmine were hiding on that roof,” Vin said. He took the seat next to Yamara.

Karmine plopped onto the chair next to the illusionist. “Hiding? We had the best tactical position while you were tryingnot to get lost. What would you have done without Yamara, huh?”