“So do I. But Kajja should stay here.” Hendrik couldn’t hold it in any longer. Be calm. Reasonable. Logical.
Dagan frowned at him over a clay mug as he handed it off.
Hen accepted without looking him in the eye. He had to focus, now. He might not have any sway over whether Dagan was involved or not, but he could at least spare Kajja. Maybe. He had to try. “She doesn’t know how to handle herself. She’s been running around in the shadows with the resistance but she’s never faced a fight or had to protect anyone.”
“I’m told she knows the information, both from here and the City, better than anyone else.”
“She can write it down, if that helps,” Hen suggested.
“That’s a complication.” Dagan finished passing out mugs and returned to his cushion. “Something that could be lost or used against us.”
“It’s not as complicated as an inexperienced seventeen-year-old,” Hen insisted.
“Kajja isn’t known to be missing, though,” Bartolo said. “People will expect to see her in the City, so she doesn’t need stealth. Like you will.”
“She’s been gone for weeks. She may be considered missing, by now,” Hen protested. She’d told Kon and Alara she was going on a study retreat in the High City for a few weeks and couldn’t be reached, but that wouldn’t hold up too long if anyone investigated.
Why they would even think to investigate, Hendrik couldn’t begin to guess, but that was another issue altogether.
Bartolo nodded. “Many things might’ve changed since she left the City. That’s why I’ll be heading this up myself.”
Dagan’s eyes widened. “But the Heart Wood—”
“Kiran can stand in as Head Scout.” Bartolo sipped his tea, voice level, body language perfectly calm. “She knows what she’s doing, and the job will be hers in a few years, anyhow. I’m not tired yet, but I can feel it coming in my bones.”
Dagan looked like he wanted to protest, but apparently his sense of duty got the better of him. He just nodded.
“Then you’ll have the final say in personnel,” Hendrik said after a moment.
Bartolo nodded.
“Then please, consider letting Kajja stay here as a refugee.”
“She’s of an age.” Bartolo fixed him with a level gaze. “By the Law of the Wood, her choices are her own.”
Fucking Heart Wood and it’s fucking choices. Hen grunted in frustration. “But you can tell her no. She can’t come if you say you don’t need her.”
“I can’t stop her from going home,” Bartolo said. “If she wants to stay and claim asylum, of course she’ll have it. But if she wants to go back, then it’ll be my duty to see that she arrives safely. And I will.”
Hendrik was sure that Bartolo believed that. But, “Have you ever been in the City?”
“No. I’ve been briefed, though, and I’ll yield to you and Piret when it comes to it.”
He shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re walking into. What you’re letting Kajja go back to.”
Bartolo set down his tea. “I understand your fears, son. But I’m not sure it’s in my power.”
If it wasn’t in the leader’s power, then what was the point of having a leader? Hendrik could’ve howled in frustration. In the guard, if the captain told you to stay home, you stayed home.
“I’ll consider everything you’ve said, though. You’ve a good head for operations, but emotions obviously run high.” Bartolo said with finality. “Innan said you mentioned that now might be the best odds the city has ever had to get free, but that’s not saying much.
“Any further thoughts on that?”
Hendrik shook his head. Not because he didn’t have further thoughts but because he didn’t believe Bartolo would care. Why had he come here, anyhow?
“Very well. Thank you.” Bartolo sipped at his tea. “Dagan, can we have a moment?”
Dagan nodded and glanced at Hendrik.
Hen stared at him, trying not to sputter in frustration.
Dagan ventured, “Um, Hen. Could you go to the bedroom or outside for a minute, please?”
Hen flushed at his own stupidity. Of course that was why he’d come. He stomped all the way to the bedroom door and closed it behind him pointedly.
And then, of course, he put his ear to the smooth wood of the door.
Dagan was saying, “—all the way through the Heart Wood.”
Bartolo, more muffled but still understandable, replied, “Your updates to the map may prove invaluable. Other scouts have reported animal migrations, too.”
“That’s not great.”
“No.” Bartolo paused there. Then, “And while I don’t like to meddle in my scouts’ personal lives, you and he are…?”
“Yes.” Dagan sounded adorably defiant. “But not until we got here. I—I made sure to follow protocol to the letter.”
“And only to the letter.” But Bartolo didn’t sound annoyed so much as amused. “I’m sorry, but you know I have to ask. And you do have a reputation.”
