Bird of a Cage [BoW 4]

Chapter 15

"Afternoon, Taidra," Yuin greeted as he walked into Taidra's small office. "Have you looked over the reports for Wiljam's experiment?"

"It's acceptable," Taidra said, typing at the terminal and checking it again. Wiljam got too enthusiastic about this. 

Did Taidra trust Wiljam? The honest answer was debatable; a flat-out 'No' would hurt the man's feelings even if he understood Taidra didn't trust anyone. He trusted Feno, and that didn't work out. He trusted Inai, and now he was stuck in the back of beyond with a bunch of scientists who wouldn't know the meaning of staying under the radar if Taidra and Yuin did beat it into their skulls regularly. That was off-topic - did Taidra think Wiljam would betray them to the D'mar? Not knowingly. Did Taidra trust Wiljam not to get too excited with his equipment and do something potentially dangerous, believing the reward outweighed the risk?

History said not to trust him further than Taidra could throw him. Sadly reality dictated that they needed power, and Wiljam could collect it for them. Reality also made it so that moving on the rough terrain outside was difficult for Taidra, and he'd be a hindrance to Wiljam's madness. Luckily Taidra had allies. 

"Good," Yuin nodded, a cheerful hum to his words. He didn't leave after. He also didn't normally come to check if Taidra approved, counting on Taidra to come to him to do that. "I would hate for the energy collection to be delayed." 

Taidra paused typing and turned to face Yuin, eyeing him up suspiciously as the man leaned against his file cabinet in a deceptively casual manner. He hadn't made a mistake recently or done anything particularly high-strung, so this wasn't about Taidra. Yuin wanted to talk to him. His A.I pinned the network.  It reassured him that nothing dangerous had happened on the base.

"Is there something you need from me?"

"No, but I have some news that you'll be interested in," Yuin closed the door and locked it. Taidra tried not to flinch. It left them in a very enclosed space. Yuin stayed leaning against the file cabinet but pulled a letter out of his jacket pocket. Taidra's shoulders lowered. They'd received communication from the front. "Inai sends his greetings. Your cousins are missing you dearly."

"I doubt that," Taidra smiled softly, "I cramp their style, but it is polite of him to say so."

Yuin's normal grin faded into a matching soft smile. "From the stories, I'm sure whoever is responsible for them is definitely missing you being able to rein them in. Inai has sent me a report for you to read regarding Dmar spy Ravn." 

"Ravn likely got himself caught behind our lines flirting with some girl again," Taidra said, accepting the letter. It wasn't the only envelope offered to him. Another sat behind it. "He's not as bad as his brothers, but Ravn has a habit of blending in too well with civilians."

"His brothers?"

"Ravn is one of Sakmi's foundling brats. Young but good fighters and spies. But the twin boys flirt with anything which moves unless their mission is critical," Taidra paused. Well, that had been true eight months ago before the warship had crashed. He didn't like having potentially out-of-date information. "Normally, how we would tell if Loror thought we are up to something or not based on their behaviour. If the brats are lax enough to be caught, he didn't think we were."

"How could you know if you didn't catch them?" Yuin asked, an interested look in his eye as he watched Taidra.

"Trust me; the foundlings let us know," Taidra's chest twinged at that. He missed the brats. He never expected that. "Anyway, you wouldn't trap me in a small space with you if it was only the brats that had come up in the communication."

Yuin smiled innocently. Jovial and fun-loving, Yuin also had the remarkable ability to trick people into talking about things to distract them or find out information. People found it suspicious the foundlings saved Taidra, or they should. Taidra didn't like it, even knowing that did it with the intent to capture him at a later date.