I went to find Giga before I slept.
She was in the barracks courtyard with two members of her unit, going over something in a low voice that stopped when she saw me approach. She said something to the others, and they dispersed with the quiet efficiency of people who understood how to read a room.
We stood in the courtyard in the dark.
"I'm going to ask you something," I said, "and I want an honest answer, not the answer that's easiest to give me."
"That's the only kind I have."
"I know." I looked at her. The wind-bitten face, the slightly asymmetric set of her eyes since the battle — the right one still not sitting quite the same as the left. "Are you scared?"
She was quiet for a moment, which was not evasion but actual consideration.
"Yes," she said.
"Good," I said.
She raised a
