“I do,” I said. “I notice those things and others that I don’t always have names for, but I don’t always know how to interpret what I sense.”
“Experience will take care of that,” he said. “That’s why the older Ina are so good at spotting truth and untangling lies. They use their senses, their intelligence, and their long experience.”
“How can you know all that?” I asked him.
“It’s what we all do, Ina and human,” he said. “The Ina are just a lot better at it. They do it consciously and with more acute senses. They usually have better memories, and they can pile up more years of practice than humans can. We humans do a little of it and give it names like ‘intuition’ or ‘instinct’ or even ‘ESP.’ In fact, it’s just good old conscious and unconscious use of your senses, your experience, and your intelligence.”
I asked Preston about it later, and he grinned. “Been talking to Martin?”
“I have,” I said. “Is he right?”
“Oh, yes. The man loves to teach. You’re a blessing to him.”
“How can he know what very old Ina are doing? Did you tell him?”
“No, he just keeps his eyes and ears open. His nose is no better than most other humans’， but his intelligence is first-rate. His son is a lot like him.”
That left me thinking again of Joel and wondering how like his father he would turn out to be.
The first day of the Council of Judgment ended with an effort on the part of the Silks to make me look irresponsible （at best） and make Daniel and, by extension, the Gordons look as though they were lying. They failed in both efforts. They would have one more day to try to undermine us. On the third day, judgment would be argued, truth acknowledged, and the Council would say, according to Ina law, what must be done.
That was all. It seemed almost … easy. Would the Silks simply give themselves up to be killed or allow their unmated young sons to be sent away to other communities? Could anyone do that?
As the Council ended its session just a hour before dawn, I felt the need to talk to someone. Then Brook, Wright, and Joel came to collect me, and I realized I was almost weak with hunger. Joel and Brook both recognized the signs, though I don’t think Wright did yet.
“Let’s go home,” Brook said.
I nodded. I wanted to go find Martin Harrison and ask him questions, but I thought that might be better done during the day when other Ina could not listen.
I let my symbionts walk me home, then kissed each of them, and went to find Celia. I had not touched her for four nights. Tonight she would be expecting me. She was not entirely mine yet, not bound to me, as Daniel would say. Not quite. Tonight would be her turning point. Her scent told me she was almost there. Tonight, she would be mine.
She was asleep, warm and smelling of the soap she had used when she bathed earlier that night. In spite of her bath, she also smelled of the man she had had sex with before washing. I took in the scent and, after a moment, was able to picture the man—a symbiont of Peter Marcu’s. He was a short, muscular man with very smooth skin—skin so dark it looked truly black. Someone had said he was from Ghana and that his name was Kwasi Tuntum. He had tired her out, made her sleepy. Eventually I would wake her up. I didn’t think she would mind.
But when I slipped into bed beside her, she opened her eyes. I didn’t think she could see me, but she said, “Hey, Shori, I thought you forgot about me.”
“You didn’t think that,” I said. “You were enjoying yourself too much with Kwasi to worry about me forgetting you.”
She froze next to me. I could feel her body go rigid.
I kissed her face, then her mouth. “Do you really care that I know?” I asked. “I can’t help knowing.”
“You … don’t mind?”
“Should I mind?”
She shrugged against me. “Stefan didn’t mind. He said I had the right to have human partners and have kids if I wanted them. After all, he couldn’t give me kids.” She frowned.
I said, “Why did it bother you that he didn’t mind?”
She was silent for a long time. I used the time to explore what Kwasi had done with her. He had kissed her mouth and her neck and her breasts. He had kissed her between her breasts and taken her nipples into his mouth … I tried that, and she giggled. I’d never heard her giggle before. Then her scent changed, and she made a different sort of noise in her throat.
“What are you doing?” she asked.