Lost and Sound Read Free Page B

complicated when you understand what you are dealing with. Like the rest of your recruitment group, this is your first time away from your world. It takes getting used to.”
    “How did you get used to it?” She grabbed a tray and started loading it up.
    “Practice. You will forget now and then or not want to ruin the line of your suit with the bulk of packs, but the slight loss of dignity is well worth the security of knowing you have what you need with you.”
    Yllin nodded and followed him to a table, settling in across from him with a sigh of relief. She flexed her hands repeatedly before she picked up the wide-based spoon and started to eat.
    “Your hands are bothering you?”
    She shrugged. “Knife practice.”
    He winced. “Are they still using those nasty wooden hilts?”
    “Yes.”
    “You know that they are roughened just to build grip and calluses, right?”
    She kept eating. “I figured that out after the first week. I got a cream from medical and it lets the skin thicken without getting rough.”
    “But your hands are still stiff.”
    “That they are. Thick skin is harder to move, and I just spent four hours with my hands wrapped around shuttle controls. Yes, my hands are stiff.”
    She finished her meal and filled a glass from the pitcher of water on the table.
    “You eat quickly.”
    “Side effect from having to eat on break. I get it in and get back to work.” Yllin smiled at him.
    He had barely touched his meal but that was fine. They were done for the day, and from what he had told her, she was his only student.
    “What do you do on your regular assignments?”
    He grinned. “I track the lost. Whether it is a stone, a person or a pet, I can locate it on a map.”
    “You are a finder.”
    “More or less. I can only find that which has actually been lost, not simply someone or something that has run away. If they do not consider themselves lost, they will not come up on my senses.”
    “That is very specific.”
    He chuckled and finished his meal. “Isn’t it? It limits my applications, but I get a sufficient amount of assignments to keep me flying.”
    “You travel on your own?”
    “Yes, I have not yet been matched with a partner. It could be my personality, but it might just be that no one has come along with a sympathetic talent.”
    She poured him a glass of water and he took it with a smile.
    “Thank you.”
    She sighed and checked her tablet for her afternoon schedule. She hadn’t thought that she would get used to wearing it on her back, but she didn’t even feel it anymore.
    After two hours of hand-to-hand and knife combat, four hours of flight training and lunch, she still had an afternoon of talent practice. They preferred to push her to her limits when she was already tired. It made for a better test.
    “What do you have on your schedule this afternoon?” Nearing jerked his chin toward her tablet.
    “More stress and shielding tests. Just a regular afternoon.”
    He chuckled. “You must look forward to your free days.”
    She rubbed her neck. “I don’t get free days. I opted out of them in exchange for additional instruction.”
    “How long do you think you can maintain that?”
    Yllin shrugged. “As long as it takes. I have passed my etiquette course, done well in my body-language studies and have learned to detect ninety-six types of explosives. As long as I can retain what I have learned, I should be fine.”
    Nearing stared at her. “You are not kidding.”
    “Nope. I am taking every course, engaging in every opportunity to make myself into a better agent for the Citadel. When I go on my first mission, I want to be ready. There are those who are depending on my success, and the sooner I can earn funds, the better off they will be.”
    “You have family depending on you?”
    She wrinkled her nose and explained the matter to him.
    “So, you are working this hard for others?”
    “Not for others, but to give them the same opportunity that I had. They go through