"well, young man, you'll be getting a raise in pay after tonight." arvil nodded to tory. "now, if you two will help me wrangle my security and get rid of these bodies." arvil swept inside his casino. tory and ry exchanged a look and followed him.

"i know they were hired for you, sweetheart, but we'll find other bodyguards for you." teeg had wakened me early after i'd spent a restless night. i worried that i'd kept farzi and nenzi awake with my tossing and turning. they'd plopped off the bed and went into the other room the minute i answered the comp-vid call from teeg.

"teeg, if i can keep farzi and some of his brothers, i'll be fine." i raked a hand through my short but growing hair.

"baby, your hair is growing out, i can see it."

"my hair looks like shit right now. admit it." he was up and freshly washed and dressed; i'd seen that the moment his image appeared on my screen.

"sweetheart, you always look good to me in the morning." well, i didn't want to go there. with my limited experience with males, i think any woman would look good to them in the morning.

"you'll be all right where you are for a couple of days. i think arvil will come back by then. ry and tory can be extra security for you when they get back. in the meantime, tell farzi and the others they have permission to use any force necessary to keep you safe."

"i'll let them know," i sighed, feeling defeated.

"reah, hold your head up, baby. we're counting on you."

i wanted to tell him that his statement sounded foolish to me. i didn't. "good-bye, teeg," i said instead and shut off the transmission.

"farzi, you and your brothers just got assigned as my bodyguards, since master arvil took tory and ry," i told them after i'd dressed and brushed my teeth.

"then we will protect reah," farzi nodded.

"farzi," i went to put my arms around him. i wanted to cry, actually, but i was working hard to hold the tears back.

"reah, not take this so badly," farzi's arms were around me and nenzi was rubbing my back. the others crowded around to touch me, somehow.

later, when i got myself in hand, we went to the kitchen to start breakfast. the reptanoids were served first, and they ate in the kitchen. astralan wandered in. i gave him a cup of tea while i fixed his plate. he settled down at the island to eat just as the others had.

"i like this-having breakfast made to order when i get up," astralan sipped his tea with pleasure. i made it just the way he liked it, with milk and honey. "reah, i know how young you are," he went on, causing me to jerk upright after pulling rolls from the oven. "you don't need to wear that frightened look. none of my brothers are about to jump you because you're here alone."

"farzi and his brothers are here." i went back to pulling trays of rolls from the oven. i served two to astralan with some fruit spread. he'd already had his eggs and sliced pork.

"i know. i just don't want to see that look on your face, like we're about to jump out of your closet and attack you."

i wanted to ask him why he was bothering to tell me this. after all, i'd seen him and his brothers operate. frying people in the middle of the floor wasn't a good way to reassure anyone, in my estimation. and the hardlows? they'd just as soon kill someone as look at them, from what i'd heard. they liked my cooking. that had kept me safe so far. and astralan had said that wilffox would have hired me. well, arvil had adopted me. not the same thing. not by a long way. i still got shaky every time i remembered how caught in the middle of this i was. i was asd and the asd was looking to either kill or imprison all these people. astralan would do his best to kill me where i stood if i told him that right then.

wilffox, wilffin and the other two warlocks wandered in while astralan was finishing his second cup of tea. they sat down at the island while i handed out plates of food. talk began about the impending harvest and the meeting and reception that arvil planned. with everything else that had happened, that event had completely escaped my thoughts.

"i think we want a menu with perhaps three items offered," wilffox said. "i want the yaris fish as one of the choices. perhaps that special ox-roast you make for another and a fowl selection, maybe?"

"yes, that would be a good cross-section," i agreed. "will there be any vegetarians?" i had a few things i could put together if that was the case.

"i don't think so," wilffox looked to his brother. wilffin was shaking his head. well, they knew the crime kingpins from their part of the galaxy, i didn't.

"what do you have planned for today?" wilffox asked.

"i was thinking about going back to those two fields that we were having trouble with-make sure the problem wasn't spreading to any of the others," i said.

"sounds good. we'll come along," wilffin announced.

nenzi drove us. the fields were the same as before. the affected plants were stunted and brown-leaved, but outside a narrow swath in those two fields, no other plants were disturbed.

"we might get a partial harvest from these," wilffox was examining the branch of a plant farzi showed him. farzi knew a lot about growing things, as did most of his brothers. nenzi, though, was the one who was mechanically inclined.

"yes, and harvest starts on first fields next eight-day," farzi agreed. i still felt the heat i'd experienced the last time i'd come, i just chose to keep it to myself. no need to alert the hardlows or their warlocks to that little anomaly.

"let's go to the barns, then, and check on the shipments of crates and packaging materials," wilffox suggested. nenzi was quite happy to drive us everywhere. we went to the barns, a place i hadn't been as yet and looked over pallets and pallets of crates, in addition to boxes and boxes of sealable, waterproof packing material. they weren't concerned with the expense involved to make sure the drug got to its intended recipients. that drug was worth countless alliance credits when it reached its destination, after all.

"reah, don't ever touch this shit." astralan's hand dropped to my shoulder as i gazed at the barn filled with shipping supplies.

"don't worry," i replied. farzi gave a quick look at astralan's hand on my shoulder, but he didn't say anything. that wasn't farzi's way. if he or any of his brothers wanted someone dead, they'd do it later in the stealthiest and quietest way possible. i wasn't worried about astralan any longer, and i couldn't say why that was.

we stopped by one of the fields to check on the workers we'd hired. they were spraying weedkill when we arrived. i think they knew not to aggravate any one of us. farzi spoke to the ones in charge, asking them about the upcoming harvests.

"we have everything ready-the equipment is in good repair," the man nodded toward nenzi. if i knew nenzi, that had been a labor of love.

"you'll get a bonus if it's brought in ahead of schedule," wilffox promised. the man nodded respectfully to both hardlows. we left shortly after. time had gotten away from us, so i served lunch by the pool while the plantation staff went about their duties.

"i love these drinks," wilffin settled on his lounge chair with a sigh of pleasure. "too bad i don't have anybody to give me a massage."

if he were hinting, i wasn't about to take that bait. wilffin could afford the most expensive courtesan anywhere. he was welcome to ask his warlocks to pick one up for him. astralan offered to find a masseuse.

"make sure she's pretty," wilffin waved a hand. he went back to sipping his drink in the early afternoon sun.

astralan came back later with three women, one of whom was short with pale, blonde hair. he sent her in wilffin's direction. i faded from the pool area, farzi right behind me. he'd already sent his brothers away earlier.

"they will be having relations out there," farzi hissed as we walked into the kitchen.

"that's all right, farzi," i gave him a quick hug. "we'll just stay away."

the courtesans stayed for dinner, playing with wilffox, wilffin and the warlocks. "sweetie," one of them said when i served her food, "you'd be stunning if you let your hair grow out."

"the haircut wasn't my idea," i told her and went on.

"how are things going?" teeg asked when he called later. he always seemed to catch me when i was brushing my teeth. i'd had to rinse really quick to answer his call.

"fine," i sighed. "we checked the fields today, and then astralan brought in three women to keep everybody happy."

"wilffin didn't bother you, did he?" that question had me raising an eyebrow.

"only an obscure invitation to give him a backrub," i said. "astralan brought in the courtesans after that."

"good. anything else?"

"not really. how about you? what happened to the last of delvin's bunch?"

"dead. easy kill. no tourists were hurt. only lost four security guards."

"well, it could have been worse," i mumbled, hoping i didn't know any of the dead.

"definitely," teeg acknowledged. "i'm going to interview people tomorrow; arvil wants to replace his entire stable of wizards. you wouldn't believe how many applications we received."

"i'm not surprised-i hear the money's good," i said.

"want me to buy you something, baby? since we left you alone?"

"teeg, i don't need anything."

"sure you do. you need a dress and some jewelry for that fiasco arvil has planned. i'll see about getting something for that."

"arvil and i aren't going to match, are we?" i teased him a little. arvil planned to leave teeg on campiaa during the gathering, to watch over things there.

"no. who would do something like that?" he was grinning at me.

"you'd be surprised," i said. people used to come into desh's all the time, looking exactly alike. it frightened me.