Char didn’t let me sleep alone. She insisted on sharing the bed, with two knives under her pillow. It wasn’t like we hadn’t done that before, most inns charged by the bed and the Guild wasn’t the most generous with its travel budget. And unlike the cramped cots we’d shared in the years we traveled together, my bed was huge. Like, it took up half of my room huge.

A huge bed had been the first thing I’d bought when I moved in. It had been annoying to assemble and make fit, but it was so worth it. For so long I’d slept on beds with barely enough space to breathe. Now that I was settling down, I wanted a bed fit for a queen. So I had one.

Despite the magnitude of my bed, Char still managed to take all of my blankets during the night. And when I tried to wrestle them back from her, she hit me. Can you believe that? I ended up just sleeping in the cold. The sacrifices I make…

As such, I was pretty keen to get up. As soon as the first morning rays woke me up, I climbed over Char and out of bed.

Char stirred, but I whispered, “Go back to sleep, I’m just getting breakfast,” in her ear, and she did. I used to tell her that all the time when we traveled together, I guess she never really broke the habit.

I pulled on some clothes and went out to the kitchen, where Xico was making breakfast. I paused in the hall for just one second, before sitting down at the table.

Xico came over to me, grabbed me by my chin, and kissed me. It was passionate and I kissed her back, lost in the moment.

When she pulled away, there was a confused smile on her face and she said, “I can’t decide if I hate you or love you.”

“Something, something, thin line…” I muttered and she pulled me in for another kiss. I felt her hands go under my shirt and slide up my back, her nails dragging against my skin.

She broke the kiss and sighed.

“I know I seem crazy to you,” she started to say.

I cut her off and said, “Hey, I'm the one who stayed.”

She gave me a peck on the cheek and went back to cooking breakfast. Within minutes, Char was awake and sitting next to me, a knife resting in her lap. She didn't take her eyes off of Xico the entire time.

When Xico brought us breakfast and I immediately dug in, Char said, “Really? She just admitted to poisoning you.”

I shrugged and said, “She said she'd stop. Plus, it didn't work.” I continued eating.

Xico walked over to Char and took a bite of her food. Then, she bent over and kissed her on the cheek. I saw Char blush and look away.

“It's safe,” Xico said, “I promise.”

“What were you doing here, anyway?” I asked Char.

Char sighed and said, “I was here to deliver some findings for our investigation.” She pulled out a manila folder from her bag and put it on the table. She glanced at Xico but opened the folder and took out the files inside.

On the first one, there was a small photograph attached. I grabbed it and looked at it. It was the Hunter whose head I’d seen hung on a lamppost.

“Back in the day,” I said, “we didn’t have photographs. The Guild had sketch artists do drawings of us every few years.”

Char picked up the file and glanced over it.

“His name was Everett Simm. Joined up aged seventeen, got his Mark aged twenty, served in the Last War, retired aged forty, about a year after the war. Died aged fifty-nine. He was a bit older than you, Jonas. Did you know him?”

I stared at the photo and shook my head.

“No.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“I didn’t either, though that makes sense. He retired right after I got my Mark.”

I took the files on Simm from Char and flipped through them.

“He was assigned to the 15th Brigade. I was in the 110th. We weren’t fighting anywhere near each other.”

Our victim had a pretty standard career as a Hunter by the looks of it. No disciplinary notes except for a couple relating to disorderly conduct when drunk. A good record with missions and an honorable discharge at his request. Nothing exceptional, but also nothing shady.

“Are you sure these are the full files?” I asked.

Char nodded, “Nothing was classified. I don’t think there’s much we can infer here, he was just Teralt’s bodyguard.”

Xico froze and asked, “Did you just say Teralt? Just what is this case you guys are working on?”

I motioned for Char to explain and she said, “Multiple dead bodies were found in an alley in the Warren. They died under suspicious circumstances.”

“Oh,” I said, “I think I know what killed Teralt. Kurtadams, which are real, and which may have a military connection. I killed two, but there’s likely more. The Trieste-Vellan lead bore out some fruit, but I’m still piecing it together.”

Char looked at me, a bit annoyed, and sighed.

“In light of recent events, I’ll excuse you for not telling me that immediately.” She continued, “We were brought in to figure out what happened.”

Xico shook her head and grabbed today’s paper.

“Was Teralt dead? Because I was just reading about a speech she gave.”

“She?” I asked. “Gerry Teralt was a man.”

“Gerry Teralt? I don’t know who that is,” Xico said, flipping through the paper. Finally, she found what she was looking for and slid the paper over to me. “But I know who Lavin Teralt is. She’s an MP, one of the major ones behind the pacifist constitution.”

I grabbed the paper and began reading. I knew Gerry’s name had sounded familiar. Dominica had said that Gerry was from a “well-connected family,” and his parents had expelled him but his sister had recently welcomed him back. She mentioned that specifically, an odd detail to include unless it was somehow related to the case. Lavin Teralt, MP and matriarch of the venerable political family the Teralt line was Gerry’s sister, the one who was bringing him back into the familial fold.

That would explain why Gerry was in the Capital and why only he was suitable for whatever job his clients were planning: it was related to his sister. Io had said her mother primarily worked for weapons manufacturers and Dominica had said she and Gerry had worked with the same people. So what did defense manufacturers want with Lavin Teralt?

I reread the newspaper. It was a pretty standard fluff article about Lavin Teralt, talking about her parliamentary experience, and how she was part of a younger generation of MPs spearheading the pacifist constitution.

That must be it. The pacifist constitution. Since the Last War and the horrific effects it wrought across the world, attempts for a new constitution that enshrined anti-militarism and pacifism have skyrocketed. The proposals have looked a lot different over the years, and there've been smaller legislative victories restricting gun ownership and things like that, but the idea of a pacifist constitution stayed just an idea.

That was, until six months ago, when Lavin Teralt and nearly a third of the Imperial Parliament published a manifesto indicating their support for a constitutional convention to officially create a pacifist constitution.

Now, if you were a weapons manufacturer and there was a real chance that the vast majority of your business would be constitutionally banned, you’d get a bit scared. So they get Gerry Teralt to do…what?

I needed to meet Lavin Teralt.

“Okay,” I said to Char and Xico, “I have a handle on just a part of this case. And it doesn’t make any sense. But I know to figure it out, I need to meet with Lavin Teralt. Any other leads I should know about before I go?”

Char nodded and handed me another sheaf of papers.

“I went through some military records, the gun could’ve been sold at any point, any time. The Kavinsky Mk II is a pretty popular weapon on the street.”

“I think the gun was Gerry’s anyway. The Kurtadams certainly didn’t need them. I’ll write up a report on them, can you try and dig something up from the archives?”

Char shivered and nodded. I knew she hated going into the archives, everyone except the archivists did. But those dusty crypts contained countless lifetimes worth of knowledge. And if there was anything that could tell us about the Kurtadams, it was in there.

“Also,” I said, pulling out the Kurtadam’s dog tags from my pocket. They had a bit of dried blood on them. “Copy the information on these down and find out what you can about the soldiers. I’ll need the actual dog tags themselves though.”

Char took the dog tags, wrote down the information in a notebook, and handed them back to me.

“Anything you want me to do?” Xico asked. Char and I turned to stare at her. “What?” she asked, “I’m just making sure.”

“Actually,” I said after a moment, “there is.” I told Xico what I wanted her to do and she smiled. She tried to kill me last night and now we were as thick as thieves. Or maybe, like thieves. I’m unsure.