For that matter - she stood on tiptoe, stretching as far up as she could, trying to gauge her reach against the height of the shuttle - how big would the rest of her get?įinally, the pilot re-emerged, stepping stiffly out of the shuttle door. Gideon wondered how big her feet would get before they stopped growing. The leather was starting to rub against the edges of her feet - she needed a bigger size again, and Aiglamene was sure to grumble about having to dig around for another pair so soon after the last. Gideon fidgeted while she was gone, bouncing up onto her toes then rocking back on her heels, feeling the grit of the landing field against the soles of her boots. "Emperor, but this trip is not making my back any younger," she muttered as she disappeared inside the shuttle.
"Yeah, kid, I've got something for you." She took one last drag before stamping out the embers against the bottom of the step, then stood up with a grunt. Gideon nodded and shifted her weight from foot to foot while the woman took another long inhale, paused, then exhaled the smoke to drift up into the darkness of the landing field sky.įinally, Gideon blurted, "Have you got anything for me?" Immediately she blushed at her childish impatience, wishing she could take the words back.īut the woman just chuckled. Don't know how you manage, a growing girl like you with the thin crap you've got to eat out here, but looks like you're doing okay." "Aiglamene says she'd trust me to hit the gates of Drearburh two times out of three," Gideon said with pride. "There's more of you than the last time I was here." Glancing over Gideon's shoulder, she added, "And I see you're still dragging around that giant sword. The pilot took a long drag of her cigarette, giving Gideon a good once-over. Gideon nodded, finding herself unaccountably tongue-tied. "Haven't turned to mildew and bones like the rest of ‘em?"
Still kicking, huh?" she said by way of greeting. At the sound of Gideon's hurried entrance, she looked up and gave a lopsided grin, one corner of her mouth pulled down by a jagged scar. Her dirty blond hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and her broad shoulders strained at the seams of her pilot's uniform. The woman sat on the low step of the shuttle, elbows on her wide knees, hands cupped around a cigarette to protect it from nonexistent wind. She tried not to hope too hard - sometimes they switched out the pilots, there was no guarantee it'd be her - but when she skidded out onto the landing field, she let out a tight breath in relief. When the last dark, dragging robe disappeared down the stairs, Gideon sprinted up the way they'd come from. But the Ninth had shadows in abundance, and the nuns were focused on ensuring the skeletons did not drop or damage the various packages brought by the shuttle, and Gideon managed.
Lurking had gotten harder, recently - at fifteen she was gangly and uncoordinated, unused to the new length of her limbs, and she frequently misjudged how much space she took up. Gideon lurked in the shadows of the staircase, waiting for the parade of obedient skeletal servitors and ancient penitents to pass.
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