Book 4. Chapter 10
“Strange folk?” asked Lurilan. “In what way?”
[Hunter] Caio had a high-pitched squeaky type voice. He hunched forward and turned his face to the side, looking another direction as he talked, and despite all of this Brin’s gut feeling matched what his [Inspect] told him, that this was an incredibly powerful and dangerous person. “You know that feeling you get when you see someone hiding when they don’t need to? It’s like that. [Warriors] from the Defense Force. Officers from the army and the navy. Second sons of nobles, most of them sneaky types that look around but don’t do anything or talk to anyone. And all of them are hiding their status and staying in the worst hotels. Now, if there was a war going on, then the meaning would be obvious, but last I heard, Arcaena was in the middle of surrendering…”
Caio glanced at Brin, then quickly looked away.
“There is a war going on. Lumina told me the peace talks were a farce, in place while everyone prepares for total war,” said Brin.
Caio nodded. “In that case…”
“Impressment, you think?” asked Lurilan.
“Well, I’ve been known to be wrong before,” Caio said.
“What’s that mean?” asked Zilly.
“It means they’re going to start drafting people for the war. And the five of us are right at the perfect age,” said Brin, worry starting to build as it dawned on him what they were saying.