Theo stared at her, tears rising, hands pressing Coyster so tight against her shoulder that he grumbled a complaint and squirmed. She let him go, barely attending as he dropped to the floor and strolled over to sit next to Kamele's chair.
"Kamele..." Theo began, horrified to hear her voice quavering. Her mother raised a hand.
"Now, Theo."
Bottom lip caught between her teeth, she pulled her mumu out, tapped the quick-key, and raised it to her ear.
"Good evening, Theo." Father didn't sound surprised to hear from her. On the other hand, he didn't sound pleased either. Neutral, that was it. Inside her head, she could see the bland expression that went with that tone.
"Father," she said miserably. "Um..."
She took a breath, ducking her head to wipe her damp cheek on her shoulder. No word from Father. He would, Theo knew, wait until she told him what she was calling for. Silence didn't bother Father, like it did some people...
She cleared her throat. "Coyster's here," she managed, voice shaking.
"Ah. I'm pleased to know where he is. I'd thought he was angry with me for having misplaced you, and was sulking."
"No," Theo said shakily. "He packed himself into my cube and I didn't know he had come along until I opened it last night."
"I see. Well, he appears to have decided upon his posting. I can hardly argue with his choice."
"Yes, well... Kamele, um..." She closed her eyes, picturing him in her head, black eyes sharp, face attentive, waiting politely for her to continue. "Kamele asked me to call you and – and ask you to, to arrange to... take him back."
The silence from his side continued longer than she had expected. Her stomach had almost tied itself into a knot when he sighed.
"Theo," he said gently – no – carefully. "Please ask your mother if she will speak with me."
"Yes, sir." She diffidently looked to her mother. "Father... wonders if you'll talk to him."
For a second, she thought Kamele was going to refuse. Then she sighed sharply and thrust out a hand. Theo crossed the room and gave her the mumu.
"Jen Sar?" she began, in her briskest, coolest voice. "I – " She stopped. Closed her eyes. Coyster stood up, stretched – and jumped into her lap.
"Yes," Kamele said. "I am aware of your thesis that cats are symbiotic rather than parasitic. However, the fact remains that – " She stopped again, mouth tight. Coyster bumped his head against her free hand; she raised it absently and rubbed his ears. Theo held her breath.
"That's nonsense!" Kamele exclaimed. "There's nothing strange to her here! She has her Team, and her school work, and her – " Another sharp silence, while her fingers continued to rub Coyster's ears.
"Very well," Kamele said finally. "But only until the end of the term, are we – You're quite welcome, Jen Sar... Yes, of course – and you, as well." She turned the mumu off, placed it on the table next to hers, and sat staring at the pair of them for a long moment. Theo kept as still as she could, hardly daring to breathe. Father had talked Kamele into letting Coyster stay, but that didn't mean that Theo couldn't talk her right out of it again by being a nidj.
Finally, Kamele looked up, and gave Theo a small smile.
"Professor Kiladi makes a strong case for the benefits of Coyster's continued residence here – at least until the end of the term," she said moderately. She picked Coyster up and put him gently on the floor, then rose, brushing cat fur off her coveralls.
"It's long past time for dinner," she said, and held out her hand. "Shall we see if the kaf will provide anything moderately edible?"
That was a peace offering. Theo smiled, reluctantly, and came forward to put her hand into Kamele's.
"All we can do," she said, "is try."
Chapter Nine
Teamplay: Scavage
Professor Stephen M. Richardson Secondary School
University of Delgado
"Four Team Three is the next to lowest ranked team in Fourth Form," Roni said, loudly, as they left their Ready Room for the first class of the day. "Why do you think that is, Theo?"
You know better than to answer that, Theo told herself, and bit her lip. Roni wasn't just bad at consensus, sometimes it seemed like she was actively against it.
"I guess you never earned the Team a down," Kartor said, hotly. Theo blinked. Kartor never got into arguments.
" 'Course I have," Roni snapped. "But even you have to admit that five in one day is... exceptional."
Kartor's ears turned red. "What's that supposed to – "
"Casting blame is antisocial," Lesset spoke up. "We're a Team; we're supposed to help each other." She stared at Kartor, which was, Theo thought, trying to ignore the knot in her stomach, not fair. Kartor hadn't started the argument.
"Are we supposed to pretend that we don't know which member of our Team is pulling the rest of us down with her?" Roni rounded on Lesset, her chin and shoulders pushed forward. "We're supposed to practice intellectual honesty, aren't we?" She threw a nasty look over her shoulder at Theo. "And advertency."
Theo felt a rush of heat, and looked down to make sure of her footing as she mounted the belt.
"That's aggressive, Roni," Estan said sternly. Next to him Anj smiled absently and nodded.
"That's all right," said a cool, amused voice that Theo barely recognized as her own. "She's just peeved because, without me, she'd be the one who'd earned the most downs for the Team. Isn't that right, Roni?"
Kartor laughed, Lesset gasped, Estan looked stern, Anj kept on smiling.
Roni's face turned an interesting sort of purple-red color. Her lips parted. Theo watched her interestedly, wondering what she would say next.
But apparently Roni thought better of taking the argument further. She closed her mouth and faced front, shoulders stiff.
Theo took a shaky, secret breath, and looked around at the passing corridor, pretending she didn't see Estan frowning at her.
* * * *
In spite of the acrimonious start, the rest of the day went smoothly for Four Team Three. 'Course, Theo admitted to herself, as they filed into study hall, that was mostly because their Team mates had been very careful to keep Theo and Roni as far away from each other as possible. Theo did her part by grabbing the study table at the very back of the room, and opened her school book with a feeling of relief tainted by the knowledge that the worst part of the day was still before her.
She'd just have to hang back at teamplay, she decided. Four Team Three couldn't afford any more downs – Roni was right about that. The best thing to do would be to let her teammates play while she concentrated on not bumping into anybody, or falling, or tripping over the cracks in the floor...
Theo sighed. For the millionth-and-twelfth time, she wished she wasn't so clumsy. In her head, she wasn't clumsy at all. In her head, she could see a pattern of how she and all the people and things in her vicinity ought to move, but when she tried to move like the pattern, she'd inevitably trip over a teammate, or pull them down, like she had done to Lesset yesterday. Teamplay was worse, even, than walking down the hall; and scavage was worst of all.
She sighed again as she remembered that she was supposed to have a "chat" with Marjene after teamplay. As her mentor, Marjene was committed to helping Theo negotiate and internalize the intricacies of social and intellectual interaction – that's what the Concierge said. Theo knew Marjene wanted to help make things easier for her, and she felt guilty – a little – for not liking her better and for not taking her advice more often.