It was a long walk down to the main gate.
Meilyn went on my left and Kali on my right. Neither of them said anything, which was its own kind of commentary. At the checkpoint, the guards stood aside for us with crisp salutes, but I saw their eyes follow me past, and I saw what was in them. They had all heard the terms.
'You're really doing this,' Luna said. She didn't sound worried. She sounded like someone settling into a good seat. 'I'll admit, I want to see that family's face when something surprises it.'
'Then watch closely,' I thought.
Just short of the gate, Meilyn put a hand on my arm.
"If this goes wrong," she said, very low, "I'm stepping in. Compact or no compact."
"If you step in, they'll call it broken anyway."
"Then they can call it broken." Her golden eyes held mine. "You kept me alive two years ago, Arthur. I'm not watching you die on my own doorstep to protect a piece of paper."
"I'm not planning to die."
"Nobody ever is." She let go. "Win quickly."
