Move 22 Recap

Ashari, Iawa, Mikodez, Sasha, and Sulen; sounds from the moth

Sasha asks, "Why didn't you report that Istradez was hurt, Mishka?" Ashari, whose eyes are entirely rose-blue, makes a tiny, approving nod. Mikodez smiles, squinching up his eyes, and declares, "Oh, that. Because I was. Trying to murder him! You see, he reminded me of a school rival of mine, who I wanted to one-up, so I tried shooting him with a pattern from the matter printer that Sasha lent me. When afterwards it turns out he'd hit his head, I took him to the visitor quarters to rest, and monitor, just in case he turned out to be an alien from foreign parts who would eat my face." He then asks Sulen, "Are you planning on letting the moths stay in the heptarchate?" Sasha tells Ashari, "He didn't have any ammunition. So he's either lying or mind-numbingly incompetent." Ashari says, with some curiosity, "Lying I can almost forgive, but mind-numbing incompetence is another matter." Mikodez simply says, "Yes," adding, "Then I yelled at him until he fell over." Sasha explains the ammunition problem, then asks, "When did Istradez tell you he was your brother, Mishka?" Sulen, who has been scrying, points out that Mikodez is lying: "Didn't you learn in school not to lie to Rahal, Mikodez?" Ashari warns Mikodez, in their gentlest and thus most threatening voice, that he has one more chance before they enthrall him into answering questions and doing some chores. Mikodez, who thinks he has created sufficient confusion, simply remarks, "I'm great at arranging placemats." Sasha reflects that Ashari's treatment of her has demonstrated comparable restraint.

Meanwhile, Iawa is watching the others and thinking, "WHEN will you LEARN that you are never, ever right about a situation?" Iawa observes that Ashari is toying with their dagger in a way that indicates increased stress, and suggests to them that it's a bad idea "to handle a weapon near someone who can grab it," then worries about whether giving Ashari Vidona advice was a good idea. Sasha fears that Ashari will react to this advice by throwing the dagger at Iawa. She decides to invoke her own exotic power by telling herself a Kirrish folk tale about a woman traveling in the snow, with the goal of deflecting the dagger if necessary. Mikodez protests that he isn't going to be the person with the dagger: "I am minded to be extremely cooperative. Just not with Sasha, because that wasn't any fun." Iawa answers, "I think everyone here wants to listen and understand, Avrayen." Mikodez says, "I'm sure that's not what Sasha is here for." Sasha asks Mikodez, mildly, how he joined the rebellion; he says he was curious and bored. Sasha then asks, "How did you find us?" Meanwhile, in the folk tale she's remembering, the woman climbs out of mist onto a broad plain.

Ashari hands their dagger to Sulen; Sasha is astonished that they have taken Iawa's suggestion, and stops trying to invoke her exotic power. Ashari catches Mikodez' gaze and tells him, "We need to find a better way to use your...talents. To do that, we need to debrief properly. Answer Sasha's question." Mikodez describes the three individuals who called him from class and told him that they could use his Shuos signifier, failing to mention the threat against his family for non-cooperation. He states he was then taken to a boxmoth, where he met two people dressed as Rahal, and continues, "The only person I saw after that didn't answer my questions, brought me to a holding room where I stayed for three days or so..." After a bit more description, he concludes, "Sasha knows what I did from there. Believe me as you like, but I didn't actually get instructions. It must be enough that I'm here. Or at least not there." Mikodez is disturbed that he has provided more interpretation than necessary.

Sasha says, "I don't understand about the signifiers," adding a few more questions about Mikodez' movements. Mikodez explains his visit to the mission briefing, with some tangents, then says with regret, "I can't control my variable signifier." He tells Sasha more facts about signifiers in an attempt at distraction. Sulen expands, "His signifier was Ninefox Smiling before. It's Ninefox Crowned With Eyes now." They continue, "Crowned With Eyes suggests he's more intelligent than his actions up till now would suggest, and the fact that it changed implies his sense of self is flexible." They insist silently that Ashari is in control of their signifier and mentally flexible, too. Sasha asks, "But why would that matter? He's a fox either way." Mikodez explains that it only matters "for faction postings" or "in hexarchate space." Sasha asks Mikodez to tell her about the person who escorted him off the boxmoth. Meanwhile, she queries the grid for information about Mikodez' signifiers, and variable signifiers under the hexarchate in general. She learns that Shuos Academy cadets displaying Ninefox Crowned With Eyes are usually purged, due to the signifier's association with the infamous Jedao, and concludes that Mikodez' presence is a more elaborate method of purging him; she instructs Mikodez to continue with his account, now slightly more sympathetically. Mikodez describes his escort as "About Ashari's height, dark eyes, didn't say much," which means this person is about Quill's size but appears to have different eye color.

Sasha asks, "Did you have a timeframe for your return, or a contact for retrieval?" Mikodez scoffs: "When they ask like that, it's not for volunteers. I was surprised when I wasn't immediately shot following the interview. What this batch of interviewers at the Academy said was that everything was 'pending Rahal review'." The subsequent boredom seemed calculated, Mikodez thinks. He says, "I fucking hate this scenario," adding a critique of the ways that, as a Shuos training scenario, the situation would be unbalanced and ill-designed. Sasha thinks this sounds like her father's critiques of Naxorian explanations of theodicy; Iawa asks for clarification. Mikodez says that either this is a compelling but unsubtle training simulation, "because you really didn't have to quote from the Classic of Web and Glint every other sentence," or he has been let loose on the past: "Isn't someone inventing the mothdrive soon?" Sasha finds his analysis inconsistent: "I thought you didn't want to hurt the mothling, and now you want to research how to bind it into a starship?" Mikodez says he has never encountered a voidmoth, nor has he seen the moth Alaric claims is on board. The moth's humming, due to its concern for the mothlings, interrupts. Mikodez spreads his hand on the floor to feel the vibration, then reacts with enthusiasm, asking how to communicate with the ship's moth and where to find Crowned-With-Eyes. Sulen objects that the conversation has veered off topic, and Ashari tightens the enthrallment.

Sasha asks Mikodez about his siblings, and he provides dry autobiographical detail; Sasha is unnerved by this demonstration of Ashari's enthrallment powers. She asks Mikodez about his "sister" Istradez. Sulen objects to the tangent; they believe people's feelings about their families should be private. Mikodez says, "It's been years since I last saw her"; Sasha assumes that this is an evasion referring to time travel. She asks what the current Istradez told Mikodez, when they met on the station. Mikodez says, "After I tried to shoot him, he said he hadn't thought that I hated him to that extent. And I don't hate him, just suspicious people who claim to be my family from the future." Sasha asks when Mikodez decided not to hate Istradez; Mikodez says he will resume hostilities if this is a simulation, or if Istradez turns out to be an impostor. Sasha glances at Sulen for confirmation; they glare at her, but confirm that he is telling the truth, though his assessment may change when not under enthrallment. Ashari asks whether there are last questions, and Sasha shakes her head. She wonders why Mikodez' file said to keep him safe, but doesn't want to tell Ashari that she read private documents.