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needed someone as backup for the Vatta command set.
    “I don’t know nearly as much as Zori,” Toby said, shoveling in the last of a serving of rice with vegetables. His lack of appetite had already dealt with a double serving of cultured turkey with gravy. “I don’t know all of the words I can even read.”
    “We can’t ask Zori,” Stella reminded him.
    “Not even when it’s this important?”
    That was the sticking point. It was that important. If it came to it, if it meant life or death for Ky, or for planets, they would have to ask Zori—force Zori, if it came to it—to do the translation. Or her father.
    “Any such request should come through official channels,” Stella said. “I’ve already given a copy of this to the Cascadian government; it’s their job to decide what to do with it. Though now that I know someone knows the language, or some of it, they need to know that.”
    “It’ll get Zori in trouble,” Toby said. “Maybe I can figure out more of it.”
    “I hope so,” Stella said.
     
    Toby tapped a stylus on his desk. Zori could not be a traitor: that was a given. Zori had, however, taught him some words that appeared in a pirate transmission. That was a fact. Now that Stella knew that Zori knew some words, Stella was half convinced of her guilt. Zori’s father had taught Zori those words, and Zori’s father gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. He’d assumed it was what any boy felt around the father of the girl he loved, but maybe not. Maybe the man was a traitor. That didn’t mean Zori was. Zori’s father could be a traitor—both her parents could be traitors—and Zori could still be innocent. Zori’s father could have learned a few words—the ones he’d taught Zori—from someone else. Maybe he wasn’t a traitor. But if Stella told the government about Zori, then nobody would believe her innocence. He had to find a way to save her from that.
    The first step was to find out if she knew all the words in the transmission—because that would mean she could translate the transmissions. If they went to the government themselves, then she could be a hero who translated pirate lingo, not a suspect.
    But Stella had forbidden him to show Zori the transcripts or tell her what was going on. And if—he didn’t want to think this, but he could not help it—if she was guilty, if her father was a traitor and had raised her to be one, too, then showing her the transcripts would be as dangerous as Stella said. How could he find out if she knew more than the little she’d taught him, without breaking Stella’s rule?
    A flash of worry that Zori might not like what he was thinking of doing was easy to banish. He was doing it for her, to protect her, and unless she was a traitor (and she could not be a traitor; that was a given) she would understand and agree, if—when—she found out.
     
    “My parents like you,” Zori said before math the next day.
    Toby couldn’t answer; he just nodded.
    “Is your cousin causing problems?”
    “Not…exactly. She says she thought she told your father about my escort.”
    Zori gave him a look. “She thinks my father is lying? That’s an insult—”
    “She didn’t say that.” Actually she had said that, but Toby was not going to admit it.
    Zori settled back, lips tight. Then she looked at Toby again. “I…need to talk to you.”
    “We can start this lesson when everyone is attentive.” That was Ser Galvan. Toby looked up just in time to avoid a mark for discourtesy.
    During break, Zori and Toby ignored the nudges and winks of the rest of their class and backed into a corner with their snacks. Toby’s security were nearby, but in the noise of the break room, they could not be overheard. Probably.
    “What?” Toby asked.
    “My father says he likes you but sometimes…sometimes he’s just a little sneaky.”
    “Sneaky?”
    “I mean…yes it would be an insult if your cousin said he was lying about her having told him about your escort.