The predator kept moving down the trunk. The view slid down, to a spot below where, tucked into a crook between a small, thin branch and the massive tree limb, a single fox sat, gathered into a tiny ball. His blue fur was striped with white and black paint. Compared to the predator, he was tiny. The feline beast could swallow him in two gulps.

“After all, you are so small and your birth planet is so vicious.”

The feline beast smelled the air. He was almost to the fox.

“Do you know what my father told me?”

On screen the fox’s bright indigo eyes opened wide.

“He told me to never trust a lees, for they are smart and crafty, and when their negotiations fail, they kill to get what they want.”

On the screen the small fox shot out from under the massive tree branch, leaping into the air, a blow gun at his lips. A tiny dart shot out and bit into the fur of the feline hunter. The beast shuddered, wracked by convulsions, struggling to stay on its feet. The fox landed next to it on soft paws and yanked a dagger from the sheath at his waist. His black lips drew back, baring savage teeth. His muzzle wrinkled. A deranged light flared in his eyes. The fox fighter fell on the convulsing beast, stabbing its throat again and again, flinging blood everywhere in a frenzy. There was nothing refined about it. Nothing civilized or calm. It was a pure, primordial bloodlust, brutal and violent.

Nuan Cee looked away from the screen, averting his eyes.

“I had seen the shape of my poisoner. It was short. Short like a lees. Then you showed up with an antidote to a poison that couldn’t be found even in the Arbiter’s extensive database. One of your people tried to kill me.”

“It wasn’t sanctioned.”

“The inn marked my poisoner.”

Nuan Cee winced.

“Why did you do it?”

“It wasn’t done on my orders and I will punish the one responsible. Someone used my image disruptor, but I don’t know how. It is very expensive and I am the only one who has one. It was completely secure and it is untouched in my quarters. I had used it only once.”

He’d used… “You took the emerald?”

“Yes. I was wearing the disruptor that night under my clothes. Everyone was so busy, it took mere seconds.”

“You’ve abused my hospitality.”

Nuan Cee sighed. “We did. We are indebted to you.”

I was so sick of trading favors. “Let him go.”

“No.”

“Nuan Cee! You owe me. You broke the rules of hospitality. You broke your people’s treaty with the Innkeepers of Earth. You should’ve healed me anyway. Sean didn’t know this, and you took advantage of him.”

“Yes. His bargain with me is separate from your bargain.”

“Let him go.”

“I can’t. Anything but that.”

“Why?” I snarled.

Nuan Cee spread his paws. “There were forty-two Turan Adins since the war on Nexus began. Some lasted mere days. He’s been on Nexus for a cycle and a half. You don’t even know how special that is. He’s too good. He lasted longer than even the original one. I was terrified because he refused to sign another contract. He said he would walk as soon as we found a replacement. But now he will stay. All will be well.”

“All won’t be well. The Nexus is killing him.”

“It will eventually. But until then, he will lead our defenses.”

“Release him. This is what I want.”

“No. Ask anything else.”

“Damn it, don’t you have a crumb of conscience? Is there any drop of kindness in your soul, or is it all just cold dark greed?”

Nuan Cee bared his teeth. “There are three thousand of our people on Nexus. There are families and children. He is keeping them alive.”

“What the hell were you thinking, putting children on Nexus in the first place? Move them out.”

“Don’t you think I would if I could? They have no place to go. They are not welcome anywhere.”

The realization hit me. The Kuan lees, the cast outs. He had staffed Nexus colony with the exiles.

Nuan Cee turned away and waved at the screen, his paw limp. “Archive number ten twenty-four.”

A long procession of foxes appeared on the screen, moving one by one into a shrine, carrying little lanterns.

“In our society, family is everything. Clan is everything. When I look back, I should see the line of my ancestors stretching through time, long and unbroken. It is they who give us strength and wisdom. Our clan. Our pack. Our past and the wealth of our clan’s deeds. When one of us commits a crime, when he or she is found weak or unworthy, they are cast out. Such is the way of the forest. Only the strong and the useful survive. The cast outs are cut off from their clan. They have no shrines. They can’t pray to their ancestors. They can’t ask for solace or guidance. Their children grow up adrift, not knowing where they come from, branches severed from the tree of their clan and family forever. Some don’t even know their fathers. They have no home. They’re not welcome anywhere. My father was a Kuan. He was a criminal and the son of a criminal.”

Grandmother stepped out of the shadows and came to sit on the couch, quiet as a ghost.

“And when my mother fell in love with him and her clan paid a fortune, the worth of a small planet, to include him into our clan, he had a choice. He could go with my mother and cut off all ties with his clan or he could stay an outcast. My father’s mother told him to walk away from her and his sisters and to never look back. His own mother. She gave up her child so he could have a better life.” Nuan Cee’s voice shook. “I don’t know my other grandmother. She is gone now. Her soul is floating out there, lost and gone, crying out for the light and I can’t even light a candle in a shrine to help her find her way. I am a cripple. I have not been able to bring myself to sire children, for they will be crippled like me. They will not know half of their family.”