Da Capo (Manifesto)

[Zhenya]

She was not surprised to hear Cruz’s mentor was only a boy, much as Cruz was himself. Of course, Ascendancy excepted, the gift itself appeared mostly in its infancy, so naturally many of those upon whom it had been bestowed were likewise. Zhenya knew from experience that there was little to be gleaned from the workings of the opposite sex, and thus little she could offer in terms of knowledge. Not that those limitations had dampened her interest in working with Seven. Still, it wasn’t that which piqued her interest in Cruz’s friend so much as his description of him. “No man is solely a weapon. It is a mistake to think so.” The declaration reverberated deep, like a mistake she had seen and mourned before, though perhaps not in this lifetime. Zhenya was not squeamish of the notion of death or of violence -- it was her business, after all. But if it were a warrior’s heart beneath her carefully manicured exterior, it was also a noble one. “Perhaps I would meet him, one day.” She smiled, but did not linger upon the subject.

“We are all of us dangerous, or could be, if we chose to be. And we are also an infinitesimal minority. People may be cultivated. Technology is harder to control.”

She took a sip of her drink, and laughed a little at his observation of the music. Her earlier tease of the coin had been but a playful overture to welcome him amongst the group, her curiosity stoked only for the description he gave the trinket after she returned it. She glanced at it again now, and leaned in a little, conspiratorial. “I did not see it very clearly before. May I?” She held out a delicate palm.