Law of Survival

Cover art by Jean-Pierre Targete.

On the surface, Jani Kilian's life has undergone many changes since her medical discharge from the Commonwealth Service. Her ever-changing health problems appear to be finally under control. She's in great demand as a documents consultant, and the money she earns enables her to live in Chicago's most exclusive neighborhood. She has contacts everywhere, from the highest reaches of government to the military to the idomeni embassy. She has a family again. Friends. And in Lucien Pascal, an enviable, if occasionally difficult, lover.

How different this is from her former existence. Then, she subsisted in decrepit settlements and way stations and worked at scrap-heap jobs, on the run from crimes committed two decades before. Ever on the alert for the face in the crowd that turned up once too often, the skimmer that dogged her trail. Afraid. Alone.

The casual observer would think Jani had left all that far behind. They'd be mistaken. Jani has never forgotten her old sins. Now it seems there are those in the government who haven't forgotten them either, and wish to use them to embarrass and discredit her.

But why?

As Jani finds her old life catching up with her, idomeni ambassador Egri nìRau Tsecha finds his new life in the strange humanish capital city confounding him. His government had appointed him ambassador to the humanish Commonwealth against their better judgment, and now it appears that they regret their decision. But then they always have – such is not his problem. He is Chief Propitiator of the Vynshàrau, and his place is where it is. They must listen to him. They must allow him access to Jani Kilian, his favorite student. They must, in the end, obey him.

Must they not?