Varik stared.
Lucen added, "It was technically a warning strike."
Varik blinked once. "With a sword?"
Lucen pointed at his system overlay. "I used the flat side."
Varik took a long drink from his bottle like he was trying not to say something worse.
"Let me guess," he said. "You didn't report it until afterward."
"I left a note."
"On a corpse?"
Lucen frowned. "Not a corpse."
Varik gave him a look.
Lucen muttered, "A minorly injured adult with decision-making issues."
"You left a note."
"Technically Gabe filed the paperwork. I just color-coded the diagram."
"Color-coded—?"
Lucen waved a hand. "Can we skip to the part where you either ground me or say 'well done, soldier' so I can go find snacks?"
Varik didn't say anything.
He just turned around and started walking.
Lucen stared after him.
"…That's not an answer."
Varik stopped.
Then said, "Follow."
Lucen sighed. "Great. The walking punishment."
—
