that such an offer could be seen as an insult.
For now, her actions today were all she could do for them.
Everything she’d said and done would be seen and dissected. The Tuann would realize there wasn't the enmity between Luatha and Kira they had thought. It should give Liara a little breathing room. If not, Kira would have to think of a different way to address this.
Graydon’s penetrating stare as Roderick made his way toward the other members of Luatha had Kira tilting her head at him. "What?"
"For a person who fought so hard to escape Luatha's clutches, you went a long way to saving their reputation," he observed.
"I never said I hated them," Kira said, her gaze sweeping over the stadium and settling on the matches taking place on the stadium floor.
The scene was chaotic, over a dozen matches happening at once.
Despite that, it didn’t take long for Kira to spot the person she had come to see. When she did, she couldn't help but frown.
Joule stood in the middle of a board that faintly resembled the Go board of ancient Earth, only considerably larger. There were nineteen rows and nineteen columns of tiny squares forming a much larger one.
The objective of the game was to claim territory. To do that, you had to conquer a square on the board. Each one you occupied resulted in a point. However, if your enemy completely surrounded your pieces with their own, you lost the points for that territory.
That's where the similarity to Go ended.
Castles was a game that relied as much on mental strategy as it did physical. Instead of stones to claim a position, the competitor had to wager their own skills. Only by defeating the square’s test could they take it over.
Sometimes these tests were similar to what Kira had faced in Barrage—a series of laser fire you had to return or avoid. Other times they were logic problems you had to solve in a fixed time limit.
There was no concept of turns in Castles either. The faster you could defeat the square, the more of an advantage you would have.
If you attempted to conquer a square and failed, you would be frozen in place for a set time, giving your opponent a considerable advantage.
Not only that, but opponents could launch non-lethal attacks against each other. If they scored a direct hit, the square would automatically become theirs.
When a territory was surrounded by the enemy, its ownership would change to that enemy.
From the looks of things, Joule and his opponent were pretty evenly matched. The number of squares each had lit up was comparable.
Kira had always known what Joule lacked in physical prowess he made up for with his strategic mind.
That was likely why he'd elected to lay claim on the section of the board generally predisposed to logic problems.
It wasn’t a bad strategy, but if he didn't conquer some of the physical-based squares soon, he'd fall into the trap his opponent had so carefully laid.
Graydon touched her elbow, guiding her toward a set of stairs that led up to the upper echelon where the private boxes of the wealthy and powerful waited.
Kira didn't argue as they left the lower stands, the echo of their footsteps swallowed by the thick carpet lining the hallway.
Graydon stopped at an elegant door, opening it, and stepping inside.
Kira followed, hesitating slightly when she saw who waited inside.
Raider looked up with a frown from where he had claimed a spot on the side to watch the matches.
Before Kira could react, a shape flew toward her.
"Kira! You're finally here!" Jin cried. "I've been waiting so long."
She batted Jin away, hitting only air as he circled her. "What are you doing here?"
He was supposed to be watching Elena. Not gallivanting around where anybody could see and link him to Kira.
Jin put a little bit of space between them.
His tinny voice came to her through their comms. "MinMin is watching Elena. There were things I needed to investigate outside."
Her glare deepened. That excuse failed to explain his presence here.
Jin's feelings of frustration traveled through their bond. "Raider caught me as soon as I exited the villa. The meatsack has gotten smarter. He used Wren's presence to entrap me. If I hadn't come up with the excuse of meeting you here, I think they would have tried dismantling me."
Kira didn't know what to think about Raider's interference. Jin was her eyes and ears. While she drew the majority of attention to herself most times, he snuck around the