"Of course. They attacked in force, which meant I had to flee rather than fight."
I studied him for a moment, hearing the annoyance in his voice even though it didn’t show in his features, then turned around and squirted some soap into my hand. "And you would rather have fought?"
"Of course. The more Raziq I destroy, the fewer there are to find and use the keys."
"So why not gather together a group of Mijai and hunt them down?"
"Because," he said patiently, "that is against—"
"—the rules," I finished for him. "Whoever made these rules of yours really sucks, you know that?"
"There are times when I think a certain amount of absurdity has been added to the whole process," he agreed solemnly.
I glanced at him again and saw the brief twinkle in his bright eyes. "It’s hard to believe that, when I first met you, I thought you were devoid of humor."
"I’m afraid it’s merely a side effect of holding this form."
"How can holding human form affect whether or not you have a sense of humor?"
"It’s not just a sense of humor we gain." He hesitated. "We are not without emotions, as I have said, but holding this shape for any length of time sharpens certain emotions, and that is often inconvenient."
"Meaning it makes you more like us?"
"No." Again he hesitated. "It simply makes us more … susceptible … to certain types of emotion."
"What types of emotion?"
He shrugged and his game face came back down. "That very much depends on the situation we find ourselves in."