Crucible of Fate

around the square when Yuri and I joined Jin at the table. He appeared tired but happy. Taj was sitting beside him, fast asleep, head on his arms, and Koren was on the other side in the exact same position.
    He was pleased when we sat down.
    “How are you up?”
    “I don’t need as much sleep as the others,” Jin said, lifting his hand and giving a small wave.
    A woman immediately brought a pitcher of water for us, and some eish—Egyptian bread—along with some koshari and sliced lamb. I wasn’t sure what kind of small roasted bird she delivered to the table until Jin said that it was pigeon. She also brought sliced cucumbers and tomatoes and fresh hummus with olive oil, then dates, figs, and plums along with plates and napkins and a decanter of thick red wine.
    Koren twisted on the bench and stretched out, putting his head in Jin’s lap.
    “Logan would kill him for that,” Yuri said as Jin stretched out a hand and rested it on Koren’s shoulder.
    “No,” Jin said softly. “Logan’s much more concerned about his son these days.”
    “How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time?”
    Jin dismissed me with a wave. “Kabore is sleeping in one of the vehicles and Rahim is in the other. The rest of your khatyu are in different homes around town, and Taj is obviously here with me and Koren.”
    “And the djehus?”
    “They’re coming back first thing in the morning to see you. Oh, Dr. Pakhom and her people are in the medical tent, sleeping. She has Hanif Tarek in there with her because she had to give him a tranquilizer to calm him down.”
    I looked over at the cage where his father was penned. “He was given food and water, wasn’t he?”
    “He was,” he said as his face scrunched up.
    “What’s with you?”
    “Something troubling.”
    “Would you like to share?”
    Jin was worried, I could tell. “Dr. Pakhom also tranquilized him and gave him a lot of intravenous fluid. She made a very interesting diagnosis.”
    “For fuck’s sake, Jin.”
    “Okay, so, apparently the semel has stage four syphilis.”
    “Why did you say that like I should care?”
    “Because it probably explains everything.”
    “It would explain the change in him?”
    “It would, yes.”
    “And so what? I’m supposed to just let him off the hook because he’s sick? Let him make amends?”
    “That would be the right thing to do, wouldn’t it?”
    I checked with Yuri. “Your thoughts?”
    “I think everyone who had sexual contact with him should be checked out. I have to call Ehivet Milar and have his son tested. I know that Deoles was the one who raped Garai, but we don’t know that he didn’t have it too.”
    “You’re evading.”
    He locked his gaze on mine. “I think you want to kill him and you always do what you want.”
    “If I always did what I wanted, you would have never come out here alone.”
    Yuri’s eyes locked on mine. “That just says that you were concerned that you might have appeared weak if you made me stay. You let me do whatever I wanted, so it seemed like you didn’t care one way or another.”
    I held his gaze.
    “It’s true. You know it is.”
    “It was, but not anymore.”
    He kissed my cheek. “I’m glad.”
    Jin scoffed, and my focus shifted to him.
    “And you?”
    “And me what?”
    “What do you think?”
    “You’re so different from him.”
    “From who?” And then I got it. “Logan.”
    He nodded. “Logan never asks for advice from anyone.”
    “I’ve been trying really hard to be just like him, you know,” I confessed.
    “Why?”
    “Because he’s the perfect semel,” I said petulantly. “He always knows what to do. I wanted to be the kind of leader he is.”
    “You can’t,” Jin said. “Logan doesn’t depend on anyone; you don’t have that luxury.”
    “He depends on you,” I reminded him.
    He shook his head. “Not really. Logan can make decisions and not have to count on anyone. You’re more thoughtful than he is.”
    “You mean weaker.”
    “No, I mean what I said.” His voice rose a little as his beautiful eyes softened. “Logan never had his line ended, never had to overcome what you did. Logan has always been the law; there’s never been any interruption in that.”
    “Yeah, but second-guessing yourself isn’t a good thing.”
    “But you don’t, not as far as I can see. You ask for the opinions of people you trust and then you make an informed decision. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
    “Yeah, but if Logan