The Hero Strikes Back Read Online Free

disgust blatant in his tone, his words silencing the conversation and music once more. He was staring out a window. “It’s snowing!”
    Snowing? Was that what he’d said? As in white, frozen precipitation?
    A rush to the other windows in the flat, and I was no better than the others. I flipped aside a curtain and, aye, it was snowing. Hard. Pretty.
    â€œBut it’s summer!” Delia wailed.
    â€œDon’t suppose there’s anything you can do about this,” Samuel said to me.
    I was startled by the question. This was snow, not an earthquake. Why would he even think to ask me that? I shook my head. “I can’t do anything without Taro. Besides, we can’t do anything about snow.”
    The expression on Samuel’s face suggested that might have been one of the stupidest things he’d ever heard. “You don’t do snow?” he demanded.
    That was not what I had said, and I certainly hadn’t used a tone that implied mere snow was somehow beneath the efforts of a Triple S Pair. “We can’t do anything about snow, rain, overcast days. You know, normal weather. Just cyclones and earthquakes and the like. Big, unnatural events.”
    â€œAre you trying to tell me snow in the middle of summer isn’t unnatural?”
    He had me there, but it didn’t change the fact that there was nothing I could do.
    I set my drink down. No more alcohol for me. It was depressing me. And really, there was no reason for feeling inadequate. Karish would be back soon; he’d promised in his last letter. Then I’d be back on the roster and back at work and life would feel normal again.
    â€œDamn it,” said Zeva. “As if business weren’t bad enough this summer. This’ll just kill it.”
    â€œYou’re telling me.” Delia, who’d been holding up a curtain to stare at the snow, let it slide back into place. She looked at Zeva and smiled wryly. “I’m sure you’ll do better then me, though. I have a feeling there are more willing to brave the cold for your product than for mine.”
    Zeva snorted. “Maybe,” she said, “But then I just have to spend more money on frostbite cream, and I have to put it in the most unusual places.”
    That earned chuckles from everyone, including my mother, so I decided not to be shocked on her behalf.
    â€œIf things continue as they are, I’ll have to leave town,” said Shaka. “I’m thinking of heading south. Maybe to Three Keys.”
    â€œYou’re running out of money?” I asked Shaka.
    â€œAye. Business is real slow.”
    â€œBut you’ve always been popular.” His shows involved a combination of juggling, sleight of hand and vocal comedy, and every time I’d seen him he’d been surrounded by a throng of spectators.
    â€œNo one wants to stand around in this cold.”
    â€œBut—” I cut myself off. I had no right to ask why, with day after day of huge piles of coins tossed at Shaka’s feet, he now found himself without because things had slowed down for a while. While I couldn’t understand why someone whose livelihood was so reliant on the weather didn’t fortify himself against the event that the weather turned difficult simply by putting aside some money, it wasn’t my place to say anything about it. I didn’t have to pay for anything. What did I know about budgeting or saving for the future?
    â€œHey,” said Risa, her voice sharp. “That’s enough talk about money. I happen to know no one with any class talks about money at parties. Amia, start playing.”
    The music resumed. Erin fetched more wood and built up the fire until it was roaring. It gave the room a cheery atmosphere, and after a while everyone seemed to forget it was an atmosphere unsuited to the season. More drink, more food, more conversation. All in all, a successful party, despite lacking any outbreak of scandal or