Last chapter was a bit of embarrassment, as some have surely realized. Damn Star Trek name association Seven of Nine.

To address two different points that were raised of last chapter, since I feel I owe it...

-Neither side realized the yoma energy of the others because neither side actually did more than a cursory look, which is what it would have taken to sense the hidden strengths; if the Organization's current Eye has to be in contact to sense Priscilla, it's safe to reason that something more than a cursorary look is needed to detect hidden/suppressed yoma. Clarice and Miata didn't look because of suppressants and because they had no real reason to; the reassuring sight of Clarice's brown hair (meaning not a Claymore to anyone who didn't know better) and the assumption that Miata was a boy suggested to the Ghosts that the group was just a tired family, and so gave no reason to do a thorough search. Had either group seen the faces of anyone other than Clarice it would have been much different;either one of the Ghosts would have recognized Miata (an obvious Claymore), Raki (Clare) or Priscilla (Clare again), or upon recognizing one of the Ghosts as a Claymore Clarice would have introduced herself, Miata, and Raki. But that's what happens when you were cloaks to conceal your identities: people won't recognize you. Call it karmic backlash.

-There actually isn't a time disparity since the body of the installment and the final paragraph (about Clare passing by again) are several days apart: enough time for the ghosts to get to Rabona, find out about what's happened, and split up, with the non-stop running allowing Clare and her companions to make up for the lost time and, ironically, pass by Raki. I'm not planning to continue that far, but I like to think that it would be Ribul who would let them in on that little fact, because Ribul is a dick like that.

Now, having made an author's note longer than the installment, back to the story and a different arc, and my favorite Raki line yet.

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God-Eyed Galatea had not expected to awaken at all, not after Blood Red Agatha had slammed her six inches below the pavement with two limbs missing and her other two crushed. The fact that she was awake, had the chance to awake, meant that Agatha had been defeated. With the safety of the city insured, nothing else mattered.

Content to savor the victory, Galatea rested easily on the familiar small bed. But then a hand descended on her left shoulder and she startled on guard, cursing her clumsiness. In a moment her right hand had her guest's throat in an iron-firm grip.

"I see the surgery took, at least," said a familiar voice, even as Galatea realized that the hand she had wrapped around her visitor's throat had been one that had been painfully removed during the battle. Strange how she had already nearly forgotten that. "It's good to see you survived as well."

"You…" Galatea trailed, distracted even from the miracle of her restored limbs. "You're that human from the chapel." Her eyes narrowed, her tone held all the empathy of a yoma, and her hand tensed, ready to squeeze.

"Indeed," he said with no hint of malice or resentment, and Galatea could even imagine a faint smile from his tone. "I am Raki. It's been awhile since I've had a Claymore try and kill me. I had almost forgotten how unpleasant it was."

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