Karna cleared his throat. “So she believed your ‘night training’ story?”
“Of course she believed my story,” he said tersely, removing his trousers. “She trusts me implicitly, as she should. She knows I have to go out a second night, and perhaps for many more, to do my duty. But since none of you is married, I can see why you don’t understand.”
Neeks rubbed his mouth. “Can’t believe I’m watching this happen,” he murmured as Captain Shin—Perrin—handed him his trousers.
“You have no choice, Grandpy,” Perrin said, almost as coldly as he felt. “So quit complaining, all right?” He glanced down at himself in only his thin undershirt and shorts. “At least these are white, too.” He shivered, picked up a thick knitted wool tunic—white—that lay on a bale of hay and pulled it over his head. Next he took a pair of brown woolen trousers and pulled those on.
“Sorry if they’re a little loose,” Gizzada apologized as Perrin fastened them in the front. “I had to guess at the size.”
“Not a problem,” Perrin said. “Better than being too tight.” Over the trousers he put on the only kind of white leg coverings Gizzada could find in the middle of Raining Season—thin linen dress trousers.
“Fit for a picnic, those are!” the staff sergeant smiled. “That’s what the shop keep told me. He wasn’t even sure why he still had them in stock, but fortunate for us, right sir? I mean, Perrin?”
Karna and Neeks glowered at Gizzada.
He looked back at them confused, unsure of the cause of their irritation.
“And now, for the final touch,” Perrin said as he lifted the long white coat off from another bale of hay.
Gizzada sighed. “It’s simply lovely, isn’t it?”
Perrin stopped in mid motion and stared at the staff sergeant.
“Could let your wife wear it when you’re finished. They do alterations at that shop,” Gizzada assured him.
“Do they also remove blood stains, Gizzada?” Perrin said heavily. “Because when I’m done with it, I anticipate this rabbit fur looking worse than the day it was slaughtered.”
Gizzada swallowed. “Perhaps Mrs. Shin would prefer another coat, then.”
“Perhaps Mrs. Shin will never hear about this coat, or any other coat from you, Staff Sergeant! That’s the entire reason I sent you, so no one would see me purchasing these things and telling my wife she might be getting a surprise. This is one surprise I never intend for her to find out about, right?” He thrust a fist through the sleeve of the white coat.
Gizzada shrank in his own overcoat and nodded quickly. “Of course, sir. Of course.”
“We all understand, Captain,” Karna said walking up to him. From his overcoat pocket he pulled out thick white gloves and a white knitted hat.
Perrin pulled the hat over his head, concealing his black hair completely underneath.
“Not that we approve, Perrin,” Karna added.
The nearly all-white man acted as if he didn’t hear Karna finally calling him by his first name. It was likely because Brillen’s tone was as foul as a sulfur pit.
Shin slipped on the gloves and said to his lieutenant, “Where are they?”
Karna pulled out the two long knives from another pocket, dulled so as to not catch any light that might reflect down from the two moons, nearly full that night.
“Excellent,” Shin said with a half smile. “Good work.” He slipped the two dulled knives into his waistband and put on his boots—the only things still black. He took two more shiny knives from a bale of hale and put them into the sides of his boots.
“Four knives,” Neeks said, slowly shaking his head.
“Yep,” Perrin said easily. “Not that I’m planning to lose all of them, but one can never be too sure.” He took up the full quiver of arrows waiting on another bale of hay and slung it over his shoulder. “Are the other two quivers placed where I wanted them?”
Karna nodded. “Did it about half an hour ago. You have enough arrows to kill an army now.”
Perrin picked up the large bow and checked the string. “Nice choice, Brillen.”
“Your strength is in the sword,” Neeks reminded him.
“A sword is loud and obvious,” Perrin reminded back.
“Just like you,” Karna bravely whispered.
“Karna, I can’t help but notice my ‘second mind’ gets more vocal and braver the closer I get to the forest. And Grandpy, I’m sufficient with the bow,” Perrin assured him. “Not as skilled as Brillen, mind you, but I can take something out from a distance this way, unseen and mostly unheard.”