"A hand of the Tzarina. She can't be everywhere, and some problems can't be dealt with when pageantry follows her wherever she goes. Sometimes that means rushing to a crisis with our horses riding the storm; sometimes it means investigating criminal gangs or noble secret societies that might be committing blasphemy and treason, not just graft and bribery. And sometimes it means hunting for ruins to cleanse them before someone else digs them up."

"That's... not exactly what I thought the chekist did."

"It isn't. It's merely... close enough. I and the others in my position are allowed to use the chekist and the kossars, within reason."

"That's a less awful offer than I expected you to give me. And more voluntary."

"If I could only get you working for me under duress, it would be foolish to try. A hostile clever subordinate is far more danger than they're worth. I've tried it, briefly, when I couldn't do without their expertise, but it's always a matter of how long I can make use of them before they turn on me or I on them."

Eesh. He'd heard Ice Witches are cold, but...

"How long do I have to think about it?"

"I'll be along at least as far as Belava. If you decide to take my offer, I can make the detour to Kyrnoka if you need it."

"I'll be thinking hard about it. Until then."

And then he's back to his rota, to get them ready to go.

"Off talking with the Ice Witches again, sir?", says his second-in-command Vitali, a man nearly twice his age who is a natural sergeant despite rotas not having sergeants.

"Yes. They... may be riding along with us to Belava."

"Really? Why?"

"I'll tell you about it when we're moving. I'd rather not scare the whole rota."

"Fair enough."

And then, when they are moving, they pull ahead, and he asks again. "So? What's up?"

"Me. I - was not totally honest with you men. I knew perfectly well where my 'luck' came from."

"What, you're a witch?", he says, alarmed.

"No. But I do have the Sight. And I was born with the gift; remember when I left town for Dukhlys Forest three autumns ago? That was to get the gift taken away, so I could avoid the death sentence Ice Witches pass on man-witches."

"If you got it taken away... What's the problem?"

"Well, it's hard to prove I can't do it. If you had a bad arm but it looked just the same as a healthy one, and someone said 'You clearly have two good arms, why aren't you training for the rota?', you'd have a hard time proving them wrong, right?"

"And you have the eyes, so they think you have the hands. Ah. But she didn't kill you."

"No, I swore by Ursun and she says she believes me. But she doesn't think all her sisters will, and some of them may come after me. So it looks like I'll be leaving you as rota-master, one way or the other."

"Down across the Talabec?"

"Or working for the lady witch. Like chekist or kossars, searching for subtle problems and dealing with them on the Tzarina's behalf."

"Do as you think best, then. But I think I would rather work for Kislev than the Imperinyi, even if it's ugly."

"Do you think the men, or the stanitsa, will be offended, that I didn't tell them the whole truth? I never lied, but that's not saying much."

"Not much, maybe, but it matters. And you did right by us. Saved our lives from that storm the ladies called, didn't you? Your father... he'll be annoyed. And the rest of the village, well, they can go east to Dazh with their complaints, for all I care."