Page 162 of Mercy Written in Blood

"Not correctly."

Kael lowered the temperature. Renji heard it. He allowed himself a degree of satisfaction.

Kael returned several minutes later carrying a tray with two cups. He placed one in front of Renji and took the chair opposite.

"Still no television," he observed.

"I have no need for one."

"You have no need for most of what people consider evidence of a life."

"I have books."

"You had books when I first met you."

"They have improved."

"You have not."

Renji opened the book again. Kael drank his tea. The silence that followed was not peaceful. Kael used silence as pressure, allowing it to expand until other people filled it with information simply to make him stop looking at them. Renji had known him too long for the technique to work. That did not make it less irritating.

"What do you want?" Renji asked.

"To visit an old friend."

"You do not visit."

"I am here."

"You intrude."

Kael lifted his cup.

"A distinction without practical value."

"You called me an old friend."

"You are old."

"That was not the structure of the sentence."

Kael's mouth moved faintly. For most people, it would not have qualified as a smile. Renji recognised it as delight.

"You have become defensive," Kael said.

"I have always found you unpleasant."

"Not about me."

Renji turned a page he had not read. Kael watched him do it. Then he looked towards the record player. The album Haruki had recognised was back on the shelf, but Renji had placed it in the wrong section — jazz arranged by recording date, not composer. He had always arranged that particular collection by composer.

Kael rose. Renji's attention sharpened.

"Sit down."

Kael crossed to the shelf.

"Do not touch anything."