"I couldn't do that now," Blackfeather said. "It's not just seeing Brothers and troopers in action for the first time, though that did help crystallize my new feelings. Mostly it's seeing the Family being a family, seeing the Special Ops troopers I thought were the worst playing with kids and kittens, and … well, the part I'm not going to be able to write about because no one who hasn't at least been around it could possibly believe it. But being troopers—especially an Inquisitor—gives you a whole new kind of understanding."
"You liked being part of Dave, in particular?"
"Oddly enough, yes." Blackfeather hesitated. "They're all good men, but there's something special about Dave … something I have a hard time describing, even if I am a reporter. A special kind of idealism, maybe … tougher, not that any of them are soft …"
"I know what you mean," Cortin said, glancing around at the rest of the team and getting nods. Unity during sex was most intense between man and woman, but it was there between any Sealed; they'd all felt what Blackfeather was talking about, with her, Bain, or both.
"He reminds me of Larry, in a way," Blackfeather went on, surprising them. "So do you. Because in his own way, he's an idealist too—even though I'm not sure he knows that, or would believe it. An idealist who's turned cynical, soured against just about everything—but I believe there's still a tiny bit of him that wants the same things we do."
Chang gave the reporter an appraising look, then turned to Cortin. "I believe we may have a truly virtuous person among us, Joan. Not merely sinless, but virtuous—willing to believe the best of people, which I find surprising for a reporter."
"I doubt I'll be a reporter much longer," Blackfeather said. "What Sis calls a virtue isn't, in my particular field; once I've filed these three stories, backing Enforcement, the Families, and Colonel Cortin, I fully expect to be fired. So would any of you happen to know of any job openings for an ex-reporter?"
"How about historian?" Odeon asked. "We need one, with a reporter's training, while it's still early enough to get an accurate account of what's happening. The First and Second Testaments were written by groups, edited by others, and translated by still others; after that many opportunities for intentional or accidental change, we might not know what the originals really said." He made a wry face. "Yes, I believe everyone involved was inspired. As investigators, though, we all know humans are fallible—with or without inspiration. But they didn't have modern publishing; given a press run of ten or fifteen thousand, by one writer and in the original language, there'll always be a totally genuine version somewhere."
To Odeon's surprise, Blackfeather snickered. "You've got your historian, Mike—but if you believe a press run as low as ten or fifteen thousand, it's sure clear you're no publisher! On this particular subject, especially with Colonel Cortin involved, go up a couple of orders of magnitude. A million or million and a half copies wouldn't be an unreasonable estimate of sales, even at a price double or triple that of a standard book. A copy she autographed would be worth … well, even my imagination isn't quite that wild!"
"Even better," Odeon said.