All of which made it clear to Novoc that, up until her father's death, Kay had been living a happy if slightly unusual childhood. It was clear that Byrne hadn't made her want for anything, which was fine with Novoc. Mando'ade -- at least the mando'ade of his generation -- didn't worry too much about spoiling their children. Life had a tendency to be short and unpredictable, and the mando ideal of shereshoy called for enjoying the experiences of life when they were available. Willingness to share what one had was far more important than depriving oneself, and even if Kay had developed a small selfish streak -- which Novoc doubted -- her warrior's training would soon take care of that. Not to mention the enemy that was approaching.

On that sobering thought, he glanced over at Badd, who clearly didn't understand more than one word in ten of what he and Kay had been saying. Novoc's first instinct was still to mistrust him; he was foreign, and couldn't be expected to understand their ways. But he understood now that it was his duty to make Badd understand, for Kay's sake.

He just hoped Badd wouldn't be too much of a jackass about it.

"Did Byrne involve you in Kay's training at all?" he asked the other man in English, trying to sound as casual as possible. No judgement here, just a simple question.