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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:43:57 GMT -6
Rei hadn’t meant for San to find out. But, inevitably, he did; and belatedly she realized that it would have been unavoidable. The event was public, and the results had been broadcast all over the city. There was a phrase she had heard once - ‘easier to ask for forgiveness than permission’. That phrase came to mind now as she watched San penning his entry into the journal he shared with Seveth, his hand white knuckled around the pen. He was angry; she could tell that he was angry, even without looking at him, just from the air of the room. The same way that she always knew him, even in the dark, or when all she had to go on was one dark head among many in a crowded marketplace, glimpsed from overhead. He wasn’t, she knew, angry at her. Still, the guilt ate at her. Some of the fault was her own, for having said yes.
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:44:15 GMT -6
In retrospect her reasons seemed so paltry next to the very real consequences of what had happened.
“What part of ‘keep a low profile’ does he not understand,” San muttered under his breath. His eyes were sharp, and tension ran through the lines of his shoulders, his back.
Rei cast her eyes down. “I’m sorry,” she said.
San looked up, and the hard expression on his face softened slightly. “No,” he said. “It’s not your fault. He was the one who... “ A shadow passed over San’s features once more. Rei’s ears fell slightly, sensing that his mood had darkened again, but before she could say anything, he said, “Why didn’t you tell me? What did he say to you?”
Rei looked away, unable to formulate an answer. He wasn’t wrong, exactly; Seveth really had asked her not to tell him. But her reasons for agreeing - or rather, for doing as he asked…
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:44:38 GMT -6
San’s expression darkened further, and Rei had to quickly shake her head. “It isn’t what you’re thinking,” she said.
She knew how it must have looked. If she couldn’t even speak of it, then he must have thought that it was unspeakably terrible, and then the chasm of possibility would yawn before him and he would automatically assume the worst. It didn’t help that he already had a negative view of Seveth, nor that he was already angry about what had transpired.
… And yet, Rei wasn’t able to come up with an adequate explanation. Or an adequate lie.
A noise caught Rei’s attention, and her head came up again. San had snapped closed the journal he had been writing in, and shoved it away from him as he rose out of the chair. “Where are you going?” she said, fluttering into the air.
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:44:53 GMT -6
She trailed after him as he made his way from the desk to the door, slipping into a pair of beat up shoes that only San would wear. Seveth’s, an iridescent affair kept spotlessly clean, were neatly arranged beside them; San glowered at them for a moment before opening the door and walking out.
He didn’t stop her from coming with him, at least. He might have tried, if what he wanted to do was dangerous or terrible enough that he wouldn’t have wanted her to see. His standards of this had grown a little strange since they came here, considering the work they had done together when they had still been with the unit, but she had guessed at many of his thoughts, even if he hadn’t spoken them to her aloud.
He was trying to give her back the life he thought she should have had. Some of his anger now was for that too.
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:45:09 GMT -6
“Where are we going?” she said.
“To find Ichaival,” San replied. His pace was brisk, and she had to fly quickly to keep up with him.
Part of her was glad to see that he could manage such a pace. His physical condition had improved dramatically from when they had first arrived. Back then he had barely been more than skin and bones - it was an overused saying, but at the time it had been uncomfortably apt. She had glimpsed him a few times with his shirt off, and the sight of his spine and ribs clearly visible beneath the sickly pale expanse of his skin had been a sight that still made her spine crawl. It had been the result of a prolonged illness at sea, rather than any deliberate attempt by someone to hurt him, but even knowing all that hadn’t made it much easier to stomach.
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:46:46 GMT -6
It had been hard, bitter work for San to come back from that state. Seveth had no desire to keep to San’s regimen, so it took longer than it otherwise might have. San still couldn’t wield his daggers the way he used to, but walking and running no longer winded him or left him sore for days the way it had. But his brisk pace also spoke to his turbulent mood, and she doubted the conversation he was going to have with Ichaival would be a smooth one. The dragon was sunning itself in a clearing in a small children’s park not far from where they lived. Watching it, Rei wondered whether it was concerned about someone coming to capture an ‘unaccompanied creature’, or if its telepathy allowed it to explain such things away. It didn’t seem at all concerned as it saw the two of them approach, and greeted San with a slight incline of the head. “Let me talk to him,” said San, with no preamble. But then, they had all been apprised of the situation some time ago, and Ichaival had been the one doing a lot of the explaining. It, more than any of them, would have understood what San meant. {I’m afraid I can’t do that,} said Ichaival, its ringing sandpaper voice whispering into their minds. The tone of its voice, soundless and strange, belied just how apologetic it felt about this, which was not at all. “You can’t? Or you won’t?” said San.
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:47:02 GMT -6
The dragon stared down its muzzle at him with half lidded eyes, the way a cat might consider an obstinate mouse. {Does it make a difference? The end result is the same. You will not wring this service from me. Whatever it is you wish to do, you must find some other avenue.}
A series of emotions flickered across San’s features before his face returned to cold impassiveness. Rei, having known him, knew that he was repressing deep frustration. Anger was futile against the indifferent Ichaival, and he knew it, but on this occasion he was having some difficulty mastering himself.
“You know what he did,” said San, after a pause. Despite his efforts, there was still a hard edge to his voice.
The dragon picked at a speck of dirt beneath one claw with the tip of another. {The show? Yes. What of it? He asked Rei; she said… well, not ‘yes’ exactly, but also not ‘no’. If you imagined that he chained her up until she agreed to perform at his whim, then I grant you relief: no such thing took place. Seveth merely plied her with his usual charms.} The word ‘charms’ was delivered with a slightly sarcastic grimace.
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:47:30 GMT -6
This, Rei understood; she had not enjoyed being wheedled into the task, but this was the first time it had happened to her. For Ichaival, it was a regular occurrence.
In retrospect perhaps she should have expected Seveth to turn that gaze upon her eventually, and steeled herself for it. But regrets would do her no good now.
{Well, little one? Was that not the case?} The dragon turned to her now, blue eyes expectant, and Rei had no choice but to nod. San turned to look at her, but the frown tugging at the corners of his mouth did not abate.
“It doesn’t matter. He--” And here San was forced to pause again, to collect himself. He took a breath before he continued. “Seveth took Rei - took himself to a public event. We’ve been trying to lay low. I have pursuers. The way he talked, maybe he does too. And if anyone figures out who or what we are…” He fell silent, and grimness settled deeper into his features.
The dragon sighed.
{On that point… Very well, I concede this much,} it said. {If I catch wind of another such attempt, I will put a stop to it.}
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:49:09 GMT -6
The dragon did not look pleased to be acknowledging the point, but it did. San was silent for a moment, perhaps not having expected to have his words accepted so easily, before giving Ichaival a short, terse nod.
It was strange, their relationship. Ichaival’s relationship with all of them. It had come, Rei knew, for Seveth’s sake only, to look after the seed it had planted and to safeguard what had come of it. Ichaival had made it clear to all of them that it cared nothing for the rest, and it had seemed displeased even to be charged with looking after San as the cohabitant of the body.
All of their arguments, their proposals, their entreaties, held no grounds with the dragon until they could outline the benefits - or the mitigated risk - to its charge.
And now it turned that same dismissive manner on them once more. {Will that be all,} it said, as if it expected this farce to have wound down to its end.
San’s mouth flattened into a line. After a moment, he said, “Why did he do this?”
The dragon looked surprised, then snorted. {You are the one forever going on to him about his spending. He thought it would---}
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:50:42 GMT -6
“No,” said San, his voice cold. “Why did he think... “ San glanced at Rei for a moment, then drew a sharp breath and began again. “I saw the rankings. The other competitors were beasts. Why did he take Rei?”
{Beasts,} said Ichaival. The bored drawl had disappeared from its voice, and the gaze in its half-lidded eyes had sharpened. It lowered its head, to more closely peer into San’s face. San bore the scrutiny unflinchingly, returning the stare with one of his own.
{Beasts,} Ichaival repeated. {Is that what you would call me?} Its papery voice was soft now, making the hair on the back of Rei’s neck prick with the anticipation of danger. {Is that what you would call the cat? But not her. Not the girl.} Ichaival glanced at Rei for a moment, mercifully brief. But then it began to pace, its long and sinuous body winding itself in the space around San.
{She’s the one you take exception to,} it said. {No, don’t lie to me, boy. I know your thoughts. And you never think to ask why yourself? Why, indeed, should he have made an exception for her? Clearly no one else thought it the affront you do.}
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Post by Linyü on Sept 18, 2020 13:50:54 GMT -6
“Then he shouldn’t have entered at all,” San said. But the words were strangled, no longer firm with the conviction that he had felt just moments ago. {Trite,} said the dragon. {Though I admire your adaptability. Unfortunately, that is not the way of things here. In fact, it wasn’t even the way of things in the place from which you hailed. They used the cat, did they not? They used Rei. They used you too, not that this matters to you.} The dragon’s tone was conversational now, mockingly so; only the lash of its tail still betrayed its ire. {I could go on, but I think you understand. You do, don’t you?} San’s hands had balled up into fists, the skin pale where they stretched taut. “That doesn’t make it right,” he said. {No,} said the dragon. And here some of its pretense fell away, and the lashing tail stilled. It sounded, thought Rei, as though it were sad. {Perhaps it does not. But I have yet to find a place where such is not the case; and if you are seeking one, you have not found it either.} With that, the dragon walked off, leaving the park to the two of them. -----
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