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[Talvieno]

Chapter 44: Darkness Descends
Vanya's journal continues with its conglomeration of blue and white sheets.

~~~

Several blue sheets of paper are inserted here.
    Hot air rushed past the lieutenant as she burst into the control room, a thick smoke obscuring her vision as it spilled out the door and into the night sky. "Katie!" she shouted. "Katalina Okablokum, where are you?"
    "Here, Captain!" The girl was choking, her voice barely audible over the roar of the flames.
    "I can't see you!" Almory called back. "Come to the door!"
    There was no response but for crackling fires.
    Setting her jaw, the lieutenant rushed forwards into the chaos. Flames licked the walls, roaring violently as they sucked the oxygen from the air. In one corner of the room, the generator buzzed dangerously, burst open and spilling toxic liquids onto the ground as electricity arced between it and the ruined, smoking control panels. Almory made up her mind on a direction and started towards the corner of the room with the shield controls. Glass and twisted metal crunched under her feet as she rushed through the thickest part of the blaze, fiery tendrils curling about her limbs. Finally, she caught sight of Katie's motionless body, curled up in a corner.
    "Katie!" she yelled, taking off her helmet. "Katie, answer me!" Almory began choking as she tried to draw another breath, and knelt, slipping the helmet over Katie's head. Carefully, she picked the girl up in her arms, and gritting her teeth, sprinted through the flames to the door, the heat singing her eyebrows.

    Trebor was in a panic, making excuses as Jonah tried to shove a weapon into his hands. "No sir! Take it away! When I signed up for duty, they told me I wouldn't have to carry a weapon! I'll carry on, I'll carry out, I'll carry off, I'll carry over, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry the one, I'll carry the flu, I'll carry the motion, I'll carry you over the threshold, and I'll even Jim Carrey, but I will not carry a gun!"
    Beside him, Lord Reudh's party were already holding their weapons, glancing about nervously.
    Above them, Almory collapsed, choking on the smoke. "Trebor! Quit chattering and get up here; Katalina's in trouble!"
    Trebor snapped his fingers at Jonah. "Raincheck our argument," he said, and leapt up the stairs with his pack. "Sis, what happened?"
    "It's Tames," the lieutenant explained, carefully laying the unconscious woman out on the ground. "He betrayed us; he rigged the generator to overload when we turned the shields off."
    "Tames?? Armok's beard..."
    "Be quick!" Almory warned, putting her helmet back on. "We have to mount a defense." She stood, rushing down the stairs, shouting orders.
    Hurriedly, Trebor grabbed his medical PEA and moved it slowly back and forth over Katie's chest, reading the display; his expression darkened as he read the results. Putting it aside, he hurriedly opened the front of Katie's suit, folding back the lower half and sterilizing a section of her chest with a swab. Tossing it aside, he removed a syringe from his pack, carefully examining its silvery contents.
    Katie stirred, her eyes fluttering open, but they closed again quickly as she wheezed violently, grabbing Trebor's hand.
    "This'll fix your breathing, Snowflake," he muttered, "but it's going to hurt." Saying this, he held her down and forced the metallic tip deep beneath her skin.
    Katie screamed in agony, flailing her arms about as she tried to get away. Her chest convulsed; she began choking violently as if she was trying to cough up her lungs.
    The doctor shifted his weight onto her, grimacing and trying to keep the syringe steady. "I know it's not fun!" he shouted, ducking as the wall exploded above him, raining dirt down upon his head. He paused for a moment as she calmed, not relishing the necessary task. "I'm sorry, girl," he whispered, injecting the silvery contents.
    Her screams echoed through the trench.

~~~

Vanya's handwriting continues.
    I looked up at where the megaportal stood, beyond the quiet tents. It beckoned tauntingly, an iron ring against the stars. It seemed so far away.
    I cast one last frustrated glance in John's direction. He was standing still below me, off in the distance, hardly visible against the deep crimson of the bloodplains. I watched him for a moment, listening to the thunderous gunfire. Finally, I gave up, turning and starting up the hill on my own with a grim determination. "I spent almost a year with you," I whispered. "If you're going to abandon me now, you were never my friend to begin with."
    I went as quickly as I dared, staying behind tents whenever possible. I passed an armory, and felt tempted to pick up a weapon to defend myself with, but quickly chided myself for even thinking it. I hated guns; they lacked the honor of melee. To use a gun was to rob a person of their life without even giving them a chance. It was murder.
    But then... wasn't Ballpoint trying to murder my friends? Wouldn't they try to murder me?
    The thought did little to alter my ideals, and I kept pressing forwards, getting ever closer to the top of the huge hill.

~~~

Several blue sheets of paper are inserted here.
    After several minutes, Katie rolled to the side, coughing a gray, slurry liquid onto the ground.
    "There you go, Snowflake," Trebor said in relief, putting everything back into his pack. "I had to re-grow the tissue in your lungs, they were badly burned. Go easy on strenuous activities for a while." The ground above him exploded again, shaking the earth; fire reached across the sky.
    Below him, Almory was giving orders. "Trebor, if she's all right, get down here! Reudh, Tedaz, Strohe, Jonah, take your guns to the lip of the trench. Stay far apart and shoot whatever you see! Where... Where are those scythods??"
    "Captain!" Saemin shouted. "They have necromancers! Their lines keep coming closer!" Almory answered his call with a brief nod.
    Without warning, the scythods appeared, scuttling over from the armory.
    The lieutenant pointed towards the tunnel entrance. "Both of you, take your plasguns and go to the end of the tunnels. If anyone falls in, kill them."
    Stomping with their legspikes, the scythods hurried away towards the end of the trench and into the darkness.
    A dwarf's voice called out over the gunfire. "Almory, the mag deflector's ready, but it'll take some time to rev up on the emergency power."
    Looking upwards, Almory saw Hawkins standing on the walkway two floors above. "Good man," she whispered, and then shouted, "Get to the railcannon and take over from Saemin Lo!"

    Katie got to her feet and looked around as Hawkins ran past her down the stairs. Reudh's party were standing at the front edge of the trench, their helmeted heads peeking over the side as they fired rapid shots at the approaching enemy. Katie couldn't see the Ballpoint troops from where she was, but from how frantic Reudh seemed to be, she guessed they were close.
    Suddenly, with a incredible crash, Parasol's railcannon exploded from a magcel round, broken pieces flying in all directions. The main portion toppled backwards, landing with a solid thud as it dug into the earth at the base of the trench beside its motionless operator.
    Katie's heart almost stopped. "SAEMIN!!" she screeched, falling forwards and stumbling down the stairs, shaking uncontrollably as she watched a pool of blood grow rapidly beneath his broken form. "SAEMIN!!"
    Almory's voice echoed up towards her above the roar of the battle: "Katalina, he's gone! Put it aside for now! I need your skills! We need that mag deflector running!"
    "He's NOT gone!!" Katie screamed, tears pouring down her face. "Captain, he needs me!"
    "Katalina, get that mag deflector jumpstarted, now!"
    The young woman fell to her knees, sobbing loudly. "But Saemin!! ...Trebor, help him!!"
    There was no response.
    "Trebor, HELP HIM!!" Katie screamed helplessly, almost choking on her cries.
    Lieutenant Almory rushed up the stairs, two at a time, and got to her knees by the trembling girl's side, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking into her eyes. "Katie," she said quietly, "I need your help. We all need your help. Do you understand?"
    Katie sniveled, nodding and wiping clumsily at her eyes. A napalm shell exploded ten feet to her right, spewing flaming, caustic jelly into the air like a geyser, sticking in little fiery specks wherever it happened to land, spilling down the walls of the trench in little rivulets. As she turned to look, the lieutenant put a hand to her cheek and pulled her gaze back to her own eyes.
    "Katie," she said urgently, "We're soldiers. We have a job to do, and we can grieve for him later. Right now, we need your skill with electronics. Just get that deflector running, and keep it safe, all right?"
    The girl nodded again, gradually beginning to quiet down, though she still shook with silent tears.
    "Good girl," Almory said, helping her to her feet. "Now go."
    Shaking, Katie ran down through the darkened corridor, entering a door near the end under Almory's watchful eye. She herself was stricken by Saemin's death... but she pushed it from her mind. After all... she had to protect the lives of her soldiers.
    Behind her, Strohe screamed as a projectile ripped open his arm, blood gushing from the mutilated tissue. Almory watched him fall from his perch; she saw him land twenty feet below with a sickening thud.
    With her attention elsewhere, she had no way of avoiding the shell that exploded by her head.
   
~~~

Vanya's handwriting continues.
    I was only several hundred feet away from the crest of the hill. It felt like I was creeping forwards; it felt like I was hardly making any progress at all, with how slow I was going. I hated it then, but I kind of preferred it over what happened next.
    On reaching the edge of the line of tents, I found to my dismay that there wasn't any cover between the megaportal and myself. Still... I didn't really have a choice. Though terrified, I swallowed my fears and rushed forwards, trying to gain as much ground as I could before the soldiers at the top noticed me.
    It wasn't long before they did. "Name, rank!" a soldier called, shining a bright light in my direction.
    I ignored them, continuing my run up the hillside and hoping the 'Ballpoint gray' disguise would hold for a little while longer. I was already halfway there.
    "State your name and rank!" came the call again. "Halt! Halt!" Then, more urgently, "Halt, or we shoot!"
    I heard the sounds of guns cocking to fire, felt a burst of adrenaline rush through my veins as I raised my hands, holding them in front of my head like I'd practiced. "Armok, vendi scild!" I shouted. "Armok, help me!"
    Light erupted from my fingertips, forming a domed shield in front of me as I ran, rippling as with blood. It wasn't a moment too soon: shots rang out above, the rapid rat-a-tat of machine guns. Hundreds of little sparks lit up the air in front of me as the entire squad began to fire, their bullets curving away as they pierced my spell, leaving bright red trails in their wake.
    My heart leapt into my throat as I heard someone shooting at me from close by.

~~~

Several blue sheets of paper are inserted here.
    The blast threw Lieutenant Almory forwards, shrapnel shredding the back of her suit and leaving gashes across the backs of her legs, blood running dark against the metal. She landed in a painful heap on the ledge of the second floor, still moving, and tumbled farther, falling to the bottom of the trench beside the railcannon's remains.
    "Sis!" Trebor yelled, running from the far end. "Sis!" A blast shook the earth; several tons of dirt cascaded downwards towards his head. Trebor threw himself forwards onto his stomach, scrambling away as the trench began to cave in on itself.
    "Trebor!" Hawkins yelled from the railcannon's ladder. "Get over here, she's bleeding! Mon rithma, mon rithma arinibid!" he swore, panicking. "Trebor, run!"
    "I have medical training!" Reudh called, rushing for the stairs. "I can help!"
    Jonah soon joined him, yelling, "We have to fall back! They're almost to us now! The tunnels worked wonders when they caved in, but they're rolling the rest of their tanks across their destroyed units and makeshift bridges!"
    Tedaz fired several more shots and leapt down, too, not wanting them to leave him behind.
   
    "I'm all right!" Almory cried out, trying to force herself upright. Her back and legs screamed with pain, but she did her best to ignore it. Looking down the trench, she could see Trebor jogging awkwardly towards her, toting his medical chest at his side.
    There was a yell from above. Almory watched sluggishly as a timed motion-sensor grenade bounced to the ground, rolling to a stop ten feet away. Still stunned from her fall, she couldn't even collect the energy to shout, as in the dim corners of her mind, she knew it was the end.

    "No!"
    A figure hurled itself from the wall of the trench, throwing itself onto the grenade. As Almory's eyes focused, she recognized the figure. "Hawk, NO!!" she shouted desperately. "Hawk, run!!"
    The blond-haired dwarf only shook his head and set his jaw, a stalwart expression on his face as he looked across the ground at his lieutenant. "You know I love you," he mouthed, tears in his eyes.
    She didn't have the time to respond.
   
    The explosion shook the walls, gore splattering on her visor.
    "HAWK!!" she screamed, unwilling to accept his bitter fate. Tears clouding her vision, she raised her head to the sky, letting out an unintelligible scream of fury and heartbreak.
    "Sis, are you okay?" Trebor called, stopping as he saw the gruesome scene. There was almost nothing recognizable left of the dwarf. As he stood, dumbfounded in shock, Jonah pushed him aside, rushing past. Above their heads, shells began to turn away with loud hums as the mag deflector activated.
    "I'll KILL them!!" Almory screamed, panting with rage. "I'll kill them ALL!!" She charged towards the stairs.
    Jonah grabbed her arm, holding her back. "Captain, calm down!" he shouted, wrapping his arms around her and struggling as she tried to twist away. "Honor his memory! Stay and fight! Leaving is suicide!!"
    But Almory hardly heard him, giving him a shove and jetting into the sky. Within seconds, she was out of sight over the edge of the trench.
    Jonah watched after her, shaking his head. "My gods," he whispered. Reudh and Tedaz arrived, walking up behind Trebor.
    "We can't just leave her out there!" the doctor said as Tedaz pushed past. "We have to get her back!"
    Swallowing back his misgivings, Jonah nodded. "I know..." the dwarf agreed quietly. "She's turned off her radio... I'll have to go after her."
    "Your armor won't take much!" Trebor warned. "It's not as thick as Almory's."
    Sighing, Jonah looked up towards the sky, offering a silent prayer. "I know, Trebor," he said softly.
    "Where has Strohe gone?" Reudh asked suddenly, looking around. "Strohe!" he called out.
    "Reudh, he's here!" Tedaz had stepped around the fallen railcannon parts, and was waving his arm. "He's wounded, we need a doctor!"
    Jonah took a deep breath and started giving out orders. "Trebor, take Strohe to the infirmary. Tedaz, you cover him. Reudh, figure out what's keeping Katie and get her down to the infirmary, too."
    "That's it?" Trebor asked, discouraged. "That's the whole plan?"
    "It's all we can do," Jonah replied, nodding sadly.
    "All right, let's go!" Tedaz shouted, taking control of the situation. "Move!"

~~~

Vanya's handwriting continues.
    As I rushed towards the megaportal, the squad above firing into my pulsating shield, I heard gunshots ring out from behind. In a terrified panic, I watched in astonishment as first one, and then another Ballpoint soldier fell, shuddering as bullets ripped through their armor.
    "John?!" I cried out, not daring to look backwards. "You came back?"

    "I had to!" he shouted from behind my shoulder, firing more shots through my shield. "Just do your job! Leave the fighting to me!"
    Together we made the final hundred feet at a sprint. As we neared the summit, John clashed with their troops in melee, knocking his gun across one's head, firing shots at another whose face erupted in a spray of reddish mist as he crumpled to the ground.

    I stood atop the hill. Everything was black but for the muzzle flashes below; the thunder of a thousand guns echoed in my ears... it was mesmerizing.
    The battle stretched out before me, incredible masses of troops pouring down the Parasol side like a tidal wave, threatening to sweep away everything in its path. They were almost to the trench, and though I felt nothing could stop them now, I prayed my friends would be all right. I saw tanks spraying jets of liquid fire, arching through the air and spilling into the trench; I saw portions of the Parasol encampment collapse, so far away; I saw its lights flicker and go dark.

    "Get that portal open!" John yelled urgently, ducking as a soldier swung an electric mace above his head, rolling away from a spinning blade, firing shots into their chests. On the hillside below, the nearest soldiers turned and began starting back towards us.
    Wrenching my gaze away from the battle below, I lowered my hands, and the shield disappeared. Pulling out the drive Almory had given me, I rushed to the portal controls - a gigantic console on a steel platform - and searched frantically for the correct slot. Finally, I found it, pushing the little drive in until it clicked.
    Nothing happened.
    It was then that I realized that the drive by itself likely wouldn't work... pieces of the console had been taken off, the wires within rigged to various pieces of machinery as Ballpoint had tried to force the portal open.
    Behind me, I heard a yell. I spun, seeing John clutching at his chest as he gunned down another soldier.
    "John!" I shouted, starting to rush towards him.
    He glanced at me, grimacing and clenching his teeth in pain. "Get that portal open, stupid!" he hissed. "I'm doing my job; you do yours!"
    Shaken, I turned back towards the portal controls, hoping I could undo whatever Ballpoint had changed.
   
    I'd always wondered how it felt to be on the battlefield... but there is no glory. There is only chaos, and death. I no longer felt that everything would be all right. It was a dead girl that stood atop the hill that night, desperately tracing circuits with her fingertips, rewiring the ancient equipment in an attempt to save the ones she cared about.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 45: Desperation
You continue with the patchwork journal, feeling drawn into its pages.

~~~

A conglomeration of inserted sheets and pasted snippets follow.
    Her heart burning as with fire, Almory carved a path through the Ballpoint troops, swirling with her blades, severing countless limbs as legions of soldiers charged. Chainswords, buzzsaws, molten axes sliced towards her – she flowed around them and stabbed their owners from behind, her swords vibrating as they pierced their armor. A stolen mechoid stomped towards her, towering ten feet above her head – she ignored the grabbing hands and cutting weapons of those nearby and leapt up its leg, plunging her blade through its engine and fuel supply.
    Seconds later, the mechoid exploded, sending twisted shards of metal tumbling through the air, killing the nearby soldiers as the fireball consumed them. From within the blaze, a single dwarf emerged, her dark battlesuit glowing with firelight as she rocketed into the sky.
    She wanted revenge. Gearbox was gone, Tames was gone, Saemin was gone, Strohe was gone... and most dear to her of all, Hawkins was gone. It had been a forbidden love... but it was a romantic love, all the same. He'd died trying to save her – they'd taken him, and everyone else, away from her. They'd destroyed her family.
    As she shot through the air, Ballpoint's bullets buzzed past her like bees, pinging off her armor – a well-aimed cannon shot slammed into her back, and her jetpack exploded, tossing her towards the ground as she spun out of control.
    Ballpoint's finest rushed towards her, each eager to be the one to land the killing blow, but they started back in dismay as the engine of fury sliced into the foremost, screeching through her helmet.
    "YOU HAD NO RIGHT!!" the lieutenant screamed, pirouetting through their ranks, spinning, stabbing one and bisecting the next, moving smoothly into the next three kills. "YOU HAD NO RIGHT!!" Tears spilled down her face, and she let them lie, her mind devoid of any thought but vengeance.
    There was a reason Parasol had granted her the title of admiral, once upon a time... but it had nothing to do with her temper.
    Without warning, the ground beneath her erupted, throwing her into the air: the victim of a recently-laid landmine.


    Across the sloping field, two mantis-like creatures danced, fighting a war that wasn't theirs. They'd taken cover behind burning tanks, hiding within the thick, black smoke. They knew their enemy relied on vision, and they took advantage of it. No one could approach that they didn't hear – no shell could crush them or take them by surprise. They heard everything, and while they couldn't pick one soldier out of a crowd, they could be sure to hit the crowd itself.
    Klade rushed from one smoking crater to the next, and on hearing a rocket launcher, he leapt forwards, slicing the away the offending soldier's forearms with his scythes before applying the same practice to his neck. Moments later, a tank exploded in a fireball, the ammunition within cocking off in a gratifying fusillade of pops.
    Apart from him K'bahth stood, his four plasguns firing rapid rounds at everyone he heard, as the circle of destruction spread slowly farther, and farther away.
    Suddenly, a missile landed nearby with an explosion. A stunned K'bahth tumbled forwards, leaving the protective smokescreen. A rain of bullets pounded down around him, and he struggled to get away. As he did, the melted rubber of a tire – still attached to the axle of the vehicle of which it had once belonged – caught his back legspike.
    "Klade!" the scythod clacked desperately. "Assist me!"

   
    Jonah flew across the field, staying close above the heads of the Ballpoint soldiers, looking for his lieutenant. His teeth were chattering – he hated heights, and while it was bearable so long as he was on solid ground, he found flying unnerving.
    After several minutes of fruitless searching, Jonah grew desperate and flew upwards for a better view. He only lasted a few seconds before the threat of passing out forced him to close his eyes, but it was enough: he saw where she was lying, a single suited soldier in an open clearing.
    Diving, he jetted towards her, landing clumsily by her side. He looked her over: reddened mud caked her suit, the front of her armor torn apart and bubbling with blood. Her legs lay twisted awkwardly to the side, and there was no doubt in Jonah's mind that they were broken.
    "Captain!" he cried out hoarsely, checking her over. "Captain!" Hearing no response, he dug into his pack, removing her helmet and injecting a syringe full of painkillers into an artery in her neck.
    "Jonah."
    The dwarf almost cried with relief. "Thank the gods," he whispered, "you're still alive."
    "What the hell are you doing out here?" she groaned.
    Jonah ignored her for a moment, resetting his radio frequency and shouting over the din, "Trebor! Get out here, now! She's in critical condition!"
    "Get out of here, yourself," Almory mumbled. "They'll do the same to you."
    A dark form towered above the ex-scientist, and he looked up, his eyes resting on a Ballpoint soldier.
    "Don't think about running away, doc," the soldier chortled. "We'll need your assistance for our own wounded, after we finish killing your people." With that, the soldier walked away, laughing at his own cruelty.
    His blood boiling, Jonah fought the urge to shoot the man. "They think I'm a medic," he hissed through the radio. "Just get here as quickly as possible. She's past the scythods' first trench."
    "I'm on my way."
 

    "Tedaz, I'm going to need you to take over," Trebor said, rushing about the room and haphazardly piling equipment into a case by the light of a portable tube.
    "What's going on?" the swordsman asked, bewildered. "I need you here, Trebor! We still don't know where Lurit is, and Strohe needs you!"
    Trebor turned to the dwarf angrily as he piled supplies into the medical chest. "Armok's beard, my sister is out there!! I've already done everything I can do for Strohe! If Lurit was dumb enough to leave the infirmary, there's nothing I can do." He slammed the case shut, starting for the door. "Do whatever it takes to keep people out of here! Vanya's out there trying to get the megaportal open. If she pulls through, we'll need these supplies unharmed!"
    Tedaz gaped as he realized the full extent of Almory's plan. "Vanya??"
    "If you have any way of getting hold of Reudh, get him and Katie down here! The mag deflector is worthless at this point. If anything else comes through, shoot it!" Saying this, Trebor rushed out of the room in a haste, slamming it loudly behind him.
    Despite their immediate peril, Tedaz couldn't help but notice that Trebor hadn't said "Hotlips".


    Trebor rushed into the darkness of the trench and stopped short, stepping backwards fearfully as a line of zombies began to shamble towards him with unearthly moans. "Armok's beard," he whispered, "I wish I'd taken that gun Jonah offered." He looked around in a panic for a method of escape, his eyes soon alighting on a pile of crates, loose stones, and twisted metal. Hoisting his medkit, he climbed up the debris, barely avoiding the clutching hands of the undead as he scrambled away. They were Ballpoint's armored corpses, their suits cleaved across the chest, some stumbling forwards without heads, others oozing thick blood from where someone had stabbed a sword.
    As he climbed higher, the debris began to shake unsteadily, and collapsed even before he reached the second floor. The terrified doctor clawed his fingers into the earthen wall as he fell. "I want to live!" he screeched out in terror.
    "Like hell you do!" someone roared, the sound of a minigun shattering the air. "You're not dying here!"
    In surprise, Trebor looked towards the voice and saw a heavyset human standing atop a huge pile of fallen earth. He’d decked himself out in tight-fitting Parasol armor, his stump crammed into a mechanical limb, his face barely visible in the darkness through an open helmet. "Lurit!" he shouted. "You're alive?"
    "'A course I am, you twit!" the man laughed loudly, spraying another fusillade of bullets into the shambling dead. "Couldn't stand lying quiet when there was battle about! I headed down to the armory and played around with a few things, but I'm sure you don't mind right now."
    Struggling, the doctor made his way up to the second floor. "Lurit, get to the infirmary! You'll be a lot safer there!"
    "Forget it, doc!" Lurit roared loudly, taking down the zombies on the ledges above, clearing the path for Trebor even as the severed limbs around him began to move once more. "You did a fine job patching me up! Get out there and save your captain, and I'll hold 'em off! Don't worry your head about me!"
    Trebor nodded gratefully, rushing up the final flight of stairs. "You're a good man, Lurit!" Trebor shouted. "I'll steady the walls for you any time!"
    A smile tugged at the corner of the old man's mouth. "Likewise," he said quietly over the radio, and then turned towards the hordes, setting his feet apart in a firm stance. "All right, you muck-headed bastards!" he roared, "It's suppertime! Come and get it!"
   

    "That's Lurit," Reudh said, listening to the noise outside. "Do you hear him?"
    Katie nodded silently. The two stood side by side, watching the door. Reudh was lucky he'd found her: Ballpoint had nearly killed him when they’d fired down the length of electronics corridor from the surface. Now they sat quietly, waiting for the end, with only one weapon between them. Reudh held a portable light tube, the only source of light in the room, while Katie held his plasgun.
    "Is there not anything we can do?" the former overseer asked.
    The girl shook her head, stunned. "They destroyed the generators, even the emergency ones. We don't have anything to work with." There was an explosion above – loose dirt fell from the shaking ceiling.
    After a moment, a low moan echoed in the hallway outside.
    "Zombies," Reudh said immediately. "I would recognize the sound anywhere. We got many of them, during my Spearbreakers days."
    Katie seemed to shrink back. "I've never seen any," she admitted quietly, her lower lip trembling.
    "It is most likely for the best," Reudh replied with a thoughtful nod. "The sight is not something anyone truly enjoys seeing."
    The sound grew louder, becoming clearer, until it was right outside the door.
    "I don't want to die," Katie whispered, starting to cry. "I don't want to die!"
    "Keep your head clear," the dwarf beside her suggested. "Simply focus, my dear. We'll be all right in the end, I am sure."
    With a crash, the door burst open, a huge shape staggering into the room, casting an enormous shadow behind it from the light that Reudh held. Something had peeled back the left half of its face, its skin and clothing soaked with blood, but both of the defenders recognized him immediately: it was Saemin.
    Katie choked, her lips twisting tightly into a terrified frown as she shook with tears. "Oh, god..." she moaned, shaking uncontrollably with tears as she turned her head away in horror. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pulled the trigger, sobbing uncontrollably as she filled the body of her lover with plasma.
    Reudh watched a stony, dead expression overtake her face as Saemin's body crumpled to the ground. "I am deeply sorry, Katie," he said quietly, but received no response.
    After Reudh grabbed the pistol from Saemin's waist, the pair stormed into the hallway, mowing down the deathless hordes with a hail of bullets.
   
~~~

Vanya's handwriting continues.
    "John!! I cried out as he crumpled to the ground, the victim of an electric warhammer. "Armok, vendi scild!" I shouted, leaving my work and rushing forwards to protect him with my shield. The Ballpoint soldier swung his weapon towards me; it bounced lightly off Armok's shield as his eyes and face erupted with gore, the victim of John's railgun. My friend was holding his weapon with a single arm, as he tried to push his way back to the megaportal with his legs. While he did, he clutched at his chest in pain, his armor stained dark with blood.
    "Get back to the portal controls!" he groaned with an agonized grimace. "How close are you to being done?"
    I backed closer to him, watching the oncoming troops out of the corner of my eye. "John, you're hurt!"
    "And you can't do anything about it!" he pointed out, inserting a new magazine into his weapon. "If you want to help me, get the fucking portal open!!"
    Swallowing, I dropped the shield. I rushed back to the control panel, crouching and continuing where I'd left off, tracing the wires and undoing Ballpoint's damage. Behind me, John fired off a poorly aimed fusillade of bullets at our enemies, laboring for breath.

~~~

A conglomeration of inserted blue sheets and pasted snippets follow.
    Trebor ran, watching his PEA for Jonah's coordinates. Ballpoint soldiers mocked him as he passed, laughing uproariously at the doctor's desperation.
    As he neared the first trench, Trebor broke into a sprint, leaping across the collapsed tunnel, not daring to look below. He tumbled ungracefully onto the other side, blood, dirt and mud dirtying his smock. Stumbling to his feet, he kept up the brisk pace.
    "Trebor! Over here!"
    Looking about, the doctor caught sight of his friend, standing and waving his arms beside the broken body of his sister. With a final burst of speed, he reached them, panting. "Is... What happened?" the dwarf gasped out.
    "Landmine," Jonah answered grimly.
    Almory looked up at him listlessly, her skin pale. "Trebor," she whispered, barely audible.
    Trebor knelt, opening his medkit and beginning to work on his sister's wounds, squeezing her hand from time to time. Weakly, she returned the squeeze.
    "She's lost a lot of blood, Jonah," the doctor said quietly.
    "Trebbie..." Almory whispered, "Am I going to make it?"
    "I'm not letting you die," her brother assured her firmly.
    In the distance, gunfire still boomed, and all three dwarves could hear the shouts of Ballpoint troops. Jonah could see them beginning to approach, wielding their weapons. "Trebor, I can't stay here," he said. "Seeing one doctor is one thing, but if they see two in the same place, they won't believe it. They'll kill us both."
    "Stay here and protect us," Trebor suggested.
    Jonah shook his head regretfully, watching the tank-like Octavians swivel their guns in their direction. "I have to go."
    Sighing, Trebor nodded, bandaging the lieutenant's wounds. "I understand. Just stay safe out there."
    Without a word, Jonah sprinted away, shouting and calling the enemy's attention. He fired his weapon into their ranks and leaping down into the nearby tunnel passage, disappearing from view.
    Trebor remained silent for a moment, and then the color drained from his face as he dug through his medical chest. Aghast, he realized, "My coagulants... I left them at the trench... I can't stop the bleeding."
   

    Katie and Reudh stood side by side, walking down the hallway at a steady pace. Their weapons blazed, dilapidated flesh peeling from the undead monsters before them with every shot.
    Reudh glanced over at the girl for a moment. Her face seemed as lifeless as if she was one of the very creatures she was fighting. "Katie?" he asked, but she only continued forwards as if she hadn't heard.

   
    Lurit stood atop a pile of broken bodies, his minigun's barrel smoking as he surveyed the carnage. At the far end from where he stood, the undead still shambled across the trench, heedless of the burning napalm jelly they shuffled through.
    Shots rang out nearby – on a ledge ahead of him, a zombie's head exploded, the creature tumbling backwards into the trench. Reudh and Katie soon appeared where it had stood moments before.
    "Reudh, old boy!" Lurit roared. "Glad you felt like waking up this morning! Get down here!"
    But Reudh wasn't listening – he was staring in horror at the terrain above the trench's lip. "Katie, get down, quickly!" he shouted, leaping aside.
    Katie stood motionless, dead to everything around her.
    "Katie, down!" Reudh shouted again, cautiously leaping down a floor.
    Gunshots echoed – Katie's shoulder flew backwards, pulling her with it as she crumpled to the floor. Stray bullets thudded through the earthen wall behind her.
    Lurit limped forwards, wielding his weapon. "Reudh, get to the infirmary!" he shouted. "I'll take care of the girl!"
    Reudh finally seemed to notice him. "Lurit, you are not supposed to be up yet!"
    Roaring with cynical laughter, the man boomed, "Like hell I'm not! There's no way I'm spending another second in that bed when there's fighting to be done!" Reaching Reudh, he helped him to his feet. "Now get to the infirmary already!"
    With a nod, Reudh turned and headed back.
    On the ledge above them, Katie's form stood shakily, her gun wavering uselessly in her left hand, her right arm dripping with blood. Abruptly, her arm raised, and she fired several shots. A Ballpoint soldier screamed as the plasma burned a hole into his chest, and fell into the trench.
    "You!" Lurit shouted at the girl. "Get down and follow Reudh!" He watched as Katie's dazed eyes shifted unsteadily towards him as she fired a few more unaimed shots towards the sky, seconds before the wall exploded behind her. Lurit turned and raised his arm to shield himself from the cascading dirt, and when he looked back, there was nothing left of the young woman. Shaking his head in stunned disbelief, he turned around, only to see masses of Ballpoint soldiers storming down a slope of collapsed rubble on the far side.
    Staring grimly, Lurit lowered the visor of his helmet. "All right!" he yelled, straining his lungs as he walked back down the stairs. "Let's go!" With an elongated roar, he revved his minigun, firing an endless stream of plasma into their ranks as they scattered like roaches, running for cover.
    Bullets began pinging off his armor, and a railgun slug hit him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him as he flew backwards onto the ground. He sat up with an effort, emptying his weapon in his attacker's direction.
    A shell exploded behind him, splashing rivers of burning napalm onto his armor. Lurit roared with pain and staggered to his feet, unsteadily marching forwards with his weapon blazing, determined to keep them from entering the infirmary.


    Jonah ran through the open-roofed tunnel, quickly limping his way around the front ends of fallen vehicles, stepping over dead bodies and firing shots behind him to keep the pursuing soldiers at bay.
    He was so intent on the squads behind him that he didn't notice the ones up ahead until their rounds had pierced his chest.

   
    "Klade!" K'bahth shouted, struggling to free himself from the cooling rubber. "Assist me!" In desperation, the scythod dropped his weapons and began to hack at the tires with his scythes and claws.
    Klade picked his way through the battlefield at a sprint, shooting multiple shots at any target he heard. Listening, he heard a now-familiar, dreaded sound, and stood helpless as a missile’s fireball consumed his friend.
    Shouting, the lone scythod cursed the world, the gods, and Ballpoint, moments before he fell victim to their soldiers, their bullets shattering his chitin.
   

    Trebor worked desperately by his sister's side, cursing himself audibly for forgetting to remember the supplies he'd needed. His efforts seemed useless – no matter what he did, the bleeding wouldn't stop, and she'd lost so much already. The best he could do was slow it down.
    "Sis, stay with me!" he said, shaking her gently to keep her awake. Her dazed eyes stared blankly, dancing slowly about as she struggled to focus. Her breathing slowed – her pulse had been erratic since he'd arrived. As her eyes began to close, Trebor shook her again, but this time, it produced no response.
    In desperation, he dug a pump from his medical chest. Inserting one tube into a vein in his sister's arm, he inserted the other into his own and started the machine. As the device began to work its magic, charting graphs upon its screen, Trebor could feel it drawing the blood from his own veins and transferring it to hers. It wouldn't save her, but he hoped it would keep her alive long enough for Vanya to open the portal.
    It was a desperate man that sat on the hillside, watching his sister for any signs of revival.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 46: The Stench of Victory
This is the final entry containing the now-familiar pale blue sheets. Following this, only Vanya's entries remain.

    "John, stay awake!" I cried out, watching him through tear-blurred eyes as I struggled with the megaportal's wiring. I almost had it fixed: they'd backwired the antimatter containment cells through a positronic conductor. Maybe Parasol's portals worked differently than Mr Frog's, but it didn't make any sense to me... that feeling was all I had to go on.
    John lay slumped up against the control panels, breathing raggedly, his Ballpoint suit streaked with blood. If I ever dared to try to help him, he yelled at me to keep working, but I'd promised him that as soon as I had the portal open, I'd do whatever I could.
    Suddenly, as I reattached two wires, the portal began a menacing hum, throbbing with power... a deep, ancient sound. The hills echoed with its noise. Glancing around, I could see Ballpoint's troops turning, rushing back to defend the portal.
    But the portal didn't open. I was sure something was broken, or misplaced, but I wasn't sure what. On a whim, I removed Almory's computer chip from its slot and reinserted it.

    Air rushed towards the megaportal's center at great speeds, whistling as it gathered my hair and flung it at my face.
    And all became still.
    With a crash, the megaportal exploded with light and sound, almost knocking me to the ground as the air around me began to reverberate, pulsing, heaving like waves on a stormy day. As the hum began anew, the air within the frame coalesced into a rippling mirror.
    I'd opened the portal.

    The first thing on my mind was John's condition. I sprinted over to him, and even as I did, Parasol's tanks poured through the 30-foot iris, great machines of war, heavily suited troops, biomechs and mechoids, armed with incredible weapons. Everything was black and white, and bore Parasol's trademark red and white umbrella. It heralded a victory... but it meant little to me as I discovered John was already unconscious. I wept by his side, watching the battle through my hair and hoping someone would come and help.
    Even as the Ballpoint troops reversed direction, storming back up the hill, Parasol's troops began firing rounds into their ranks. Three of their enormous tanks charged their weapons, their singularity cannons shimmering as they each fired a round. The projectiles blurred slowly towards their target, the air around them warping and spraying sparks; three of Ballpoint's tanks seemed to implode in a cloud of metallic dust.
    A giant creature stepped out of the portal… it was like a rhinoceros or elephant, but with legs wider than barrels, its body blotting out the stars. It stomped forward to join the combat, the ground shaking under its weight. It was beyond anything I'd ever dreamed.
    Despite Parasol's incredible firepower, Ballpoint's superior numbers prevailed, and they and Parasol met in the middle of the field in melee as napalm shells exploded and singularities hummed over their heads.

    Medics emerged from the portal, wearing Parasol scrubs and light armor, carrying medkits that looked like the one Trebor always carried. Getting to my feet, I ran after them, yelling and waving my arms. "Help!" I shouted. "Please, somebody!! My friend needs help!"
    A stray railgun round grazed my leg and I fell to the ground, crying out in agony at the sharp, sudden pain. I looked at the wound... it'd left a deep gash, cutting a hole straight through my armor.
    "Please! Help!" I called again.
    But no one stopped. No one offered to help, or even turned in my direction. Slowly, my resolve faded into hopelessness, and I lay there alone, ignored, clutching at my leg and weeping unseen tears.
   
~~~

Several blue sheets of paper are inserted here.
    Almory choked, her eyes fluttering back open as she breathed in a lungful of precious air.
    Her brother started crying with relief. "Oh, thank Armok," he whispered. "Sis, stay awake."
    Lieutenant Almory swallowed, blinking her eyes as her head cleared. "I'm not in any pain," she whispered, looking about as Ballpoint soldiers rushed past, returning to the top of the hill.
    Trebor nodded. He was starting to feel weak from the lack of blood. "Painkillers," he explained briefly. "Vanya made it to the portal."
    The lieutenant frowned. "Does it matter?" she asked. "Parasol may win... but have we?" Her critical eye strayed to her arm, following the tube to the pump Trebor held, and then to Trebor's arm. "What do you think you're doing?"
    The doctor swallowed dryly, rocking back and forth to stay awake. "You needed blood," he said quietly. "I lacked supplies."
    Gritting her teeth, she pulled the blood-squirting tube from her arm, and tossed it aside.
    "What are you doing?!" Trebor exclaimed in dismay, shutting off the device. "You need blood!"
    "I won't take yours," she said firmly. "Look how pale you are now.
    "Sis, you need blood," the dwarf insisted. "You're still bleeding out from multiple wounds. This is the only way I can keep you alive."
    "By killing you?" Almory asked quietly, already beginning to feel lightheaded again. "It's better for me to die."
    "I can't let you die."
    "You can," she corrected him, moving her hands to her bloodied chest. "I'm not losing my little brother."
    Determined, Trebor tried to re-insert the tube into her arm, but she snatched it from him and drew it across one of her swords.
    "What are you doing?!" Trebor almost shouted, growing dizzy from the effort.
    Weakly, his sister laid her sword back by her side. "I won't let you do this."
    "You have to!" Trebor begged, starting to weep. "Please! How could I live with the guilt of not saving you?"
    "How could I live with the guilt of killing my baby brother?" she whispered, looking at him. "I won't let you die here with me. You're going to go back home and finish medical school. You're going to write that book you always talked about, and meet a nice girl."
    "No," Trebor mumbled, shaking with tears as he squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You won't die. It's not as bad as you think."
    A smile flickered briefly at her lips. "You're a bad liar, Trebbie..." she whispered. "You always were. I'm growing weaker every second." Almory quieted, swallowing painfully as she closed her eyes.
    And all was still.
    "Sis, you need to stay awake," Trebor whispered. When there was no response, he said, louder, "Sis, you need to stay awake!" With a finger, he reached out and felt her pulse. Tears started to spring forth anew, and he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers as he wept inconsolably.

    And darkness fell around the form of the doctor, crouched beside a dying woman.


The transcript ends here with a flourish, followed by a signature:
    "~ Trebor Mallarkus, Field Doctor
    ~In memory of the fallen~"

~~~

Vanya's handwriting continues.
    Holding my breath, I tried getting to my feet, and found that I could stand without much trouble.
   
    I turned away from the battle with a dejected frown, limping back up the hill towards John's body, where I could faintly make out the shape of a medic who was working on his wounds, silhouetted by a portable light he'd placed by John's side. I felt an immense relief at the sight.
    As I came up behind the doctor, I asked, "Will he be all right?"
    He looked up, startled as if he'd been unaware of my approach. For a long moment, he stared at me blankly. "It's very bad, ma'am," he finally said, taking the light and moving it to assist his work.
    Only then did I see the full extent of John's wounds. I spun, closing my eyes to shut out the image as a tear rolled down my cheek.
   
    Amidst a jetpack's roar, a familiar figure landed in front of me.
    "Katie!" I exclaimed I rushed forwards to hug her, but she only staggered forwards, dazed. "Katie?" I asked again, looking in her eyes. My gaze strayed, and I noticed the blood streaking her entire left arm, running down from her shoulder.
    Struggling, as if it was difficult, she lifted her eyes to my face. She seemed to stare straight through me... almost as if she hardly realized I existed. Her face was an embodiment of terror and hopelessness.
    "Saemin's gone," she whispered. "Everyone's gone."
    I didn't want to believe it. "Everyone?"
    She didn't reply, only shuffling past me and falling to her knees by the medic's side.
    "What's happened to her?" I asked the doctor, shaking his shoulder to get his attention. "Why is she like this?"
    He jerked away from me and looked at her briefly. "Combat fatigue," he explained, continuing his work. "Sometimes called 'shell shock'. She's from division 48D, isn't she?"
    His tone implied he was insulting her, and I felt defensive. "What does it matter?"
    The dwarf looked up at me, frowning sympathetically. "None of them were supposed to see combat. It's a miracle they managed to open the portal at all."
    Oblivious to what we were saying, Katie slumped sideways onto the dirt.
    "Will it get better?" I asked worriedly.
    "I need to fix up her arm, but in a day or two, yeah... Apart from a probable case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, if you don't mind, ma'am, I need to finish my job." He took a tone of annoyance to express this last.
    I nodded, starting dejectedly back down the slope. The battle raged nearby, but I hardly noticed it. I stumbled aimlessly forwards, hoping to find someone I recognized.
    I felt like crying... but the tears wouldn't come.

~~~

    The first rays of sunlight reached over the tips of the eastern hills, revealing the ruined trench that lay outstretched at my feet. Only days before, it had been a center of life... Maybe everyone within had been doomed to die, but they'd known it. With no hope, they'd possessed no fear, and had only strived to make their last days the best they could.
    Then I'd come... and I'd given them hope. I'd made them afraid.
    I stared blankly at the wreckage. The sides of the trench had almost completely collapsed, blocking or covering doors on the upper levels. Entire rooms had caved in on the far side, creating smoking, burning pits in the earth above. Twisted metal lay scattered everywhere; pieces of paper fluttered meaninglessly in the wind, tumbling across the deserted paths... the last remnants of a time of order.
    But the trench itself was empty; it was devoid of life...
    Their deaths were because of me.
    Biting my lip, I started down what was left of the staircase, stepping over fallen bodies. I was afraid to look at their faces... I was afraid I'd see someone I recognized.
    It didn't make sense to me. Almory had said she would start the bubble shield at the slightest sign of trouble. I wondered if maybe she'd seen the point in what I'd said to her in the hallway corridor, and had put Parasol ahead of herself.
    It was with little hope that I examined the tragic scene, limping through the trench's cluttered pathways, stepping carefully around bits of melted rubble. It was a silent, gruesome place. The infirmary was empty, as was the armory. Corpses lay strewn about where they’d fallen. Charred rivulets stretched down the walls and spilled to the ground below where napalm jelly had burned only a little while before, some still flickering with tiny flames. Craters, large and small, pockmarked the walls... chunks of earth lay scattered and crumbling.
    "What have I done?" I whispered.

    A ringing noise answered my voice, jolting me back to the present. Although it sounded familiar, I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before. Curious, I followed its echo up the stairs to Almory's office and opened the door.
    The ceiling had caved in, revealing the brightening sky above, and though the table in the middle still held the clay model of the hill, it had shattered under the weight of the collapsing earth.
    I followed the ringing noise over to Almory's desk and swept away the dirt with my hands, digging through ruined paperwork until I found what I was looking for. It was an old PEA, its screen flashing with familiar dwarven runes: "Tap screen to accept call".
    For a minute, I hesitated. I'd read the same words four years before... Back then, I hadn't known anything about technology, or portals, or the timewar...
    The device continued its incessant ringing, and I picked it up, sitting down in Almory's chair. Holding my breath, I tapped my finger on the screen.
    "Hello, Vanya Carena," said a voice.
    Joseph's too-perfect face smiled at me from the PEA's screen.

    I was too stunned and broken to feel angry. "It's you... Why are you talking to me?"
    "Why should I not?" he asked with a smile. "I find it worthwhile. Do you not as well?"
    His smile annoyed me. People were dying everywhere, and he didn't seem to care at all. "I don't want to talk to you," I told him quietly. "You'll use me again."
    "Not at all, not at all," Joseph crooned. "In truth, I had believed you were dead until a few hours ago, when one of my men sighted you near the portal." He paused for a moment, observing me with watchful eyes. "I suppose you want to visit Parasol and then get back to Spearbreakers, no?"
    I didn't answer, wrongly believing it would keep him from learning anything.
    "Your silence speaks volumes, Vanya," Joseph continued. "You believe Parasol to be the 'good side' in the Timewar. You believe Ballpoint is evil."
    "That isn't true," I said. It felt good to tell him he was wrong.
    It didn't slow him down. "Perhaps not entirely, but what you don't realize is that Parasol is no better."
    "That's your opinion."
    "Perhaps so, perhaps so," he replied with a smile, continuing in his smooth, musical voice. It sent shivers down my spine. "However, your lack of information impedes your judgment. Unlike Eris, Parasol and Ballpoint are devoid of any sense of morality. Ballpoint serves money, and Parasol serves science. Ballpoint protects its clients' offers, and Parasol protects its experiments."
    "That doesn't mean they lack morals," I argued.
    The man smiled unnervingly and raised a finger. "This is true, this is true," he noted. "However, Ballpoint seeks to destroy Spearbreakers, and only for the sake of money. Parasol seeks to protect it, and only for the sake of its experiment."
    "The Holistic Spawn," I guessed, wary of any traps he might lay. "Parasol, at least, is doing the right thing."
    "Indeed, the Holistic Spawn," Joseph said slowly, tapping his fingertips together. "Tell me, little one... What if Spearbreakers threatened to destroy Parasol's experiment? What if someone hired Ballpoint to protect Spearbreakers? Ballpoint would do so, no?"
    I saw his point, and I didn't have an answer to it.
    "Eris is different, little one. We seek to destroy those who would seek to destroy the less fortunate."
    It was hard to believe he could even make such a claim. "You want me to believe Eris is the 'good side', but you try to slaughter millions of innocent people?"
    Joseph laughed, a discomforting sound that bubbled through the ruined room. "Innocent, you say? You call them innocent, even as they pull people from their homes, even as they invade established territory, even as their precious experiments bring tens of thousands of truly innocent lives to an end. They genetically manipulate sentient creatures and induct unknowing participants into their ranks as 'Sleeper Agents'?" He paused for effect, and continued, "Participants such as you, Vanya?"
    "You controlled me, Joseph," I said, beginning to glimmer with frustration. "You made me kill dozens of people who didn't deserve to die."
    "The faults of the employees and the faults of the company are the same," he replied smoothly. "Employees may leave their companies at any time, and if they choose not to, then they share their company's ideals."
    I furrowed my brow at him angrily. "You made me kill children."
    "An employee is an employee, regardless of its age," the man chided gently. "Two dozen lives, if lost at the appropriate time, can save millions of others. If those two dozen people had not died, Ballpoint would never have renewed their attack on Parasol, and would not have accepted their client's offer. Many other worlds might have felt their destructive tread."
    I hesitated, puzzling over what he'd said, and my eyes widened as I figured it out. "You're the client," I whispered. "You hired Ballpoint to destroy Spearbreakers... you're trying to make them destroy each other."
    Joseph gave a slow, solemn nod. "I must. If I do not, they will travel to other planets and dimensions after they destroy Everoc, as they have done many times before, destroying trillions of lives. However, if they fall apart under their own leadership and disband, all those lives can be saved." He smiled gently. "I am not alone in my belief, Vanya. Hundreds of people follow behind my lead, and among them is your friend, Mr Frog."
    I faltered for a moment, making up my mind not to let him know I knew about the clone. "He couldn't do it willingly," I offered quietly.
    "Perhaps not, particularly not the clone you know. However, the original works for me at Eris, and has developed advanced weaponry and espionage equipment for me. Of course, he has no idea what he is helping create."
    I hoped he didn't know about how Mr Frog had sent someone to warn Parasol... but after listening to him talk, I wasn't sure of what he couldn't know. "You cloned him?" I asked, feigning surprise.
    "It was necessary," Joseph said in terse reply. "We all have a set of ideals, little one. They drive us and make us stronger. While Parasol and Ballpoint serve science and money, Eris serves morality. We serve the greater good. I do not seek to kill Parasol or Ballpoint's employees, but merely to destroy their companies, so they will cease wreaking havoc on the multiverse."
    At the time, I couldn't see any flaws in his arguments. I badly wanted to be able to tell him he was wrong... I didn't want to believe him. "You tried to kill me," I pointed out. It was all I had left.
    "At the time, you would not have worked for me, and Parasol changed the Sleeper access codes. You were an advantage that was dangerous for Parasol to continue to possess. Removing you kept Parasol from killing Kannan, who was detrimental to their position." He paused for a moment and smiled almost fondly at the memory. "I was actually quite pleased when I found you had survived and destroyed your bracelet. A needless death was avoided.
    "Perhaps I should allow you some time to think it over," the man said with a thoughtful air. "When I see you have made your decision, I shall contact you again."
    And with that, the PEA's screen went dark.

☆

[Talvieno]

A Skulker's Tale
Book Three: A Girl's Weary Feet

Chapter 47: Parasol
    You sit in Parasol, a world-girdling company that stops at nothing to further their scientific progress. They've commissioned you, Dr. Urist Jones, a young Dwarven archaeologist, to translate an old text, for primarily historical reasons... Something about this doesn't quite add up to you, and you aren't sure why they're doing it.
    Across from you sits a woman with dark, brown hair and silver-green eyes, seemingly around the age of 18. She gazes at you expectantly, waiting for you to continue reading from Vanya's journal... and you comply. As you've just finished the previous one, you lay it down on the table, pick up the next, which is identical to the first, with a golden star printed on the cover, and you begin to read.

    Parasol had won the battle... they’d destroyed the Ballpoint army, and only a few survivors had managed to escape. Klade didn't care, though... I found him early that first morning as I stood atop the hill, gazing down upon the smoking carnage with a listless stare.
    "There is no honor in this war," he chattered grimly as he limped up to where I stood. "We have killed too many soldiers... A hundred scythods could never consume them all. This is no victory, as 'Parassol' claims, but a great sorrow."
    I agreed quietly. "I think so, too."
    He clicked his claws reproachfully. "We should have left, Spala. We should not have stayed to help them. It would have done less harm."
    I said nothing. What was there to say? In a way, I agreed with him. After pondering this for a moment, I finally asked, "Klade... what about K'bahth? Where is he?"
    Klade only clicked his claws again and turned away, softly cursing the Klascoryf as he left.
   
    Trebor found me soon after. I was relieved to see him still alive, but he only brought me the news of the deaths of Saemin, Jonah, and Lieutenant Almory.
    "I'm sorry, Trebor," I said quietly. "I know how it hurts to lose a sister, too."
    He only nodded, slipping a sword and scabbard off his belt. "She would've wanted you to have this," the dwarf told me quietly. "She was a woman of her word... and she lost the bet. Parasol prevailed."
    When I tried to put my arms around him to show I cared, he shrugged me off. His joking personality was all but gone... he seemed to have gained a portion of his sister's hatred, and I haven't heard him call me "Hotlips" since. I wish he would, now... it's strange what things you miss when they're gone.
    I followed him back to the trench's infirmary, where we found Strohe and Lurit, both barely alive. Trebor, like any good doctor, put aside his feelings and tended to their wounds... but I could see the emptiness in his eyes. He would never say it, but he wished he'd died with his sister. It was a feeling I knew well.

    As that first, painful afternoon wore on, Tedaz and I started working to clear the debris out of the cluttered walkway, mostly to get our minds off what had happened. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before a Parasol officer told us the trench was ruined, and it was too dangerous to stay. He told me to move to one of the white tents Parasol had set up on the hillside, away from the wreckage of the battle, and so I did.
    Looking through the tents, I soon found Katie. The battlefield medics were treating her, and they didn't seem very worried about her physical wounds. Though her arm and shoulder were patched up before the first day was over, she hadn't been able to take the mental trauma... only the gods know what horrible things she saw. For the most part, I stayed with her from then on, though guilt often drew me back to the trench against my will.


    The next few days flew by quickly. While Strohe, Lurit, and Katie's conditions slowly improved, I never saw John again... not even his body... though I did find a dusty, charred message from him, lying atop Almory's paperwork on her desk:
    "From John, to Lieutenant Almory:
        I realize it's late for me to say it, and I feel ashamed, but it must be said; I haven't trusted Vanya's plan ever since you told it to me, and I don't think I'll be coming back from this. My true name is Escu Honukem, and I come from the village of Helmspear. If by some chance you ever find yourself up that way... let my family know I died fighting our enemies. Don't let them know I was a coward. Don't let them know I ever joined Ballpoint."
    In addition to John's body being missing, we never found the bodies of Tames or Gearbox, either. I assumed Tames had joined Ballpoint's retreating forces... but I hoped Gearbox was all right. I hoped he would head towards Spearbreakers, and that I would find him there someday. As to John himself, I like to pretend he survived. I like to imagine him getting back to his family, far away at Helmspear - their tears and embraces as they reunite after all those years apart. It's a comforting thought, but it's far from being all that's on my mind.
    I often thought about what Joseph had said. I was sure he was lying... After all, how could Parasol lack any sense of morality? Joseph was a liar, I knew, and I resolved not to believe him, but as the medics treated their wounded, I saw little hints of what he'd said. If someone on life support became considered a lost cause, they would let the person die rather than keep him alive. They're calculating people... even more so than dwarves. Dwarves will let an injured soldier lie in the hospital for years. It stood out in stark contrast to what I was witnessing with the battlefield medics.


    The fourth morning, I sat in the tent, talking quietly with Reudh beside Katie's bed. Suddenly, she awoke, sitting upright and panting as if she was terrified, her widened eyes dancing about the medical equipment that surrounded us. Her gaze found me and softened as realization overtook her fragile mind; she hung her head, collapsing towards me and crying. I put my arms around her and told her I understood, just as I'd done so many times before for Salaia.
    We came closer those next few days than many people come in a lifetime. She became like a sister to me... as Salaia had been, but different. She was a friend.
    She was recovering quickly... but she was bottling up what had happened. I've always done the same thing, but Katie is a happy person at heart... she doesn't like for something to get her down. I'm not sure if she'd forgotten the things she'd seen or not, but she never spoke of them again.

~~~

    As the week ended, I stood atop Megaportal Hill one last time, watching the sun's setting rays color the graves of the fallen. Reudh stood beside me, as did Katie and Trebor, Reudh, Tedaz and Lurit. Klade had left with Strohe, who wanted to return home. No one in Parasol spoke Scythod, and I lied to the officers about what Klade had said... I told them he was escorting Strohe to the border of the bloodplains. Klade was part of the timewar, and we "natives" of Everoc weren't supposed to know about him, but I didn't care. The way things were going, everyone would eventually find out anyway, so what did it matter?

    Eight graves lay out before us, their tenants' names engraved into the dark, metallic headstones with love: K'bahth, Saemin Lo Diel, Hawkins Entomel, Jonah Hylcelon, Almory Mallarkus Bertran, Martin "Gearbox" Bakerson, Cronan Tames, and Escu "John Smith" Honukem. Their runes glowed with a soft light, and those belonging to Parasol flashed with little video clips of their lives. The images of their faces, laughing at parties, goofing off... normally watching clips like those would make a person happy, but the knowledge that they were gone from the world tore unrelentingly at my heart.
    Katie tried to say a little prayer for each of them, but she couldn't even make it to Saemin's before she started to break down.
    "I'm sorry," Katie said quietly, her voice staggered with emotion. "I can't do it."
    Trebor gave her a light embrace and nodded grimly, trying to keep his voice level. "When we get back home, I'll write a memoir... 'In Memory of the Fallen'. They deserve for Parasol to remember them... it wasn't their fault they died." He shot a piercing glance in my direction as he said that last.
    Turning, I walked away, looking over the distant hills and forests towards the sunset. A tear threatened to fall, and I didn't even feel like brushing it away. I felt terrible.
    "You care deeply about their deaths, but believe me when I say it is not your fault, sweet Vanya."
    Looking over my shoulder, I saw Reudh, who was gazing at me sympathetically. "It is my fault," I told him quietly, wiping my face with a hand and turning my head away. "If I hadn't been trying to get back to Spearbreakers, none of this would have happened."
    "I agree," Reudh said quietly. "You saved two lives when they all would have died."
    Shooting a twisted, scornful glance at the dwarf, I tried not to cry. "K'bahth and John died, too, Reudh!"
    "Parasol may yet win back Everoc due to their sacrifice," he countered. "It was a good thing you did! Do not doubt yourself, my dear. Trebor and Katie will live on, telling their story and bringing others to their cause."
    I spun to face him, angry and upset. "Reudh, have you ever lost anyone?" I didn't wait for him to reply before I went on, "Have you ever lost everyone you loved, and found yourself alone? No friends, no family, nobody left but you? Do you know how that feels?"
    "Well, I -"
    Though I tried my best, I couldn't hold back my tears. "That's how I felt when I lost my sister, Reudh! I wanted to die. I had nothing left to live for, and the only thing that kept me alive was trying to save Spearbreakers from Ballpoint. I never even had a chance to go back for her body." I pursed my lips, stepping forwards and glaring at him through blurred eyes. "Don't tell me I did a good job. Trebor and Katie are suffering more than you know." I paused for breath, and felt guilty when I finally noticed how hurt Reudh seemed at what I'd said.
    "I am... truly sorry, Vanya..." he managed in response, wringing his pack in his hands. "I did not... I apologize."
    Starting to cry, I closed my eyes and hung my head, wishing I could lie down and never have to get back up. I felt his arm move around my back as he held me close, but I didn't bother to move away. I knew he was trying to help me feel better, but I didn't want him to do anything for me... I just wanted him to understand.
    "I know it hurts," Reudh said finally, "but believe me when I say it wasn't your fault. It was Tames's."
    It quieted me, and I looked up at him curiously, brushing the hair from my eyes as I processed what he'd told me. "Tames?"
    The dwarf nodded. "He betrayed us by telling Ballpoint our plans. Now come; our friends are ready to enter the portal to Parasol. Are you going with them?" With a gentle hand on my back, he started to lead me away from the sunset.
    I nodded. "Yes..." I said, sniffing. "I'm going to Parasol, and then to Spearbreakers"
    "And I shall come with you," Reudh said reassuringly. "Where you go, I shall go as well, my sweetest love."
    Sometimes he was nice to have around, but others, not so much. I spared a disapproving glance at him for his affections, but he didn't seem to notice.

    "Vanya, hurry!" Katie called. She was standing beside the megaportal's rippling, silver surface, holding a kit bag in each hand. Groups of people were skipping in line around her and disappearing into the portal. As I neared her, she explained, "It's set to our destination, but only briefly. We're holding other people up." She motioned behind us, and looking where she pointed, I saw a squad of white-suited Parasol soldiers standing at attention.
    "Then let's go," I told her, starting forwards.
    She dropped a bag and grabbed my hand. "Do you have a place to live?"
    "I won't be at Parasol long."
    "They won't let you leave," she said, picking her bag back up and handing it to me. "I already asked. Admiral Coscar says Sleeper Agents aren't allowed to leave."
    This stopped me, and I looked back at her, gaping and  stricken with disbelief. "What?? Why not?!"
    Katie frowned apologetically, tilting her head. "They said it's classified. I'm really sorry... but if you want, you can stay with me at my dad's house. He's let my friends sleep over before, so I don't think he'll mind. But... um..." She stopped, looking uncomfortable.
    "What?"
    She grimaced briefly, and then, with a pleading glance, said, "Call him 'Mr. Kenzon'... and don't let him know who you are." At my questioning stare, Katie added, "Please?"
    "Okay..." I said, giving a cautious nod as I shifted her bag in my hands.
    "C'mon," she coaxed, and side by side, we started towards the towering structure.
    As we climbed the steps at its base, I decided that someday, I was going back to Spearbreakers... no matter what it took.
    And the portal's liquid surface enveloped us, so different from the portals of Ballpoint.

    I walked for a moment, blind in the darkness of a metaphysical dimension. I felt a strange sensation, as if I was being funneled through nothingness, yet my legs continued to carry me forwards across an undetectable floor.
    Sounds buffeted my ears; everything grew bright as I crossed the interspace threshold and got my first glimpse of Parasol. Katie's bag fell unnoticed from my fingers.

    I stood in awe at the portal's base, dwarfed by the gigantic chamber dimly lit with beautiful chandeliers the shape of upturned parasols. The walls were thousands upon thousands of glass panes, holding back a clear, blue sea. Through its crystalline depths, I could see distant shapes: giant cathedrals, beautiful monuments, towers stretching high into the ocean above. Huge creatures swam past in pinks and blues, spinning and dancing through the waters as they trailed phosphorescent ribbons in their wake. Unaware of the passage of time, I followed one's near-magical descent until it disappeared from view behind me.
    A hand took mine, and I started, looking up at its owner's face.
    "You're not in Kansas anymore," Katie whispered with an impish smile, picking up her bag.
    "What? What is 'Kansas'?" I asked in confusion.
    She gave a little laugh. "I'll explain later. Let's just get out of here before Parasol's reporters get to us," she said, pointing at the receptionist's O-shaped desk in front of us, where a handful of people were clamoring to get a better shot with their little cameras. "Retaking Everoc is big news, obviously, but they'll pester us to no end."
    "Like hell they will," Lurit grunted, watching the reporters jostle each other around with light amusement. Beside him, Reudh held his pike idly, too rapt in examining the beauty about him to notice the reporters at all.
    One of them got past the guards and rushed up to Trebor with a PEA in hand. "I'm Yolas Maxtur for Parasol Daily - can you give me a statement about 48D's involvement in battle 7165b8?"
    It freaked me out. I started to hyperventilate, my eyes darting from one reporter to the next, then at Katie, who was laughing and talking to Reudh. After hiding who I was all my life, I wasn't used to this kind of attention, and it scared me out of rational thought.
    Ducking behind everyone, I crept along the walls in the shadows, hoping they wouldn't notice me. I felt bewildered. Apparently 48D's return to Parasol was a big event, and everything was in such chaos that nobody saw me slink past the guards, moving past a corner of the room to one of the alcoves at the edge. Not even Katie seemed to notice I was gone, and it was with a good deal of relief that I watched the little crowd mill about the receptionist's desk, completely oblivious to my presence.

    A voice startled me, bearing a heavy human accent. "You don't like crowds either."
    Spinning around, I found myself looking at the stomach of an unusually tall woman. With my eyes, I followed her muscled frame up to a badly-scarred face. I couldn't figure out how I'd not noticed she was there. She didn't appear very old, even for a human... maybe 50 at most.
    "Who are you?" I asked uncomfortably, trying not to stare at her disfigurement. It looked like she'd suffered terrible burns at some point in her life.
    She sat herself down on the little bench in the alcove, leaning on her cane for support, and chuckled with an undertone of grief. "A more important question is, who are you? When a girl is sidestepping the guards to avoid the reporters, it makes her look like she has something to hide... and what's happen to your ears?" she added, leaning to the side and peering at them with an innocent, curious expression.
    Reddening, I snatched Jack Magnus's cap from a pouch, pulling it over them. "I'm an elf," I whispered in embarrassment.
    She didn't seem to recognize the word. "I haven't saw none of them here before, so I guess you're an offworlder, like me... but you couldn't have work in no mines because you don't have the build for it." She peered at me curiously. "So where are you from, child?"
    I hesitated. She didn't seem especially intelligent, but she didn't seem untrustworthy. Then again, I'd been wrong before. "I'm from Everoc..." I said quietly, watching as she raised a surprised eyebrow. "I grew up hiding in a fortress of dwarves... most dwarves on Everoc hate elves."
    "A skulker..." the woman said thoughtfully, staring meaninglessly off into the distance as she rested her hands on her cane. "And an Everoccan, at that..."
    "I'm just not used to all that attention."
    The woman jumped at my words, and then looked back at me, smiling sadly. "I am Eltsha, child. I were a skulker in my childhood years, also." She patted the bench beside her. "Sit."
    "My name is Vanya," I replied. Without questioning, I took a seat beside her. It felt awkward... I wasn't sure whether to watch her face, or look away from her scars. More than that, I'd learned from a young age that skulkers couldn't often be trusted. I decided to dig further, asking, "Why are you here?"
    Eltsha sighed. "I know they say he was dead, but I was hoping to see my son." She looked over at me, pursing her lips, wrinkled lines crossing her scarred face. "Are you a mother, child?"
    "I don't have any family now, but I raised my sister," I offered.
    She turned her gaze towards the crowd at the desk. "Then mayhap you know how I feel." She paused for a minute, and continued with a thoughtful sigh, "I keep expecting to see him walk out that portal... calling for me like he use to every time he come home..." She looked back down at me with moistened eyes, smiling at me sadly. "...and he doesn't come back, nor will he now. The dust is taking him away... yet I still hope."
    I knew how it felt to lose someone you love. "I'm sorry, Eltsha... I'm sure he was a good man."
    The woman nodded quickly. "Oh yes! He was. He always work to provide food for us, and when his sister got sick, he went off to war, because it make more money. But... he couldn't save everyone. No one can save everyone."
    A yell interrupted us. "Vanya?" a girl called, her voice distant.
    "Go on, child," Eltsha urged gently. "Your friend is wanting you."
    As I got to my feet and started back towards Katie, I cast one more sympathetic glance at the old woman, her words echoing in my mind.

☆

[Talvieno]

A portion of an underwater shuttlecar tube with an empty shuttlecar within. Art by Talvieno.

Chapter 48: Shuttlecar Ride
    "If I might have your attention," you hear a voice say from the doorway of Vanya's tomb. Turning towards it, you see Dr. Thian Russ, the man who brought you into Parasol.
    "Problem?" you ask bluntly, holding a finger on your page as you glance towards him.
    "Indeed... in a manner. You have been reading for over five hours at this point, and you arrived at Parasol late in the day. We need you to stay rested so you can translate with a fair degree of accuracy. Thus, I must strongly advise you come with me and get some rest."
    Now that he mentions it, you do feel a little tired, but you would much rather ignore it. So many secrets are explaining themselves within these ancient pages at your hand... but no matter. With a heavy sigh and a respectful nod to the woman across from you, you rise from the chair at the little table and leave the little tomb.
    Not much happens of note. Russ gives you a small room to stay in, and you quickly fall asleep. The scenery is interesting, but not as interesting as the books you'd left behind.

***
   
    After freshening up the next morning, you aspire to take the shuttlecar by yourself, and with a little trouble, you do. Though you marvel at its technology, this is the history of the future. It isn't your line of work, and you feel no regrets as you leave it behind at the station, walking steadily towards Vanya's tomb ahead of schedule.
    The mysterious woman awaits you at the table with a smile, her hair done up a different way. It seemed as though, unlike before, she cared about her appearance. "Good morning," she says quietly, motioning for you to sit.
    "You're up early," you say, taking a seat and make yourself comfortable. "Why is that?"
    She looks away for a moment, then turns back to you with eager eyes. "Something important is coming soon," she says in a hushed voice. "Something important that changed history from then until now."
    "That may be true, but it's also true that you dodged my question," you note, chuckling dryly. "If you know so much about the past, why can you not tell them yourself?"
    She hesitates, and grows as quiet as she'd been the day before, the conversation quickly progressing into an awkward silence. "Continue reading, please," the woman says, and so you do.

    "Vanya!" Katie called.
    As I left Eltsha, I examined the area cautiously, watching for the reporters I dreaded. Fortunately, they seemed to have left, leaving my friends in the middle of the chamber, atop the glowing Parasol logo. Their family members clustered about them, but as far as I could tell, no one was taking pictures anymore, and the random dwarves milling about the room didn't even seem to be paying attention to them.
    "Please, Trebor, let me deliver the speech," a pretty, red-haired dwarf was saying. From her bloodshot eyes, I could tell she'd been crying.
    Trebor sighed. "I'm sorry, Lydena - this is something I need to do for myself."
    "Vanya!" Katie shouted again, spinning slowly about as she scanned the room. I approached her quickly from behind.
    "Katie..." I whispered, touching her shoulder. "What's going on?"
    Turning quickly towards my voice, she took my hand and led me forwards at a brisk pace. "There's someone I want you to meet," she explained, leading me around the little group to a blonde-haired, lab coat-wearing dwarf who stood on the other side.
    I felt bewildered. "What's going on?" I asked Katie.
    She ignored me, too busy introducing us to each other. "Solnay, this is Vanya. Vanya, this is Solnay, Jonah's widow."
    The pudgy, wrinkled woman gave a gracious smile, and reached forwards, taking both my hands in hers before I even knew what was going on. "Solnay Hyclcelon, Applied Sciences. Good to meet you, Vanya." It was an unusually haunting gaze that she directed at my eyes, a little unnerving, but pleasant all the same. Her accent was a little odd, though... wide-mouthed, I guess, if that makes any sense.
    "Mhm," I said, nodding absently as I tried to mentally keep pace with everything. "It's good to meet you, too. I'm... I'm sorry about Jonah. Your husband, I mean," I continued, trying unavailingly to recover.
    She gave an expressive frown. "He was a wonderful husband, and a brilliant scientist. At least he's in a better place now. Trebor tells me he died saving his life."
    "I wasn't with him when he died..." I managed, uncomfortably.
    Solnay nodded rapidly, still squeezing my hands in her warm, moist grip. "I heard all about it, sweetie. I heard you saved all of Everoc."
    That got my attention. "I didn't do anything like that!" I whispered. "All I did was open the portal."
    "Oh, hush now," she chided, giving my hands one more pat before withdrawing her own. "I can imagine if I wish that my Jonah died saving a whole planet." She faltered for a moment, as if caught between tears and a smile, but cleared it away with a wave of the hand. "They won't give you any credit for it, you know, so there's no need to worry about speeches. It's not the Parasol way. You're a Sleeper agent, and a native. They won't even mention you were there." Solnay paused, giving it a second thought. "Sorry if that disappoints you."
    "Not at all!" I answered truthfully, trying to calm myself. I wasn't used to such crowded places, and the people rushing about made me edgy. "No, I'm very glad of it."
    "Aw, well, that's for the best then," Solnay replied, nodding. "Have you met Trebor's family yet?"
    I glanced around. Katie had left, but Trebor was still talking with Lydena. "No, I haven't..." I said carefully, but before I could continue, Solnay had already taken me by the hand and was leading me towards them.
    "Trebor, sweetie, have you introduced Vanya to your family yet?" she called, getting his attention.

    The next fifteen minutes were spent in a multitude of handshakes and nods. Trebor had what seemed to me a very large family - there were over two dozen, and I can't even remember how they were all related to him. They seemed to approve of me, at least, but I found Trebor's younger sister somewhat annoying. Lydena loved being the center of attention just as much as I hated it, and I was greatly relieved when Katie finally reappeared and pulled me away. I was almost shaking.
    Katie looked at me strangely. "Are you all right?" she asked concernedly.
    I swallowed and nodded, blinking as if it would clear my muddled mind. "I'm not used to this," I explained. It sounded like a horrible excuse.
    She gave me another odd glance, but slowly nodded, frowning. "We'll get you home, then."
    We walked past the group, passing closely by Reudh and Tedaz where they stood talking. As we left, I heard Reudh call from behind me, "Vanya? Where are you going, my dear?"
    I glanced at him and shouted back, "I'll see you tomorrow, Reudh!" In a way, I was glad to be rid of him. In another, things were a lot less "amusing" while he was gone... and I'd known him the longest.

    As Katie and I walked through the door and down a dim, white-floored corridor, she explained, "Trebor's family is wealthy. They're renting an apartment for Reudh and his friends, just until they get a job."
    "I was going to ask," I lied, feeling guilty: I hadn't even thought about where Reudh would stay. I changed the subject uncomfortably. "Is all of Parasol underwater?"
    "Of course not, silly," she almost laughed, struggling under the weight of her bags. "Parasol is a huge city that stretches across an artificial world - our sky isn't real, and neither is our sun, but the planet itself is. Two-thirds of it is underwater, but above sea level, there are underground warehouses and laboratories, buildings aboveground, and towers that stretch far into the sky." She stepped closer and held her bag out to me. "Here, you carry something."
    Taking it from her, I thought it heavier than I remembered. "Where are we going?" I asked curiously.
    She pointed towards a room ahead of us, faintly visible through the glass ceiling. "To the shuttlecar station, and then to my dad's apartment." Then, giving it further thought, she added, "...If he even lets me come back home."
    "Why wouldn't he?"
    A corner of her mouth tweaked downwards. "He doesn't like me much, and we didn't really part on the best of terms. I think I remind him of my mom."
    I nodded silently, sensing that she didn't want to talk about it.

    A set of doors before us opened as we approached them, and we walked through, entering a huge, pillared chamber. It was bustling with activity, and seemed more utilitarian than the lobby: The floor was a well-worn, translucent plastic, and through it I could faintly make out the shape of metallic tubing. The walls consisted of triangular panes of glass, held together with a steel framework, just like the flat ceiling above us. The only things adorning the massive area were the artificial trees and shrubs lining the walls, but what drew one's attention the most were the rows upon rows of tunnel entrances, far, far across the floor, at the back wall. Each boasted a set of raised, steel tracks that protruded halfway into the room.
    "C'mon!" Katie called from up ahead.
    Shaking myself back to the present, I realized I'd stopped walking, and hastened to catch up with her.
    "Keep up," she said, laughing. "You're eventually going to use one by yourself, so you need to know how they work." Saying this, she stopped by the end of a set of tracks and pressed a button on a column. "The button calls up a car from the loading bay underneath the floor," she explained as she knelt to check the zippers on her bag.
    My mind was elsewhere, and I managed an absent nod as with my eyes I followed the four metallic rails to where they disappeared within the darkness of their tunnel: a long, glass cylinder, circled at intervals with silvery rings.
    "It's so dark in there," I noted aloud, a little worried. "Do they ever collapse and kill anyone?"
    Katie shook her head and got to her feet, tapping the button again in slight annoyance. "Shuttlecars are really safe - accidents are pretty much unheard of. You need to understand something first, though, okay?" She looked at me expectantly.
    I wasn't sure what she wanted. "Mhm," I said.
    It appeared to satisfy her, and she pointed towards the tube. "The inside of the tubes are in a vacuum to help the car go faster, so you shouldn't put your arms, or legs, or anything else outside the air shield. After a little while, they'll bruise from the lack of air pressure." She appeared frustrated, and tapped the button again, mumbling, "It's being slow again today."

    Suddenly, the ground before us slid open with a whish. A white platform, adorned only with a large metallic box near its front, rose gently from the darkness below with a hum, coming to a rest just above the floor. It made a quiet clacking sound as it seemed to attach itself to the tracks before it, and then all was still.
    "It doesn't look like it belongs here," I observed, frowning disapprovingly. When my friend didn't respond, I went on, "It's just a floor with an ugly metal box... There aren't rails, chairs, walls, or doors." I heard Katie snickering beside me, and looked over in time to receive a knowing smile. "What?" I asked indignantly.
    "It's not pretty, no," she admitted, "but that's because it's not meant to be. It's meant to get you where you want to go, and it's the only free way to travel on Parasol. Besides, you haven't even seen what it can do yet." She directed an impish grin towards me and hopped onto the car. "Now, let's go!" she urged. "Help me put my bags in the trunk."
    I considered asking what a "trunk" was, but decided against it, following her lead. Hesitantly, I stepped onto the vehicle, carrying Katie's second bag.
    As I watched, Katie grabbed a handle on the side of the "metal box" and slid a panel open, revealing a storage compartment large enough to store four Spearbreakers wine barrels.
    "We won't really feel much while we're moving," Katie explained as she knelt and wrestled her luggage into place. "Each car is controlled with its own gravitics system, so the only motion you'll feel is when it switches tracks... besides a little vibration when it reaches the max speed. They have the compartments on here for scientists whose equipment might get damaged from those same vibrations."
    "Will the vibrations damage your luggage?" I asked dubiously.
    She laughed, sliding the door of the compartment shut. "No, I'm just used to putting it there, that's all." Then, she straightened, pointing back at the surface of the "metal box". "What does this look like to you?" she asked.
    Raising an eyebrow, I gave it a closer examination. "It looks like a silver-white box of metal with four shiny, black panels on it, in two groups."
    "No, what do you think it is?" she clarified, smiling and folding her arms. I could tell there was something she wasn't telling me, but I didn't know what it was.
    "It still looks like an ugly metal box," I joked, smirking.
    "Put your hands on the black panels on the left," she suggested.
    I took a step closer and placed one hand on each, side by side. "Okay, what am I supposed to -"
    "Please relax while we make the connection," a male's voice said.
    I gasped, jerking my hands away from the panels in fright. The voice itself wasn't frightening: it had a gentle, artificial tone. What scared me was the fact that it seemed to come from within my own head. I cast a terrified glance over at Katie, who was almost doubled over, laughing mirthfully. "What was that??" I asked, my fright and confusion slowly morphing into a mild annoyance.
    "I'm sorry," she giggled, shaking with merriment. "I had to. It's always so funny to watch someone's first time, but I didn't expect to get such a big reaction out of you."
    I frowned at her, crossing my arms. "I didn't find it funny," I pointed out. "What was that?"
    After a moment, she managed to calm herself down enough to speak, a great smile lingering on her features. "It's the control console you pilot the shuttlecar with. That's supposed to happen. It connects with your mind through the synaptic nerves in your hands. Put them back on the console now." At my hesitation, she frowned apologetically, pleading for forgiveness with her eyes. "I really am sorry, Vanya... I was just having a little fun..."
    That was something peculiar about Katie... I could hold a grudge against Urist, but it was hard to even stay annoyed with her. With a hesitant sigh, I put my hands back on the dark surfaces.
    "Please relax while we make the connection," the voice intoned once more, followed by, "Connection established."
    Keeping my hands where they were, I turned towards my friend. "What do I do?" I asked helplessly.
    She offered a little smile. "'Rubywood Apartments'," she said. "Think that."
    I did as she suggested, and the shuttlecar accelerated imperceptibly, gliding up a ramp towards the end of the room. When it entered its tunnel, there was a hum and a hiss; a bluish light edged over us as we exited the force field, and a near-invisible cyan bubble formed around the vehicle, much like 48D's bubble shield.
    The steely rings around the glass tunnel glowed white as we approached, and when I looked backwards, I could see them fade to darkness as we left them behind. There was almost no sensation of motion as the shuttlecar began to accelerate to its maximum speed, the rings flying past faster and faster, more and more, until they blurred, and we were going far beyond any speed I had ever imagined possible. To someone who's lived their entire life in dwarven fortresses, technology is always a source of fascination... but this managed to take it a step farther.
    "I never would've imagined it was possible... It's so fast, faster than even horses," I murmured, glancing over at Katie, who was watching my face intently. On the tracks beside us, a car flew past in the other direction, so quickly I had to look twice to be sure it was even there.
    She smiled. "Of course it is! We have to travel hundreds of miles - if it didn't go so quickly, we'd never get anywhere. But you can control how fast it goes, if you want. You can't make it go faster than this without an override code, but... try making it go slower," she suggested.
    Slow down, I thought, consciously trying to direct it towards the panel beneath my hands. Apparently, it acted even on the subconscious level... before I had even started, it was already decelerating, the glowing rings beginning to come into focus and appear solid once more. In less than a minute, we were moving at a slow crawl, the seabed clearly visible beneath us: a rocky surface with a light dusting of plant life.
    "Look," Katie whispered, tugging on my shoulder and pointing upwards with her arm.
    Following her gaze, I gasped as I saw a finned creature of monstrous size, dappled with pink and blue, just like the ones I'd seen when I'd first arrived. It was floating a few feet above our tube, trailing iridescent, ribbon-like tentacles in its wake as it propelled itself forwards with an almost ghostlike quality. As we watched, it let out a low, deep wail, muffled though it was by the shuttlecar's shield against the tube wall.
    "It sounds so sad... What is it?" I asked in wonderment.
    Beside me, Katie's face bore an unhappy, absentminded expression. "They're called glowwhales," she replied softly. "Most people think they're dangerous because of their tentacles, but they're actually peaceful animals. There aren't nearly as many as there used to be... people have been hunting them illegally for the past few hundred years." She turned her blue eyes towards me for a moment. "Aren't they beautiful, though?"
    "Mhm..." I replied truthfully. I'd never seen anything like it before.
    Directing her gaze upwards again, she went on, "They're a mix of several species... just like me. I almost never get to see them now, because my dad hates for me to take shuttlecars, but when I was little, my grandmother took me to see them all the time. She always told me that just because something is different than everything else... it doesn't mean it isn't special."
    I wanted to ask further questions. I wanted to learn why they were there, how they even came to exist on an artificial world, what they ate, and so many other things... but Katie didn't seem to be in a talkative mood anymore. It seemed the creature held some special place in her heart, but at the same time, they seemed to sadden her.
    "That's enough of that," Katie whispered, pulling her eyes away from it. Stepping closer to the console, she placed her hands on the rightmost set of panels.
    "Control transferred to other user," the shuttlecar's voice spoke in my mind.
    As we accelerated, I watched behind us as the rings darkened, leaving the glowwhale alone, glowing dimly in the blackness of the sea.
    Katie coaxed the car back to its maximum speed. I felt soft vibrations in the soles of my feet, and a quiet hum beneath us, but apart from that, everything was silent.

    "We're coming up on a switchpoint," my friend finally said, taking a hand from the controls to point forwards.
    Peering far ahead through the glass tube, I could make out a bright speck of light in the distance. "What's a switchpoint?" I asked her.
    "Wait and see," was her prompt reply, and we continued forwards at what seemed godlike speeds.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 49: A Disaster
Much of the previous entry seemed unimportant to you, which is in opposition to what you know of Vanya's writing style. With a curious eye, you continue reading, wondering why her manner should suddenly change.

    The "switchpoint" turned out to be a massive, steel building. My first glimpse inside almost took my breath away, I remember... there only seemed to be one room, and from floor to ceiling stretched miles and miles of track, curving, looping, and meeting at conjunctions, all as dimly lit as the rest of what I'd seen of Parasol.
    "It's where the cars switch from one track to the next, so that people can go in different directions if they want to," Katie explained, pointing at the different cars flashing past along the tracks above and below, filled with people.
    "Aren't we going to slow down?" I asked worriedly.
    She laughed. "We don't need to."
    I gave a slight nod, swallowing my fears. "It's amazing," I whispered softly. "Where will it take us?"
    Katie pondered my question before she responded. "Straight ahead, if I'm remembering right... I don't think we need to turn. The mainland should be just ahead of us. There'll be a little bump as we go over the central point, but it won't be anything to worry about. It should happen right about..." She raised a finger in the air and paused for a moment. "Now."
    Nothing happened. I glanced over at the girl skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
    Katie gave a sheepish laugh and scratched the back of her neck. "It's been a while," she explained in embarrassment.

    A few seconds later, Katie got her bump... followed by an explosion that ripped our shuttlecar from its tracks with a screaming roar of twisting metal. It happened so fast, we were hardly able to comprehend what was going on... I thought we were going to die.

    The vehicle shook violently, throwing us to the floor, screaming in terror. Fires danced upwards from underneath as the shuttlecar skidded sideways along the rails with a metallic screech, throwing sparks behind us. The vehicle's shield flickered for a moment, the escaping air sucking Katie along with it towards the side until she slipped, her legs dangling over the edge. Though I threw myself towards her, grabbing for her hand to keep from falling, it was pointless: the entire vehicle careened in the opposite direction as it tilted, sliding off its tracks, sending me falling down its slanted surface towards the edge.
    "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" I screamed, grabbing wildly for a handhold as I slid.
    "VANYA, HERE!" Katie yelled in return. Frantically, I caught hold of her outstretched hand; she swung me upwards towards her just as our car slid from its tracks, plummeting downwards into the depths.
    It was chaos incarnate. Smoke began filling our little bubble, their fires rapidly depleting our oxygen as they burned. The control panel smoked and shuddered as electricity flicked across its surface, and we ourselves were weightless as we tumbled through the void. Heat pricked our skin, and the roaring of the flames was unnerving.
    I watched as Katie made a desperate lunge for the control panel and placed her hand upon its surface, screaming with pain as the arcing electricity burned into her skin.
    "Katie, DON'T!!" I shouted, horrified, climbing towards her along the tilted edge of the car. Her efforts weren't in vain: she managed to restore gravity, and the car righted, slowing its fall.
    With a reverberating crash, a set of rails halted our ruined vehicle's descent, knocking us back to the floor, though Katie split her lip as she fell. The shuttlecar’s metal frame shuddered violently from the impact, and the control panel exploded, throwing sparks as tiny flames spouted from its surface. Then, the shield flickered again, sucking away more of our precious oxygen... I knew it wouldn’t be long before it became difficult to breathe.
   The car screeched forwards, and sparks flew upwards behind us as the ruined vehicle slid rapidly along the tracks, spinning as it went.
   I glimpsed an empty shuttlecar approaching us from afar, and I screamed in terror as it flew towards us, threatening to knock us from our tracks. Without thinking, I threw myself towards Katie and grabbed her, and not a moment too soon. The offending vehicle clipped ours as it passed, sending it spinning towards the other side. Finally, it seemed to catch onto something that abruptly halted its rapid spin, but my heart never had a chance to slow its rapid pace; the back of the vehicle, torn open with a jagged gash, began to spew sparks and fires that crackled powerfully. Without hesitation, we scrambled towards the front to avoid the heat and flames.
    Katie was crying, clutching her damaged hand close to her in agony as she tugged in vain at the storage compartment's sliding panel. "Vanya!" she shouted over the roar, "Help me get the trunk open!"
    Together, we shoved at the door until we’d forced it open, even as we continued sliding down the rail we had chanced to land on. I foolishly looked behind us, and the back edge of the shuttlecar exploded, spraying sparks and twisted bits of metal into my face.
    I was terrified out of my wits and in agonizing pain, my forehead throbbing to oblivion, but my friend continued unrelentingly. She grabbed me with her good hand and pulled me through the little gap we'd made, into the compartment. I climbed through after her and helped force the door shut again, curled up in the darkness, the violent sounds outside muffled by our little prison’s walls. Moments later, we felt a jar, and our padded chamber tilted us to one side, Katie falling on top of me as the car slid from the rails and fell a few final feet to the ground, flattening out with a series of uproarious clangs. When they stopped, we could hear the control panel above our head sputtering for several seconds before it died with a whining hum. All was silent but for the sound of Katie crying, and my own rapid breaths.
    My old fear of small, dark spaces was returning. An image flashed before my mind: two puppies in a tiny shoebox. There was room enough to move, but not enough to sit, and it felt for all the world like the walls were closing in on me, trying to crush me to death. "I don't like small spaces, Katie," I moaned loudly, hearing the fear in my own voice.
    "We only have a small amount of air!" she warned in a whining tone. I felt her moving beside my legs, trying to turn around. "You need to slow your breathing."
    "It's quiet outside now!" I scrambled frantically for the door handle at my feet. "We can go!" I felt for it, and finally found it – but Katie's hand was already there.
    "There's no air out there, Vanya! The air shield is gone!"
    "There's hardly any air in here!" I tried to jerk her hand away from the door, but she held firm. A hand brushed my cheek; I yelped in pain, pulling my hands back quickly to shield myself.
    Katie was moving, trying to position herself upright. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! What happened?"
    I cautiously felt at my face. I was bleeding; blood was trickling down from a painful gash on my forehead, and smaller cuts burned everywhere else. "My face is bleeding..." I whispered, and then I remembered: "Oh, Katie... your hand!"
    I heard the rustle of clothing. "I'll be okay," she whispered back. "It just hurts."
    Uselessly, I nodded, and tried to get back to the handle. "We need to get out of here."
    "We can't!"
    "We can!" I hissed back at her. "We'll last at least a minute without air, and we can get the air shield back up."
    She caught my hand and pushed me back. "It's ruined! We'll die if we go out there!"
    "I'd rather die there than here! This place might as well be a coffin!!" I shouted. My words rung in the still air, and I regretted what I'd said.
    Finally, Katie whispered, "At least we have a chance in here. If you open that door, you'll kill both of us." A whimper entered her voice, and she paused. "I don't want to die, Vanya..."
    It was the final nail. I stopped struggling against her and lay still in wide-eyed terror, my breathing fast and shallow.
    "Calm down. Deep breaths," she whispered soothingly. "We're safe now." She felt about for my hand, and found it, taking it in hers. "Take slow, deep breaths. We need to stay calm and quiet to preserve our air."
    I nodded again, the thought that she couldn't see me never entering my mind. Tears swam in my eyes as I slowly calmed my breathing, thinking of wide-open fields, Salaia, a warm bed, and Spearbreakers... anything but puppies.
    "Thank you, Katie," I whispered, giving her hand a squeeze. "What happened?"
    "I don't know," she answered simply. "Shuttlecars never explode like this."
    "Can you think of anyone who would try to do this to kill you?" I asked.
    Her response was quick. "No, no one..."
    After a brief hesitation, I ventured, "Will anyone come save us?"
    There was a long pause, and the silence was almost unbearable. Finally, she whispered so faintly I could hardly hear her: "I don't know. I doubt anyone would think we could've survived."
    And for an eternity, Katie and I lay there facing each other, praying silently to our gods for rescue.

~~~
   
    A loud clang echoed through the walls, startling us both.
    "What was that?!" Katie gasped.
    Before I had a chance to reply, another clang rung out, followed by a scraping, dragging noise as the ruined vehicle seemed to shift outside the confines of our little cage.
    "They're saving us!" I cried out, pounding at the door.
    The walls shrieked as some unseen instrument sliced into the shuttlecar floor. Two more sharp clangs rang out, a crash, and with a metallic scream, a jagged tear appeared above our heads, air rushing through the gap as light spilled in to take its place.
    "Let us out!" my friend yelled frantically, pounding at the door. Towards me, she cried, "Help!" as she tried to force open the compartment door.
    I crawled forwards, the air exploding urgently from my lungs as it rushed into the vacuum. With an effort, we managed to get the sliding panel to move... but only a few inches. I looked at Katie's terrified face in the dim light; watched her speak words that never reached my ears, and together, we realized there was no way we could get it open.
    The floor vibrated; something sliced silently through the panel wall, just above our heads. Katie and I scooted backwards in fright as it sliced through a second time; again, and again – the entire wall fell to the ground and a hand reached through the gap, menacing with the hope of rescue. Without questioning, Katie and I scrambled for it in desperation; one by one, it drew us out of our claustrophobic prison and back into the light.

    It was Reudh. Like a conquering hero, he stood with a firm stance atop the shuttlecar's ruined exterior, his adamantine pike stuck upright into the silver metal at his side as he pulled us to our feet, thrusting us towards a shuttlecar that waited only feet away.
    As I stumbled through the cyan barrier, that first breath of fresh air hitting my lungs, I felt I had never tasted anything sweeter.
    Katie lay on her back, gasping for breath. I turned and looked at Reudh in time to see him pull his weapon from our ruined vehicle and leap back onto his own, his cloak billowing back as he breached the airshield and got down on one knee beside us.
    "Vanya? Katie?" he asked quickly. "Are you all right? I was following behind you and saw what happened! By all the gods, I am truly glad to see both of you still alive!"
    I started crying with relief. "Reudh..." I began, but threw my arms around his neck instead. "Thank you so much." I'd never been so happy to see him before.
    "Reudh... you're awesome," Katie whispered, smiling up at us from the floor as she brushed the hair from her face.
    "I thank you," he responded politely, returning my embrace. Then, holding me at arm’s length, he examined my face, frowning sharply. "Vanya, you are badly hurt... We must get you to the Parasol hospital at once!"
    Katie was getting to her feet. "Reudh, Parasol has lots of hospitals," she pointed out.
    "Then we shall travel to the nearest," he said, undeterred, and turned away from me towards the console panel, confidently placing his hands upon its surface.
    "Where did you learn to pilot a shuttlecar?" I asked him.
    "I watched Katie teach you, of course," he replied smoothly. Then, he paused, and a minute later, he turned haltingly to Katie, a confused expression on his face. "It refuses to move. It says we must remain where we are."
    Katie nodded. "It's the SCCS," she said as she got to her feet. "The Shuttlecar Control Service."

    She didn't get a chance to explain – a second car quickly pulled up on the track alongside us, coming from the opposite direction. Four full-suited Parasol soldiers, as tall as humans, stood at attention on its floor, none of them even touching the controls as the vehicle slowed to a halt. Before we could react, two of them turned and leapt across the gap, landing softly beside us.
    Reudh didn't spare a moment. "These women are injured! They need medical assistance," he told them, putting a hand on one's shoulder before drawing it back, startled.
    The soldier in question turned towards him smoothly. "I am here to serve," an artificial, dwarf-like voice intoned. The other soldier withdrew a device from a pouch on its leg and began to scan me from head to toe.
    I glanced at Katie, and she seemed to know what I was asking. "They're androids," she explained. "It's their job to keep the shuttlecar transit system safe." Even as she spoke, the other one had already started to scan her, too.
    "This is astonishing!" Reudh said, awed. "Machines that act like people... it is marvelous!"
    Mine finished scanning me, and one of its fingers flipped open, revealing a tiny nozzle. "Hold still," it intoned, placing a hand gently on the back of my head as its open finger sprayed something onto my face. I winced: it stung and made my face go numb. "Your wounds are contaminated with an iapetous compound," the being said. Its finger flipped shut, and a second flipped open, revealing a tweezers-like device. "Do not move," it intoned again. With fast, quick motions, it began picking at my face, removing and discarding little specks of metal.
    I didn't dare to move. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other one brushing something onto Katie's hand. Reudh was watching in fascination.
    The SCCS officer working on my face began to smear some sort of silver material onto my face. "Do not touch the affected area for two hours," it ordered. "Wash your face carefully tonight. Your forehead will scar, but will be treatable." Its fingers flicked shut and it stepped backwards to stand beside its twin. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I later learned it had stitched shut my wound.
    Somehow, I found the notion of humanoid robots very disturbing... I wanted them gone. "You can go now," I suggested cautiously, glancing back and forth between them and Katie, who was examining her hand as she flexed her fingers.
    "Thank you for choosing Shuttlecar Transit," they said together, their voices indistinguishable. As one, they leapt back to the other car and assumed their previous positions, and their vehicle moved away, accelerating into the distance. I followed them with my eyes as they left. Then, feeling the weight of Katie's stare, I turned towards her in askance.
    She was gazing at me curiously, idly brushing her lips with a finger. "You don't like them?" she queried.
    "I don't know," I began uncomfortably. "Something about them makes me uneasy."
    Fortunately, Reudh saved me from further commentary. "All right," he said decidedly, stepping forwards between us and placing his hands on the control panel. "Let us be off! Where shall we go, Katie?"
    Katie responded, and the car began to move, but I wasn't listening to their conversation. My mind was elsewhere.
    I knew why I didn't like them... I didn't know when, or where, or how, but I'd encountered them before. The memories were just beyond my grasp, slipping past my fingertips... and though I tried my best to focus my thoughts, nothing solved my problem.
    A tiny bump shook me from my quiet place and back to the fast-paced world of Parasol as we sped down the tracks, and this time, there was no explosion.
    "I can still hardly believe you survived that fall," Reudh was saying, glancing back at me.
    "It was Katie," I admitted, and then a curious thought struck me. "Katie, you said you almost never ride on shuttlecars, but when it derailed... you knew exactly what to do..." I watched her face, puzzled.
    She frowned nervously, her gaze falling to the floor. "It's my dad," she said with a quiet sigh. "Before I was born, my older half-brother died in a freak shuttlecar accident. It was my dad's fault, and he's never forgiven himself for it. He's afraid of shuttlecars now, and he thinks he'll lose me the same way." She sighed again, and lifted her head, shaking the hair out of her face. "When I was little, he would run drills with me in our living room on what I should do if anything bad happened, teaching me override codes and stuff... but later on, he decided it would be safer to ban me from shuttlecars completely."
    "He sounds like he loves you very much," Reudh said, as I tried to imagine how it felt.
    She offered a sardonic smirk. "You'd be surprised," she muttered. "Dad hardly lets me do anything. He's a weapons instructor, but he never even let me watch him work – 'too dangerous', he says." She sighed again, folding her arms and staring ahead of us. "He probably already knows we're coming."
    And silence fell on our little group as we continued towards our destination, at a total loss as to why anyone would want to kill my friend.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 50: Kenzon
    "Good morning. I am glad to see you already at work," a voice calls from the door of Vanya's tomb. You turn, and see an expressionless Dr. Thian Russ walking towards you, carrying several steaming mugs. Their contents are soon detailed, as he explains, "I brought coffee."
    You take a sip, and find it an unusual beverage, and not exactly to your taste. You can't recall them having anything like "coffee" on Everoc. "Might I just have a beer?" you ask.
    Thian Russ, a human, looks at you queerly for a moment. He lacks your dwarven metabolism, and can't quite seem to understand it, but he finally nods and leaves.
    Shooting a glance at the woman across from you, you notice she's not having any difficulty with this "coffee", and in fact seems quite accustomed to it. You begin to feel a sneaking suspicion of who she is...

    The rest of the shuttlecar trip was quiet. We sped through the underwater tubes, the light-rings flashing by like lightning, and eventually, we approached the looming hulk of the mainland, shooting up its slope. When we emerged from the water, climbing rapidly into the dusky sky, I saw a sight that will stay with me until the end of my days... It was an entire city made of metal, stretching all the way to the horizon; tiny vehicles hovering in the air, speeding back and forth between the buildings; gigantic towers arising from the ground like trees, each bearing the Parasol logo on its side.
    "The capital of Division 3," Katie told us quietly.
    We passed through another switchpoint building, and though I held my breath for fear that the vehicle might derail, nothing happened. The shuttlecar continued smoothly onwards, taking a path to the upper right when the tracks split. Without incident, it exited the huge building, curving up between the towers of the city. From time to time, the tube would pass against one, a shielded hole on one side, giving access to the building.
    I noticed that the closer we got to her home, the quieter Katie grew, almost as if the thought of home was depressing to her. It confused me... and at the time, I couldn't imagine why.
    Finally, as we neared one of the towers, the shuttlecar began to slow. I couldn't really tell anything different about it... it looked like all the others, and we came to a gradual stop beside an entrance, hundreds of feet above the ground. A railed, blue-carpeted ramp slid out to meet us, gently stopping by the car's side. On looking through the airshielding, I saw a beautiful room, furnished with what I later learned were sofas and benches, and decorated with potted plants and paintings. Even by itself, it seemed almost kingly... so far beyond anything I'd ever seen.
    "You people live here?" Reudh asked, as awestruck as I was.
    Katie shrugged. "Where else would we live? Let's just go." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "And make sure you call my dad 'Mr. Kenzon'. He'll get offended if you say 'sir'."
    The three of us started down the ramp, passing through the airshields with a hiss. Before we had even left the walkway, a muscled, balding human was marching towards us briskly, a stern expression on his face. "Katalina Wilya Okablokum," he growled crossly, "You have caused me more grief over the past two years than a lifetime of military experience has brought me."
    "Dad, I had to go," Katie started, stepping forwards, but her father interrupted.
    "You didn't have to do anything!" When he reached her, she looked up at him defiantly. After a moment, he seemed to break, putting his arms about her. "I'm glad you're all right," he said softly, a trace of emotion in his voice.
    "Dad, I..." Katie started, but she seemed taken aback by the embrace, as if she wasn’t used to it. She was just starting to put her arms around him when he stepped away.
    "Don't you dare ever use a shuttlecar again!" Kenzon told her. "When you need to go somewhere, I'll take you there myself."
    Katie seemed to hate the idea. "But, Dad -"
    "No! I won't hear of it as long as you live under my roof." He glared at her for a moment. "Now, explain to me what happened with the shuttlecar. First the SCCS notified me that it crashed and all aboard were lost. Then I got a second message telling me you're alive and coming home." He folded his huge arms, giving an expectant, questioning stare.
    Katie directed a helpless glance in my direction, and Kenzon followed her gaze, doing a double take as he noticed Reudh and me for the first time. Redirecting his eyes at his daughter, he leaned forwards and hissed a question in her ear.
    My friend seemed distressed. "It's not what you think," she began defensively.
    Kenzon seemed livid. "Do you know what you're getting yourself into?! Do you have any idea how many problems this could cause?? It's illegal!"
    "Dad, it's not like that!" Katie talked over him as he continued raging.
    Beside me, Reudh spoke loudly, interrupting them. "Mr. Kenzon, in all due respect, it is not the girl's fault!"
    Mr. Kenzon straightened and examined the dwarf suspiciously. "And who are you?" he asked with a hint of disgust as Reudh seemed to shrink back under his gaze.
    "He's the dwarf that saved your daughter," I offered, hoping a change of subject would calm him. I didn't know what was going on, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that Reudh and I were from Everoc.
    "Saved? ...What?" Kenzon asked, confused. He stopped, as if rearranging his thoughts. "Katalina... what exactly happened on that shuttlecar?"
    She seemed relieved to have the subject changed. "I was coming here with my friend, Vanya, who is a Parasol agent that I met a few weeks ago," she began, carefully enunciating her words, "when the shuttlecar derailed at the switchpoint and fell to the ground. The shield went out and Vanya and I hid in the trunk to preserve our air."
    Kenzon narrowed his eyes. "Katalina, I'll believe a lot of bad things about those contraptions, but one does not simply 'derail'."
    "There was an explosion," I offered.
    It had a desirable effect: the man halted abruptly, staring at the floor and scratching his clean-shaven chin, deep in thought. After a pause, he murmured, "That isn't natural... it sounds like foul play." He turned back towards Reudh commandingly. "How do you tie into all this again? And who are you?"
    "I am Reudh," the dwarf explained modestly. "The door on the 'trunk' was stuck, so I sliced it off with my pike... It was no great feat."
    It seemed to put Mr. Kenzon into a good humor. He offered a brief smile, walking past his daughter to shake Reudh's hand. "A man of arms... I like that. And you saved my daughter's life, too. I'd like to thank you properly for it... Come over to Kenzon's Armory next Wednesday if you'd like – I'll give you free lessons. I'm a Weapons Instructor by trade, and I could probably teach you a thing or two."
    "I thank you very kindly, Mr. Kenzon," Reudh said with a respectful nod. "For now, however, I must be headed home." He glanced hesitantly in my direction, but it all happened too quickly for me to make a response, and in a moment he was already heading back towards his vehicle.

    After Reudh had left, Kenzon turned to me, frowning in annoyance.
    Katie spoke up quickly to defend me. "I told Vanya she could stay with us... She thinks someone is trying to kill me." She was trying to distract him from the former by changing the subject without giving him time to object, a tactic I eventually picked up from her.
    "Don't be ridiculous," the man scoffed, raising a scornful eyebrow at me. "Why would anyone want to kill my daughter?" Then, he hesitated, doubt entering his eyes. "All the same, I'll hire a private investigator to look into it."
    "It was probably just a freak accident," his daughter said.
    "That's even less likely. And as for you, Vanya..." He said the elvish name distastefully, as if it soured on his tongue. "I will allow you to stay at my home. But it is temporary!" he added, spinning quickly back to Katie with a glare that quelled the excitement in her eyes. "Now, let's go."


    Several hallways and technological marvels later, we arrived at Kenzon's apartment, which sat conveniently just across from the elevator. While there was a slot beside the door for a card, just like the ones at Ballpoint, all he had to do to gain access was speak. The door opened smoothly of its own accord, revealing a room far larger than any I'd ever seen at Spearbreakers.
    "This is an apartment?" I remember asking in astoundment, to which Kenzon replied, "Apartment? No. This is a sitting room."
    Though dim, it was wonderfully furnished, with a sort of "modern-rustic" theme. A chair and three green, backless, bench-like objects surrounded a low wooden table in the center of the room, elaborate designs carved into its wide, dark legs. There was some sort of device in the center, but I couldn't tell what it was. Apart from that, there were shelves all around the walls, filled with model naval vessels: some carried full sails, others strange columns, others with no obvious propulsion at all... Kenzon had a hobby of collecting them. Aside from that, there were other pieces of furniture arranged here and there, photographs, and other alien oddities that I've since grown accustomed to. Strangely, one corner of the room was almost dark, and looked like it had been untouched since he'd redecorated – it was the only portion of the room with Parasol's theme.
    "Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to come inside?" Kenzon asked sardonically in annoyance. "Does it not suit your elvish sensitivity?"
    "Dad, stop it," Katie broke in, grabbing my hand and pulling me in. "Vanya, let's go. I'll show you my room."
    As she led me inside, Kenzon called after us, "I've already eaten, but you may find something in the cooler."

    We stood in the sitting room. Kenzon had already went into his own room, but Katie stood outside her own, trying to get her door open.
    "You don't like him," I noted cautiously, observing her reaction.
    "How can I?" she replied with an exasperated sigh, punching combinations into the lock. "He won't let me do anything. He treats me like a child, and he won't even act like I'm his own daughter... more like I'm a prison inmate, or something."
    "No, he doesn't..." I corrected her thoughtfully. "I've been in a prison before. ...sort of."
    "I know," was her absentminded reply.
    "Katie, I never told you about that... How would you know?"
    She punched a few more failing combinations before she realized what I'd said. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking," she said, glancing back at me with a guilty frown. Then, she walked towards one of the potted plants down the wall – a real one, not one of Parasol's fakes – and dug her fingers into the dark, damp soil, pulling out a dirty card. "He never found it," she whispered, smiling, and swiped it down the pad. At once, the door unlocked, popping open. Katie grinned. "Yes!! He changed the lock, but I can get past now. I'll reset it later. C'mon!"
    The first thing I noticed was that Katie's room was better lit than the rest of the apartment. The second thing I noticed were the gold and silver statues sitting on the dresser at the back wall, which was covered in posters of different people.
    "What are those?" I asked curiously, walking over to the statues. Their creators had skillfully worked into the shapes of dwarves and humans, all wearing jetpacks on their backs. Some stood on pillared platforms, others simply on the base. Still others lifted two-handled goblets.
    "I got them for my jetpacking competitions," Katie said proudly.
    "Okay, but what are they?" I asked again. "What do they do?"
    She paused a moment, raising a surprised eyebrow at me. "They're trophies... Haven't you seen trophies before? They don't do anything. They have trophies on Everoc, don't they?"
    "Not like this," I answered, wishing I could read the human writing at their bases. "You have to remember how I grew up."
    She tilted her head and nodded. "I guess so." She pointed at one of them. "I got this one when I won first place overall, but everyone else was sick that year, so... And this one I got for getting second place in the Diving Style competition," she went on, pointing at another. "And this one was when..." her voice trailed off. I cast a glance at Katie's face in time to see her mouthing "Saemin" as her eyes glazed over with a distant stare.
    "Katie?" I asked.
    With an effort, she pulled her attention back to me. "Yeah, we should keep going." She sighed, and stepped away from the dresser, but she still seemed lost in a memory. "There's not really much to show you in here. Not that you'd find interesting."
    "I like the bed," I said thoughtfully, trying to keep her from feeling down. It was a single bed, and pink wasn't really a color I liked overmuch, but it looked so comfortable, especially with how sore and tired I felt.
    It seemed to amuse her, and she smiled faintly. "You like the bed?" she asked.
    "Yes, I do," I confirmed, smiling myself. "It looks very... soft."
    Though Katie managed a laugh, it sounded sad, and she remained quiet.
    When she didn't reply, I glanced about the room at the other furnishings – posters on the walls of different people, a desk with a mirror on the back, a cushy chair, and a bookshelf full of books. This last caught my eye. "You have so many books!" I exclaimed, walking over to it and eagerly examining its contents.
    "I like old classics," she explained from behind me. "I don't like 'modern' literature, especially not something from Parasol... Parasol doesn't look too fondly on entertainment. Not 'sciency' enough."
    I hardly heard her, too busy reading the bindings: Dracula, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Wizard of Oz, among many others.
    "You can read them," she offered. "Just come get one from my room whenever you want."
    I spun around excitedly. "Really?"
    She laughed softly at my expression. "Of course, silly. C'mon, I still have to show you your room." She turned, and I followed her across the blue carpet and out into the sitting room, down the wall to a second door. "It's the guest room," she explained, swiping her card and messing with the buttons. "It's where my grandmother used to stay, but I think you'll like it."
    I wasn't so sure.
    Katie went on, "I'm setting the combination to 33584... can you remember that?"
    Nodding, I assured her, "Mr Frog made me work on my memorization skills while I was his assistant... so '33584' shouldn't be too hard to remember."
    When she was finished, she swung the door open, waving her hand over the light panel. What I saw left me breathless: the walls looked like marble, the floor a soft white. There was a dressing table like the one in Katie's room, and a lavender double bed, tucked up under a window revealing the nighttime cityscape. I found the silver lamps in the corner beautiful. There weren't really any other furnishings besides a dresser, and everything looked a little dusty... but it was far more than enough for me. Except for the bed, it reminded me of Spearbreakers.
    "Why does he keep it sealed off?" I asked in wonderment. "It looks like no one has been here in a long time... but it's so beautiful." I glanced over at Katie, who frowned uncomfortably.
    "It was my mother's room," she whispered hesitantly. "She never married my father, but stayed here until she disappeared... I don't know much else about her, though."
    "You don't?" It was an innocent question.
    With an uneasy hesitation, she changed the subject. "I need to go fix us something for supper. You can make yourself comfortable, or something." With that, she left hurriedly, almost as if fleeing unseen ghosts.

~~~

    When Katie had supper ready, she came and led me to the apartment's kitchen/dining room. She didn't seem to want to talk, but I didn't like how quiet she was.
    "This is good," I eventually said, trying to start a conversation. I had no idea what I was eating, but it tasted okay: some sort of brownish meat, and little greenish vegetables.
    "I'm sorry," Katie apologized. "My dad never cooks, and there's almost nothing here to eat. He had me learn to cook when I was little – he thinks it more 'fitting' for a girl. 'Girls should know how to cook for their men,' he always said. But it looks like he's stopped eating at home, and there's almost nothing here."
    "Girls should know how to cook," I said, giving my opinion. "Though I don't know how..."
    She frowned. "Vanya, you're from Everoc... that's how they think there. I think girls should be able to learn whatever they want. Most people in Parasol believe that, but my father doesn't... He won't let me anywhere near his military gear, and he won't teach me how to fight." She paused, and continued in an unhappy rush, "I think it's just because I'm a girl. He used to say he wished I was a boy." She permitted herself an annoyed glance in the direction of the doorway, which seemed out of character for her.
    I watched her quietly. After a moment, I said, "He loves you, you know..."
    She turned quickly back to me, wiping her mouth with a napkin. "You think? You hardly know him."
    "No..." I admitted, "but he's so worried about your safety. Maybe he's afraid you'd get hurt if he taught you how to fight. Maybe he's afraid he'll lose you."
    "Of course," she replied, rolling her eyes. "He's afraid of losing anyone at all. He lost his father when he was my age, and he lost his son and wife later. Then he lost my mother, but he won't talk about her. If he lost me, he'd bury me away in a darkened corner of the apartment, too."
    "The dark corner of the sitting room," I guessed.
    Katie nodded. "That was her favorite place. While my grandmother lived here, it was her favorite place to read, too. She wouldn't let him change it." She sighed, and picked depressingly at her food, an elbow on the table, her head propped against her hand. "Sometimes I wish I could just get away from here forever, and never have to see him ever again."
    It hurt me, somehow... I'd always envisioned families as sticking together through thick and thin. "Would you really do that?" I asked softly. "Leave, and never talk to him again? Disappear into the night?"
    She didn't answer.
    "Katie..."
    She put her fork down, looking distressed. "No, I wouldn't do it. I hate saying it..." She hesitated. "...I hate saying it, but I would miss him. He causes so many problems, and he won't let me do anything. I know you'd say family is important, but sometimes he makes it so hard to get along with him." She looked about ready to cry.
    I felt the urge to give her a comforting hug. "You're tired, Katie... You should get some sleep."
    With a resignative nod, she slid her chair back and stood. "I'm sorry I don't make better company," she whispered.
    Getting to my feet, I shook my head. "No, you're a gracious hostess."
    The girl managed a weak smile. "I've had lots of practice," she answered, and took our plates across the room, setting them in the sink. She pressed a button, and I heard a hum; when she pulled the plates from the sink a moment later, they were clean, and she put them away in the cabinet. "Goodnight," she said, and headed towards her room, rubbing at her eyes.


    That night I slept fitfully... I heard Katie screaming in terror more than once, followed by the sound of her door opening, and Kenzon's loud but worried voice. The first time, I could hear her crying... the others, if she spoke at all, the walls muffled the sounds, and her father left quickly.  The third time, she screamed "Saemin" very clearly, and I decided she was having nightmares about his death.
    "Only the gods know what horrors she saw that day," I whispered, offering Armok a quiet prayer for her. I've since learned what she saw... Seeing someone you care about twisted and violated in such a manner, and then having to kill them... I can't imagine the pain it would cause.
    It reminded me of my nightmares of the forges.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 51: An Ignored Heroine
Vanya's Parasol journal continues.

    The next morning, Katie awoke me early, knocking on my door. It was still dark outside, and the city lights shone faintly through the window.
    "Vanya, come on! We need to get dressed!" she called quietly. "The ceremony is today."
    "What? What ceremony?" I called back, throwing the covers off my legs and hurriedly putting my armored suit back on from the cleaning-box at the foot of the bed. Afterwards, on opening the door, I found Katie waiting outside, wearing a pair of pale pink pajamas. "What ceremony?" I asked again.
    "The military awards ceremony," she explained awkwardly, uselessly grasping for words. "Merit in battle, and all of that, annoyingly long speeches... So, yeah!"
    "But we just got here!" I protested. I didn’t want to go, really... it didn't appeal to me at all. "How could they want something like that so soon?"
    She laughed, motioning for me to follow her. "It's a Parasol tradition," she explained. Once inside her bedroom, she pressed a panel on the wall. It slid sideways, revealing a small closet filled with shelving, all packed with folded cloth.
    "What's all that?" I asked, a little nosily.
    She didn't seem to mind. "My old clothes," she explained. "You can't wear that armor everywhere, silly – you'll stand out. No, you need something that blends in." She paused thoughtfully. "Think of it as hand-me-downs."
    "Okay..." I said. "I don't want to have to wear your old clothes, though. –It feels wrong of me," I added hurriedly at her hurt expression. "I feel like it would be greedy to take it from you." I'd felt this way before.
    "Don't be silly," she laughed. "I'm giving it to you. There's a difference."
    It didn't feel like much of a difference to me.
    After digging around for a minute, she pulled out a black skirt and held against my waist. "This looks like it'll fit," she said, and then pulled out a fancy, gray blouse. "Raise your arms," she ordered, holding it out by the shoulders.
    I did, and she measured it against me, sliding her hands down a sleeve to test the length against my arm. "This looks about the right size, too. You're lucky we have the same build, or I might not have anything for you to wear." She handed them to me and pulled out a set of knee-length black boots, too.
    "All of this?" I asked in amazement as she laid a striped jacket and pantyhose atop the growing stack.
    "Of course, silly. It all matches. ...If you can wear the shoes, which might not fit. You'll need to shave your legs, though, so I left a sonic hair remover on the dressing table last night."
    "I've never tried matching things before..." I admitted in embarassment, trying to steady the pile in my arms. "I don't know how it works."
    Katie laughed, tilting her head at me. "I can tell. You wouldn't wear that armor if you had any fashion sense. It needs some sort of black accessory to make it work."
    I swallowed guiltily. "Like a cape?" I asked, remembering the one I'd refused to accept from Mr Frog.
    "Yes, exactly. Now go put those on while I get dressed."

   
    Everything fit. The shoes did, too, though they were a little too small and pinched my feet.
    When I was done, I stood in front of the dressing table and examined myself in the mirror, trying to ignore the scabs from where the exploding metal had sliced my face the day before. The clothes felt... strange. The hose in particular felt cold on my legs, the shirt felt itchy, and the thin, horizontal, black-and-white stripes on the jacket seemed glaringly unnatural to me. I didn't really want to wear any of it, and I really, really hoped Katie knew what she was doing. At the same time, it looked similar to what I'd seen people wearing the day before, so I finally gave up. There was no way to take my daggers, or Almory's sword, so I left them lying on the dressing table and went to leave my bedroom.

    I found Katie's father waiting outside the door, and took a surprised step back, looking up at him. "Mr. Kenzon?"
    He examined me critically for a moment. "You look so much like Katie did when she was younger..." he mumbled, and then his eyes seemed to focus. He spoke in a quick, hushed tone, as if trying to keep Katie from overhearing. "Vanya, I need to talk to you about something important."
    "What??"
    He gave me an annoyed look and went on, "I would rather not speak to you at all, but I need your help."
    That was the last thing I expected. "You think you can trust me?"
    "Don't question my sources," he advised coarsely, brushing the topic away with his hand. "Just listen. I hired a private investigator last night, and after examining the shuttlecar's debris, he determined that someone had rigged a grenade to go off when the car hit the switchpoint. You were right – someone is after my daughter."
    I processed it quickly, trying to remember everything I knew about grenades. "Why? Why would someone want to kill Katie?"
    The man sighed, reaching into his pocket. "'Why' doesn't matter. I need you to give this to her after I leave this morning, and make sure she accepts it." He held out a pocket-sized PEA.
    I reached out for it. "What is it?" I asked, as he set it in my hand.
    "It's just a PEA. If anything goes wrong at all, make sure she lets me know. Can you handle that?"
    After starting to nod, I hesitated. "How does it work?" I asked innocently.
    Kenzon gave an exasperated sigh, and seemed to switch gears. "Oh, I hate this," he muttered, and then, louder, "I'm going to give you a high-level shuttlecar override code. You can't tell anyone I gave it to you or we'll both get in trouble. Understand?"
    "Yes... You're letting her take a shuttlecar?" He kept surprising me.
    Kenzon rolled his eyes, stating in a hurried, annoyed voice, "Look, I wish there was a way around it, but the other methods of transportation require authorization and supervision by an adult Parasol employee, and I have work today." I started to speak, but he guessed what I was going to say. "Yes, I know you're a Parasol employee, but you're also a dimensional native, so they won't accept it. Listen carefully. If she tries to do anything but come straight back, use this code to bring her back home. Just think it into the console." He tucked a slip of paper into my jacket pocket. "Can you do that for me?"
    He was staring into my eyes with an expectant, urgent expression... Just that once, with his defenses down, he was being open about how much he cared about Katie, even if indirectly. On one hand, it felt like I was betraying her... but on the other, I understood his desire to keep her safe... I would've done the same for Salaia. "I promise I will," I told him sincerely. I paused, and carefully suggested, "You love her very much, don't you..."
    The man glanced uncomfortably towards her door. "I don't want her to get hurt," he said, dodging the question. "I know she hates me for it, but I have to keep her safe."
    I frowned up at him sympathetically. "She's all you have left," I said quietly. "She does love you, though."
    Mr. Kenzon dug his hands into his pockets. He started to turn away, and I saw a hint of a sad smile trace his lips as he muttered, "Sometimes I wonder."

    At that moment, Katie's door opened and she walked into the sitting room, looking back and forth between her retreating father and me as she pieced everything together in her mind. Then, she walked over to me and asked quietly, so as not to let him hear, "What was he talking about?"
    I hesitated as I noticed she was wearing the same Parasol uniform she'd worn the night before. "Nothing important," I finally said, hoping she wouldn't ask anything else.
    She seemed to understand, and didn't pry. "Okay," she said simply, turning and starting towards the kitchen.
    Kenzon called to us from the sitting room. "I'm going to work – I'll see you later tonight, Katie."
    Katie didn't even bother to turn around, getting bowls and a box out of cabinets. "'Bye, dad," she called back, pouring little flakes of stuff from the box into her bowl.
    I watched her for a moment, and after he'd left, I took out the PEA. "Katie, here. He wanted me to wait until after he'd left to give this to you."
    She made eye contact with me for the first time in the past five minutes, and then reached deliberately for the device, setting her bowl on the countertop behind her, forgotten. "He actually got me a PEA? He's never let me have one of my own before... I've had a military PEA, but that's different, and Parasol property..."
    "He wanted you to call him if anything bad happened." It was possible I was telling her more than I should have, but I felt it was justified.
    She rolled her eyes. "Oh, so that's why..." Katie said, as if it explained everything. "Fine. Why didn't he just give it to me himself, though?"
    I didn't know the answer to that one. "I don't know..." I said truthfully.
    Slipping the PEA into her pocket, she shrugged it off. "Let's just eat breakfast. Have you ever had cereal?"
   
~~~

    After an unusual breakfast experience, followed by Katie's insistence that she fix my hair, we left Mr. Kenzon's apartment and headed to the shuttlecar port. Before long, we'd boarded one, and were gliding towards our destination. Dawn broke over the horizon, a false star's brilliant rays shining between the buildings and glinting off their metallic surfaces, lighting even the dark sides with a blaze of reflected light, dancing in complicated patterns as the sun rose slowly.
    "Where are we going?" I asked her, tugging at my itchy blouse and jacket. It reminded me of the override code.
    "To the Vynalus Forums," she replied, the morning's problems already forgotten. "You'll love it," she assured me. It's absolutely beautiful."

    Katie wasn't lying. After we'd left the shuttlecar, I began to see just what she'd meant. Strange trees lined the outdoor avenues through which we walked, each reaching hundreds of feet into the sky; great fields of grass stretched out between the sparsely crowded pathways, all the way to the building ahead; majestic waterfalls tumbled in rows from its glass parapets, spraying mist as they fell elegantly into crystalline pools below. I'd never seen anything like it, nor have I since.
    "It's so beautiful," I whispered. "How do they get the grass to stay so short?"
    "They mow it," my friend explained, trying not to laugh at my ignorance.
    Though I didn't know what she meant by "mow," I knew it definitely wasn't something the dwarves at home had ever done.

    Finally, we reached the great, circular building. A guard stood at the door, letting everyone in one by one, and when he got to us, he sent us to a different door, where a second guard let us in separately.
    The dwarf stopped me as I passed him, speaking in a low voice. "Don't make a scene or announce yourself. You are a normal guest. You are not to reveal your identity or nationality. Understood?"
    "Understood," I echoed quietly, looking at his helmeted face in bewildered surprise. Solnay had said they wouldn't talk about me, but I hadn't realized they'd be so careful to enforce it.
    "C'mon!" Katie called from up ahead, and I followed, jogging forwards. For the first time in the past year, my armor wasn’t encumbering me... it felt nice.
    Following the flashing, scrolling signs on the walls, we eventually found ourselves outside the ground floor of a colossal auditorium, with many of its thousands of soft, blue seats on tiered balconies above. My friend quickly ushered me inside, explaining she had to go backstage and find Saemin's mother.
    It wasn't long before I found my seat in the first row... or, really, it found me. Reudh and Solnay had been watching for when I would appear, and he called me over as soon as I walked in the door. His eyes lingered on my inflamed scabs, and though he told me I looked "splendid" in my "Parasol raiment," I strongly felt otherwise. I was never overly pretty, and the scabs only exacerbated that fact. People who tell you you're pretty just want something from you, I think... Reudh isn't a bad dwarf, but he isn't above it. He would marry me in a second.

    As I watched, Katie walked onto the stage to stand beside Trebor. It wasn't long before someone approached the podium onstage and quieted the gathered crowd. He announced himself as General Baltus, and began a lengthy speech, his voice projected across the incredible chamber. After a while, his tone shifted, speaking of my deceased friends from 48D. He told of their bravery; he told of how they'd taken on a force a hundred times their size, and won, but at great cost. He spoke of heroics and honor, glory and a noble cause...
    He was lying through his teeth. There isn't any nobility or glory in combat... honor is meaningless, and heroics get you killed. You're fighting for your life, and nothing else matters to you. Even so... it was inspiring the way he said it. As he went on, I could almost sense the emotions of the people around me... It was a rekindling of spirits... a rallying of hope. It was a sense of patriotism, as if everyone felt the same for their company as they might for a nation. Yet, all was silent.
    When the general finished, he stepped back, calling a name: "Almory Mallarkus Bertran". While Almory's father ascended the steps, Solnay whispered from beside me that Almory's husband and two children had died in the crossfire of a Ballpoint attack on Parasol's civilians, a story everyone there knew well. Her father accepted Almory's Medal of Honor, and with a practiced military salute, he headed back to his seat.
    Hawkins Toamula had no family, but the general mentioned him anyway.
    As the general called out another name, "Jonah Hylcelon", Solnay rose and climbed up to where the general stood, accepting Jonah's Medal of Honor quietly and leaving the auditorium.
    Gearbox's name was called was next, and a teary-eyed, slender girl went to accept his medal. As Baltus handed it to her, she broke down, prompting a collective "aww" of sympathy from the crowd. She couldn't stop crying, and someone had to lead her gently away.
    Finally, General Baltus called Saemin's name, "Saemin Lo Diel", but no one came. At the back of the stage, I noticed Katie and Trebor standing at attention, waiting silently for their turns... Katie met my eyes as she searched the crowd, but all was silent. No one came, and an uncomfortable moment ensued as the general disappointedly placed the medal on the podium and turned towards my two friends, calling Katie's name.
    Even from where I sat, I could see the teardrops glistening in the bright lights on her face as she walked forwards, accepting her medals one at a time. She didn't receive the same Medal of Honor that the others did, but several smaller ones.
    The general asked her if she wanted to make a short speech of acceptance, but she seemed tongue-tied... eventually she managed an awkward "thank you" that echoed unnaturally through the chamber, and went to resume her place at the back of the stage.

    The Parasol general called "Trebor Mallarkus" to the front. With head held high, a stalwart expression on his face, and jaw set firmly, Trebor complied, seeming far more confident than Katie had. When the general asked him the same question, he nodded silently and took a place at the podium.
    "Friends," Trebor began in a bold tone, his voice carefully modulated, "my fellow citizens and employees of Parasol: We are here today to celebrate a victory... that is not just any victory. We are here today to mourn a loss... that is not just any loss. We are here today... to find a way to mend a wound... that is not just any wound."
    Trebor went on, carefully detailing the events leading up to the final battle... an altered version of the story, without mentioning Reudh's party or me. He mentioned the scythods, though... and he mentioned John, a former employee of Ballpoint, who had "left his old home behind, and left his new home a better place." It was Almory's plan, Trebor said, to distract Ballpoint and open the portal, and John who attempted to carry it out. "It would have gone well," he went on, "if it hadn't been for Tames."
    It hurt a little that he would cut me out of his speech, and especially that he would give John and Almory the credit... but I understood why, and listened carefully as he went on, telling parts of the story I'd never heard: what had happened after I'd left. He explained that Tames had betrayed them and overloaded the power generator, destroying the shield and leaving them defenseless.
    Trebor was magnificent. He continued in a rushed, flowing manner, without ever giving the hesitant General a chance to interrupt. He told how Saemin had manned the railcannon until the last, and how Hawkins had thrown himself onto a grenade to save the lives of his squad. He told how Almory had sought to avenge his death by carving a path through the Ballpoint troops, and how Jonah had given his life in an attempt to save his comrades. Some of the crowd wept quiet tears, as in a voice hinting at emotion, Trebor described how he'd held his dying sister – his captain – in his arms as she died. He told how he'd tried to give his own life to save hers, and how her last order was for him to let her die, so that he might live. His audience listened intently, hanging on every word.
    "These are your soldiers!" Trebor cried out powerfully, reaching to their hearts. "These are the men and women you send to fight your battles. It is not just any wound we seek to mend today, but an immeasurable one! Yet, it can be mended! You, my friends, my fellow citizens, have the power to change the fate of many such as they. It was Tames – it was Tames that destroyed Auxiliary Squad 48D. It was not a enemy that brought us to our knees; it was not an enemy that killed my squad mates, no – it  was one man, the weakest link.
    "We must bind ourselves together as one!" Trebor called out. "We must become what 48D could not: a whole with a common goal. It is up to you, my fellow employees! It is up to you, the scientist, the office worker, the mechanic, the engineer – it is up to you to follow John Smith's example, and make our home a better place! If we stand divided, we shall fail, but if we stand united as a single group, all progressing towards the same goal, we shall prevail! For unity is a virtue our enemy could never command."

    It hardly seemed like Trebor anymore... War and death has such power to change a person. At the time, I wasn't sure if Trebor just wanted to honor his sister's memory, or if he wanted revenge... and I knew he blamed me for what happened to Almory.
    It scared me.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 52: One Small Truth
    At long last, Dr. Russ returns with your beer, seeming a bit peeved to be acting as your errandboy.
    Taking it from him, you pop the cap and taste it. "Not bad," you say critically, "though it lacks the 'oomph' I'm used to." You turn back towards him quickly enough to see an annoyed expression vanish from his face. You don't trust him, somehow... possibly because the dark-haired woman across from you doesn't seem to. In fact, she seems to bear a strong dislike towards the dwarf.
    "If everything is in order, I have other research to attend to," Thian says, walking briskly to the door. As he leaves, he motions a couple guards inside, whispering something to them. You strain to hear what he says, but to no avail, and you turn a disconcerted eye back to the page.

    Having finished his speech, Trebor stepped away from the podium. Everyone around me rose to their feet, applauding ear-shatteringly, but he didn't seem to care. After waving the general away, he left through a back exit, not even bothering to talk to anyone.
    Beside me, in a voice loud enough that I could hear, Reudh called, "That was superb! Was it not?" but my eyes were on Katie as she left the stage, motioning for me to follow.
    It was a madhouse. The entire audience seemed to be talking as they started filing out the rows, overcrowding the narrow aisles and spilling into the front... it was all I could do to weave my way between them, dodging left and right, twisting carefully around to avoid bumping into anyone. I later learned that it wasn't even supposed to be over yet, but Trebor's speech had thrown everyone off. They all thought it was over.

    With some effort, I managed to leave through the exit Katie had used, and found her right outside the door, talking to Solnay.
    "You really should come down to where I work sometime, sweetie," she was saying, holding Katie's hands tightly in her plump ones. "Oh, Vanya!" she shouted, her face erupting into a wide, gracious smile as she caught sight of where I stood. "I was just telling Katie, you two should really come down to where I work sometime! I'm sure you'd love it there."
    "That's all right," Katie said. "Vanya and I will be busy for a while... Trebor!" she shouted suddenly, almost as if to change the subject. Pulling away, she rushed towards him through the crowd, leaving me alone with Solnay.
    The woman turned her attention to me, smelling heavily of soap and perfume. She was a friendly person, but a little too pleasant, if that makes any sense. "You really should come down to where I work. I don't ever get visitors," she said regrettably.
    I'd already lost track of Katie, so I humored Solnay for a moment. "Why not," I said in acquiescence, trying to make conversation. "Where do you work?"
    "Applied Sciences, sweetie. I told you that before, remember?" She gave me a patronizing smile.
    I could only nod in return. "I don't know what that means, though..."
    Solnay laughed – a happy, nasally sound that vaguely brought to mind a vision of someone strangling a duck. "It means I make things," she explained exuberantly. "Lots of things – things that help Parasol grow, things that help our soldiers out in the field... things that you and my Jonah probably used while fighting Ballpoint." The name of her husband seemed to sober her mood, and the smile gradually faded from her face. "I... I need to go now... I'll talk to you some other time, all right?"
    "All right," I replied, watching the interweaving crowds envelop her as she walked away, leaving me feeling very much alone.
    It was a feeling that faded quickly. "Vanya?" Katie asked concernedly, coming up to me from behind. "Where did Solnay go?" It was hard to understand her through all the noise.
    I turned, pointing in the direction Solnay had gone. "She said she had to leave," I explained. "Where did you go?"
    Her eyes paused for a moment, searching where I'd indicated, but finally drew themselves back to me. "I had to talk to Trebor and find out what was wrong. It wasn't like him to just leave like that..."
    "What was wrong?"
    "He didn't feel the ceremony did them justice," she explained briefly. I got the feeling she had a different opinion of it all... there was an uneasiness in her expression as she thought of him. "He wants me to meet him at his place in a couple days so I can help him write their story." With that, she glanced back at me quickly and took my hand with an impish smile. "C'mon, it's almost noon. I wanna take you shopping."
    "Noon?" I asked in confusion as she led me hurriedly through the crowds, dwarves and humans continuing to spill forth from the auditorium. "How could it be so late already? We weren't in there very long at all."
    She laughed. "We were in there for almost four hours! Old Baltus took forever to deliver his speeches, and then Trebor talked for a good twenty minutes."
    My imaginative mind began toying with the theory that time flowed different in Parasol's universe when you weren't watching... it was a childish theory that was easy to disprove, but really... I hadn't thought more than an hour had passed.

~~~

    My first impression of the Parasol market was that it was the most active place I'd ever seen... People rushed back and forth in sparsely populated groups, whirling about, making their way calmly to their destinations. Above them, colored lights flashed; transparent displays hanging in front of shops flashed with images of the wares within. It wasn't underground, but it might as well have been – there were no windows to be seen, an added bonus for a dwarf. It was all in the uniform Parasol white, black, and blue, with metallic-blue walls, white lights far overheard, and blackish trim. Everything seemed to "pulse" with some underlying power, as if everything moved with a purpose.
    "Welcome to Division 3's main mall," Katie said proudly. She gave a bubbly laugh, watching my awed expression with mirth. "I never thought it would be so much fun taking you everywhere!"
    It took me a moment to process what she said, my mind was so overloaded with new sights and sounds. "Is that why I'm here?" I asked. "I don't have any Parasol money..." I stopped, considering what I'd just said, and I laughed. "I don't even know what you use for money... or if you even use money at all."
    "Of course we use money, silly," my friend teased. "And I'm going to buy stuff for you. I was getting paid for serving in the military, even if that wasn't why... why I was... why I joined..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes blank. For a time, neither of us spoke, though people curved past us as regularly as before, going to and from the shuttlecar station behind us.
    "Katie?" I asked quietly, gently touching the back of her hand with my fingertips.
    She jumped, glancing downwards, and then up at me with a surprised expression. "What?" she asked briefly, and then she seemed to deliberately calm herself, forcing her thoughts away from unpleasant places. "...Right. We need to um... Shopping. So... yeah! C'mon, let's go."

    In a way, the "Mall" reminded me of the Spearbreakers marketplace... In another way, it wasn't like regular dwarven architecture at all. My skulker's eyes, sharp as they once were, couldn't find any safe alleyways for a homeless citizen., and there weren't any poorly-dressed people anywhere in sight. It looked as if there wasn't a basement class at all.
    I asked Katie about it while she browsed around through a shoe store, looking for something that would better fit my feet. She told me that Parasol did have a basement class... but they were all taken away to "homeless shelters" and typically never heard from again. Rather than ignoring the problem, or trying to fix it, they covered it up. It seemed cruel to me... but then, I was biased: I used to be part of the basement class, myself.


    While we spent the next two hours looking at shoes, I spent the hours before[ that just trying to keep up with Katie, as she'd led me excitedly from store to store, showing me everything the Mall had to offer. I wasn't sure, but I thought it might have something to do with her trying to forget about Saemin.
    "Is there anything else you need?" she asked, looking me up and down as I left the store in a new pair of boots.
    "I'd like a journal..." I started to say, but I felt guilty about it immediately. "Anything will do, really," I said hurriedly. "I used to have a journal made of bits of posters, but Mr Frog took it away and I never saw it again."
    She raised an eyebrow. "I always heard good things about Mr Frog, whenever he was mentioned... He isn't super famous or anything, so you never heard much, but it was always good when you did. Did he really just take it?"
    "He thought I was a spy," I explained quietly. It brought Joseph to my mind, and again I started pondering what he'd said. I still refused to believe he'd been telling the truth... but from what I seen, Parasol seemed to care less about their employees and more about their goals. With an absent mind, I followed my friend as she led me from one store to the next, seemingly unsatisfied with most of the journals we saw.

    "Here!" Katie exclaimed suddenly, a smile breaking over her face as she lifted two journals off a high shelf. "The covers are only compressed cardboard, not leather like you'd be used to," she explained apologetically, holding it out. "It's of good quality, though... Here, look at them. You should get two, just in case you fill one."
    I took them, flipping the top one over to see the front. My heart seemed to stop as I saw the design painted on its red-brown cover: a golden, five-pointed star. With a suspicious, curious expression, I turned my eyes upwards towards Katie's smiling face.
    "A pentagram," I said softly, leveling a piercing stare at her. I would believe many things – I knew I was a gullible person... but this was too close for coincidence. Out of the hundreds of journals we passed, she'd chosen this... one the only set of journals inscribed with the symbol I considered mine.
    Her smile slowly drew itself into a confused frown. "Yes...?"
    "Why did you choose this one?" I asked. I felt a strong distrust towards my friend, for the first time since we'd met. My symbol was a personal thing, something I never told anyone about. Not even her.
    Katie looked uncomfortable. "It had a five-pointed star on it," she said uneasily. "I thought you might like it."
    "What reason would you have to think I would like it?" It was hard to hide the suspicion in my voice.
    "I... You mentioned there was a star-shaped charm on your sister's bracelet, when you told me about it at the trench..." She hesitated, her eyes flicking about towards passersby. "I thought maybe you would like something to sort of... remember her by..."
    My gaze softened as I thought it over. It made sense, in a way, though there still seemed to be questions left unanswered: If I'd been by myself, I would've picked the exact same journal.
    "Do you not like it?" she asked worriedly. "We can get another one if you want – I didn't... I just thought..."
    For some reason, I found her concern slightly amusing. "It's fine," I said softly, smiling a little in spite of myself. "They're perfect. Thank you, Katie."
    She swallowed nervously. "Let's go check out," she finally said with an uncertain glance towards a clock. "It's getting late.
    I felt a little guilty for not trusting her, really... I suppose that it's partially because of my skulker origins, but I know that's no excuse. The only person I'd ever trusted implicitly was my sister. It's hard for me to learn to trust someone so quickly... especially if they have a knack for intuition.

~~~

    Katie and I had a difficult time getting back to Rubywood Apartments... She thought she would try to please her father by walking back instead of taking the shuttlecar. When I asked how far away we were, she said "close".
    In Spearbreakers, "close" meant "five minutes away." In Parasol, it seemed that "close" meant "eight city blocks and a taxi," and I had to learn what a "taxi" was while I was using it. Something seemed to hinder every step of our path, be it a malfunctioning elevator or a high-strung security guard, and my friend wasn't in the best mood when we walked in the door.

    Kenzon was in the main room, sitting comfortably in the cushy green chair I'd noticed the night before and watching as hovering images played above the device in the center of the table. The sound of voices emanated from it, lilting softly through the air. "You didn't bring groceries?!" he exclaimed incredulously. "What are we supposed to eat if we don't have groceries?"
    "Dad, I just got home yesterday," Katie pointed out, closing the door behind us after we'd entered.
    Her father all but growled at her, narrowing his eyes. "Don't give me excuses, Katalina. As long as you're under my roof, you'll live by my rules. You always got the groceries before. Just because you thought you were 'mature enough' to join the military," he scoffed, "it doesn't mean you can shirk your chores now. We all have our duties, Katie, and it's time you start behaving responsibly."
    "I'm almost an adult!" my friend said heatedly. "My eighteenth birthday is in just a few months! And I am responsible."
    "An adult??" Kenzon spat. "An uneducated highschool dropout, maybe." With a snarl, he stood, muting the device on the table with a wave of his hand. "You still haven't learned the meaning of responsibility."
    "I'm more responsible than you, at least!" Katie started, clenching her fists, her face scrunched up in a semblance of anger. "You wouldn't even come to the ceremony today!"
    "Don't talk back to me!" the man replied crossly, storming over to her. He was a full foot taller than she. "I had work, Katie. The fact that I wouldn't shirk my duties makes me far more responsible than you. Not only that, but what about your squadmates?" he asked cruelly. "You were responsible for their lives, and almost every one of them died. I think that illustrates my point perfectly."
    Katie stopped, speechless at her father's low blow. I felt like I shouldn't be there, but I was torn between leaving and defending my friend. What happened at 48D wasn't her fault, and I felt a little angry that her own father would accuse her of it being so.
    Her father seemed to realize this, too. He frowned regretfully, grimacing as he sank onto a nearby couch. "I'm sorry," Kenzon said, turning away. "I shouldn't have said that. Look, Katie... just order something from the catering division." With that, he unmuted the device in the middle of the table with another hand wave and started watching.
    "Vanya, I'll be back in a minute," Katie whispered, looking at me apologetically. "I'm sorry you were here for that. He never acted like that while Grandma was around."
    "He shouldn't act like that even with her away," I whispered back, but I'm not sure if she heard me... She was already on her way to the kitchen.
    With my new journal under my arm, I hesitantly approached Kenzon, intending to reproach him for being so rude to his daughter.
    He looked up before I had a chance. "Have you ever seen a televiewer before?"
    That stopped me. "What?" I asked, unfamiliar with the word.
    A corner of his mouth tweaked upward, and he scratched the bald spot on his head, making an awkward gesture towards the pyramidal device on the table. "Most people call it a 'crystal' for how it makes the images, but I'm old-fashioned – I say 'televiewer'. They called the first ones 'tubes', but I can't imagine why... Just look at it for a moment. Sometimes it takes a minute to get it right."
    I did. As I stared at it, he flashing images seemed to rearrange themselves in my mind. They began forming pictures and shapes, and I soon realized I was seeing and hearing people, moving smoothly through translucent, three-dimensional images. "It's people," I whispered in surprise, enthralled by the new technology. Then, curiously, I asked, "What are they doing? I haven't seen anything like this before..."
    "Definitely not. This is something you'll only see on Parasol," he said with a touch of pride. "And, to your question... it's the news."
    "News?"
    "Right now they're going on about how the communications division was broken into." He sounded a little disapproving. "The media is always trying to put their own spin on things to beguile people into watching, and they're putting too much importance on it."
    "Too much?" I'd thought Parasol's security was perfect.
    Kenzon chuckled dryly, a hint of grimness in his voice. "Things like this aren't unusual anymore. Ever since Ballpoint attacked Civilian Resources back in 200 PS, everyone is paranoid. It's nothing important anymore – probably just people trying to find out where their loved ones are... Lots of people were hoping General Baltus's speech today would put an end to that, but, obviously it didn't. That was on the viewer just a few minutes before you got here, by the way."
    "Trebor's speech made more of an impact," I said, wondering if that explained it.
    "Yes, I saw." He nodded and his neck around towards the kitchen doorway as his daughter emerged, bearing a sulky expression. "Katie? Did you order something yet?"
    She gave a half-nod, clearly annoyed. "I ordered Oriental." As she passed behind his chair, she motioned for me to follow her.
    "Thank you for your time, Mr. Kenzon," I said, and hurried away before he could call me back.

    I entered Katie's room in time to see her flop onto her bed sullenly. "Do you see why I hate him now?" she asked with a sigh, staring up at the ceiling.
    Before answering, I closed the door softly, wondering if she'd meant for him to hear. "He doesn't seem very fatherly..." I noted.
    "He never was," Katie answered off-handedly, covering her eyes with an arm. "He could've skipped work for a day. He knew about the ceremony – I told him this morning before I got you up. He just didn't care."
    "It just seems wrong to me," I said quietly, agreeing with her sentiment. Then, a thought entered my mind. "You've always tried to make him happy with you, haven't you?"
    She got up with a lazy air, rearranging herself to lay stomach-down towards me, her head propped up on her hands, saying, "Yep. My entire life. I wasn't a bad student at school, but I wasn't good enough for him. I tried lots of different things... if I ever showed him something I was proud of, he would dismiss it not important. Afterwards, he would actually have the nerve to ask why I was upset." She rolled her tired, half-closed eyes. "Then I started jetpacking, and though he was proud of me, he never went to see any of my competitions. Only Grandma did, before she disappeared. She actually cared."
    "And you think he doesn't?" I asked cautiously.
    "Of course!" she said, drawing herself back up to a kneeling position. "After he misses the ceremony, he gets mad at me 'cause I didn't bring supper home. What kind of father does that?"
    "Not the best," I admitted, "but he still loves you."
    "He never shows it," Katie said testily. "And before you say 'he might if you did first,' he never even gives me a chance to love him. He's so cold... unfeeling. It's all my mom's fault, for disappearing. She should've stayed." She hesitated for a moment, as if feeling conflicted about whether or not she should discuss the taboo topic. "Vanya, if you were in my place... No. If you could go back in time and convince my mother that she needed to stay... would you?"
    For a minute, I wasn't sure what to say. "I don't know," I answered eventually. I didn't want to tell her "no"... but I could tell she held a grudge against her mother for abandoning her family. "Time isn't something that should be toyed with," I added, paraphrasing Mr Frog.
    She laughed sardonically. "Funny to hear that coming from you."
    "What?"
    "You always break the rules!" she replied pointedly. "You run away from home, you stay off the census lists at Spearbreakers, you broke into Mr Frog's room, stole stuff from him, broke into Ballpoint, talked to your sister even though you weren't supposed to, and now look at you!" She gestured at me meaningfully with a flourish. "Vanya Carena, Dimension Traveler," she said in a grand, satirical tone. "You're not even supposed to be here, and you tell me I should follow the rules??"
    I frowned and glanced down uncomfortably, staring at my booted toes. "Do you wish I wasn't here?" I whispered, hurt. I wished she hadn't mentioned my sister.
    "I didn't mean that, Vanya... I just mean..." She paused, trying to reword her thoughts. "Look... If you can do whatever you want, just 'cause you 'have to', why can't I do the same?"
    "It's not a good thing," I protested, lifting my head. "I've been homeless ever since I ran away! I got abducted by Parasol and Ballpoint, and spent a sleepless year in prison with the Spawn because of what I did to Mr Frog. And I... I lost my sister because I broke the rules to try to talk to get her back." I started shaking silently, but I was determined not to cry over her again. "It's my fault she's dead, Katie! I always blamed it on Urist, but it was me! I could've escaped and come back for her later, but I did what I wanted instead of what I was supposed to." I paused and lowered my head again, wiping a tear from my cheek with the side of my hand. My voice was hardly a whisper as I finished, "Getting Salaia back wasn't worth losing her."

    I'd never thought that realizing one small truth could bring such a strong depression to my heart.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 53: An Unexpected Visit
    This is a cardboard-bound journal. Its dwarven script flows in an elven manner, which is a rare sight. You wonder for a moment how Vanya could know elven at all, given the fact that she arrived at the mountainhome when she was three. There doesn't seem to be any clear explanation, unless it could possibly be that there's something she's intentionally not writing in her journals... But what, you wonder, would she keep so hidden?

    I'd never looked at it that way before... I'd never thought that I could be responsible for Salaia's death. Maybe I'd blamed myself, but I'd always thought it was Urist who killed her, all by himself. He fired the bullets that killed her, yes, but... it was so hard to take in; so hard to accept.
    Katie sat on her bed in silence, staring at me in a sort of empathetic pity. "Vanya..." she began.
    Turning away quickly towards the door, I brushed the tears from my eyes and waved her off. "Katie, don't," I whispered. I wanted to be comforted, but at the same time... I'd realized what a horrible, horrible person I was. I'd blamed Urist the entire time, when it hadn't been his fault at all. He'd wanted to protect me, and if I'd done what I was supposed to, Salaia wouldn't even have been there for him to shoot. It wouldn't have been hard to evade her, and I could have. If it wasn't for me, she'd still be alive.
    All I wanted was to hide away where no one could see me, and cry.

    At dinner, I hardly noticed the food. Katie and her father argued, but I can't remember what they said. There was only one thing on my mind... and it was the one thing I didn't want to think about.
    After Mr. Kenzon retired to his room, Katie tried to comfort me again. Though she did her best, I just felt so empty... like there was a gap in my soul. Nothing could fill that void, not even a friend... I'd devoted my life to protecting Salaia, and in the end... I'd done far worse than simply failing.
    I killed my sister.
    Eventually, Katie asked me to write down what I was feeling, in the journal she'd given me. "It might help," she suggested. I only told her that I'd consider it, and though unsatisfied, she gave up and left.
    After standing for a while, so many thoughts whirling through my unwilling mind, I went to that darkened corner of the sitting room and curled up on a soft, white chair. Taking my new journal and pen out of the plastic bag I'd brought them home in, I opened it up to the first page. I was going to write about my sister, partially because Katie had asked me to, and partially to try to straighten it all out in my mind. I hoped that somehow, it would ease the pain.
    It took me several minutes to get started... I was out of the habit of writing journals, and I sat there idly, tapping the pen against my lips. I'd made my last entry at Spearbreakers, I remembered, before the third mission to Ballpoint. That gave me enough to start with.

        You're not in Kansas anymore, I wrote. Those were the first words I heard when I set foot inside this place... Yes, they're odd first words... I think it's a reference to a book or something.
        It's been a long time since I wrote a journal entry, but apparently, I'm supposed to now. I guess I don't really have a problem with it... I just wish I had my old journals with me. I don't want to write my stores all over again.
        I stood in Mr Frog's laboratory, wearing my old Ballpoint suit...

~~~

    The next morning I awoke to a peaceful beam of sunlight shining through the window. Somehow, in such an ordered place, I expected to hear time bells chiming the hour, like in Spearbreakers... They'd always awoken me before.
    As I lay there, the thought occurred to me that I didn't even know what time it was. It might even be late in the afternoon, for all I knew, and I flung back the covers, getting out of bed in a hurry. With a little more caution, I hid behind my door as I opened it and peeked out, looking to see if anyone was awake. Katie was sitting on a sofa in the sitting room, tapping at her new PEA with a finger. She didn't seem very concerned about the time, and that eased my worries. Quietly, I closed the door back and began getting dressed, putting on what I'd worn the day before. It was all I had, besides my armor.
    Several minutes later, I was sitting on the stool in front of the dressing table, staring blankly at the mirror. It seemed that the demons that had troubled me the night before weren't going to go away just because I'd slept: I was trying to imagine Salaia's face in place of mine.
    A soft knock at the door startled me to my feet, and I had to catch the stool with my fingertips to keep from knocking it over. "Are you awake?" someone called quietly, their voice muffled.
    I hastened towards the sound, turning the knob and opening the door a crack.
    Katie's worried face looked back at me. She smiled, but it quickly faded. "Are you feeling any better?" she asked, concerned.
    Nodding, I answered, "Mhm," and opened the door the rest of the way, slipping out past her. "How late is it?"
    "It's not noon yet," she replied, walking ahead to the kitchen. "You need to eat – we'll be getting groceries today. Or..." She stopped short before the dining room, casting an anxious, worried glance over her shoulder. "I could get them myself, if you want to stay here."
    "I'll be okay."

    Breakfast was the same as the day before... it was cereal. I'm sad to say it had already lost its novelty... bits of food floating in a liquid isn't really much more than a strange form of soup. I'm not sure why the people of Parasol seem to like it so much, apart from how quickly you could eat it. Then again, the breakfast bars Mr Frog had always given me were even faster to eat, and you could carry them around wherever you went. Cereal didn't really have any advantages.
    Katie sat across from me, watching me eat almost eagerly with her intense, blue eyes. "We need to get you more clothes," she said disapprovingly.
    It was so abrupt and unexpected that I almost laughed, but stopped, confused. "But you gave me these yesterday... They're clean, too... why can't I wear them?"
    She laughed at my naοvetι. "You can't wear the same thing every day. You have to have a selection of things to choose from. Oh, and clothes always look better after they've been hanging up, not rumpled and wrinkled like that blouse."
    Glancing down, I almost knocked my bowl over. "It's not that wrinkled," I protested as I looked it over. "There are only a few wrinkle lines in it, and they're harder to see than they could be."
    "Careful with your milk!" Katie warned, laughing. "Wrinkles look bad on that blouse. But don't worry – I'll help you out later today, maybe, after we go and get groceries... and maybe a few other things." The familiar, impish smile stole across her face, but her eyes were sad, as if she was only faking it for my benefit. "Look at me – my clothes aren't wrinkled, see? They've been hanging up in my wardrobe." She was wearing a short black dress, and a fancy, faded pink jacket with puffy upper sleeves, her hair draped around to one side. From where she sat, I couldn't see her legs, but I was sure she was wearing knee-length black boots... it seemed to be her favorite thing to wear.
    "I see," I told her, nodding. She looked pretty, really... enough that imagining her in the military seemed ridiculous. It wasn't the last time that I wondered why she'd joined.
    "C'mon, finish eating and let's go," Katie finally said, interrupting my silence as she stood and started walking towards the sitting room. "We should try to beat the afternoon rush, and I'm going to need to fix your hair again. We aren't so tight on time anymore, so I'll be able to do a better job."


    Katie spent some time fussing with my hair before we left, almost seeming to enjoy it the same way she had the day before, though I didn't much like the way she pulled at it. Really, I'd never bothered much with my hair at all. "Grandma always used to put my hair up," she'd explained in an innocent bliss as she twirled it with a comb. "I've never had anyone to do it for."
    "I don't want it to look special," I stated carefully, feeling the urge to brace myself against something as she continued to tug. "I just want to blend in."
    She laughed. "You'll be fine," she assured me. "I didn't have enough time to fix it how I wanted yesterday, but you'll look great, I promise!"
    Watching her in the mirror, I saw her reach for the scissors. "Don't cut my hair!" I shouted suddenly, twisting away from her in a panic and holding a hand up to defend myself, worriedly feeling about with the other to make sure she hadn't removed anything. It hadn’t grown out all the way, but it was getting there, and I hated how short he'd left it.
    "Calm down!" Katie said, astounded at my reaction. "Quit freaking out! I'm just going to trim it! You won't lose anything."
    "That's what Mr Frog said, and I barely had any left!" My voice sounded almost accusing.
    Katie quickly sat the scissors down on the countertop and walked towards me with a hurt expression, hands raised. "Look, I put them down. See? Let me just show you."
    Untrustingly, I let her approach. Even now, I'm not sure why I'm so sensitive about my hair... I guess it's just part of who I am, like being afraid of small spaces, or how I can't sing, or how I used to like puppies and dogs.
    With a quick, deft motion, she swept up a lock of my hair in her hand, evening it out with a brush she snatched from her pocket, and held it up for me to see. "This is all I'm cutting off, okay?" An array of short, uneven hairs poked out from between her fingers. "You haven't been taking care of your hair, and you have split ends."
    My throat felt constricted as I swallowed. "Okay..." I said uneasily.
    She picked the scissors back up and made a few quick snips across her fingers, scooping up first one, then another lock of hair, evening them off. "See? I'm already done... Why were you freaking out, anyway?"
    I felt at my hair, and there didn't really seem to be anything missing, which half-surprised me. A few short tips lay on the floor at my feet, but other than that, I couldn't tell any difference. "I don't know..." I lied, feeling a little guilty for not being comfortable with telling her. When I was little, my grandfather used to threaten that he would cut off the tips of my ears to make me look more like a dwarf, using a pair of haircutting scissors... it's a fear I've had ever since. I know it's irrational, but it's so hard to get rid of things like that. I didn't think Katie would understand.
    After a quick brushing and a hair clip, she decided she was done. Then, once she'd offered a few brushing tips, we were out the door, headed to the elevator across the hall.


    The "mall" wasn't really a "mall," if you go by the definition Katie gave me... it was more a mishmash of every kind of store you could think of, separated by wide, dim walkways beneath metal roofs high above. If you needed something, you could find it there... a trip to the food-related side showed me this. I'd never seen so much food in one place, and it was all sitting out where people could get to it. They would pick up what they wanted, take it to the cashier, and buy it. In Spearbreakers, you simply chose from what the cook was cooking, or what you could find preserved in a barrel. Here, they expected you to do the storage and cooking yourself.
    Baking items, condiments, meat, vegetables and more all went into the baskets I was carrying. Katie led me around excitedly, explaining whatever came to mind as the baskets in my hands grew heavier and heavier. At first, she seemed very happy – she even declared she was going to teach me how to bake. Unfortunately, the longer we continued our little trip, the more it became obvious that something was bothering her.
    While we walked down a frozen food aisle, I ventured the question, "Katie, is something wrong?"
    Her eyebrows came together worriedly. "It's Saemin's mother... She should've been there yesterday. Did you see her anywhere?"
    I didn't even know who she was, and I shook my head apologetically.
    "It's not like her," Katie whispered, staring at her feet in troubled confusion. "She loved Saemin. She wouldn't skip his awards ceremony. She would honor him by being there."
    "Maybe she had to go to work?" I suggested.
    She pursed her lips, tilting her head and giving me a troubled look. "Don't compare her to my dad, Vanya," she chided gently. "My dad doesn't love me anywhere near as much as Saemin's mother loved him. She should have been there... I think something else is going on."
    "Like what?"
    "Like..." She stopped and gave it some thought, but she didn't seem to be able to come up with anything. Suddenly, she burst out, "I don't know what! I was always good friends with her. Dad never liked Saemin, but Saemin's family always liked me. We were good friends, and I know them. Something isn't right."
    I nodded to say I understood, and then guessed at what she was leading up to. "Are we going to go figure out what's going on?"
    She smiled. Giving a sharp nod, she answered, "Of course. I want to find out why she wasn't there, and I want to help if I can."
    "Should we put all this back?" I asked, wondering. She spun around to see what I was talking about, and I lifted up the two heavy baskets of food.
    "No," Katie said decidedly, "We'll take it with us. I said I wanted to help, remember?"

    After Katie had paid for everything, we headed towards Saemin's old house... which, according to her, wasn't too far away. We still had to take a hovertaxi.
    Flying was amazing. Until Mr Frog had taught me otherwise, I'd always thought air travel impossible, but Parasol didn't really have roads... all the vehicles flew through the air. Even then, as excited as I was, Katie tried to keep me busy showing me a "video game" on her new PEA. I didn't take too much interest in it, really... There's so much to do in life – why would anyone waste time on a game you have to play by yourself?
    Before long, the hovertaxi set us down in a narrow corridor before it took back off into the sky with a intrusive hum, its white underside blending with the grayish clouds above as it faded into the distance. We were actually outside for once, and I loved it. At least, I did at first.
    Metal doors lined the ground level in the little roofless corridor, but the white paint was peeling in places, and grimy in others. Graffiti marked the walls, and it wasn't all in Dwarven, either. A lot of it was in languages I couldn't even read. It was the first place that really looked like people lived there.
    "This doesn't feel as... artificial as everything else," I noted thoughtfully as we walked down the slum-like corridor. "It's so cold, though..." It was more than cold; it was frigid, and the wind nipped at my nose and ears, making them sting. I couldn't help but shiver a little, and I wished I'd had a jacket to bring with me, like Katie's pink one.
    "Parasol is a cold planet," Katie whispered. "They say Ballpoint is hot, but here, it's always cold. It's not a real planet, so heating it costs a lot. ...And keep your voice down! Security doesn't patrol the low-income housing as much, and we don't want to attract attention." She paused for a moment and took her purse from her shoulder, slipping it into one of the plastic bags of food she was carrying. I paused while she did, guessing she was trying to keep anyone from thinking we were carrying money. It made me nervous.
    After she was done, we continued forwards. In a whisper, she called my attention to how there were ladders on the lower walls leading to upper balconies, and alleyways on the second floors, and other balconies higher and higher into the sky. After I'd run away from home, I'd visited a number of dwarven fortresses with a bedroom scheme eerily similar.
    "Tens of thousands of people live here," Katie told me, looking above us at the sliver of sky visible between the towering stacks of balconies. It was hard to believe: we didn't see anyone at all. It almost felt abandoned... the inhabitants had blocked access to the windows, either barring them, boarding them up, or welding over them with sheets of metal... Katie said it wasn't so much because nobody lived there, and more to keep thieves away.
    "I thought Parasol was a company," I said softly as we climbed a set of stairs to the second-floor balcony. "How does it have problems with crime?"
    "Everyone has problems with crime," Katie pointed out in a whisper. "It's just that Security doesn't come here as much. Protecting wealthier people gets them paid more, and it isn't as dangerous. Here, people hate Security, and see them as stuck-up and immoral. Elsewhere people like them. It's just how things are." She paused for a moment. "And it has its own economy... I guess it's sort of part company, and part nation... like Ballpoint."
    Conversation came to a standstill as a dirty, tangle-bearded, tattooed dwarf shuffled down the walkway towards us, a bottle of booze in one hand. He eyed us shiftily for a moment, and my heart beat faster as we approached each other. Sensing my apprehension, Katie reached behind her and took my hand in hers, squeezing it softly. She was shaking... she'd been there before, but she was just afraid as I was.
    Fortunately, the man passed us without incident, and Katie and I let out a sigh of immense relief.
    "It's always like this," she whispered. "It's just how life is down here. You stay quiet and hope nobody notices you, or you get mugged."


    I followed her down a side passage into an enclosed alleyway, and we passed one door after another, first on the left, then on the right... The layout reminded me a little of Parasol's trench back on Everoc. It was almost as dirty, too.
    It wasn't long before Katie stopped in front of a particularly worn-out door. "We don't knock," she explained in a quiet voice, holding her head close to mine. "We ring the doorbell." Turning, she pressed a button next to the door, but nothing seemed to happen.
    "Is it broken?" I asked. "I thought they were supposed to make noise..."
    "They do, but only inside," she whispered in return.
    We straightened as the door opened a crack, an eye appearing to give a wary examination. Katie seemed pleased, and her mood lightened my apprehension a little. Unfortunately, the door closed back just as quickly.
    "Was that it?" I whispered unhappily. I was disappointed that we'd come all that way for so little, but before Katie had any chance to answer, the door opened wide.
    The tall, muscled woman spoke slowly, age apparent in her voice. "Katie, welcome. I haven't saw you for a long while. And Vanya... it is good to see you, also."
    "Eltsha?!" I blurted, staring in astonishment at the old woman leaning on her cane. "You're Saemin's mother?"

    Looking back, it shouldn't have come as a surprise... but it was, all the same.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 54: Surprise and Tears
    You look up as you notice the woman across from you stifle a giggle at Vanya's discovery of Eltsha. Looking around, you notice that the guards have, for the moment, left the room. You take advantage of the opportunity and ask, "Really, who are you?" She says nothing, but the question quells your slight mirth. "Are you Lydena, Trebor's sister? Or are you perhaps Wari?"
    She seems to enjoy the second question: her gray-blue eyes dance with merriment, and she seems to open up a little. "I'm not anyone you've read about yet," she tells you.
    You'd fully expected her denial. With a smile, you ask what you've really been wondering. "Are you a daughter, or descendant of Vanya?"
    For the first time, she doesn't shut you down. Instead, she leans forwards, with a playful, almost conspiratorial look. As you move closer, she whispers in your ear, "No. I'm not. Please... just keep reading. I promise I'll tell you when the time is right."
    "Can that be now?" you ask, half as a joke, while you lean back disappointedly in your seat.
    "You haven't read my story yet," the woman says, "but you will. I'm sure of it. For now... just call me 'Sally'."

    Standing outside the shoddy doorway, I gaped in surprise at the first person I'd met when I'd entered Parasol: Eltsha. She looked just as she did then, though dressed differently: a woman that looked to be older than she was, tall and muscular but hobbling with a cane. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again!"
    Katie twirled around in surprise at my outburst. "You know her?"
    Eltsha smiled softly. "Aye, child," she said with a nod, regaining Katie's attention. "We met not two days ago, in the lobby."
    "Why didn't you come over?" Katie asked with a slight frown. "I wanted to talk to you... I missed talking to you, Eltsha, why didn't you come?"
    "I dislike crowds, Katie," Eltsha reminded the girl, turning around slowly as she spoke. "You know that as well as any, but I were there all the same. Before the cold does kill you, come inside, now."
    After directing a confused glance in my direction, Katie hurried inside after our hostess, motioning for me to follow. And so I did, stepping carefully over the low threshold. Katie waited until I was in, and closed the door behind me, sliding the locks into place.
    Though warmer than the alleyways, the house was even more of a mess. There wasn't any carpet... just a cold, steel floor bearing so many deep scratches and scuffles it seemed incapable of reflecting light. A cheap metal table sat inside the living area, stacked with paperwork and illuminated by a single hanging bulb. There were several wobbly plastic chairs sitting around it, and heaps of plastic garbage bags in the far corners of the room. A ragged, dirty couch furnished one wall, which was decorated with a carefully hung photograph of Eltsha's family, including Saemin. Other than the framed picture, the wall itself was grimy, and though smooth, it bore dents and peeling paint.
    Giving me a cautionary look, Katie led me after Eltsha around the table in the sitting room to the kitchen beyond, which wasn't in any better shape. The sink was empty of dishes, but there were practically no cabinets. A plastic patio table sat in the middle, surrounded by four assorted chairs. A refrigerator sat in one corner, and there was a scantily laden bookshelf in another, sporting only a few cans.
    "We brought you food," Katie said, setting the bags she was carrying on the table. I did the same, trying not to make it obvious I was looking around. It felt rude of me to stare, especially when the house was in such a state, but at the same time, I could understand it... I'd once lived in poverty, too.
    "I thank you, child," the woman said, smiling gratefully. Opening the refrigerator, she leaned on the door as she bent to look inside. "Would you like something to drink?"
    "No, it's all right," my friend responded quickly. "I just wanted to know if you were okay, and if..." her voice trailed off.
    Eltsha didn't seem to notice the unfinished question. "Aye, that I am, indeed," she crooned as she shut the door back. "With my knee hurt as it is, I cannot find a stable job, yet someone mysterious has been paying our bills. Were it you, child?"
    Raising a confused eyebrow, Katie shook her head, murmuring, "No, it wasn't me..."
    "I thought it might not be so, nay." Saying this, Eltsha hobbled over and took Katie's hand. "You did follow my Saemin into battle... Though he didn't make it back, for such devotion, I must thank you. It's warming my heart that you did care for him so."
    Her lips twitched. "I try not to think about it," she admitted. Her voice, heavy with emotion, was hardly above a whisper as she spoke. "I had to go. It's what my grandparents would have wanted... It's what I wanted. I didn't want to lose him..." Her voice began to quaver. "But I lost him anyway. I couldn't save him, Eltsha, I..." And Katie started to cry, hanging her head in shame as the woman took her in a gentle embrace.
    "Hush, child," she said soothingly. "It were not your fault. You did your best."
    "I could've done better," Katie sobbed. "I could've saved him!"
    "Shh," Eltsha whispered, her voice calming my friend a little. "Look, now. No one can save everyone, and Saemin knew it were dangerous. I did not want him to go, yet he did, saying he did want to support his family. You did follow to keep him safe. And Katie, child..."
    Katie looked up at Eltsha face, two feet above her own.
    In a motherly manner, Eltsha wiped the tears from the girl's cheek. "I know he were very happy to have you there, so hush, now. You're still alive, are you not?"
    She nodded, taking a step back. "I wouldn't be if it wasn't for Vanya."
    "I owe you both much, aye," Eltsha agreed, nodding as she looked between us. "Mina's condition has improved from the money Saemin sent, and she is awake once more, though still sick."
    "Who is Mina?" I whispered in askance. It was the first time I'd spoken.
    "She is my daughter," Eltsha answered, pointing towards a room in the back. "She is sick, and has been since she was born. When she grew worse, Saemin sought a job, and when I become injured, he went to war so he could earn more." She hesitated for a moment, and added in a thoughtful, regretful tone, "He was a good son, was Saemin..." And she smiled.
    I'd never seen a smile convey such sorrow.
   
    The next hour was mostly Katie and Eltsha talking about each other's lives, in which I took little part. Talking about Saemin seemed to dredge up old memories in Katie's mind, making her uneasy... It wasn't long before even Eltsha noticed it too, and changed the subject for her sake. She really did think of Katie as a daughter... she'd accepted Katie into her family, as if in expectation of the wedding that might have taken place, had Saemin survived... and unlike Trebor, she didn't hate me for not being able to save her son.

    I saw a different side of Parasol that day. Beneath the shining towers and majestic facades they maintained, there was a darker side... a side where they hardly cared about their "lesser" employees, seeing taking care of them as too much effort; a side where the low-class workers could hardly afford healthcare, even when they weren't sick. It made me start looking at things in a different light... Maybe Ballpoint only focuses on money, but Parasol focuses on science to the exclusion of all else... even the welfare and happiness of their own people.

~~~

    As we left Eltsha's apartment, I started noticing that Katie seemed uneasy. When she opened the door, she stopped suddenly, staring at a passing human in the hallway as if she'd seen a ghost. When we reached the main alleyway, we saw someone climbing down a ladder on the far side, and Katie froze up. Curiously, I stepped ahead of her and looked at her face, and found she bore an expression of sheer horror.
    "Katie?" My voice startled her, and she jumped, glancing over at me. "What's wrong?" I asked. By that time, I knew something was up.
    "Nothing, I..." she began haltingly, glancing back at the now-empty ladder. "I thought I saw... But I couldn't have, because he... I... Never mind," she finished, her voice trailing into silence.
    "You thought you saw whom?" I queried, but she wouldn't answer, only looking away uncomfortably as she hurried forwards towards the stairs. I quickened my pace to match hers. "You thought you saw Saemin," I guessed as I came back alongside.
    With a troubled frown, she shook her head. "I did see Saemin. That was the third time today... but it wasn't him, I just thought it was him. It's... flashbacks, I think," she said distantly. As she withdrew from her thoughts, she noticed my concern, and hurried to add, "But don't worry! I'll be fine - they go away, and they don't hurt anything. C'mon, let's just get back to the mall and get our groceries, okay?"
    Taking her PEA out of her pocket, she called a taxi. Within minutes, we were already on our way back towards the mall... but I couldn't help but be concerned about my friend.

    The second shopping trip went largely without incident. Katie, though quieter at first, eventually brightened up a little and became her regular, talkative self again. This time, instead of just leading me around, she took one of the baskets herself, which made it a little easier for me.
    On discovering that I had no idea what "cake" was, she made sure to buy two pieces from a nearby bakery after we'd checked out, and we sat at a little cafeteria table and ate. It was delicious - I'd never had anything remotely like it before, but I thought it a little too sweet, and wasn't able to finish the icing.

    "Maybe it's just because you aren't used to eating sugary stuff?" Katie asked curiously, picking up half our grocery bags in her fingers and motioning for me to get the others. Apparently, someone who "couldn't eat sugar" was something new to her.
    "I don't know," I admitted, curious. "I just... It was too sweet. I feel full already, and I know I didn't eat enough to be full."
    Side by side, we left the bakery and started walking down the towering hallway towards the main elevator, half a mile away.
    Suddenly, I paused as I realized something. "Katie! Wait!"
    She stopped, stumbling forwards a step as a dwarf pushed rudely past. "What's wrong?"
    "You left your purse at Eltsha's apartment! You hid it in one of the bags, and you don't have it with you anymore." With a bag-laden hand, I pointed at her shoulder.
    Her eyes were soft as she smiled. "I said I was going to help, remember? She won't want to accept it, but -"
    A cataclysmic explosion interrupted her, emanating from a potted shrubbery twenty feet ahead of us, so powerful it knocked us to the floor before we even knew what was going on.
    "VANYA!" I heard Katie scream in terror.
    My ears rang from the blast - as they cleared, I began to make out the yelling of panicked people. Looking about wildly, I tried to figure out what had happened. A dwarf's severed arm lay a few feet away, its fingers twitching spasmodically as a small pool of blood pooled beneath it from several large gashes. A wedding ring was visible on one of its fingers. Horrified, I dropped what bags I was still holding and scrambled over to my friend. "Katie?" I asked, panicked. "Are you okay?"
    She nodded hurriedly, her eyes dancing about us as she struggled to sit up. "I'm all right," she said assuringly. "I'm just a little shaken."
    As I got up to help her to her feet, she pointed at the elevator shaft, her eyes wide. "VANYA, GET DOWN!" she screamed.

    The world became chaos.
    Spinning towards where she'd pointed, I saw a tiny spot of light rushing towards us, flashing with fire. "Armok, vendi scild!" I shouted reflexively. I felt my pulse throbbing in my forehead, as in a heartbeat, a magical shield of blood expanded from my outstretched palms.
    A missile exploded - an ear-shattering blast overcoming my shield as it tossed me to the floor, spinning as I skidded backwards fifteen feet, a searing pain in my left ankle. I heard someone scream my name, saw Katie cowering in fear as a second missile rushed down from the elevator shaft.
    There was nothing I could do.
    The blurp of plasma weapons echoed as energy flew forwards above my head - like a wounded dragon, the missile trailed blackened smoke as it spun out of control, its explosion ripping a gaping hole in a wall, less than fifty feet from where I lay.
    "GET DOWN! ON THE GROUND, NOW!" a male's voice shouted - a half-crouched, fully-armored security guard rushed forwards, his weapon at the ready. Behind me, I heard the sound of more guards yelling the same as they sprinted in my direction.
    A crack echoed through the air, the sound of a sniper round - I looked on in horror as a cloud of red mist erupted from the back of the guard that had saved Katie's life. He stumbled, flipping to the floor.
    "Vanya, HELP!" I heard someone scream. My mind blank with shock, I got to my feet and limped blindly towards the call.
    A second loud crack rang out - the floor by my side shattered in a short spray of shrapnel.
    Everywhere, people were screaming in terror - smoke grenades flew through the air, popping as they released their fumes, but not nearly fast enough - I heard the rushing sound of a third missile. On an instinct, I threw myself forwards towards where Katie lay shaking on the floor, and a shockwave rattled our teeth. A barrage of gunfire rang out from nearby, assaulting my eardrums; their projectiles thudded into the distant wall.
    There was silence.
    I prayed it was over, but a quick glance at Katie told me otherwise: a large metal beam pinned her left arm to the ground, swirled about with smoke. Getting up, I crouched, putting my arms beneath it and lifting with all my strength, but it wouldn't budge. My ankle screeched with a piercing pain - my leg collapsed underneath me as I crumpled to the ground.
    "Get out of here!" a human guard yelled as he heaved the metal girder to the side with a bone-rattling clang. "Get somewhere safe!"
    A fusillade of bullets erupted around us, pinging as they ricocheted cruelly off the metallic floor. The man yelled in pain, gritting his teeth and swearing as he fell, clutching at his leg.
    "Winteos, vendi scild!" someone cried out.
    A wispy, purple dome formed above our heads - Katie stood before us, her arms above her head, bullets emitting whirring tones as they bounced quickly away. I felt a sense of relief, but it didn't last long - the gunfire ceased, and an exploding grenade sprayed liquid fire above our heads, carving little crackling trails into her shield.
    "I can't hold it!" Katie screamed, her arms shaking violently as the shield flickered. "HELP!"
    Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed Katie's nearest hand and yanked her towards a nearby doorway. The shield vanished in an instant, the flames spilling onto her jacket and taking root. Half a moment later, a missile exploded behind us, the smokescreen swirling from the blast, but Katie and I were already inside. She bumped me, and a pain shot through my leg; I fell dizzily to the ground. In a hurry, she removed her jacket and threw it to the floor, stomping on it frantically to put out the flames.

    As my vision cleared, my heart gentling its beat, I became a little more aware of my surroundings. All was quiet but for the yelling of the guards, the crackling of fire, and the sobbing of the terrified. A sharp odor filled the air, like smoke, gunpowder, and melted steel, so thick that you could taste it on your tongue.
    But it was over.
    I was lying in a black-tiled entryway to a women's bathroom, my view of the stalls blocked by a cyan-tiled wall. Outside the doorway, more security guards jogged past towards the distant elevator. Katie, hyperventilating, was still stomping fevishly at her smoking jacket, oblivious to everything else.
    "Katie..." I said, trying to get her attention. When she didn't respond, I said it louder. "Katie!"
    She halted abruptly, making a few more absentminded, mechanical stabs with her foot as she raised her eyes to mine. She was panting... but as she realized where she was, her face lost its crazed expression. Her legs wobbled and collapsed underneath her, sending her to her hands and knees upon the floor, where she began to quietly weep. It was only then that I noticed her arms were wet with blood.
    After brushing the mussed hair from my eyes, I tried to stand, but was quickly met with a shrieking pain in my ankle. I yelped, supporting myself with my hands as I tried to shuffle forwards on my good leg. "Katie? Katie, are you all right?" I asked, worried she'd been injured.
    She jerked her head towards me, eyeliner running down her cheeks, smoke smeared in across her chin and forehead. "Vanya," she whimpered, her pretty face twisted into an ugly frown, "I can't do this again. I can't... I can't just - I just... I can't!" She broke down, falling to her side as she shook with sobs.
    And I sat beside my friend, tears in my eyes, praying that Armok would protect us.
    Katie had left the military to avoid the horrors of war... and now, it seemed almost as if war was coming back to find her. Though I still couldn't imagine who would want Katie dead, or even why they would, I vowed that somehow, I would stop them. I wouldn't let something happen to her, as I'd done to Salaia.
    I would keep her safe.

    If I'd only known how wrong I was...

☆

[Splint]

Now, a post to watch. Been meaning to do so for a while.

[Talvieno]

Heyaa, Splint.
Chapter 55: Stuck at Home
    "It seems to me," you say thoughtfully, "that Vanya was desperate to find a family... perhaps subconsciously."
    "What do you mean?" You can hear the skepticism in Sally's voice.
    You lean back in your chair and gesture at the journal. "Well, look at her! First it was Mr Frog - somehow she actually thought he would make a good grandfather. Then it was Scylk, who she wanted to be her 'father'. Now, she wants to call Katie her sister."
    "You don't understand... She went through her entire life without a good family," the woman says softly. "Then she lost her sister, the only person she had." The woman lifts her eyes to yours. "She's never had anyone she could count on. Everyone disappears."
    "No," you correct her, "She disappears. She runs away. In her own words, she 'leaves everyone she knows and loves behind her.'"
    Sally's voice is just above a whisper: "Not always..." She turns her head from you, and that's all you get out of her for a long while.

    Screaming, crying, crackling flames; burning buildings throwing smoke: the sounds and smells of chaos are always the same, on Everoc or Parasol. But they're the sounds and smells of death, too. Though not as horrific as the attack on 48D, it wasn't something you wanted to experience twice.
    Inside my new boots, my ankle throbbed painfully with blood... it was clear something was very, very wrong. When I foolishly made the mistake of trying to flex it, knifing pain stabbed upwards from the source so intensely that it brought tears to my eyes. I bit my lip to keep from yelping. My pulse quickened, and so did the terrible throbbing pain, thump, thump, thump with every passing heartbeat.
    Struggling to keep myself calm, I glanced over at Katie’s form, curled up in a fetal position. I could tell that she wasn't in any condition to help me, but then again… neither was anyone else.
    "Katie?" I said in a tight voice, wincing. "Katie?"
    She lifted her head, her dark hair hanging in her eyes. "Vanya?" Her voice menaced with tears.
    "Katie, there's something wrong with my foot."
    There was silence for a moment, and Katie stared at me blankly before asking in an absent, childlike voice, "Did they shoot you?"
    I shook my head quickly. "No, I think it's just twisted or something. What should I do?"
    It sounded almost as if she was only half-awake. "What should you do?" she echoed softly.
    "Yes! What should I do?" When she didn't answer, I grew frustrated. "Katie! Please, focus! This hurts!"
    She blinked, slowly looking around, and then propped herself up on an arm. "It didn't hurt so bad when you were throwing us in here," she said with a thoughtful air.
    "It did hurt, I just didn't notice it as much with the adrenaline pumping. But what should I do now?"
    She stared at me for the longest time... a kind of dead, lifeless gaze. It was almost as if she was looking right through me, seemingly disconnected from reality. It was only later that I learned she always did this when overwhelmed. Finally, she said, "You think I know?"
    "Wha-" I stopped, confused.
    "I'm not a doctor, silly..." She sounded slightly apologetic, but her eyes seemed to brighten as she said, "My pocket PEA! I could use that." She sat upright and slipped it out of her purse pocket, turning it on. "I could call Trebor if I had his number."
    I quickly turned her down. "No, don't call Trebor."
    She turned a curious, confused eye towards me. "Why not?"
    I hesitated, not really wanting to explain. I'd never trusted him much, but I trusted his new attitude even less. "He's probably busy with other things," I lied, desperately wishing she would focus. My ankle still throbbed with pain, drawing my mind towards it irrepressibly. There wasn't really any way to avoid thinking about it. "We shouldn't bother Trebor."
    "Hmm," she said, nodding absently. "Maybe. I should make sure my dad knows..." In a slothlike manner, she began feeling at herself for her PEA, and finally found it. I expected her to start tapping away, but instead, she just stared at it, confused. "It's broken..." she mumbled at length. "It can't be broken..."
    Suddenly, she twisted around towards me. "Wait, did you say you're hurt?!" she exclaimed, scrambling over. "Where? How bad is it?"
    The clear-headed Katie was finally back, and I thanked Armok for it, grateful beyond words. "It's my ankle," I explained, pointing at it with a finger. "I think it's broken or something."
    "Oh my gods," she whispered, kneeling beside me. Her hands hovered above my boot in indecision for a moment, but she eventually backed away. "I probably shouldn't take the boot off... it might hurt it more than it already is."
    "I was about to say that," I agreed, biting my lip at the painful thought. "You mentioned hospitals after Reudh rescued us... should we go there? And how are we going to get me there, anyway? I can't walk!"
    Staring at the floor, she shook her head, puzzling it out in her mind. "I know a minor healing spell, but even the best aren't good for much besides cuts... We need a doctor." She raised her eyes upwards with a purpose, motioning for me to stay put as she began to walk away. "Vanya, everything will be okay, I promise! You'll be fine! I know what to do. I'll be back soon - don't let anyone move you, okay?" As she turned, jogging out the door, she called out again, "Just stay right there!"

    Sitting alone in the entryway to a Parasol bathroom is usually boring... but when in excruciating pain, it's awful. My arms and neck were getting stiff from holding them in place for so long, and I tried to reposition myself at one point... a mistake I paid for dearly. Tears started to roll down my cheeks, and I was too afraid of moving to brush them away.
    Fortunately, no one came through, probably from all the destruction just outside the door, and ten minutes or so later, Katie returned in a rush, practically dragging a protesting medic along with her.
    "I really don't have time for this wild goose chase, miss!" the old, white-haired dwarf was saying. "There can't be anyone injured except the people we've already treated because... oh." He stopped and walked forwards, removing a PEA from a medical kit as he knelt down beside me. "Goodness... You really are injured, aren't you..." he said softly. "Don't worry: I'll have you fixed up in no time. Can you tell me where it hurts?" he asked, looking into my eyes.
    Katie answered for me indignantly. "It's her ankle, like I already told you! You've hardly listened to a single thing I've said!"
    "I'm a Parasol Security Medical Officer," the man answered in a harsher tone. "I told you I was very busy when you found me." He stopped, and his patronizing voice returned as he spoke to me again: "Can you tell me which ankle hurts?"
    "The left one," I said quickly, hoping he would hurry up and get it over with. "But it's under the boot." He immediately reached for it, and I cried out in surprise, "No! Don't touch it!"
    He gave me an impatient glare. "This is my job, Miss."

    There isn't that much more I remember, largely because he gave me a painkiller that made me woozy for a while... It's all really blurry, and my memory is usually better than that. My ankle was sprained, as it turned out, and the reason it throbbed was because it was swollen - all big, ugly and purple, with a dark bruise running up the back of my leg. Sprained ankles took months to heal back on Everoc... and unfortunately, on Parasol, it's only slightly better. Science can only take you so far towards repairing organic life, which is something Parasol seems to refuse to accept. The doctor gave me a dose of something - nanobots - he said it would speed up the healing process a little, but not by much. I was going to be bedridden for a couple weeks, and Katie was going to be able to leave whenever she wanted. That meant I'd be alone... and I didn't like the thought of that very much.
    It's funny how things never really end up how I expect.

~~~

    "Dad, I told you a hundred times already, we were just coming home with groceries!"
    "GROUNDED!" Kenzon roared.
    It was the middle of a loud debate between Katie and her father, and I was still a little woozy from all the medications. We'd gotten to her apartment with a lot of difficulty - as Katie couldn't afford a "hoverchair", I was using crutches. The ones at Spearbreakers weren't nearly as fancy, being made of wood... they were so much different from Parasol's metal-and-plastic version. I'm sure my ankle would've throbbed even more if it hadn't been for the painkillers, with gravity pulling all the blood to my feet.
    "Grounded??" Katie exclaimed. "Are you serious? Why? What did I do? I would've sent you a message, but my PEA broke!"
    "You should've taken care of it! I'm tired of discussing this with you," Kenzon said angrily, his eyes narrowed. "You claim you were going to get groceries, but the reports from the phone company say your signal was coming from Shallowroot. What were you even doing over there? Do you have any idea how dangerous and run-down that district is? No. I've had it. You're grounded, and that's final."
    Tremendously distraught, she was on the verge of tears. "But dad, I can't just stay here! You've kept me cooped up here my entire life! I've been out on my own before, and I'm fine! I was helping Eltsha out - nobody's paying for her food!"
    Kenzon continued firmly, "It's for your own safety, Katie. If someone's trying to kill you, and not even Division Three's mall is safe, then Shallowroot is a deathtrap!"
    "But dad -"
    He interrupted her, fuming. "I'm going to hire a pair of guards and station them outside the door for your protection. I've already hired a private investigator. Until we catch and deal with these thugs, you're staying home, end of discussion." With that, he turned and stormed away.
    My friend turned to me quietly, hanging her head. "I'm sorry stuff likes this keeps happening," she apologized dejectedly. After a minute, an ironic smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. "This means I'll have to stay home and keep you company, though, so you won't have to be by yourself."
    "I'm sorry, Katie..." I said, shaking my head quickly. "It's not your fault at all. He shouldn't act this way towards you, and I wouldn't need to keep you here... I'd be okay by myself."
    "Oh, hush," she said playfully, thinking better of giving me a friendly punch. "You'd be bored as anything, and you know it. C'mon, let's get you to your room so we can prop your leg up."

~~~

    The next two weeks were the quietest I’d had in a long, long time. It was a blessing in some ways, but in others, it was a curse... I didn't like laying still. Even while cooped up in Mr Frog's laboratory, I'd at least been able to get up and walk around. At the same time, my being idle didn't mean nothing ever happened.
    As soon as he found out I was injured, Reudh started to visit me. He didn't come every day, even though I'm sure he wanted to... he would spend a couple hours with me, just listening or talking, or doing whatever else I felt like. It felt relieving to talk to a guy that wouldn't judge you, or try to "fix" your problems... he just listened, and that's what I really wanted. We became good friends during those weeks, far better than we ever would've become at Spearbreakers. I kept thinking he'd eventually "figure out" I was an elf and go away, but he never did.
    Trebor came once every day or two, too - not to visit me, though. In fact, he only ever once came into my room and said hello... No, he actually seemed to like the fact that Katie had to stay home, in a way. He even told her so, saying it meant she wouldn't have to come over to his place to work on the memoirs, and explaining that his family wouldn't like her much. While Kenzon was away at work, he and Katie would work on their memoirs in the sitting room, and she was always careful to leave my door open so I could hear them. Katie would often cry at first, but the longer they worked, the more Katie was able to come to terms with what had happened. They were going to write everything out, starting with the beginning of their service, and finishing with the final battle of 48D. I wanted a copy of the finished work, so I could paste bits of it into my journal... something I've since done a number of entries back.
    As to my journal, it sat on the bedside table those two weeks. It's amazing how much you can write when you don't really have anything else to do... it only took a few days to get past where I'd left Spearbreakers, and past my travels on the bloodplains. Then I got to 48D... and I stopped. I didn't want to write about it, really... especially not considering how I was part of the reason they were dead. It was too soon.
    I wasn't bored for long. Katie came to the rescue, just as she always did, and brought me a few of her books. There was a book about vampires I remember in particular... it was my favorite. Although I know "real" vampires - the vampires Parasol and Ballpoint created - aren't anything like they were in the book, it was so chilling, and I ate it up, hating when it ended. Katie brought me other books of hers, and I read those, too. I'd never actually had access to books like that before, and it made the inconvenience of a sprained ankle bearable.

    Her father came to visit me once after his daughter had fallen asleep... I was reading with my lamp on, slumped against the headboard, a blanket covering my chest and legs. My injured ankle was propped up on a stack of pillows, just like it always was.
    "Vanya..." he called quietly, knocking on the open door.
    Frowning, I put my book aside. "Mr. Kenzon? Is something wrong?" I asked. It was unusual for me to visit... he usually chose to ignore me.
    "I wanted to ask you a few questions relating to Katie and the attack," he explained, coming into the room. "She won't talk to me about it, beyond telling me you saved her life."
    With a sigh, I pulled myself upright to where I could sit. "She doesn't like that you keep her under lock and key," I said pointedly, folding my hands atop the covers. "She's not sick or injured, like me. She's been here all her life, and she wants to leave."
    My comments made him defensive. "I always let her have girls over, and I let her join the Parasol Jetpacking Association after they put the new safeguards in place," he listed off. "I'm not 'keeping her under lock and key'. She's never been isolated."
    "Did you ever take her anywhere else?" I asked softly. "Did she ever go offworld, or travel on a boat, like the ones you love so much?" I asked, gesturing towards the sitting room with a finger.
    Kenzon was beginning to grow frustrated. "I'm not here to talk about my parenting abilities, Vanya," he said, making the name sound like an insult. I reddened... it reminded me of my elven heritage, which I think is what he'd intended. "No, I'm here to ask about the attack, so help me out. What weapons did they use?"
    I frowned at the change of subject, and then looked to the side, trying to remember. "Missiles of some kind," I said slowly, "and... I think a sniper rifle, but they weren't very accurate with it. Then a machine gun, which was accurate... and when Katie put up her shield, they launched some kind of fire-filled grenade or something at her, and it hit dead-on."
    As I spoke, Kenzon counted on his fingers. "Four people, then," he guessed.
    "No..." I said, and stopped. "Well, I don't think there were four... none of them fired at the same time, and they should have."
    Kenzon nodded briefly in agreement, his brow furrowed in thought as he pinched his clean-shaven chin. He began to pace, staring at the floor. "You're right, of course. They would use everything at once, and each would be skilled if it was part of a group. The sniper rifle inaccuracy stands out on its own. Therefore... I feel it safe to assume they/he had an RPG Launcher, a REACH railgun with AI-assisted targeting, and a one-shot guided napalm cannon..." He frowned, disappointed. "...All of those are rather common."
    I was slightly impressed. "Is it all that simple? You can figure all of that out so quickly?"
    He lifted his head towards me for a moment, slowing his pacing. "I'm a PWI - a Private Weapons Instructor. It's my job. I can operate all of those, and many more, but I'm almost 50, and I've been using them my entire life." With a sigh, he folded his arms, leaning against a wall as his puzzled gaze fell to the floor. "It just doesn't make sense..." he mumbled, almost to himself. "Why would someone want to kill Katie? She's never hurt anyone. I don't usually let her expose herself, and I don't have anyone who would try to kill her to get at me, either... It's just not right. We're missing something, and if I could just figure out what it is..." His eyes wandered as he spoke, and as they lighted on me, he stopped abruptly and straightened. He'd forgotten I was listening. With a brief nod, he started towards the door. "Thanks for your help, Vanya."
    "Goodnight, Mr. Kenzon," I said quietly after him, picking my book back up.
    "And, um..."
    Looking back up, I saw his head poking around the doorframe. "Yes?" I asked.
    Kenzon hesitated visibly, seeming unable to meet my eyes. "As a thank-you for 'saving' Katie's life, I should offer you free training... After your leg improves, of course..."
    "Ankle," I corrected him.
    "Right."
    He wasn't attempting to hide how uncomfortable he was with it, and I felt compelled to ask, "Why are you offering this to me?"
    "Well, look, Vanya... I offered it to Reudh, and it isn't in my best interests to be rude to you, seeing as you're clearly capable of keeping my daughter safe from whoever's after her..." he explained haltingly, his annoyance steadily increasing. "Just... do you want it or not?"
    With a sigh, I said, "Yes, I'll take it." I had the feeling he wasn't really going to train me, anyway, but right then I was too tired to care.
    "Okay, great. Goodnight." Giving me a forced smile, he left the room, and that was the last time I saw him that week.
   
    Being stuck at home wasn't boring at all. Well, at least... not for me.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 56: The Moral Line
Vanya's journal continues in its now-familiar flowing, elven script. She seems less comfortable with using it, you've noticed - there are many instances where her circumflexes and dipthongs are improperly used. It's almost as if she never fully learned to write her own language, and you're curious as to why she's using it in the first place... unless it's to instill a sense of privacy within her mind. It almost makes sense, in a way... Vanya was never used to living around people she didn't know, and you're quite sure she hadn't yet learned to trust Scheck Kenzon, Katie's father.

    "Winteos, Deovaang Liagen!" Katie shouted, and feathery, ethereal wings sprouted from her shoulders.
    "Armok, Deovaang Liagen!" I called out after her.
    Nothing happened.

    Katie was standing across from me in the sitting room, trying unsuccessfully to teach me the "guiding wings" spell for the third day in a row. Mr Kenzon was at work as usual, and we were home alone. My friend had taken excellent care of me during my four bedridden weeks, helping me exercise my ankle as it healed, and supporting me as I learned to walk again. I still hadn't quite managed to regain my full mobility, and though I was finally able to walk without crutches, I knew it would still be some time before I regained the grace or agility I'd demonstrated in my tumultous battles with Mr Frog and Salaia. The "attack", as Katie and I had taken to calling it, had happened two months before, and I'd out of bed for three quiet weeks. Katie didn't want me to leave the apartment until I could safely walk around without crutches, and after hours and hours of special exercises, we were just nearing that point. It seems that no matter how advanced your technology is, there can never be an instant cure for everything.
    As soon as he'd learned of the attack, Reudh had started visiting me regularly. I could count on his visit three times a week, and he proved as reliable and trustworthy as a waterwheel. At first, I wasn't too fond of the idea of him coming over, but he surprised me the first few days by simply keeping me silent company. He didn't ask anything of me, and gradually, I opened up to him. Trusting men is difficult for me to do... but he was so understanding, thoughtful, and encouraging that he became an exception. Before I was even off my crutches, I considered him a true friend.
    My "new" friend, Katie, I'd known for a little over two months by that time. She was gradually getting better, but her nightmares kept coming back, refusing to leave her alone. Sometimes she would wake up screaming "Saemin!" in such a distressed, heartbroken tone that it brought tears to my eyes. I wanted to make things easier on her, but all I could do was let her know I cared. The fact that she was still helping Trebor with the memoirs only brought back buried memories.
    He still came over from time to time. He and Katie disagreed on a lot of things, but they were pretty far into their book... Unlike writers on Everoc, they didn't use paper - they simply spoke it into their PEAs, editing it verbally as they went along. Somehow, Trebor managed to hook their PEAs to the viewer in the sitting room, and on occasion, I would come and watch them, sitting in the white chair in the corner while I exercised my ankle. It was interesting, but not nearly as interesting as what was happening that eighth week...

    I was studying magic again. Katie wanted to teach me Guiding Wings, and I wanted to learn it, even if there was no way I'd ever use it... mainly because of how beautiful it looked. Unfortunately, it seems that how quickly I learned Vendi Scild at the beginning was just "beginner's luck." I'd been working on Guiding Wings for such a long time, and I hadn't gotten anywhere. Katie made it look so easy, and I couldn't figure out where I was making my mistakes.
    "Let's take a break," Katie sighed, letting her wings dissolve into nothingness as she plopped down on one of the three green, backless sofas. "It didn't take me too long to learn it, so I don't see how why you'd be having trouble," she told me quietly, shaking her head in thought.
    Disheartened, I sat down on the sofa across from her. "Maybe I'm just not capable of learning it..."
    "You can learn it," she insisted, her brow furrowed with disappointment. "You will learn it. It's just that while I like teaching, I'm not the best teacher."
    "How do you know?" I asked softly, leaning down to massage my ankle.
    She was quiet for a moment. "You learned the deflection spell, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to learn this one... especially when it's the one I'm best at."
    "I don't know," I said with a discouraged sigh. "Maybe we should just forget it and do something else."
    My friend crossed her arms. "No. I'm going to teach it to you. "
    "Trebor will be here soon," I reminded her, sitting up and brushing the hair out of my face. "We can't spend much longer practicing."
    "No, but wouldn't you like to be able to show it to him by the time he gets here?"
    I rolled my eyes, smirking. "You know he doesn't like me."
    "So? I know you won't admit to it, but you like him," she said, raising an eyebrow knowingly and hiding a smile. "He's 23, only two years older than you. He's handsome, smart, and funny. Who wouldn't like him?"
    "Please, let's not start this again..." I groaned in vexation. I actually didn't like him... at least, not in that way. I merely wished he didn't hate me. For some reason, I feel compelled to try to be likable... possibly because of how I never had any friends while I was growing up. It was painful to know that Trebor loathe me so much. He never hid his animosity towards me, he just kept it in check. Now, in a way... I even wished he would call me "Hot Lips" again.
    Katie continued her teasing, leaning forwards and speaking in mischievous, conspirational tones. "At least tell him how you feel. If he knows how much you love him, there's no way he'll deny you!"
    Normally I would've laughed, but I was still too frustrated from my fruitless efforts. "Katie, maybe I could just go somewhere else while he's here..." I sighed, frowning.
    She gave a laugh that ended abruptly in confusion as she considered what I'd said. "Like... go where??"
    "I don't know..." I paused for a moment in thought. "I never visited Solnay like she offered."
    This produced a reaction a little bigger than just a raised eyebrow. "Solnay?? Are you kidding?"
    Awkwardly, I shook my head. "Not really..."
    We sat there quietly, and after a few minutes I saw her trademark impish smile creep stealthily across her lips. "You really don't like him, do you..." At my irritated glance, it faded away just as quickly. "Sorry. Look, I'll give you my key, okay?" She jumped up from her seat, walking lightfootedly towards her room as she motioned me to follow.
    "What?" I asked, confused. Somehow I thought she meant she had a key to wherever Solnay worked, but a minute later, I realized how wrong I was.
    "It's so you don't have to wait for me to let you in," she explained, laying the keycard to Mr. Kenzon's apartment in my hand.
    It felt wrong, and I frowned uncomfortably. "But... you trust me?? What if I gave the key to someone else, and they broke in?"
    She laughed, giving me a quick one-armed, friendly hug. "You're so funny sometimes. Of course I trust you, you're..." She hesitated. "You're you. I know you. We've spent last couple months living with each other, haven't we?"
    "Won't your dad get angry?"
    Katie's happiness dissipated like a snuffed candle. "If he does, that's his problem," she muttered, walking me to the door. "I trust you. Just have fun talking to Solnay, okay? And be careful with that ankle, I don't think it's completely done healing yet."
    We heard a knocking at the door. Katie rushed forwards quickly, unlocking and opening it. As might be expected, it was Trebor, dressed in his usual slacks and polo shirt. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked, looking back and forth between Katie and me.
    "Vanya was just leaving," Katie explained hurriedly, taking his hand and pulling him in the door.
    Trebor seemed genuinely surprised. "Leaving?? If this is a bad time, I can come back some other day..." he offered. I didn't fail to catch the brief glare he sent in my direction.
    "It's fine..." I said cautiously, taking a wide path around him. "I'll be back soon, Katie, okay?"
    She nodded, stepping away from the dwarven med student and leaving the room with me. To the two guards positioned outside the door, she said, "This is Vanya. She's a friend, okay? Let her in when she comes back, got it?"
    They seemed terribly bored. "Yeah, sure," one said, eyeing me with a suspicious glance that betrayed a sense of superiority. The other only readjusted the pistol in his holster, sighing almost inaudibuly.
    "Make sure you stay safe, Vanya," Katie said with a quick hug. For a minute, she remained outside with me, asking a few worried, last-minute questions as they popped into her mind. When she was done, she went back inside, already talking to Trebor as the door closed behind me.
    It took me a minute to take it in: I was in Parasol, and I could go wherever I wanted. It was a sense of freedom I'd never truly felt before... and it felt wonderful. Still, even with this newfound freedom, I had absolutely no idea where I could go, or what I could do. Somehow, that didn't matter so much as the fact that I was free, and not bound to anyone else's wishes or desires... it put me in a good mood, helping clear away the frustration from my mind.
   
    I'm certain my excited heart skipped a beat as I stood in Rubywood's shuttlecar lobby, the false, setting sun casting its long, warm rays through the clear tube before me. I didn't have to wait long before a car stopped at the platform with a whirr, a blue-carpeted ramp smoothly extending towards it from where I stood. Breathlessly, I stepped aboard and placed my hands on the console, immediately hearing the phantom-like voice: "Please relax while we make the connection." Seconds later, "Connection established" intoned softly in my mind.
    Applied Sciences, where Solnay Hylcelon works, I thought, and the car began to move.
    So began the first shuttlecar trip I ever took by myself, and it was far from being the last.

    I didn't think about it at the time... it only occurs to me as I think back on it now, a few months later: The girl that hid in the alleyway outside the hospital, so many years ago... the girl who'd called out that Talvi was awake, standing on tiptoe to peer in through a crack in the wall... the girl that used to be me... She would never have been so bold as to take a shuttlecar by herself, not even if her life depended on it. I've changed so much over the past four years... A lot of it is for the better, but still I wonder... Should I miss my old self?
   
~~~

    Humming as it slowed, the car turned off the main rails and down a side path on the right. It was dark outside the tube, and I was so far underwater that I couldn't even see the sun above the ocean surface. The car was well-lit, at least, the ringed lights illuminating the vehicle evenly as we passed through them. Farther to my right, I could make out the shape of a huge, metallic building, shaped like a cube. Hardly a minute passed before my vehicle came to a gentle stop outside a poorly-lit station that resembled Rubywood Apartments's. A metallic ramp of thin, overlapping plates slid outwards towards me with a series of clicks, and I heard in my head: "Applied Sciences, Division 3, Unit 403. You may exit when ready."
    Taking my hands from the panel, I walked across the ramp, feeling a tingling sensation as I passed through the airshield. As soon as I'd set foot inside the building, the ramp clicked quickly back into place, and the shuttlecar accelerated away. Somehow, with it gone, I felt even more alone.
    Lights flickered on around me, revealing a small, silver-walled room. The floor was a little scuffed, as if it'd seen moderate traffic, and been around for a long time.
    "Welcome to Applied Sciences' Liquied-Cooled Unit 3-403-F96BTS, codename Cephalopod," a female's smoothly-modulated voice intoned, seemingly coming from speakers all around. It startled me so badly I almost tripped. "Identifying employee. Please remain still." I'm surprised I still remember the serial code, but I may have it wrong.
    I swallowed nervously and complied, but my unspoken misgivings proved ill-founded.
    "Vanya Carena, military grade classification," the voice spoke again. "Invitation granted by tier-three researcher, 'Solnay Hylcelon'. You may proceed."
    To my right, I heard a sound like metal scraping against stone. Turning my head quickly, I saw a heavy door smoothly slide open, less than ten feet away.
    "Would you like a tour?" the artificial speaker asked.
    "No, thank you..." Without thinking, I gave a prompt response, despite my hesitant state as I peered through the doorway and down a long, white hallway.
    There was a pause. "Would you like directions?"
    I took a few timid steps towards the open door. "I'd like to visit Solnay Hylcelon, please," I requested, my voice small in comparison to the mighty structure I stood within.
    A ten-foot blue line of laser light appeared on the floor in front of me, its brightness pulsing forwards within itself in little bursts. Something about the rhythmic pulsing seemed to draw me instinctively forwards... It was a signal that could be understood in any language: "Come this way."
    So I began to walk. As I did, the line altered itself, projected from little motor-driven turrets on the ceiling that constantly adjusted themselves to where I stood, gracefully curving the line to follow the path I was to take.
    Down the main hallway, through a door that opened for me, down another hallway and in through a door at one side, I followed the pulsing guide, watching the ground as I walked. Around and above me, I could hear the hum of machinery, the rat-a-tat of muffled machine guns, occasional bursts of electricity and tiny explosions. It was a giant collection of laboratories, cooled by the water surrounding it. It was science... It was elegance... It was Parasol.
    And it was wrong.

    On the way there, I stopped as I heard a voice just within one of the rooms I was passing. Curious, I pulled my hair back and put my ear against the white-painted door.
    "- don't think that, do you? Come on, you'll be fine. Just climb aboard and we'll start the experiment." It was a male's voice, and though a little high-pitched, it was definitely dwarven. I guessed it was a scientist.
    There was silence for a moment, and I thought I could hear the voice of a teenage girl, whimpering in fear.
    "Oh, quit whining," the researcher ordered crossly. "The last test subject only lost a few fingers. We put 'em back on and he was fine."
    The "test subject" started crying audibly. "I want to go back home," I heard her sob. "Please, just let me go! I don't want to do this! I was in my house just a few seconds ago - I shouldn't even be here!!"
    "Shut up and stand on the red 'X' like you're supposed to!" said the reasearcher. "Up the steps. UP... the steps. Good girl. Good girl..."
    "Please! You can't hurt me!" the girl begged desperately, and the frightened tone in her voice made me bite my lip in empathy. "I haven't done anything wrong!! I don't even know where I am, why did you take me here??"
    I heard a container slam shut violently, just inside the door. "Damn it, human, just do as you're told!" a third, exasperated voice spat. "You'll be in a lot less danger if you just calm down, and more importantly, we'll have a greater chance of getting accurate results. We'll let you go after we're done."
    "But I want to go now!!" she shouted, her voice raising in pitch.
    "Gods damn it!" the third voice cursed. "Jeb, see if you can calm her down. Actually, no, screw this. Let's just start the damned test already."
    There was a loud crack, like a branch being broken, and then silence as the girl's terrified screams came abruptly to an end. I caught my breath, tears springing to my eyes as it slowly sank in. I listened in horror, not willing to believe what I'd just heard.
    After a long pause, the first voice spoke. "I'd say that was a failure, Mack, what do you think?" There wasn't an ounce of emotion in his voice. "All right, drain the chamber of the mess and let's see what went wrong this time."
    Whoever the test subject had been, she was dead... and it sounded like it'd been a very gruesome way to die. I could almost picture it in my mind: a teenage girl lying lifeless on the floor, a pool of blood spilling from her chest... It reminded me of the way Salaia died. I snapped. "You monsters!!" I screamed, pounding on the door. "She wanted you to let her go!! You had no right to keep her here!"
    Without warning, a large hand clapped roughly over my mouth and an arm wrapped itself around my stomach, lifting me off my feet and hauling me away. Though I struggled uselessly to escape my assailant, I wasn't nearly strong enough.
    My little adventure was over within half a minute; my captor dragged me across the hall, rudely forcing me into a chair as I got my first glimpse of him: an old, muscled dwarf with a beard streaked brown and gray. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked incredulously, straightening his whiskers. "Are you trying to get yourself taken?"
    Too bewildered to respond, my eyes slowly scanned my surroundings. I was sitting in a chair, in a laboratory that looked remarkably like Mr Frog's, except the equipment didn't look hobbled-together, and there was a greater variety of heavy machinery. My chair was turned backwards from a table and facing towards the door, fifteen feet away.
    In the hallway outside, I heard a muffled, "Damn it! Where'd she go?" followed by silence.
    My kidnapper regained my attention by snapping his fingers in front of my face. "Hey. You. What's wrong with you? Are you daft?"
    "Not another one, Golchek?" groned a woman's voice from behind me. Even without looking, I could detect a roll of the eyes. "You're no white knight, so you should stop acting like one."
    Golchek's attention wandered for a moment. "Hush up, now, Daneerah. Of course another one. I don't usually find 'em in the hallways, though." He turned back to me, squinching his wrinkled eyes. "You're new here, obviously. You shouldn't go around poking your nose in places it oughtn't be."
    "What? I... You..." I stammered, trying to figure out what was going on. "Why do you think I'm new?"
    Golchek stepped back and gestured dramatically towards the blue laser-line of light on the floor, which was pulsing towards the doorway. "Doesn't take a genius," he muttered.
    "They were killing someone," I protested, growing angry as I tried to stand. "They'll keep killing people if we don't stop them!"
    Two hairy hands forced me back into the chair. "Don't I know it. There's nothing you or I could do, girl, so there's no sense in trying."
    Slowly shaking my head in amazement, I whispered, "You don't even care..."
    "Of course we do, honey," Daneerah corrected me from the other side of the room. Glancing over, I and saw a middle-aged, dark-haired dwarf in a labcoat and safety goggles. She was crouched next to a countertop, measuring a dark liquid in a vial before she poured it into a machine. "It's not that we don't care, it's just that we can't do anything. It's how Parasol does things, and the government turns a blind eye - they don't even keep security cameras in laboratory buildings like this. They claim it's all for the sake of science. You didn't think we're so advanced because we sit around playing marbles all day, do you?"
    I drew my eyebrows together, almost fuming. "But it's wrong!" The dead girl's screaming still echoed in my head.
    "They don't see it that way," Golchek said gently. I turned back to him. "They just have a different idea of morality. The most me and Daneerah can do is try to save however many folks we can."
    "It's more him than me," Daneerah interrupted. "I keep saying he's going to get us into trouble."
    The dwarf mumbled something under his breath about probability. "Where are you going, anyway?" he asked, gesturing at the blue line again.
    Closing my eyes, I mentally counted to ten, trying to calm myself. Finally, I answered, "To visit Solnay Hylcelon. Do you know where she is?"
    Golchek shook his head. "Never heard of her. I suggest you follow... the..." his voice trailed off, and my eyes followed his to the ground. "Well, that's... different..."
    The guiding line wasn't a line anymore... the lasers were flashing around on the floor faster than my eye could follow, forming a very clear, if faded, image. It was a face, bearing an empathetic, sorrowful expression, and I recognized it immediately.

    It was Joseph.

☆

[Talvieno]

Chapter 57: A Pleasant Respite
You've just finished taking a break from reading, and find yourself again at the little table in Vanya's tomb, hidden deep in the stone beneath Parasol's cities. You feel you've waited more than long enough, and press the button to record your voice as you begin to translate from Vanya's elven script. If your memory serves you, you left off shortly after Vanya had rarely escaped being used in an experiment, just before she saw Joseph's face traced in laserlight upon the floor. You're uncertain of the date, but you believe it to be close to Splint's third reign at Spearbreakers.

    My mind was awhirl.
    He knew where I was. He always knew where I was. It didn't seem to matter whether I was in a fortress, a trench, or under the oceans of an artificial world, he always knew. As his blue-lined face flickered on the white-tiled floor, I began to realize just how far his reach extended into Parasol. I knew he could've killed me at any point - he could've destroyed my shuttlecar himself, or forced an elevator to fall... but something kept him back.
    I was forced to wonder: Why does Joseph even want me? Why did he bother keeping me around? I wasn't powerful, and I couldn't do anything to help him. I knew things about him that most people didn't... wouldn't he want to kill me?
    Eventually I thought I figured it out. He didn't want me for me. He wanted me because of my connections to Mr Frog and Spearbreakers. I was a bargaining chip... he knew that the Mr Frog of Spearbreakers was starting to change, and he wanted to make sure he had something against it.
    Joseph had said Parasol was "devoid of any sense of morality"... and he was right. I was starting to see Parasol as cruel and uncaring... they allowed their employees to snatch innocent people from their home to serve as guinea pigs in the name of science. Still, I didn't want to believe he was right. Every fiber of my being told me that Joseph was a bad person. After all, he'd tried to kill me once... but was Parasol even worse than him?
    It was Ballpoint's fault that the Holistic Spawn could infect dwarves and evolve, but Parasol was just as bad... I'd always thought I was fighting on the "good side", but what do you do when every side is revealed to be wrong?

    At the time, I tried to console myself with the fact that Parasol wasn't proud of what they did, if I'd never heard of these experiments before... I thought that maybe it was just a fluke, or a few rogue researchers taking things into their own hands. Whether that was true or not, my thoughts were in a wild disarray as the face abruptly scattered, rearranging the laser points into a blue line of light, pulsing towards the door.
    "That was bizarre... Never seen that happen before," Golchek whispered, fingering his beard. Louder, he called, "Did you see that, Daneerah?"
    I was still too stunned to turn around, but heard her say in disinterest, "See what, Golchek..."
    The dwarf said nothing, only staring at the floor in puzzlement. "He had a kind face..." Without warning, he spun towards me so quickly that I was startled. "Do you know him? Who was he?"
    "I don't know," I lied. "I don't know who he is."
    "Hmm... Strange," he muttered, gazing at the pulsating lasers. A moment later, he spun back to face me. "All right, it's probably safe out there now. Just follow the line to wherever you're going. Solnay, was it?"
    I nodded silently, staring blankly at the line.
    "Get going then," he urged. "Don't talk to anyone, and don't put your ear to any more doors."
    And so I left, headed towards my destination as the doors to Golchek's lab hissed shut behind me. It wasn't until later that I realized I'd forgotten to thank him.

    "Aw, I'm so happy to see you, sweetie!" Solnay's warm, clammy hands grasped mine as she greeted me in the doorway, her blonde hair tied up under a hairnet. She was wearing safety goggles and a labcoat just like the one she'd been wearing when I'd first seen her. "I don't usually get visitors," she added as I studied her. Somehow, that didn't surprise me too much.
    Feeling a little awkward, I gently pulled my hands away from her, peering past her chubby form and into her laboratory. "It's good to see you again," I said politely, and asked, "What do you do here?"
    She laughed nasally. "Come inside and see!"
    It looked a lot different from Golchek's laboratory... instead of vials and test tubes, the walls were lined with different types of robotic machinery. Glass display cases stood in neat array at one side of the room, each containing strange gadgetry... It didn't look overly interesting at first glance, until I noticed the ceiling. There was a loose black netting twenty feet up in the air, stretched between all four walls, and the room above that seemed to extend all the way to the roof of the building. I didn't know how to ask about it without making myself seem stupid, though, so I thought it might be best that I stay quiet and wait until she told me about everything.
    "You have a nice laboratory..." I ventured carefully.
    "It's better than the one I had at the university by a lot," she laughed, putting extra emphasis on her words as she hurried past me towards the countertops in the middle of the room. "You have no idea. Let me show you what I'm working on right now!"
    Stepping farther into the room, I heard the door shut softly behind me with a swish. "Do you work here alone?" I asked curiously.
    "No, but you caught me during their lunch break. I know Salamar would love to meet you, sweetie. He looks about your age! Just[ out of college." She seemed rather pleased with herself for making the comparison, but quickly diverted her thoughts towards her work.
    Though I really didn't like the idea of her acting as a matchmaker, I didn't have long to think about it.
    "Here!" Solnay said, using a pair of electric tongs to slide a dull, yellowish glob about the size of a frog out of a jar. "Catch this!"
    She tossed it so quickly I barely had time to react as it flew forwards, but she'd aimed it well, and I caught it in my hands. "What is this?" I asked curiously, looking it over. It acted like putty; it was thick and pliable without being moist, which was something I found intriguing.
    Solnay said with a pleased smile, "Experiment with it. What do you think?"
    Unfortunately, I found that once I'd starting tugging at it, it wouldn't come undone. The more I tried to pull it off my fingers, the more it seemed to gum them up, until my hands were hopelessly lost in a sticky mess that quickly became harder and harder to manipulate until finally, I was trapped as firmly as if I'd been handcuffed. Worse, I'd somehow gotten it attached to my skirt, and I stopped moving for fear it might rip the fabric. "What is this?? Help me get it off!" I cried out, my voice raising in pitch as I started to panic. It seemed inescapbable, and my fingers were starting to pop.
    "Oh, calm down, sweetie," Solnay cooed, walking over to me calmly with her tongs. "It's not going to kill you." When she started to pry it away, I felt a little buzz of electricity crawl across my skin, and the sticky substance released itself, dangling loosely as she held it in the air and used her hand to wrap it into a loose wad. It wasn't sticky anymore at all.
    "What is it?" I asked, turning my hands over as I looked at them, still a bit shaken by the experiment.
    She smiled and started to walk back towards the counter with it, explaining, "It's 'EDAP.' That's 'Electrically Deactivated Adhesive Putty.' I've been designing it for military use. It's a lot of fun, isn't it?"
    "Not really..." I admitted apologetically.
    She only laughed, shoving it back into its jar a bit forcefully. "Aw, I don't hold it against you. Though, Vanya, you really shouldn't go sticking it to your skirt." She smirked a little, and then picked a couple more things, bringing them to me. "These are my favorites. Look at them closely, sweetie, but don't squeeze them!" she warned. "You'll get hurt if you do."
    I didn't want to be unprepared this time. "What do they do?" I asked as she placed them in my palms.
    "Well, look at them," she urged. "They're like little portals you can hold on your hand, see?"
    They were, in a way... little black, solid-backed portals, attached to straps that looked very much like they could be adjusted to fit on your hand. Their sides apparently weren't finished, and looked kind of hobbled-together, with exposed metal wiring and thin transparent plastic covering loose metal strips. "What do they do?"
    It was obvious she'd been hoping I would ask that very question. "Come and see!" Solnay said, beaming.
    We walked over to a ladder at one corner of the room, that led up to the net draped above us. When we got there, she motioned for me to give them to her as she made what Mr Frog would probably call meaningless chatter. "Salamar and I keep arguing over the name. He's such a dear. I want to call them VPTs, for Variable Portal Thrusters." She strapped one of the bulky devices over the back of her right hand, and then started with the other on her left. "Doesn't 'VPT' sound a lot better than 'FPT?'" she laughed nasally, watching me for approval.
    I just nodded. I didn't feel either one was better, really.
    "The more you squeeze them, the wider the portals open, and on the other side there's an eternal motion thruster," she explained eagerly as she hauled her chubby frame up the ladder. "It sounds easy, you know, but it's all rocket science!" With a little effort, she climbed out onto a little platform just above the netting. Peering through it, I saw her flick her wrists, and the tiny portals seemed to flip to the other side of her hand. Then, there was a hiss of air and fire, and a flash of light. I blinked instinctively, and when I looked back, Solnay was hovering at least thirty feet above the net, far, far above me.
    "Isn't it amazing, Vanya?" Solnay cried out blissfully. "I can't imagine why more people don't visit me more often!"

    The rest of the day was interesting. Solnay wanted me to test out the VPTs myself, but when I told her I didn't want to, she settled on showing me practically everything else, all amidst a never-ending stream of grating, nasally chatter. Even despite that last, it was fun... what stuck with me most was the fact that she didn't use test subjects, and yet she was still able to invent so many useful things. You don't have to sacrifice people in order to make great things in the name of science, and Solnay's work was proof of it.

    I eventually got up the courage to ask about her relationship with Jonah... and though she seemed somewhat pained, she told me the story. They'd met in the military during a war that had taken place twenty years before I was born. After their duty was over, they got married, but Solnay was drafted back a decade later as part of a reserve crew. Before long, Ballpoint had captured her squad, and though she didn't want to talk about it, I could tell it'd been a mortifying ordeal. By the time she managed to break out, Jonah had joined the military himself in hopes of finding her again... and she found out too late.

    It's strange, sometimes, the pain a smile can mask. I never quite thought of Solnay the same way again, and we became friends that day, each sharing the loss of one dearly loved. It bothered me, though... The night of 48D's battle, Jonah had said he'd wanted to tell me something... but he never got the chance to tell me.

~~~

    It was late evening of the same day, and I felt exhausted, but peaceful. I'd taken the shuttlecar from Solnay's laboratory to Rubywood Apartments; I'd looked in awe at the great Parasol city stretching out before me, the city lights shining brightly under an all-black, starless sky. It was artificial, yes... but that didn't make it any less amazing. I realized then why I'd never really guessed that the Mr Frog at Spearbreakers was "just a clone"... It's because he wasn't "just a clone". He was every bit as real as the "real" one. It was just like that night he'd tried to calm me down by showing me the stars, and I'd seen all the beauty of Spearbreakers' towers, bastions, and courtyards... Something doesn't have to be natural, or even naturally created, for it to be beautiful. Hewn stone is every bit as beautiful as trees, and with care, it can be made to look even better. The same can be said of people... or even entire planets. Despite its evils, Parasol had a sort of magic all its own.
    Outside the door of Mr. Kenzon's apartment, I stopped, hesitantly eyeing the two guards he'd hired as a group of people brushed behind me on their way into the elevator. I didn't want to go back inside. I knew it was late, and that I'd probably miss supper, but that feeling of freedom just felt too precious to give up so soon. I wanted to go see the world. There was a fire in my heart, a thirst that couldn't be quenched... a desire for adventure. I'd had adventures all my life, even if I hadn't wanted them... and today had been another. The fact was, that now, I simply never wanted it to end.
    Unfortunately, as imaginative and adventurous as I might be, I'm not very impulsive. Sighing with disappointment, I stepped forwards, and after unlocking the apartment door with Katie's keycard, I went inside.
    "So you made it back in one piece," Kenzon's voice called out as I entered the room. "I'm mildly impressed." He was sitting where he always did after work - in his green chair, reading a PEA screen with the televiewer turned on, flashing images in front of us.
    I closed the door and locked it. "I went to visit someone," I explained, remembering only too late that I was holding a keycard I wasn't exactly supposed to have. Without thinking, I tried to hide it.
    He noticed immediately. "Nope, what's that you have? Bring it here," he ordered. When I hesitated, he added a firm, "Now."
    Swallowing nervously, I complied, glancing away from his oddly triumphant grin as I held it out.
    "It's Katie's keycard, isn't it? Why would she give it to you?" he asked. He didn't seem angry, which surprised me. It felt like a trap.
    "She wanted me to be able to get back inside," I said cautiously. About thirty seconds passed, as he flipped it over in his fingers, staring at it in deep thought. "Are you upset?" I asked, biting my lip with worry.
    He raised an eyebrow and handed it back to me with an easy air. "Not at all. I'll get you one of your own made tomorrow, so you don't have to use my daughter's," he replied smoothly, and then turned back to his televiewer program.
    Really, I felt a little ridiculous... I'd been so worried he'd get angry or something like he did towards Katie so often. I felt sure if it had been her, instead of me, he would've started a yelling match, so it didn't seem right that he would let me off the hook... But at the same time, I didn't want to tempt fate or push my luck. I left him, heading towards the kitchen, as I could smell Katie's cooking coming from within.
    She was standing at the countertop, shuffling a frying pan of meat and vegetables with a pancake flipper. There were three other steaming pots sitting beside it, too.
    "Katie?" I asked, frowning with discomfort. It seemed a bad subject to bring up, somehow. "Is something wrong with your dad?"
    She quickly turned her head towards me, asking worriedly, "Wrong? What's he doing?"
    "Nothing!" I hurried to clarify. The worried look on her face quickly disappeared, but not before I realized she was worried about his safety. "He's just... not angry. He found out about the keycard."
    Nodding absently, Katie turned back to the food she was cooking and sprinkled some black pepper onto it. "I figured he would. I thought he might be angry, but I wasn't sure..."
    "He offered to make me a card of my own," I said, narrowing my eyes pointedly. "Something isn't right."
    To my surprise, she actually laughed. "He just trusts you. He has a tendency to trust girls more than he does guys for some reason. I don't know what it is. Besides, you're a special case, like I told you before." With a happy smile, she twirled about on her way to the nearest cabinets, opening them and pulling out a few plates. "C'mon, let's eat! I've been experimenting with the seasonings!"
    I got an uneasy feeling, despite her reassurances. Something didn't add up. I felt sure Kenzon should've gotten angry about the keycard, and that Katie should've been more worried than she was... I decided to try to figure it all out myself.
    "Did you enjoy Trebor being over here today?" I asked, trying to work my way into asking a more serious question.
    Her reaction was unprecedented: she blushed. Not only did she blush, but she blushed deeply. She stopped dishing out the food and covered her face with her hands in embarassment, looking at me through the corner of her eye. After an uncomfortable pause, she hissed defensively, "It's not what you think!"
    "You like him!!" I gasped, dumbfounded. I hadn't expected it at all. Her eyes widened and she shook her hands about to try to silence me, mouthing to be quiet. I went on anyway. "Katie, he's six years older than you!"
    "I do not like him!" she protested in a whisper, putting a frantic finger to my lips and glancing towards the living room, where Kenzon was still sitting. "And he's only five years older! I turn 18 in a month."
    "So that's why you wanted to let me leave... so you'd have more time alone with him..." I whispered, matching her volume. It all seemed so clear.
    She blushed again, even as the color was just beginning to fade from her cheeks. "It's not like that!" she said quietly. "He's just... he's so much happier when you're not around, Vanya, I..." At my downcast expression, she hastened to add, "I didn't mean it that way!"
    "He hates me," I said softly, mulling it over. "I already knew he didn't like me, but I didn't realize he hated me that much."
    Her pretty face wrung itself into a sorrowful expression. "I'm sorry, Vanya... But really, it's all right, isn't it? You don't like him anyway, right? You like Urist."
    Urist's name pushed everything else from my mind, and I rolled my eyes. "I don't know..." I muttered, and then changed the subject. "So, do you think he likes you back?
    A smile broke across her face, and she laughed quietly. "I don't know yet, but I think he might," she whispered.
    "Excuse me?" Kenzon's loud, unamused voice interrupted us from the doorway, and we spun around, shock apparent on our faces. "What are you two talking about in here? You're giggling like a couple of schoolgirls."
    "Girl stuff," Katie said quickly, as if it was a practiced response.
    Her father nodded, either satisfied or not simply caring to know. "Are we eating, or are we just going to stand around talking?"

    I suppose it was something I could've expected, really... if you survive a dangerous situation with someone, and then go on to spend a lot of time with them, a wayward heart is bound to fall in love. After all, that's what happened with Urist and me... and though I was fighting it, it was starting to happen with Reudh.

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