The entire journey was supposed to take three or four days, and they had only been a couple of hours into it when Ki cornered him.

Jack had honestly been avoiding her for as long as he could. The ship wasn’t massive, but it wasn’t tiny either, and there were only so many places he could hide. When it came down to it, it was because he had been distracted that she got him. He had gone out on the flight deck watching the other airships cruise by and he accidentally let himself become captivated by the view—the glowing violet woods and blue grasses and far-off black rock mountains.

Every time he looked out over the landscape it struck him anew how alien it all was. It wasn’t different in the way Nymia had been. It was a different kind of different. If Earth was gritty and its colors were of an average hue, Nymia was a little more saturated, the colors were deeper—more vibrant. The air seemed thicker and more invigorating. Tinaria so far had softer, almost pastel-like colors in comparison, but there was also a greater variety of them. Looking out over the countryside, the colors of things made a sort of self-contained sense in relation to each other, but they kept popping up in unexpected shades. Orvalys would probably know of some sort of biological explanation behind why the grass was blue. But for Jack it just made him wonder what Earth would look like to someone who has never seen it before.

And that’s when Ki made her move. She didn’t say anything—just grabbed his sleeve and dragged him off into one of the small bunk chambers. No one had been inside and she slid the door closed before turning around.

“We talk secret,” she said in English.

Oh boy. Here it comes.

“I don’t think anyone is listening,” he tried in Yarvan. “We can speak quietly.”

Ki seemed to weigh it in her mind before switching over as well. “Alright, but I’ve got to tell you quickly because things are already in motion that cannot be undone.”

Jack shrugged. “Seems like a big deal.”

Ki scoffed. “Well, if the entire fate of our country, culture, and people is a big deal to you, then yes. If stopping tyranny and the ever-expanding reach of an oppressive authoritarian republic is of any importance then I’d say so.”

Ah.

“I was afraid it was going to be something like that,” Jack said quietly.

“Stupid!” Ki said in English, pointing at Jack. “Stupid stupid!” and then switching to Yarvan, “Why didn’t you tell me you knew?!”

“Well, the thing is I don’t know,” Jack answered as diplomatically as he could. He noticed that Ki had positioned herself between him and the door, and he didn’t think his chances were very high of getting through her to it in any way until the conversation was over. “I actually have no idea what you’re talking about, and this is the first I’m hearing of it.”

Ki motioned for more. “But?”

“But it hasn’t exactly been terribly difficult to guess that something was going on,” Jack admitted.

Ki’s eyes widened. “They don’t know do they?” She searched Jack’s face for any sign that he knew something she didn’t. “The commanders, they don’t know anything do they?”

“Again, no idea,” Jack said. “Also…” he looked from Ki to the door and back again. “You should know ‘stupid’ is kind of offensive in English.” He noticed that he pronounced the English word with a slight Yarvan accent since it was in the middle of the sentence. His mouth was learning how to make the right shapes.

“What?”

Jack cleared his throat. “I said calling someone ‘stupid’ is rude. It’s like saying tojink in Yarvan.”

Ki shook her head in disbelief. “This is what you’re choosing to say to me right now?”

“Um… yes?”

“Well, then you are a bit tojink,” Ki said. “For that and for not letting me know you were on to us.”

“I wasn’t on to you,” Jack insisted. “I told you that. I’m telling you right now I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Ki held out a hand to motion him to be quieter. She checked to make sure no one was outside the door and lowered her tone. “Tell me what you thought was going on.”

“Nothing specific,” Jack said, lowering his tone to match hers, but not to stop anyone from hearing. Mostly he did it to be facetious. “I could just tell by the suspicious way you were acting that something was.”

“Well, I guess I may as well tell you," Ki said gravely. "We’re planning a rebellion.”

Jack audibly groaned louder than he meant to.

“What?” Ki was suddenly defensive. “You think we’ll fail? You think it’s not worth it? You think Tinaria doesn’t deserve it?” She began pacing around the room and stopping every other step to point at him accusingly. “I thought you were like us, I thought you were boiling under their subjugation as well! Didn't your village Earth get destroyed by the Militia?”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Jack said, lifting his hands. “I didn’t say that.”

“So you’re one of them? Huh?” Ki asked. Her hand twitched toward the knife on her belt and Jack was very aware of it. “You support them? You think the Tinarian Republic is good?”

“Woah, hey” Jack leaned away from her. “I didn’t say that either.”

“So you just don’t care?” Ki continued. “It doesn’t matter one way or another, does it? You’re just like all the others. All the pitiful—”

“I LITERALLY JUST GOT HERE!” Jack quiet-yelled in English.

Ki immediately looked at him confused and stepped back. After a few moments of processing, she opened her mouth but after three or four times, the words wouldn’t come.

“Ok, I’m confused,” she said finally.

“Well that makes two of us,” Jack said. He leaned backward into the hard metal militia-issued chair inside the small bunkroom and tried to put on a disinterested kind of tone. “Look, I have no idea about how this place works, ok? The village of Earth is a long way from all this political business with Yarva and Tinaria and I’m really just here to do my job ok?”

Ki stepped closer and looked at him. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re lying.”

“I… no I’m not.”

Ki pressed him. “You’re lying, I can tell. Whether it’s Yarvan or English I can tell when you lie.”

Jack laughed to himself. “No, you can’t.”

That wasn’t even sort of convincing.

“I can,” Ki insisted. “And I know you’re not just here to ‘do your job.’ That’s absolutely not true.” She crossed her arms and looked at him as if she'd just caught him admitting something—something he didn't want her to know. “I’ve been watching you since the very first day you got here, and you’ve been learning all you possibly can about everything Tinarian and everything Yarvan. You keep saying I’ve been acting suspicious, well guess what? I’m not the only one. You’ve got secrets too, and I thought they were about the rebellion. Now I’m curious about what else could be going on.”

Jack tried to keep his expression calm but underneath he floundered. He didn't think it would exactly be prudent to let her in on his and Orvalys’ secret, but was it worse that she thought he was maybe involved in something else, something that could be dangerous to her? Plus, would she even believe him if he came clean?

Do I tell her? Do I just say it? “So yeah, I’m from a different world, I came here through an interdimensional portal. There you go, now leave me alone.”

“No,” he said out loud. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” Ki searched his face again. She was a little too good at that.

“I can’t tell you,” Jack said. “I’m sorry.”

Ki looked away and the wheels in her head started turning again. She seemed to weigh things out in the same way she had before and then slowly nodded to herself.

“Ok,” she said. “You don't have to tell me—I trust you.”

As she said the words Jack’s mind was suddenly a million worlds away, remembering a battlefield very early on in his Nymian life. It was the first time he had been badly injured, he hadn't quite learned how to fight effectively yet and he had lost a lot of blood. His sword arm was barely functioning at all, and he and Embr were surrounded by raiders. It was the first time he genuinely thought he was going to die.

And moments before being slaughtered next to someone who was still a stranger, speaking a half-intelligible language and facing a dozen bloodthirsty bandits—that stranger had said that same thing. Embr had looked at him and said “I trust you.”

He had put his hand in hers and it was the first time he felt the flow of magic. His veins burned and his arm was usable again. Together they fought off the last of the raiders and everything after that day was different. From then on he could use those elemental powers and it was all because Embr had shared her life force. He later learned that in sharing it she had made herself incredibly vulnerable, and that had never made sense. Why would she do that? How had she known then that they would someday grow to be close friends? She couldn’t have at that point, but at the same time, she had decided that Jack was worthy of trust, and more than anything had started the process that had transformed him into the greatest version of himself.

He never understood it—not fully. He never quite grasped how she had seen it in him, especially because the end of their story turned out quite different than what either of them would have expected.

Jack shook the memories away. He hadn’t had a flashback like that for a long time. It was just so specific the way Ki said those words—I trust you. It took him a moment to find himself again in the present.

“Listen,” he said finally, looking up at her. “The truth is, I’ve been involved in a rebellion before.”

“What?" Ki said, looking at him skeptically. "You can’t be old enough for the naval siege at Lake Yi. Was it some Spavartan uprising? Hindle border disputes?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “But just know that the road you’re going down is the most difficult one I can think of. There are no guarantees with this sort of thing. There aren’t necessarily any victories ahead, and everything will be at risk—your friends, your family, your life. I can’t really express the degree or level to which—”

Ki interrupted. “You think I don't know that? You think I haven’t thought of all the implications? Of course, my life is in danger, but our only option for life, real life—free life. It’s through this. And I’d rather spend a single day in freedom than the rest of my life pretending to be happy under the weight of oppression.”

Jack sighed. She was certainly the type.

“You’ve got a kind of fire," he said. "I’ve seen it before and it’s contagious.”

“Fortunately it is,” Ki said. “And does that mean you’ll help us?”

Jack couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been here before. The situation had somehow grown to be even more familiar. Another memory filled his mind, and even though it was so long ago, he recalled this one perfectly as well.

It was a long time after he and Embr had shared their life force, and she had introduced him to six specific people who one day—together with him—would be known as the Seven Rebels. He had stood before them as they made a similar proposition about a fight against tyranny. He remembered how they had spoken, and he saw the same fire in their eyes. He remembered how their words seemed to lift the entire room, and it was then he had known instantly he belonged with them—he belonged to their cause.

That day, with Embr at his side, he had said yes. He had joined their rebellion and begun an undertaking that would last years and bring about countless adventures. Though it had been spectacularly difficult and positively fraught with danger, he never regretted his decision.

He always treasured the fact that in Nymia he had said yes. It had changed his life to say yes. Saying yes had made him who he was.

“No,” Jack said quietly. “I’m sorry.”