“You'll look wonderful! A true bride of Derri!” the sewer said, holding up the brightly colored cloth to my chest.

“So I shall,” I said softly.

We weren't alone this time... the sewer had brought coworkers. Nearly a dozen of them were scattered around the room, working on whichever piece of the dress they were responsible for.

Alongside them, were other women of Derri. Most notably, Rivini.

“The whole courtyard will be spectacular. May the Sands bless us and keep the wind and storms at bay, as well,” my mother said.

Sickened by her, and her strange happiness, I wondered why she was even here.

She had never helped me with clothes before, why start now?

“Don't look so glum, Telleya. You're about to go down in history. Legends will be made about you,” she said.

Her words cut into me, like hot sand.

Why was everyone bringing that up? Why must they keep reminding me?

Pushing the sewer aside, I fell to my knees and threw up. I couldn't stop it, I couldn't even try.

“Telleya!” people panicked as I sobbed.

I had failed. Miserably.

With my head hung low, I groaned as I cried. I couldn't even think straight.

“Everyone out. Now.”

Ignoring the commotion around me, I wondered what to say... what to think.

What to do.

“Telleya.”

I shook my head, I wasn't going to stand and obey. Not yet anyway.

“Get up Telleya.”

“Leave me alone,” I cried, couldn't I get just a few hours of sorrow?

“Why? To cry? Cease your foolishness, child. You're dishonoring all the women of our House,” Rivini growled.

“Slaves of our House!”

“Everyone's a slave to their House!” she shouted, and grabbed me by the hair.

I flinched, not just because of the rough treatment, but because the brisk movement made the pins and needles stuck throughout my half-made dress dig into my skin.

“Not everyone,” I said to her.

“Think you're not? You think you're special?” she asked.

I laughed at that, and shook my head. “No! But not everyone is a slave. Noth's people aren't,” I said.

“Ah. The Linesmen. Blinded by their lives are you? Well... you're not the first,” she said, letting me go.

Now a little angry, I sat up and slowly stood. “Who wouldn't be?” I asked.

“Few. But you're blind as they. You think any one of those men would disobey Noth? They can't. It's beyond them. They're more slaves than you are now,” she said.

Smiling at her ignorance, I almost pitied her. If only she had seen what I have. “You don't know anything. They love him,” I said.

“Of course they do! He's the only one who can keep them alive!” she shouted.

“And we're no better!”

“We're not bound to him, child! Or at least, we're not. You are about to be,” Rivini said, smirking at me.

“If only,” I said, and stepped away from her so I could peer into the nearby mirror. One of the needles was digging far too deeply into my side, and I needed to get it out.

“You probably would accept it, I suppose. Your hatred for this House is definitely strong enough,” she said.

Finding the specific needle, I flinched at the sight of the tiny circle of red surrounding it. It had punctured me.

Slowly pulling it out, I was relieved to find that it hadn't been very long at all. It would still hurt for awhile though.

Though it left a stain on this part of the dress. Which would cause problems.

Not that it mattered.

“I'd give anything to join them,” I said as I tossed the bloody needle aside.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Good riddance. Seems I really did pick well, then. Go die in some faraway place, and have your body used for the Line's fuel,” she spat.

“Better fuel for such a thing, than a grain of sand here,” I argued.

Rivini gestured at the air around us. “Is life so bad? Granted, the last few years it has been. I admit. Lack of food... water... A woman your age probably even complains over a lack of viable men, but that's all about to change! We're about to become powerful, more powerful than we've ever been.”

I shook my head, and tore the makeshift dress so it would become looser. I was tired of being poked and prodded.

“I knew you hated our House, like many do, but I had not thought it so deep. I had thought with time, and with the taste of life's luxuries you would have come around. Maybe it was a mistake letting you spend so much time on the Line,” Rivini said.

“It was,” I agreed.

If only I had never stepped foot into that great magical place...

“Are you then abandoning Marli? And the rest? Has your hate grown so strong, you'd sacrifice your own sisters?” Rivini asked, stepping towards me.

My mouth moved, but no words came out. Because I knew I couldn't lie.

After all, that was why I was still here... and why Noth hadn't already left, or attacked.

I couldn't sacrifice children.

I couldn't.

“I see. So much for your hate,” Rivini said, waving me away.

A long moment passed with us standing in silence as I tried to think of something to say... something to do.

But I couldn't. I just couldn't think of anything.

“If you can’t kill him, we will. It’s in your interest to be the one to do it, Telleya,” Rivini whispered.

“I can do it,” I said plainly.

“Then what’s your problem? Don’t tell me you actually fell for the man. Power is indeed charming, but he’s a Line Owner. If you think we’re cruel, then you have no idea what he’s capable of,” Rivini said.

Scoffing at that, I smiled at the memory.

“I know who the ancestor was,” I then said.

“What?”

Closing my eyes, I focused on breathing as I remembered the decrepit journal and the hastily scribbled papers.

“The one who Noth met. I know why he's here, and why he feels indebted to us,” I said.

“He told you...?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I figured it out.”

“Why then...?” she asked.

“He killed him,” I said, and proud of it.

“Excuse me...?”

Looking into Rivini's eyes, I felt a strange amount of pride in being the one to tell her.

“He killed him. Because he killed one of his closest friends and tried to steal his Line,” I said.

Rivini's eyes danced as she tried to understand, and I watched as it came to her.

“Then why help us...? Why owe us?” she asked.

“Because he's kind,” I said. “Because he blames himself for not being able to stop it.”

And that was why I couldn't do it.

That's why I couldn't hurt his people... his family.

Because he'd not have blamed me... or my people.

But himself.

It was why I knew the foolish plan to kill him wouldn’t work either.

Did they really think he wouldn’t know how to protect himself from it? He was the Commander of such a great Line… there was no way he didn’t know danger when it appeared.

“Hmph. Not likely. That man is a Line owner. He's probably killed more people than could be imagined. What else do you know?” she asked.

I couldn't believe her. She didn't believe me... no, not just because she didn't believe me... but because she couldn't comprehend it.

How could she? She didn't realize that Noth really was that kind of person.

“Just that he killed him. Once he stopped him from stealing his Line, he had his people investigate him. He found us through notes and journals our ancestor left behind,” I said, defeated.

She didn't even care that our ancestor had tried to steal the Line from Noth.

She probably didn't see anything wrong with it at all.

Why would they? They were repeating the same mistake as we spoke.

“Well. I suppose it's not completely useless information. We might be able to use it somehow...”

“Nothing can be used against him...” I said, remembering how even the other Houses bowed before him.

“Enough, it doesn't matter. With this our lives will become better! Cease your foolishness, child. Never shed a tear again! Every tear I see from you from now on, I'll punish you for it,” she said.

I knew better than to think the punishment she had in mind was of the physical nature, so I simply nodded.

“Yes, Grandmother,” I said softly.

“Good. I'm going to bring the sewers back in, and you're going to let them finish. Keep your back straight, and your eyes clear. You're a daughter of Derri, act like it,” Rivini chastised me as she walked past me, and to the door.

Rivini was cruel.

All of Derri was cruel.

Everyone in this city of sand was cruel.

Even our ancestors, the one who left it... were cruel.

The first and only interaction Noth had with my people was a man trying to steal his Line.

Killing one of his closest friends.

Then trying to kill him.

And I was the one who gave that cruelty new life.

It had been a dying fire... a smoldering ember, and I had given it fuel.

It wasn't Noth who had done it.

It was me.

Because I couldn't stop it.

Legends…?

How stupid. The only legend that will be left of me, once this was all said and done…

Was that this tiny grain of sand dared to vie herself against one as great as the Commander of the Front-Line.

A small grain against the world.

If I was lucky… maybe Noth would destroy not just me, but the whole House of Derri in the process.

Maybe he’d crush this whole City of Sand beneath his great Line.

That would make me a legend indeed.

While she ordered everyone back in, I felt what little of my heart that hadn't broken yet shatter like glass.