Chapter 8:

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure,” Sukren replied, although he wasn’t sure what kind of favor Vek would need. “As long as it doesn’t involve going onto the serf staircase.”

“Well, actually…”

Sukren tried not to look at Vek as if Vek were crazy. “No. I – we might be in better shape than we were yesterday, but – no.”

They were inside Elanex’s dorm, along with the soldier who had been there the night before. Mayah and Elanex were already gone. “He has papers now,” the soldier pointed out. Sukren wanted to applaud him. He settled for some enthusiastic nodding.

Vek shrugged. “Never mind.” He pulled open the door. “This way, to the lift.”

Once they were outside and around the curve of Elanex’s dorm, however, Vek turned to Sukren once more. “Can you tell them I’m with you? That I’ve been assigned to be your personal servie?”

“Tell who?”

“The soldiers at the elevator bay.”

“Sure,” Sukren said, a little more slowly this time. He wondered why Vek couldn’t just rely on his own papers. Was it because Vek was a shadow member? Even shadow members had the right to use elevators, didn’t they? Maybe not.

Whatever the reason, Vek didn’t seem inclined to explain. Which was fine. Preferable even. Better rested or not, Sukren still didn’t have much energy. It would be wisest to save what he did have for his meeting with Lady Nari.

“Which zone are we going to?” Sukren asked Vek.

“9.”

It was nighttime again. They went down the lift with no problems; the regent guarding it was one of Elanex’s underlings, apparently. At the elevator bay, however, it was soldiers, unknown ones. Sukren showed them his papers. After a moment he was waved through. He turned at once and pointed at Vek. “He’s with me.”

One of the soldiers held her hand out for Vek’s booklet. Sukren watched as she thumbed through the pages. She showed the booklet to her partner, then tossed it onto the floor at Vek’s feet with a sneer. “Go.”

Sukren turned his face away. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vek scoop his booklet up off the floor. Sukren then led the way to the elevator car, waiting until the doors were closed to glance sideways at him.

Vek met his gaze. “Thank you.” He spoke with a soft, open relief.

“It’s nothing,” Sukren muttered.

“I mean it. I know you like village life, but I’m glad you’re here now.”

Rock-god, Sukren couldn’t take this anymore. He clapped Vek’s shoulder, turning him so that they were no longer facing each other. “So Zone 9, and then where do I go?”

“Straight through the studio. There’s a balcony on the other side. She’ll be there.”

“I can make it on my own. Why don’t you go somewhere and get some rest?”

“Mission is to see you to the studio, then I’ll go.” Vek grinned at him. “But thanks.”

Sukren managed a half-smile in return. They spent the rest of the ride in silence, thank the rock-god, and soon enough Vek was bidding him farewell at the door of the studio. Sukren walked through alone. He cranked open the balcony’s double-sliding doors, then stepped outside onto a floor of tight-packed crumble stones.

Soft splashes reached his ears. He stepped carefully around the first of the fountains. Its breathflower-shaped spouts gushed purple-colored water. Behind the mauve spray Sukren could see another fountain, this one spouting streams of red.

Next to it stood Lady Nari.

Slowly Sukren made his way across the tight-packed stones. Lady Nari looked up at his approach, her face impassive, as always. “Dome, queen and flower are well with you?”

Sukren bowed his head, trying to remember the correct greeting-response. It took him a moment. “Safe, ruled and guarded I am.”

“I heard you had quite the night.”

She was dressed in a standard regent’s robe, gray with green trimmings. A surge of emotion welled up inside Sukren. If he didn’t know her, he wouldn’t have been able to tell that she was a patron, one of ten in the entire bio-dome. She put on no airs to that end; she never abused her station. It was one of the many reasons he loved her.

“Please, Lady Nari,” he blurted out. “Do we have to stay? Can’t we go back to the village?”

She remained expressionless. “Why do you want to return?”

“It’s not – there’s lots of reasons – I – I’m not used to the castle anymore, I don’t know how to raise her here – and I don’t even think I can – village life, it’s a lot better, it’s easier, it’s – she’s – she’s not going to be happy here.”

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His voice trailed off into a whisper. His arm was starting to ache again.

Lady Nari shifted towards him. “You know that’s not the point.”

“I – I know.”

“Your mission doesn’t change. You are still to raise her so that she feels disconnected from the Rajas.”

“But how do I do that, here, in a castle?”

“It’ll be harder, but it has to happen. Keep her from making meaningful friendships. Make sure to discourage her from trusting them.”

Sukren swallowed. That sounded like a terrible task. “Do I have to?”

Lady Nari fixed him with her gaze. “If you’re asking me, again, whether you can go back, the answer is no. Lady Ki finally found out after all these years that we were hiding her in a village, and after she found that out, it took her a mere season to find Rice Post #2. You did well to follow the emergency plan to bring her to the castle.”

Normally Lady Nari’s praise eased his worries. If she was pleased with him, what else mattered? But there was a tight pain in Sukren’s chest that wouldn’t go away. “Are you sure we couldn’t hide in a different village?”

“Do you no longer want victory, Sukren?” she asked mildly. “Do you want to live like this always, under the rule of the Rajas? You didn’t when I first met you.”

A silent wind swept through the balcony. Sukren closed his eyes, remembering despite his best efforts. Do you want to be free? Lady Nari had asked him, tenderly, almost lovingly. He had cried then, fifteen-year-old boy tears, searching fearfully over his shoulder for the doctor-priest he was apprenticed to, terrified that the man’s fingers would close down on his arm.

Lady Nari had touched Sukren’s face. Even after all these years Sukren could still feel it, the press of her fingers against his cheek, as she promised him, I will rescue you.

And she had. She had! She had given him Mayah’s laughing baby eyes, and she had given him Mayah giggling as she ran up to greet him, barefoot in the mud, and the stories, and the songs, and rock-god, was that really all going to end?

“You’re her handler, Sukren.” This time Lady Nari’s voice was soft. “Don’t forget that. I know it would be much easier to do your work in the village, per our original plan, but we’ll make the most of Lady Ki’s intervention. Here, at least, you’ll get the oversight you’ve been needing.”

“Please,” he whispered.

But Lady Nari shook her head. “We need her. And we need you to raise her. Be patient, Sukren, and do your duty. Sooner than you think, it’ll be time.”

***

“Mayah?” Sukren sounded really confused. “What are you doing up? I thought Elanex took you to your dorm.”

“She did,” Mayah said. She pointed across the lounge at the door Elanex had taken her to. “No, wait, I mean that door, next to it, with the B on it.” She sighed. When Elanex had brought Mayah down earlier, she had wanted to explore the entire level, and Elanex had let her. Pretty soon Mayah found out it wasn’t that interesting. Two half-circles, that was all it was, a big fat circle split in two by a hallway, with dorms all along the circumference and a lounge in the middle that all the dorms opened up into.

She had been sitting on one of the hanging chairs in the lounge but got up when she saw Sukren. She liked the chair, at least. It had nice golden chain-links that went way up to the ceiling, and if Mayah lifted her feet up off the floor, she could swing the chair back and forth a little.

“Did you go inside your dorm?” Sukren asked.

Mayah nodded. Sukren was still standing in the hallway. She went to him but didn’t lean against him or anything. He was pulled back almost like he didn’t want her to. It’s going to be a little different here in the castle. Mayah frowned. “We really can’t go back to the village?”

“I’m sorry, we can’t. This is our home now. And we should get to bed. Everyone else is asleep.”

Mayah looked down at her feet, squirming a little. She didn’t want to go back into her dorm. She didn’t know anyone in there! It was weird to sleep in a grandmother hut with people you didn’t know. And she’d never spent the night away from Sukren, ever. She didn’t even know how to fall asleep without him there, unless she was really tired, and she wasn’t right now.

“I’ll be in that dorm,” Sukren said. He was pointing at the door with the N painted on it. “See, not that far away at all.”

“But I don’t know any of them.”

Sukren crouched down next to her. He said nothing, just looked at her. After a while she gave him a you’re weird look, and he smiled a little. “I know you don’t know them at all, and I know it’s weird,” he said. “And to be honest, you might not want to get to know them. And that’s okay. The important thing is, we’re going to do this together. You can always come to me, no matter what.”

“So it’s okay if I think they’re weird?” Mayah asked. “Even though I’m also… I’m supposed to be a… you know…”

“Yes! Yes, it’s definitely okay.”

She nodded, feeling a little better. Then she sighed again. “But I really am one?”

Sukren nodded.

“I just wish I could tell Beia,” Mayah continued. Her eyes widened. She had forgotten to tell Sukren about how she had gossiped about Ajante behind her back! “Sukren, I never told you, I have to tell you something!”

“What is it?”

“I…” She hesitated. “It’s about Ajante. She… she said she liked you, like really liked you, and I told Beia. But… I guess…” It sounded stupid even as she was sharing it. “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“No, not really. But I’m glad you told me.”

Feeling dumb, and wanting to hide, Mayah turned towards her dorm door. “I’m going to sleep now.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mayah nodded. She glanced at Sukren. He was smiling at her, but it was different, it didn’t seem real. She tried to smile back. But hers wasn’t real either. It was almost better by herself in the dorm, with the door between them. But no, Mayah wasn’t by herself. She could hear the sleeping noises of the other girls, the other princesses.

Walking quietly, Mayah crept into her bed. It was a bunk, but on the bottom, so she didn’t have to climb. She was glad about that. She got in and pulled the covers up over her head. She still wasn’t tired at all, not one bit.

“Hello,” she whispered in Rajim. “My name is Princess Mayah. It’s nice to meet you. I’m a princess, Princess Mayah.”