Riot spikes, real weapons, and people willing to use both. Everything we need to offer our help for the fires waiting to burn across the country. Ed, Henry, and Autumn help introduce the resources to their users while I look for Leo. I ache to speak to him again and seeing him out here has lit a little bit of hope inside me. He got lost in the crowd while I was speaking, so it is a bit difficult to pin him down. I begin to grow anxious, looking through the crowd when finally, I spot him speaking to Edward. I move to go greet them both when a hand grabs my arm.
I turn to find Charlotte, a concerned look on her face. "Do you mind if we speak privately?" She requests. I give one last look to Leo and sigh before turning back to Charlotte and smiling.
"Happy to, let's head to one of the endless private corridors here," I agree. She nods, looking back at Leo in apprehension herself before following me.
"We've actually been trying to get in touch with you for a while, but every call ended up at Edward instead. Is everything alright?" She asks. I rub the back of my neck and sigh.
"Yeah, it's been tough but I'm trucking. Been feeling sick, so Ed has been fielding most calls for me. You could have just left a message, you know," I offer and she shakes her head. We aren't quite in private yet so she changes the subject.
"Yes, you do look a bit... pale. Better than the last time I saw you. Your arm even has a royal aura now, which implies an impressive amount of mana. I've never seen it on exclusively one arm, however. How did you manage that?" She asks. I look down at my bracelet and rings.
"Oh, it's these artifacts made by, uh... the rude woman from before. Sorry about her by the way. She's got some cultural hang-ups but she's working on them. Anyway, they help manage my illness and let me fight effectively in mana dispersal circles. They seem to have an interesting feedback effect with my mana as well, hence the localized aura change," I explain. She looks at the curious jewelry for a moment longer, but her focus is clearly on finding privacy. We take a few turns, confident Sara's magic won't let us get lost, and find a fairly secluded area. "Alright, what's up? Everything alright with Leo? I saw he came today. Any chance he's ready to talk again?" I ask.
Charlotte shakes her head. "No, this isn't about Leo. I mean, it is, but it isn't about that. He's doing better, but he didn't come just to fight. We came to warn you," she explains. I nod. A warning. Not my favorite thing to hear right before something like this, but not entirely unexpected either. Fortunately, I have no heart rate to rise and this environment is very calming for me.
"I wondered about that. You never seemed too interested in uh, joining us for the grisly bits. Well, I'm glad he's doing better. What did you want to warn me about? Why couldn't you have left a message with Ed?" I ask.
Charlotte's hands clasp each other and fidget with anxiety. "Well, that's the problem. Edward is the one we came to warn you about. Lillith, you can't trust him. He's turned on you," she finally says. I examine her face for a moment and cross my arms.
"I... see. Can you elaborate?" I ask. This is really, really, not what I need right now. Or ever, truthfully. But right now especially. But I have to hear her out.
"It was the last time you visited. Just after you met Ember, and you and Sarafyna started... well, that's beside the point. After we all separated, Leo's whisper sphere activated on its own and he overheard a conversation. A call between Edward and another man. Lillith, he's reporting on you. He told them about Ember the second he had a moment alone. You need to send him back. You can't go into the city with him, you'll be killed!" she insists. I blink. Reporting on me? A whisper call being intercepted by the wrong sphere? Whisper spheres don't work like phones or radios. There is no signal to speak of. They work on the same magic as this endless hat shop. You decide who to call with intent alone. They shouldn't be intercepting each other unless I am wildly mistaken.
"What... what makes you believe Ed was the one who called them?" I ask. There is something going on with the whisper spheres that I need to understand. How could Leo have picked this up?
"Lillith, it was the moment you met Ember. And the very first moment you were separated from Edward, someone called the capital to tell them about your interactions with her. There are not a lot of options left. Please. Do not leave your life in his hands. Leo may not be ready to face you yet, but he still loves you like a sister. If you die because he couldn't get this to you soon enough, I don't know what will happen to him. Please. I can't see him hurt like that again. So don't trust Edward," she begs. I let a breath out of my nose.
I think about my brother. His love of impressing me when I was a child. His spiral after my change. The way he smirked at me before Baldwin beat me, and his shame whenever he looked at my scar afterward. The way he is still nervous around Henry, for some past slight neither has shared with me. The hurt when he learned about my life as Annie. Mariah and the child he'll soon have back home. I sigh and shake my head. "Ed has had a... complicated life. I know that. He has been confused, and hurt, and let his pride control him. He has hurt me in the past. He's hurt Henry too," I reply. Charlotte seems to relax but I hold a hand up.
"But... he's more than what he was as a child. Edward is a good man. More importantly, he is a man who expects to be treated like he did something wrong. Not a man who apologizes and expects his sins to be forgotten. Who grows angry when they are presented to him as a reason to deny him trust. No, he knows what damage he has done and owns it. That's the first sign of genuine regret. And you know what? I do trust him. I'm sorry, but I do. And I need him. I can't do this without him," I finish. I mean every word. Even when Ed did get upset... it wasn't because I didn't trust him. It was because I told him I did, and still lied to him.
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I do have mixed feelings about that. But I can understand the sting. Of believing you were granted something that you knew you didn't deserve. To feel grateful for it. To feel hope because of it. And to find out that, in reality, it was only partially granted. I don't know if that is entirely fair as a representation of what I did. But I do understand what it must have felt like. And at the end of the day? I do trust him. He is a good man. And maybe one of the most dedicated allies I have. I do appreciate Charlotte's concern, but I need to trust Ed.
"You're making a mistake. Please, Lillith. Don't do this. I'm sorry we couldn't tell you before you made this plan. I know, a lot rides on it. But please. We can still go back. Plan something else. Something they don't already know about, and if we are right, they know what your plan is. It won't work," Charlotte protests.
"Well, that's the good thing about this plan. It will mostly work whether they know about it or not. At least the basics. If they learn about the riot spikes too early, that could cause problems. But not as many as if they know about them now and have time to plan counters. Either way, we have to move now. I'll warn people to keep an eye out for that. But everyone knows spies are possible already. It's almost guaranteed with recruitment like this. They are here anyway. But I am certain Edward is not one of them. Delaying because of him could, well, destroy everything," I explain.
Her face takes on a full-on panic. "You can't do this. I'm serious. You can't," she insists. I examine her face. Her worry. For me. For Leo. For everything that Sara and I promised her. I feel a deep, well-worn grief like cliffs carved by centuries of water. And I make a decision.
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Leo
"Yes, but don't you think a bow will work better?" I ask in desperation. Edward is growing more irritated with me as I keep flipping back and forth, but I have to give Charlotte a chance to warn Lily. For over a month, every single call reached nowhere but this man. I don't even know how sick Lily has actually been. For all I know her brother has faked that just to stop anyone from contacting her. I feel like ants are crawling all over my skin. Like everyone around us is staring at me. Hating me. Waiting for a chance to lure me into another alley and punish me for existing as who I am.
"Man, you just said you didn't know how to use a bow a few minutes ago. I promise you it is not a good idea without practicing first. Trust me, without practicing, a spear is your best best. Lots of reach, lots of distance, and is easiest to use without experience. Take the spear," Ed assures me. He turns to leave, everyone else having already accepted a weapon, and I start to panic.
"W-wait, I have more questions!" I insist. He stifles an irritated sigh and smiles at me.
"I understand. I'm scared too," he says. "It's a terrifying thing to do. It was brave just to come this far. With what you've been through... with what you've been through no one will blame you for going back home. But I don't think you want to do that. I think you want to fight back. Lily... Lily has a lot of empathy. But she doesn't always understand the rest of us. How hard it is to face danger like this. She's been some kind of demon of death since she was... well for as long as I can remember. There is a whole mythos around her back in Potestia. You know some people think she can't enter a home without being invited in? She's like a storybook monster.
"But we aren't. And when you don't have that in your pocket... well this is scary as hell. The fear of dying. The fear of killing. I am terrified of both. I shudder at the thought of both. But we have our own reasons to fight back. I want redemption. You want... I don't know what you want, I'm sorry. But I can see it. The same look I have. You want to fight back with your own hands, just like I do. So take the spear. Grab one for Charlotte, she'll be limited by the spikes too. And fight. Not for Lily. For Leo. And please, let me go. I have to do something else for Lily, and I am running out of time."
I look at him in shock for a moment. I begin to doubt Charlotte's theory. That was... well an attempt at being kind, even while he was annoyed with me. I think I actually like him a little. I don't want him to be the traitor. Just that and I think it will hurt a little if he is. Because he's right. I do get it. Part of me wants to say a small prayer to no one in particular. Don't let him be the traitor. He takes my silence as leave to go, and he is already walking away when I come back to myself. And he is heading deeper into the maze of hats, shit. I hurry up to follow him. As quietly as I can.
He makes nonsense turns. Is he heading to Lily? Is he going to catch Charlotte? Is he going to hear? One moment of empathy aside, he is still the most likely candidate. I follow him around one turn, then another, and another. I have no idea where I am going. But I keep him in sight, until he finally stops, sitting on a bench behind a free-standing shelf of hats. I crouch around the other side as I hear him shuffling around. My heart sinks as I hear him speaking into a whisper sphere.
"Yes, Dad," he mutters. "Yes, she will be with me. I'll make sure she is there. Kallon and Darian just need to wait." Fuck. How could he say all that and then do this? How could he hurt Lily like this? Does he hate her so much?
"Make sure to find an excuse to separate from her before then," a man's voice responds. His father I have to assume. Lily hasn't spoken about him much but I get the feeling they aren't on good terms. This more or less confirms it. "And be certain you have all of these 'riot spikes'. We don't want to risk her having anything to fall back on when she gets there. Where are you familiar with in the capital? I'll meet you there."
"Near the circle I broke," Ed responds. "In the abandoned building. I'll meet you there with the spikes, he promises.
"Thank you, son. You're doing the right thing. I'm proud of you," the other voice says.
"Dad..." Edward replies but the connection ends there. "I love you," he finishes anyway. Shit. This is bad. Lily is walking into a trap. I have to get to her. I creep away as quietly as I can, only to freeze as Ed passes me. If he knows I heard him... I hold my hand over my mouth to cover my breathing. He walks slowly, and sweat drips down my head. But he passes, and I am able to breathe. I try to follow him back, but while I was hiding, he managed to vanish somehow. I panic thinking of finding my way back to the center, but after only a few turns I find myself exactly where I am headed. Definitely fewer turns than I had taken to get where I was.
The only problem? People are already filing out their respective portals. Wagons have already moved out and only a few people remain. "Where have you been?" Charlotte asks, putting her hand on my shoulder. "We are the last group to head out. Is everything alright?"
"No. No everything is not alright. Please tell me you managed to warn Lily," I plead.