Interlude

Jesse

Jesse Garron was very intelligent. But she was also smart enough to hide that intelligence from many people. Rubane wasn’t as progressive as other nations, she knew had she been born in Reldon or even Athlin, she’d have been praised for her intellect, instead she’d been born in Rubane. Garronforn of all places.

She knew that she shouldn’t complain, she was a highborn lady, her cousin was Duke Boern Garron. Her grandfather had been the famous Duke Bodh Garron, who’d even served as Arch-Duke for two terms. Her upbringing had given her many privileges that other women didn’t, she’d been educated for one, and her father, being the third son of the Duke, had never pressed her into a marriage, to which she was very grateful.

But none of that took away her frustration. Her frustration that she always had to hide just how brilliant she actually was. Her current mentor Arken knew. He wouldn’t have taken her as his assistant if he thought she wasn’t anything short of brilliant. She’d worked with Arken long enough now to realise this truth. He harboured an infatuation with her, she knew this also. She could also ignore it as she was confident now that he would never act upon it. She liked Arken, admired him as a peer, she’d learned a lot under his tutelage but ultimately, she was beginning to feel like she was outgrowing him.

This was in part, why she was currently standing in his office, handing him her written resignation.

“I do not accept this,” Arken frowned, “you’re leaving? Now. Of all times?”

“I cannot continue to work for you, Arken, I’m sorry,” she stated, her tone as measured as she could, but there was a tremble. She hated any kind of confrontation, but this was something she knew was needed in person.

“This is because of the Reldoni?” he asked.

“Yes,” she lied. “I need to return home… to Garronforn. I need to be with my family.”

“Jesse,” he shook his head in disbelief, “Garronforn is under siege. You wouldn’t even be able to enter the city, let alone the fortress.”

Garronforn wasn’t the only city currently under siege. The Reldoni had landed all along the coast in the weeks following the announcement of Daegan Tredain’s death. Rubastre was holding out, but the Reldoni had cut off supply lines from the east. Garronforn was under the heaviest attack. Nordock had surrendered without opposition, Duke Rivers even retaining his position. It was widely known now that Rivers had already arranged with the Reldoni to switch sides.

Nordock was where Jesse currently was. At the Ironworks Guild base of operations in the city. The city was under Reldoni occupation under the command of a Reldoni General named Mattice.

Arken, a key Guildmaster, was deeply enmeshed in the shifting allegiances. It had become clear to Jesse that Arken and the other Guildmasters, led by Guildmaster Grimsworth, had struck deals with the Reldoni. All of the leadership had pulled out quickly from Rubastre and Garronforn in the days before the ships had landed, retreating to Nordock and other towns that had fallen quickly to the Reldoni.

Jesse had joined the Ironworks Guild because it was at the forefront of technology. The guild represented all of the Ironworks production across Rubane, and as a result the Guild was now synonymous with cutting-edge industrial innovation across Rubane, shaping the future with its pioneering production techniques. But it was also the largest arms dealer on the continent, the Reldoni being their biggest customer in the past decade. Arming them with the weapons they’re now using against Rubane. The irony was not lost on Jesse.

Jesse had little sense of national allegiance. She was well and truly sold on Arken’s ideals of reform. Of a nation where birth didn’t denote privilege. Where a person’s mind and ability was prized, and their positions based on merit. In conflict to her personal beliefs, it had been Jesse’s father who had used his influence as a highborn to secure Jesse a place to learn at the Ironworks research divisions, and it had been there that she’d come to Arken’s attention. Yet another point of irony not lost on her.

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Jesse was full of self-contradictions. This very resignation was one of them. She believed that Rubane needed change. But now that change was happening, she was frightened of it. She was frightened of the Reldoni, despite always wishing she’d been born there, a nation born of Elyina the Earthmage, a woman who forged a path for all women to have an equal footing as men. More contradictions.

She wanted to return home. To lose herself in playing her violin. To be amongst her family where she didn’t need to think about how her decisions and work were destroying everything her family sought to protect.

She wanted to stop being a traitor. Wanted to stop feeling like one.

“Jesse, we are so close,” Arken urged, “you cannot return home. Besides, it’s simply far too dangerous.”

“Because of the Reldoni?” she asked.

“Why of course.”

“These same Reldoni that we see as our salvation?”

“The Duke’s have held power and control for far too long, the Reldoni have promised independence from their squabbling, no more jumping to the whims of their greed. No pushing the people further into poverty to fill their pockets. No more wasting our talents on their ridiculous ideas. We will have the time, the resources, the gold to work on what truly matters. Innovation!”

“You mean weapons,” she shot at him.

“You know that I don’t,” he looked pained. “The music player, the elemental synthesis systems. Your idea for the mechanism to distil information into crystal, entire libraries could be housed within a single construct, Jesse! These are the innovations I care about. Yes, weapons are part of it, but only because they are necessary. You know as well as I do that without the coin from arms, the Guild couldn’t fund the research we’re doing. It’s a means to an end.”

Jesse sighed, her resolve wavering as she listened to Arken. She knew he believed in what he was saying, and that made it harder for her to leave. She had seen the wonders that could come from their work—the platform mechanism using topaz and aeristone that could lift ten times what a man could, the engines that could revolutionise travel and transportation, the music player that could bring joy to even the poorest homes. These were things she wanted to see come to fruition. But at what cost?

“And what about the cost, Arken? The lives lost, the destruction, the betrayal of our own people. Is it worth it?”

Arken’s eyes softened, and for a moment, Jesse thought she saw a flicker of doubt in his expression. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by the determination she had come to associate with him.

“Change always comes at a cost, Jesse. You know that. If we’re to build a better world, we have to be willing to make sacrifices.”

She looked away, unable to meet his gaze. She didn’t want to argue anymore. It was too painful, too exhausting. She just wanted to leave, to put it all behind her and go back to a life where things were simple.

“I’m sorry, Arken. I can’t stay. I can’t be a part of this anymore.”

He was silent for a long moment, and she wondered if he would try to stop her. But then he sighed, a sound of deep resignation.

“If that’s truly what you want, then I won’t force you to stay. But know this, Jesse—you’re making a mistake. A mistake you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”

She didn’t respond, couldn’t respond. She simply turned and left his office.

She walked out of the building and into the streets of Nordock, apprehension growing in her. She was leaving behind everything she had worked for, everything she had believed in. But she was also walking away from the lies, the betrayal, and the bloodshed.

She wished she’d made this decision a few weeks ago, back when she was in Rubastre, when she’d begun to suspect the Guild having a hand in the Reldoni plot for invasion. She could’ve gone to her cousin Tanlor. He was a knight, employed in the Duke’s own personal guard. She could have revealed to him what Arken and Grimsworth were planning.

Instead she’d been complacent. She wondered what Tanlor was doing now. She barely ever had any interaction with him in Rubastre, her work kept her busy and he had his own life in the palace. A duty. A responsibility. A girlfriend probably. He had loyalty to Rubane.

When Arken had told her they would be travelling to Nordock with haste, she had seen the signs. The fear in his eyes. The uncertainty. She had thought about going to Tanlor then, about begging him to escort her home to Garronforn.

But he was over three hundred miles away now. He couldn’t help her now.