Axis I

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“Have you seen this, Axis?” Steele asked, pointing at her mistchart with a slender, dark finger.

“What is it this time?” she asked, absentmindedly winding one of her fingers around a black curl that had wrestled its way out of her tight, thick braid that hung along her shoulder like a particularly well-trained fang.

“Another anomaly, and isn’t it where our spouses went today?”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Axis grunted, kicking the fear spiking through her to the back of her heart. “We did marry End Hunters, after all.”

“May Lina watch over them,” Steele intoned, her sleek, silvery hair seeming to float as she bowed her head briefly and put two fingers to her lips.

Axis returned the motion before peering over Steele’s shoulder to see the exact location she was referring to.

“Lazarenth? That’s close.” A little too close for comfort. Axis shook her head to clear it—and firmly reprimand her fears—before striding over to Cir’s side of the house to fetch one of his longcoats and a spare, broad-brimmed hat.

“We really shouldn’t…” Steele started, her light, airy voice tinged with warning.

“We aren’t, don’t worry,” Axis replied, donning the coat and hat and briskly making for the door. “But I’ll never be able to further my research without actually seeing what these Outenders are doing, seeing the markings for myself.”

“Don’t plan to go alone then,” Steele retorted, her eyes igniting like weapons.

I can see why her parents picked that name.

“Be fast, we haven’t got all day. Especially since End Hunters have a… unique… aversion to tech.”

“Unless it’s a mistbullet,” Steele joked. “You mind if I steal a coat and hat as well? Smoke’s clothing is a little too big for me.”

She wasn’t wrong—Smoke was a towering 6’5. Cir wasn’t short, but a little over six feet didn’t seem tall when the two men stood side by side. Not like Axis could talk though… 5’2 was a painful difference, but sometimes being small had its advantages. And she may or may not have shrunk one or two of Cir’s longcoats to better fit her… an admonition she would take to the grave.

After Steele tucked her bright silver hair under the hat and collar of the longcoat, the two strode out. Axis put her hand, palm out, on the dull metal face under the doorknob. As soon as the metal accepted her unique heat signature, it locked. It was keyed to both Cir and herself, although it wasn’t impervious to breakers. But Cir’s pet silver ivy scrawling across the warm yellow of their house front was an instant deterrent—how many people wanted a silver mark? Everyone would know the breaker’s identity and inclination toward thievery. Besides, if they got past the over-affectionate plant and metal face, Axis could take care of herself.

Yes, it may have technically been illegal, and she shouldn’t have asked Cir to teach her, but he’d insisted, and she’d been quick to agree. No matter what their different religious sects decreed, it just didn’t make sense for only Cir to know how to protect himself. Her hand strayed to the thin, sleek revolver at her side, nestled snugly in its pouch that blended into her simple trousers. It wouldn’t protect her from Outenders, but it worked pretty well against other Loreians—if it came down to it.

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“Do you think Cir will be angry that we stole his gear?”

Axis did her best to keep a grin off her face. “You know Cir, Steele. What do you think?”

“To be honest, part of me wants to say he’d be secretly pleased, although he would never admit it.”

Eyes widening slightly, Axis fought to keep her surprise at bay.

“How did I do?” Steele asked, glancing over at her friend as the pair of them walked quickly toward their destination. The sun was burning down on them, heating through Cir’s cloak and making Axis wish her hair wasn’t quite as thick and heavy.

“A little too good for my liking. Just don’t mention it to Cir… unless you want to earn his respect.”

Steele’s grin was large and toothy before she looked back down at her mistpad.

“Smoke doesn’t know this, but I tagged his favorite coat. He’ll never find it… it looks like just another button.”

“Worried he’ll run off? Get taken by an Outender? I honestly don’t think even an Outender could lift over two hundred pounds of muscle and gear.”

“Don’t question my methods. It’s nice for moments like these, when he may be rushing to his death with a little too much eagerness. Yes, marriage isn’t just a simple mistwalk through Lore, but he’s not getting away from me that easily.”

“What do you see?” Axis asked, scanning the mistpad briefly with little luck. She wasn’t a Technic like Steele, so the pad was virtually impossible for her to read. The images made little more sense than the mess of symbols strung—seemingly at random—across the thin pad. Rather than stare at the nonsense, and knowing that Steele would tell her in great detail anyway, Axis found her attention wandering to their town, Persis.

The other houses were colorful copies of her and Cir’s home; they were all mashed up against each other, and what they lacked in horizontal real estate they made up for in height, each building reaching several stories upward. Lush gardens carpeted many roofs and crept down the sides of the homes, vines and flowers competing for space around windows and door frames. Cir was an avid gardener, and their home sported one of the more impressive gardens in Persis. The silver ivy was just the beginning of his many “pets,” as he liked to call them. Axis would tease him, but secretly she found his interest in plants fascinating. She was more of a skywatcher, personally, but some of her favorite memories with Cir involved looking through her scope and deciphering the heavens while Cir sweettalked his leafy creatures.

“… and this circular mark symbolizes…”

It was about noon, and fellow Persisiens flowed through the well-kept cobble streets like water, all dressed in variations of the same well-tailored, tan clothing that everyone in Loreian wore. Axis didn’t really mind, but Cir sure did hate it. He had ranted on more than one occasion, “Why the uniformity? With so many blasted colors to choose from, why did they have to choose a non-color?!” At this point Axis would smile and get on tip toes to kiss his cheek, muttering under her breath “Temperamental artist” as she did so.

“Axis!”

She startled, her thoughts ripped out from under her. Others turned to look at them, some curious, some obviously chagrinned, but Axis ignored them.

“What?” she asked Steele, raising an eyebrow at Steele’s awestruck expression.

“Look!” Steele demanded, thrusting her mistpad into Axis’s hands.

“You know I can’t read…”

“You mean you spaced again? Axis, this is crucial!”

“It’s not like I’m a Technic…” Axis mumbled, but even as unexperienced as she was, she instantly realized why Steele was panicked—Smoke’s glowing blue tag had vanished, as though he had never existed.