Rhian, Palisade

A person might think Michael would have a lot to say about our story as we told it, but he basically sat there looking more and more hopeless. We’d covered almost everything, but the Assembly’s lunch break wouldn’t last forever, and there were still a few things to go over.

“This has been bothering me since chapter five,” Michael sort of said. All except the thing about the chapter. I’m taking some liberties. “If Finlay’s the one who stole the Tear, why are you being charged with theft and he’s…” Michael looked around the chamber as if expecting Gus to pop out behind a podium. “Where is he?”

“This is how we do it, Michael. Gus does brilliant things, and when shite goes sideways, I take the blame. It’s been that way since we were kids, and it’s for the best. Gus would go crazy in solitaire. He needs fresh air, constant stimulation, and people.”

“Okay, but you talked to Strauss while you were in there,” Michael said.

“It’s like I said: Gus needs constant stimulation and people.”

If Strauss knew how to laugh, I reckon he would have. The best we got was a lip twitch and a twinkle in his eye that might have been a smile.

“Is that why you’re being charged with fraud and arson, too?” Michael asked.

“For all they need to know, I’m the one who copied the signatures on the license so the Animals could escape. Even though I can’t read or write all that well, they know I can draw.”

Michael pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you’re willing to accept responsibility for everything, why don’t you plead guilty? It’ll save everyone a lot of time.”

“It’s like I said: I don’t feel guilty.”

“Then what exactly are you hoping for?”

“Mostly an opportunity for the Assembly to hear what I have to say afore deciding my punishment. Anyhow, I’m about to pick up where Strauss left off.”

“With Councilwoman Blanchett threatening him?” Michael asked.

Strauss and I nodded.

“The Devilles were kind enough to invite the rest of us to stay with them that night,” I said. “We knew it would look suspicious if we were all gone, but we also knew the defects had enough to worry about, what with their attack planned for the next day, and with Blue Jacket and the Liaison being dead and all. But going back to the lair would have been even riskier. Later that evening, I paid Strauss one last visit.”

“As usual, she knocked three times on the window and I let her in,” Strauss said. “I told her about the Councilwoman’s threat, and that I had until the next day to tell her the truth.”

“After having a think on the matter, we decided she was baiting,” I said. “See, if he’d failed at protecting the truth about knowing what we were up to, odds are he’d have failed at protecting the truth about more serious things as well—like the fire. If she suspected him of that, things would have gone a lot differently. Knowing Blanchett, she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to spank him and threaten to tell Councilwoman Faust what a naughty boy he’d been.”

Michael raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like I should try lying to her sometime.”

I shrugged. To each their own and whatnot. Turned out, Strauss was a natural at hiding his deep thoughts. Years of practice at hiding them from himself, I reckon.

“The point is,” I continued, “I told Strauss to give her what she wanted—to tell her that after he finished getting his papers signed, he was wandering around the grounds and saw me escape from the Liaison’s office through the window. That I ran into a house across the street, and that earlier in the week, I came to him asking for help, and that he refused.”

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Strauss added, “She wanted me to tell the Councilwoman about the Liaison’s suspected treachery, and that I was concerned Sinclair was in trouble—that she and Finlay had gotten in too deep with the defects, and were in danger.”

“Uh, why?” Michael asked.

“So that she’d leave him alone," I said. "Also, to give her the chance to surprise us and act like she gave a shite about anything other than nailing me.”

Michael turned to Strauss. “Okay, and how’d that work out for you?”

“She thanked me for coming clean and said that it was noble of me to protect my friends. But she insisted the Liaison was loyal to Palisade until the day he died, and that I was being manipulated—that Sinclair was using me. That, considering she hadn’t even attempted to report any of this to the Drop, she and Finlay were most likely on the path to defecting, and that she’d stolen the Tear to buy their way in.”

“So basically, she reacted exactly the way you expected,” Michael said.

We nodded.

“By the time I left her room, she was seething,” Strauss continued. “But she no longer had her sights set on me. She even promised to report back to Councilwoman Faust in my favour.”

“I’m impressed,” Michael said, and he looked impressed too. “I was almost expecting you to say you accidentally set her on fire.”

“Oi.” I swatted Michael’s shoulder. Seeing as he was built like a rock, he probably didn’t even feel it. “Only we get to say things like that.”

Michael chuckled. “I bet that hurt you more than it hurt me.”

It did.

“All this hatred coming from the Councilwoman,” he said. “Do you really think it was because she was sleeping with your father, what, twenty years ago?”

“If I had to guess, he was using her for something, and she’s projecting on me or what have you. The pineapple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Apple,” Strauss corrected. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Mine’s better.”

“If only pineapples grew on trees. They grow from plants.”

“The pineapple doesn’t fall far from the plant, then. Same goddess-be-damned difference.”

“If this is what you guys sounded like down in solitaire, I feel for the other inmates,” Michael said, considering. “Actually, that’s probably why the Assembly never put a stop to it. It's like some form of weird torture.”

We all took a moment to think about it and then we carried on.

“Anyway, what about the Animals?” Michael asked. “Did they get around to kidnapping the Councilwoman?”

“They did, and the fact she was staying at the church made it even easier. But look, I wasn’t there, so I can’t tell you how it went, only that I knew where they’d be taking her, and I had someone in mind to play the hero when the time came to rescue her.”

“Who?” Michael asked.

“Guardsman Deville,” I said. “We told him everything, right down to the Animals kidnapping the Councilwoman to get information about Sheep’s family. That none of us wanted to hurt her, that we were trying to keep her safe. We left him with the Tear and the ledger, and told him to show up at the warehouse two hours after she was supposed to give her speech. If all went according to plan, the Animals would be long gone by then.”

Michael seemed uncertain, but he didn’t interrupt.

“He told her that some anonymous person dropped the Tear off on his doorstep, along with a note explaining where she’d be that day, and that he had the ledger because he’d been investigating the Liaison’s dirty dealings—that he trusted him the same way she trusted him and that he was planning to have her killed. The stockpile of gunpowder and whatnot in the back room of the warehouse we filled up that morning gave him an even stronger leg to stand on.”

“Did she believe him?” Michael asked.

“Considering he’s the new Liaison, I reckon she did.”

Michael nodded. “Good. You did good, Rhian.”

I shrugged, spotting another awkward lip-twitch from Strauss.

“What about Sheep?” Michael asked. “Did he get the information he needed to find his family?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’d like to think so. All I know for sure is that they escaped safely—the Animals, Riz, and Vinny. And I know this on account of I saw the tail end of their embark drifting away in the distance at the same time the entire isle watched a Palisade ship explode.”

Just as things were coming together and Michael was sure he had it all figured out, I had to say something like that. “I’m sorry, what?”

After a great gigantic sigh, I took a sip of Hocks from my flask. “Right, about that…”