Kaleth breathed in slowly as he took a moment to calm down before knocking on Teran's door. He could barely remember the flight over here, having been too entrenched in his thoughts to take it in. Before he'd left, he had told Kara about Carcer, and he hoped that by the time he got back, she'd have some information.

There was so much on his mind right now that there was hardly any space to worry about the meeting. Usually, he'd be concerned about it, but now he didn't care at all. He would have skipped it entirely, but he couldn't do that without bringing attention to himself.

He finally knocked and went in without waiting for someone to tell him to do so. He was surprised to find only Teran in the office. Every time Kaleth had been here, Teran's secretary had been here as well at least, but Kaleth decided that this was probably for the best.

"Oh, hey, Kaleth," Teran said cheerfully, although he sounded a bit nervous as well. "You're a bit late."

Kaleth's only reply was an unamused look.

"Uh, never mind," Teran continued, coughing awkwardly. "I see you're not in the mood for small talk."

He was never in the mood for that. Kaleth sat down in the chair in front of Teran's desk. "How much do you want to cut?"

"Right to business, then," Teran said, nodding. "Okay. Fifty."

Kaleth's eyes widened. "Million? Fift—" Kaleth sighed. "You know what? Fine. What do I need to sign?"

Teran looked like he couldn't believe what Kaleth had just said. Fair enough since Kaleth had been expected to try to persuade Teran to leave Luxarx's funding alone. He hated it every time, and he couldn't say he'd ever done a great job of it, but this was definitely his weakest performance yet, not that he cared. "You're not going to...argue with me, or something?"

"I'm far too tired for it. It wouldn't make a difference, anyway. You've clearly made up your mind."

Kaleth took the file that was in front of Teran, assuming it was about the funding. Before Teran could protest, he opened it, confirming his guess, and signed the three documents that were there before handing the file back to Teran.

"Kaleth..." said Teran, looking both concerned and regretful. Kaleth ignored him and got up. He didn't have time to listen to Teran explain himself. He knew why Teran was doing this, anyway. He had always thought Luxarx was superfluous. "I don't like doing this, okay?"

"I'm sure you don't," Kaleth said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "That's why you try to cut our funding so often."

"The army needs that money more than you," Teran replied, somehow staying calm. Kaleth wished he'd start yelling just so he could yell back. "You haven't found a single trace of a member of the Umbra in, what, a month? Maybe they're mostly gone."

"They're never gone," Kaleth replied dryly. "Goodbye, Minister," he added as he walked out the door.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Kaleth," Teran said, actually sounding hurt, but Kaleth was gone before he could start feeling guilty about it.

Why did he even care about how much money Luxarx would get in the following year, anyway? Did he really want to defend an organization that was lying to its employees about gods know how many things?

Kaleth stopped just outside the door and sighed. This was all so strange. Teran knew something, but getting the information out of him was impossible without doing something he'd regret.

But before he could develop that thought further, a voice brought him out of it.

"Oh, hi!"

Kaleth almost flinched and looked for whoever had just said that. It turned out to be Relioth. Of course, it did. Strangely enough, only now did Kaleth notice that the corridor was empty. He could have sworn it had been very busy when he'd arrived. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm usually very busy," Kaleth replied, smirking slightly at the other man. "You'd know what that feels like if you'd actually try working."

Relioth chuckled and started walking to his office, which was just a few doors away from them. It wasn't his actual, presidential office, that one was on the other side of the building, but Relioth used it when he didn't want anyone to find him. Kaleth still wasn't sure how he'd managed to keep this secret with how many people there usually were in the Citadel, but it was so unimportant right now that Kaleth didn't bother asking. He'd get an answer that explained nothing, anyway.

"If I stopped working," said Relioth, looking around and then strolling into the office, "the country would collapse." Kaleth followed him inside and closed the door, only then realizing that he probably shouldn't have done that. He didn't have time for a social visit, so why had he entered the office at all?

"Something bothering you?" Relioth asked, and Kaleth almost snorted. There were a lot of things bothering him right now. Unfortunately, Relioth seemed to be able to tell when Kaleth lied, so Kaleth would have to tell him something.

"Teran wants to cut our funding again," Kaleth replied, deciding that this would be the safest thing to say because Relioth would find out eventually, anyway.

"Honestly, what did you see in him?" asked Relioth as he sat down at the desk and took a drink of whatever was in the mug that had been right next to the keyboard. "I mean, he's competent, but, damn, is he stubborn." Relioth shook his head. "I'll talk to him, don't worry."

Kaleth hoped that didn't mean too much trouble for Teran.

"Anyway, wanna watch cat videos?"

Kaleth would have been surprised, but this has happened many times before. "What a great use of your time."

"Hey, we'll outlive most of our generation. I'd say we have the time."

"Well, maybe you do, but I need to get back," Kaleth said, gesturing toward the door.

"I was wondering why you haven't sat down," Relioth remarked but didn't stop him, focusing instead on the monitor, presumably about to watch cats jump into boxes. Kaleth decided that was probably a blessing since he could just leave without Relioth trying to stop him. He was about to do just that, but then he froze.

For a split second, he felt like there was something terribly wrong. It was impossible to breathe, or move, or even think. But before he could properly comprehend it, everything was normal again. Kaleth blinked a few times trying to make sense of what had just happened. He'd never felt anything like this.

"You okay?" asked Relioth, sounding worried as he watched Kaleth. He looked serious, for once.

"Uh, yea—yes," he replied, his voice shaky. "A-anyway, um, I should get going."

"See ya," Relioth said, but he still looked almost displeased. That was strange. He didn't see that look on Relioth's face often. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, I just remembered I need to make a call."

Kaleth scowled, but since Relioth was already calling whoever he needed to, he left the small office and breathed out, shaking his head to clear it. He needed to get back to Luxarx. The sooner they'd figure out where Carcer is, the sooner he could get Mel outof there. With that in mind, he quickly made his way toward the exit.