Xaxac carried the costumes carefully as he made his way back to their rooms. He suspected that, though he really did need to put them away, the chore was mostly a ruse so that he could check on Takashito.

So he was alarmed when he opened the door and did not see Takashito, but rather Mr. Loraxia, Mrs. Loraxian, Cremia, and four other earth elven girls who all looked about Cremia’s age, in his sitting room, all looking quite excited. He had stumbled into a conversation, but his position as a human meant that no one took much notice of him, and a good servant was silent and unseen, so he closed the door quietly.

“This place is gorgeous!” One of the girls said in an excitable voice, the pitch of which was too high to be to Xaxac’s taste.

“All that finishing school tuition really paid off,” Mrs. Loraxia said, “I told you it was a good investment. You wanted to teach her the trade!”

“I did,” Mr Loraxia argued, “Practical knowledge is still important. Especially with that… boy.”

“What is he like?” one of the girls asked, “The Duke?”

“Lorsan is… a fine man,” Cremia said, though she seemed to barely be part of the conversation, she seemed as if she was deep in thought about something, “He seems… nice. I done… I already met him. He’s ain’t that good at parlor games. But… he’s nice. He said he was gonna be a vet.”

“I love animals!” the girl replied.

“Winter weddings are so beautiful,” Mrs. Loraxia said, “There’ll be a blanket a’ snow. It’ll be gorgeous. It’ll match the dress. We’re gonna have it at the big temple, at the capital. The empress is gonna come. The empress is gonna be at my youngun’s wedding!”

“Yeah,” Cremia said, but to Xaxac it seemed more as if she was agreeing that she had heard her mother speak than that she was agreeing with her about anything.

Xaxac slipped into the bedroom and saw that the door to the water closet was open. Takashito was standing inside, staring at the water pump with a far away look in his eyes. His hand had not needed to be bandaged. There was no wound.

“You ok?” Xac asked.

“I am hiding,” Takashito whispered, “There are so many of them, the Urillians…”

“Yeah, we’re havin a party,” Xac explained with great patience as he opened the wardrobe and slid the costumes inside.

“I cannot believe how… casually… the duke…” Takashito trailed off, stared at the wall, then began again, “I dare not scry again… if any of them are mages…”

Xaxac stood and flicked his eyes to the rose, which Takashito had laid on the edge of the sink. He had never noticed, but inset into it was a crystal, almost identical to the ones Agalon often wore, except for the cool blue color.

“Hey,” Xac said as he took a step forward and tentatively laid a hand on his shoulder, “It’s… it’s gonna be alright. I don’t rightly know how it’s gonna be alright, but… uh… for folks like me, it has to be alright, you know? You’re alright or you’re dead. And you ain’t dead.”

“A child should not have to comfort me,” Takashito said, more to himself than to Xac.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Yeah, I know you don’t mean to,” Xac said, “But that is real insultin. I ain’t a young’un. I need you to go ahead and get that through your head.”

Takashito took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and took so long to answer that Xaxac thought he may not answer at all.

“I was a child,” he said, “during the war. I did not think I was a child then, but I was. We are all wrong, when we are children, about being children.”

“Uh-huh,” Xac said, trying not to sound as insulted as he felt, “Hey, buddy, what’d you do with that carpet?”

“I rolled the corpse under the bed,” Takashito explained. “I will never escape. They will never let me out again. This will be my life, forever. Some of them… some were younger than me. Some do not remember what life was like before…”

“Yeah, I… I don’t know what to tell ya, other than what I already did. You’re alive. A lotta folks ain’t. And then one day you’ll be dead, and everybody you know’ll be dead, and it’ll be like none’a it ever happened. We gotta just take it day by day. We gotta remember that none’a this matters and just… do our best to be happy.”

“No,” Takashito said, “No, it will matter. My life will matter. My life already matters. I gave my life. I gave my life for my homeland, for my people. These Urillians believe that they can take everything they want, but that is not true. We have shown them that it will not be easy. They cannot own the world, not forever. And they cannot… they cannot lock me away for defending my life and do nothing to Kailu! It… it…”

“He’s an elf,” Xac explained.

“So am I!” Takashito hissed, “And that does not matter! They have taught you that this matters, but it does not! That is not the way of the world!”

Xaxac took a step back at this outburst and threw both his hands up to show that he was not a threat, because Takashito’s hand had shot to the rose on the sink.

“Do you have anything to write with?” Takashito asked with the same level of intensity.

“Aggie has a book in the nightstand,” Xaxac said, “But I don’t reckon I’m supposed to touch it.”

“To quote your beloved Urillians, ‘They cannot hang me twice,’,” Takashito said as he shoved past Xaxac and opened the drawer. He found the notebook and pencil easily, flipped them to the back, turned them upside down and commanded, “Sit down. Come here and sit down.”

He was obviously writing something that he felt was important.

“If I am to be your teacher I cannot… in good conscience…” he mumbled to himself as Xaxac obeyed him, then seemed to finish writing and tore out the page that he had written in. He handed it to Xac, who took it and had no idea what he was supposed to do with it.

“This is the common syllabary,” Takashito explained, darting his eyes to the door, then back to Xac, “each symbol stands for a sound. I will go over them with you until you memorize it. This is part of your training.”

“What?” Xac asked.

“Repeat after me,” Takashito said instead of replying, pointing to the first symbol he had drawn, and began to make sounds.

Xaxac recognized some of the symbols. They were the squiggles that he had seen in books, on posters, on signs.

“Taka, buddy,” he said, “I can’t… humans can’t… do this. Humans can’t read.”

“Humans have written vast libraries!” Takashito argued, “Stop! I need you to memorize this, and I need you to do it quickly. My life will mean something. Do not argue with me. I learned it when I was older than you. It can be done.”

“But you’re an elf,” Xaxac said, “You’re smarter than me.”

“You Urillians are infuriating!” Takashito hissed, “Stop arguing. If I am smarter than you, do not argue with me! Listen, and repeat and remember. We do not have the luxury of time. I am not even sure that they will take me back. They may kill me! So listen to me, listen closely, repeat, memorize.”

Xaxac’s eyes fell back to the paper. He closed them, took a deep breath, opened them, and tried his best to connect the symbol that Takashito was pointing at to the sound he was making.