tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80887620268145658072024-03-15T18:09:42.162-07:00The Fictional Life of Cari ZCari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.comBlogger1016125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-69668255487074725252024-03-11T15:13:00.000-07:002024-03-12T07:48:48.083-07:00Sharp as Scarlet preview!<p> Notes: Darlins! My brain is chock-full of plotting and my time is crunched, so forgive me for no blog story today. Instead, I'm going to share the beginning of the next newsletter story with you--<i>Seamark</i> is over, so it's time for something new. Never fear, I'll have more <i>Chelen City</i> ready to go next week--we're getting so close to the end!</p><p>Title: Sharp As Scarlet: Chapter One</p><p>Blurb: <i>Rainer Blake lives a simple life running an old antique
store gifted to him by his guardian. He's a mostly normal human being in a
slightly abnormal world--a world that can be breached by other realms, invaded
by fae both light and dark. </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Most fae can't stay long—modernity is poison to them—but not
even the threat of iron will stop the Erlking's Hounds from tracking down
Scarlet, the beautiful, dagger-fingered faerie prince who stole a great
treasure from his father before fleeing to the human realm.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Only Rainer knows where Scarlet is. That means the Hounds'
target should be easy prey.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>But it doesn't pay to underestimate someone who's captured
the heart of a heartless prince.</i></p>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“The Fairy in Winter” by Walter De La
Mare</span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">There was a Fairy – flake of winter –<br />
Who, when the snow came, whispering, Silence,<br />
Sister crystal to crystal sighing,<br />
Making of meadow argent palace,<br />
Night a star-sown solitude,<br />
Cried ‘neath her frozen eaves, “I burn here!”</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Wings diaphanous, beating bee-like,<br />
Wand within fingers, locks enspangled,<br />
Icicle foot, lip </span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Viner Hand ITC"; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">sharp as scarlet</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">,<br />
She lifted her eyes in her pitch-black hollow –<br />
Green as stalks of weeds in water –<br />
Breathed: stirred.</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Rilled from her heart the ichor, coursing,<br />
Flamed and awoke her slumbering magic.<br />
Softlier than moth’s her pinions trembled;<br />
Out into blackness, light-like, she flittered,<br />
Leaving her hollow cold, forsaken.</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">In air, o’er crystal, rang twangling night-wind.<br />
Bare, rimed pine-woods murmured lament.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Chapter One</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">NOW</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Shaw’s Cabinet
of Curiosities and Antiques sits a little ways off the main streets of the
city, down an older, semi-residential block that’s only now becoming afflicted
with coffee shops and modern kitsch. It’s not far enough away from downtown to
make it hard for customers to find, but it’s not on one of the major
thoroughfares either, which means that most of the people who do end up there
are deliberately looking for it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The Cabinet
specializes in small, holdable antiques—the sort of thing you can tuck under
your arm or put in a bag on your way out with no one the wiser. You can find
everything from bespoke East Coast cufflinks to Chinese nephrite teapots to
Peruvian Nazca sculptures there, none of it quite fine enough to be hunted down
by truly avid collectors, all of it beautiful enough to enhance a normal life.
About ninety percent of the people who walk through the door are satisfied with
a lovely gift and leave happy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The other ten
percent are looking for something entirely different, and happiness is
unfortunately never assured. Rainer does his best, but helping fae adjust to
the human realm isn’t easy. He’s seen it all: tears, screams, curses that do
their damndest to stick despite his protections, even the occasional
assassination attempt. None of them have ever worked, obviously, but it’s
something he has to be on guard for. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Desperate
people are hurt people, and they’re not always careful about who ends up
sharing their pain. Several bad experiences have instilled in Rainer a sense of
caution that Scarlet calls paranoia, but Shaw was always supportive of it. <i>Better
safe than sorry, lad, </i>he used to say. Shaw was small fae, with small
powers, and he appreciated a good back-up plan.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Inheriting
Shaw’s caution might be the only thing that kept Rainer alive after what
happened next.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">When the bell
above the door rings five minutes before closing, Rainer barely notices it at
first. He’s too busy collecting the few paper receipts he’s generated today and
taking pictures of them to upload to his accounting software—some fae can’t
handle being in close proximity to modern technology, so he tends to save this
for the end of the day. It’s the reason he uses old-fashioned lamps to light
the store instead of LED bulbs and hasn’t upgraded the radiators yet. The
older, the better for his real customers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“Welcome in,”
he calls out, not looking up. A wash of cold air blows across the shop, making
the hairs on his arms stand on end. It’s not quite winter yet, and Rainer
pauses for a moment as the smell of petrichor wafts in along with the cold. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">He sets the
receipts aside but keeps his phone in his hands, being very careful to keep his
eyes down even as he lifts the phone enough to see through the camera.
“Anything I can help you with?” he asks as the door closes with a ding. He
captures a photo of a man with a close-cut gray bears wearing a long, heavy
leather jacket before actually looking up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The man smiles.
“Not as such.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Rainer smiles
back. The expression feels frozen on his face, but he knows it doesn’t come off
that way. He can conceal the truth as well as any fae out there. “The shop
closes in five minutes.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“Oh, we won’t
linger long,” the man says.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">We</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">… It takes too long for Rainer to
register the fact that there’s another set of footsteps wandering around the
shop. The other steps aren’t a pair of shoes, either. Rather, it’s the <i>click-click-click</i>
of nails on hardwood; there’s an animal moving around the shop.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">A big one, from
the sound of it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The man comes
up to the counter, staring down at the jewelry on display beneath it. “You’ve
an eclectic assortment of goods here.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“Thank you,”
Rainer says mildly, sending the picture off without looking at the phone. “It’s
a collection that’s taken a long time to put together.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“I can tell.”
When their eyes meet, Rainer is momentarily stricken with fear. These eyes are
blue, normal, average in every way except in which they seem to be capable of
staring straight through Rainer. “I wonder if you might have something I’m
looking for.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“Maybe.” Rainer
sets the phone down on the counter and lowers one hand to the scarred wooden
surface of the ancient display case, the other one falling casually behind it.
“What are you looking for?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“A ring,” the
man says. “A signet ring, in fact.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Rainer shakes
his head. “I’m afraid we don’t—”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“</span><i><span style="font-family: "Viner Hand ITC"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Let
me finish, boy</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Rainer shivers
violently, then shakes off the compulsion. The man continues like he never used
one in the first place. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“It’s a signet
ring made from obsidian, engraved with a silver crown on the surface,” he
continues. “It belongs to a very powerful person who would like it back. I was
told this would be a good place to begin my search for it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">It takes a
moment to father the breath to respond, but Rainer manages after a few seconds.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have anything of that sort here.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“Mmm.” The man
nods in understanding. “I see. But perhaps you know someone who <i>does</i>. I
have it on equally good authority that you’re quite…<i>close</i> with the
bearer of this ring.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">A message comes
in on Rainer’s phone. Then another. And another. It dings with notification
after notification. “Just let me get this first,” Rainer says, but the man
reaches out and slams a hand down on the phone before he can pick it up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“No more
dissembling between us,” he says, the blue in his eyes beginning to melt into
silver. The <i>click-click</i> comes closer, then stops. Rainer risks a glance
at the end of the aisle and sees a massive hound staring at him. At first it
just looks like a big breed of pitbull, but a second and then a third glance
reveal the leonine mane around its head, and the massive spread of its claws
and jaws. It’s tawny and muscular and drooling a pool onto the floor. The drool
steams lightly. “Tell me where to find the prince, and I’ll spare your life.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">He's fae, so
Rainer knows that he’s telling the truth. But looking into those eyes, he also
knows that if he were to tell this man where Scarlet is, he would end up in
such incredible pain and suffering that he would <i>wish</i> he were dead. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Fortunately for
Rainer, he has absolutely no intention of giving up Scarlet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“Get fucked,”
he says in a pleasant voice instead, then slams his hand down on the emergency
button beneath his desk. The fae is reaching for him, the creature is coming
for him, but as the cloud of tiny gray particles puffs out of the special
drawer he installed in the cash register years ago, both of them pause, then
begin to cough.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Have some iron
lung treatment, you bastards.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;"> Rainer swipes his phone up, sends out one last text,
then shoves it into the back pocket of his black jeans and leaps over the
counter. The fae man reaches out for him again, light fizzing for a moment
across his fingers, but he doesn’t make contact. Just a few more feet and
Rainer will be out the front, and then—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The bell above
the door dings with alarming merriment, and a face pokes in from the outside.
This one isn’t even trying to maintain a glamour—this is the head of a hound
bisected in two, the middle gaping with redness but not actively bleeding as
the mouth splits even wider, showing off three rows of terribly sharp teeth. It
sticks its shoulders inside the storefront, beginning to crouch, silver claws
digging gouges into the wooden floor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Rainer acts
instantly, uncoiling the long leather bracelet from his left wrist in a
snapping motion as he pulls his tactical folder from his front right pocket.
The slender bracelet extends into a short whip, and he lashes the beast with
the whippy, iron-studded tip, making it recoil long enough for him to get close
enough to slash it across the face with his knife.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The beast roars
and rears back, letting the door fall shut as it begins to paw at its new
wound. It’s only a few feet away, though; Rainer will never escape it if he
tries to use the front door.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Time for the
back, then. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">He coils the
whip up and turns for the back door, narrowly evading a paw swipe from the
leonine creature. It’s still trying to clear its face, but it lets out a yowl
of fury as Rainer dances by, letting him know that his lead is temporary at
best. He’s got to go faster…or slow it down.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Without
hesitating, Rainer shoves the carefully curated shelves onto the floor behind
him as he passes by. Tchotchkes smash into shards, elegant antiques are sent
tumbling, and the occasional very rare and precious curio is shattered without
a second thought as he runs for the back of the store. He can hear the yowls
become growls, hear the beast picking its way through the wreckage. Worse than
that, he can hear the fae who came in with it begin to laugh. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">It’s the sound
of a raven on the edge of a battlefield, the sound of thunder rumbling in the
distance. It’s the sound of doom impending, so full of menace that Rainer can
barely force his limbs to move.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">“Make the chase
a good one,” the fae calls out as Rainer darts through the back door, slamming
it shut behind him. He turns then, just in time to see the leonine beast smash
head-first into the heavy slab of black walnut, nearly breaking the vertical
glass inlay in it right then and there. Silver eyes stand out even across the
entirety of the shop, glowing with malice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">The beast
growls again and gathers itself for another attack.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Rainer runs.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt;">Halfway across
the world, a man grips his phone hard enough to make the plastic groan, staring
down at two little words: <i>They’re coming.</i></span></p>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
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<p><br /></p>Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-71205911609426253382024-03-05T08:04:00.000-08:002024-03-05T08:04:10.685-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-Two, Part One<p> Notes: Time for a meeting with Restaria! What will Elanus even say to xir? What can xe possible say back? We'll find out ;)</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-Two, Part One</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Twenty-Two,
Part One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPnlpQYIDstuXrfyKZP3XX1Mjpyz88CX7H2j5s52hcL5ln_k8ZCWkTCtQH-q4hrh_Hq3SFdAJenpimi87q0jfaVrTIrIU3MddxP7Kf7i99_whRmU2evBWAvuLvdEIrEtX44Icoijt5np9QZjOuzlmvA-esSAnZ9Pzqxeu25S_6zTcEaeGAtQ-UA-swvs/s6000/olu-gbadebo-NCvvr837fz8-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitPnlpQYIDstuXrfyKZP3XX1Mjpyz88CX7H2j5s52hcL5ln_k8ZCWkTCtQH-q4hrh_Hq3SFdAJenpimi87q0jfaVrTIrIU3MddxP7Kf7i99_whRmU2evBWAvuLvdEIrEtX44Icoijt5np9QZjOuzlmvA-esSAnZ9Pzqxeu25S_6zTcEaeGAtQ-UA-swvs/s320/olu-gbadebo-NCvvr837fz8-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Only Restaria Sanclare could make sitting in a broken EV
suit in the darkness of a storage compartment look dignified. Even xir hair had
retained enough coils and ringlets to give it some of that famous body xe was
known for. Xe was looking up expectantly as Elanus had Lizzie open the
compartment, but tellingly, Restaria didn’t try to stand.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Good. Xe hadn’t gotten ahead of xirself after all.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus stared at xir in silence for a long while, just
taking xir existence in. Restaria didn’t blink, staring back with those dark,
uncanny eyes—eyes that saw everything. Eyes that always knew which way to look
next in order to gain the most control over a situation. Eyes that were, for
the first time Elanus could remember, wary. Uncertain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally Restaria said, “He’s alive, then.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What makes you so sure?” Elanus asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m quite sure I’d be dead if Kieron Carr was. You would
never have gone to the trouble to rescue me otherwise.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“An interesting statement from you.” Elanus tilted his head.
“You clearly knew you were throwing him into a dangerous situation.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I didn’t throw him into anything,” Restaria replied. “I
offered information and he came to me to get it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You knew he was walking into an assassination attempt.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria, to xir credit, nodded. “Yes. I also knew he was
well-equipped to survive it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And yet he almost died, and would have if his well-being
had been left in your hands.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I knew you would come for him,” Restaria said. “And you
did. He knew it as well. He was annoyed with me, but he was never afraid.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus scoffed. “How would you know what fear looks like in
another person? It’s not even something that you feel yourself, do you?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria frowned. “Of course I feel fear.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, you don’t. You’re something closely akin to a
psychopath, to use the ancient term. I’ve known that about you for years now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xe shook xir head. “Why, because I didn’t fall down on my
knees before you in awe when we were at university?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>You went to your knees willingly enough for other
reasons, didn’t you? </i>But Elanus wasn’t here to rehash the past. He was here
to talk about the present, and the very unstable future. “I never wanted your
adulation. I wanted your love, which you never managed to give me. You were
always, always looking to the future, and you decided early on that I was a
poor mix with the political scene. That’s why it never went farther between us,
and in the end I’m grateful for that.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Because whatever happens to you next is going to hurt less
than it might have,” he said. “It won’t be completely painless, I know that much.
I always appreciated you and your brilliance, even when I knew we couldn’t be
together. Even after what you did to Kieron, I didn’t really want to let you
die. But I wouldn’t have cried if you had, and neither would almost anyone else
who knows you, it seems.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria sighed. “Surely you can appreciate that I did what
I did for the greater good. The damage being done to our people with the
continuation of [name], it’s unconscionable. I needed to draw you into dealing
with it somehow—no one else on Gania has the power or the technology necessary
to make a real difference there.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not even the president.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Of course not.” Xe shared the bare bones of the deals that
had been made with the ruling Central Planets, and how Moreno and so many more
in their ruling cabinet were beholden to them. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You all do realize that the [name] is still in shambles
after what happened to President [name],” Elanus pointed out. “Admiral Liang is
an interim solution; if there was ever a time to renegotiate our terms, it’s
now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Moreno doesn’t want to renegotiate terms. He likes things
just as they are—with him on top and everyone else a rung below, especially
those who might some day become a threat to him.” Restaria gestured to Elanus. “You’re
also on his hit list, you know. The virus that attempted to take down your home
system, the efforts made to subdue your people, those weren’t from me. Those
were volleys from Moreno’s people, waiting to see just how hard a target you
were going to present as now that you’re back here.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sure they were.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I have no reason to want to hurt you like that.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But you did hurt me,” Elanus said. “You lured my fiancé in-between
you and a messy fate. I don’t blame you for wanting to survive, but I sure as
hell do blame you for using him to do it. You knew this attack was coming—you didn’t
have to involve him, and yet you did. Just to get at me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“To get your attention,” Restaria insisted. “Everything Moreno
tried just made you harder to reach. I needed to be cleverer than him.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You could have <i>asked!</i>” he exploded. “You think I
wouldn’t have listened to you? How long have we known each other? How long have
you known the sort of person I am? Have I ever abandoned my responsibilities or
feelings in a way that made you think I wasn’t going to give you a chance to
explain yourself?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I needed more than a chance,” Restaria said. “I needed surety
that you would take action. I wish I could have gained it another way, I truly
do, but believe it or not I <i>was </i>surprised by the timing of Moreno’s
attack on me. I didn’t want to bring Mr. Carr into things, but I saw the
opportunity to save myself and I took it. I’m sorry he was hurt, but he saved
my life and I’m grateful for it.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xe leaned forward, intent. “And together we can make sure
that things change. Together we can make real change for our people, from
turning off the [name] to ensuring that Moreno and his ilk can’t run from justice.
We can make a real difference in the lives of everyone on Gania, and in Chelen
City, for the better. You know I’m right.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“There are going to be major changes on Gania,” Elanus
assured Restaria, crossing his arms. “But you’re not going to be a part of any
of them.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the first time, xe looked truly discomfited. “What do
you mean by that?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I mean that if you think I’m just going to forgive and forget
when it comes to what you did today, you’re a fool.” It was Elanus’s turn to
lean in. “Someone as clever as you, so political, so astute, and yet not even
you were able to understand what’s at the heart of me. You don’t prioritize
your own heart, so why should you consider mine, other than as a means to an
end?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But you almost ruined my life. <i>You</i>, Restaria. Moreno
too, and I won’t forget it, but if you think I can just move on from what
happened to Kieron like you yourself could, you’ve vastly underestimated the
depths of my emotion. Call it love, call it pettiness, call it whatever you
want, but know this: your time here on Gania is as over as Moreno’s.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I guarantee that with <i>my </i>life.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-67838780433961615982024-02-27T07:51:00.000-08:002024-02-27T07:51:57.469-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two<p> Notes: Pulling it all together now! Never fear, soon everything will be...well, not wrapped up in a bow or anything because this is an eternally expanding universe, but ready for new adventures at least!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two</p><p>***<br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Twenty-One,
Part Two</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcn8SD68P6rzCXa-jmc5j6-Vfr1_nlzyE8RD9sNXFQCCE60EGlqKIBRkQgIk241amu4v4LM-BdaiY97i5Y51Hi_WGPNiYjNx85po389DdfrTKlERZuRirKRvUZTmBOeUTXoKW_cz3nJIU7YYs7zkxfYDyFgGUGnWfb5yIRu3GIXfmWx1eK0aNJ_fbxyTE/s3024/andrii-leonov-cORbXYOBOug-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="1991" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcn8SD68P6rzCXa-jmc5j6-Vfr1_nlzyE8RD9sNXFQCCE60EGlqKIBRkQgIk241amu4v4LM-BdaiY97i5Y51Hi_WGPNiYjNx85po389DdfrTKlERZuRirKRvUZTmBOeUTXoKW_cz3nJIU7YYs7zkxfYDyFgGUGnWfb5yIRu3GIXfmWx1eK0aNJ_fbxyTE/s320/andrii-leonov-cORbXYOBOug-unsplash.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Catie, for once, didn’t ask a heap of questions when they
got back. She simply confirmed that Kieron was going to be okay, then got to
work handling the absolute fucking mess that was ensuring their tracks were
covered—destroying satellite footage, rerouting frantic requests for
information, and stopping less impressive AIs in their tracks. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’ve goooot it, Daddeeeee,” she said when Elanus asked
whether or not she needed help. “Lizziiiiiie needs to rest and you need to take
care of Kieroooooon.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rest? Lizzie needed rest? In what sense? Elanus wanted to
ask, but the hatch was already opening and Lizzie had activated the floaters on
Kieron’s stretcher so that Elanus could get him down to the infirmary quick.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’d follow up later. He took hold of the stretcher’s handle
and began to push it out into the bay.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Elanus?” Lizzie asked quietly as he exited. “What would you
like me to do with Restaria?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Is xe awake?” he asked, not stopping to look back at the
hold where he knew his ex was being held. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes. Xe’s been awake for nineteen minutes now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good. I’ll come back for xir after I make sure Kieron’s all
right. For now, tell Restaria to sit tight, and if xe gives you any trouble? Throw
some knockout gas down into the hold and put xir back to sleep.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Elanus.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The trip to the infirmary was uninterrupted, which was nice.
Elanus could feel his implant pulsing with the onslaught of information he was
holding back. A quick glanced showed a huge amount of speculation in the news
about the explosion on the Stellar Cabinet, messages from Caria Jayde and Fritz
and a slew of other somewhat important people demanding to know whether or not
he had anything to do with it, and finally a message from President Moreno
himself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Hmm</i>. Something connected to Elanus must have slipped
through the net somehow. He pushed it to the back of his mind as he got to the
infirmary, where he was more grateful than ever that he’d installed an extra
Regen tank after Kieron came to live with him. Not that he wouldn’t have kicked
Ryu out of his if he’d needed to, but he’d have felt bad about it. A little
bit. Eventually. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus set the tank to fill, then opened the lid and picked
Kieron up in his arms. He was a reassuringly solid weight, even as short as he
was, and Elanus took a moment to press a kiss to his battered forehead. He was
covered in blood and lymph and free-flowing Regen, but he didn’t stir, and his
heartbeat sounded in a reassuringly steady rhythm through the autodoc. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You knew I’d come for you,” he said as he laid Kieron down.
“And I did. Now you have to do your part, baby. Get better. Come back.” His throat
was uncomfortably tight, but he forced himself to speak. “I need you back. We
all do.” He closed the lid and watched the Regan flow over Kieron’s precious
body, and then…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He just sat there. He couldn’t bring himself to move. He <i>ought</i>
to, he knew that. He had so many things to do. He had Restaria to deal with, he
had Lizzie to reassure, he had a million messages to deal with and false trails
to check on and a future to decide and, just, so much that needed to happen, <i>so
much</i>, and yet the thought of taking his eyes off Kieron now that he had him
in front of him seemed impossible. Just impossible. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>You’ve ruined me.</i> Kieron had absolutely ruined Elanus
for the life he used to live. Or maybe that had been Catie, the first lifeform
he’d truly fallen in love with, enough to wedge a crack into his heart and
leave room for Kieron to crawl inside with her. Stars, what a ridiculous pair
they were. They had next to nothing in common, different upbringings, different
priorities in life…except where they were exactly the same. They loved the
girls, they loved their independence, but they also loved being dependent on
each <i>other.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron didn’t need Elanus for anything, not really. Even
when Elanus had held complete professional power over him, Kieron had never
bowed or scraped. He hadn’t been intimidated, and he’d made his case to get
both their goals taken care of. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus didn’t need Kieron once he’d gotten Catie back,
either, but that was part of the allure. Kieron didn’t care how wealthy he was,
how brilliant, how in demand. All he cared about was Elanus, in all his snarky,
occasionally stupid glory, and their little family.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Ruined me for solitude. I need you so much now. </i>It
wasn’t the first time he’d had this thought recently, but the last time his
conclusion had been that they needed to get married. Now it was that Kieron
needed to recover, wake up, and hopefully remember who he even was. Regen was
so good but his poor head, his beautiful, precious mind had been damaged. He
ought to heal fine, but what if he didn’t? What if something went wrong?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A warm hand touched his shoulder, and Elanus didn’t even
realize his eyes were blurry with tears until he spun around on the chair he
was sitting in, pressed his face to Xilinn’s shoulder, and felt it get wet beneath
him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to—if anyone in
this house understood what Elanus was feeling right now, it was the woman who
had lose her beloved husband to space. She wrapped her arms around him and let
him cry and didn’t speak at all until he was empty of tears and, happily, empty
of some of the sense of vicious hopelessness he’d been stricken with as well.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Do you want some water?” she asked once Elanus finally
lifted his head up again.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I can get it,” he croaked, but she shook her head and got
some for him instead. It was cool and refreshing, just what he needed to feel
human again. “Thank you,” he said after he downed the cupful.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Of course.” She looked down at Kieron and touched the surface
of the tank. “Is he going to be all right?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I think so.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good.” She took a deep breath, then nodded. “I’ll keep Pol
out of here until Kieron’s recovered. I don’t want him to see him like this.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus nodded. That was a good idea, and Kieron wouldn’t be
here long. He wouldn’t. Maybe a day, maybe <i>less</i> than a full day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What happened to him?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m not entirely sure,” Elanus said, getting to his feet.
Upright, he towered over Xilinn, who was a petite five-foot-two to his
seven-foot-six-inch height, but she never seemed put off by it, just looked up
at him calmly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But I’m going to find out right now.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was time to get some answers out of Restaria.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-60786369692450550632024-02-20T07:15:00.000-08:002024-02-20T07:15:14.446-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-One, Part One<p> Notes: Sweet resolution...kind of. The start of it. Breathe, my darlins, it's all right.</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-One, Part One</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Twenty-One,
Part One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDRjoejyFNcQws3kWMHW6sM2LnaghPrVfdBSIMHfSD_CAAXiVHNxV5Cbsf6g3VyFdE95ETHc0dwEVYx3NCnhq9p2eDRLF3AJdaQ6fgOaKpejRjScfhj9UPxIjOF64McLCoidPKCI7D1EH4bUarZXEBf8aXfdEpNYh4kmSdEPqOe6T4EgaD-GrJuJx3e4/s3888/marika-vinkmann-gxdlbzIKwMc-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="2592" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDRjoejyFNcQws3kWMHW6sM2LnaghPrVfdBSIMHfSD_CAAXiVHNxV5Cbsf6g3VyFdE95ETHc0dwEVYx3NCnhq9p2eDRLF3AJdaQ6fgOaKpejRjScfhj9UPxIjOF64McLCoidPKCI7D1EH4bUarZXEBf8aXfdEpNYh4kmSdEPqOe6T4EgaD-GrJuJx3e4/s320/marika-vinkmann-gxdlbzIKwMc-unsplash.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>It could be worse.</i> That was what Elanus kept telling
himself as he laid Kieron down on the floor and immediately hooked him up to Lizzie’s
autodoc. It started flashing all sorts of warning lights and spouting prescriptions
and actions, all of which Elanus immediately approved.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>It could be worse</i>, he thought as he watched Regen
flow down tubes into Kieron’s body, where the doc had quickly placed needles to
ready him for emergency treatment. <i>It could be worse</i>, he thought as pure
oxygen laced with a sedative to keep him asleep began pumping through the mask
over Kieron’s face. Intubation would be even better, but the doc wasn’t
advanced enough for that and Elanus didn’t want to try it when the risk of
hurting Kieron was so high. They were close to real medical facilities—as long
as Kieron could still breathe, he’d be all right for now.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>It could be worse.</i> Elanus knew that because he’d seen
Kieron worse, seen him after radiation had all but liquified him, seen him with
sloughing skin and a swollen brain and with massive organ failure that could
barely be counteracted in time. This? By comparison, this was imminently
survivable. Already some of his vitals were stabilizing, although the autodoc was
still giving dire warnings. “<i>Immediate advanced treatment required. Do not
delay. Immediate advanced treatment required. Do not delay. Immediate—</i>”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Shut that off, Lizzie,” Elanus snapped, and she did so.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Is Kee going to be okay?” she asked quietly into the
ringing silence, only broken by the sound of Kieron’s lungs slowly sucking in
the relentless oxygen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, honey, but we have to get back to Chelen City right
now. You can fly us there, right?” Because Elanus wasn’t going to leave Kieron’s
side. He might be unconscious now, but who knew what this idiot might get up to
if Elanus wasn’t here to stop him? Blowing up the <i>side</i> of the <i>Stellar
Cabinet</i> and hurtling himself into <i>space</i>, what the hell was he
thinking?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He wasn’t thinking!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What about the other person, Elanus?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What other person?” he asked distractedly as he adjusted
the Regen lines so that they didn’t pull so much at Kieron’s limbs. A little red-tinged
pool of the stuff was already gathering on the floor, but Elanus didn’t care
about that. There was no such thing as waste when it came to keeping Kieron
alive. Stars, his poor <i>face</i>…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The one in the EV suit.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus’s head whipped around so hard his neck hurt. “What?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Numerous people were ejected into space during the
implosion, but the only other one who survived is wearing an EV suit. They’re
currently moving away from the station at a speed of two hundred and twenty-six
kilometers per—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I get it, I get it.” Shit. If this was one of the
assassins, they could keep sailing into nowhere as far as Elanus was concerned,
but if it was Restaria… “Do you have a visual?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Elanus.” Lizzie projected an image of the person on
her front screen. They were hurtling end over end, their EV suit trailing a
thin line of gas—they wouldn’t be alive for long. “Zoom in.” Lizzie did so. “Focus
and find a still of their face.” She complied once more, and—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yep, that was Restaria. Xe appeared to be unconscious, which
was probably a blessing for xir. It made Elanus want to grab xir and shake xir
until xe woke up and told him exactly why the fuck this had happened, and what
xe wanted <i>him</i> to do about it, because that much was clear. Kieron was
nothing but a lure to xir, a magnificent lure with just the right skillset to
buy xir some time.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Never mind. Let xir rot in space.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Kieron?” Lizzie sounded tentative. “Should I go and get them?
Only, their life signs are starting to decrease…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Damn it to the stars and back. “Fine,” Elanus gritted out
after a second. “Use the hook to reel xir in and pull xir into the cargo bay. Pressurize
it so that xe can breathe and keep monitoring xir life signs, but unless
Restaria is on the brink of death, I don’t want to so much as look at xir until
Kieron is taken care of.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lizzie didn’t say anything else, just gave a satisfied hum
and started away from the Stellar Cabinet. Elanus stared at the ruin in the
side of Restaria’s quarters as they began to turn, shards and debris flickering
past them, and contemplated how it would feel to get rid of the entire damn
thing. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wow. Contemplating an act that would undoubtedly lead to
civil war wasn’t exactly what he thought he’d find himself doing today, but some
days were like that. Elanus turned away from those thoughts; that was for
later. For now, all he wanted to do was take care of Kieron.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re terrible,” he whispered, holding onto Kieron’s one
relatively-good hand with both of his. “The worst fiancé ever, I can’t believe
I want to marry you so bad. Are you going to do this every year? Find some new
way to vaporize yourself? Because I have to tell you, babe, I don’t know if my
heart is going to be able to take that. Let’s make this the last time, okay?”
He heard Lizzie’s hook deploy, was vaguely aware of the process of bringing
Restaria into the ship, and nodded to acknowledge Lizzie’s confirmation that xir
life signs were stabilizing. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Good. Good for xir. Restaria was going to need to be stable
in order to withstand the firestorm that Elanus was about to rain down on xir. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We’ll be home soon, Kee,” Lizzie said, her voice a croon.
It made the floor rumble comfortingly, a gentle vibration to let her really
feel her father’s weight. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Are you okay, Lizzie?” Elanus asked, still not looking away
from Kieron.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I am now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Yeah. Me too.</i></p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-73791459964719309642024-02-13T07:33:00.000-08:002024-02-13T07:33:13.044-08:00Chelen City: Interlude 6: Kieron<p> Notes: SO! Please be aware this is a chapter with lots of violence and lots of pain. I'm mean to Kieron in this chapter, but you know me! Trust that I'll make it better in the end :)</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Interlude 6: Kieron</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Interlude 6: Kieron</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibKnBNBlg7ycmb43V6wLmQJIaR7gdSeIks0atlqcJ9VbXOLF7Q-Blzpn_rFeBjwRvJ-L5QWMm95Ts4ktTmsb6qfWOmKP3Syb22-SODb-joGuA-bn1kJlHBEDqwIbc3slSMUk2tUAoWA8OgTvvEi8QaFREK2iZCRA2Fvw3oY0IkyV3tV77S5tkWOLEsMno/s5949/saif71-com-KngqPcxxvXc-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5949" data-original-width="4000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibKnBNBlg7ycmb43V6wLmQJIaR7gdSeIks0atlqcJ9VbXOLF7Q-Blzpn_rFeBjwRvJ-L5QWMm95Ts4ktTmsb6qfWOmKP3Syb22-SODb-joGuA-bn1kJlHBEDqwIbc3slSMUk2tUAoWA8OgTvvEi8QaFREK2iZCRA2Fvw3oY0IkyV3tV77S5tkWOLEsMno/s320/saif71-com-KngqPcxxvXc-unsplash.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By the time the first person dropped down out of the
ventilation in the bedroom, Kieron was more than ready for them. He was done
with waiting, done with this sick, stupid game, done with everything except
keeping himself—and, reluctantly, Restaria—alive long enough for Elanus to get
to them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No communication? No problem.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Assassins closing in? Survivable.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Having to face disappointing his family with his death?
Kieron would do absolutely anything to prevent that, up to and including
pushing Restaria in front of a bullet. Xe hadn’t done anything to lay a claim
on Kieron’s faithfulness other than ensure he had the means of protecting them.
Luckily for xir, xe also knew to stay out of the fucking way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A quick baton strike to the legs as the assassin fell out of
the vent broke the one on the right and ruined their landing, at which point
Kieron followed up with the knife up and under the skinsuit of armor they were
wearing and into their throat. He stirred the blade, the bet he could do when
he couldn’t cut laterally to finish the kill, then left the bastard on the
ground to choke to death on their own blood. One trembling hand reached for a
blinking device on their belt—ha, <i>not today</i>, motherfucker. Kieron
brought the knife down in a hard chopping motion and was pleased to find out
that the armor around the wrists wasn’t nearly as good as the stuff protecting
the throat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He took off the other hand too, just in case. It killed off
the fucker faster, but Kieron needed to move on by that point anyhow. He’d left
Restaria with the darts, and from the sound of things in the living room they’d
been useful already.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron slid along the wet, freezing floor to where he’d left
the politician behind a couch, crouching down to minimize the chances that he’d
fall. This was one of those times when being shorter than a Ganian came in
handy—two of them were on the floor, flailing as they tried to get up. A third
was still, one of the darts sticking out of their eye socket. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Nice targeting.</i> That ought to numb up their brains
nicely. As for the others…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron skidded forward, smashing one hard in the helmet with
the baton. It had a tip that could penetrate the best armor if it hit it in
just the right way, and Kieron was damn good at angles. He broke the faceplate
right off, and the assassin turned over and stared up at him with big, fearful
eyes. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Wait!” she cried out—a woman, huh. “Please, just let me—” He
hit her between those big, gleaming eyes and sent bone shards up and into her
brain. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nope. No listening. No explanations. No chances to make
things right. One assassin might be someone you could negotiate with, but a
whole pack of them working in concert? That was a problem that could only be extinguished
with extreme prejudice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The person beside her pulled a gun and, after a little
fumbling, got it aimed at Kieron, who had just enough time to hoist the body of
the person he’d just killed up between them so her armor could absorb the shots
instead. They hit again and again, until the armor was perforated and chunks of
body were coming out the hole, and yet the guy didn’t stop. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So Kieron stopped him by throwing the body on top of him.
The assassin tried to push her aside, but Kieron followed up by breaking every
bone in his left foot with the baton. He screamed, high-pitched and tinny
through the helmet, then shrieked when Kieron used the baton to make strategic
holes in the thigh and abdomen of his suit. <i>One, two, three…stab stab stab. In
and stir, always stir. Stabs inconvenience, slices stop.</i> It didn’t feel
good to murder the man, but in all honesty there was something satisfying about
it. It had been a very, very long time since Kieron had had to deal with
someone in such a hands-on way, and he couldn’t say he minded it under the
circumstances.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Four more coming in fast,” Restaria called out from behind
the couch. Xir implant was cut off from scanning the overall building, but xe
had built extra failsafes into ensuring xe could use it in xir own quarters. “One
of them is moving in a manner that makes me think they’re carrying something
large.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Large…what could it be? Maybe a gas bottle of some kind,
something to poison them or put them to sleep. Then again, circumstances had
already shown that they were willing to do serious structural damage, if the
blinking device on the first killer’s belt really was the microgrenade it
looked like.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Shit.</i> Kieron hoped Elanus got here soon. If these
people were willing to blow up this part of the Cabinet, then there wasn’t
going to be a good way to stop them. He and Restaria were confined—they wouldn’t
get far trying to go out the way the bathroom person had come in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Actually…Kieron darted back to the bathroom to grab a few
things off the body, then came to hunker down next to Restaria.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xe made a face when xe saw what he was carrying with him. “Whatever
do you plan on doing with that?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It depends on what they’re attacking with,” Kieron said. “If
they’re trying to gas us out, then it’s a projectile meant for them. If they’re
trying to blow us up, then it’s a counter-strike.” He glanced out the window
behind them—nothing yet. <i>Come soon, come soon…</i> “Close up your EV suit
just in case.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria gave him a glare. “You think there’s the slightest
hope I’d live long enough to see another day if I survived space and you didn’t?
Elanus would have my head.” Xe became apologetic quickly enough, though. “I’m…sorry
I didn’t think to secure a suit for you. That was short-sighted on my part.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It was,” Kieron agreed. “I could have gotten us out of this
fucking mess a lot sooner if both of us could spacewalk.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“They’d just come after us out there.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He sighed. “You know who else can come after us out there?
Elanus. You know who’s not going to risk firing on the Stellar Cabinet when he
might his us instead of an enemy? Also Elanus.” An EV suit would have been
great, but…to be fair, Kieron hadn’t thought to bring one along either. Not that
he was as much to blame as the piece of work sitting next to him, but—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“All you have to do is give us the vice president!” a voice
called out from the corridor ahead of them. The doors had been opened by the
first two, and these ones were being cautious in turn. “We’ve got no interest in
anyone else here.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Would have been nice if you’d led with that instead of
leading with a weapon,” Kieron called back. “Bombs don’t discriminate when it
comes to going off.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Our apologies.” The man didn’t sound particularly
apologetic, to Kieron’s mind. “We promise, we’re not going to do you any damage
unless you force the issue. Just step away from the vice-president and let us finish
our contract.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Or what, you’ll gas me unconscious?” There was a moment of
silence. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Mkay. The answer is no, but—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You fucker! You killed Emily!” One of the four broke away
through the door, a long, curving blade visible in their hand. “Come out and
fight me!” he screamed, ripping his helmet off and throwing it aside. “Fight me
like a fucking man!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Get back out here!” the original speaker snapped, but this
guy was too far gone.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Darts,” Kieron whispered to Restaria, but xe shook xir
head. Out…damn it. And if they used the explosive device now, they’d open
themselves up to a greater attack via the gas later. “Fuck. Fine.” He pointed
at the stuff he’d brought from the bathroom. “Throw that when I say so, you got
it?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I—yes, fine, but—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron leapt over the edge of the couch before xe could
finish, baton whirling into full extension. It wasn’t a sword, but he didn’t
need it to be. He just needed to get the right hit on this guy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Easier said than done. The man was a shitty assassin but a
damn good swordsman, and the baton was made of a malleable metal except at the
very tip. It wasn’t going to last long against direct blows. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron managed to punch a few holes in the guy’s armor with
the baton, but he took several cuts from the sword, one bad enough to let him
know he wasn’t going to be able to use his left arm for much. Blood poured from
the wound, and the man stared at him with a fierce, crazed look on his face. “I’ll
take you apart piece by piece,” he snarled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Get him over by the door, Fell!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fuck off! I’m going to—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron dropped the baton, pulled his knife, and threw it all
in one smooth motion. The blade turned end-over-end and managed to hit the guy
right in the mouth. Unfortunately, it hit with the <i>hilt</i> of the blade,
rather than the point, but it was enough to make the fucker choke. He darted
forward, jerked it out—pulling several broken teeth along with it, and then
reversed the blade and drove it straight up through the man’s soft palate and
into his brain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Stir. Stir. Stir.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Gas now, gas now!” the original speaker shouted. Kieron
could run at them, but he didn’t know how the others were armed, and he was
losing a lot of blood quickly. He needed to end this before they were too late.
He glanced back at the window with a sense of resignation, and saw…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A speck of light heading toward them. Just a speck now, but
he would know that light anywhere.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Lizzie!</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He grabbed the baton again, then skidded back around the
edge of the couch. “Throw it,” he croaked, and Restaria did so. Xe connected the
severed hand to the detonator on the grenade at the last second, and as it flew
the beeping sound increased, then—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>BAM!</i> Lightsoundheatpain as the couch disintegrated,
as the two of them were thrown against the glass, as the fire from the grenade
boiled out into the hallway and made the three surviving assassins scream. That
heat hit him hard, sucking the air from his lungs and searing the tender skin
of his face. Kieron closed his eyelids, but it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t see.
He couldn’t see but he knew Lizzie was coming, and Elanus was coming, and they
had to go to them if they were going to survive. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Using all the strength he had left, Kieron slammed the baton
back into the glass. He hit again, and again, and the glass cracked and cracked
and then it shattered, it <i>shattered </i>and they were sucked out into space
where it was cold, no hot, no—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then space caught him tumbling, and warm arms brought
him home.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-22138559592667770282024-02-06T08:55:00.000-08:002024-02-06T08:55:44.480-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Twenty, Part Two<p> Notes: And we're off, into spaaaaaace! Time to send up the cavalry and see if Kieron actually needs them. ;)</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Twenty, Part Two</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Twenty, Part
Two</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQq2hosc7n6QxviTn9JobYr6eLXy3zbweSSuHRa3Q_gH0D-OJMuThh2xDwhL0rLaQyTuEGFw9QFetKn6IaB74DmbU4ZnjuKHZCi4qcXWcxYbte1xP1eC-HTiT-_5Xt_VwM3aEy9TiwoWowwdL65HvlzF4GGIayghwdVcOglrC0P7kpSp1lca9_90qFgu8/s6048/nasa-7Cz6bWjdlDs-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4006" data-original-width="6048" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQq2hosc7n6QxviTn9JobYr6eLXy3zbweSSuHRa3Q_gH0D-OJMuThh2xDwhL0rLaQyTuEGFw9QFetKn6IaB74DmbU4ZnjuKHZCi4qcXWcxYbte1xP1eC-HTiT-_5Xt_VwM3aEy9TiwoWowwdL65HvlzF4GGIayghwdVcOglrC0P7kpSp1lca9_90qFgu8/s320/nasa-7Cz6bWjdlDs-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were some good things about knowing that someone was
trying to assassinate the vice president of Gania. Firstly, absolutely <i>no
one</i> in a position of power, up to and including President Moreno, was going
to interfere with anything happening on the Stellar Cabinet. They couldn’t
afford to be traced; bad enough that the Cabinet’s ability to communicate with
the planet was being blocked by someone in Chelen City—someone who Elanus had
set Catie to tracking down. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Assassination was an accepted form of social maneuvering,
yes, but assassinating a politician you disagreed with? That was just crass,
and a surefire way to provoke chaos. The people who ran Gania didn’t want chaos—that
interfered with profits. They were pouring everything they could into this
attempt, but if it failed they would go into face-saving mode quickly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Secondly, and as a direct result of the first point, Lizzie’s
stealth skin was in all likelihood going to be more than enough to get the two
of them into the Cabinet’s orbit. All the extra sensors and alarms and security
measures that Elanus would normally have worried about, none of them were going
to apply. The Stellar Cabinet had been left blind and dumb, rendered helpless
so that a very high profile target could be removed. Whoever had the power to
set this up, they wanted to make <i>sure</i> Restaria died. That meant no stumbling
blocks in the way of their killers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>They should have engineered an accident on the Cabinet
itself. </i>That’s what Elanus would have done—caused a computer malfunction or
a system overload that led to some sort of grand tragedy. He could understand
why whoever was behind this hadn’t gone that route, though—they wanted Restaria
dead, but they didn’t want to have to sacrifice their incredibly expensive
space hotel to get xir that way. So instead, they’d taken the traditional
route, with human assassins. And Restaria had countered with…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>How did xe know he’d be capable of defending xir long
enough for me to get there?</i> It was a big risk for someone who didn’t know
Kieron the way Elanus did. Restaria had to be getting inside information on him
from someone.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His mind went to Ms. Farraday, Kieron’s therapist, first.
But she’d been the one to alert them about the problem…she could have stayed
silent a little longer, or send a written message, not actually called. So then
who…ah. <i>Ah.</i> Fuck. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Well, those problems could wait to be solved until Kieron
was safe again. Which would be really fucking soon, if Elanus had anything to
say about it. “Bring the engines up slowly,” he reminded Lizzie as the bay doors
swung open. “No more than twenty-five percent per minute, or we’ll burn too
fast and it’ll take longer to break atmosphere.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Elanus.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Thank you. Catie, is the dummy flight plan logged?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Daddeeee,” she said. “You’re going to do
maaaaintenance on a satelliiiiite.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And you provided me with the perfect cover, you smart girl.”
She really had knocked some of those satellites for a loop. The malfunctions
were wreaking havoc in certain sectors, and Elanus had promised to take care of
the ones close to his own hardware.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And he would. Just…not right now.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We need to go,” Lizzie said fretfully. “I left a message
for Xilinn and Pol, they won’t worry.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“They can check in with Catie if they do,” Elanus said. “All
right, let’s go.” He sat back in the pilot’s seat and watched his girl rev up,
skating near the line he’d laid for her but not quite going over it. They
lifted off and slid out into the night with barely a trail left behind, and
then it was up and through the layers of clouds and activating passwords and
keycodes to get them through the layers of red tape involved in breaking atmosphere
from outside a formal space dock, and then finally…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus felt the weight of the world momentarily drift off
his shoulders as they entered space. For a second all he saw was black, with
distant stars too far away to worry or trifle with, and it was a beautiful
thing. Then reality reasserted itself as Lizzie turned to get on course with
the Stellar Cabinet, which was currently several hundred thousand kilometers
away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Watch the approach,” Elanus murmured. “We don’t want to
disrupt your skin. Did you leave the decoy in place?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Elanus.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good girl.” The decoy was a small device that took up more
space virtually than physically, which would mock their presence in the sky
where he’d confirmed they’d be for up to four hours. “Catie, what are the scans
of the Cabinet showing? Any change in life signs?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, Daddeeee. There <i>are</i> changes in temperature,
though.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Talk to me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The cabin where Kieron and Vice President Sanclaaaaare are
locaaaated is getting very, very cold.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Ah. Someone’s hacked the environmental controls.</i> “How
cold?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“As much as ten degrees below freeeeeeeezing.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Kee will be cold,” Lizzie said, and her power indicators
surged as she sped up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not so fast,” Elanus warned her. “We can’t afford to give
our approach away.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Kee needs us.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus bit back a sigh of frustration. “He needs us to be
whole and stealthy and ready to help, not fighting off drones deployed to take
out intruders because we couldn’t keep ourselves under the radar, baby. Please,
I’m <i>begging</i> you, tone it back. I’m doing everything in my power to make
sure we don’t risk Kieron, all right? He’s tough. He can handle himself a
little longer.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was a moment of silence, and then Lizzie applied thrust
in the opposite direction and slowed them back down to a moderate pace. “I
apologize,” she murmured.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s all right. I know you mean well.” She was a good girl,
and Elanus was going to make sure Kieron knew all about it when they got him
back. “What’s our ETA?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Seven minutes and two seconds.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Catie, can you send us a visual of the imaging you’ve got
of Restaria’s cabin?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Daddeeee.” She sounded a little puzzled. “It’s
verrrrry strange, but I think somehow the cabin has sprung a leak.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“A…leak?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Daddeeeee. There’s water pouring all over the floor.
Its source is <i>inside</i> the cabin, though, in a dedicaaaaated bathroom. It
isn’t coming from outsider interfeeeeerence.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Then Kieron is the one behind it.” And given how fucking
cold it must have gotten during the winter season at Hadrian’s Colony, Elanus
was pretty sure he knew why. “I need that visual, sweetheart.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Here, Daddeeeee.” A colorful expanse popped up on Lizzie’s
viewscreen, and it only took Elanus a few seconds to pick out Kieron and
Restaria.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yep. He was the one adding water to the situation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, the people coming after him didn’t even know how screwed
they were yet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Hang in there for us, babe. We’re close.</i></p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-89856657055554231202024-01-30T10:20:00.000-08:002024-01-30T10:20:38.432-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Twenty, Part One<p>Notes: Fallout from the decisions of the last few chapters, and HOOBOY one of our girls isn't happy with the way things are going. Time for Elanus to step up and parent before his kid, you know, decides to blow up the planet or something. <br /></p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Twenty, Part One</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p><br /></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Twenty, Part
One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguxVmLCfum-cwh46NpanDTtwfHraN9K8OJjo6hUzhUIfpBxplwMdoOOiH7hULNQvE096-lz3JiEAhq_Mg6HCmJEEDHccSmXCx0DyouL4WNh-1GQix-khrgstvMy9WJihTUt08bU03Kzpxbr-hh3ahUl5NiAQBE6drF2XzlBJarNBYrxfCzwctiVMN1OKg/s4856/liana-s-WY6UiTABlso-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3579" data-original-width="4856" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguxVmLCfum-cwh46NpanDTtwfHraN9K8OJjo6hUzhUIfpBxplwMdoOOiH7hULNQvE096-lz3JiEAhq_Mg6HCmJEEDHccSmXCx0DyouL4WNh-1GQix-khrgstvMy9WJihTUt08bU03Kzpxbr-hh3ahUl5NiAQBE6drF2XzlBJarNBYrxfCzwctiVMN1OKg/s320/liana-s-WY6UiTABlso-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus wasn’t sure why he’d expected Catie to take the news
that Kieron had been kidnapped harder. Sure, she was his more expressive child,
dramatic for the sake of it sometimes, clever but petulant, emotional in
everything she did. But Lizzie had taken to Kieron like…what was the old Earth
saying…like a duck to water. She’d adopted a lot of his mannerisms and given
him a special nickname. She loved Elanus, but she adored Kieron, and after the
revelation that he was being held captive at the Stellar Cabinet—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Whoa, whoa!” Elanus held up his hands in an effort to
soothe as the entire house went dark. “Sweetheart! Disconnect from the house
control, Lizzie, disconnect. Babe, you’re going to wreck a lot of electronics
if you don’t—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“<i><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif;">I.
Don’t. Care</span></i>.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Holy shit, what was <i>that</i> voice? That voice sounded
downright demonic. What was going on inside of Lizzie?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lizziieeee, stop!” Catie’s skin flickered with a rainbow of
colors as she exerted herself to push Lizzie out of the household system. She
was second-gen, with more advanced hardware than Lizzie’s patchwork,
after-the-initial-build upgrade—it should have worked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But it didn’t.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Daddddeeee, help!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lizzie!” Elanus ran for the stairs and bolted up another
level to where Lizzie was berthed. The entire room was pitch-black, except for
a deep red light pulsing in the center of it. That was a warning light
connected to the engines…Lizzie was trying to power up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>We don’t even have the bay doors open, she could torch
the entire house!</i> Activating his implant’s nightvision, Elanus jogged over
to Lizzie and put his hands on her nose. She was shaking, furiously working to override
her safety systems. “Sweetheart,” he said. “Please. Stop. I know you’re
worried, but this isn’t going to help Kieron.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“<i><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif;">I
will go get him</span></i>.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus shut his eyes and leaned his forehead against her
hull. “The defenses around the Stellar Cabinet are too good, darling. We need
to make a plan that will keep <i>you</i> safe too. I promise,” he said,
realizing he was being rash but not able to care anymore, “that you’ll be the
one to do any retrieval if that’s the way the plan goes. Okay? I swear it. But
we have to do this smart, sweetheart. For you <i>and</i> for Kieron. Please.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The rumbling and shaking gradually came to a stop. The ambient
lights came on slowly, and Elanus exhaled in relief when the engine’s warning
light finally stopped blinking. “That’s my good girl,” he said, stroking one of
her struts. “I knew you could do it, thank you sweetheart.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“How are we going to get him back?” That was closer to
Lizzie’s normal voice, if a bit higher than usual. “I want Kee. I want Kee. I
want Kee.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I know you do, sweetheart, so do I.” Shit, did he ever. He
wanted him here so he could blister his <i>hide </i>with how angry he was, so
he could lay him down and love him until he made him fall apart, so he could
cry on his shoulder and tell him that if he ever pulled shit that broke their
family again, could he just kill Elanus first? “But we need a plan. We’ll make
one, a good one. And Restaria knows better than to kill Kieron, trust me. Xe’s
not stupid.” Although he was rethinking that after the stunt xe was pulling
right now.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Daddeee.” Catie spoke out tentatively. “I’m surveying the
Steeeeellar Cabinet now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Huh, that was…good, but— “How?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I hacked into several of the private satellite arraaaaays.
They won’t notice, I prooomise.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good job,” he congratulated her. “I’ll just—” He started to
move away, but Lizzie immediately began to rumble again. “I’ll just stay right
here,” he continued, “with your sister while you run some reconnaissance. Talk
to me about chatter.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“None currently exiting the Caaabinet.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Who’s officially in residence there?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No one but Vice President Saaanclare. But…there’s a larger
distribution of people on the Cabinet than there should be.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus frowned. “Distributed how?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Cooooncentrated around Vice President Sanclaaaare’s
quarters.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Interesting. “How are you getting your tomographical data?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Triangulation from multiple localized souuuurces and
increased power to impact detectors. I maaaaay have shortened the life of many
of their compooonents as a result.” She sounded a little abashed about it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’ll replace every single satellite out there if I have to,
you keep it up,” Elanus said. “You say there’s no chatter going out. Why is
that? Is no one trying, or is there a block?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Catie was silent for a moment, then said, “Block. Not from withiiin
the Cabinet itself. The block is coming up from the plaaaanet.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh. <i>Oh.</i> Huh. “And you’re sure Restaria is actually on
the Stellar Cabinet?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“All available data indicates yeeeeees.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Aha. This was…this <i>was </i>a hit. But it wasn’t the kind
of hit Elanus had first been thinking. “All right,” he said to himself, rubbing
one temple. He was starting to get a headache—he’d be spending time in a Regen
unit tomorrow for sure. But first things first. “Catie, get me the most
accurate data you can on President Moreno’s location. Keep monitoring the situation
on the Cabinet—I want to know if the concentration of people begins to shift
rapidly at any moment. See if you can get a handle on what it would take to
break the block around the Cabinet. Lizzie?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes?” she asked, still sounding breathless.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I need to let go of you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She made a high-pitched whine, and her lights began to flash
again. “No, no baby, no,” Elanus assured her. “Not for long. Just long enough
to get my EV suit on.” His custom suit was down in Catie’s bay, and while he
didn’t anticipate getting into a firefight up there, better safe than sorry. “Then
I’m coming right back up, and you and I are going to fly up to the Stellar
Cabinet. You’ve got your stealth skin upgrade working, right?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, Elanus.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good.” They were going to need it. “We’ll get him back, sweetheart,”
he said. “I promise, we’ll get him back.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then, after their inevitable fight, he was going to tie
that jackass to the bed for a week.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Maybe two.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-59822242184564193242024-01-23T08:46:00.000-08:002024-01-23T08:46:21.661-08:00Chelen City: Interlude 5: Kieron<p> Notes: GET READY FOR PLOOOOOOT! Things are about to get messy, my darlins. And exciting! Can't forget exciting ;)</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Interlude: Kieron</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Interlude 5: Kieron</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIw44MMr7qOtH0vIsTssn7SsHb7C0I6yaufaCBFhcbY4b6CjZ9qlecnG6Jkj-Kexb8RAQQ84G5USfKYpivij-d1lxwBKJKYrsDTDUC-kY-Rgj7oSoYZ8A96FSFvR9-rnIJHo58k_RHQ_jXxwLTTmNFfUc7WUk-9aP9oDn8Uy8bcoynzp0OYcb2etBi5sk/s7106/daniel-olah-HNkgPFBShSw-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="7106" data-original-width="3997" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIw44MMr7qOtH0vIsTssn7SsHb7C0I6yaufaCBFhcbY4b6CjZ9qlecnG6Jkj-Kexb8RAQQ84G5USfKYpivij-d1lxwBKJKYrsDTDUC-kY-Rgj7oSoYZ8A96FSFvR9-rnIJHo58k_RHQ_jXxwLTTmNFfUc7WUk-9aP9oDn8Uy8bcoynzp0OYcb2etBi5sk/s320/daniel-olah-HNkgPFBShSw-unsplash.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It wasn’t the most comfortable space flight Kieron had ever had,
seeing as he made it in a secure storage locker, but it was at least short.
Only a few minutes after takeoff from Chelen City and the pilot announced their
arrival at the Stellar Cabinet. He was unloaded—rather roughly, someone should
have put a damn “Fragile” sticker on this locker—and transported via hovercart
to a quiet, almost noiseless place. A few moments later he heard a door shut,
and shortly after that the locker was opened.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mr. Carr.” A rather attractive face looked down at
him—elegant squared jaws, high cheekbones, and a sweep of glossy black hair
that coiled like dozens of snakes around xir head. Xe was smiling just a bit.
“Thank you for joining me on such short notice.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’d say it’s my pleasure, but it isn’t.” Kieron ignored the
hand xe offered and got out of the locker on his own. “Mx. Sanclare.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Restaria, please.” Xe pointed at a cart over by the wide,
oval window on the far wall. “May I get you a drink?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Eh, Kieron was the one who’d agreed to have this meeting, he
might as well keep up with the trappings of one too. “Fine. Whiskey, straight.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“A man of strong tastes,” Restaria murmured as xe walked
over to the cart. Kieron joined xir, vaguely aware of a series of sounds starting
up in the walls around them. They were rhythmic pulses, a bit clunky here and
there—some sort of pressure plates, perhaps? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He forgot about the sounds as he got to the window, though.
He could see the beautiful arc of Gania spread out before them, its clouds
swirling mosaics of grey and blue and even pink in places, and he was struck
for a moment by the incredible beauty of the place.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lovely, isn’t it?” Restaria handed over his glass, then
lifted xir own in a toast. “Cheers, Kieron.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Call me Mr. Carr,” he said before drinking. He filtered the
alcohol slowly over his tastebuds, testing for additives…but no, this seemed to
be nothing but exceptionally good whiskey. In fact… “Elanus has the same brand,”
Kieron said, looking at the glass.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He and I share many of the same tastes.” Restaria motioned
at the couch beneath the window. “Please, sit down and allow me to explain the
position we find ourselves in.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron sat, but he found it impossible to relax. He felt as
though he was a mouse lured into a catterpet’s lair. Maybe he shouldn’t have
been so quick to agree to come up here. “I think there’s not much more to
know,” he said after taking another sip. “You’re working to perpetuate an
endemic illness in the population that serves no purpose other than to keep
your cleverest people from achieving everything they could. It’s sick, it’s
eugenics, and it’s going to be stopped.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s one perspective on it,” Restaria said, eyes pensive
as xe stared into xir glass for a moment. “Allow me to present you with another
one. Originally, Elfshot Disease was truly endemic in the population of Gania.
It occurred naturally at the levels you see it recreated now. What you might <i>not</i>
know is that our scientists successfully ended the natural strain of this
illness several generations ago.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron frowned. “Yeah, and then you continued to poison
children despite that. I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Allow me to finish,” Restaria cut in smoothly. “As I said,
we ended the endemic version of this illness over eighty years ago. However,
shortly thereafter, Gania submitted an application to be accepted into the
Central Planetary Alliance. We’re not far out enough to be considered Fringe,
but not being an actual part of the Central System, the application process was
a long one. We were promised great rewards as a result of our membership,
including heavy investment that would particularly benefit the most…<i>elevated</i>
members of our society.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Bribery. Got it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Admission to the CPA came with a price, however.”
Restaria’s deep blue eyes glittered, perhaps with sorrow, perhaps with anger.
Xir face didn’t give anything away. “We were ordered to reinstate our
‘population controls,’ or face a denial of entrance that would leave us
destined to become the favorite hideaway of every smuggler and mercenary this
side of the galaxy.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That…hmm. “But why?” Kieron asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Gania has one of the highest collective intelligence
quotients among all inhabited planets,” Restaria said. “No one is sure why,
exactly, but our people are more clever, more resourceful, and more daring than
the average population on every other planet in the CPA. The planets of the
Central System, particularly the big, establishment places like Olympus,
disliked the very idea that we might be able to go head-to-head with them in
any way, but particularly in terms of innovative technology. They couldn’t get
away with giving us <i>less</i> than they’d give another member of the
Alliance, so they opted to require us to make <i>ourselves</i> less.” Restaria
sighed and took a sip. “And our leaders did.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron shook his head. “That’s completely fucked up.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not everyone has the strength of will to go it alone in the
galaxy,” Restaria murmured. “And even then it rarely works out for the best.
Look at your own colony.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now wasn’t the time for thinking about the abysmal ruin that
was Hadrian’s Colony. “So, fine, your leaders accepted the bribe and instituted
a system that let them inflict generational pain on the smartest of your own
people. But <i>you’re</i> a part of that system now. You, who have personally
been given Elfshot Disease by your government, are colluding with them to
infect others! Innocent children who’ve done nothing except excel at the tasks
they’ve been presented with.” He set his glass aside, suddenly unwilling to
keep drinking with someone he inherently despised. “How do you justify that?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t,” Restaria said. “But that’s not an entirely
accurate picture of the situation, either.” Xe set xir own glass aside as well.
“It all comes down to Elanus, actually.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“To Elanus.” Kieron raised an eyebrow at xir. “Don’t get me
wrong, I’d never underestimate his importance, but he’s just one man.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“One man with a revolutionary idea.” Restaria smiled. “I
knew him in school, and I saw the seeds of determination then that I was
certain would carry him to greatness…as long as he lived, of course. And
because he got a powerful patron whom he made very, very rich, he did live, and
thrive. Then he struck out on his own, and…well. Lifeship Enterprises is one of
the largest and most profitable companies in the entire CPA.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, it is. What’s your point?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“My point,” Restaria said, “is that I, and some others, feel
like it’s past time to push back against the draconian rules the Alliance put
in place as a condition of membership. I was overruled, however, by the members
of the ruling class who benefit from the status quo.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You <i>are</i> one of those members,” Kieron said, not able
to let it go. “You’re in charge of the program! We checked, and…” His voice
trailed off as he looked at Restaria’s impassive face. “You knew we were
looking,” he finished. “Didn’t you?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Of course.” Xe shrugged. “I told you I know Elanus. He never
relinquishes problem once it captures his imagination. Once he was caught, it
was just a matter of triggering massive action.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron stared hard at Restaria. “I’ve got to warn you,
you’re going to get more than you bargained for since sending that virus
against our house.” <i>And Catie.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That wasn’t my idea, but it was one I had to support under
the circumstances, or risk being removed by President Moreno. And Elanus rose
to the challenge.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You <i>traumatized</i> him,” Kieron said angrily. “You
traumatized his <i>children</i>, you—” He stopped too late, but Restaria just
nodded xir head.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I thought he’d managed it,” xe said quietly. “After
Deysan’s brazen theft of the ship, giving up everything he’d worked for for a
single piece of technology…I knew Elanus had to have done it. Mr. Carr, you’re
rubbing elbows with truly extraordinary people.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I know.” It wasn’t like Kieron didn’t understand how
incredible Elanus and the girls were. “And you’d better get to the point,
because I’m sure they’re already plotting how to get me out of this.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria nodded. “I’m sure they are. I’m counting on it, in
fact.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Umm…</i> “Why is that?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Because the president has put me under an assassination
order, effective as of this morning,” xe replied. “He moved before I had all my
contingency plans in place, and I didn’t have time to fully realize my exit
strategy. I even had to dismiss my bodyguards, since Moreno has been footing
the bill for them. I wanted to do this politely, but that turned out to be
impossible. Hence…” Xe gestured at Kieron. “Utilizing you as a part of my exit
strategy.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All of a sudden, the sound in the walls increased ten-fold,
and the lights went from warm and natural to blinking red and yellow. “Moreno’s
first assassin has arrived,” Restaria said. “And we’re cut off from contacting
anyone on the planet. I programmed a series of failsafes into my quarters here,
but they won’t stop the most determined from killing us.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron stared at Restaria for a long moment, marshalling his
sense of purpose through the confusion, fear, and desire to punch this person
in the face. “Fine,” he said at last. “Where are your weapons?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria finally looked a bit taken aback. “There’s no need
to worry about that, I’m sure no one will get close enough for individual
combat.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t care how sure you are, I care about making sure <i>I
</i>live through this. Now give me a weapon, I’m sure you have some nearby.” In
a culture accustomed to assassination attempts, it would be foolish not to.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xe got up and led the way to a cabinet, where xir palmprint opened
it up to reveal an elegant display of state-of-the-art weapons, including an
energy pistol and a lightsword reminiscent of a children’s movie. Kieron
ignored them in favor of a set of hypodermic darts, a single-edged dagger, and
a baton that extended up to five feet long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“My bodyguards preferred—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t care what they preferred,” Kieron said briskly.
“They’re not here. I am. Unless you’re good with any of those other things,
then close that up and find a place to hide. We’ve got to survive long enough
for Elanus to rescue us, at which point you better be ready to defend yourself
again, because he <i>will</i> be pissed beyond all measure at you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria nodded. “I understand.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron laughed. He knew he sounded a little insane, but he
didn’t care. “Oh, I don’t think you do. Not yet. You will, though.”</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-72102028583803884362024-01-16T10:12:00.000-08:002024-01-16T10:12:32.733-08:00Story Excerpt: Where There's Hope<p> Hi darlins!</p><p>Why yes, there should be story today! But you know who celebrated birthday parties over the weekend and whose daughter had no school and then a late start? This lady! So as time has compressed and vanished in some tricksy way, today I'm posting the beginning of my upcoming release "Where There's Hope" (yep, it's a Panopolis book) for your entertainment instead of Chelen City.</p><p>Or maybe I'm just evil and drawing out the suspense a little more. Muahahahaaaaaa..... ;)</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Where
There’s Hope</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEindsInAq5P-rK0iKxUqnFdHRJTevBya6u-aJlNm508s-wyVtfcQRgGCnSP5m0x8jFVPIbCgKuMJkgTk5bZhcWjpgi8z6fWPkslFtFIdcv6M6v2PFAkwZNokdVPNz05qdlIjcrp27paUGDgU6PeEGtovr8FWZ66EUDwdb6iqJz4_uo2pcYsYGUmu0j4O4E/s300/WhereTheresHope_200x300web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEindsInAq5P-rK0iKxUqnFdHRJTevBya6u-aJlNm508s-wyVtfcQRgGCnSP5m0x8jFVPIbCgKuMJkgTk5bZhcWjpgi8z6fWPkslFtFIdcv6M6v2PFAkwZNokdVPNz05qdlIjcrp27paUGDgU6PeEGtovr8FWZ66EUDwdb6iqJz4_uo2pcYsYGUmu0j4O4E/s1600/WhereTheresHope_200x300web.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CS3LJ9V3/">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CS3LJ9V3/</a><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Chapter
One</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Boo!” Jamie Fletcher put
his cereal bowl in the kitchen sink, then looked around for his roommate. “Boo,
c’mon, we’re going to be late!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No one appeared. Jamie
sighed and grabbed the loose-knit gray sweater off the back of his chair,
throwing it on over his T-shirt even though it was already in the seventies
outside. “Boo, come <i>on</i>.” He wasn’t about to be late today, not his first
day back at work after over three months out. He’d gotten regular updates, of
course, all the pictures and videos he could ask for, but it wasn’t the same as
being there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He looked in the living
room, pausing to glance under the squeaky leather sofa. Nothing. He checked the
bedroom, where Boo often liked to go have a nap after breakfast. Nothing. He
checked the bathroom and the front entrance, but no Boo. That only left one
option.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie stepped through his
back door into the fresh morning air, inhaling deeply as the scents of
honeysuckle and half a dozen varieties of peony greeted him. It was going to be
a gorgeous day, definitely a good one for spending lots of time outside … but
if he didn’t get Boo moving, they’d both be in trouble. “Boo?” He patted his
knees softly, making the low whistling sound that Boo was trained to key in on outdoors.
“Boooooo …”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He checked the vegetable
garden, running his fingertips over the tops of the tomato plants, so heavy
with fruit they looked like they’d fainted. “I’ll get you all some cages,” he
promised them with a wince. Honestly, the whole garden was a little … much this
year. Corn stalks ten feet tall? Summer squash that could be mistaken for
pumpkins? Definitely no-no’s. Jamie was grateful that his garden was shielded
from his neighbors by a convenient stand of trees, cradled in the bend in the
Onyx River his home was snugged up against, because otherwise he’d have some serious
explaining to do for any nosy looky-loos. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie’s phone buzzed. He
pulled it out of his back pocket, checked the message, and bit his lower lip.
“Boo, c’mon, or Laurel will call in the cavalry!” It wasn’t like Boo to be so
reluctant to come to him … unless …</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie turned and jogged to
the far corner of his backyard, where an elegant white oak tree cast a leafy
shadow over a patch of wild strawberries. At the very edge of that patch, right
up next to the fence where the washed-out morning light almost didn’t
illuminate him, was—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Boo!” Jamie knelt down next
to his massive French Lop rabbit and laid a hand on the bunny’s head, trying to
catch his breath. “Ugh.” He closed his eyes for a moment, spitting a throatful
of saliva to the side. Gradually, the sensation of nausea waned, and when Jamie
opened his eyes again, Boo had stopped chewing on tiny, bright-red strawberries
and instead had both paws propped up on his knees. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Hey, Boo.” Jamie laughed
weakly, then reached out and picked up the enormous fifteen-pound rabbit. “Oh
my god, what else have you been eating? How can you be this big?” Boo didn’t
deign to reply, just twitching his nose before mouthing at the end of Jamie’s
sleeve. “No, this isn’t for you. We’ve got to go.” He pressed to his feet and
leaned against the fence until he was sure he could make it inside, then headed
for the back door.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It’s our first day back,”
he murmured, bending his head to press a smooch to the space between Boo’s ears
as he locked the back door, grabbed his messenger bag, then headed out to the
front as fast as he could manage. He locked up, then turned to his bike. It was
new, an electric version of his old racer, the sort of thing he could pedal
without exhausting himself. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie hated that his first
thought when seeing it had been <i>I want to burn this fucking thing</i>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now, three months into
dealing with his new reality, Jamie was a little more sanguine about his
circumstances. The e-bike was a tool to get him where he needed to go, and he
was grateful for it. Not that he’d ever tell Makena just <i>how</i> grateful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He put his messenger bag
into the right saddlebag, then put Boo into the special carrying cage Don had
designed for the other saddlebag. Jamie put on his helmet and mounted the bike.
He flipped up the kickstand, thumbed on the throttle, and with a quiet murmur
of, “Here we go,” he headed off to work.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The day care was hopping by
the time Jamie got there, right in the middle of the eight thirty rush. <i>Ugh,
timing. </i>He was barely able to lock his bike up before a horde of
preschoolers descended upon him, all of them shrieking with joy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Boo!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Boo Bunny is back!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Mommy, it’s Boo! Boo is
back!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yay, Boo is here!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Hi, Mr. Jamie,” one of the
more mature four-year-olds added as he also sidled in closer to greet Boo.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Hi, Thor.” <i>Thor.</i>
What a name for a kid whose head barely came past Jamie’s waist. Oh, well—maybe
he’d grow into it. “Hi, everybody!” he greeted the rest of them, quickly
pulling his bag over his shoulder before grabbing Boo’s carrying cage. “It’s so
nice to see you all again!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You too!” a little girl—Hollyhock,
Jamie remembered, one of the more interesting flower names in the bunch—said
with a beaming smile. She had curly reddish-blonde hair and a gap between her
front teeth. “I missed you and Boo, Mr. Jamie.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“We missed you too, Holly.”
He let her in for a hug, then gave her and the other kids another minute to
squeal about Boo before he broke free of the diminutive crowd and made his way
to the side entrance. Just a few more feet, and he’d be able to dart in through
the kitchen and—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Mr. Fletcher.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie groaned inside as he
turned to face the head of the Parent Council, Beth Mohar. She was a scientist
working at the nearby research lab with twins in the Toddlers class, and she
was also a die-hard conservative who was constantly trying to add new
restrictions to Sunny Day Preschool’s official code of conduct. Most recently,
she’d tried to ban teachers from wearing Crocs, saying that they were
unprofessional. Luckily, after the school’s director gave her a hands-on
demonstration of the difference between getting vomit out of Crocs versus a
pair of sneakers, she’d changed her tune.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I see you’re back.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes,” Jamie said after a
moment of waiting for her to follow up on that. “I am.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Are you sure that’s wise?
Considering everything you’ve”—she pursed her lips— “been through lately?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“My doctor cleared me to
come back to work,” Jamie said firmly. “And I’m very happy to be here again.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“And I’m delighted for you,
I’m sure, but.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “I don’t think <i>green</i> is
your color, shall we say. Perhaps a brown wig would be better. Less likely to
confuse the children.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie reached up and touched
one of his long green locks, fighting off a bout of self-consciousness. “Well,”
he said, as determinedly cheerful as he could be, “there’s nothing in the dress
code about the shades of hair we’re allowed to have, and given everything I’ve
been through lately, I thought it would be nice to carry my favorite color with
me when I come to work.” He smiled brightly. “Of course, if you’d like to make
an official complaint about it, you’re welcome to, but I don’t think me having
green hair confused any of the children in any way back there.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It’s the principle of the
thing,” Mrs. Mohar said snippily. “Green hair is practically a political
statement these days after what happened to Flourish.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I sincerely doubt the
four-year-olds in my class know much about politics, or care for that matter,”
Jamie replied. “I’ve got to go in now. Have a nice day, Mrs. Mohar.” Jamie let
himself in with his badge, then shut the door right in his nemesis’s frowning
face.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Beth getcha?” Obed asked
from where he was pulling a tray of pumpkin bread out of the oven.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I barely escaped with my
hair intact,” Jamie said, grinning. “It’s good to see you again.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You too.” They shook hands
warmly, then Obed pointed at a tray piled up with precut, precooled squares of
pumpkin bread. “These are ready for your class if you want to take them with
you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Sure, I can do that.” Jamie
set Boo’s cage down, shifted his messenger bag around to his back, picked up
the tray, then grabbed up Boo again. His right arm was starting to ache from
holding her up, but he was almost to his classroom. “Thanks, Obed.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Glad you’re back, Jamie!”
Obed called out after him as he headed down the hall. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One minute and a few near stumbles
later, Jamie was back in his familiar Pre-K classroom for the first time in a
quarter of a year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All of the kids were outside
on the playground, so Jamie took a second to sit down in the empty classroom
and just breathe for a moment as he rested and took in the changes. When he’d
left, spring had barely begun—now summer was in full swing, and the decorations
had changed with the times. Gone were the cutouts of flowers and plants he’d
helped the kids build, gone were the paper-mache trees and the pipe-cleaner
butterflies and bees they’d created together. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now the whole room had been
done up like a construction site, with finger-painted digging machines and
earth movers, and every table had baskets full of different shapes for the kids
to play with. Jamie sighed, then shrugged it off. <i>The only thing that never
changes is that changes never stop.</i> At least he’d get to be part of it all
again from here on out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Boo started scratching on
the door of his carrying cage. “Right, right,” Jamie said. He hung up his
messenger bag, got out Boo’s leash, clipped it on, then grabbed the tray of
treats and headed toward the playground.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To his surprise, Jamie
wasn’t greeted by a group of screaming, running children, climbing and horsing
around. Instead, he came out to see the kids in two neat lines right in front
of the picnic tables, with his co-teacher, Pippa, and the school’s director,
Laurel, standing beside them. Each kid held a tissue-paper flower, obviously
made by them sometime earlier, and as soon as they saw him, they all began to
sing.</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Good
morning, good morning, good morniiiiing, our friend! </span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Good
morning, our friend. </span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Good
morning, our friend. </span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Good
morning, good morning, good morniiiiing, our friend! </span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Good
morning, our dear frieeeeeeend.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Good morning, Mr. Jamie,
and welcome back!” Pippa called out, and the kids finally broke ranks and ran
over—carefully, because it might have been months, but they remembered how to
be careful around Boo—to give him hugs and the flowers they’d made for him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’ll take those,” Laurel
said, relieving him of the tray so he could use both arms to hug the kids back.
Jamie felt himself tear up as little hands patted his shoulders and
high-pitched voices competed to ask if he was all better now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m much better,” he
promised, finally leading the pack of kids over to the picnic tables. Laurel
had already distributed the pumpkin squares, so it wasn’t hard to get everyone
sitting down and munching on a snack. “And I’m so happy to be back, because Boo
and I missed you so much!” he went on, lifting one of Boo’s paws up in a wave.
The kids giggled. “Thank you for the beautiful cards you made me, and for these
lovely flowers!” He gathered them into a bouquet and clasped them to his chest.
“I’ll treasure them.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He would too. He had the
perfect vase for them, and they would look awesome on the side table in his
living room.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Chris, the little boy on his
right, leaned his head against Jamie’s arm. “It’s okay to cry, but please don’t
cry too much,” he told Jamie. “We can do deep breaths together.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie burst out laughing as
we wiped his eyes with the end of his sleeve. “That’s a great idea, buddy.
Let’s all do some deep breaths together during snack time.” He picked up a
piece of pumpkin bread. “After we’re done eating, though, right?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Right!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Right.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
Jamie bit down, and the warm chewiness of the bread burst across his tongue in
a way that made him wish he still had taste buds. At least he could smell the
bread, smell the richness and the faint spice of it, and feel the heft of it in
his hand. This had been his favorite class treat when he’d worked here before.
It hurt, that he wasn’t able to taste it now, but its charms weren’t completely
lost on him either.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 209.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Like so many things in his
life these days, the little he could glean from it now would have to be enough.</span></p>
<span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Chapter
Two</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie’s first day back ended up mostly consisting of
sitting in the petting corner and reintroducing the kids to Boo, one by one,
and he found he was fine with that. He was getting stronger every day, able to
go about his daily activities for longer periods of time before needing a
break, but it was still hard. And the kids, as much as he loved them and as
happy as he was to be back, were a lot to handle. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He could sit, though, and he could remind them how to pet
Boo, what his favorite treats were, and when they were allowed to give him one,
and show them Boo’s new trick: fetch. Jamie had spent far too many hours
teaching his rabbit to run after the bright-yellow ball and scootch it back to
him not to share it now, and it was an instant hit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It wasn’t until nap time that he finally got a chance to
go outside and chat with his co-teacher for a moment. Their class of kids was
the oldest at Sunny Day Preschool, and not all of them napped anymore, but the
ones who preferred to play knew to do it quietly. Laurel came back in to watch
over the kids so Jamie and Pippa could spend part of their break together.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You’re looking really lovely, Jamie, really healthy,”
Pippa told him earnestly, her small hands clasped in the edge of her flannel
shirt. Pippa was English, originally from Dorset, and she’d come over to the
States to seek fame on Broadway. She was so small that she’d kept getting cast
as a child, though, and after a decade of that, she married another actor, quit
the professional circuit, and moved from New York to Oregon to open up a small
community theater. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Their theater had been wiped out two years ago in a fight
between Thunderbolt and Oshun. The insurance money hadn’t been enough for a
complete rebuild, so now they had a partially outdoor theater that put on
performances in spring and summer only, and Pippa covered the extra expenses
with this job. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The two of them worked well together despite being
different generations, nationalities, and genders. Jamie was grateful she made
coming back here even better for him. “Thanks, Pip. You too.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Oh, pish.” She waved a hand. “I’m not the one recovering
from cancer! They’ve still got you doing the chemo, I take it?” Pippa curled a
finger around one of her own gray-brown locks and tugged.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yeah,” Jamie said. “Hopefully, only for a few more
months, though.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Oh, what a relief. The children have been absolutely
wild about getting you back, you know.” She smiled at him. “And Boo, of
course.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Mostly Boo, I know,” Jamie joked. “Don’t worry, I can
take coming in second-best to Boo.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well, you know how children tend to latch on to—oh, my.”
Pippa abruptly stood up from where she was sitting at the picnic table. “Oh.
Oh, dear.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What is it?” Jamie asked, standing up with her. He
looked where she was shakily pointing, and— “Shit.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Language, dear,” Pippa said, but her voice was wavering
with fear. “Oh, no. Not him.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not him</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. Jamie stared at the
figure in the distance, hundreds of feet in the air, trailing a steady stream
of black dust. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Blight.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> He was the most
powerful supervillain in the northern half of the West Coast, a man who’d
seemingly made it his mission to terrorize every town between here and Portland
into submission. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Of course, being a big, bad supervillain meant going up
against the most powerful superheroes that the US had to offer, outside of the
ones who wouldn’t leave the chaos of Panopolis. In this case—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I can see Oshun’s waterspout coming,” Jamie said in
relief. “They must be near the river.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Oh, thank god,” Pippa said, one hand pressed to her
chest. “Still, I’ve got to go tell Laurel there’s a sighting so we can start
getting our precautions in place. Will you stay out here and relay information,
dear?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Of course,” Jamie said, grateful that she didn’t seem to
notice how badly his own hands were shaking. “I’ve got it, go ahead.” She went,
and then it was just him, alone on the playground, staring at the cloud of black
dust and the pillar of water preparing to clash in the distance. He stared,
heart beating so hard he could hear it, and thought about—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Flourish!” Blight’s voice boomed across the
lot that separated them. “There’s nowhere for you to run this time!”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I wouldn’t run anyhow!” Blight was a serious
opponent, but Flourish was confident he could handle him. It would be harder
with nothing but blacktop between them, but he had to protect the people
evacuating from the office behind him until backup arrived. </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yet you do.” Blight somehow had a way of
projecting like he was speaking straight inside your head. “No matter how often
I call for you to face me, you never come. But now,”—the mouth of his
skull-like head twisted with satisfaction— “now I finally have you all to
myself.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For the first time, Flourish began to feel
uneasy. “What do you want with me?”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Want?” Blight floated a bit closer, and the
blacktop cracked and crumbled in his wake. “Want? I want …” He held out a hand,
and a jet of black dust streamed right for Flourish. “I want to make you
suffer!”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie swallowed through a tight throat, feeling light-headed.
Suffer … oh, how he had. How he still was.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He didn’t know what he’d done to be chosen as Blight’s
nemesis, but the supervillain had consistently come after him ever since he
came here a year ago. They’d tussled all over the place, but Jamie—as Flourish,
whose powers of growth were legendary—had been able to meet his destructive
power head-on and come out still standing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not last time, though.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not even close.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He hugged his middle with both hands and watched as
Blight and Oshun clashed in the skies. After Flourish, Oshun was the best
superhero to face Blight—water was one of the few things his ability couldn’t
really affect. Decomposing water was just vapor, after all, and Oshun was
really good at keeping a shield around her when facing him. He, in turn, was
good at dodging her water strikes and evaporating the tendrils that came close
to dousing him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Where are the others?</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
Supremo and Speedman ought to know better than to leave Oshun to tackle a
supervillain on her own. It was a pact they’d made after Jamie was taken out—no
one went up against a major power on their own. Maybe he just couldn’t see them
because they couldn’t fly …</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The thick black cloud of dust and sunlit stream of water warred
in the sky, horrifyingly beautiful, obscuring the people hovering within them.
Jamie hugged his waist tighter, not able to move, barely able to breathe. If Blight
got Oshun … if he was able to break through her defenses and hurt her, Jamie
didn’t know what he’d do.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A low rumble on the edge of Jamie’s hearing that had
previously been ignorable was suddenly palpable, something he felt rattle from
his feet all the way up through his head. As he watched, an enormous wave rose
up out of the Onyx River below them and smashed straight into Blight. It
subsumed the darkness, completely submerged it, and when the water dissipated a
moment later—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Blight was nowhere to be seen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Jamie!” Pippa called out from the door, hanging onto the
frame with one white-knuckled hand. “What’s happening? Are they coming this
way?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No,” he said, too softly. He cleared his throat. “No,
they’re—I think it’s over. Oshun knocked Blight out of the sky.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What? Really?” She tentatively walked out onto the
playground and looked at the empty sky. “Oh, thank the stars! I was so worried
we’d lose another hero after what happened to poor Flourish.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Me, too,” Jamie said numbly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I know that hit you hard,” Pippa said, her voice
sympathetic even as she beamed with relief. “But the hair is a lovely tribute
to him, you know. A kind way to remember him, in case …”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie heard very well what she wasn’t saying. <i>In case
he never comes back.</i> No one knew if the superhero known as Flourish was
even alive, apart from Jamie and a few other select people in the community,
and the thought of a comeback right now might as well be as far away as
Neverland for all of Jamie’s chances of reaching it any time soon.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I really do think it’s over,” Jamie said. “But I’ll stay
out here for another few minutes just to make sure, okay?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“All right, luv.” She headed back inside, and as soon as
she was out of sight, Jamie pulled out his phone. Texting was a no-no at work
unless he was on break, but technically he still <i>was</i> on break right now,
and he simply had to know what was going on.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Are you okay? </span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">he
texted Makena. He waited … waited … shit, she probably didn’t even have her
phone on her right now, of course she was in costume, of course she was—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’m fine.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, thank god. Jamie let out a huge sigh of relief, all
of a sudden exhausted as the tension he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying
flowed out of him like water. He took a moment to just breathe, then texted
back, <i>What happened to Blight?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A few seconds later, he got the disconcerting reply, <i>Not
sure. Haven’t found him yet.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Crap. Had he run? Was he hiding in some of the forest
around that subdivision? That meant the police would have to go in with dogs,
and that would be terribly dangerous for them, and Makena would have to go with
them, and she’d probably be up all night—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I think he hit the water.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hit … the water? Did that mean he …</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Do you think he drowned?</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
Jamie held his breath as he waited for her to answer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not sure. Text you when I know more.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That was a clear sign-off for now, which—it had been kind
of her to bother answering at all when she was in the middle of a search
mission. <i>Thank you</i>, he wrote back, then replaced his phone in his pocket
and walked, slowly, toward the classroom.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Blight was down. Blight had lost against Oshun, and he
might have fallen into the water. He might be dead right now, drowned, sunk to
the bottom of the river from the weight of whatever armor he wore. Or he might
be prowling around wherever he could find cover, wounded and snarling and—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie stopped and shut his eyes, remembering the last
time he’d seen Blight. The only parts of his face that had been visible were
his mouth and his eyes, and his mouth had been spitting insults, but his eyes,
light blue or gray, Jamie hadn’t been able to tell the color, but the emotion
within them …</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They’d been anguished.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sadness gripped him so hard he almost tripped over his
own faltering feet. <i>Get over yourself, you’re at work</i>, he thought
sternly. There was no time right now for any kind of sad or painful
reminiscence. He had kids to take care of. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jamie squared his shoulders and walked back into the
classroom, a smile firmly on his face. Nobody here needed to know anything
other than the fact that Oshun had won the day, and they were all safe.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Safe. Thank god, they were all safe.</span></p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-66621990074849090862024-01-09T07:40:00.000-08:002024-01-09T07:40:44.912-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Nineteen, Part Two<p> Notes: Oooh, a little more plot before we dive into action...actually, the next round will probably be a Kieron interlude, we'll see, but still--fun!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Nineteen, Part Two</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Nineteen,
Part Two</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFl4LK2MgYL_N1gznwy_kECcL0iRJBR3vgse9xPbLU44Zc2KtsNPXlIj5sG4TWqnsZ-9Qtg-DURmGOhgPDMKrvVzxmYM6Nm1arbtlzI7OVV6tt2RstVoFgj3li0bfYUky8-HZ5hK_hOBi6W3zPoqo-6UQwnKzS9bdVOF5OuEB7aqnRZvejlEkcJV8B6HM/s3067/alexey-soucho-GHZnqk0VpPU-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3067" data-original-width="2454" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFl4LK2MgYL_N1gznwy_kECcL0iRJBR3vgse9xPbLU44Zc2KtsNPXlIj5sG4TWqnsZ-9Qtg-DURmGOhgPDMKrvVzxmYM6Nm1arbtlzI7OVV6tt2RstVoFgj3li0bfYUky8-HZ5hK_hOBi6W3zPoqo-6UQwnKzS9bdVOF5OuEB7aqnRZvejlEkcJV8B6HM/s320/alexey-soucho-GHZnqk0VpPU-unsplash.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Track him,” Elanus said, forgetting to think it as
adrenaline washed through him, leaving him feeling hot and cold simultaneously.
“I want visuals of his movements for as long as they can be followed.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[My programs do no allow for hacking into--]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fuck off.” Why had he made his personal algorithms so damn
law-abiding? “Catie!” Elanus shouted, sending a pulse through the implant to
her as well. “Catie!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Daddeee?]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Stop whatever you’re doing, I need help.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[But we just got to the goooood part!]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Catie, you—” Elanus stopped. He closed his eyes and took a
deep breath and considered what he was about to just blurt out at her. His
daughter—his <i>daughters</i>—didn’t know that Kieron was missing. They were in
the middle of a game, playing with Pol, and if Elanus started getting them
worked up, then <i>he</i> would get worked up, and then Xilinn would have to
intervene, and everything in his precariously-organized household would go to
shit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The shittier things became, the harder it would be to get
anything done. As much as Elanus hated to slow himself down when it came to
finding Kieron, he knew that his lover—his fiancé, fuck it, he was owning that
term for the foreseeable future—wouldn’t want him to upset everyone on his
behalf. That could wait until Elanus had a plan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said after another moment of
gathering himself together. “I just have to redo some calculations. I want you
to finish your game, okay? We can all talk a little later.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Are you suuuure?]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Absolutely sure.” He felt Lizzie’s query as well and sent calming
thoughts her way. “You girls have fun.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Okaaaaay…] They disengaged, and Elanus got to work pushing
his tracking algorithm into Chelen City’s network of cameras. He pulled the
visual of Kieron up into his implant, starting from his departure on their
personal platform, and followed him downtown. It only took fifteen minutes to
get to his therapist’s office, so the kidnapping had to happen fairly quickly.
But at this time of day, all the cars were going to be packed with people, when
did she…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ah. There, at the second turn. There was a track in need of
repairs, everyone was hustled toward another car—except for Kieron. He paused
as he began to step off the car, his head tilted like he was listening to
something.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Was he being spoken to directly through his implant, or through
the com system in the car? If it had been via his implant, Kieron should have
reached out to let Elanus know!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Or...honestly, it would be more surprising if he <i>had</i>
reached out. Kieron was self-sufficient to a frustrating degree. Still, if it
was auditory, he ought to be able to listen in. Elanus dug down into the software,
finding the saved audio files and transmitting them into his office until he
heard—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“—stay.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why?” There was the dry sarcasm that Elanus both loved and
loathed—it was usually funny when it was directed at someone else, but right
now he wasn’t finding anything about it amusing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Because you want to protect your family.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron went completely still, his gaze sharpening
dangerously. “Are you threatening my family?” he finally asked, stepping more
fully back into the car. The doors shut with a faint hydraulic hiss, and then
the light in the car went red. “Lockdown engaged,” the automated system said as
the lights began to blink.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, Mr. Carr,” the third-party voice continued. “I’m giving
you the opportunity to get ahead of a problem in the making, one that <i>could</i>
threaten your family if your boyfriend lets it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fiance, damn it</i>, Elanus thought grimly. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What kind of problem are you talking about then?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“A threat to the security of the entire planet.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron hummed. “You’re talking about exposing the individual
responsible for Elfshot Disease.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Do you truly think that a single individual is capable of
engineering a population-wide phenomenon like Elfshot all on their own?” the
voice asked. “Not everyone is as clever as Elanus Desfontaines, Mr. Carr.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What do you know about Elanus?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“More than he’d like me to, but less than I want. That’s
where you come in.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron shook his head. “I’m not going to tell you anything
about him. I don’t care what you do to me, I won’t give you anything.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Don’t fucking say that! Play along, give them a lead,
make them think you’re valuable!</i> Did Elanus have to do a remedial course on
how to be a hostage with Kieron?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fuck him, he should have done it before Kieron got made into
a hostage. Rotten-souled motherfucking son of a—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I understand, and I’m not asking for you to break a
confidence. I am, however, asking you to act as an ambassador to Elanus on
behalf of all of Gania. We need him on our side for this, and that means making
him pay attention rather than presuming he knows best.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He often does.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Often, but not always.” The voice was silent for a moment.
“We’re not monsters, Mr. Carr. If you truly don’t want to work with us on this,
we’ll let you go. However, I can guarantee that you won’t regret listening to
us if you choose to hear us out.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t hear out people who won’t even tell me their name,”
Kieron said, but Elanus could read the interest in his body language.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m afraid I can’t be wholly honest with you until I have
you in person. I swear, though, that your location won’t be a mystery to your
fiancé. He’ll know exactly where you are, and you’ll return to him safe and
sound.” The voice dropped slightly. “This is the only chance I can give you to
get ahead of this. The other parties involved are determined to move forward
one way or another, and several of them have very firm grudges against Elanus.
They’re willing to do anything to remove him as a threat. I had to bargain hard
to get the chance to use persuasion first. Please, if you love him, take this
opportunity to listen to me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron sighed heavily, then sat down on the nearest seat.
“He’s going to want to kill me when he finds out I let you kidnap me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I know. He’ll forgive you, though.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The hell I will!” Elanus shouted as the car began to move
along the “closed” track toward a private spaceport. “You fucking—Kieron, you’re
smarter than this!” Why would he make himself so vulnerable? Why didn’t he just
walk away? Whatever was going on, it was safer for them to handle it together!
Stupid, self-sacrificing son of a—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Well, it was done. And Elanus was going to make sure he got
Kieron back so he could lecture him for as <i>long as it took</i> on the
stupidity of handing himself over to the damn enemy with no guarantees.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But first, he needed to bring the girls in.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-34791214996415551062024-01-02T10:28:00.000-08:002024-01-02T10:28:59.672-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Nineteen, Part One<p> Note: We're back! And diving deep into plot, woohooooo!!! Happy New Year, my darlins!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Nineteen, Part One</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Nineteen,
Part One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXyfXI66FV6-LBLCQEH7cka7hyVh8C98jBR5ZpkOQriPTry9WKPo_1qLZfhKorC3qhNSz8hfXrjZGHyVGqRSGWBBbnJmW_wScPJROraLKxiHbBdzSR7g8KzvgVZbz7R6oPtDV4LGHGDjUk0ohe5nB4MexxG1GgICbmDMSOeTZUhopat84ONQzQ8cZd-s/s3400/anirudh-Xu4Pz7GI9JY-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3400" data-original-width="3400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXyfXI66FV6-LBLCQEH7cka7hyVh8C98jBR5ZpkOQriPTry9WKPo_1qLZfhKorC3qhNSz8hfXrjZGHyVGqRSGWBBbnJmW_wScPJROraLKxiHbBdzSR7g8KzvgVZbz7R6oPtDV4LGHGDjUk0ohe5nB4MexxG1GgICbmDMSOeTZUhopat84ONQzQ8cZd-s/s320/anirudh-Xu4Pz7GI9JY-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not one to stop and pause after the first step, Elanus
figured that as long as he was spending a shit ton of money, he ought to do
some more good with it. He used his connection with the capital’s hospital to
open up negotiations for the companies doing the maintenance for every administrative
hospital on the planet. When their specs were sent along as part of the evaluation
packages for sales and mergers, he used the details provided to hack their
schedules <i>and</i> their programming and ensured that every other city-run
Regen tank disabled its ability to deliver Vitamin E3. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He even ended up buying a few of the better companies,
because there was a lot to be said for diversifying your portfolio.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, that was the most urgent issue taken care of. No Vitamin
E3 meant no one new was getting infected with Elfshot Disease. Now, it was time
to move on to dealing with Restaria.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus spent a few days obsessively monitoring xir
movements, tapping into every camera system he could find and leaving tracers
to inform him of whenever Restaria passed that way again. Xir’s home was almost
as impenetrable as Elanus’s to invasion, which meant it would take him a while
but wouldn’t be impossible. However, it would be greatly aided by some on-location
devices, which Kieron had offered to handle the same way he’d done with Caria.
But Elanus wasn’t comfortable with that, for reasons he couldn’t name without
making Kieron mad at him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It wasn’t that he doubted Kieron’s abilities, he really didn’t.
But Restaria, if xe was the mind behind this plan for now, was capable of some
incredibly long-term planning. One had to wonder what xe had foreseen, and
whether or not xe knew to expect Elanus’s incursion somehow. Certainly, whoever
had attacked his home had managed to take advantage of weaknesses that Elanus
hadn’t even thought to address because no one was supposed to know about them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If Restaria <i>was</i> the person who’d issued the virus
that had attacked Catie, if xe was the person behind the attacks on Ryu, if xe
was responsible for maintaining the Elfshot program, then Elanus was already
behind the curve. Xe shouldn’t have been able to target Catie because <i>no one</i>
should have been able to do that, certainly not so successfully. It meant Catie’s
abilities had been shared somehow, probably through Deysan, and who had Deysan
constantly been trying to court? Moreno, the president. Who held the keys to
getting through to Moreno? Restaria.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The odds were about fifty-fifty that xe was behind it all,
and honestly Elanus would have preferred a cabal at this point. He didn’t like
being out-thought, but he’d allowed his belief in his own abilities to get the
better of his common sense.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>When you start believing your own myths, it’s time to come
down from the clouds.</i> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’d monitor xer a while longer, paint a picture of xir
movements and get a sense of xir schedule and go from there. Until then, he’d
look into curing his <i>own</i> Elfshot disease. That meant taking a lot of
blood, doing a lot of tests, and spending way too much time in the Regen room
with Ryu as he not-so-patiently looked for the clues in his body that would
spell a way out of this mess without having to regrow his <i>own</i> damn
skeleton.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was easier to devote time to boring things on days like
this. The company was running smoothly, Catie and Lizzie and Pol were,
astonishingly, getting along while participating in a self-insert adventure
show taking place in a jungle somewhere (Catie had chosen a dinosaur for her
avatar, no surprise there, while Lizzie was some sort of effervescent floating
sprite), and Xilinn was working through the laborious certification process for
citizenship. Kieron had left for his therapy appointment half an hour ago, and
Ryu was still unconscious, although he’d be ready to wake up in another few
days, so…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Target movements out of sequence.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus stiffened as the notification came through his
implant. “Define movement.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Target has proceeded to Stellar Cabinet two-point-four days
ahead of schedule.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Shit.” The Stellar Cabinet was a government facility in
orbit around Gania, where the president, vice-president, and other high-level
officials did a lot of their negotiating in order to evade the appearance of
favoritism, the use of listening devices, and, well…just to make themselves
look good, honestly. The Stellar Cabinet was gorgeous, a retro-style circular
base that had been built over fifty years ago. It was one of the only places in
Ganian territory where Elanus hadn’t laid a hand on the technology.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why was Restaria going there now?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Purpose of change?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Unknown.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Extrapolate.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[The flight manifest includes a weight allowance of eighty-three-point-nine
kilograms.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Eighty-three-point-nine kilograms…</i>what the fuck was
that the weight of? Not enough for heavy machinery, but too much for personal
belongings…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A query blinked in the corner of Elanus’s implant. He didn’t
recognize the sender at first, but the number eventually sorted to one Delilah
Farraday.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Kieron’s therapist. How did she get my—ah, as his
emergency contact, of course.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fuck. Why is she reaching out to Kieron’s emergency
contact?</i> He instantly took the call. “What’s wrong?” he demanded
immediately. “Is Kieron okay?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s why I’m calling,” she said, and Elanus almost rolled
his eyes at the non-answer. “He didn’t show up to our appointment. His personal
feelings about therapy aside, Kieron’s never been less than dedicated about
making them. The one time he missed, he messaged me over a day in advance, and
he didn’t do that this time, so…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She said something else, but Elanus had already filtered her
out. All he could hear was that Kieron wasn’t there. All he could think about
was a flight manifest with a weight allowance of eighty-three-point-nine
kilograms. One hundred and eighty-five pounds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron’s weight.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restaria had left Gania. Xe hadn’t gone far, but xe <i>had</i>
gone someplace where Elanus had no connections. He tried anyway, reaching for
Kieron’s implant over and over, but all he got was the basic “hold” message.
Kieron always shielded his implant during therapy appointments, it hadn’t
bothered Elanus when the block went up, but now…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now it meant that Kieron was beyond his reach. Restaria had
him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xe had taken Kieron, and Elanus didn’t know what the fuck he
was going to have to do to get him back.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-34301567779395563002023-12-26T11:07:00.000-08:002023-12-26T11:07:32.729-08:00One more week off...<p> Because apparently my brain really needs it. BUT!</p><p>Today, <i>Where There's A Will</i> re-releases on Amazon/KU. If you like superheroes and excellent villains, consider picking it up!</p><p>OR, you can email me and I'll send you a copy as a belated Christmas gift. ONLY if you follow me here, ONLY if you email within the next 24 hours, because otherwise my attention span will just crumble, babes.</p><p>Happy Boxing Day--I hope you have time to read something lovely :)</p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGTUqIVCCWdeM0U9Gxz6BAUTfRFLcfFHm0v0tyJpAW93ptooouFT1ZZ01i-cFyaKAGcspqh3IDbVEHmwLWOIRr4regfp_jIDf2UWqS6ckg_U1WyxuWqUEQwuYx3zh3uMjtknFfYTDU-TBfpAfP-C0QfpR_Mglm1hwQCQf3mUHsvbZGWvbNzVUUwqxQag/s300/WhereTheresAWill_200x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGTUqIVCCWdeM0U9Gxz6BAUTfRFLcfFHm0v0tyJpAW93ptooouFT1ZZ01i-cFyaKAGcspqh3IDbVEHmwLWOIRr4regfp_jIDf2UWqS6ckg_U1WyxuWqUEQwuYx3zh3uMjtknFfYTDU-TBfpAfP-C0QfpR_Mglm1hwQCQf3mUHsvbZGWvbNzVUUwqxQag/s1600/WhereTheresAWill_200x300.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Where-Theres-Will-Panopolis-ebook/dp/B0CPJVMFZG/">Where There's A Will</a><br /></p>Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-14103356662578740322023-12-24T13:11:00.000-08:002023-12-24T13:11:35.273-08:00Merry Christmas!<p style="text-align: center;"> Oooo....Christmas nails courtesy of my bb ;)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdqKO5aFq5ps-FdsDPLM3ZvKHBS-UrU9br6z16ZfMRG2M6Km0yTVgL61HiTC0Nb9NCTUDgPec_VhsUHsw1mEomeBrOR_n_EAAcZZl-mZ5xLCWsJJ_DZP0wdPeZRV-Wnw62v4qBBmQGAabwigfFEBtlBw0EDh-z6kDyot21_Icc_paJ1AHL52LkItxYo0/s320/image000000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdqKO5aFq5ps-FdsDPLM3ZvKHBS-UrU9br6z16ZfMRG2M6Km0yTVgL61HiTC0Nb9NCTUDgPec_VhsUHsw1mEomeBrOR_n_EAAcZZl-mZ5xLCWsJJ_DZP0wdPeZRV-Wnw62v4qBBmQGAabwigfFEBtlBw0EDh-z6kDyot21_Icc_paJ1AHL52LkItxYo0/s1600/image000000.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>No need to celebrate the specific holiday to celebrate the fact that it's a time to be appreciative, and I appreciate all of you! Thank you so much for reading my work and my worlds and sticking with me in 2023. Hopefully in 2024 I'll be able to transition to a different blog host, and if I do I hope you come along. No matter what, though, I hope you're happy, healthy, and safe.</p><p>Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!!!</p><p>Cari <3<br /></p>Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-16180447397431896982023-12-19T10:00:00.000-08:002023-12-19T10:00:30.996-08:00No blog story today because...<p> I'm on day four of a sick kidlet, boooo all around. She's doing a lot better, but I've had--you guessed it--very little time for writing. *sigh* But the baby (ha, what baby, she's SIX oh my god) comes first.</p><p>BUT! I do have some cover art to share for a very fun prequel that I'll be putting out in 2024...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4dEP8n2IDXg1S0aUnp1rBzTEp6XE1FyqVbS2TuLoCImdcy_UA2X2CjF23tSB7tJKmjCbBlQ96OWSTZP2OvyeIyZ63m42Ao5KViqN9heYu3QXRNb5_gy4wNHIG6hVXDAKLNkv-Fpb1vptaeNQxL7us_1ImKFaQc6Z8hzZAsGW9WGX1DpG8bWv3dmWe3I/s1350/Defiance-f900-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4dEP8n2IDXg1S0aUnp1rBzTEp6XE1FyqVbS2TuLoCImdcy_UA2X2CjF23tSB7tJKmjCbBlQ96OWSTZP2OvyeIyZ63m42Ao5KViqN9heYu3QXRNb5_gy4wNHIG6hVXDAKLNkv-Fpb1vptaeNQxL7us_1ImKFaQc6Z8hzZAsGW9WGX1DpG8bWv3dmWe3I/s320/Defiance-f900-web.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p></p><p>Like, HOLY WHAT, am I right!? It looks so good, Natasha Snow is an amazing cover artist and I'm really excited to write this booooook!</p><p>Have a safe and wonderful holiday if you celebrate, my darlins. I'll be in touch soon!<br /></p><p><br /></p>Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-22781407935721756192023-12-12T10:26:00.000-08:002023-12-12T10:26:13.841-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Eighteen, Part Two<p> Notes: A little longer today, as we begin to delve into the plotty goodness. Enjoy!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Eighteen, Part Two</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Eighteen,
Part Two</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fH9xaqHVGmebb72DQavBrt39QyD5cmQ7MuKcTk7LBnAdspQvoYCV7bBEumnpkB9E0Ms6MyVLUE11CsDrkCtdXqb3Ere2cBSzajPaNX-46eF0_s0Jjpm-4QGFDEXuhKiImVGKTrjCKpE5lvsZPJ09TVKmx7bu5-qWxlfiGvE4NZRUd0A9Kn2zPiRt9GM/s7935/thisisengineering-raeng-zBLtU0zbJcU-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5293" data-original-width="7935" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fH9xaqHVGmebb72DQavBrt39QyD5cmQ7MuKcTk7LBnAdspQvoYCV7bBEumnpkB9E0Ms6MyVLUE11CsDrkCtdXqb3Ere2cBSzajPaNX-46eF0_s0Jjpm-4QGFDEXuhKiImVGKTrjCKpE5lvsZPJ09TVKmx7bu5-qWxlfiGvE4NZRUd0A9Kn2zPiRt9GM/s320/thisisengineering-raeng-zBLtU0zbJcU-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Do I want to know why you’ve developed a shield that hides
people digitally?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t know, do you?” Elanus asked as he walked to the
office of the chief administrator of Chelen City’s government-aligned hospital.
It was a balancing act to go slow enough to speak with Kieron while still
making progress, but he managed it. A few more minutes and he’d be there…but in
a few more minutes, Kieron would be at the central service replicator for the
hospital’s Regen system in his maintenance technician guise. “And you’re not
hidden, in this case. Your digital imprint is changed into that of another
person, that’s all.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But my physical appearance isn’t.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re the one who told me that short people in service
uniforms are never remarked on,” Elanus said, pushing the button for the
elevator down to the fiftieth floor. The woman next to him glanced over and
smiled. He smiled back.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I didn’t say that.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You absolutely did.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not like <i>that</i>. I’m not short.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You are on Ganiaaa,” Elanus sang as he got into the elevator.
The woman next to him looked curious, but he ignored her. “Short and stocky.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m above average height for Alliance planets.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And very far below average height for this planet, which is
the only one that matters right now because it’s the one you live on.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was a pause, and then—“God, you’re obnoxious.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus grinned. He was feeling practically effervescent
today. It was amazing what a good night’s sleep, some quality time with his
daughters, and a plan of attack could do for him. “I know. But at least I’m not
tiny.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“This tiny man has and will kick your ass.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You would regret it,” Elanus said as the elevator whirred
down. Gyroscopes prevented the feeling of movement, so his stomach stayed in
place, but it seemed like no one was capable of making a completely silent
elevator. “You’d break something and then you’d feel bad and end up waiting on
me hand and foot for a month while you recovered from the guilt.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I wouldn’t feel that bad.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You did last time.” There was silence. It began to stretch,
and Elanus wondered whether maybe it had been a bad idea to bring up old
memories like that. “Not that you knew what would happen,” he amended. Still
nothing. “Honey? Sweetheart? Light of my life?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Please shut up.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even being sworn at was a relief. “Don’t just go silent like
that, you make me nervous.” The elevator stopped and he and the woman both got
out. She turned left, while he continued straight ahead along the corridor toward
the distant double doors. “Is everything okay?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fine, just…” Kieron grunted. “This casing is a bitch to get
off.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Use the multi-tool.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Right, yeah, use the multi-tool, why didn’t I think of
that? Oh, what’s this in my hand? Is it a multi-tool? Wow. How convenient.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus tisked. “If you don’t know how to properly use a
multi-tool, you should have told me before I sent you in. I could have given
you a basic tutorial.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I know how to use a damn multi-tool, I did maintenance on
an entire space station for three years.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not the same thing.” Elanus heard Kieron grunt again and
felt a frisson of worry. “Be honest—do you need help?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I said be honest.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I <i>am</i> being honest. I’m fine. I’ll have this done in
a—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What are you doing in here?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That wasn’t Kieron’s voice. It wasn’t someone speaking to Elanus
either; this was happening on Kieron’s end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Just routine maintenance,” Kieron said, sounding bored. Elanus
felt himself freeze inside, even as he kept walking—no one was supposed to be
down there other than Kieron’s maintenance tech persona right now. “It’s on the
schedule.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re not Feyodr.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Nope.” Kieron popped the word obnoxiously. “New management.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I didn’t hear anything about a change.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not my problem, man.” No one did dismissive quite as well
as Kieron, and for a moment Elanus thought it worked. Then—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m going to need you to come with me to the security
checkpoint.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron huffed a sigh. “Look, I’m almost done here. Can we
just—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“<i>Now</i>, sir.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fine.” Elanus listened to him being led away from the
service replicator and grimaced. <i>Shit.</i> This was a hiccup they didn’t
need. [<i>Are you okay?</i>] he sent via his implant.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[<i>Fine. Focus on you.</i>]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[<i>If you need me--</i>]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[<i>I’ll let you know, but I’ve got this. Pay attention, you’re
about to walk into a door.</i>]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus looked up just in time to stop himself from walking
right into the damn double doors. The secretary at the desk to the right looked
at him with one raised eyebrow, and he smiled charmingly even as he sent [<i>You’re
getting better at accessing the connections, I didn’t even feel you do that.</i>]
All he got in return was a sense of smugness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Hello,” Elanus said, pushing Kieron’s situation out of his head
and focusing on the person in front of him. “I’ve got a meeting with Doctor
Kliir.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Name, sir?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Elanus Desfontaines.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To their credit, the secretary didn’t seem surprised or
interested by his identity in the slightest. “Go ahead,” they droned, and Elanus
went back over to the doors and knocked once, then entered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mr. Desfontaines!” Doctor Kliir, on the other hand, was
very aware of who he was. She was heavyset for a Ganian, rounded and
gray-haired, but her eyes were bright with eagerness. She had a presentation
already pulled up on the holo-screen at her desk.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Oh, great. A sales pitch.</i> Eh, it was what he’d let
himself in for. Now that he’d invested in part of the hospital, she was going
to want him to invest in all of it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s so wonderful to meet you in person,” Doctor Kliir
said, shaking his hand enthusiastically. “I’m Doctor Corinne Kliir. Please, may
I get you something to drink?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Anything would be good,” he said, fiddling with his own
implant until he finally got a visual through Kieron’s. There was a bit of
strange overlap for a moment, but then it resolved. Kieron was sitting in a
small security office with two other men, both of whom looked rather squirrely.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Here.” Doctor Kliir handed him a glass. “It’s just water,
but—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mind telling me why I’m here?” Kieron asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mind telling us why you’re not in the system?” one of the
men replied pugnaciously.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Look, all I know is I got tasked to work on this system
today, okay? I’ve never worked here before, but my boss told me the paperwork
was going through fine.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, it hasn’t.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“How is that my problem?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The guys looked at each other. “We can <i>make</i> it your
problem,” the second one said. Elanus could practically hear the knuckle-cracking.
Honestly, what the hell—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“—Desfontaines? Are you all right?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus pasted a smile on his face. “Forgive me, just getting
some data in on one of my implant channels.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I see.” The administrator went a bit frosty. “If you could
please turn it off for the duration of our meeting, I would appreciate that.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Of course.” Not, but he’d at least turn it down. He sat,
and she beamed and launched into a discussion of how grateful they were for his
investment in maintaining their technology, and how much better things could be
if he wanted to help them upgrade some of the <i>rest</i> of their tech as
well. Elanus forced himself to listen, but he turned Kieron’s conversation into
text and continued to read it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Look,” Kieron said. “I get it. You guys had a deal with the
last guy who worked here, right? Probably, like, a few free vials of Regen from
the tank in exchange for not giving him shit?” Judging from the way the security
officers stared at each other, he was correct. <i>Bribery. Of course. I should
have thought of that.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I can do that,” Kieron replied. “Not a lot, ‘cause the
levels are really strictly monitored, but enough to get you a few thousand
extra credits. I get a third of it, of course.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the guys scoffed. “You get to do your job, that
should be enough.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I could say the same for you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re not a native. Just like the last guy.” The man
leaned in. “I’ve got a cousin that works in the refugee office. I can have her
pull your approval to be here before you even know it. Get you sent back to
whatever shit planet you came from.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, damn. If they’d been looking for a way to rile Kieron
up, they’d just found it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And I,” Kieron replied frostily, “can report both of you
for extortion to <i>my</i> boss.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You think whoever hired you is going to believe you over
his own people?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You don’t know much about who I work for, do you.” The guys
looked at each other. “Lifeship Enterprises ring a bell? Elanus Desfontaines?
Richest guy on this rock, also dating a guy from another planet? Short and
stocky, like me, but way more of a badass?” Kieron leaned in. “They’re stupid
about each other, too. I’ve met the little guy, he likes me. He’ll listen to me
if I tell him you’re trying to bust my balls here, and he’ll tell his
boyfriend. Who do you think will get kicked off at that point?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the guys bristled, but the other one shook his head. “Fuck
it, it’s not worth it,” he muttered. “Fine. Split three ways, but it’s got to
be at least ten milliliters per person. Got it?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Got it. You gonna let me do my job now, or what?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Which is why I really think it’s in everyone’s best
interest to invest in the latest biobed sensor technology,” Doctor Kliir
finished up. Elanus blinked at her. “Don’t you agree?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wow, he’d done a <i>terrible</i> job listening to that.
Shit. “Absolutely.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She smiled at him. “Wonderful! Let me show you my construction
projections and we’ll get a contract pulled up!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wait. How much money had he just spent? Eh, didn’t matter.
Not as long as Kieron was okay. Which he was, if the way he was fussing over
the multi-tool again was any indicator.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sounds great.”</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-74275858447794672632023-12-05T08:24:00.000-08:002023-12-05T08:24:02.532-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Eighteen: Part One<p> Notes: Yep, the numbers are right, turns out there's no Chapter 17 Part 2. On to the plotting!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Eighteen, Part One</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Eighteen,
Part One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3NGFf_wWA88qodA0a47njol2X9qCtK8avv3Af66y22uuSjflDX4uBlg3G5R7ZokGqQy4FUPe3BK6kOrWzZjo0gnIqf5TlKqlE38kzuQUlkkhk-6gNCfgD5eea8jP99XtkcmEIDe6yoLKUbnfvSrGZ5Apxjd9Ki7wiW3-W8eOiCd_AyW5C9OE2gn35dM/s4000/amos-from-stockphotos-com-4N8oM5L7hyM-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw3NGFf_wWA88qodA0a47njol2X9qCtK8avv3Af66y22uuSjflDX4uBlg3G5R7ZokGqQy4FUPe3BK6kOrWzZjo0gnIqf5TlKqlE38kzuQUlkkhk-6gNCfgD5eea8jP99XtkcmEIDe6yoLKUbnfvSrGZ5Apxjd9Ki7wiW3-W8eOiCd_AyW5C9OE2gn35dM/s320/amos-from-stockphotos-com-4N8oM5L7hyM-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was something exciting about analyzing important data.
Elanus was well aware that not a lot of people would agree with him on that—there
was a reason he enjoyed being a CEO, and a lot of it had to do with data analysis—but
in this case it was not only exciting, it was crucial. He’d gotten his
algorithms on data from Elfshot infections for the entire population of Chelen
City, which was as broad a test population as he was going to get for now, and the
results were in on when and where it looked like children were being infected.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“There’s a ninety percent chance that they’re given the
mutation that starts the downward spiral at their ten-year physical,” he said, transforming
the data into a graph and projecting it to share with Kieron. “You almost never
see Elfshot in a child younger than ten, and the dissemination of the virus
itself takes a while to get a foothold in the body and take over normal replication,
so the disease itself doesn’t present until around twelve.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sneaky,” Kieron commented as he stared at the graph. “And
the ten-year physical is the last one required by law to be in person at the
doctor’s office?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not just <i>a</i> doctor’s office, the office of the city’s
chief medical officer,” Elanus clarified. “Kids are centrally assessed at age
three, seven, and ten. After that, the next physical whose data has to be
shared is the fifteen year, but those are usually handled by the aptitude
officer for whatever schooling route the kid’s been funneled into.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why not just have physicians transmit the information
digitally?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus smirked. “Because this is Gania, and we wouldn’t be
Ganian if we didn’t try to cheat the system. Local doctors can be bribed to
give elevated results for health and intelligence, but the city CMO is supposed
to be above that kind of trickery.” Which they very clearly weren’t, in this
case. “I think we should grab the doctor and—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron shook his head. “Too obvious. Even here on Gania,
being a doctor is a highly respected job, one of the least assassinated roles
in public service. If you send me after one, you’re not only giving Restaria a
warning that you’re onto xer, you’re making yourself into a bad guy in the eyes
of the public. No.” He stared at the data one last time, then flipped to a new
set of numbers. “Show me how it’s being done?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I assume it’s in the Regen injection kids get,” Elanus
said, turning the numbers into another visual. “It’s tailored to each
individual child and meant to bolster their systems.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So each kid is given a shot, or…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Nothing so old-fashioned. The doctor inputs their
parameters, the kid sits in the autodoc, and the medication is administered via
absorption through the skin.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Huh.” Kieron crossed his arms. “Is the virus itself
replicable from Regen?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah.” That was one of the worst parts, how damnably simple
the delivery system was. “In the end, it’s all just proteins and foldings. The
autodoc is easily capable of formulating the nascent virus and including it in
the injection.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So there’s got to be some sort of regular subroutine that
the physicians are inputting that tells the autodoc what to put in. Some kind
of code that reads one thing but actually means Elfshot Disease.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“There is.” Elanus pulled up another visual. “They call it
Vitamin E-3.” It looked like a Vitamin E booster, but the coding was subtly
different. “Only kids who end up getting Elfshot get this one.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Okay.” Kieron nodded. “But the doctor, whoever it is doing
the administering, might not know that.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus scoffed. “They have to know.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not necessarily. It would be so easy to conceal this kind
of thing in paperwork from the kids’ earlier physicals—in fact, the way you
people pull every bit of personal information together into a whole, I wouldn’t
be surprised if this is a trigger flagged by a student’s teacher instead of
their doctor. There’s a whole network of wrongdoing here, but we need to know
more if we’re going to uproot it successfully.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus resisted the urge to pull on his hair. “We know who
the root is! We need to take out Restaria, then worry about the rest of it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh yeah?” Kieron stared up at him challengingly. “So you’re
fine with this subroutine being administered for weeks or months while we work
through Restaria’s crimes? Because xe’s the vice-fucking-president of the whole
planet, Elanus, and like it or not, that means xe’s got a hell of a lot of
power and influence over how this is going to go. We can have xer dead to
rights on giving potential rivals Elfshot Disease and still get into the kind
of legal fight that will have us battling it out in court for a long fucking time.”
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oof, Kieron was feeling strongly about this if he was using “fucking”
more than once in five minutes. “So what do you suggest, then?” Elanus asked—not
graciously, but he wasn’t outright rude about it either. It was the best he
could do, and he could tell Kieron knew that from the way he smiled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We need to stop the delivery of the virus, first and
foremost. That means writing some sort of code that will intercept the E-3
subroutine and turn it into a regular booster, without letting on that it’s
happening.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I can do that,” Elanus said. “And it would be simple to get
Catie to send it downstream to the medical offices where—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“<i>No!</i>”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus blinked, startled at Kieron’s fierce denial. “Why
not? She could do it, you know she could.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We can’t take the chance that another virus will follow her
back,” Kieron said, his eyes wide. “Remember last time? You were barely able to
help her fight it off, and that was a virus taking largely unknown advantage—this
time, Restaria’s been able to prepare, to learn from past mistakes. Let another
one of those in here, and you might end up dead instead of just having a
stroke. No.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Ah.</i> Well, when he put it that way…yeah. It was a dumb
idea. Elanus had improved the girls’ defensive capabilities since then, but
still, it was better not to test it if Kieron had a better idea. “What do you
suggest?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Maintenance. Send in someone to do some work on the
machines, let them get the code into the system, keep it quiet and calm.”
Kieron looked back at the holograph. “Who owns the contract for maintenance on
those autodocs?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I will, as soon as I’ve proxy-purchased it,” Elanus
replied. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re sure you can do it without tipping off Restaria?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Absolutely positive.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron smiled. “Then I think we’ve got our first step.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>First step of many</i>. Elanus rubbed his hands together
and grinned. This was going to be fun.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-75529733557381490662023-11-28T10:23:00.000-08:002023-11-28T10:23:48.920-08:00Chelen City: Interlude: Pol<p> Notes: My brain needed a break from plot, so you get this!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Interlude: Pol</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Interlude: Pol</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHF83bq0ZFFMYn7NSzOCxRHVgyaL2PjfuIAC1ncFXPJNajJwuicz8GGFxT9DeST2nCzXoXQT71svdbGHCbJNCTMdwZHlU3GuyapjLJVSLNTddjCPWQGejmuCI_wRYG82g4GNdmYVH872tI5UXLu-2RqeMUc05IAXrMnhgEEFBJeo7uo0hgrMaKNo_CQYw/s5359/aaron-torres-YFXtvKw3vLQ-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5359" data-original-width="2861" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHF83bq0ZFFMYn7NSzOCxRHVgyaL2PjfuIAC1ncFXPJNajJwuicz8GGFxT9DeST2nCzXoXQT71svdbGHCbJNCTMdwZHlU3GuyapjLJVSLNTddjCPWQGejmuCI_wRYG82g4GNdmYVH872tI5UXLu-2RqeMUc05IAXrMnhgEEFBJeo7uo0hgrMaKNo_CQYw/s320/aaron-torres-YFXtvKw3vLQ-unsplash.jpg" width="171" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This home was too quiet. Pol didn’t like it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Home</i> home was never this quiet. There was always someone
there—one of his siblings or parents, or a vid playing somewhere, or he was out
with his friends in the garden, or <i>something</i>. Here, it was like there
was no sound at all—the walls seemed to eat it up even from one hall to the
next. When Pol called for his mother, it was the house’s AI that had to let her
know he wanted her, because the doors didn’t let sound out.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His feet made almost no noise against the floor, not even
when he stomped extra hard. Once, just to see what would happen, Pol picked up
the tab that the Man had left for him and threw it as hard as he could against
the carpet. It hadn’t made any noise, but shortly after that Mama came in to ask
him why he was upset.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m not,” Pol replied, but he was. He <i>was</i>, and he
knew Mama didn’t quite understand why. This was a nice place for her, with
grown-ups she liked and a kitchen she could cook in and a system she could use
to talk to Szusza if she wanted to. Which she didn’t yet, and Pol understood
that part just fine. He didn’t want to talk to Szusza yet either, not after she
left him. He missed her terribly, but he was also so, so angry at her…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mama like it here, and so Pol tried to like it to. He tried
to like it for a whole week: a week of learning school from a new teacher, of
getting a new doctor’s checkup and being assigned a therapist (which he didn’t
like, and neither did Kieron, even though she was Kieron’s therapist too. “What
does he need therapy for?” Keiron had demanded. “He’s just got settling in to
do, that’s all.” “Settling in can go a lot better when you have someone to talk
to about it,” Mama had replied, agreeing with the Man, and Kieron had given in).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So he had new school and new therapy and none of the other
Traktans around, which was <i>shitty</i>. He felt a little guilty using that
word, even if only in his own mind, but it also made him feel better. He used
to hear his older siblings use it when their parents weren’t around, and they always
seemed so cool. Pol wanted to be cool, but he knew he wasn’t. Catie was the
cool one, and Catie…well. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her yet most of all,
even more than the Man.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(He knew his name was Elanus but it was hard for him to say
for some reason, the “s” always came out with a bit of a lisp and Catie had
told him not to say her daddy’s name if he couldn’t say it right, so he said “Fine,
I won’t” and started calling him the Man instead, and then Lizzie had gotten
sad and withdrawn after they began fighting, and it was so hard to have friends
sometimes. There were days that Pol wished he could be a computer—not a special
computer like Catie and Lizzie, just a regular AI, the kind without emotions
who didn’t have to worry about feeling at all and who everything made sense to.
Then he wouldn’t be so afraid of letting his mama down, or making Kieron or Lizzie
sad, or making sure that the Man and Catie at least liked him enough to keep
him and Mama around, and… This was usually the place where Pol started crying,
too overwhelmed by his thoughts and emotions to process them anymore. His
therapist had helped him with that once, and Mama had helped too, but mostly he
tried to bury his head in his covers and cry until he felt better.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, so now it had been a week and Catie and Lizzie were
playing a game of hide and seek, and Pol wanted to play but he kept getting
found immediately because they were hooked into the AI and <i>that</i> was no
fun at all. In the end he sulked off to his room, but that was no fun, and Mama
was on an important phone call with a per-son-el…elle…al? With a personal
explo-ra-tion agent or something, and Kieron was gone—he was gone a <i>lot</i>
recently, so Pol decided to go and visit Ryu instead. Ryu couldn’t talk to him
from inside the Regen, of course, but that was okay. Pol could pretend.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As soon as he stepped into the room, though, he saw the Man.
Pol froze, then tried to back away, but the Man heard him and looked over from
what he was doing. “Hey.” He took in Pol’s frightened posture and sighed. “Are
you okay?” Pol didn’t move. “Do I need to get Xilinn?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No!” That was enough of a threat to get Pol to respond. “No
don’t get her, she’s busy! I’ll go!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Whoa, calm down!” The Man held up his hands. “I won’t get
her, I just…” He sighed, then glanced at Ryu. When he wasn’t looking at Pol, it
was easier to be around him. He was just so <i>tall</i>, it hurt his neck to
look up like that. “So. You like being around Ryu?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s quiet,” Pol said after a moment.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, being stuck in a tank of Regen will do that to you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pol tentatively crept a little closer. “Why is he in there?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Because he’s sick,” the Man said, still not looking at Pol.
He was fiddling with the interface of the tank instead. “And we’re trying to
make him better.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh.” Pol came a little closer. “How?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“A couple different ways. One is medical—we’re doing a
special treatment for Ryu that’s going to regrow his skeleton.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh, gross!” That was so cool! Pol looked into the tank,
where Ryu was almost invisible in the thick blue liquid. “What else are you
doing?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, Kieron is going to do some investigating and see if
he can help find a cure, but to do that I’m making him a special shield to
protect him from digital eyes.” The Man didn’t quite look at Pol, but he tilted
his head in Pol’s direction. “You know…it might work for hide and seek, too. Or
at least make it tougher for the girls to find you, if you want to help me beta
test the shield.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A special shield that hid him from computers? That was so
amazing! “Can I?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In Pol’s experience, adults offered all sorts of things that
they didn’t mean to and ended up taking back. It had happened all the time at
the refugee center. But…the Man might be too tall and kind of scary and a
little grumpy, but maybe he could be trusted with this. “Okay. How do I wear
it?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Man grinned, getting into it now. “There are a couple of
ways. We can insert an algorithm right into your implant that project the
shield in a variable radius, but that takes a few little surgeries to get the
extended batteries and transmitter in place, so…” The Man shrugged. “How about
a special hat?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Okay!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He stepped away from the tank and rubbed his hands together.
“Great, come to the lab and let me measure your head.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pol followed him, free from the paralyzing fear that had
overtaken him a few minutes ago. The lab was pretty great, with real-time
prototyping that he even got to pick the color for! It only took half an hour
to make the hat, and the Man chatted to him the whole time about different
projects and stuff he was working on and how the shield functioned, and Pol
didn’t understand most of it, but it was so cool anyway.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even cooler was sneaking up on Catie in her docking bay half
an hour after that and making her scream when he shouted “Boo!”</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-71373710040068362162023-11-21T10:03:00.000-08:002023-11-21T10:03:10.837-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Seventeen, Part One<p> Notes: I'm genuinely amazed I got a holiday week post up at all. Go me! Enjoy the quiet before the storm.</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Seventeen, Part One</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Seventeen Part
One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhH_I3ITh37jZRlTn8WJNyKDmu6B5mtOVg0BziE_oqt8CqOoTurpxcEuev1EDV_eK5aTl90P7sftZ_Skyig7sFurt4uEOcdBj-iNa8-hrTb4B3qG-w6SkGIs55zrlFqiyUvFO4LFvG0Mk9DMkv2EQto97n1ldBjHhKE7fw4yQzWAANWXRFMwtiTbuMWLE/s6000/alex-shuper-LVT61Ta6kGg-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhH_I3ITh37jZRlTn8WJNyKDmu6B5mtOVg0BziE_oqt8CqOoTurpxcEuev1EDV_eK5aTl90P7sftZ_Skyig7sFurt4uEOcdBj-iNa8-hrTb4B3qG-w6SkGIs55zrlFqiyUvFO4LFvG0Mk9DMkv2EQto97n1ldBjHhKE7fw4yQzWAANWXRFMwtiTbuMWLE/s320/alex-shuper-LVT61Ta6kGg-unsplash.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were two problems at hand. One of them was a problem
roughly the size of Gania’s moon and growing larger all the time—the issue of
what to do about Restaria. It was a problem with layers, a problem where it was
hard to settle on the core of it—did xe choose who was to be infected? Did xe
do it xirself? Did xe have a cure, and simply not make use of it so as to throw
people off the scent? How many other people knew what was going on? How deep
did the rot go?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That was a problem that was, quite frankly, too big to
tackle right now. Elanus set his computers to identifying every case of Elfshot
Disease for the past five years, analyzing the who, where, when, how—anything
that looked like useful or interesting data. It would have gone a lot faster
with Catie and Lizzie’s help, but they were in the process of forging a very
fragile three-way alliance with Pol, who was careening between outgoing one
hour and introspective the next. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Solving complex equations was easy for an AI, even one that
wasn’t sentient. Solving the issue of socializing with a terrorized little boy
and his mother was quite another kind of muddle, and one he was more than happy
to let the girls puzzle through on their own. Not that he wouldn’t have helped
if he was needed—or thought he knew how—but it was about then that Ryu had a
setback…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thus leading to the issue of problem two—fixing Ryu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“His spinal column is starting to collapse in on itself,” Kieron
said after carrying Ryu in to the recently-renovated medical room in the house.
It was perfectly sterile, had the most cutting-edge surgical machines in Chelen
City housed in it, and was just about adequate for Elanus to feel like he could
handle said surgery on his own, rather than going back to a hospital that may
or may not be full of people trying to kill Ryu. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, I can tell,” Ryu said sarcastically from where he lay
on the bed. He was on oxygen, and pale as a ghost, but if he was still capable
of being this salty Elanus held out hope for a good recovery. “What with the hideous
pain and inability to move my fucking legs over the past fifteen minutes.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You could have come here sooner,” Elanus said, not about to
put up with Ryu insulting Kieron—his <i>fiancé</i>, ha!—for any reason. “You
knew this was going to be coming to a head.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And you promised me a solution,” Ryu said. He looked
blearily but with determination at Elanus. “So what are you going to do for me?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Your version of the disease generates from the bone, like
mine,” Elanus said. “So, we’re going to grow you a new skeleton.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ryu rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t work. There’s too much of
the disease secreted in other parts of the body for a new skeleton to fix the issue.
I’ve had two already. That’s why Deysan thought a mechanical one would be the
way to go, give me more time to get clear of the disease before finally
installing a new bone skeleton.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s very horrifying of him,” Elanus said. “I’ve got a
different plan in mind. Seed cells.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Seed…” Ryu’s forehead creased. “You mean stem cells?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No. Seed cells are something different, technology from another
part of the Alliance. Thing of them like a climbing vine. They aren’t going to
replace your skeleton so much as…colonize it, I guess.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“How very Alliance of them,” Kieron said dryly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ha ha,” Elanus groused. “The point is, the seed cells can
be attuned to your DNA while excluding all foreign bodies, which we now know
Elfshot is. It’s not endemic, it’s <i>injected</i>, and I’ve run enough tests
on our blood to see the markers that correspond to it. Seed cells will renew
you while excluding the Elfshot, but it’s a slow process.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ryu sighed. “How slow?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Like, I’ll have to stick you in a tank of Regen and leave
you there for a month while they work, slow,” Elanus said. “And even then, it
fixes the acute issue but leaves the problem of the disease hiding in your
body. We can’t just use seed cells on every part of you at once—you wouldn’t
emerge from the tank still you. That’s the problem we’ve faced over and over
with regrowth, and while seed cells will extend your liveliness and take away
the pain for probably a long time, they won’t stop you from having Elfshot.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ryu made a face. “So you want to stick me in a tank and
regrow my entire skeletal structure just so we can do it all over again in a
few more years.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Or decades.” Elanus shrugged. “I don’t know what form the
cure to Elfshot is eventually going to take, to be honest, but we need to buy
time. You’re almost out.” He reached over and laid a hand on Ryu’s arm. “You
deserve better than this,” he said frankly. “You deserve a real life, the kind
of life you can live without always wondering if the next step is going to be
the one that breaks your ankle of gives you a clot that lodges in your brain.
Regen’s not doing it for you, seed cells will help, and eventually I <i>will</i>
have a cure. A real one. I promise you that, but I need you to work with me
right now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I…” Ryu glanced between them. “That means you’ll have to
take on Restaria without me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We’ll be all right,” Kieron assured him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t want you to have to do that. I wanted to be a part
of it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I promise to leave some of xir for you to piss on once you’re
done healing up,” Elanus promised. “But we have to move fast on all fronts,
with you <i>and </i>with xir. What we’re doing here…it’s going to have
consequences.” He glanced at Kieron. “And I don’t know what those are going to
be yet. If they’re positive and result in a real cure coming to light, great,
but if they’re not…we might have to run. And you need to be in shape to do that
if we do.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ryu seemed to melt a little bit. “You would take me with
you?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus kind of wanted to slap himself for bringing it up at
all, but also had to acknowledge the truth. “Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t
know how it happened, don’t ask me, but the girls think you’re great. And you
have useful skills. And Kieron likes you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I like beating you,” Kieron cut in, but he was smiling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, enjoy it while you can, I’ll be back to full strength
soon,” Ryu said, then firmed his jaw. “All right. Fuck me up. Let’s get it
done.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good man.” Once he was under repair, Elanus would be able
to focus on Problem Number One.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was going to be a battle for the ages.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-19743339032914865152023-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:002023-11-14T10:40:33.274-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Sixteen, Part Two<p> Notes: Some more "getting to know you" time.</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Sixteen, Part Two</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Sixteen, Part
Two</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90GPuLnNXV6-q6oaKk0jvIj-M92tZjR_PMPRzw084II-KeXe64Vj41uBQWyb9a576DymARUO188Ei3RSd_XCBbbDbHoNVcO6imukM1Yg0pdoo9qvBhY7lsfSqUMYghKWeltvKEm2XCgJMLQW6siz8CUO7tKKqM7Bkty9JP0yuBO9G87cMnnOCTgjjNHw/s6720/tengyart-YasArQs292k-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6720" data-original-width="4480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90GPuLnNXV6-q6oaKk0jvIj-M92tZjR_PMPRzw084II-KeXe64Vj41uBQWyb9a576DymARUO188Ei3RSd_XCBbbDbHoNVcO6imukM1Yg0pdoo9qvBhY7lsfSqUMYghKWeltvKEm2XCgJMLQW6siz8CUO7tKKqM7Bkty9JP0yuBO9G87cMnnOCTgjjNHw/s320/tengyart-YasArQs292k-unsplash.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The rooms were deemed acceptable. Pol honestly didn’t seem
to think much of his one way or the other; perhaps he’d care once it was
customized. He was far more invested in knowing that his mother would be right
next door. “Can I sleep in your room?” he begged more than once, to a “We’ll
see” from Xilinn. He also asked where Kieron slept, which—all Elanus could hope
was that the kid didn’t try and get into their room at night, not because he’d
be able to since locks were a thing, but because he got the feeling that
explaining his relationship to Kieron wasn’t something that Pol had patience
for right now. The little boy seemed on the edge, not happy like Elanus had
hoped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His mother seemed to key into that as well. “I think we
ought to spend a little time relaxing,” she said, wrapping an arm around her
son’s shoulders and pulling him in close. “Do you mind if I make something for
us to eat in our rooms?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not at all.” Kieron stepped in to show them the way to the
kitchen, while Elanus decided now was the best time for him to step back. He let
them go ahead, only to be surprised when Xilinn doubled back around the corner
once Kieron and Pol were out of sight.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I didn’t get a chance to thank you personally for this,”
she said. “I know Kieron arranged most of it, but I’m truly grateful to you for
letting us into your home.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Is Pol okay with it?” Elanus asked. He knew there were a
hundred good reasons for the pair to be with them right now, but if the kid
genuinely wasn’t going to be happy here he could make something else happen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He will be.” Xilinn sounded pretty sure about that. “He’s
just…been through a lot of upheaval lately. Ever since we had to leave Trakta,
he’s gone from one impermanent situation to another, with very few things
staying the same in his life. First he had Kieron but not me; then he had me
but not Kieron.” She sighed. “Plus he misses the rest of the family. Yesterday
was Szusza’s birthday back home.” Fine lines of tension deepened around her
mouth. “I was surprised he remembered it, honestly, but…he asked if we were
going to talk to her, sing her the birthday song and do the dance, and I had to
say no. That…well, it put things onto a poor trajectory for now.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Szusza, Xilinn’s other child with Zak.</i> There were two
other parents in the traditional Traktan foursome who had children with each
other, but according to Kieron they’d all been a big, happy, poly family…while
Zak was alive, at any rate. Things had been different ever since his death, to
the point that Xilinn’s other spouses hadn’t been willing to go to bat to keep
her from being deported and sentenced to a slow death in space as a political
prisoner. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Szusza had refused to come with Kieron when he’d tried
to get both her and Pol off planet. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That…sucked. Elanus wondered how Kieron felt about not being
able to convince Szusza to come with them. Knowing him, he’d taken the perceived
failure and tucked it into the back of his mind where it could continue to
shred his psyche in a dozen tiny different ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>What’s the old Earth saying? Pot, meet kettle?</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Do you want me to get you a communication channel with her?”
Elanus asked. “Because I could do it. I’m pretty sure I could hone in directly
on her implant, if you wanted me to.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xilinn looked startled for a second, then shook her head. “Mm,
no, I think that would be a breach of her privacy.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She was…maybe right about that, but Elanus also wouldn’t
have cared. “But you wouldn’t know if she wanted to reach out to you under the
circumstances, would you?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I could probably open a channel of communication, but in a
way that gives her the option of responding. So it would be her choice as to
whether to talk to you or not.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xilinn seemed to waver. “If she reported something like that…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I can do it in a way that won’t let anyone else find out,” Elanus
assured her. “Or, if you don’t want your kid to doubt her own sanity if she
tries to confess and then doesn’t see anything—” The look that crossed Xilinn’s
face was clear evidence that she <i>didn’t</i> want that, made sense. “Then we
can make it something another person could see, but not be able to affect or double
back along. We could get rid of it with no harm done at that point, but she’d
at least know that you <i>tried</i> to contact her.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xilinn’s hands were folded calmly in front of her body, but she
was using one of her thumbnails to worry the edge of another. “I think…that
might be a good thing. Let me consider it a little more. I’d hate for Pol to get
excited about it and then be sad all over again if Szusza decided she didn’t
want to talk to us. Maybe…we could start just by sending her a happy birthday
message. Do you think that’s possible?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“With the girls, anything is possible,” Elanus assured her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Xilinn beamed suddenly. “Oh, Lizzie is a delight,” she said.
“I appreciate her friendship with Pol so much. Is your other daughter doing
well? I think I remember hearing she’d been through some trouble lately.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus had to hand it to this woman—she was rolling with a
concept that some of the greatest minds in Alliance history had difficulties comprehending,
much less accepting. “Catie is recovering from a…” <i>attack that could have
unraveled her mind completely</i> “…rough spot, but she’s much better now.
Thank you for asking.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Of course.” She actually reached out and patted his arm. “It’s
hard to worry about them so much, isn’t it? I think that’s been the hardest
part of exile for me. I miss Trakta,” she continued, her eyes gone distant. “I
miss my home and my work, and talking to my parents every Third-day. I miss
being there with Zak—Kieron just brought him back, and then we had to leave
him. I’ll never be able to enter the family crypt now, and neither will Pol,
and I’m sad about that. I especially miss Szusza, and Filip and Ophred. But…”
She sighed. “I don’t miss my other spouses the way I should. We had been
drawing apart for years. And I don’t miss the politics, or the hatred, or the
constant worry. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not that I’m not worrying now,” she said with a little
shrug. “But it’s easier, in a way, to worry when I’m someplace so removed from
my traditional responsibilities. Kieron is working on our behalf, and I trust
in him completely. I hope,” she added, “that we’ll be able to trust each other
like that again soon.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus swallowed. “Wait, you’re not looking for another…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Spouse? Oh, hell no.” She covered her mouth briefly. “I
mean…not that you’re not very kind, and Kieron is a wonderful man, but…no.
Absolutely not.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Thank fuck.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mommy?” They turned to glance down the hallway at Pol, who
was standing with a plate in his hands and Kieron at his shoulder. “Can we go
see Lizzie now?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, darling.” She went to join them, and when prompted by
Kieron’s raised eyebrow, Elanus gave him a little smile. It had gone well
enough. He wasn’t a miracle worker, but he hoped the pair would be happy here
with them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Something that was much likelier once he got a handle on all
the threats facing them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Time to get back to work.</i></p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-69806732258396089382023-11-07T08:52:00.004-08:002023-11-07T08:52:26.600-08:00Chelen City: Chapter Sixteen, Part One<p> Notes: Time to settle in our newcomers. Never fear, these lovely soft chapters won't last for long ;)</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Sixteen, Part One</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Sixteen, Part
one</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWyeK-WROF3xd33L-obUSxcH_2IXp6_BFL9Oo6KABo1jv8qBeD6MVdxMXXvrFj6xtWcCuBS0txKCWkBN3AtHakHzpYFeSaWiemO2_sa5tlV6tAB64WB2GHFUBR49qce8_qAjWHVgOHewUSg1MPTFPSJJj9spYgoAbpxD0O6fBEyOoQ5oC8McOOP25NQk/s6016/kimberly-farmer-lUaaKCUANVI-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6016" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWyeK-WROF3xd33L-obUSxcH_2IXp6_BFL9Oo6KABo1jv8qBeD6MVdxMXXvrFj6xtWcCuBS0txKCWkBN3AtHakHzpYFeSaWiemO2_sa5tlV6tAB64WB2GHFUBR49qce8_qAjWHVgOHewUSg1MPTFPSJJj9spYgoAbpxD0O6fBEyOoQ5oC8McOOP25NQk/s320/kimberly-farmer-lUaaKCUANVI-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus would never have said it out loud, but he was ready for
this day to be over. It had been exhausting in a way he rarely felt—careening from
discovery to fury to adoration to bliss, and finally to an amount of planning
and physical labor that was, frankly, not something he was used to any more.
But the guest rooms he had set aside for Xilinn and her son needed to be
prepared, furnished, made to look welcoming and deliberate instead of like a
space where anybody could live. At least, according to Kieron.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Catie, for some reason.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It needs toooooys!” she protested as she surveyed the room
for Pol through the house’s system. “Kids need toooooys!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s bringing some of his own.” Surely. Right?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He, ah, didn’t get the chance to pack any during our
escape,” Kieron interjected. “So whatever he’s got now is whatever the refugee
office made available to him, and I doubt he’s going to be allowed to take
communal property away from the place they’re living.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But…” Communal property? What? “I thought this was a group
of political refugees. Why would there be any more kids in the mix?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not from Trakta, from other places,” Kieron clarified. “Gania
has a fairly permissive refugee policy compared to planets in the Central
System, so a lot of people end up applying for safe haven here.” His lips
twisted into a smile for a second. “Like my therapist.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, right, she’d come from Hadrian’s Colony.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So there are other kids to play with, I’m sure, even if
they’re not Traktan. But that doesn’t mean he gets to keep the toys.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So he neeeeds neeeew ones!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But <i>he</i> should get to choose them.” That was Lizzie.
Elanus was a little surprised—Lizzie rarely bothered with the house speakers,
preferring to talk either in person or through the implant. Apparently this was
something she felt strongly about, though. “Because we won’t pick right.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We won’t?” Catie asked, sounding surprised. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No.” Lizzie didn’t elaborate, but it made sense to Elanus.
He wouldn’t have wanted someone picking out all his toys either.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fine. We’ll make his room look good, we’ll get him set up
with books and holovids and—actually, are physical books still appropriate for
a kid his age?” he asked Kieron, who nodded.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Turning pages is good for developing dexterity, and Trakta
is more old-fashioned about learning anyhow. He’s used to paper books.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fine, then. Books. And he can pick toys when he gets here.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Things were ordered, delivered, and installed with just
minutes to spare by the time the mother-and-son duo actually arrived. Well, “arrived”
was a misnomer—Kieron went to get them. He thought it would be nice for them to
have an escort through the parts of Chelen City they’d never experienced
before, not to mention it would give him a chance to scan them for any devices
or biological implants that could be trouble.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus waited alone at the exit from the tunnels for them.
Ryu had opted to stay in his room, citing feeling “fine, fine, just like my
spinal column is slowly disintegrating and taking my leg function with it,” he’d
said with a grimace, and…yeah, that was another thing Elanus needed to figure
out—saving Ryu from his particular modifications before they broke down. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>There’s always something else. Always something else
after that. You’re never done. You’ll never </i>be <i>done.</i> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus gave himself a few seconds to feel a justified surge
of self-pity, then forced it aside as the doors to their dock opened. Kieron
stepped through a moment later, looking…soft. Soft in a way that Elanus had
only seen him look with the girls before this. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Xilinn is his best friend’s widow. Pol is like his
nephew. </i>Elanus had known, intellectually, that Kieron loved them, had to
love them to go to so much trouble to bring them here, but…he hadn’t seen it so
viscerally before. It was one thing to talk about these people in the abstract,
quite another to bring them into their home. But they weren’t strangers, this
slight woman with dark hair and intelligent eyes, and the boy who clung to her
hand while his face was buried in Kieron’s stomach. These were family to
Kieron, which meant they were family to him, too.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>A year ago I had no family at all. Now my life is full of
it.</i> And soon he would be married, and…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Welcome,” Elanus said, stepping forward and holding a hand
out to Xilinn. He didn’t know if Traktans shook hands, but it seemed like a
decent starting gesture. Sure enough, Xilinn took it without hesitation,
assessing him in silence for a moment before giving him a small smile.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Thank you for taking us in,” she murmured.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s my pleasure,” he said genuinely. “Kieron’s told me so
much about you, and I know that Pol and Lizzie are good friends. She’s really
looking forward to seeing you again.” The last sentence he addressed straight
to the boy, who turned his face just enough so that he could use one eye to
look at Elanus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You know Lizzie?” he asked. His voice was high, stressed
but sweet. <i>Poor kid. This has got to be a lot.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Elanus is Lizzie’s daddy,” Kieron said. “Remember, I told
you about Lizzie and Catie’s daddy?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah…” The little eye looked him up and down. “I thought he
would be a ship, though.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ah.” Kieron exchanged a mirthful glance with Xilinn and Elanus
before looking back down at Pol. “That’s not how ships are made, I’m afraid.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Would you like to visit her now?” Elanus asked, a little
desperate to do <i>something</i> to make this child smile. “Or would you rather
go to your room?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I think it would be best if we settled into our rooms
first,” Xilinn said, speaking for both of them in the manner of parents
everywhere.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“All right.” <i>Oh shit</i>. “Follow me and I’ll take you to
them. Or maybe you’d rather have a tour of the house first?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Rooms first, then tour, I think,” she replied.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Of course.” As Elanus turned into the house, all he could
think was: <i>I really fucking hope they like them.</i></p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-56590793607695602272023-10-31T10:10:00.002-07:002023-10-31T10:10:25.934-07:00Chelen City: Chapter Fifteen, Part Two<p> Notes: Smexytimes ahoy. You have been warned!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Fifteen, Part Two</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Fifteen, Part
Two</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjny7ri6qJlhq4f20Swc0e3S6Oac3Lur581CTpFDJWWEeTUhXY9cLIdbhfErwJqW1LuA87BjMB-WMelES2ed65ncI8lKykTl1EBjtp-DPvvAfgzv6cmHb6a00nYhL8yz8PAf5OPucHOYKekt2m0wsvC6HLb2GHiFewyDP5MbB8m2aifGuVIFRnrfpXisTc/s4288/emiliano-vittoriosi-h7dWAkvPqOA-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4288" data-original-width="2848" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjny7ri6qJlhq4f20Swc0e3S6Oac3Lur581CTpFDJWWEeTUhXY9cLIdbhfErwJqW1LuA87BjMB-WMelES2ed65ncI8lKykTl1EBjtp-DPvvAfgzv6cmHb6a00nYhL8yz8PAf5OPucHOYKekt2m0wsvC6HLb2GHiFewyDP5MbB8m2aifGuVIFRnrfpXisTc/s320/emiliano-vittoriosi-h7dWAkvPqOA-unsplash.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were times when the only right reaction was falling
into bed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bed would have been a step up, actually. They didn’t even
make it out of Elanus’s office before Kieron had pushed him back in his chair, pulled
his pants down, spread his legs apart, and done his absolute best to suck
Elanus’s consciousness out of his dick.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus generally preferred things a little slower, but right
now all he could think when he looked down at Kieron, his eyes closed with
pleasure as he pistoned his mouth along Elanus’s shaft, was that he got to keep
this. Him. He could wind his hands into Kieron’s hair—still short, but long
enough now to get a grip on—and urge him to keep going, praise him with as much
articulation as he could manage in the moment, and finally come inside of him,
inevitable and relentless, and barely have time to soften before Kieron was up
and demanding more.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Stay like this,” Kieron said, getting into his lap and
leaning his chair back. He had his own cock out now, and was stroking it
determinedly as he settled against Elanus’s chest. “Don’t move. Just let me…”
He leaned in and pressed their mouths together just as he took their cocks in
the same hand and began to work them together.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Shit</i>, that was too much, too soon. Elanus was
oversensitive, and he jerked in reaction to the grip, but he didn’t fight it. He
knew Kieron liked being in control, and sometimes that meant taking control in
a very literal sense. Elanus let the kisses distract him from the way his hips
wanted to arch forward and pull back at the same time, caught in a cycle of
pleasure and discomfort that was swiftly edging over into pure pleasure. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All Elanus’s contemplations of sex as some sort of
complicated, Kieron-specific metaphor flew out the window as Kieron bit down on
his lip, drawing his attention back to the moment. “Is there lube in here?” he
asked breathlessly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No.” And that seemed like a completely ridiculous
oversight, now that Elanus thought about it. “But we can go to—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No.” Kieron shook his head. “I want you now. What…what
about…” He let go of Elanus and sat up and forward, positioning his hole just
above his cock and grinding his dick into Elanus’s abs. When he sat down, he
softened just the slightest bit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We can’t.” Elanus stopped Kieron’s hips right there. “You’re
not prepped, it’s going to hurt too much.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t care.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“<i>I </i>care,” Elanus said, and after a second Kieron
sighed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fine. Not all the way. Just…just a little bit.” Kieron
kissed him again, wet and messy. “Where you’re already slick.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fuck, he was, wasn’t he? “Just a little bit,” Elanus said,
and moved one of his hands down to his cock to put a physical barrier in place.
Now there was just an inch or so left, mostly the red, bulging crown, and he
was so slick there he was dripping. Kieron sighed against his lips as he began
to press down, down, and then—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Inside. Oh fuck, he was inside, just a little ways but it
felt so hot and amazing, felt like coming home after a long day out in the
world. He loved it, and Kieron clearly did if the way he moaned was any
indicator. He lifted up again, then back down, easing Elanus in and out of his
body over and over until the slide was easy enough that he’d stopped wincing. “You’re
so fucking big,” he muttered, his eyes finally opening to satisfied slits as he
swiveled his hips in circles. “Sometimes I forget how good it feels to take you
like this, and then…we need to do this more.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes.” What else could he say? <i>I’m at your service, one
hundred percent, as soon as we’ve got this pesky Elfshot thing taken care of
and I’m not worried about either of us being assassinated any more.</i> No,
better not to focus on that, that would just bring the mood down. Being as preoccupied
as they had been <i>did</i> mean less sex, but as far as he understood it, that
was what you got when you had young children and burgeoning careers—among other
things.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>He's been my husband in every way except the legal one
since he got here.</i> The thought was unexpectedly satisfying, and before
Elanus knew it his balls were drawing up tight to his body again, ready to
release even though Kieron hadn’t come once yet. It wasn’t a competition, he
reminded himself, and yet it absolutely was a competition. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If the way Kieron was smirking was any indicator, he knew
it, too.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Well, two could play at that game. Elanus nipped along the
edge of Kieron’s jaw, all the way to his tender earlobe. “You could be sitting
all the way down on my dick right now if you weren’t so stubborn,” he murmured.
“I wanted to take you to bed, maybe eat you out first—” Kieron’s ass suddenly
tightened, and Elanus laughed. “Yeah, I know how much you like that. You’re
still not used to me taking my time with you, but it wouldn’t have taken me
long. I fucking love putting my tongue inside you, I want to fuck you any way I
can, want to sound you until you’re screaming but you can’t come until I pull
it out, want to put you in a ring and keep you hard and desperate while I fuck
you over and over until I finally let you come…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Aaahh.” Kieron’s eyes were open now, wild, and he looked at
Elanus with the kind of open desperation and adoration that he only let out
during sex, and it was too much. One inch of penetration, that was all Elanus
had, but Kieron was going to fucking feel it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fuck, sweetheart, I’m coming,” Elanus said, and then…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was so good, but it hardly compared to seeing Kieron
writhe on top of him grinding in and down so hard that the hand Elanus was
holding himself with started to cramp. Kieron came with a shout, coating Elanus’s
belly with semen and leaning into it shamelessly, spreading the spill around
until they were both filthy. Finally, shuddering, he pulled off and leaned back
just far enough to get his fingers between his cheeks. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Is it bad,” Kieron asked in an unsteady voice, “that I want
to go lie down and push it all back inside?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Is it bad that I want to watch you?” Elanus replied
immediately, then groaned. “Shit, you have to give me a break first, I’m old
and spent.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lies.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, I’m definitely spent.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“For now, but—” Both their implants pulsed with an incoming
message from an allowed source—in this case, the immigration office. Pol and
Xilinn’s transfer had been approved. They could leave at any time. Knowing Kieron,
that time would be some point today. And then, once they were safe…the real
games would begin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Note to self—make time for more celebratory engaged sex
later.</i></p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-48426716562994995802023-10-24T08:38:00.005-07:002023-10-24T08:38:54.806-07:00Chelen City: Chapter Fifteen, Part One<p> Notes: So schmoopy today. All the schmoop. Truly. It's saccharine but delicious ;)</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Fifteen, PartOne</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Fifteen, Part
One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6AWRoWZDqlkAiQ5Ao6o413a-3bGBgqM0N96yyYJSP2x5Xg94G9fO4dLeKHHcYO3MYQuVY6hdk9PLrDPngSpqsFUEF7PIt-jLy84X8_XZY3XIh7b6JD2A1mN7uDnP0Zk5txP6nXN02sxX85-bBfG0zeM8UkVmyERLbNYBNXjktWhvR3xSDlqyR-j5s-64/s4973/jamie-street-hBzrr6m6-pc-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3693" data-original-width="4973" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6AWRoWZDqlkAiQ5Ao6o413a-3bGBgqM0N96yyYJSP2x5Xg94G9fO4dLeKHHcYO3MYQuVY6hdk9PLrDPngSpqsFUEF7PIt-jLy84X8_XZY3XIh7b6JD2A1mN7uDnP0Zk5txP6nXN02sxX85-bBfG0zeM8UkVmyERLbNYBNXjktWhvR3xSDlqyR-j5s-64/s320/jamie-street-hBzrr6m6-pc-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In all honesty, Elanus shouldn’t have been surprised that
the next step wasn’t moving on Restaria. He <i>was</i> surprised, because that
was what <i>he</i> wanted to do and he was, despite how things had been going
lately, still used to getting his way in pretty much everything. But there were
more genuinely pressing issues at hand, including one in particular that Kieron
simply wasn’t willing to wait on, and that was bringing Xilinn and Pol to the
house.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We need to get them here before we make any sort of move
against Restaria,” he insisted. “You said xe’s got the status to fuck things up
for them, since they’re here on refugee visas. If Restaria knows about our
connection to them, then xe’s certainly going to take advantage of it if
possible, so we need to make that <i>im</i>possible.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Xe can make things difficult for them even if we move them
into the house,” Elanus pointed out, not with the idea that he was going to
change Kieron’s mind at this point because when did he ever, but because he wanted
to make sure Kieron knew just how complicated this was going to be. “Their
being in residence here wouldn’t prevent their visas from being revoked, or
denied for health reasons, or…look, you’ve got to realize that there are a
hundred different ways Restaria can fuck things up for them.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And that’s way fewer than there would be if they were
outside our immediate reach,” Kieron replied calmly. “Believe it or not, I really
do understand that this is just a momentary solution. Not to mention, there are
over a hundred more Traktan refugees that I’d hate to see laid low by petty
politics, but I made a fucking promise to Zak that I would make sure his people
were taken care of. I’m going to keep that promise.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Even at the expense of what we have here?” Elanus didn’t mean
to push, but he also didn’t have it in him to back off when he was agitated. “Even
if the end result is you having to get them out of here?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Even then,” Kieron agreed. “But it’s not going to come to
that.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus was dumbfounded. “You realize,” he said slowly, “that
Restaria can fuck up <i>your</i> visa too. Xe can make it so you have to leave
Gania, and not even I can guarantee that I can get you back down here once that
happens.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Restaria is powerful but Gania isn’t a complete tyranny,”
Kieron pointed out. “There are ways around visas.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, that’s called <i>human trafficking</i>.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron rolled his eyes. “Holy stars, you’re dramatic. I’m
talking about <i>marriage</i>, you moron.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus blinked. He blinked again, then once more for good
measure. “I’m sorry, say that again?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What?” Kieron had affected a casual posture, but his ears
were turning pink. They only ever turned pink when he was embarrassed by something.
“Are you saying you don’t want to marry me?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I—I didn’t even know it was an option,” Elanus murmured.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why wouldn’t it be?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s just, it’s so…so traditional, and you’re not really a
traditional kind of guy, y’know, and I never thought you’d be interested in
something so formal and I don’t <i>need</i> it, you know I don’t, I’ve written
you into my will and you’re the girls’ parent as much as I am and…” His babble
slowed, then stilled as Kieron reached up and pressed a very firm, very bitable
finger to his lips. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I am not going to let some fucking politician decide
whether or not we can be together,” he said firmly. “No, marriage has never
been at the top of my list of things to do before I die, but I never pictured
myself falling in love with someone like you, either. You’re complicated, and
you’re kind of crazy, and sometimes it feels like everything about this planet
is conspiring to drive me insane, but I want to be with you. For as long as I
possibly can be. I think that makes marriage a good option for us, all things
considered.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus cleared his throat. “Well…I mean, if it’s the best
option we have, then sure, we should do it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron stared at him for a moment, then grinned. “You’re so
annoyed right now, aren’t you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You are! You’re pissed that you didn’t get to make this
into something romantic!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What? No! This is romantic! I mean,” Elanus shrugged and
desperately tried to look away, but Kieron’s eyes were like magnets. “Maybe it’s
not what I’d envisioned when I thought about proposing—”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So you <i>have</i> thought about it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And I’d like to note here that you’re the one who took the
leap on the proposal, although if that was your idea of properly asking me to
marry you then I think the romance is dead already, because way to put business
before pleasure, babe.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kieron was actually beaming, smiling so hard that Elanus
wondered for a second if his face hurt from it. It was a good look on him, just
an unexpected one. “So you’re saying you want me to be romantic.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well.” Elanus was aware that he was blushing right now, probably
a perfect match to Kieron, but he did his best to ignore it as he crossed his
legs at the ankles and leaned back against his desk. “I mean. It would be <i>nice</i>.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh sweetheart.” Their heads were almost at the same height
now, and Kieron cupped Elanus’s face and leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to
his lips. Elanus tried to chase it, but Kieron held him still. “I can do romantic,”
Kieron murmured, his voice almost as soft as the look in his eyes. “You changed
everything for me, do you realize that? Absolutely everything. I was never able
to look past the next season, I spent <i>years</i> expecting to die in an
accident in the asteroid field, and I knew that if that happened, my only
regret would be that I didn’t get Zakari back to his family. I wasn’t living. I
didn’t even know how to. You changed that for me, you and the girls.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“God, and you frustrated the fuck out of me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus frowned. “Yeah, that’s the romance I was looking for.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Shhh.” Kieron covered his lips again. “You frustrated me,
and I craved it. I was desperate for it, because you made me feel something
when I thought there was nothing left to hope for. You had everything I didn’t
even realize I wanted—determination, drive, a plan for the future, goals, and
you’re so smart, you’re so <i>fucking</i> smart, and you care so much about the
people you’re close to, and then…” Kieron looked away for a second, like he was
gathering himself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Then you let <i>me</i> be one of those people. And I don’t
understand it, and I don’t think I deserve it—no, this isn’t your talking time,
this is my time—but I think you’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met.
Truly, for all that you irritate the hell out of me a lot of the time, I’ve never
felt more alive than when I’m with you. I can’t imagine going back to not
having you, and I will do absolutely <i>anything</i> for you and the girls. You’ve
given me a home, and a future, and feelings that I never even imagined before because
I was sure that there was no way they could be meant for a person like me. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So…please, Elanus Desfontaines, marry me. Marry me so I can
stay with you forever and we can be a family, because I can’t picture my future
without you and I don’t want to try. You’re more than I ever thought I could
want for myself, and I will do everything in my power to make you feel loved
and appreciated for the rest of our lives together. I’m not perfect, I’ll fuck
up sometimes, but I swear I’ll never <i>give </i>up. Not on you, or us, or on
our family. So.” He leaned in and kissed Elanus again, this time on the forehead.
“Will you marry me?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus swallowed around the rock of emotion that had somehow
lodged in his throat a few minutes back. “Holy shit, that <i>was</i> romantic,”
he finally croaked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You know what’s even more romantic? An answer.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes.” It wasn’t even in doubt. “Yes, I would love to marry
you. I, yeah, all of that, but you. Shit. That’s terrible, let me start aga—” But
all thoughts of starting again flew out the window as Kieron finally kissed his
mouth, not gently but consumingly, possessively, like Elanus was the only thing
he wanted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Which might even be true, in the moment. What an honor, to
be someone’s whole world.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What a gift, to feel the same way about them.</p>
<p> </p>Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-46390767907422887522023-10-17T08:54:00.001-07:002023-10-17T08:54:00.139-07:00Not the blog story today, but...<p> Darlins! It's been a wild week and I've got a house guest (my wonderful fic wife is with us right now, and we are plotting up a storm), so I'm afraid there's no Chelen City today. I need more time to read and figure out how to pull off what comes next. BUT! I've got the beginning of another story for you, one I don't think I've shared yet. This is the start of a story I'm 40k into, no clue when I'll be done, and it's D&D-inspired, but it's better than nothing at all, right?</p><p>Right?</p><p>;)</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><h2>Chapter 1</h2>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pavel Songstring still wasn’t quite
sure how he’d found himself in the Twittering Toad that night, a tavern on the
northern edge of Kalios City, tuning his lyre as he prepared to play for a crowd
that looked more interested in drinking themselves unconscious than they did in
fine music. He’d meant to stop nearly an hour earlier, in the heart of the
city, but it seemed like every tavern already had its own minstrel, and Pavel—being
short of funds—knew he would have to play for his supper and a bed that evening.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After the fifth refusal, the kindly innkeeper
had taken a good look at Pavel’s undoubtedly down-trodden face and suggested
the Twittering Toad. “They don’t serve the most refined folk,” he’d warned, one
hand scratching through his beard as though searching for nits—and Gods of the
Divine, if <i>this</i> man thought the Toad’s people weren’t refined, they must
be one step above grubbing through the dirt for their dinner. “But even the
fisherfolk need a good tune every now and then, and there’s sure to be no
competition.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Thank you,” Pavel had said as
politely as he could manage. “And, ah…where is it, again?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The innkeeper had laughed. “Just keep
going north, lad. You’ll see it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For all that Pavel had wondered if
the old man had been a little too deep into his cups, he’d been right. The
Twittering Toad was a big, well-lit building on the main road north, so close
to Lake Mormo that the back half of it was held up on piles driven deep into
the muddy waters. It even had a dock attached, presumably so enterprising
fisherfolk could dock here after a long day of catching flifflenippers and
slumplegarblers and drink themselves into a stupor over the monotonous horror
that was their lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The worst thing about the place,
however, was that Pavel wasn’t even the first minstrel to arrive there! Another
poor soul had been driven to similar depths of despair, and had been tuning an
honest-to-Laetona lute in front of the fire when Pavel arrived, not a simple
lyre such as he himself carried. Pavel had nearly burst with jealousy and
longing the moment he saw it before despair took center stage instead.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He was screwed. He was worse than
screwed, he was <i>fucked</i>. He couldn’t compete with a lutist! He’d gotten
here second! He wasn’t going to—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Ah, a man after my own heart.” The
other minstrel had walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. “It takes fancy
fingers to work a lyre like that with any skill.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I—ah—”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Let me stand you a drink!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One drink over introductions—“Keris
of Gharaka, just across the lake from here”—“Oh, Pavel Songstring of the
Paladine Songstrings, very pleased to make your acquaintance, I’m sure”—turned
into a second one, along with dinner, all paid for by the other, very
personable man as he asked Pavel about his travels and where he’d learned his
trade.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“The House of Glory in Paladine?”
Keris whistled, impressed, and Pavel couldn’t help but preen a bit. It didn’t
hurt that Keris was a rather handsome man, in a slightly roguish way, with
short-cut brown hair except for a shock that tumbled artfully down the side of
his face and just enough scruff to accentuate the angle of his jaw and his enticing
lips. He was taller than many men, but lean instead of brawny, and his fingers
were calloused in all the places you’d expect for a string player, and some that
one <i>wouldn’t</i> expect. He must really know how to use the sword strapped
to his back, one with a simple steel handle and crossbrace. There was some sort
of symbol on the pommel, but Pavel couldn’t make it out. “The House of Glory is
reputed to be the best school in the entire Saumenian Empire!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“More likely on the entire
continent,” Pavel said smugly. “After all, the empire is head and shoulders
above every other kingdom in terms of refinement and learning.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Fascinating,” Keris said before
taking a long, deep drink. “And what is a minstrel of such impressive lineage
doing in Kalios City?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Ah…” Pavel put down his mug. “Well.
I, ah…you know, I compose as well as play others’ works, I was in fact training
to be a true bard, and I happened to get an idea for a song one day—a very
catchy tune, too, very easy on the ears—and I worked it up into a decent song
and decided to give it a trial. It was very good! Even the Peryllian knights
were humming it as they hauled me away to jail.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Keris’s eyebrows rose. “Jail? Whyever
for?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Um…ah…the song <i>might </i>have
been a slightly satirical one,” Pavel confessed. “About the inaction of Divine Peryllos
and how his corresponding Infernal, Reamon, was so appropriately known as the
Demon of Sloth.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">To Pavel’s surprise, the other man
began to laugh. He laughed so hard, in fact, that he almost fell off his stool.
Pavel reached out to steady him, but somehow he missed. It didn’t matter—the
man righted himself, then buried his head in his hands, still laughing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh, you’ve set ‘im off now,” the
bartender, a heavy-hipped woman with graying hair and rather impressive biceps,
said with a good-natured sigh. “Played into his favorite joke, you have.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What joke is that?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Anything impious. Makes this foolish
creature laugh like he’s been rolled through a field of sillyweed.” She looked
indulgent rather than intolerant, though. “Oof, he’ll be useless tonight.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No no,” Keris said, lifting his head
briefly. “No, I—it’s so perfect though!” He dissolved into giggles again, and
Pavel had to laugh with him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Isn’t it?” he agreed. “And the
Peryllians are so, so formal about everything, and they—honestly, next to the paladins
of Laetona, they’re the most inflexible Divine servants I’ve ever seen.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Keris’s laughter dried up quickly.
“Mmm. Yes, but I don’t think anyone out there is quite as inflexible as a paladin
of Laetona. Bunch of uptight bastards,” he muttered before drinking again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pavel looked around nervously. “You
can’t just say things like <i>that</i>!” he whispered. “People revere Laetona
and her paladins! You could get us both thrown in jail!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Not this far north,” Keris retorted.
“People worship differently up here. But ah, you’re not wrong.” He shook his
head. “I should be kinder to them. After all, I owe my life to such a paladin.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You do?” Pavel was about to ask for
the tale when the doors opened, and a fresh flow of fish-smelling patrons
streamed in. Ah well, then. The fun was over. “I suppose I’d better try to find
another tavern for the night,” he said regretfully.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Keris looked confused. “What for?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Well, you’re working this one, and…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh, no. No, you’ve greater need than
me, and I’ve been playing here for several nights in a row. These people are
tired of all my songs. No.” He shook his head. “You take the stage for the
evening, Pavel Songstring, and tell us a story to turn heads and touch hearts.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh.” Pavel was surprised. “Do they
like ballads here, then?” That was promising…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“They can be surprisingly tolerant of
them! Only after a few folk songs, though.” Keris winked, and Pavel hoped he
wasn’t blushing too brightly. “The filthier, the better.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“How quaint.” Well, his “Rural Tunes
and Folk Songs of the Lesser Lands” class would be getting a workout here.
“Very well.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It was a little unnerving to be the
center of Keris’s attention while Pavel readied himself to play. Or
rather…Keris could see that he actually <i>wasn’t</i> the center of the man’s
attention. He smiled at patrons, charmed servers, cajoled the bartender into
giving him a third drink…he was busy with far more than Pavel. But every time
he looked this way, Pavel seemed to feel the weight of each glance like a
chord, vibrating through him and investigating his every nook and cranny.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Perhaps Keris would be open to
sharing a room tonight…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Ahem.” One of the fisherman coughed
loudly into his fist as he stared at Pavel. “Anytime, bard.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Minstrel,” he corrected
unconsciously.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Minnow, more like,” one of the other
men muttered, causing his tablemates to laugh.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pavel flushed. He was <i>petite</i>,
not a minnow, or tiny, or titchy, or any of the long list of rude things people
had called him over the years. Fine. They wanted music? Something ribald? They
would get the most ribald song in his entire arsenal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“A Soldier’s Prayer,” he announced
before diving into it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I don't want the good lord’s shilling,<br />
I don't want to be shot down;<br />
I'm really much more willing<br />
To make myself a killing,<br />
Living off the hearty pickings of the Ladies of the Town;<br />
Don't want an arrow up my bumhole,<br />
Don't want my cobblers minced with steel; <sup><br />
</sup>For if I have to lose 'em<br />
Then let it be with Susan<br />
Or Meg or Peg or any whore who’ll welcome a man’s eel,</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Gorblimey!</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">It wasn’t <i>precisely</i> true to the original song, but Pavel was
modifying it with his audience in mind, and sure enough they began to stomp
their feet and sing in time almost immediately. The next few verses went well,
and by the end of it—at which point the titular soldier had, in fact, died of a
disease he’d caught from one of the very whores he lauded—most of the crowd was
laughing, and the applause was quite…well, after a long, cold, and generally
underwhelming journey, it was rather heartening.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pavel went on to play another three
light-hearted songs, none quite as dirty as the first, before taking a break
and drinking some of the ale a patron had bought for him. Keris rejoined him
then, grinning broadly and clapping him on the back.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Nice work! I knew a lad like you
could play a crowd like this.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Not a lad,” Pavel objected. “I’m
twenty-two!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yes, very grown,” Keris said. Pavel
pouted.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I <i>am</i>. I’ve been traveling the
lands for nearly six months now!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“A third of a year? Not bad.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“And I’ve seen many marvelous and
inspiring things.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Important fodder for someone with
the soul of a bard,” Keris agreed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I’ve even seen miracles,” Pavel went
on. “Mostly Laetonian ones, but just the other day I witnessed a terrible
accident in the street only one town over from here. A cart ran over a young
girl, absolutely smashed her leg. She was bleeding terribly, and her father
took her in his arms and raced to a temple. I thought it would be to Laetona, but…it
was to Undique instead.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“The Gray God. Interesting.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Very!” Pavel agreed. “There’s no
worship of the Gray God in the Saumenian Empire, of course—the very concept of
him is quite heretical down there. But the farther north I go, the more shrines
I see. And when the man laid his daughter down in front of the god on the
temple steps and prayed, a silvery light flowed over her. A few seconds later,
the child was whole!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“And the father?” Keris asked insightfully.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“He had a few more gray hairs,” Pavel
admitted. “I don’t know how much he sacrificed to the god in order to bring her
back, but his offering was clearly accepted.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Keris nodded. “Then it was a good
deal.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“But…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“But?” Keris prompted.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“But why <i>not</i> go to Laetona?”
Pavel asked. “Or Peryllan, or Garamesh, or one of the other gods with healing
abilities? They wouldn’t ask for anything in exchange.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh, but they do.” Keris’s eyes were
bright. “They ask for something far more precious than a year or two of life.
They’ll only heal you for a piece of your soul, or the future of your child, or
the loyalty of your family for ten generations.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“But…but it’s that sort of
transaction that guards against soul-incursions from the Infernals,” Pavel
said. “It’s accepted by all of society!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Is it?” Keris asked. “Do you accept
it when you learn that a household has been burned alive for failing to live up
to their promise to Garamesh? Is it just when a woman is stoned by the
followers of Mordacha because she slept outside of her marriage bed after her
husband prayed for her faithfulness? Is it right to bind people so ferociously
that the only path they have forward is obedience or death?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Uh…the…the paladins of Laetona
aren’t so strict,” Pavel said, knowing his own argument was weak but pursuing
it anyway. He knew he wasn’t wrong—it was far better to be beholden to one of
the Divine than to give in to the exhortations of the Infernal—but Keris also
had…a point.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Aren’t they, though?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No! No one is punished for not
adhering to the strictures of Laetona. She is a goddess of pure forgiveness and
compassion!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Keris shook his head. “There can be
no compassion when there is no repentance. If people don’t follow the
strictures of a bargain with Laetona, yes, most of the time they’ll get away
with it, although she won’t answer their prayers from then on. But her paladins
are the ones who deliver the miracles of that particular church, and it is the
paladins who accept the punishment for a bad bargain on the recipient’s behalf.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh.” Come to think of it, Pavel <i>had</i>
learned something about that in his studies. It was never really talked about,
but…the paladins of Laetona were some of the most powerful, most beneficent,
and most physically intimidating people across the whole of the continent. They
were beacons of light, guardians of generosity and kindness, slayers of
monsters and keepers of the unloved—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And not one of them was unscarred
that Pavel had ever seen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh,” he said again, quieter. “I
didn’t realize that.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“The paladins of Laetona prefer it
when people don’t,” Keris said before taking a long drink. “They would rather
make martyrs of themselves than let on that their goddess is just as much of a
bargain hunter as the rest of them.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You’re going to get us strung up,”
Pavel said woefully. Keris just laughed. He looked like he was about to speak
again, but then the door opened, and—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For a moment, it was like looking at
pure light. Not sunlight, not the light of Laetona, brilliant and
all-consuming, but something that shifted into shadow and back again,
silvery-smooth and enticing. The radiance dimmed and resolved into a man.
Pavel, unusually for him, was absolutely struck dumb.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The man at the door was clad in
partial plate armor, with a polished steel breastplate, pauldrons, gauntlets,
and greaves. Beneath it was a layer of mail that rustled as he moved. His light
grey cloak, wet with rain, was drawn up over his face, obscuring the view, but the
polearm he carried was more than enough to distract Pavel from that
disappointment. It was like nothing he’d ever seen before, as tall as the
knight—for this must be a knight of some kind—was, but instead of ending in a
spear or axe, it had a semicircular blade on one side, smooth and likely
terrible sharp, while the other side was studded with three blades of different
lengths, the bottom one thick and short, the topmost one long and slender. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Then he pushed back his hood, and
Pavel forgot all about the man’s weapon. His face was…he was…he had to be some
sort of servant of the Divine, because no man could be blessed with a face like
this otherwise. His skin was dark brown, sun-touched despite their northern
latitude—perhaps he was originally from the Gard? His hair was twisted into
long locs, all of them bound together into a single tail behind his head. Despite
the youthfulness of his face, his locs were solidly grey—how old was this man?
Not that it seemed to matter to his visage—he had bright amber eyes that glowed
in the torchlight, delicate lips, and a profile that any king or lord would die
for. He was tall—or rather, he gave the appearance of great size, especially
through his very broad shoulders, but a second look informed Pavel that the man
was, in fact, probably not any taller than most of the men in this room.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">How curious. “What god does he
follow?” Pavel asked breathlessly as the knight responded to greetings from
several of the fishermen with a dignified nod.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Him? Oh, he’s a heretic.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“<i>What?</i>” Pavel couldn’t believe
Keris has just outright said it. “That’s not—no heretic could live and look
like he does!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“And yet.” Keris shrugged. “He is a
heretic. He doesn’t talk about who he used to follow, and nobody here’s quite
gotten up the courage to ask him about it, but there’s no doubt.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“But…” Pavel looked closer at the
newcomer and saw that he couldn’t make out any distinguishing marks on his
armor whatsoever. There was nothing there, nothing that would name him any
particular god’s follower. Even his color scheme was bland—grey cloak, steel
armor with no flourishes or edging, nothing on the weapon... He was a total
mystery. “I don’t understand,” he confessed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Nor do I,” Keris agreed. “You’d
think his god would run him down and drag him home or, I don’t know, strike him
with lightning or something. But no. Apparently he’s been traveling these parts
for years, and somehow he remains un-struck.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Stop with your wildness now,” the
bartender said with a sigh as she tapped another keg. “Honestly, I don’t know
why you’re so impossible.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Keris grinned. “You should ask my
parents, Madam, I’m sure they’d agree that I was unfortunately born this way.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Enough of your mischief!” She
flicked her rag at him, then set down a goblet of wine—wine! Real wine, made
from grapes and everything, and was that the faint scent of peaches Pavel
detected? She set it on the bar just as the knight came up, indicating it with
a smile. “For you, Sir.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Was that a capital letter Pavel
detected?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“My thanks, Armena,” the knight said,
taking it with a smile. Pavel had to fight not to faint at the sound of the
man’s voice. He was…how <i>dare</i> he sound better than anyone who wasn’t a
bard—fine, a minstrel—had any right to? Before he could muster any more umbrage,
the knight turned to him. “Welcome to the Toad, young master.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh. Oh, I—thank you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Don’t listen to him,” Keris said.
“Greeting you as though he owns the place—which he doesn’t, mind. The audacity
of it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I see you’ve been putting up with
our resident pest this evening,” the knight continued. Pavel giggled, then
slapped a hand over his mouth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Hey! Don’t suborn my new friend! Go
find your own!” Keris said, laying a hand on Pavel and drawing him back
possessively. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I—no, I’m, ah, I’m sure I can be
both your friends?” Pavel squeaked. The knight looked at him with concern.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Are you ill?” he asked. “You sound
like you’re coming down with something.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pavel just stared for a moment as
Keris began to laugh again. “I’m not coming down with something!” he exclaimed.
“I’m just—I was startled, that’s all! I’m perfectly fine.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yes, listen to him now,” Keris said,
“he’s perfectly fine.” There was an oddness to the way he said it, almost
mocking, but the knight didn’t seem offended.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Then instead, let me ask if you’re
going to be playing anything else tonight,” the knight said before taking his
first sip of the wine. It wasn’t a long sip, but Pavel watched the action of
his throat with the avidity of the most sports-crazed fan catching a glimpse of
his favorite fieldball player.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh, I…I’m planning on playing some
more, yes, but I haven’t decided what yet.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The knight’s eyes lit up. “Are you
taking requests?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“This isn’t Paladine,” Keris moaned,
drawing out the first “a” rather unnecessarily. “You can’t just ask for
anything from some random traveling minstrel this far north and expect them to
know it. He’s not <i>quite</i> a bard yet, after all.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Neither are you,” Pavel snapped,
annoyed that his new friend was picking on him in front of someone who he
wanted to think well of him.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“True! Very true, and happy to be so!
If I were a bard, I would also have to carry around a stick up my ass as long
as a—”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I was wondering if you know any
songs about Undique,” the knight said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Oh.” Well, that was an interesting
request, although in retrospect Pavel should have seen it coming. This was the
Grey God’s territory, after all. The first new god in millennia, since the
Devastation itself, and like any newcomer to a mature garden, he was having to
fit in around the edges at first. No one in Paladine worshipped Undique, as
least as far as Pavel knew, but he had learned quite an amazing ballad back in
Darsha three months ago… “Actually, yes, I do have a song about Undique in my
repertoire.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Ooh, he has a <i>repertoire</i>
now,” Keris complained, but there was no malice in it. “A proper repertoire,
eh?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Only proper minstrels have them,”
Pavel said primly. “You wouldn’t understand.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Now it was the knight’s turn to laugh
as Keris spluttered with false outrage. “Listen to this man,” he said, throwing
his hands in the air. “I take him in out of the cold, I water him, I feed him,
I give him my audience for the night, and this is how he treats me!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I’m very grateful for all of that,”
Pavel said, not wanting Keris to entertain the thought that he might <i>not</i>
be grateful. “Truly.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The other man nudged his shoulder.
“Yeah, I know. I’m just teasing you.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Rude.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Inevitably,” Keris agreed. “So,
what’s this song of Undique you know?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“It’s actually his modern origin
story!” Pavel enthused, going over the opening verses in his mind. Yes…yes, he
remembered enough of this to do it justice. “It begins by describing his priest’s
journey, since apparently more is known about him, but it morphs into a true
epic soon enough. It’s wonderful, I’d love to play it for you.” It wouldn’t
quite sound right on a lyre—Pavel had learned this one from a bard with a very
attractive lute—but he would do his best. “Do you…will I annoy the rest of the
patrons with it, though?” He leaned in a bit closer. “It doesn’t seem like
their sort of song.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I think they’ll put up with it if it
means listening to you sing for them,” the knight said, and Pavel felt like his
heart might just explode in his chest.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Less charm, if you please,” Keris
said dryly, “or the lad will die before he gets to the song itself.” He pressed
another drink—this time water—into Pavel’s hands, then led him back up onto the
small stage. “Take your time with it,” he advised. “No one here will know if
you’re singing it right or not. I know how difficult it can be to play new
pieces, but I’ve got faith you’ll do it justice.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Thank you,” Pavel said, truly
touched by his fellow minstrel’s confidence in him. “I appreciate the support.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Good. Now!” Keris took a seat right
in front, crossed his legs at the ankles and his arms over his chest, looked up
at Pavel, and grinned. “Give us a song, minstrel!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pavel inclined his head regally and
strummed a few chords as the sounds began to die down. “As you wish, honored
sir,” he said. For a moment, his eyes caught the amber ones of the knight, who
was looking on with interest. “Tonight, I give you…The Lay of Sevriel! A tale
of adventure, boldness, intrigue, vengeance, murder, and most especially…” He
plucked a little trill. “Of <i>love.</i> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Our song begins in the Marshes of
Tehar, where a young paladin of Laetona finds himself in a difficult position…”</span></p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-38085934117204544832023-10-10T10:24:00.002-07:002023-10-10T10:24:49.757-07:00Chelen City: Chapter Fourteen, Part Two<p> Notes: the truth it out!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Fourteen, Part Two</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Fourteen,
Part Two</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAgddaeotkWRmcH7Yit4efQO3cpXhiNiVy2CpAxSvriCMt99D3iOMjfn8cJU0-a-2nmyMr8g2q2pmOxrHrL1Yv8zcVReQQof9PJLiVbA_n7iuqvanUvUDPV4Jvuol4h_theKiKoCyaHhmMjYssl2ZRhJK161H-lgZPUJevTjQ8D-qKLp8Wo5NawUfwKM/s3543/stephen-hocking-aX9KlIQlrVE-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3543" data-original-width="2401" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLAgddaeotkWRmcH7Yit4efQO3cpXhiNiVy2CpAxSvriCMt99D3iOMjfn8cJU0-a-2nmyMr8g2q2pmOxrHrL1Yv8zcVReQQof9PJLiVbA_n7iuqvanUvUDPV4Jvuol4h_theKiKoCyaHhmMjYssl2ZRhJK161H-lgZPUJevTjQ8D-qKLp8Wo5NawUfwKM/s320/stephen-hocking-aX9KlIQlrVE-unsplash.jpg" width="217" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The crystallization of an idea was a crucial moment in the
scientific process for Elanus. When he settled into deep brainstorming, into
the almost meditative state where it was easier for him to follow the wisps of
thoughts and see how they connected to the larger problem on the whole, sometimes
the experience was…well, magical. Sometimes he got so deep, held himself there
so long, that he was able to puzzle out some of the greatest mental challenges
of his life. He’d come up with the central idea for Catalina’s AI in one of
these sessions. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’d also tried, years ago, to focus and fixate and <i>fester</i>
with thoughts until he found a thread that tackled Elfshot Disease, which was one
of the most frustrating endemic diseases in any modern society given how it
operated, and he’d failed. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Over and over, he’d failed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And now he knew why.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elfshot Disease wasn’t <i>one</i> disease. It had the same presentation
each time, but each generation of it attacked the body in a slightly different
way, with emphasis on destabilizing different systems. Elanus’s generation attacked
his skeleton first and foremost, which led to persistent osteopenia and bone
deformation, which in turn led to muscular weakness and connective tissue
damage and, sometimes, damage to the circulatory and lymphatic systems. Hence
the strokes he’d occasionally suffered, and the ease with which he broke ribs.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The latest generation of the disease was different; it
targeted the lymphatic system, leading to issues with immunity against illness,
swelling and edema in joints, and terrible inflammation of the nodes and organs
associated with the system. It was linked to sharp declines in health and, in
some cases, death, even with Regen on hand. It was also strongly linked with depression—what
a surprise.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The manifestations were different, but the disease was
categorized the same because, somehow, it indicated nearly identical genetic
markers when tested for despite everything. It was thought to be highly
mutagenic, inexplicable, an accepted but dire lightning bolt strike from an
ancient source that defied detection so well it might as well come from a
wrathful god.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But this wasn’t the product of nature, or of a god. This was
a manmade plague, a designer disease used to keep the strongest from rising too
fast, too far. It was a weapon to be used to keep the lower classes where they
ought to stay, and when the system failed to do so, it turned the would-be Daedaluses
in Icaruses instead. Elanus was an outlier, and he knew it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And he knew who was behind this, too.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not Caria. For all that she was powerful, from an ancient
and ignoble house, for all that she had the funds and connections to make this
happen…it simply wasn’t her style. She wanted to wield the iron fist of
diplomacy, not weaken her opponents with something out of her control. She had
genuinely pulled for Elanus in the beginning, too—helped him when Deysan was
too busy or just too much of a fucker to be bothered. She had helped target him
for greatness, and had done the same to other students, some with Elfshot. It
genuinely didn’t make a difference to her—talent was all that mattered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Fritz was out too. He just didn’t have the reach to make
something like this happen; he didn’t move in elevated-enough circles yet. He
was working hard to change that, but it would be years before he had access to
the highest seats of power on the planet. He was ruthless enough, but he wasn’t
in position.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That meant Restaria Sanclare. Darling Restaria, the cool,
calm, and collected vice president of the entire fucking planet of Gania. The
person who handled all planetary issues while President Moreno was busy off-world,
hobnobbing and signing treaties. The person Elanus had been the next best thing
to engaged to for two glorious years in university, sure that he’d found
someone special. Someone as smart as him, someone as driven, someone as amazing.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And someone else with Elfshot, too.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’d been the one to call things off, in the end—his growing
corporate empire had taken him in one direction while Restaria’s political rise
had taken xer in another. Too many missed dinners with people who should never
be snubbed, too many lunch dates missed when his work ran over, too many
breakfasts abandoned because of an emergency at the factory. It had been
untenable, too rude to Restaria to continue as they were, and in the end the
choice had been easy. The work came first, it <i>always</i> came first…until he
made a family. Catie, and Lizzie…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Kieron.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus reached out through the implant before he even
realized he was doing it. [Help me.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[I’m coming.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That was so…so Kieron. They could talk about whatever Elanus
needed right now, without having to wait, but he never settled for that when he
was close enough that they could talk face-to-face instead. One-point-four minutes
later he came into the study and, oh so gently, touched Elanus’s face.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus opened his eyes. He’d forgotten he’d closed them, and
linking up with the house’s video monitoring meant he could see things through
the implant anyway, but there was something special about using his own eyes to
look at his lover. It gave him details that even the best camera would never be
able to pick up. How could anything categorize a look like the one Kieron was
giving him without being able to feel the warmth of his fingers at the same
time, or see the pulse beat in his throat and resist reaching out with his lips
to taste it, or…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Talk to me,” Kieron said, still cupping his face. “Talk to
me, sweetheart. Tell me what’s wrong.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was so much that Elanus hardly knew where to begin. Did
he do a retrospective on the disease, explain the mutation theory and the ways
that it was plainly wrong? Did he point the finger at Restaria first, explain
his thoughts about xer’s involvement? Did he begin by exonerating the
unconnected?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I want to ruin someone, and I need you to help me not do
that.” Because that was what he really felt like, honestly. There were threads
to be tied up, yes, a few smoky tendrils to draw back down to the central
flame, but the core of the idea was solid beyond a shadow of a doubt. The girls
would be able to find him indelible proof in minutes, maybe less. His beautiful
girls, who had been threatened by a virus just like Elfshot, one that mutated
and destroyed and had taken everything he had to defeat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I can do that.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Good, that was—<i>oof</i>, apparently he was helping by sitting
down on Elanus’s lap and making himself comfortable. It was such a Kieron move,
deliberately physical, palpable in a way so few things were. It was just what
Elanus needed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re perfect,” he told Kieron in complete honestly. “And
a little heavy.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re perfect too,” Kieron replied. “But you need to work
out more, I’m not that heavy.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus tilted his head back and laughed. And laughed. And
laughed, until he cried.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And Kieron was there, and held him through it, and Elanus
didn’t burn down the world.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not yet.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088762026814565807.post-51270556340162015072023-10-03T08:23:00.001-07:002023-10-03T08:23:12.547-07:00Chelen City: Chapter Fourteen, Part One<p> Notes: Dun dun DUUUUUN!!! Plot ahoy!</p><p>Title: Chelen City: Chapter Fourteen, Part One</p><p>***</p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Chapter Fourteen,
Part One</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyWVBCsikoLR1lv9SE586u5sTbZVBnCgu7FJNb72FiesbKLqiOCgukJRyeA4wbNomXKcjakZ7hYeRTri86kEQBUgxhzy36JjxqsPVBKJhucT5Db4UDUO4JrzwV4fv-DoqueXbXzI_H0F_s7bWD4Wt9MBdzQRBbegaFHURHgGs-ynNeJd1HWsf1QTplkI/s3000/national-cancer-institute-L7en7Lb-Ovc-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyWVBCsikoLR1lv9SE586u5sTbZVBnCgu7FJNb72FiesbKLqiOCgukJRyeA4wbNomXKcjakZ7hYeRTri86kEQBUgxhzy36JjxqsPVBKJhucT5Db4UDUO4JrzwV4fv-DoqueXbXzI_H0F_s7bWD4Wt9MBdzQRBbegaFHURHgGs-ynNeJd1HWsf1QTplkI/s320/national-cancer-institute-L7en7Lb-Ovc-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was something humbling about returning to work.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not that Elanus wasn’t always working. He was, in some form
or another, whether it was the sort of social networking that came with his
position in society or tinkering with algorithms for Catie and Lizzie, he
always had something, usually multiple somethings, going on in his mind and at
his fingertips. This, though…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Coming up with a cure for Elfshot Disease was the sort of
work that Elanus had hoped to accomplish when he first got started in his
career. Something that truly benefitted all society, something transformative
that would also be of great benefit to <i>him</i>. Something with no downside.
Elfshot Disease had been the earliest target that Elanus had set his sights on,
and then…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’d gotten stalled out. When he stalled, he liked to
tinker, and tinkering had let him down an entirely new avenue of discovery, which
led him to passing his biological research on to Deysan—who was far better
equipped for it, Elanus had consoled himself—and continuing into ship mechanics
and design. That pursuit had lasted for twenty years of his life, until he
finally created the ultimate in AI—a sentient ship, a truly thinking and
learning AI intelligence, the birth of a whole new species. At first he had
been triumphant, and then after Catie’s kidnapping he’d become terribly,
genuinely afraid of what he’d done.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who was he to engineer an entire race? Who was he to make
tender new minds and sell them off to the highest bidder? Sell them to people
who would reverse engineer them to see how he’d done it, literally take their
baby minds apart connection by connection, then make their own versions? He
couldn’t do it. Someone else might come up with the method on their own
someday, but until that happened, people were going to have to be satisfied
with the normal, everyday superships they had, because Elanus wasn’t going to become
the father of a new form of slavery.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All of this to say that it felt, well, <i>right</i> to be
coming full circle once more. He was still afflicted with Elfshot
Disease—Deysan had never cured it, for all his bluster, and Elanus genuinely
didn’t care what he might have fiddled around with in the interim. Whatever
that old bastard had been capable of, Elanus was going to get there a hundred
times faster thanks to his girls.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’d start with some statistics. Basic population numbers
were always a good spot to build out from.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ladies.” Elanus steepled his hands and waited for the girls
to stop playing—or at least, stop focusing all their attention on playing, he
wasn’t a monster.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Yes, Daddeee?]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Yes, Elanus?]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Are you ready to help me with a new project?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[The one Kee talked to you about?] Lizzie sounded excited.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[The boooring one?] Catie was decidedly less excited.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Eh, he could work with that. “The Elfshot one,” he said. “I
need the latest population numbers for Gania in total, for those who have
Elfshot Disease, and…historical data back to the founding of the planet.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[At what intervals?]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Every decade should be acceptable.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Okay!] </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was silence for a moment, then a series of files
popped up in his tab. Elanus sat back, relaxed, and let himself dive into the
data he was presented with. Elfshot…present in the population since the beginning,
but the numbers were much smaller then…hmm, familial data did suggest that a
plague early on compounded by the decimation of their medical facilities meant
the disease spread through a few key carriers, but…all the way up to three
percent in the span of under a hundred years? Strange…and then to stabilize
there, when people with the disease were already self-selecting out of
procreating or undergoing genetic testing to prevent the condition from being
passed on.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Overlay socioeconomic data for the afflicted populations.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mkay, that was interesting. All levels of society were
touched by Elfshot Disease, but it had been much more even-handed in the
beginning. As they became more stratified, things began to change…such that
more people in the <i>upper</i> class came down with the disease. That was just
weird. Either there was something going on with a subset of the population
belief-wise that prevented them from seeking preemptive treatment, or…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Huh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wait.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>No familial connection found.</i> It was only in a few
cases, but that was enough to be a red flag for the data. Elfshot was a genetic
disease, not an environmental one. It didn’t just show up out of nowhere, and
those afflicted were limited to Gania, not other Federation planets where information
like this was readily available. Just in case, though…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Do a search among a random sample of ten other Federation
planets for a similar disease.” Maybe it had a different name elsewhere, maybe—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nope, nothing. By in large, Regen did its job beautifully.
The only people who got sick on a regular basis in Federation space were
naturals, genetic outliers who couldn’t handle Regen treatments. Elanus spared
a moment to be grateful that he wasn’t one of <i>those</i> poor souls.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Key facts about individuals with no familial connection.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oh. Oh, <i>shit</i>, these were not your everyday, ordinary
Ganians. These were movers and shakers, people who had clawed their way into
the upper echelons of this planet’s society. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“At what age did they show signs of the disease?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The onset of puberty…later than most cases, although not
statistically abnormal. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This was so strange. Stranger still was the way that these
statistics were <i>not</i> hard to discover. The public health programs they
had in place should have been flagging these findings for further study
decades, if not a century ago. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Elanus was struck by a cold thought. “Investigate my
personal history for the origin of Elfshot.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[It says your daddeee had the diseeeease.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But I never knew my father, he and my mother died shortly
after I was born. Go deeper into the data, see if you can track down who before
him had it and when that notation was added to his personal records.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Elfshot is found in your father’s line for seven
generations,] Lizzie said, but she sounded tentative. [Always manifesting
late.]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[But Daddeee…] Catie made a disgruntled sound. [<i>All</i>
the notations were aaadded to their files aaat the same time, thirty years
ago!]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thirty years ago. When Elanus was ten, and brilliant for his
age group, and going places fast. Everyone said so. He’d gotten such a big head
about it…then crashed hard when he found out he had Elfshot Disease by breaking
a rib while playing with friends.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He’d have to do more research to make sure he was on the
right track, but so far…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So far it looked a hell of a lot like people were being
given Elfshot Disease deliberately.</p>
Cari Zhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17156330866753346990noreply@blogger.com0