#ffeira

The imperial capital was underwhelming. 

Daanah knew the residential spaces were almost entirely underground, dug into the soft bedrock for insulation, but she hadn't realized how much emptier that would make it seem. 

Sure, there were businesses above ground, and sporting arenas, and of course lots of Temples, and the twin pyramids above the underground palace, but other than that… where other cities were crowded with houses and apartment buildings, Zioshue only had sporadic little shelters that accessed the underground part of the city. It was all covered in snow now. 

They were here to speak, which Daanah was very nervous about- this was definitely the most dangerous place they'd been. It was home to the seats of power for both the imperial government and the Temple of Corysecli. 

They were also here to find Manir's Favoured. A young anarchist rebel leader called Ausse who proclaimed herself to be a disciple of Manir seemed to be a very good candidate, and according to Kéchawaedrii-Orl's information they would be able to find Ausse here now or soon. Ze hoped she would watch their speech.

Daanah found she was half in love with the idea of Ausse already. A mysterious rebel. Someone who would complete her, be her perfectly balanced other half. Someone whose power would match her own, who would help her understand it. 

On stage, she was more nervous than she had been in a while. She was acutely aware of the scar on her side. 

The energy of the crowd was equally unsettled. Daanah doubted there were this many Norvic Senci in Zioshue and suspected many of them had just come to see what all the recent fuss surrounding them was about. 

"Heretic!" someone shouted, louder than all the murmurs and whispers, and Kéchawaedrii-Orl paused in hir speech. 

"I am the Balance," ze said coolly. 

The person who had shouted looked intimidated, but they pressed on. "If you don't even believe the gods are real, who are you to claim you know the true meaning of the Annals?"

"I think you misunderstand Norvic Senci," said Kéchawaedrii-Orl. "You are welcome to leave and perhaps visit a library." 

Daanah knew where the miscommunication was, and she also knew what the heckler meant by 'real.' They meant physical, literal beings, and while Kéchawaedrii-Orl had not publicly professed whether ze followed the Orthodox or Fusion school of thought, there was a good chance ze was Orthodox and did not agree with the interpretation of the gods as literal physical beings. 

Daanah, however, was not Orthodox. She did believe the gods were, or at least could be, literal physical beings. 

She stepped forward from her place beside Kéchawaedrii-Orl. "I believe the gods are real. I have felt Alteyr's presence directly in answer to my prayers. We are not proposing to know better than them, or their Dac Senci Vessels, only that conquest is not the only way a world can be united." 

"As the Favoured of Alteyr says," said Kéchawaedrii-Orl. "Our world can be united through faith rather than violence. Is that not at least as holy an interpretation? This unity would, after all, be faith in the very Annals that prophesy it." 

The heckler shut up and let Kéchawaedrii-Orl continue hir speech. 

Scanning the crowd, Daanah spotted an older teenager leaning against a wall in the back. One armed, tall, round, chestnut brown hair cut to the chin. Daanah gave a silent prayer and finger-sketched the word for see near her eye under the guise of adjusting her glasses. The mask nearly covered it, but when the teen's position shifted slightly, Daanah found the definite giveaway- Ausse's mouth opened all the way to her ears. 

She subtly tugged Kéchawaedrii-Orl's robes to let hir know she'd found her, then tried to slip offstage as unobtrusively as possible. 

An older girl in black leather blocked her way as she approached Ausse.

"Excuse me," Daanah said.

The girl crossed her arms.

Ausse tipped her head to the side. "Let her by, Ptoled." She had a melodic baritone voice. 

The girl- Ptoled- stepped aside. Daanah felt her piercing gaze on the back of her neck as she passed.

"I'm Daanah," she said, holding out her hand to shake.

"I've heard." Ausse shook her hand. She wore a fingerless lace glove over her single prosthetic hand.

"You're Ausse?" Daanah tried, feeling very self-conscious.

"Unless the cops are asking," Ausse said. "You a cop?"

"I'm not police," Daanah said. "I'm Alteyr's Favoured."

Ausse sighed. "I know. I was joking." She pulled her mask down and grinned. "Of course I'm Ausse."

"Oh." Daanah tried not to be put off by how wide her face split. It was just a side effect of divine magic, like her extra eyes. 

"What do you want with me, then, Alteyr's Favoured?" 

"I just wanted to talk," said Daanah. "Um. The Balance would like to extend an offer-"

"No."

Ptoled moved closer to Ausse's side defensively. 

"You didn't let me finish," Daanah protested. 

"I don't believe in the Annals," said Ausse firmly. 

"Oh?" Daanah had been certain Ausse was Senci. 

Ptoled rolled her eyes. "She won't understand if you say it like that." 

"Well, I believe they're real, of course," Ausse said. "I don't believe they have the right to control us." 

"Well," said Daanah awkwardly. "I mean, what's your end goal with that? They dictate the future whether you want them to or not." 

"Break them," said Ausse simply. 

Daanah gaped. She wasn't sure whether the impossibility or the sacrelidge of that action astonished her more. 

She floundered. "You can't just- I mean- You can't-"

"You don't know that," said Ausse. "I don't know of anyone who's ever tried, before me. Why shouldn't I be able to, with Manir's power running through me?" 

Someone else pushed through the crowd to them just then. They grabbed Ausse's shoulder and said breathlessly, "Time to go!" 

Too late. The force of the doors crashing open rattled Daanah's teeth. Everything got very loud and very chaotic very quickly as soldiers poured in. 

Daanah suddenly felt very small and trapped in her big robes and gold. 

"Ffeira!" Ausse shouted, and pulled the other teen close. "Get her out of here! We'll find you!" She whispered something in their ear and then pushed them towards Daanah. 

Ffeira grabbed Daanah's hand and ran, ducking and weaving through the crowd. 

It pulled Daanah out of her shocked stupor. "What are you doing?" she nearly screamed. 

"There's an emergency exit from the basement- might be too small for them to have it covered-"

Daanah knew about all the emergency exits. Miwaanii-Shémelús had made sure they knew the floorplan well ahead of time, just in case. 

Distantly, she heard Kéchawaedrii-Orl on stage. It sounded frighteningly like ze was basically daring them to shoot hir. 

Ze would have had a contingency plan for this. Daanah wracked her brains for what it would be and only came up with the unpleasant idea that ze was trying to become a martyr as a last stand, because this was definitely not the escape plan they'd discussed. 

Most of the spectators had by now been rounded up or fled. Across the room she could see Ausse and Ptoled standing cornered where they'd left them. 

She planted her feet. "We can't just leave them!"

"They'll meet us." Ffeira didn't sound sure. 

Ptoled punched one of the soldiers in the throat and took a bullet to the gut for her trouble. 

Ausse shouted her name, twisting towards her, and the soldiers got a bag over her head while she was distracted and managed to drag her off, leaving Ptoled bleeding on the floor. 

Daanah pulled away from Ffeira and started running back, by some miracle avoiding being shot herself. Ptoled was still alive. She could save her. 

There was a bright flash, and Miwaanii-Shémelús appeared at her side, his flesh looking like it was literally boiling. 

He grabbed her arm but ran with her. "The escape plan- Oh, fuck, never doing that again-" he gasped. 

Daanah skidded to a stop and dropped down to Ptoled. "Apply pressure while I work." The bullet had gone straight through, so there was another bleeding opening under her, but pressure on one wound was better than on neither. "Miwaanii-Shémelús, do a protective circle."

Ffeira pressed their hands atop Ptoled's where she was weakly clutching at the entry wound as Miwaanii-Shémelús started to scrawl an arc around them on the floor, muttering a prayer under his breath. 

"I'm going to help you," she told Ptoled. She pulled the gold pen out of her updo. 

"I'm pulling up your shirt to write closer to the injury." She continued to narrate. Ptoled's breathing was very laboured, but her eyes were fighting to stay open, so she could be conscious enough to understand. 

Repair: blood vessels, muscle, fat- Daanah looked at the place where the bullet had gone through and guessed at what it might have hit- large intestine, small intestine, appendix, bladder, uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, ribs, spine, pelvis, nerves, skin- if Ptoled didn't have any of those or they hadn't been hit, it would do no harm. It was best to cover everything that might be damaged. Numb until repair completed. 

Please, Alteyr, return this body to its natural state, Daanah prayed. 

Ptoled's breathing began to even out as the pain was relieved and the healing started. 

"Come on," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. 

"We can't leave her like this and we shouldn't try to move her before it's done," said Daanah, glancing over his protective circle and finding it acceptably strong and unbroken. She put a finger on it and added her own prayer- Please, Alteyr, let nothing pass this line- to strengthen it further. "Where's Kéchawaedrii-Orl?"

"Out, safe, because ze used the escape plan." 

"The thing you did to get to me," Daanah said. "You teleported?" 

"I guess," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "Miserable experience. Do not recommend. My skin seems to have practically liquified. I didn't go very far." 

"Tell me how you did it and I can do it to get us out of here," said Daanah. "I'm more powerful so I can probably take all three of us."

"I don't think you can," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "I think it only worked because of our situation. It sent me to you, and maybe it could send you to me, but we're both here." 

"The bleeding's stopped," said Ffeira. "Ausse could have cast an illusion to help us get out of here…"

Ptoled grasped Ffeira's wrist as they started to remove their hands. "One job," she rasped. "I had… one job." 

"Shh," said Ffeira. "It's not your fault. You were outnumbered and outgunned. Ausse had an idea-"

"He always has ideas," muttered Ptoled. 

"It's going to be okay." Ffeira petted Ptoled's hair with their free, blood-crusted hand. "We'll get out of here and then we'll sort out Ausse." 

"I don't suppose we could just wait them out," said Daanah. "Nothing can pass the line. We're safe as long as we stay in the circle."

"They'll leave someone to stand guard," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "By this point you're too valuable a target. Remember?"

Daanah's hand drifted unconsciously to her side. She remembered. 

"Are you two like, Ausse's bodyguards, or…" said Miwaanii-Shémelús.

"Friends," said Ptoled. She groaned. "Fuck. I let my best friend get dragged off to her death. They already sentenced him in absentia as a terrorist. I knew we shouldn't have come here."

"Why… did you come here?" Daanah asked.

"Curiosity," Ffeira said. "We shouldn't have even come to Zioshue, but he's popular here, and-"

"She wanted to taunt them," said Ptoled. "Show up and agitate people against the Annals and the empire in their own city. We knew it was reckless. Should have stopped her."

"Disciple of Manir." Ffeira sighed. "We do our best to temper the chaos with reason, but Ausse can be stubborn. I should have pushed more, but I'll admit it was an appealing idea. I mean, isn't that why you came to Zioshue?"

"No," said Daanah.

"Yes," said Miwaanii-Shémelús, at the same time.

"We came because it's a major Senci population centre," said Daanah.

"And Kéchawaedrii-Orl wanted to wave it in the Vessel of Corysecli's face that ze's the Balance and she can't do anything to him," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "Show them the attack failed and ze's very popular and we aren't scared. I'm sure ze had a lot of reasons for coming, but that was one of them."

"Did ze tell you that?" Kéchawaedrii-Orl never talked to Daanah like that.

"I pay very close attention to the most powerful person in any situation I'm in."

Daanah tapped at the stone floor. "What's under here?"

"The basement," said Miwaanii-Shémelús and Ffeira at once.

"You said there's an emergency exit from there?"

Miwaanii-Shémelús nodded.

"How high is the ceiling down there?"

Miwaanii-Shémelús shrugged.

"Two and a half metres," said Ffeira. "I memorized the blueprints."

"Show-off," said Ptoled affectionately.

Miwaanii-Shémelús looked uncomfortable and quickly said, "It might be guarded."

"But we'd have the element of surprise," said Daanah. "It's not that far to fall if we land right." She'd fallen and jumped from trees higher than that as a kid and been okay. Onto softer ground, sure, but… they didn't have a lot of options.

"Everybody brace," she said, and disintegrated the floor. 

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Daanah was sitting on the that had been assigned to her here with her locs loose and spread out around her, letting her hair dry and struggling to focus on her book, when Miwaanii-Shémelús approached and dropped to his knees.

Daanah frowned. "What are you doing? You know how many people's feet have probably been on that carpet?"

He leaned his head against the mattress. "I have to confess something," he said. "In case we don't both make it tomorrow. I need you to know."

She put her book down. "…Okay."

Don't say you're in love with me, she thought. I don't want to have to reject you.

"I lied."

"Oh. About what?"

"Everything," Miwaanii-Shémelús said in a rush of breath. "From the beginning. Everything. The Vessel of Corysecli wanted an in with another Divine Scribe so ei-nai had me make the arch collapse and pushed you out of the way. The Balance wanted to know about you when you weren't around hir so ze had me get close to you. The Vessel wanted you even more when you turned out to be so powerful. They both want to use you and they've been using me as the route to help them do it."

Daanah found there was nothing she could say.

Miwaanii-Shémelús meant a lot to her.

She had trusted him.

"I'm sorry," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "You're amazing. All I want is to be good like you and I can't be. I've felt with you like I haven't felt with anyone since… in a very long time. I was honest about all I could be but I lied to you. You're perfect. You deserve so much better than me."

The longer she sat with what he was saying, the less angry she was with Miwaanii-Shémelús and the angrier she was with everyone else.

"Because of the contract," she said.

"Because of the contract," he whispered. "Ei-nai could break my family apart again just as easily as ei-nai gave it back. If I break the contract I will die and they will be split up again."

"And Kéchawaedrii-Orl?" She hadn't expected that of hir.

"Helping me with the Temple," Miwaanii-Shémelús said. He hiccupped, and she knew he was crying. "Pays me extra. Helps them."

"I see."

Miwaanii-Shémelús seemed so… pathetic. So desperate. She hated the way some people- the Vessel of Corysecli, apparently Kéchawaedrii-Orl too- took advantage of desperation.

"Do you want to use me?" she said. "Do you want to hurt me?"

"Never."

Daanah reached down and touched his face like a blessing.

She heard his breath hitch.

"Comrades," she said. She had promised to save him and she would.

He reached up and grabbed her hand against his cheek. "Comrades," he repeated quietly.

Half of Daanah's skin was eyes now. Her head throbbed from what it was doing to her vision.

She wished she was prone to something else. Ausse grew feathers, and Daanah was sure that was painful, but at least it wasn't eyes. They made her so nauseous and her clothes against them was so distracting.

She laid her head down for a minute and tried to close all her eyes to give her brain a break from trying to manage the fractured sight.

"I can feel your magic surging," Miwaanii-Shémelús said from behind her.

Daanah flinched and regretted it. Maybe she had dozed off or maybe she had just been too miserable to notice his approach.

"I'm going to die of this," Daanah said. It was true, although it probably wouldn't be right now.

"Go to bed," Miwaanii-Shémelús said. "I'll finish the charms for you."

"They need my power."

"No, they don't," said Miwaanii-Shémelús. "I'm a Divine Scribe too. They don't need your extra. I've made lots of charms. Save your magic for if you need it tomorrow."

Begrudgingly, she had to admit he was right, and she did really want to go to bed.

"How can I trust you?" she said. "You just admitted to spending the length of our relationship lying to me."

"You can't," he said finally. "I don't expect you to. I'm all you've got. I can give you my word to do it right if it means anything to you."

"Fine," she muttered, because she felt like she'd been run over by a line of trucks.

Kéchawaedrii-Orl could not be trusted. She didn't tell hir that she knew what ze'd done when she and Ausse met up with hir the next morning.

Ausse gnawed on the end of one of his short pair of braids. It was the first thing Daanah had ever seen him do that might indicate anxiety. Purple feathers weeping blood were all over his body, so Daanah assumed they had him to thank for the favourable weather. Ffeira lingered close to his side, with Ptoled protectively watching their backs.

Kéchawaedrii-Orl addressed the soldiers who had defected to their side, and then Daanah spoke too- which she thought she was getting pretty good at- and then Ausse did, and then one of Elyd's representatives. Miwaanii-Shémelús coordinated handing out the charms he'd helped Daanah finish.

They won.

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