#manacles

Helplessness was overcoming the rage as Taja's sense of power vanished. She was trapped. The great teleporter, with a power no one could catch. This world had been her escape. And now she was trapped in the very place she'd run to.

The angry officer was coming closer, ramping up even more with his fists clenched and his face red. But a calm voice stopped him from just out of sight.

"Beck."

The officer stiffened and lifted his head, raising his eyebrows.

A young man, barely older than Taja, sauntered into view. He was rather pale for a S'Baneane, with a firm jaw and slightly small eyes, which made him look permanently bemused. He had a nice face. But seeing him on the other side of the bars, especially with the piercing look he gave her, was strangely frightening.

"Releedion?" Beck turned around, flexing his arms and breathing out some of the tension. "I wasn't expecting you." 

Releedion glanced coldly at Taja.

"This is the other child trafficker?" Releedion asked.

"I'm not!" Taja yelled, realizing she was fighting back tears. What an insane accusation. She could never do such a thing. She felt sick. It was probably because she'd been punched so many times in the stomach. Probably.

At her protest, Beck had spun around, clenching a fist, with an inhuman rage on his red face. But Releedion stopped him again.

"Beck. I'm here to interrogate her. Please let me do my job."

Beck strained his head forward against his collar, clutching his fist in his other hand. The tendons on his neck stood out.

"I have a daughter." He said through his teeth to Taja. 

Releedion entered the cell, which was still open, and laid a hand on Beck's left arm from across his back. His calm, cold eyes rested on Taja.

All the heat in her head, even the rage, felt muted by comparison to the steel in that expression.

Without a word, Beck took another breath, nodded at Releedion, who let go of his arm, and Beck left.

Releedion just stared at her for a few moments. She didn't look at him. She was still out of breath, her head still aching so bad the rest of her body just felt dully awful. He didn't say anything for so long that she got even more nervous.

Taja bit her lip, afraid to speak.

Releedion took steps toward her. Her heart dropped and her brain exploded with adrenaline.

"Whoah whoah whoah!" She screamed. "Can everyone stop punching me for just one second! I have rights!"

She trembled, having spent her air, panting to recover her breath.

Releedion stopped, raising his eyebrows.

"Rights?"

"I... I know my rights!" Taja stammered. "My day in... in--" She didn't know the word for "court" so she said, "--in democracy!"

Releedion stared.

Pressure behind her eyes built up like she was gonna cry. She wasn't gonna.

"You know, where you face a group of your peers, and they vote on whether you're guilty, and you have a... a law-man on your side..." A tiny tear did slip out, infuriatingly.

"Uh..." Releedion unfolded his arms, with a tiny shrug. "We don't have that here."

"You just... throw people in jail? Execute people?!"

"Wherever you're from, it sounds complicated." Releedion shrugged. "Even if we had that here, you're a foreigner. You're condemned just by being here."

"But that's--that's openly racist!" Taja exclaimed.

Releedion tilted his head, clenching his jaw.

"I think you deserve it." He said calmly.

Stunned, Taja just stared. 

"Trafficking children?" Releedion glared with raised eyebrows. "I'd say you deserve the worst I can offer."

Taja had never seen someone so angry before. It was shocking, because she'd seen people punching mad, like Beck just now, and she'd felt angry all the time. But not like this. She swallowed and pursed her lips; she was gonna say something.

"Don't punch me for this, but--I didn't traffic kids!" She cringed, but he didn't move. "I didn't."

"You... what?" Releedion's brow furrowed. Then he frowned at her. "No. No. I'm done being lied to today."

Taja tugged at her wrist in the cuff, fidgeting to keep her anxiety under control. Talking right now might make her cry and look pathetic.

"What's your name, foreigner?" 

"Taja." She answered. "I'll tell you everything. Please believe me."

Releedion stepped closer. Hunched over defensively as she was, he was at eye level with her.

"Look me in the eyes." He said. 

This time, his expression wasn't so cold, so it was easier to look back.

"I swear--"

"Shh." He raised a finger, staring searchingly at her. His face relaxed. 

"You get angry a lot, don't you?" He said under his breath. 

She didn't answer.

Then he sighed and clicked his tongue. "Oh. I see."

He shook his head, looking at the floor, then up at her again.

"What? You see?"

Releedion surveyed her for a moment, now seeming to notice her reddening cheek, and seeming to mentally sum her up. He sighed again.

"Let me guess. You escaped one after another harsh environment, finally finding a place you were accepted at Keepsake Keep. You were told you were just smuggling spices and tools."

Taja was dumbfounded. Despite knowing about the S'Baneane's gifts, she'd never met someone that could read her with a glance, much less summarize it in a way that made her sound so weak and dumb.

"How... how'd you know?"

Releedion looked down at the damp, waste-covered flagstone.

"I read your mind. Kind of." He shrugged, shifting his weight. "And then you were tricked into smuggling children, without realizing it."

Taja felt a sinking in her gut, horror flooding her face.

"It.. it can't be. He said it was an inseparable toolset."

Releedion sighed. 

"Didn't you think for one minute to check?"

"For a fucking kid? No!" Taja retorted.

"It's a crime to be that fucking naive." He shook his head. "I would know. Well--"

He turned and walked toward the cell door.

"I'm going to sleep. And talk to my superior about you later."

"Wait!" Taja yelled.

Releedion stopped.

"You're just going to leave me here?"

"Yes."

Releedion resumed leaving. The door clanged shut and she heard it spring-lock.