James
Finals and the Interviews consumed A’triyes within the week, and soon every conversation he overheard talked about the same things. The time also meant Vee had to leave him to wander while she sat test after test, trial after trial. It wasn’t too bad once he’d gotten over his initial trepidation. Everyone assumed he was there as a prospective student, which meant his walkabouts were seldom questioned.
Often he found himself outside the Medica buildings with a cup of coffee and a bag of snacks, hoping to catch her eye and a smile. He began to dress differently, swapping his nondescript clothes for the brighter local patterns and found himself slipping deeper into his Barthen merchant persona with a complicated academic need. His true purpose began to slip as his and Vee’s research into the Old Guard deepened.
When not tending to her Academy duties, Vee proved a wonderful guide—sharp, curious, endlessly patient with his touristy struggles, showing him around the academy grounds and the village beyond. Pointing out landmarks and their tangled histories along with hidden gems and quiet corners with stunning views.
The days without her company were dull and uneventful. He told himself he was simply playing a part, enjoying a bit of a distraction along the way. But even he no longer believed it. Life here was so rich compared to what he was used to. So bright and safe despite the Haweynes’ dangerous and chilly climate.
Without meaning to, he became curious about the people around him, the akati who lived as monsters in his dreams. How come his villains played the same music? Laughed at the same jokes? Bickered and longed for the stars or a hot meal at the end of a hard day? They too argued over prices in the market and got shitfaced in the taverns at night.
“They’re just people, too. Going about their lives same as you,” he told himself with a surprisingly stern tone in the village inn one day with a cold ale in his hand.
A troupe was performing a lengthy encore of The Usurper’s Lament to a rapturous crowd howling with delight, and he felt himself relax for the first time since arriving inside the Wards.
Ale had never had such a sweet taste, and he looked around the dimly lit, spacious inn and for the first time really saw it. He took another sip and let the music wash over him till a pair of familiar horns pulled his attention away from the song.
In the days that followed, he kept looking. It was like seeing the village and the Akati for the first time. The more he looked, the more he realized how much he’d missed. How much he’d been wrong about. For once, he felt clear and wide awake. There was a song in the air. More like a sensation than a sound. Like the purr of a cat. Like the rush of aspen leaves, tattling of a change in the wind.
It was during one of their random strolls on a day when there were no classes that Vee told him of the shuttle she was renovating. It took him aback, since their conversation mostly revolved around the Old Guard or devolved into a competition to see who had the craziest friends, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
James blinked. “You’re an engineer?” He frowned and replaced the sign for mechanics instead.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and shrugged. Her fingers betrayed her nervousness. “Stella’s got all you need for a quick getaway. Gorgeous little bird.”
No alarm, no harm, but there was also no harm in having a backup plan. James grinned. “Well, where is this bird of yours?”
“Agartha Nova, near the Grand Market. When Finals are over, I’d like to take you. We’re all going anyway.”
“Are we?” James asked slowly.
She shot him a look of such utter shock that she spoke out loud. “Yes! It’s the Guardian’s Awakening, dumbass!” She stopped and switched back to signing. “My best friend is an aspirant, and it is high time that the two of you met. Besides, it is your best bet. By my family name you’ll easily pass through the Wards no questions asked.”
His heart thudded, but she just laughed, cupping his face with one hand. “I am smarter than I look, James. Give me some credit and yourself a little less.”
All blood left his face, and there was a distinct ringing in his ears. He was done for. With a heavy sigh he sat down on a low stone wall, still damp with morning dew. He should’ve trusted his instincts. Should’ve just done what he came for instead of letting himself be swept up in this fantasy. Was there something in the air or the food that made him this stupid?
His knuckles turned white on his lap. Vee knelt in front of him, placing a hand on his arm.
“You are no son of traders,” she signed with an unreadable expression. “You slip sometimes. This—” She showed a sign with her right hand, followed by a different one with her left. “—is Illevan. And that is Akatian. You have done it quite often, especially in the beginning.”
He hesitated, then spoke out loud so she wouldn’t see his trembling hands. “What are you going to do about it?”
Vee raised an eyebrow. “Sweetie, I figured you out a while ago. If I wanted to bust you, I would not have told you about the safest way out of here.” She paused, watching him. “I care more about how a man acts than his birth. Or what stray thoughts hide behind your eyes. Whatever it is you came here for, you’ve given me companionship when I needed it.”
“Is that enough?”
“There is something in your eyes. In you.”
Before he could reply, she leaned up and kissed him, warm, confident, her lips soft against his. His hands slipped behind her back and neck, tracing the embroidery on her robes, the soft baby hairs at the back of her neck.
Too soon they broke apart, her eyes seeking his, her head turned up toward him a little flushed. That same heat was in his own cheeks and he wasn’t sure what was going on with his heart.
Gently, he took her hands in his. “Vee, I—”
With a small, teasing peck on his cheek, she shook her head. Hair covering most of her eyes. “I am a grown woman. I know a lost cause when I meet one. Doesn’t mean I cannot like you anyway.”
“You know what I am.” His voice was between a growl and a groan.
“Does not matter, does it? We still have more research to do. Perhaps tomorrow we will get lucky and find something new about the Eight. We are still friends. Right? ”
James swallowed the guilt rising in his throat, so overcome with an urge to protect her at every cost and push her away from himself. The breeze tangled her hair around her horns, her eyes both large with worry and hopeful at the same time.
“Always.” He signed and said at the same time.
Her smile was radiant. “Good.”
She pulled him to his feet. On tiptoe, she kissed him on the cheek. The rest of the day, they wandered into the mountains without purpose. Talking of everything and nothing with the backdrop of the Empire unfolding beneath them. Once he was sure he could spot the Wyrwind’s Pass in the distance, and sense the cursed lands beyond it.
If Vee had not held onto his arm, James was sure he’d fly away for the lightness he felt when the weight on his heart gave way for something new.
