Divided (11 page)

The boy laughed, and Calis found another reason for his
heart to act like he might be dying soon.  He bit down on his lip to keep from
twitching too much.  “I said I brought her here—not that we were coupled.”

For some reason, that made Calis happy, and the fact that it
made him happy made him instantly worried.  “Alright, then, go tend to your
friend.”  Calis stepped back to make sure that his blue-eyed acquaintance
didn’t feel obligated to stay any longer.

With a quick farewell, his dance partner was lost in the sea
of people, and Calis was standing there as if he’d been hit in the back of the
head and was about to fall over.  Feelings washed over him for several seconds
before he was hit with the singularly horrifying thought.

I didn’t get his name…

Taiya returned to Calis to save him from looking like a
child, and when she asked who he’d danced with, he wasn’t able to give her a
reply—though this time he would have loved to.  She was amused and they
continued to dance, though the dance fell flat after the brief exchange he’d
had with the boy-whose-name-he’d-failed-to-get.  “You must have liked your
partner for the Soul-Finder dance,” Taiya said smartly.

“Why?” Calis asked.

“Because you keep staring into the crowd longingly, silly!”
she giggled and they continued their dance.  The moon dragged on, and Calis ran
through things he could say to the boy if he were to return.  After excessive
thinking, not only did he have nothing to say, he wasn’t even able to locate
his former dance partner.  Taiya finally left him again, and Lee was at his side
in an instant. 

“As your advisor, I feel I must tell you that the moon grows
dim, and I am most certain that your absence will be noticed if you stay away
for much longer.”  The words were informative, though not urgent.  Lee never
waited until the last moment to inform him of things, which meant that Calis
still had a moment.

Maybe he could find the boy again.  “Ah, alright.  You head
back, I’ll be right behind you.  There is someone I wanted to say goodbye to
before I go.”  Lee stared at him crossly for a time, as if he thought this was
an atrocious idea.

For a few moments, Calis was sure that Lee was going to
insist on staying with him, but then his friend sighed.  “Do you know how to
get back?” 

Calis scoffed at the question, and Lee nodded his head and
waved him off.  Then, the other noble headed for the door immediately.  Lee did
things efficiently, and that meant that he hadn’t told Calis too early about
the lateness of the evening.  Calis certainly didn’t have too much time to
dawdle.  He searched for a bit for his person of interest, entering the other
buildings and scouring the outside crowd.  None of them yielded his target, so
he finally had to accept that he wasn’t going to get that name.  Perhaps he
would return the following sun.  How would he find the person without a name,
though?

Calis sighed, knowing that he’d already spent too much time
loitering about when Lee had told him to head back.  Lee would be wondering
where he was, so he headed away from the crowd and away from the lights.  He
worked to keep himself from sighing at his failure.  He couldn’t believe that
he hadn’t managed to find his dance partner—as he had looked the entire place
over, twice.

Where had the boy gone?  Had he left the dance shortly after
the two of them had danced?  Or maybe he and the girl he’d brought had other
matters to attend to.  Calis had no way of knowing.  He knew nothing about the
boy, actually.  He informed himself that he ought not spend so much time
worrying about a peasant that he’d probably never see again—but that did little
to keep his mind from wondering.

As he got a little further from the festivities, he became
aware of a presence.  His feet walked a little more slowly, and the sounds were
lost so that he could hear his own breathing.  After a few more steps, he
stopped entirely and turned to face what was plaguing him.  There, a person was
leaned casually back against one of the dark buildings.  Not just any
person—the very person Calis had searched for.

“You’re leaving,” the words were not a question.  Calis
turned to meet those blue eyes again, which seemed to be glowing in the dark.

Calis was surprised to see him.  He had wasted so much time,
and the boy had been out here all along.  If only he hadn’t been such a
desperate fool!  He could have found his quarry and been on time, now, as it was,
he didn’t have much time to speak to the boy at all.  “It seems that you have
already left,” Calis pointed out.

The boy shrugged noncommittally and cast a glance back at
the crowd that stood in the distance.  “Just getting a little peace and quiet,”
he said softly.  “Why are you leaving so soon?  I was under the impression you
were enjoying yourself.”

Calis stared at the boy curiously.  Those eyes were not
anything Calis would be able to get out of his mind for many moon phases, and
he didn’t need to be able to see the future to know that.  “I was, but I have
much to do at sun-up, and I don’t want to get too drunk and tired.  Lest I make
a rather sour companion for any company I find myself making in the sun.”

The boy seemed amused at this, and offered a quick nod, as
if to imply that he understood.  Calis thought there might be more to the nod,
but nothing that he was able to make out without Lee here to back him.  “So,
you are a traveler,” once again, this was a statement, not a question, “does
that mean you are leaving Telandus?”

Calis thought about this for a moment.  He didn’t want to
commit to anything, as always, so he just shrugged his shoulders and pretended
to think about it for a moment.  “I suppose it all depends on how I feel in the
morning.”

“When did you arrive?” the questions persisted though, and
the perpetual curiosity in those blue eyes became more endearing by the
second.  Calis was having to work not to smile for no particular reason.  But
he didn’t want the young man to think he was mad.

These questions required that Calis think carefully about
what he said, because he could tell from a glance at the boy that he was not as
accepting as Taiya and her friend had been.  “This morning,” he said.  “I
didn’t expect this sort of festival.  It was a pleasant surprise.”

His companion seemed to think about this for a long moment,
and then he offered another quick nod.  Once again, there was something else
lingering within the gesture, but Calis didn’t know what.  “You ought to stay,
then.  This place has plenty of interesting secrets that can keep a traveler
busy for a time.”

Calis was elated to hear this boy mention that he should stay. 
Surely, in doing so, the young man was expressing interest in seeing Calis
again.  Right? 

Well, maybe he wasn’t, but Calis was contented to live in
his delusion for the time.  “Does it?” Calis asked.  “Maybe I will.  I’d never
seen any sort of festival like this.”

“Oh?” the boy seemed surprised.  “From the prowess with
which you danced, I was under the impression that you did it often.”

Calis flushed.  He hadn’t thought about that.  Then again,
the boy had simply paid him a compliment.  Surely, this young man wasn’t
implying that he was secretly from the Shining District.  That would have been
a lot to deduce from a dance.  “I never said I hadn’t danced before,” Calis
said easily.

“You did not,” the agreement was soft. 

Another quick smile took hold of Calis’s lips, and he didn’t
bother trying to hide this one.  The boy returned it briefly, but very briefly,
and the smile was much less genuine than the ones on the dance floor.  In fact,
his former dance partner seemed very troubled now.  “You’ve clearly had
experience dancing as well,” Calis said.

With a quick nod, his companion set this to the
affirmative.  Calis didn’t bother asking why his dance patterns seemed so
different.  This strange individual wasn’t like most of the others in Dark
District, so he was most certainly a traveler.  Before the boy could respond,
Calis spoke again.  “But, I certainly don’t think you are from Telandus.  You
do not dance like most of those in Dark District, from what I saw this evening.”

This time, it was his new friend’s turn to look a little
startled.  The young man stared at the ground for a moment before nodding his
head.  “I’m not originally from Telandus,” he admitted warily.

“I suppose the sayings I have heard about being able to tell
much about a person from a simple dance were not as silly as I thought them to
be,” Calis mused allowed.  This time, the smile he received was far more
genuine.

“I think that is a very accurate statement,” his companion
agreed.

Finally, the boy stepped off the wall and regarded Calis
with measured curiosity.  He stared up at the prince thoughtfully.  Just as he
opened his mouth to speak, though, another voice filled the air.  “Kilik!” the
voice cried.

Immediately, the boy’s head turned, and he stared back into
the crowd.  There was a young blond woman standing at the edge of the lights,
looking frustrated.  That must have been the girl he’d mentioned.  “It was a
pleasure to meet you,” Calis said gently before he continued back along the
path to the castle.

“Yes, you too,” Kilik managed hastily.

Kilik.  Not altogether a unique name, but somehow, it didn’t
seem to fit the boy that had stood before him this moon.

“His perseverance shocked the Magisters, and they found
that they were awed at this mere mortal—selfless and valiant.”

-A Hero’s Peace v.i

The strange individual Taeru had been conversing with wasted
no time in excusing himself once Alyx removed Taeru’s attention.  This
ordinarily wouldn’t have bothered Taeru, on the contrary, he welcomed people
who understood when a conversation was over—but this was different.  Not only
was this person unique, but there was something about them which had Taeru
desperately curious.

Nothing was to be said for the way he flushed every time the
mysterious individual spoke, or how impressed he’d been with the way the blond
had danced.  Taeru had simply been taken off guard, and he knew it.  However, that
was over now, for when he glanced back to find the blond he’d been talking
to—he realized that his conversation partner had gotten halfway down the
street.

Taeru simply returned the polite farewell and headed back
towards Alyx.  The traveler would likely be gone in the morning, and even if he
wasn’t—the likelihood of Taeru seeing him again was small.  “What were you
doing?” Alyx asked once he got within earshot.

“Getting some fresh air,” Taeru answered.  Alyx had likely
not seen the person who was with Taeru, and there was no need to bring him up,
now.  Though, Taeru had to work to keep his head from turning to see if perhaps
the stranger would reappear. 

Travelers were certainly not rare in Telandus, but rarely
was it that any of them had such manners—or such a penchant for dancing.  Since
leaving Cathalar, Taeru had never met someone who seemed to understand his
steps.  But not only had his dance partner understood them, he had complemented
them with grace and finesse that Taeru wasn’t sure even he could match.

The thoughts irritated him, though.  The man was gone from
his life now and thinking about him was only giving Taeru a headache. 

Just for a moment, in that single instance of finding his
body pressed up against the blond—Taeru had felt something.  And the feeling
had been simultaneously unsettling and curious.  He didn’t want to dwell on it,
but he knew that he didn’t hate it. 

But it doesn’t matter, and would likely get you killed,
Taeru
reminded himself inwardly.

Alyx was regarding him with curious eyes.  She certainly
knew that he was not himself.  Taeru wasn’t sure that he’d stopped blushing
from his brief interaction with the traveler.  “If you want to go, I don’t
mind,” Alyx finally decided upon saying.

Taeru would normally not have taken her up on this offer. 
These sorts of events were supposed to be jovial, and to miss them would be to
deny himself any pleasure at all.  Unfortunately, he doubted any more of this moon
would lead to anything beyond too-curious thoughts about his dance partner. 
“Thank you, Alyx,” he said softly, “I don’t feel well.”

Her eyes were immediately worried.  She clearly hadn’t
expected him to take her up on the offer, but she wasn’t going to retract it. 
“Are you alright?” she asked.  “Did someone say something to you?”

The worrying was sweet, but Taeru wished she wouldn’t
bother.  Not that he didn’t give her plenty of reason to worry, masquerading
about as some Phantom hero.  But—for some reason—he felt compelled to help Dark
District.  The down side was causing the Amarals a great deal of worry.  “I’m
alright,” he answered.

“Who were you just talking to?”  Her curiosity was not the
type that went away with a simple haphazard answer.  “Just now.”

So apparently Alyx had seen his companion, or rather, she
was aware that he was not simply standing up the street by himself as he tended
to do.  “I’m not sure,” Taeru was able to answer honestly.  “Just a traveler. 
He was leaving.”

This didn’t seem to bring any more excitement into her eyes,
and as she couldn’t find anything particularly wrong with Taeru—she nodded. 
“Alright, then.  Go get some rest.  I’ll see you at sun-up.”

Alyx didn’t have to tell him twice.

The next morning, Taeru completed his usual task for the
trading company as he always did.  They paid him and sent him on his way once
the shipments were unloaded.  He thought about stopping at the market for some
sort of trading, but when he couldn’t decide on anything he actually wanted—he
just took a stroll through the town.

Alyx wouldn’t have been home at this hour, anyway.  She ran
errands for several of the shopkeepers, and when she wasn’t doing that she
maintained one of the fruit stands in its owners absence.  Aitken would surely
be brimming with questions on why Taeru had left the party so early the previous
moon, and Taeru didn’t really feel like answering them.

Just like back in Cathalar, which admittedly, Taeru still
thought of as home—though he was sure he would no longer be welcome there—Taeru
had never been able to properly enjoy those sorts of events.  The ones here in
Dark District were much more lively, but they still required a certain social
presence that Taeru felt he lacked.

He and his father had disagreed on that point.  Veyron had
wanted Taeru to be the king, rather than Ryo, but Taeru had known this would
not be good.  Taeru was not overly good at dealing with people in a way that
rulers should deal with people.  That was just one of the many reasons Taeru
had left Cathalar.

Veyron was not a monster, and he would listen to his
children when they spoke—but Veyron was confident that Taeru would make a fine
leader, and could not be talked out of that thought.  Ryo hadn’t been too bothered
with it, and he would never say, but Taeru knew that his elder brother wanted
the position.  So who was Taeru to keep him from it?

Now Ryo could succeed their father and Cathalar could be
ruled as it should be ruled.  By someone who knew how to rule.  Taeru had been
well enough liked by the nobles of Cathalar, but most of them had deemed him as
going through an awkward phase of growth.  None of them seemed to realize that
he was always going to be that awkward.

Here in Dark District, people were far more accepting of his
lackluster social abilities—though he was still questioned on them from time to
time. 

People in the market were much less lively this sun.  This
was no doubt due to how long they had stayed up the previous moon dancing and
drinking the moon away.  Taeru was willing to bet that over half of them had
quite the headache.

As he walked through the streets, though, he felt as though
some sort of sickness was trying to take hold of him.  He swallowed frequently
and felt the way his legs tried to sway back and forth, though he kept them
straight.  He couldn’t think of any reason that he would be sick in the middle
of summer, but there was a terrifying sense of dread pushing into his system.

In the back of his mind, Taeru was distinctly aware that he
had not gotten much sleep the previous moon.  His sleep had been plagued with
nightmares, though that was not at all unusual for him.  Perhaps the previous
moon had been particularly bad, though he wasn’t able to recall any of it.  He
felt ill, and he ought to return home, but Juliet would insist on wasting her
entire sun working with him—and make no profit at all—if he did that.  And he
would still have to face the questions.

No, surely he could find some place decent enough to sit
down and not have anyone fuss over him.  He took a few of the backstreets that
he’d come to know as well as he had known Cathalar’s castle halls, and then
headed to the farmland section of Dark District.  Nobles did not farm, and so
despite Lavus’s misgivings, he had opened up another small patch of land so
that the farmers of Dark District could provide some source of food for
everyone.

The farming area was much more open, with less buildings and
dirt blowing up in the face of anyone who walked too quickly.  Grass started
appearing in patches, and then slowly, the dirt became a plain of flowing grass,
and Taeru could make out the few farms that sat along the hills.  This was by
far the most peaceful place in Telandus, and though it was still part of Dark
District—there was nothing dark about it.

Instead of moving to bother any of the farmers with his
presence, Taeru moved towards the wall of Telandus.  The stone wall was
black—ensuring that travelers thought twice before entering the city.  With the
thought of travelers, Taeru’s mind went briefly to his companion from the
previous moon.  He assumed the man had left already, as the sun had reached
adolescence. 

Once he reached the wall, he banished the thoughts and slid
down it.  There was a gentle breeze, though it did little for the stifling heat
waves that came in between it.  Taeru felt increasingly sick as he remained
there, staring up at the sky.  The clouds loomed overhead, promising rain
soon—if not this sun, the next.  Taeru wished he’d thought to bring a cloak,
but in this heat, the thought hadn’t crossed his mind.

As he stared up at the gray sky, his mind began to turn
inward.  He could feel flashes of images that had haunted him in his dream last
moon, and though he couldn’t make them out—he knew they frightened him.  He
forced his head back against the stone wall in frustration.  He was not at all
in the mood to be haunted by dreams like some sort of a child. 

Then, though, one of the images flared up in his mind so
that he saw it as if it was painted in the gray clouds overhead.  A seedling
sitting in a dried field, leeching the life from the flowers and forestry like
some sort of a parasite.  Taeru blinked, shaking his head as he tried to think
of anything but his dreams.

All at once, a whisper was in his ear.  He could hear
Merril’s voice, a hissing sound.  “A hero made the deal, and a hero will pay
the price.”  He jumped, trying to see if perhaps she had followed him out here
and launched into another fit.

She was nowhere, of course, but her voice had grappled onto his
sickness and made the entire environment a sickly green color.  Taeru wasn’t
sure what had gotten into him this sun, but he knew that he didn’t like it. 
More images flared up in his mind, and he worked not to think about them—not to
look at them, as they seemed painted across the landscape.  If only he could
look another way, he wouldn’t have to see them. 

The heat from the farmlands seemed to be trying to suffocate
him, and as he sat in the quiet, the wind seemed to be whispering the words of
Merril, and then the words of someone far more terrifying and someone that he
didn’t want to hear.  He ran his hand through his hair.  Though Taeru had
always been troubled by his dreams, and sometimes got caught up in his own
thoughts—he had never experienced anything quite like this.

After another few blinks, he realized that he needed to be
in the company of people.  His solitude was clearly making this worse, as the
longer he remained, the more he could hear the whispers that he tried so
desperately to ignore.  They all spoke of war and death and unimaginable pain. 
All the while, that seedling played itself across his eyes, accompanying the
whispers as if it was the one speaking.

Immediately, Taeru headed back into town and found himself
among the villagers once again.  Their voices were loud, and he could make out
some of the usual gossip—but in the back of his mind, he knew the whispers were
still there.  The voices combined so terribly that he wasn’t sure what was real
and what he was imagining. 

He felt sick, and he felt afraid.  He wanted away from
here.  He had not felt so trapped and confused since the sun he had left
Cathalar.  Why had the pain followed him here?  Because the war was going to
happen no matter where he was?  That must have been it.  All he had done was run
from it—and done nothing to prevent it. 
What a cowardly thing to do,
his
mind told him.

He argued with himself as he walked, picking up his pace to
try and outrun the voices that were following him.  He glared at the dirt on
the ground and didn’t bother flinching as it shot up into his eyes. 
I begged
Father.  I told him that he had to stop pushing Lavus back, and that a war
would be terrible for both lands.  I told him we should be the better people,
and I told Ryo.  I told all of them.  I begged them and they wouldn’t listen! 
They called me a child—afraid of a little violence.

But somewhere within him, there was another, angrier
presence and his words were rebuked by his own mind. 
Sure—you spoke out
against the war, but what did you do?  Nothing.  You ran like a scared little
boy, and now you are in Telandus—probably going to cause trouble for everyone
you meet here.  Because you were afraid.

The angry voice had a point, and he knew that.  He had known
that before he’d left.  But the hopelessness of the situation in Cathalar
seemed to grow every sun, with Veyron being brought closer and closer to the
brink of war.  Taeru had kept him from going too far on a few occasions, but
Lavus only answered with worse.

Ryo had believed Taeru, though.  The only reason Taeru had
left was because he knew that Ryo would be doing everything in his own power to
keep the war from happening.  And then there was Aela, who had believed Taeru
from the beginning—but Veyron wasn’t too keen to listen to his daughter for
advice.

The voices kept at it, though, and he was nearly to the
point where he could understood their words when a painful force slammed into
his chest.  He groaned and stumbled backwards, actually losing his balance and
falling to the ground.  Taeru was disgusted with how odd he was acting this sun. 
His eyes opened and he glanced up to the person he’d run into, with an apology
already forming on his lips.  “Ah, I’m so sor—”  The apology fell short when he
realized at whom he was looking.

Blond hair.  Amused blue-green eyes.  It was the traveler
from the festival.  Apparently, he hadn’t left, after all.  And now Taeru had
just made a massive fool of himself in front of this man.  Bloody Lightless—perhaps
Taeru would have been better off if the man had left.  “You don’t look well,”
the blond said, with a note of very genuine concern.