Chapter 30 – His Crown of Bones #4
"Then I would like to sleep for a week," he murmured.
He shifted, just slightly, so that he pulled me a little closer, my shoulder brushing his.
I let myself be pulled, just as I allowed myself to be led to the dais, as I chose to stand by his side and listen quietly to the ceremonial words.
There was a song and several prayers to honour ancient ketaari ancestors and a drone show put together by a number of the major sponsors.
And then lights exploded above the arena, showering shimmering dust over the crowd and the sands and painting the whole place in glitter and gold, and Araxis accepted a crown made of, I was sure, gold-plated bones and the crowd screamed and screamed and screamed, and I felt all of it in my very marrow.
I felt it all, smiling until my face hurt, and I willed it to just be over.
And then it was. We returned to the platform and it lifted us back to the staging room, and Araxis turned one last time to the crowd as a flock of the colourful birds from the jungle were released behind us to form an arc of streaking colour and feathers, and then we stepped inside and it was over.
Well, mostly. Wind Petal was inside and led him to another room where he had to sign some final paperwork in order for the prize to be released.
I trailed after him, his ceremonial robe folded over my arm, his crown of bones dangling from one hand.
I waited, and then the paperwork was done; we then went back to the village, its common rooms already stripped back and undergoing a deep cleaning before it all was shut down until the next Tournament.
Wind Petal left us to gather Araxis's things while she prepared the shuttle.
"Do not take too long," Wind Petal said to me before she left, wry.
"He is very tired and has said that you must depart the arena by this evening.
" If she was human, I think she would have wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, but instead her inner eyelids flickered, just a little, and then she was off to prepare Araxis's shuttle for take-off.
"So we aren't meeting up with Nilli?" I asked as I ducked into the room after Araxis. "She wants to meet you. And I think she's waiting in orbit for us."
Araxis, already stripped out of his base layer and back in his own familiar clothes, blinked, his eyes dark. "Nilli?"
"Nilvethre of Creche Athal," I supplied. "She picked me up and has spent basically every minute of every day with me since I left the arena. She's kind of the best, even if she treats me like I'm eight years old. And she's important to Creche Athal, Zirric said, so… you'll want to meet her."
Araxis was quiet for a moment, then he went back to folding his clothes.
"Hm. Yes, I will meet with Creche Athal again.
Lauvis and I have a great deal to discuss.
" He picked up his wristband from the end of his bed and slid it on, at once calling the display up.
"I am certain I will meet her then." He frowned at a message, then flicked it away and smiled at me instead. "I am glad you had good company."
I watched him as he looked at his wristband again, and then went back to packing. Now that I knew he'd been keeping things from me, it seemed so obvious.
I turned and saw that there was another bag by the door, realizing with a start that it was mine. I went to rifle through it and found the storybook I'd made for the kids and my meagre collection of clothes, plus all of the ones that had been made for me. Plus –
"Oh," I said, pulling out a wristband. On it was a paper note in a jagged, scratchy hand.
The residuals have been almost excessive this cycle.
I have indulged myself in a new wristband of the highest quality.
You may have my discard; it is useless to me now.
I am sure you will use it to send a ping to bother me soon and I will have much regret for not spacing this band instead.
The words were chased by a little shape of waves which glinted silver in the light.
My throat grew tight as I held Silver Sea's wristband in my hands, staring down at it. I tucked it back inside my pack for the time being. I didn't think I wanted to be connected back to the datasphere yet.
"I have spoken with Nilvethre of Creche Athal," Araxis said behind me.
"She is returning to the creche ship and will see us there.
CPEF has also reached out to determine an appropriate time for the judicial review process; there is a judiciary ship in-system, so we will report there when summoned.
I'm not yet certain how long we will have beforehand. "
"And what does all of that mean, exactly?"
Araxis fluted out a long breath, looping the ties on his bag tight.
"It is complex. There is nothing to worry about: they will want to affirm that your declaration was made honestly, and that I accepted it honestly as well.
But you have already been accepted by another creche.
The truth is irrefutable: your status outweighs the claim made by anyone else.
There is nothing to fear, Sashen, I promise.
I would very much like to leave this place now. "
So I shouldered my bag and followed him out of the room, quiet.
Only a few days ago, I had said I trusted him entirely, and I had.
What did I trust now? That he had his own motives and that he would act in the way he thought was best, but his first instinct remained to keep his cards close to his chest, to smooth away any wrinkles, always out of sight.
We headed down the stairs to the maze of hallways beneath the village and followed the tunnel that branched off toward the startling view of the jungle below.
There, Wind Petal was waiting. I hung back while she and Araxis exchanged a few words, and then she headed back into the halls beneath the complex. I followed Araxis on to the shuttle.
My body was keenly aware that the last time we'd been in the cramped space, we'd fucked, and I felt a traitorous desire to pull him tight to me the minute the shuttle door hissed shut.
Instead, I sat down in the seat next to his and strapped in, before Araxis fired up the shuttle and eased us out from beneath the weight of the complex overhead.
As we flew out of the atmosphere and into space beyond, angling toward Thenat-5 and the anchorage of Creche Athal's ship, I thought how this exact experience – sitting in a seat like this, just off to the side – perfectly encapsulated my life so far.
Aside from the one brave impulse I'd chased when I was fifteen, I had been happy until now to be a passenger in my own life.
Here, on this shuttle, I wasn't even a co-pilot: someone else made the decisions; someone else steered the ship; someone else set the destination and I just sat there, watching the universe slip by.
I wasn't going to do that anymore.
Power. Status. Freedom. A life fully lived.
First, I had to gather more information.
I needed to understand what this judicial review entailed and what my status was as virra – what protections I had, what power I could wield, where my leverage was – and than I would confront Araxis.
He might believe he was piloting us to our destination, but soon enough I would be charting our course forward.
I was done being a passenger.