11. HYRAN
11
HYRAN
The G&C Voice is aiming to bring the latest of the developments at Starlit Stage to all Guardians, Conduits, and regulars. We know many are still waiting to hear news about their loved ones, those brave extras who were present at Starlit Stage when the attack happened, the Battle of Starlit Stage as we’re calling it, or those there for the event in celebration of Argentea’s Team Three.
In addition to contacting protectors if you have lost contact to a loved one, please also get in touch with the G&C Clinic AI.
Now, we got a chance to speak with Champion Shoda, who was instrumental in foiling the attack and reuniting Guardian Senlas with his Conduit.
Shoda, can you tell our listeners what happened and how you managed to bring the protectors and Conduit Orrey to Starlit Stage?
“Of course. The idea was Conduit Orrey’s. He saw me and my team bring people out of the zone of direct danger on an ice slide.”
Such a slide as you and hydromancer Vinora have often used to beat various obstacle challenges during the Games, correct?
“Correct. Vinora pulls the water from wherever she can get it, I make the slide. Conduit Orrey ordered us to make several to bring him and the protectors back to Starlit Stage, and one of Team Three’s Guardians was going to provide illusionist cover.”
That is quite an idea.
“I agree. Conduit Orrey would have been an excellent active member of a Guardian Games team, but of course he has earned his idol status as Senlas’s Conduit now. At the time, the protectors were also concerned about setting foot on the Grounds and keeping them on my ice would have been a workaround. This was before we knew the Op-AI was dead.
“There isn’t much more to say, really. We followed Conduit Orrey’s orders, and the protectors were instructed to fire as soon as the illusion broke, which we knew it would at some point. The shooting was going to be more of a distraction, given that ammunition that works well on regulars doesn’t always hold against Guardians. And yet, the protectors fought bravely for all of us. Not one of them hesitated. They showed how Ferrea can come together and do what is needed when it is needed.
“I urge all Guardians and Conduits who do not know what to make of the protectors’ presence inside the Grounds right now to remember that just yesterday, they faced a battle they knew they could not win by themselves without fear. They are Ferrea as much as all of us. Show them kindness and show them gratitude.”
(From the radio news cast G&C Voice.)
When Hyran saw Col walk down the hallway on bare feet, he raced to him.
His Conduit’s eyes widened in surprise. “Did you wait for me?”
Hyran shrugged and put an arm around Col’s shoulders. “You look tired.”
“I am. I really am, actually. You must be too.” He ran both hands through his hair, flinched when he accidentally brushed over the gel-covered wound there, and looked up at Hyran with those big, beautiful bi-chrome eyes. “The Argentean Op-AI should be working on fixing the transportation problem out there. Your mothers?”
Hyran felt heat rise to his cheeks. “I haven’t called them. I was waiting for you to finish.”
Col nodded. “Of course. It seems I’m being the insensitive Hound-fucker today.”
Hyran put both arms around Col, not quite hugging him, but close. He knew there were other Guardians behind his back, but he didn’t care. There was only Col now.
“No, of course you aren’t. You’re good at what you do. I think you managed to gather and organize more information in a few hours than everyone else has since the attack. You found out about the psionomancers.”
Col snorted. “Like you would know how much information anyone has gathered. You’ve just been sitting by my bedside.”
“No place I’d have rather been.”
Col nodded. “That room back there?” He pointed. “I’m moving my things over there. I think the one across from it is free.”
Hyran sighed but nodded. He wanted closeness with Col, but he would take what the Conduit allowed. “It’s fine.”
“Good. Help me move my things over, and then, if you’re open to it, I’d like to talk, just you and me.”
Hyran’s heart jumped a beat. “Of course. Nothing I’d rather do.”
Col’s lips crinkled with amusement. “Are you sure, Guardian? Really, really sure?”
Hyran cleared his throat. “Almost nothing I’d rather do.”
“You’ll have to let me go so I can move. I think I’ll shower again now that the bandage is off.”
He pulled the tips of his hair, and Hyran was reminded of Col taking a shower that night, of how he’d looked under the water even when Hyran had tried not to look too much. It was something to fantasize over.
Col didn’t have many things that needed to be moved. He came here with nothing when we found them out on the river, Hyran thought as he ran an armful of clothes over to the much smaller room Col had picked.
It was calming, a bed nestled in a corner, warm light emanating from the ceiling. A room for a Conduit to rest after channeling. Col walked in after Hyran with a basket full of products Hyran recognized as Guardian Games supporters, a line of bright eyeshadows and shampoo and conditioner from Fizz’s Guardian Candy line.
“You are looking at that bed with the kind of desire most Guardians reserve for their Conduits. That means either you are more tired than you’re showing me, or you are indulging in fantasies.”
Hyran couldn’t exactly tell what Col wanted to hear, and so he cracked a smile, then decided he would give his Conduit the truth. “I get by on very little sleep. Like most kinetomancers.”
“Right. I should know that. Fantasies then.”
Col’s expression didn’t move much from neutral. Not encouraging. Not fucking encouraging.
“Actually, I was thinking that this room is perfect for a Conduit who channels a lot, cozy and calm and out of the way. Which doesn’t mean other fantasies didn’t cross my mind, but obviously, I’d prefer you initiating sex. At least until we know each other better.”
“Obviously. Hmm. Like sorry, it’s not a word most Guardians use as easily as you do. I mean, mine do. But they had to be taught. Some are still learning.”
Hyran watched as some of the mask slid off Col’s face and he smiled for real.
“You love them.”
“I told you I do. Or I think I told you.” Col shrugged. “Concussion.”
Hyran nodded. “For which you should take meds right about now.”
“Before th—” Hyran ran, speeding out of the room and to the living space of the suite where he’d left the medication, grabbed it, and sped back, the servi-floor perfect for the grip he needed. “—at. Oh fuck!”
Col took a step back before he giggled.
“What, first it’s scary, then it’s funny?”
“No, it’s that I keep forgetting, and then you’re a blur, and I really need to get used to it. Sorry, I swear this isn’t funny to me. Your speed is impressive, truly.”
“Uh-huh.” Hyran went to the bathroom and filled a glass with water before handing it and the three pills Col had to take to him. He was smiling though.
Col had taken the time to sit down on the bed, and truth be told, it was both tempting and confusing. Hyran glanced at the door and found it closed. More confusing.
“Thank you,” Col said and took the offered water and pills.
Hyran watched him swallow, and Col held the eye contact as he drank down the whole glass before placing it on the floor by the bed.
“Are you worried I might not be attracted to you?” Col asked.
Hyran rubbed his hands together before letting them drop to his sides. “It hadn’t even occurred to me to worry about that. Strange, huh? I’m more worried about your team.”
“You should be. Not for the reasons you think, of course.”
“Well, your panoplian made clear he wants to cut me. Or beg me to take him to the Whistle’s End.”
Col huffed. “Giving all your secrets away? You are too easy, Hyran. I might tell Taros the name of that place, and then what would you use to handle him?”
“I don’t care about handling Taros. I only want to handle you, Col. May I sit with you? Or do you not want me here? Did you still want to talk?”
“Sit. I do want to talk. Not about how my team will murder you if you give them a reason to.”
He wants to see how I react to that, Hyran thought as he sat. “I know Guardian Vin has quite an impressive family history. I was stunned when I first looked into it. I can’t say I’m surprised about it now that I’ve met him. But you didn’t believe me, earlier. When I told you I wanted things to work out well between us.”
Col sighed. “No, that’s not it. I believe you. I’d be a disappointment to my team if I didn’t tell you flat out they’d do anything to protect me. I’m their leader, and I have to make things a bit flashy and impressive when I can.”
Hyran couldn’t help himself. He smiled. “So you threaten me.”
“My little brother has regular parents just like you. They threatened to murder Senny when they first met him. Who knows, maybe Vin threatened to murder Senny too, and I just missed that. Consider it your initiation.”
Hyran nodded. “Strange, but fine.”
“You’ve never been part of a team?”
“I’m on Logistics Four. That’s a team.”
“But you don’t work with anyone. You go outside the walls where you have time to make friends with outsiders and Hounds.”
Hyran sucked in a breath. He’d have to tread carefully here. “I’m not friends with any Hounds. They’re difficult. I try not to murder them, they try not to murder me, most of the time. If you call that friendship, sure.”
Col nodded and picked up the screen he’d carried over with his beauty products. “Can you show me where? The humans you befriended, I mean. Where is that town?”
Hyran cocked his head. “I can. But can I ask why you want me to tell you?”
“Because they might have seen something. I…I don’t know yet. Can you just show me?”
Hyran nodded and took the screen. It displayed the normalized map, or at least that’s what he liked to call it. It didn’t mark out the human settlements that Hyran knew, and it didn’t mark those paths he’d seen Hounds take nor did it have any of the Hound places the outsiders had told him about. It was this map that they all knew from their first few years of schooling.
“Here, approximately.” Hyran marked the place west of Cuprea. “That’s where Lowvalley is. It’s really tiny, compared to other places.”
Col leaned in to look at the screen. “That’s near the floodlands.”
“Yes. They forage a type of mushroom that grows there. It’s good. They also cultivate their own, which is an impressive way to do agriculture and one I think we could learn from.”
“So they shared food with you.”
“Didn’t the outsider you met share food with you?”
Col nodded. “They offered succor.”
Hyran tilted his head to the side. “What’s that mean?”
Col bit his lip and took the screen back. “You requested my file through the Op-AI? The Ferrean one?”
“Yes, why?”
“Did you look at the version my Op-AI sent you? I mean, it should have sent you something. After the imprinting.”
“I had a lot of messages. I haven’t read all of them yet, and I want to truly get to know you, not just from some file.”
“I’m only asking because I would assume the version you received upon request redacted my place of birth, which was outside the walls.”
Hyran’s jaw dropped. He had not seen that coming. “You—Coldis. You’re right, I didn’t know that. You’d have to have been young to be taken in?”
The Conduit nodded. “Very young. But I remembered succor. It works between outsiders and Hounds, and apparently also for my team. It’s asking for help and promising peace while one receives it.”
“I see. That makes sense. The outside can be, well, it can be what you saw. Not that I know what you saw or experienced during the attack, but I can imagine it wouldn’t have been pleasant, what with your team hurt.”
Col put his screen away. “It wasn’t pleasant. It wasn’t pleasant at all. I’d like to meet the people you made friends with, the outsiders who told you of that woman.”
“What? You want to go outside the walls again?”
“Well, I don’t see them joining me for some coffee and buns here.”
Hyran scratched his neck, groaned in frustration. “You’re something, Coldis Solara.”
“What a compliment. How will I get used to such sweet words from my poetry-loving Guardian? I need to go out there and talk to them. We need to find that woman.”
“And why is that?”
Col looked at the door. “Later. I’ll tell everyone later. I can’t handle that now. I think I might need that break after all, but I’ll channel you first. Were you on medication before?”
Hyran nodded. “Yeah. Undora would channel me sometimes, and there are Conduits on my team.”
“You might have been told to keep on taking channeling meds and reduce them slowly after imprinting, but you don’t actually need to do that. I’m really good at channeling.”
“I had noticed.”
“I had to do so much emergency channeling with the lot of them.”
Hyran sighed. “That team of yours who would kill me if I hurt you?”
“That team. That family. Hyran?”
“Yes?”
“You’re attractive. I like your eyes. No idea how you manage that hair with your speed, but it looks impressive. Red hair is a rarity.”
Heat rose unbidden, and when Col took Hyran’s hand, it was everything Hyran could do not to lean in and hope for a kiss from his Conduit. But then he felt the pleasant rush of Col’s channeling, something unique and precious.
“I braid it, normally, but there were supposed to be cameras. It’s full of tangles probably.”
Col looked up at him, pink tongue slipping out of his mouth to wet his lips. “If you want, I could check.”