Chapter 12 Shovia
SHOVIA
"Truth without context is merely a fact; knowing who benefits from which version of the story is the context."
—From 'The Politics of Information'
by former Council Member, Sorifa Drian
The moment Kailin left our room, I shot out the door. My best friend had just been summoned by the dragon queen, and she'd looked like she was heading for an execution.
I needed to tell Alar. Not that there was anything he or anyone else could do about it, but I couldn't just sit on my ass alone in our room and wait for her return.
I caught sight of the guys just returning from the showers, hair still damp and shower kits dangling from their fingers.
"Hey!" I called. "We have a situation."
Alar's expression immediately sharpened. "What's wrong? Where's Kailin?"
"Nyxath summoned her. They're meeting on the landing terrace right now."
The color drained from Alar's face. "Did she say why?"
"She didn't, and Kailin looked scared." I glanced around the hallway, noting a few other cadets heading to their rooms. "We should talk somewhere private. Your room?"
Alar nodded. "Let's get Morek on our way."
Once inside, I plopped on Codric's bed. "Maybe I should wait for Kailin in our room. I don't want her to return and not find me there."
"She will know you are here," Alar said. "Why was Kailin scared?"
"Isn't that obvious? She can do what only Nyxath could do up until now, and the dragon queen might see her as a threat. Kailin joked about not coming back and told me to tell you that she loved you, but I don't think she was kidding. She was really scared."
"She'll be fine," Codric said, though he was frowning. "Kailin's too valuable to harm. The dragon queen will not do anything to her."
"Someone like Nyxath will want to control or contain Kailin," Morek said. "People never give up power voluntarily, and dragons are no different."
"You are not helping," Alar growled. "I should go down there."
"And do what?" I asked. "Interrupt a meeting with the dragon queen? I'm sure that'll go over well. Besides, she might have taken Kailin on a ride."
If Nyxath wanted to get rid of her, she wouldn't just immolate her on the terrace. She would take her somewhere private and do it there.
Alar ran a hand through his hair. "I can't just sit here and do nothing."
"You can, and you will because you have no choice."
Alar sank onto his bed, elbows on his knees. "I hate feeling helpless."
We all did.
"I hope Nyxath doesn't know about Kailin's dream," he murmured.
"Which dream?" I guessed he meant the one about calling riders across worlds, but I wasn't sure Kailin had told him about it, so I wasn't going to volunteer anything.
He glanced at me. "She told you about it, didn't she? The Circle of Fate dream?"
I nodded. "Pretty wild stuff. And you're right. If Nyxath knows about it somehow, she might see Kailin as even more of an asset or a threat."
"The problem is that we have no idea which one it is," Alar said.
I hated the waiting, the not knowing.
Morek groaned. "Curfew is ten minutes away. I should head to my room or I will be stuck here."
"You can sneak out later," Alar said. "That's what I'm going to do." He shifted his gaze to me. "I need to make sure that Kailin is okay when she gets back. I have to believe that she's fine and that the worst thing that can happen to her is a case of rattled nerves."
I smirked. "Is that what we're calling it now? Making sure that she's okay?"
He glared at me. "Of course."
When my attempt to lift the mood crashed and burned, the four of us sank into a brooding silence once again.
Perhaps I should bring up our investigation to get everyone's mind temporarily off Kailin and Nyxath's meeting and use the time for something constructive.
"So, about the dragons with all those dead riders.
" I twisted the end of my ponytail between my fingers.
"On the remote chance that the other three dragons haven't bonded with new riders yet, we should somehow warn the other cadets to stay away from them during the day of Volition, but without telling them why. "
We were five weeks away from the day we would meet the available dragons, and the courtship began, so we had to spread the rumor cautiously.
Naturally, it wasn't called courtships, and I was probably the only one who thought of it in such terms, but in my humble opinion, it was more fitting to call it The Day of Courtship or The Day of Presentation than the Day of Volition.
"Maybe these dragons are defective somehow," Codric said. "Traumatized by not being raised by dragon parents."
I snorted. "That's stupid. None of the post-Extinction War first generation of dragons had parents to raise them, and there were many more than four. They were all hatched from the eggs Saphir managed to hide from the Shedun."
"That's a good point," Codric said. "We need to check if these four dragons are part of the original group Saphir hatched or if they're of the second generation. If they're all originals, that might mean something."
"Like what?" I asked.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe something about how they were hatched or the order of hatching. We need more information."
"Maybe they're looking for something specific in their riders," Morek suggested. "Some trait that most riders don't have but Captain Odinah does."
"Like what?" Alar asked. "Weak-minded? Easy to control?" His tone was mocking. "I don't think she's any of those things."
I chuckled. "She's about as weak-minded as granite. She's strong, assertive, and takes no shit from anyone."
"Evil then?" Morek offered. "Maybe they're looking for riders willing to do bad things?"
"She's not evil either," I protested. "Strict and demanding, absolutely. But not evil. She's tough on us because she wants us to survive."
Alar leaned back against the wall. "What about political leanings?
Maybe this is about opposition to the current power structure.
People who don't think the council should rule, or who resent Saphir having so much influence, or whatever Elucians are concerned with.
I don't know enough about Elucian politics to speculate.
" He shifted his eyes to me and then to Morek.
"You two should know more about it than Codric and I. "
I shrugged. "I'm not interested in politics, so I probably know as much as you do."
"Really?" Alar looked surprised. "You don't follow politics at all?"
"Why would I? It's all the same people making the same decisions they've always made. The council argues, Saphir provides spiritual guidance, and life goes on."
Alar turned to Morek, expecting a different answer from him, but he should have known better.
"Sorry." Morek shook his head. "I don't even remember the names of the council members."
Alar's brows hitched almost all the way to his hairline. "What about newspapers? Do you at least read the headlines?"
I laughed. "Newspapers? What are we, sixty? That's what old people do—sit around reading papers and complaining about how things were better back in the day."
"Television then? Watching the news?"
Poor Alar seemed unable to accept that some people couldn't care less who was sitting on the council and wouldn't bother with listening to their boring statements.
"We follow the Shedun attacks," Morek said. "But not elections and stuff like that. We don't get to vote until we are out of the service, which is twenty-five for most and never for riders, so what's the point?"
Alar couldn't stop frowning. "That's absurd. All Elurians twenty and older get to vote."
I regarded him with what I hoped was a sardonic smile. "You decide who to vote for based on what your newspapers print about this or that prospective council member who paid them to sing their praises. You also have a king, so you are not a true democracy."
His expression darkened. "We are a federation, and the king can't do anything without the council's approval.
But you are right about the newspapers printing whatever the king and council want the people to believe.
Only the rags dare print dissenting views, but no one takes them seriously.
Their reporters are dismissed as not true journalists but conspiracy theorists and sensationalists who would print anything to sell more copies. "
"Everyone has an agenda," I said. "And you can't trust what anyone is saying, and that's in a society that values truth above all."
Codric chuckled. "One person's truth can be another person's lie. Truth is subjective."
"Some of it," I agreed. "But not all. Some truths are immutable facts."
"True enough," Alar agreed. "But we still need information about Elucian politics to be able to speculate about the motives of those dragons. Anyone who might be more knowledgeable come to mind?"
Most cadets were around our age, too young to care much about politics beyond how it affected their immediate lives. The instructors were military through and through, so they'd never discuss politics with cadets even if they had opinions.
"The old librarian, Hadrick," Morek suggested. "He seems like the type who'd know everything about any subject."
He was perfect. "He seemed bored and hungry for company," I said. "I bet I could get him to tell me whatever I want."
"When can we go?" Codric asked. "And more importantly, can we go? Captain Odinah was upset to find us there. The main library is off limits to first-years."
"I can sneak out there," I offered. "I wouldn't know what to ask, though." I turned to Alar. "You seem to know things about politics, so you need to be there as well."
"We need to get permission," Alar said. "I'll try to convince one of the instructors to give us a permission slip so we can all go."
"Assuming we're all still here tomorrow," I murmured.
"Don't say that," Alar snapped.
"Sorry." I moved to sit beside him on his bed. "We are all worried." I got up and started pacing, taking over from where Alar had left off. "I hate this. I hate not knowing what's happening."
"You're starting to sound like me," Alar said with a wry smile.
"Elurion help us all," Codric muttered. "One of you is bad enough."
"Okay, back to our topic," I said. "Before I drive myself crazy. What else do we know about these dragons?"
"Just the names and the pattern of their riders' deaths," Codric said. "We need more information about the dragons themselves. When they hatched, who were their first riders, and any unusual behaviors they displayed."
"We need to get back to the archives." Morek crossed his legs at the ankles. "But after Odinah caught us, we can't go back there. At least not officially."
"What about asking the dragons directly?" Alar suggested. "Kailin can talk to any of them."
"And say what?" I asked. "'Hey, Vyrassin, why do you keep killing your riders? Just asking for a friend.'"
"Obviously not like that," Alar replied. "But she could ask general questions like who were the first hatchlings, how did they grow up without adult dragons to emulate, and whether they are different in any way from those who hatched later."
"That's actually not a bad idea," I admitted. "If she can be subtle about it. I don't know how much control she has over her telepathic communication with dragons."