by Emily Wilson
“That doesn't sound like something you should feel bad about, Kato. If you ask me, he should be the one feeling bad. All you want to do is get to know your brothers, why isn't he being supportive?”
Kato thinks about that a moment and shrugs. “I don’t know. Normally he is, he’s just worried about me. He thinks I’m naive.”
“You don't seem naive to me,” Syph says, finally sitting back. “You're a Cogitare. You don't really have anything to fear from anyone, so what's he so worried about? Sounds like he's projecting his own insecurities, honestly. Don't very... well, it's none of my business. I hope you two make up when he realizes he was wrong.”
“I’m a Cogitare that doesn’t use his powers anymore. He thinks I should at least check before I trust, but doesn’t that defeat the purpose of trust?”
Syph contemplates that as he gets up to pour them both a drink. “Yes, I’d say so. But let's pretend Azrian’s right, that I’m evil and you trusted me anyway. If that's the case, all you need to do is use those beautiful Cogitare powers to freeze me and get Tripp to take you back. So where’s the danger? It sounds to me that we’re on pretty even footing, Kato. And I promise — you're even welcome to look if you want — but all I wanted to do here was talk to you. Not hurt you. Drink?” He walks back over and hands Kato a small, almost clear cup filled with ale.
“Thanks.” Kato accepts it and takes a drink. “You’re right. He knows I’m capable... maybe he just doesn’t trust me.” That isn’t true, and deep down, Kato knows that... but he struggles to settle on one particular emotion about this entire situation. “Would he have been welcomed here? Even though he’s human.”
The look of confusion on Syphon’s face is unlike anything Kato’s seen yet. “Why would that make a difference? Of course he'd have been welcome, but not if this is the way he's going to treat you. Do you think if we went and got him, that would change?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Ronan has school, that was why he said we should wait before we came. He’d just be angrier if he felt forced.”
“Yet, he was trying to force you. Hmm.” Syphon takes a slow sip, never dropping his attention from Kato. “And Ronan. You've sort of adopted him, hm? Is he a Videre?”
Kato doesn’t like the idea of anyone thinking bad of Azrian. “Look, about Az... I love him. He’s the best thing to ever happen to me. He's just overprotective, but I’m the same with him, too. I don’t want you to judge him before meeting him. He chose to give up his powers because he just wants to live a simple life. Who can blame him? And Rone, yeah, we’ve adopted him. He’s a great kid, and it's nice to have light occasionally, too. Embermeadow gets really dark at night.”
“I bet it does,” Syph says with a nod. The cup he pulls to his lips nearly has Kato missing the smirk he hides behind it, but not quite. “I bet it does.”
IT’S BEEN ROUGHLY FIFTEEN hours since Kato left with Tripp, and Azrian is already miserable. He shouldn’t have fought with him, shouldn’t have let him leave like that — and now, there’s nothing he can do unless he wants to pay to send an apology avisim. As tempting as that thought is, he has no idea how long Kato will be gone or if it’ll even be worth it. Not to mention, part of Azrian feels he was justified, and that part isn’t quite ready to apologize.
He throws himself into forging the double bit axe one of Rhix’s neighbors asked for. It’s calming, but mindless at this point. Heat, beat, repeat. Heat, beat, repeat... over and over, until Azrian’s shoulder is sore from swinging the forging hammer. The anvil they’re using isn’t the greatest so there isn’t much rebound to help him out, but he’s not brave enough to ask Rhix to get him a new one. For now, he’ll take what he can get and shut up about it.
When he’s finally satisfied with the shape and thickness, he dunks it in the barrel of cool water and smiles at the hissing sound it makes. He sets the blade aside and begins working on the handle, which was ordered to be intricately carved. Azrian’s not sure why the person that commissioned this weapon didn’t get the handle done by one of the woodworkers in town, but the job is theirs fully, and Rhix won’t stand for it being less than perfect. The problem is... Azrian isn’t in the right mindset for “perfect”. He isn’t in the right mind for anything at all.
After triple-checking the design they want, he grips the sharpest Hokrine knife he has and squints at the wood as he begins to carve. He screws up twice but does his best to fix both of the mistakes and moves along toward the bottom half of the handle to try the larger sections. From there, he starts to zone out, wondering where Kato is now or if he’s even okay. The thought of something happening to him is too much to bear, so instead, he pictures the way Kato probably hugged his brothers and told them all about his unsupportive boyfriend.
“Azrian, stop!” Rhix commands, and it jolts Azrian back to reality.
“What?”
His boss stares at him, slack-jawed and speechless, until Azrian finally notices the stabbing, pulsing pain in his finger. “That,” Rhix says.
Panic floods him when he remembers the only Sana he knows isn’t anywhere close to him, and it instills enough nervous energy within him that he’s too terrified to even look at it. It feels worse than any of the other times he’s knicked his fingers or slipped with a blade. “Rhix, tell me. Tell me how bad it is... is it gone? Is my finger gone?”
Amusement spreads across his features as he steps closer, and Az looks straight up at the ceiling as Rhix grimaces and touches his hand. “‘Fraid so, kid. You lopped it off right at the knuckle here. Might have to just take the rest of it off, honestly... not your best work.”
Instinct causes him to look down, but what he sees doesn’t exactly track with what Rhix is saying. There’s a tiny speck of blood marring an otherwise intact finger. “Wait...”
Rhix bursts out into loud, raucous laughter, slapping the whetstone as he struggles to control the irritating sounds forcing their way from his mouth. “You— should’ve seen — your face!” he roars, doubling over in what Azrian could only assume was an exaggeration of the situation.
“You’re a stult, you know that?”
It only makes Rhix renew his efforts to laugh himself to death, and Az sucks the blood from his knuckle and rolls his eyes. He returns to work, completely ignoring his boss until he’s able to speak normally again.
“Sorry, kid. You’re too easy sometimes. What’s got you so distracted, anyway?”
“Do you actually want to know, or are you just going to laugh at me again?” he asks skeptically.
“That depends. Is it a funny story?”
“No, but cutting off my finger isn’t funny, either. I can’t ever tell what you’re going to find funny.” Az wipes his hands with a dirty rag and sets it down, sighing as he turns to face Rhix. He’s the closest thing he’s had to a mentor or father since he was eight years old, so he’ll take any advice he can wrangle out of him. “It’s Kato. Or maybe it’s me... but the point is that he left.”
Rhix raises his eyebrows as he leans against the counter, and Azrian’s impressed he’s paying attention at all. “Define left. Left you, left Embermeadow... did he at least take that raccanis with him?”
“Left Embermeadow. No, he didn’t take Nut... and I don’t know if he left me or not.” Azrian’s face falls as he considers that exact possibility. “Maybe he did. I told him I couldn’t go with him to Rostya to meet his other siblings because someone had to stay back and make sure Ronan went to school and stuff, but I also told him I didn’t want him going at all. They could’ve come here like Teagon, Aleon, and Zero did. Why did he have to go there, anyway? If he’d have waited until summer, we all could’ve gone. But he wouldn’t wait and got mad at me for suggesting he should stay.”
“Well, why shouldn’t he go? I mean, really. He’s been out in the wild long enough to know his way around now, it’s not like he just walked out of Deadrun anymore. Why shouldn’t he have the chance to meet more of his family? You’d want to if the roles were reversed, wouldn�
�t you?”
Azrian couldn’t argue with that. If he knew he had brothers or sisters out there somewhere, he’d want to meet them too — but he also likes to think he’d listen if Kato told him not to go. “You didn’t know him at the beginning, Rhix. Deadrun does things to people. I don’t know anything about these brothers. How long were they there? How much influence did Melior have on them?”
“I don’t think that matters to Kato, nor should it matter to you,” Rhix says bluntly. “He lived at Deadrun for twenty-five years and look at him now. Everyone’s capable of change, Az. Kato’s just trying to see if his brothers have already gotten there or if they need a little help, and he probably really needed you to be there with him since you’re the one that helped him change.”
Suddenly, that apology avisim is sounding not only better, but necessary. Guilt and shame war for his attention as he lets the truth of what Rhix said sink in. He hadn’t been thinking about any of this at the time. All he could see were the potential dangers, and that wasn’t fair to Kato. He’ll deserve it if Kato chooses to leave or simply not come back at all. “What do I do, Rhix?”
“Nothing. You can’t go after him unless he told you where he was going or Aleon shows back up, and even if you could, I’d advise against it. Seems like this is something he’s gonna need to do on his own now. Gotta let him sink or swim, but you better be ready to apologize when he gets back,” Rhix says. “But please, give me some notice first so I can not stay at your place that night.”
He blushes, but he’s not surprised that Rhix knows exactly how Azrian plans to apologize. “You have a big house. Why don’t you just take my mom to yours instead, anyway?”
“She still doesn’t want to be away from you,” he explains. “She might not remember much about the time you were gone, but she knows enough to be wary of letting you out of her sight for long.”
As much as Azrian hates that for more reasons than he cares to think about, he can’t really blame her. He’s feeling the same way right now about Kato and has had similar instincts toward Ronan. Knowing everything that lurks out there in the dark... he’d just prefer that everyone stay together. Maybe he should’ve used that to get Kato to stay... but he doubts it would’ve made much of a difference. “Yeah, well... fine. I’ll let you know when I’m going to apologize.”
Rhix lets the subject drop after that and Azrian doesn’t have anything else to say anyway, but as he heads home, he can’t help the sadness that creeps in when he realizes Kato won’t be waiting for him. This is the longest they've been apart since Az was being held captive in the Rostian Ruins, and he’s not enjoying a single second of it.
Luckily for him, Ronan chooses to stay at home, so at least he has company. He feels bad for asking it of him — for asking so much of everyone around him, actually — but Ronan doesn’t seem to mind. They make dinner and bake enough sweetbread to feed a small militia just in case Kato does return soon, then have a sleepover in the living room by the fireplace. The flames still bother Azrian more than he cares to admit, but the warmth at least makes a dent in the void Kato left. They swap stories of their childhoods and sing each other songs until well into the night, but Azrian finds himself awake long after Ronan begins to snore.
He watches him sleep with a soft smile on his face. Regardless of anything else, he knows they’re doing right by Ronan. He has a safe place to live, food in his belly, and a house full of people that care more about him than his true parents ever did — and Azrian will never stop being grateful to every single one of them for giving Ronan the comfort and acceptance that he deserves.
If only he could’ve done the same for Kato’s brothers.
SYPHON DOUBLE-CHECKS to make sure Kato’s still asleep, then makes his way outside with Tripp. “You think we’re out of earshot for him?”
“Yeah. He honestly doesn’t seem to be peeking at all. I tried thinking of outrageous things just to see if he’d react... nothing.” Tripp leans against the wall and eyes him. “You get any more info on the little Videre?”
“Enough. Kato basically confirmed what Zero said about the kid being one, and apparently, Azrian gave his up. Could you imagine? Inais would kill me if I tried.” He scoffs, glancing back toward the building and leading Tripp a little farther away just in case. “We can do this. It's just the kid that'll put up a fight. We get in there; we take them both.”
“And what of him? How do we keep the giant docile in that time? He can best any of us if he tries,” Tripp rushes out in a whisper.
Not for the first time, Syphon wonders how he ended up being the only one with a working brain. “I think Zero’s punishment is just about up, don't you?”
When Tripp’s brain finally catches up, it’s as if a Videre turned on a light. His lips turn up with an excited grin and he nods in an almost dreamlike state. “Shadows... Syph, you’d be unstoppable. He doesn’t appreciate his gift the way you would.”
“You're right, he doesn't. And here was me thinking we'd bag a couple Videre outta the deal, but this?” He chuckles, glancing up at the sky. “Thank Inais for this one. I'm gonna make him proud.”
“He really had your back here. It was almost too easy, no way Inais didn’t have a hand in it. We should update Six, he was annoyed about the cell, but he’s already moved on. We’ll need him to watch the prisoners.”
The reminder of Six has Syphon rolling his eyes, but he knows it's necessary. “We'll need him and Zero both. Even once I'm finished with Kato, he’ll still have brute strength. Someone’s gonna need to keep him pinned down while you and I go ruin everything he's ever loved.” He pauses, cocking his head to the side and looking over to Tripp. “Does that make me a bad brother?”
“Sort of.” Tripp cackles and shoves his shoulder. “Whatever, not like we really know him anyway. You’ve never punished me, that’s all I care about.”
Sy tackles him to the ground and pins him there by his throat, the black in his irises swirling until they're both surrounded by the ghosts of those who have crossed him. “I don't punish you because I need you. Stop being useful, and...” He looks around at the translucent, terrified faces and smiles cheekily at each of them. “Well. You know exactly what'll happen, Tripp.”
He gets up, waving a hand to clear the vision, and it's enough to keep his brother from talking again until they’re standing in front of Six. “Ready for a job, lazy?”
Six begins to roll his eyes but he stops himself when Syph stares him down. “I’m ready. Does it have anything to do with the newest member of our family?”
“Sure does. Think you can keep a six-foot-five giant of a man safely tucked in one of these cells? You've got one job, Six. I'm expecting you to say yes,” Syph says coldly.
“Yes.” He doesn’t hesitate, not wanting to see Syphon get mad. “Wait... he’s a Cogitare. How am I supposed to keep him in?”
Syphon rubs his jaw as he sighs, then gestures to Tripp. “You're right, Tripp. Maybe I should just kill him.”
“I didn't say —”
“My gods, I have the stupidest siblings ever born,” he mutters. “Six, don't worry about it. Okay? I don't want you to hurt yourself thinking too much. Just be ready when I tell you to be ready and everything will be fine.”
Six looks nervous as he nods, but he knows better than to argue. “You got it, Syph. I won’t let you down.”
“Yes, you will,” he laments. “It's one of the most inevitable parts of any day. The sun comes up, the sun goes back down, Six is an idiot. It's almost comforting.”
He flicks his eyes to Slait, but he's not worried about the fact that he was eavesdropping. “You'll have company soon, Terrare. You remember Kato, right?”
Slait jumps up and walks to the bars. “The Cogitare?” He smiles for the first time since they brought him in. “Doubt he will stay in for long. Think you captured the wrong person... haven’t you heard about him and the Videre? They can’t be beaten. Cettia’s on their side.”
“Cettia was on their side, but Azrian t
urned her away. He gave his powers back, didn't you hear? She won't be helping him now... but even if she does, I've got her big, bad brother on mine. There’s a higher class of gods than the volucrae you people worship... and mine just happens to have the biggest hammer.” His eyes twinkle with dangerous, dark promise, and Slait must see it there. He backs up, shaking his head and stuttering some half-cocked defense, but Syph doesn't bother listening. “As I said... you'll have company soon enough.”
Tripp holds up a finger before he disappears, and it takes a few minutes for him to reappear in front of them. “He’s waking up, brothers. Now or never.”
Six looks at Syph as it all finally clicks in his head. “Oh,” he sneers, relaxing before their eyes. “Zero will be pleased.”
“I don't give a stone if he's happy or not,” Syph snaps, and turns on his heel to storm back up the stairs. With each step, he whispers assurances to Inais that he won't fail, he won't allow himself to be tripped up, he'll put his power to good use, and above all, he’ll find those Videre and make them pay.
Kato’s sitting up in his bed when Syphon kicks in the door, then extends his arms wide and chuckles at the shocked look on his face. “Hello, little brother. Sleep well?”
“Not really.” The brute rubs his eyes and tries to flatten his crazy hair. “Something happening?” Kato asks as he takes in Syph’s energy.
“Oh, you could say that. Brace yourself, Kato. I've been told this hurts quite a lot.” He brings his hands together slowly and sucks in a breath. It's obvious when Kato catches on and starts to move, but it's too late — Syphon calls on the powers granted to him by Inais and takes. The shadows around them expand and the air gets too thin to breathe as he calls upon that great, ever-present void. Voices trickle in slowly at first as Kato’s Cogitare powers are ripped from him, but as he begins to scream, it happens faster, faster, shaking the windows and the ground below them until the whole world goes still once more.
