Spirits of Falajen

by Ginger Salazar

  “I have for you, your first mission. It is not easy.”

  “We don’t do easy!” called out Simtel.

  The faintest smile appeared on Ekani’s lips. “It is an extraction. The rebellion has continued to tax our already limited resources, but we recently found out they are using kidnapped Resarians to further their cause.” He pointed at the spread before him. “This is a warehouse on the eastern side of the city. We believe they are keeping the Resarians here. You will bring back as many as you can, preferably alive.”

  “What of their mystics?” one of Simtel’s team asked.

  “You won’t have to worry about that,” Ekani replied, staring straight at Sulica. She met his gaze, determined not to look away. Ekani broke the contact first, proceeding to lay out the plan of attack and detailing the position of both Simtel’s and Sulica’s teams. He dismissed them when they were done, making a feeble attempt at a joke regarding how much they all stank.

  “Try sitting in a fish house most of the evening and see how good you smell,” Simtel grumbled. He and the others filed out of the room, but Sulica hung back to talk to Ekani.

  Several moments passed before he noticed her, so absorbed was he in the scroll as he made sure he hadn’t left anything out for the mission. Finally, he felt Sulica’s eyes on him, and he looked up. seeming not at all surprised to find her still there.

  “Are you alright?” she asked, dropping all pretenses.

  He sighed heavily and sat down. “It has not been an easy time.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

  “Don’t.” His voice was sharper than he intended. Sighing again, he amended, “I’m exhausted, and it’s taken a toll on my...spirit.” He gave a small chuckle. “It’s still so weird to say that.” Meeting her eyes again, he continued, “But the moment I discovered it, I felt more whole than I ever have in my entire life.”

  The genuine smile he gave her tugged at her heartstrings. She ached at hearing the pain and joy in his voice. Not trusting herself to speak, she simply nodded.

  Ekani leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “You could have been fried, you know. I might have killed you.”

  “But you didn’t,” she said playfully.

  “Barely.”

  “You needed to see for yourself. I just had to prove it to you.”

  “You mean prove me wrong.”

  “That was a bonus,” she laughed. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall again.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what? Your parents should have told you years ago. Then it wouldn’t be so painful.”

  “If he knew, my father would have. My mother must have assumed that being raised in Pahl’Kiar would prevent my mystic from presenting itself. And it would have if you hadn’t read that book.”

  “You would have figured it out eventually,” Sulica said, shifting uncomfortably. She had waited nearly a year before revealing to Ekani what she had learned about light and dark mystics and what Etyne was capable of. Curious to see if it was true, she constantly pressed Ekani to try to summon his mystics.

  He had denied it at first, of course, but she did not let up. One day, after a particularly rough combat session, she bitterly told him that his mother had likely given him up to his father because he had no spirit. It was then that Ekani’s fury manifested itself in a solar ray that burned so hot and intense that it singed Sulica’s hair as it shot toward her while she was walking away. It was only by pure luck and Ekani’s complete inaccuracy that she survived.

  From then on, they secretly worked together to develop his mystic and strengthen her own, no longer requiring the use of the Resarian captives for her practice. The months of training had improved his accuracy and abilities, but years of disuse made it extremely difficulty for his spirit to regenerate, often taking days for him to recover enough to face Sulica again. The first time it happened, Ekani was unconscious for a full day. Only Sulica’s immediate reaction of suppressing him kept him alive. She had stayed by his side the entire time, not daring to leave for fear he’d slip away in her absence. The guilt continued to consume her, and she remained ever watchful for the moment he might push himself too hard in their training.

  Sulica watched Ekani’s chest move slowly with every breath he took before realizing he’d fallen asleep in the chair. Smiling to herself, she quietly left the room and headed for her own quarters. As she prepared for bed, she racked her memory for anything that could help Ekani’s transition. In the cool darkness of the room, Sulica thought about her own realization as a suppressor.

  She had been so disgusted with her mystic during pre-Expedition training and again during. Kanilas Trenn had been the one to pry into what the training acolyte told her. When she told him that he asked what her career intentions were, Kanilas was curious. Resarian law enforcement trained with certain unique mystics if the right spirit applied. He realized that, whenever a particular spirit manifested, the acoyltes would work with the law enforcement to train the suppressors amongst them. Despite all his investigation, their identities were always kept classified lest Kiaran intelligence found its way into the city. Quick to seek out his delinquent childhood friends, Kanilas with his silver tongue found a disgraced acolyte willing to guide Sulica into furthering her powers after their graduation.

  Her sharp eyes had noticed the hesitation in the acolyte’s voice after he searched her spirit upon meeting. “What is it?” she demanded. “You know something.”

  The acolyte licked his lips nervously. “I really shouldn’t-”

  Kanilas whispered something in his ear that made the acolyte’s skin pale. Taking a deep breath, he told them that Sulica had a mystic that could cause an upset in the scales of balance.

  “What is it,” she said icily, tired of his stalling.

  “It is known as suppression,” he answered, eyes on the ground. “The ability to prevent others from using their mystics the way police officers do.”

  She and Kanilas exchanged a wide-eyed look. “How does it work?” she asked.

  The acolyte proceeded to reluctantly instruct Sulica in the use of suppression but warned that it ought to only be used in the most dire of circumstances. She began to practice. It felt good to have some form of offense, even if it was a kind of defense.

  The first time she’d used it on another person, Kanilas volunteered. When her spirit reached out to restrict his, she could see the terror in his eyes and reveled in it. Even when she’d used it on Brisethi, Sulica had felt the thrill of being able to render such a powerful spirit useless.

  Then Lantheus happened. Even after nearly three years, her senses were still haunted by the horror that befell them there. When she saw the same terror in Ekani’s eyes the instant she suppressed him that first time, there was no more thrill. Only sickness.

  -:- -:- -:-

  Ambassador Milia greeted Captain Sen Asel when she entered his office. He was sitting behind a large solid wooden desk, covered in papers. He had been her exclusive diplomacy trainer for the past year and wanted to put her abilities to the test. “I think you’re ready,” he grinned.

  “Ready for what?” she asked suspiciously and eyeing the lanky, balding man.

  “Yes, let’s test you. Come,” he ordered, ignoring her question and stood. He exited his office with Brisethi at his heels.

  “Where are we going?” she asked as they entered a grand corridor of the palace she had never seen before. Again, the Ambassador refused to answer. She followed him up a sweeping staircase and down a final corridor before they approached an ornate, grand set of doors. He knocked on it twice. Brisethi’s heart sank when she realized where they were.

  “Milia, please tell me this isn’t where I think-”

  “Shh,” he hushed her.

  At the sound of a stern voice commanding them to enter, Ambassador Milia pushed open the massive doors and casually walked in, his elaborate layers of robes swishing behind him. Brisethi’s heart pounded at seeing the prestigious Emperor
of Sariadne and the intimidating General of the Dominion at the end of the room at separate massive desks. A third desk was unoccupied, where the Admiral of the Navy, Admiral Sarina Onilak, normally worked.

  “Your Eminence,” Milia proudly announced his presence and halted before the two of them. “I present to you, Captain Brisethi Sen Asel, Military Envoy on behalf of the Dominion.”

  Brisethi was struck with panic and anxiety. She took a step forward, bowed her head, and lost her voice. She looked up at Emperor Arquistas Nal Enan who had stood and walked from behind his desk along with General Riez Satnir.

  “Your Eminence,” she stammered, “pleased to meet you.”

  “What the fuck is this, Ambassador?” General Satnir scorned Milia with his deep voice.

  “Are you seriously trying to address me right now, Captain?” Emperor Arquistas asked the young, trembling female. He was tall, with long black hair and steely cerulean eyes. She tried not to stare but had never seen him before and fell silent in shock.

  General Satnir stood taller than his emperor but had a shaved head and dark brown eyes to accentuate his dark brown skin. He had more girth than the emperor and his arms were as thick as Brisethi’s thighs. They were the most reputable, well-dressed men she had ever met, and ten times more fearsome than her father.

  She was speechless as the two leaders verbally ripped her apart for her wasted year of training on how to speak to her eminent superiors. She had no words to stand up for herself and she dared not interrupt either of them as she kept her empty stare on the windows behind them. After what seemed like an eternity to Brisethi but was no more than four minutes in reality, the emperor and the general halted their verbal assault.

  “We need a strong and powerful representative of the Dominion, not a child!” Arquistas demanded with finality and returned to his desk.

  “I asked for a confident officer, not a stammering private! Remove yourself from the presence of the Emperor!” General Satnir shouted.

  Once they were through the double doors, Brisethi leaned against the corridor wall, hands trembling. She couldn’t help that tears of humiliation were beginning to trickle down her face as her mind replayed the encounter with the two highest ranking men on Sariadne. Had the formidable Admiral Onilak been in attendance, she surely would have fainted.

  Milia covered his grin with his hand to keep from laughing. “You handled that only slightly better than my last trainee.”

  She glared at him through watery eyes. “Why would you do this to me? I wasn’t ready, you know I wasn’t.”

  He finally let out his laugh. Despite his mirth, he wasn’t mocking her. “How else are you going to build your nerve if not by having those two break you down first?”

  “I can’t do this,” she wiped her face. She wasn’t nearly as imposing and influential as she thought she would be.

  Milia patted her on the back, speaking as though she were a wounded animal. “‘Sethi, they do this to each of my trainees on their first year, it’s just an act! Didn’t your drill instructors treat you like this in your expedition training?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but I was prepared for that, and they weren’t the leaders of the Dominion!”

  “Then you would know that they’re not really this mean; they know who you are and want you to succeed. By this time next year, not only will you have more confidence to greet them, they’re not going to bite your head off, either.” He smiled to her. “Even if you’re still nervous, they will simply correct you.”

  She placed her hands on her head, massaging her scalp, “I have a headache, now. This stressed me out so much, I can’t believe I failed so hard.”

  He chuckled once more. “It happens to the best of us,” he reassured her.

  Brisethi had been relieved for the rest of the day to let her clear her mind of frustration and humiliation. Thinking fresh air might do some good, she left the Citadel as quickly as she could. She hadn’t seen the harbor in months and took the opportunity to visit it before the threatening gloomy clouds brought a snow storm upon the city. Though, she wasn’t a sailor, she admired the warships so long as she didn’t have to live on one.

  The chilly air helped her push the awful encounter to the back of her mind. She strolled through the harbor, watching the flags wave from the masts and the sailors and civilians milling around the docks. Her eyes caught sight of a small, stealthy frigate in port. “Pardon me, how long has the DSV Rogue been here?” She asked a passing shipyard worker.

  “She’s been here at least three months, Ma’am; dry-docked for maintenance and repairs when she took damage from a Kiaran warship,” the kind man replied.

  “She was attacked?” Her heart sunk in fear.

  “Aye, but the injuries were minimal. Whole crew is alive and accounted for,” he said, hurrying to soothe her obvious fears.

  Fear turned to worry as it consumed her spirit to know that Etyne hadn’t contacted her when his ship had been dry-docked for the past few months. Her mind ran through all the possibilities, and she wondered if he was simply billeted to another ship the moment they docked.

  Without even bothering to stop by her home to change out of her uniform, she rushed over to his building, hoping to the spirits that he wasn’t home. She climbed the stairs to the second floor, walked to his apartment door, and lightly knocked. The familiar smell of scented candles from the shop below flashed memories of her last visit to him. He better not be home, she thought while her heart pounded as fiercely as it had earlier that day in the presence of the Dominion leaders.

  His door opened and there he stood, almost surprised to see her. “Sethi, hey,” he stammered. His chest was bare, and she could see faint scar lines criss-crossing his torso that hadn’t been there the last she’d seen him.

  Brisethi resisted the urge to throw her arms around him. “How long have you been home?” she innocently asked, her relief mixing with the crushed sensation that he didn’t tell her.

  Etyne invited her in, knowing this was going to be a complicated discussion. He found a shirt to wear before continuing. “Since Sessjemir,” he hesitated.

  “For three months,” she whispered. “Were you not allowed to see me or something? I know it’s been a year, but we’re still close, aren’t we?” Her eyes searched his for the answer.

  “Sethi, I need you to understand something,” he started in the kindest voice he could portray, breaking the gaze, “if I had seen you the first night I arrived as I initially planned, you would have been the only person I would have seen for the past three months. We are inseparable when we’re together, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not in the way I’m in need of right now.” He chose his next words carefully while returning his eyes upon hers. “Sethi, I’ve been on a ship with mostly men for close to nine months; and before that, it was another eight months and before that, I was on an expedition for four years!”

  Etyne looked down at his hands, unable to face her as he said, “One of my comrades introduced me to his sister’s friend when we arrived and - well do you get what I am saying or shall I elaborate?” He tried to grin to turn it into a joke but could already feel the anxiety coming from his friend.

  “I...get it,” Brisethi quietly said. She realized that she was holding him back again, just like their time in officer training. However, she was dismayed that he no longer thought of her in the way his unsent letter had portrayed. Her heart thudded painfully, her face flushed and her ears hissed at the thought that he had found somebody else to take her place so easily.

  “What about me, Etyne...?” Her voice trailed off as she lost her courage to ask him in more detail when a lump in her throat formed.

  “I was going to come visit you the week before I left, after I visit my father next month,” he said, stumbling for words. Mentally, he began kicking himself, knowing that she would have eventually seen his ship in port and at some point the conversation had to happen. “I know it sounds selfish, but-”

  “No, Etyne, I mean, what about me
?” she softly asked and placed a hand on her chest. “Do you feel nothing for me in that way? Have I become repulsive to you?” she asked, not wanting to let the tears fall again for a second time that day.

  He swallowed the guilt of shunning her from his life for the past three months to be with someone else. “Sethi, I once asked you, a year ago, to stay with me for a night - I wanted something more with you. But you rejected me, even attempted to state an article of the UCDR - which, by the way, only applies to personnel in the same immediate command. Regardless, I shrugged it off by saying that I meant it as friends. Do you think I really shrugged it off, though?” He raked his fingers through his hair out of frustration. “Do you know how difficult every single night that you have ever slept in my bed at the Citadel, or in a faraway resort, or by my side on the top of a river boat; and most especially, in my bed the last time we saw each other - can you even begin to know the pain that has been for me?”

  Hearing it so evident in his voice broke her resolve, and the tears fell from her eyes. “Etyne, I was frightened!,” she declared, stamping her foot. “Every woman I have known of you to be with - Marinelle, Kara, Serythe - you’ve let those relationships just die! You don’t even remember their names, they mean nothing to you! I didn’t want to mean nothing to you!” Her voice had grown progressively louder as she spoke until she was shouting.

  Etyne remained silent, shocked that she had felt this way, that she was screaming at him from her own frustrations. He wanted to avoid her eyes full of sorrow and anger, but could only stare at the very paintings she created hung on the wall behind her. It was as if they were both caught in the chaos of her destruction. In an act of desperation, he considered bringing up the way she treated Joss for most of her life. He wanted to mention to her that he didn’t want what they had. But he feared it would only prolong this misapprehension of one another, that firing back with her dreadful past was not the civil way to save their suddenly fragile friendship.