by Liv Daniels
At a prompt from Sasha, Leina began to relate the events at Estlebey. She finished by saying, “So you see the whole thing was Dangerman’s plan. The Appeaser allowed the raid to happen so he would have an excuse to close Estlebey’s borders. I don’t know what Dangerman stood to gain from the whole thing, but he was obviously the one in charge. I think the Appeaser was afraid of him.”
Sasha looked troubled by the news. “We knew that this was coming, but we never expected it so soon.”
“It still doesn't make sense,” Max fumed, thumping a fist on Sasha’s desk. “Dangerman can’t be the one behind all of this.”
Sasha bit her lip, and Leina spoke up in the silence. “Now that we know he’s involved… are we going to try to stop him?”
Sasha considered for a moment, then she gave Leina a measuring look. “I asked you once, Leina Skyvola, if you were concerned with revenge. You told me that you were not.”
“I’m still not,” Leina replied. “But—when I was in Estlebey I saw the truth in everything that I’ve heard about the World. The people are so desperate, but that only makes them cling more to the lies that they are told. I don’t want to let that go on, and if Dangerman is truly the one behind it then allowing him to go on as he has will only hurt so many others.”
“Good.” Sasha said with a soft smile. “We’ll do all that we can.” She paused. “I don’t think that many would consider this a consolation, but I am coming to understand you more, Leina Skyvola, and you are not like many. I do not believe that your dealings with Dangerman are over.”
Leina nodded, gazing back at Sasha thoughtfully.
“Following Dangerman,” Sasha continued, “that was not something that I would have recommended doing. It was too risky. But… I believe you were right in doing it. You are an agent indeed, Leina.”
***
That evening, as Leina was flipping through another one of Max’s book suggestions, Ruby darted into the room. Her spirits certainly weren’t any worse for the wear.
“Father told me to get you and bring you home for dinner,” she exclaimed.
Leina didn’t put down the book. She only narrowed her eyes skeptically. “Are you sure that’s what he said?”
Ruby nodded fervently. “He said we both deserved it.”
Leina tried to picture those words coming out of Max’s mouth, but quickly gave up. With a chuckle, she tossed the book aside. “Let’s go, then! That sounds good to me.”
Leina had been to Ruby’s house once before. Ruby’s mother, Tiffany, opened her house as a restaurant for the agents and other townspeople during the evening. Everyone around the outpost town who wasn’t directly working for the Agency found their own way to support it, and this was Tiffany’s contribution.
The girls walked down a quiet street in town as the sun sunk low in the sky, emanating rays of pure crystalline color. Soft red and orange light was cast over the hills, and the streets, and the houses. Under such a lens, this moment seemed to outlast the short span of time that it was allowed to occupy. There was a lot of worth in such a moment as this, Leina thought. It would be dark in a few short moments, and then the flaming light of the sunset would be extinguished, but that did not make it any less.
Tiffany’s was lit by a warm fire, and cheerful talk filled the large front room that served as the restaurant. Leina remembered that the first time she came here, she had thought that it was the kind of place that seemed familiar even to those who had never seen it before. That was even more true the second time. She even recognized a few faces. Everyone here was smiling and laughing, enjoying the moment in perfect contentment. More than just their chilled limbs were warmed here.
Tiffany was serving someone nearby, and once she saw them she finished and bustled over to meet them. She was a kindly, bright woman, completely unlike Max in every respect. Leina didn’t know how Tiffany had managed to convince Max to let her turn their house into a restaurant, or how two such polar opposites could abide each other at all, but apparently they did.
“I’m glad you girls came,” said Tiffany. “I’ve heard that you had quite a day.”
Leina and Ruby looked at each other and laughed.
“I’d say so,” said Ruby.
“Here, sit down and I’ll get you something to eat,” said Tiffany warmly.
In a corner by a window, Leina recognized a couple of the stone-faced students that Max had run out on her first day of training. Now she knew that the two of them were twins, named Sal and Cal. She turned to wink at Ruby, and both of them sauntered casually over to the table and sat down. The failed trainees had been sharing a joke, but at the sight of Leina and Ruby their faces tightened and they fell silent.
“Didn’t I see you at the Agency?” Sal said after a length, not disguising the nervousness in his voice very well.
Leina smiled sweetly. “Yes, I remember you.”
“You don’t look so good,” said Cal.
Leina guessed that he was referring to the bloody claw marks in her scalp and on her arm. She responded with a quick shrug. “Thanks.”
“No, really. You should get out of that place while you still can. Max is terrible.”
“That’s funny. I was going to say that you should come back. This”—Leina gestured expansively at the room around them—“This is worth defending, even if you have to deal with Max. We only have it now because of people like him.” The conviction with which she spoke surprised even Leina, but the trainees only stared at her like she was crazy.
Leina was going to continue, but Ruby kicked her in the shin, probably harder than she intended to and right on the site of an especially painful bruise. Leina grunted and grabbed her leg instinctively.
“Are you okay?” Sal said quickly. His twin brother Cal started to stand up, obviously eager to leave.
Leina mumbled something in the affirmative, but shot a pointed glance at Ruby.
“You should hear what Leina’s got to do since you left,” Ruby piped up, ignoring the glance. “She got to go flying far away, and then they let her go to Estlebey.”
Both trainees’ eyes bulged. Sitting down, Cal said, “He never let us do anything like that.”
Leina smiled again. “Maybe you never thought to get on his good side.”
“What’s Estlebey like?” Sal asked, and for the first time Leina thought she saw a little life in his face.
“It’s very old. History seeps from the ground, almost. But the people are so different. This is a better place, until the World is changed.” She paused thoughtfully, then shrugged it all off with a smile. “You should come back.”
Tiffany came by with mugs filled with a hot drink. Leina took hers and fell silent as she sipped on it. Out the window, she could see the peaks of the mountains in the distance. The light in the sky was rapidly failing, and there were dark shadows growing on the mountainsides. Leina marveled that in all her time here, she had hardly given the mountains any notice. Just beyond them was the Desert, still so close. She had not wanted to remember that place.
But now she didn’t mind being so near. Even the thought of going back, if she ever had to, did not seem so unthinkable. Because she knew now where she belonged. Maybe it was true that the whole World had crumbled like Estlebey, but hope lingered still. It was strongest here, in the hearts of a handful of outcast agents, and now she was one of them. Of that she was glad.
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Leina’s journey continues in Song of Dawn Book 2: The Masked One
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