Chapter 63: A Loose Foundation

Subject: Caim Location: Maliscade - Protoflora: Envisioned Ecosystems (Gate District)

“Welcome to- Oh, it’s you two! I’m so happy to see you both!”

A familiar face greeted Caim and Gwen at the door. The flustered girl with pink flower petal clips in her long green hair hurried over to close her shop so she could speak with her guests.

The way she moved wasn’t all that rushed, really, stumbling forward through a clutter of potted plants to lock the door and place a sign in the window. Her feet deftly navigated the native mess, despite looking like she would come to trip and fall flat on her face more than once. It brought a smile to Caim’s face too.

“We’re happy to see you too, Novette,” Gwen answered, and Caim seconded the sentiment.

It really did feel safe here. He had actually intended to come here all along after checking in on Gwen. His business, however, could wait. A lot had happened.

Novette led them into her adjoined plant nursery where there was more space to talk. She brought over stools to sit on, and Caim happily accepted the opportunity to rest up in the pleasantly fragrant room.

It wasn’t a fragrance like a perfume, but rather like the wilderness. He’d never been in this room, but it seemed like Gwen knew her way around the space.

Caim summarized what he’d experienced back during the attack. He tried to speak carefully, but it must have been a shock for them to hear, even as he filtered the worst.

Gwen clasped her hands and scrunched up on the stool, making her body look even smaller than it usually did.

The botanist looked to be in a daze, stupefied by all that had happened not far from her shop.

“Wait, did you really not hear anything?” asked Gwen after the explanation was over.

A nervous guilt crept over Novette’s face. She could smile with her mouth, but that lazy stare communicated enough. It left Caim thinking that Gwen would have done better at concealing her vulnerability.

“No… I was napping and I’m kind of a sound sleeper. It is good to see you are both safe, though.”

Gwen wasn’t paying attention anymore, distracted by something else, but Caim couldn’t see what it was. There was just too much going on in the room.

“Caim was the only one in danger. I’m happy the few people I care about in this city are safe too. But a Hexknight really started something like that? I’ve heard stories, but I’ve never seen one myself,” the merchant mumbled.

“Neither have I,” Novette added. “But I really haven’t heard any stories about them. I sort of remember learning the subject during schooling, but I don’t think I paid attention. They’re like Enforcers, right?”

Gwen looked up stunned, biting the inside of a cheek. She slid a hand down the side of her face and just stared at Novette. Caim tried to answer for her.

“There are thirty-six of them, and each group of six has a collective responsibility. Every Hexknight has a squad of six knights to help them.”

“When they are all still alive there are thirty-six,” Gwen corrected. “The knights in their squads can be replaced if they die, but not right away I think.”

“Wait. Hexknights can’t be replaced?” Caim asked for clarification.

He was definitely intrigued. Novette was listening along, but she didn’t seem all that attentive. Not like she was when Caim was describing his traumatic experience.

“You don’t need to know that right now, which is good because I don’t really know the full details. I’ve been busy with my other work and getting access to that kind of information safely is somewhat tricky. It isn’t even all that useful unless you really know how to predict the impact of a political change will have on different markets. It’s private information, it’s just that asking about it is...”

Dangerous.

“Yeah, I get it. Well one of the Hexknights is supporting the Guild for now. His name is Gillis, and he took responsibility for the other one. He’s funding repairs after the attack. I’m not sure, but he might not be a bad person. Or... he is a terrible person and a master manipulator. I really don’t know. Truthfully, he said some confusing things.”

“That bit about the ‘subhuman factory’?” Novette asked.

Caim grimaced at the word, and she quickly apologized without looking like she really got why the word annoyed him. To her and to maybe many others in Shroud, that word was normal. They heard it in conversation, and they repeated it to others.

It was natural to think of species that way here. It wasn’t natural for Caim to think of other species at all. Only humans had been living on his homeworld. Yet, even with that unfamiliarity, or perhaps because of that familiarity, he knew he wouldn’t want the subject tossed around like that.

“You two don’t look down on people who aren’t human, do you?”

They both shook their heads.

“Why would we?” Novette asked.

“The Shaden faith— Our faith is why. That word, subhuman, is pretty loaded.”

“I guess I do see what you mean,” Novette replied.

“Then you understand why I don’t like it. Please don’t use it.”

This was where he’d decided to put his foot down. It was also important to set a standard if he wanted to join these disparate allies of his into one cohesive family. Mille was faron, for one, and there were sure to be others.

“I’ll do my best. I really don’t mean to, I just know that everyone else uses it, and paying attention enough to change how you talk can be hard.”

“I get it. I’ve changed how I speak before. Though, I really haven’t heard that word much in my time here.”

“That’s because you only hang out with seekers,” Gwen explained. “They take who they can get. Many cartemi and faron join the Blightbane Guild because they get better treatment there. Although… my home city didn’t treat them so nice, I don’t think.”

They sat in silence, taking in the heavy conversation. Caim imagined the others thought differently about the matter, and he had to at least try to see this from their perspectives.

“That would make that Hexknight our ally, right?” Gwen finally asked. “He said he wanted to protect nonhumans.”

Caim shook his head and grimaced. Thoughts battered him back and forth, and he was unable to come to a resolution.

“It could also be that he said that for the Guild’s benefit, and he is really someone dangerous, someone who can lie, and bring me to the point of almost believing that his intentions are decent. By the end of things… I even felt guilty for suspecting him at all. I genuinely wanted to kill him, even if it meant I died too.”

“And I thought I had problems with trust,” Gwen mumbled.

Caim looked away. He didn’t want to say that she was right to be untrusting. He didn’t want to agree with that way of thinking, even if he couldn’t disagree right now.

That was the road ARC, his last family, had walked after they’d aided in the scouring of a continent, leaving a lasting scar in human history back on his homeworld.

They backed out of deals, ran through relationships with a fine-toothed comb, and even cut longstanding ties.

Guilt spurred a rash of suicides, while others like Caim left the group to wallow alone.

Trust was everything.

“Caim?” Novette called out. “Your face is…”

“My face is what?”

The two of them were looking at him like they’d seen a ghost.

“I wouldn’t say you’re always cheery, but…” Novette started.

“You look like you’re going to kill someone,” Gwen finished.

He wasn’t going to kill anyone. Only the person he’d believed Gillis to be was undeniably worth him killing. There were no doubt more people like that here in Shroud. Starkly prejudicial morality was woven into the religion propping the nation up.

“It is in the past. I’ll tell you about it sometime. And that leads me to what I have to say next. I want us to be able to trust each other at least. I trust you both and I want to prove you can trust me.”

He looked at the two of them and neither said a word. It was too much to expect this much now. As much as he hated it, the reality was that you only found out if someone was worth the investment once you’d already put in the time.

Turning around, he pretended to study the plants behind him. This way, they didn’t have to see his face. Gwen reached out and clutched a fold of his cloak. When he spun back around, she was looking down at the floor, scared.

“I trust you.”

Not completely, by the look of it. But she’s really trying to.

“You don’t need to put all your trust in me just yet, but I want us to gradually discern whether we can really give this our all. I’m more serious about this than anything right now.”

She let go.

Novette gave a cheery smile, not completely following the conversation. No doubt, Gwen had told her only the basics of the merchant’s traumatic experience in Maliscade. Caim knew even he, who’d found her at her weakest, only knew a fraction of it.

“I trust you both too! You are both helping me with my dream and that makes me really happy. The flourishflora trust you too. Ok, I admit that sometimes I talk to them but I’m really just talking to myself. I know they don’t have the awareness that would— Don’t look at me like that!”

Caim caught Gwen’s eye, realizing that they’d both cracked a smile.

“I talk to my drill sometimes…” Gwen laughed. “I can’t judge you for at least choosing to talk to something that’s alive.”

“Both of you are perfectly normal. Self-talk keeps us focused and such, I think. Where is that drill of yours, by the way?”

A flash of concern crossed Gwen’s face, but it vanished soon after.

“It’s back in my room. I trust Nina and her party. Besides, they are so rich that something like that doesn’t interest them. It’s more valuable to me than anyone else, really.”

“Is Nina a seeker like you?” Novette asked Caim.

“Nina is a seeker, but she definitely isn’t anything like me. She’s crazy strong. I haven’t seen her fight, but I don’t need to when she has the reputation and rank to back it up.”

“He’s being humble, but yes, she’s much higher ranked. Currently. I really wish she’d been in the hall when you were attacked. If he lives, Caim will be stronger than that one day.”

I can’t tell her that even Nina would have been outmatched. Vera saved us all, and I wasn’t even awake to see it.

Caim knew what Gwen was doing. The sly merchant wasn’t talking him up for his sake alone, she was doing it because her relationship with him enhanced her own standing. She hadn’t even seen him fight, only listened to what others had said about him. These keen senses of hers would only get more useful to the partnership as time went on.