Chapter Twenty-Six

“Zafir? Where’s Elara?” Casair stood abruptly and left his desk when Zafir emerged from a portal.

Zafir glanced around the cavern-turned-staging point, frowning as he took stock of those present—Casair, and one other guard. “Where—”

“Where is Elara?” Casair repeated dangerously, taking several steps toward the smaller Syldrari. “She never showed up for her patrol last week, and we haven’t seen her since. Rel said he hasn’t seen her either. Rel and Jysel are both ready to dissect the whole damn city!”

“Oh…” Zafir grimaced, adjusted his glasses, then offered, “When you last saw her, she wasn’t yet aware that the brass had canceled all my plans…and then the situation escalated. It would be best if Jysel were here for this.”

“Not going to happen. He won’t be back ‘til tomorrow or the day after.” Casair grabbed a data pad. “Report. I’ll see to it those two don’t do anything else stupid.”

Zafir raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Elara told Jysel off pretty damned good when we ran into her. Problem was the timing. He’s been acting like a shelless glusyx since. Doesn’t know what to do other than throw himself into every damn mission on the list.

“Rel caught the stupid a few days later. Now, he’s convinced himself that Elara is avoiding him due to either his tipsy behavior and/or his suggestion she should have a drink when she’s off duty sometime.”

“Please…” Zafir groaned. “I thought they were better than this.”

“They are…but we haven’t been able to contact any of our agents within the Resonance Project— including you. ” Casair’s tail whipped back and forth, nearly tossing a chair halfway across the cavern. “So, like I said: report .”

Zafir hesitated momentarily before filling Casair on the events that had transpired, leading to the project’s relocation and the ongoing treatment of the subjects. By the time he finished relaying all the information, the sun was setting.

“Do you think we’re going to have to perform an early extraction?” Casair inquired as he skimmed his notes. “If they’re all showing signs of being ‘more,’ it’s only a matter of time before it’s no longer hideable—or worse, they make each other spiral into full reversion. Curious as I’m sure we all are about Elara at this point…”

“I think we’re quite some time from needing extraction, my primary concern is her team.” Zafir leaned back against a table. “It’s possible, of course, that Elara was an undiscovered queen. The events of the past few years could be what have made her allure so strong.

“…or, she was an established queen, and something happened. Her current team might get along with her because they were originally her guards or servants. I took some extra scans—her team isn’t as tampered with. I believe they may be able to recover their memories of the past.”

“But she can’t?” Casair grimaced. “Tch. Just what is going on in that damn— Sir? What are you doing back already?”

Casair hurried past Zafir and over to the portal, and Zafir quickly followed. Jysel looked between the two in silence as he removed his equipment and took off his sword belt. Finally, he looked to Zafir, “Why haven’t we been able to contact you or the others?”

“We haven’t been able to reinstall our equipment at the new headquarters yet. Everyone involved at the Resonance Project is currently under investigation aside from Elara, her hospitalized team, and myself.” Zafir hesitated, expecting some manner of reaction out of his boss, but there was nothing. Though Jysel was attempting to keep his expression blank, he couldn’t hide his downtrodden demeanor or the dark yellow, almost black, color of his glow. Zafir glanced over at Casair, who just half-shrugged and shook his head. “If you would like my report—”

“Is Elara alright?” Jysel interrupted. His expression stayed the same, but his glow began to shift between various forms of dark purple and grey.

Zafir stared at his boss for a moment, taken aback by the hints of concern. How rattled was he from his mother’s dismissal, and just what had Elara said to him? “Sir, she’s fine aside from being, ‘unbearably bored.’ Because her shift started in the early morning that day, she wasn’t poisoned at lunch like her team was. We’re currently waiting for them to recover so they can begin—”

“I see, another poisoning?” Jysel frowned slightly. “Then, I assume this relocation is due to the warning Casair gave her of the impending attack.”

“Ah…that was you?” Zafir glanced at Casair, then back to Jysel, narrowing his eyes. “Given your demeanor toward her, sir , I thought the warning more likely to have come from Rel.”

“Hmph. She may… frustrate me, but I am invested in your infiltration of the Resonance Project. I can’t deny the evidence you’ve given that indicate she might be Syldrari— What?” Jysel narrows his eyes when Zafir shifted in discomfort. “Yes, yes, you told me about the cellular dissonance and part of her skin changing color. That alone doesn’t mean anything other than her cells vying for dominance.”

“…she is undoubtedly Syldrari, Jysel,” Zafir informed him with a sigh. He rubbed his temples before continuing, “And a queen. Undeniably a queen. She asked me: ‘how can pink glow blue?’”

“And?” Jysel crossed his arms.

“I took her to my lab to check her eyes. They’re indistinguishable from a human’s…until she suits up.” Zafir sighed heavily. “Her eyes are Syldrari when suited but they’re not functioning fully, yet. However, the effect she has on—”

“What did she do to you?” Jysel demanded, stepping forward.

“ Nothing . She has no control over her ‘allure,’ but she was cautious—perhaps overly so—about her phrasing of both questions and answers.” Zafir shook his head with a half-smile. “She’s unsettled by the way I react to her power, and perhaps she should be. She doesn’t want it. Alas, I can’t arrange for her to learn from Xilen given the current circumstances.”

“…just how powerful is she?” Jysel asked quietly.

Zafir considered it for a moment before offering, “I haven’t met a queen like her—in power or personality. She’s had me under her sway several times, and she gets immediately distressed when she realizes it. She wants to be able to joke, tease, and banter with people like anyone else, but she’s realized that’s…dangerous.”

“A queen who cares? Hmph.” Jysel paused, processing the information he’d been told. “…you’ve met the R’selkti Queen. Are you implying—”

“I believe that is part of Xilen’s interest in Elara, yes.” Zafir nodded.

“I have to agree. Xilen warned Elara to stay far from that woman during their first encounter,” Casair offered with a grimace. “At first I thought it was just the usual, but we’d have to be imbeciles to not recognize there’s more to it.”

“Another queen to rescue, then…” Jysel sighed irritably.

“You and I know it’s not that simple. We need her if we want to continue investigating the Resonance Project.” Zafir frowned deeply. “Without her and her team—”

“You want me to rescue the other queens yet leave her behind?” Jysel asked, a dangerous rumble tingeing his voice.

“I’ve done some looking around. She isn’t one of the queens on their list—even they didn’t know about her.” Zafir narrowed his eyes. “ None of the Resonance Project survivors are catalogued queens. There’s something else going on, and I would like to find out what it is. Preferably before there’s a successful murder attempt.”

Jysel sighed heavily. “When will we be seeing her again?”

“Not any time soon if the brass has anything to say about it. They have every survivor under house arrest now, under the pretense of team building exercises,” Zafir answered venomously. “Why you want to see her is another question. Do you enjoy antagonizing her?”

“No, I just…” Jysel sighed, his shoulders slumping and his glow turning a rich yellow. “She’s…refreshing. Even if her acceptance of Syldrari may not be as unusual as we first thought, she’s still different from both humans and from us. According to you, she is atypical as a queen as well. That would be quite welcome after the week we’ve had.”

“You’ve begun finding queens?” Zafir frowned.

“Yes, though tonight’s excursion was a miss. They appear to be relocating their captives.” Jysel winced and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Tch, the queens we’ve been finding… I was of half a mind to leave them in their cells once they started talking.”

Zafir grimaced. “I understand your frustration, truly I do.”

“But we can’t leave them to the humans or my mother. I’m aware,” Jysel finished dryly. “Most of the one’s we’ve found thus far, however, will be returning to her. They’re already loyal to her without ever having met her. It’s infuriating. We hope to find some more reasonable queens as we continue to work, but—”

“We already know a reasonable queen—Elara.” Casair crossed his arms over his chest and looked between the uncomfortable Zafir and Jysel. “How long until her cellular dissonance progresses, and she becomes the next queen we need to save? I don’t trust what the humans will do if she becomes more clearly Syldrari. They could choose to kill her. Get rid of the danger.”

“And we know someone is already trying,” Zafir murmured, his brow knitting with worry. “If General Crowe’s suspicions are correct…”

“What is it?” Jysel prompted. “Do we or do we not need to get her out?”

Casair grinned over at Jysel. “You can’t keep her Sal’aphel might, though.”

“I’ll let you know as matters progress.” Zafir rubbed his chin, a smirk spreading across his face. “We may be able to lure out the bastard. I’ll keep you informed.

“For now, I’m late to return. Casair has my full report for you.”

Jysel reached out to stop Zafir, then pulled his arm back, “Tell Elara I— …never mind. You’re free to go.”

Casair smirked and half-shrugged at Zafir before walking over to his boss and leading him deeper into the cavern. Shaking his head, Zafir returned through the portal to the new Resonance Project HQ.

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