“When I was a child, my parents, both highly regarded scientists, imposed on me a strict routine. They raised me in a kind of controlled environment in which I was to excel in my abilities. I hated it, rebelling in various ways, and instead of a genius child they so much desired, I was turning into a young misfit always on the lookout for trouble. Even after the Event nothing much changed. My father stayed the same in that regard. He wasn’t a very easy-going man, always stuck to the rules, kept to his routine, and he expected me and H to do the same. When I realized how good our work was and how shitty we get paid for it, I proposed some ideas, but my father wouldn’t hear of them. The smallest transgression of the law was unacceptable for him.”

She paused in thought and riveted her gaze to the crumbling wall above the Source’s head.

“H never complained and always followed his orders. I guess he felt grateful because my father took him in after Eve died in the Event. Although to be fair, without H, my father would have never made it in the tough business environment of the Settlements. H helped him with transportation, procured the parts, and accompanied him to the clients. He looked quite intimidating already as a teenager and having him with us while visiting clients in the Settlements, made me and my father feel secure. I always thought of H as part of our family long before the Event took place, so for me, it was only natural that he moved in with us. But he was always so appreciative, feeling like he owed us something. And he really loved my father. Perhaps because he never knew his own.”

Her voice went huskier. She cleared her throat but before she knew it, she was seized by a violent coughing attack. When she recovered from it, her voice was hoarse and she felt pain in her throat.

“When my father disappeared, I refused to get out of my room and grew profoundly angry at the world. All these horrible things kept happening without any explanation, and everyone was accepting duly whatever it was put on their plate. I was sick of it all and started seriously thinking about the option to leave this mad world.”

“You mean, to suicide?”

“Yes. I contemplated for days the best ways to kill myself. I was surprised how objectively one can consider a suicide. After I picked the way, I started to plan the place and the time. Then, amid my morbid aspirations, H came to my room and tossed me the money my father left behind. He said I was now free to do what I always wanted to do. He spoke to me like he‘d speak to me on any other day, without the smallest acknowledgment of my miserable state. And that did it. I realized I valued myself way too much. It also occurred to me that I wasn’t the only one affected by my father’s sudden disappearance. H too cared about my father. I felt disgusted with myself, so weak and selfish, and left the room on that same day. Do you know what was the first thing I did?”

The Source shook his head slowly and only one time.

“I cut my hair short. And when I stared at myself in the mirror I liked what I saw. I was still the same, unimportant cog in this mad machine called life, only now I was free to do whatever I wanted, and also much more bad-ass looking.” She grinned, splitting her scar with two lines of white teeth.

“What happened after that?”

“Afterwards...we started to do business my way. We were lucky -- an opportunity presented itself very soon. A well-known boss from the Settlements’ underground lost a leg and asked me if I could provide him with a new one. Contrary to my father, I accepted him as a client and resized for him an old, unmarked raw part I found in our basement. He was very pleased with my work and spread the word about our company among his counterparts, who were more than happy to pay more money just to avoid the lengthy legal procedure for obtaining a new part. To meet the increasing demand we’ve begun to obtain raw parts from the illegal market and finally began making some money.”

“What was the suicidal method you decided upon?”

“Pissed at my father, I chose to die in the fashion of his favorite culture -- by ripping my stomach open with a knife in the way of the ancient Aynu warriors. I even picked a special spot with a nice view somewhere outside the Settlements, from which I could gaze at the landscape while my intestines slowly crawled out of me. A good way to go, don’t you think?”

“Have you considered the suicide ever again?”

“I never stopped thinking about it. I just postponed it.”

“Until when?”

“You really are hung up on this issue, huh? You shouldn't worry. I enjoy showing teeth to this bitch of life and I’ll continue to do so for quite a while.” Another coughing attack came over her, this time with a whistling sound from her lungs. The body will follow the mind…the body will follow the mind, she kept repeating in her head, her glassy eye fixated on the Source.

~~~

Ana spent almost all the afternoon lying in the hammock. With her leg dangling over the edge she rocked herself in a gentle rhythm. As the evening approached, the spacious room grew slowly dark. Its large paned windows broke the diminishing daylight into several rays, illuminating the space in a very particular way. Once the night swallowed the day completely, Ana found herself wrapped in darkness.

The house was once a warehouse and she never tried to hide this fact by redecorating the rooms into something else. She simply dragged inside the things she needed. She liked the dark, wooden flooring panels, scratched on several places, red-brick walls, and while the four concrete pillars in the middle were a bit of a bother at first, she was now glad to have them. They provided a neutral zone between hers and H’s part of the room and were perfect to tie a hammock in-between.

When she and H had first moved in they had determined that sleeping in the same room was the safest way. They had been so cautious and suspicious they took turns in guarding the place during the night. But after ten years they got to know the neighborhood and the neighborhood got to know them, and since they set up the alarm system, they felt secure in their own house for most of the time.

Probably due to habit or just plain laziness, neither of them ever put forth a request to move out of the room, and after Margot took the only other free room, they got stuck with each other. She didn’t really mind it; H was a very considerate roommate. It did bother her a little, though, that her side of the room always looked like an ugly twin compared to H’s.

She turned her eyes upwards and followed the dark outlines of wooden beams across the ceiling to the wall then lowered her stare at the boxing bag, which was suspended at the end of the two rows of pillars. The more she stared at the bag, the more she was under the impression that the bag was swinging. Very gently, yet she was certain, it was moving.

She placed her foot firmly down on the floor and stopped the hammock from rocking. She raised her head a little, held her breath for a second, and focused on the bag. The bag was as still as the pillars.

She laid back into the hammock, placed her hands behind her head, and resumed the same rocking rhythm as before. Her eyes closed and she thought of Tengu. More than a month passed since she met him in the cave and he still didn’t contact her. Not that she had much to tell him, anyway. Her plan didn't progress at all. Akayev was still ignoring their requests for a meeting. She took a deep breath and blew the air out slowly, feeling like it was her patience that she was exhaling. Nothing was happening and this idle waiting annoyed her beyond anything.

A feeling sprung into her conscience from the bottom of her guts. It all somehow connected, the slight swinging of the bag, the hair that rose on the back of her neck, a sudden blood rush, and channeled into a primal instinct. Danger! screamed her brains as she jumped out of the hammock and landed on the floor with considerable force. A dark figure was standing on the other side of the rocking hammock. She reached for the small knife stashed behind her belt, but before she got to it, a strong arm embraced her across the chest from behind and pulled her back.

“Easy, Ana. It’s just us,” a voice she recognized immediately whispered in her ear. She turned her head slowly, still in disbelief, and found herself staring into the grey-blue eyes, she thought of too often over the past month.

She wanted to say something, to yell at him for such intrusion, but his face being so close to hers and their lips almost touching, she couldn’t utter a word.

He smiled at her. “You have good instincts.”

“Apparently not good enough,” she countered, trying to gain some distance, but he held her tight.

The door swung open and H burst in, springing towards the dark figure still standing across the hammock. The figure disappeared just as the light was switched on, leaving H with a baffled face.

“What the hell is going on?” shouted Margot from the door, with her hand on the light switch.

H’s focus was now fully on Ana and he started to move toward her. Tengu pulled her closer. His left arm across her chest pinned her body against his.

She puffed in an attempt to rid herself of his hair that got in her face and tried to wiggle out of his embrace without much success. “Shit! H, it’s fine! It’s just Tengu.”

“Let her go!” growled H.

“Are we sure all is okay?” asked Tengu, pressing his cheek against Ana’s face. The stubble from his unshaven jaw tickled her.

“Yes, dammit, let me go!” she gasped, feeling her cheeks flushing red.

He finally released her and she immediately stepped away from him.

“Hanneghan, pleased to see you again. Hope all is fine with your shoulder.” Tengu walked across the room in H’s direction, his right prosthetic arm hanging rigidly at his side. “I came for a short business meeting.”

“Is this how you usually come to business meetings, by breaking in?” said H, following Tengu closely with his eyes. “If I knew it, I’d prepare a better welcome.”

“It was a precautionary measure. I’m sure you can understand. Our visits, even in the Settlements, puts us all quite at risk.”

“We’ve heard a loud sound of something or somebody smashing on the floor. H immediately got alerted and --”

“That was just me, Margot, jumping from the hammock elegantly like a cat, but landing like an elephant,” explained Ana with a silly smile.

“Stem?”

“I’m fine, H, let’s not dwell on this too much.”

“Fine, then you deal with him,” he muttered and strode out of the room.

She could see it on his face and hear it in his snappy tone that H expected her to be angry at Tengu, but the truth was, she was more pissed at herself for not noticing the intruders earlier and rather pleased that Tengu finally showed up, regardless of his ill-mannered ways.

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to cause any tensions,” said Tengu. “Can we sit down somewhere and talk?”

“There are no tensions. Who else is with you?” She walked around the room, searching. “And where the hell is he?”

Tengu snapped his fingers and the Aynu appeared from behind the last pillar.

“Shit! How did he…ah, never mind.” She could have sworn she looked behind that same pillar a second ago.

“How did you manage to get past the alarm?” asked Margot, eying Tengu with suspicion.

“Well, we have quite some experience in such matters,” he replied and smirked at her.

“Any other uninvited guests I should know of?” asked Ana.

“No, it’s just me and Ichiro.”

”Good. Then let’s all go downstairs to the kitchen.” Ana’s words sounded more like an order than a suggestion. She pushed Margot along with her out of the room and made sure both guests followed.

H already sat at the table, tipping his chair back nonchalantly. Ana brought extra chairs, but only Tengu sat down. Ichiro positioned himself in the corner behind his boss and kept a watchful eye on all of them. He refused a jar Margot offered to him with a shake of his head. Ana noticed the sword tied under the small rucksack on his back. She had a sudden urge to see the blade but knew it would be a waste of words to even ask. He didn’t seem the type of person who would chit-chat about swords, or anything else.

“So, Ana, I would like to know how the plan’s proceeding. I want to know details,” began Tengu.

“Ana?” Margot smirked. “Why are you calling her like that?”

Tengu leaned onto his chair and took a long look at Margot. “I’m sorry, we haven’t been introduced yet. My name is Gabriel.” He offered her his left hand.

“You don’t go by your last name, Gabriel? Are you an orphan?” she asked and shook his hand with a firm grip, showing no confusion at the gesture.

“Margot!” hissed Ana through her clenched teeth.

“It’s fine. I’d like to answer you, Margot, but the thing is I don’t know, or better, I don’t remember. About ten years ago, I was left for dead in the Deserted lands. The members of one of the sects living there found me and somehow I managed to survive. But the memory of my life before that was lost completely. Once I recovered, I decided to leave my past, whatever it was, behind me. So my parents might have died long ago, or they could be still alive. I wouldn’t know it and it is not important to me anymore.” There was undeniable darkness in his words, such that even Margot, who derived a certain pleasure from putting people on the spot, regretted posing the question. “Anyway, even if I knew my family name, I’d still prefer to be called by my first name. With my comrades, we all know each other by our first names.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” Margot averted her gaze downwards.

“As I said, it’s fine. I don’t have anything to hide in that regard. But, I do know you are an orphan, Margot,” Tengu continued, his voice acquiring a much lighter and slightly provocative tone. “And not just because they call you by your first name.”

“Oh?” Margot met his stare with much less confidence this time.

He held her gaze through a long silent moment before he continued: “It’s your eyes that give you away. The desire for approval from others, the fear of abandonment, and the most obvious one - the deep mistrust by which you judge the world around you - they are all in there.” His stare was so persistent, she had to look away.

“So, about the plan,” said Ana, seeing Margot turning pale. “It’s proceeding quite nicely…” H‘s sudden, obviously forced cough, interrupted her. She shot him a scowling look and went on: “As I was saying, the plan is proceeding nicely, but, before we go into details, I’d like to have the payment upfront, as we agreed. It’s been after all more than a month.”

“Yes, of course. This is also one of the reasons why I’m here,” said Tengu and gave a sign to Ichiro. Ichiro took a big pouch out of the rucksack and passed it to him.

“Here is the sum we agreed upon.” Tengu pushed the pouch over the table to Ana. Margot intercepted it, took out several golden plates, and began to count them.

“Seems correct,” she said with satisfaction.

“If I don’t deliver--“ added Ana.

“It’s still yours. As we agreed,” said Tengu quickly. “And now I want to hear all about the plan.”

“Of course. It’s not refined yet, but I’m sure you’ll be able to appreciate the brilliancy of it,” she bragged with a smug smile and went on describing it. Tengu listened attentively, and when she finished, he leaned back with a thoughtful sigh. All eyes were on him.

“The idea is brilliant,” he said after some moments of contemplation.

A victorious smile came across Ana’s lips.

“The execution, however, it’s not simple. Not simple at all,” he added and shook his head, putting on a thoughtful expression again.

“But, I believe in you, Ana,” he concluded with a smile and placed his left hand on hers.

She promptly removed her hand from underneath his and visibly blushed. “Great! Your assistance then is guaranteed?” she asked, feeling her mouth dry.

“Most certainly. So if I understand correctly, all we can do now is to wait?”

“Precisely. I need Akayev first.”

“And it takes this long, why?”

“Well, he has his ways. If I push him too much, he might just discard the whole matter.”

“He just likes to make Stem wait,” remarked H complacently.

“I see,” said Tengu;“I just hope, he’ll get in touch before it will be too late.”

“I’m certain he will,” said Ana with confidence.

“Good. Then we wait. Ana, could we talk somewhere private?”

“Umm, sure,” she agreed, glancing insecurely at H and Margot. It was an unexpected request. “Follow me.”

They stepped out to the backyard. Save for the tiny gleam of light coming from the house, it was quite dark. No moon or stars were visible. The sky was covered with an everlasting crust of clouds, which always hung above the Settlements, the Forbidden City, and the nearby area.

She stood in silence next to the rebel leader, observing him out of the corner of her eye, and experiencing a feeling similar to stage fright. He looked so comfortable in uncomfortable silence, gazing at the sky with admiration as if he could see through those clouds into a beautiful starry sky. She envied him his composure. He was in control, while she felt like an animal, walking willingly into a deadly trap, despite knowing the consequences. As if he sensed her restlessness, his eyes left the sky and riveted upon her.

“You are very close with Margot?” he asked.

“She’s part of the team.”

“A very modest answer.” He smiled. “She is very smart, and I could see she cares for you very much.”

“And you’re telling me this why?”

“Oh, just an observation. I’ve also noticed, she cares a great deal about Hanneghan.”

“Well yes, of course.”

“But not in the same way she cares about you,” he said, slightly twisting up the left corner of his lips.

Ana studied him for a moment. His observations were as much insightful as they were devious.

“I’m quite sure you didn’t call me out here to speak about relationships within our company,” she said in a sharper tone.

Tengu’s face softened and he tapped her gently on the shoulder. “You’re right. I called you out here because I wanted to enjoy the pleasure of your company.”

As if she could feel her pupils widening, she quickly flicked her stare up to the sky to conceal the excitement from his probing eyes. “Right. Don’t I feel special,” she replied, feigning indifference.

“You know, from the top of some of the hills in Eastern Highlands one can see the stars at clear nights.”

“You can?”

“Sure. I’ll take you there next time you come to visit me. You seem the kind of person, who likes to watch stars.”

“I do, yes. My mom, she was an astronomer and we, wait…” She frowned upon realizing the meaning of his words. “The next time I visit you?”

“Yes, I want you to come to the Forest of Green Rivers again as soon as there is some progress with your contact. And bring Margot and Hanneghan as well. I prefer to discuss anything regarding the plan in person, and for us it’s not so easy to come down here. When you have an update, please call this number and you will get further instructions on how to reach me.”

He gave her a small piece of paper with a number written on it. It was a local number from the Settlements.

“Just tell to the person, who answers the phone, you got the number from an old friend, and you’d like to come to the store.”

“An old friend?”

He nodded.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. I can only hope this Akayev contacts you soon.” He gave her a smile that caused her pupils to widen again, and rubbed his right prosthetic hand as if this talk reminded him of prospects for a possible replacement. It reminded her that their chances to succeed were much like the chance to see the stars in the sky above the Settlements. She returned an awkward smile and put the piece of paper inside her pocket.

“We should return,” he said.

“Yes, we should,” she agreed and opened the door to the house. She wanted him to enter first, but in the end, it was Tengu that held the door for her. Like you’re some stupid, little princess, her inner voice remarked.

The kitchen was quiet. Margot was leaning with her chin on her hands and stared at Ichiro, who hadn’t moved an inch from his corner. H seemed to be pondering over something. They were both visibly relieved upon Ana’s return.

“Ah, thanks to the Gods! He wouldn’t say a word the whole time! Like I’m not worthy to talk to!” exclaimed Margot, pointing at Ichiro. Ana shrugged. She wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“It’s not easy to make a conversation with Ichiro. He considers it an unnecessary distraction. I assure you, it’s nothing personal. Anyway, we are leaving. I’ve got what I came for,” said Tengu, casting a meaningful glance at Ana. Ichiro joined his side.

“Margot, it was very lovely to meet you.”

“Likewise, Gabriel,” snapped Margot.

“Will you be leaving through the front door or?” asked H, looking directly at Tengu.

“Through the front door,” answered Ana instead, noticing a sudden coldness in Tengu’s gaze. “Come with me, I’ll see you out.”

“See you soon, Hanneghan,” said Tengu and together with Ichiro followed Ana out of the kitchen.

After Tengu’s departure, Ana found Margot waiting for her in the hallway. Leaning against the wall with her foxy-red hair loose over her face, she projected a gloomy look.

“Something wrong, Margot?”

“Stemetski, don’t trust him.”

“Who? Tengu? Of course I don’t --”

“I mean it! Don’t trust him.”

“What’s the matter with you?”

Margot shook her head and spoke with some reluctance: “It was the way he looked at me. I’ve never felt more exposed in my whole life.”

Ana sighed. “I know what you mean, Margot. He’s just a very perceptive individual.”

“No, you don’t understand. He detects everything, even the smallest movements, like a blink of an eye, and reads you. He sees the things you hide even from yourself.”

Ana snickered. “You’re exaggerating.”

“I’m not. And his memory loss? What’s that all about?”

“Nothing surprising there. Personal tragedies of all kinds are everyday occurrences in this world. You should have learned that by now. I actually find it rather cool how he dealt with his.”

“Don’t be a fool, Stemetski. He’s very charming, I admit that, but he is a very dangerous man.”

“He must be or he wouldn’t piss off the Emperor like that. Come on now, don’t overdramatize… ”

“You’re not taking me seriously.”

“Oh, geez, Margot! I’m not some damn rookie. You know me better than that! I fall for things, not for people.”

“You’re not your usual self around him,” Margot persisted.

A loud knock on the door interrupted their heated conversation. Margot was first to react and hurried to the door.

Ana followed her with slow steps. She was surprised by how quickly Margot formed such a strong opinion about Tengu and it irritated her that the opinion was so bad.

“Who is it?” she shouted after Margot.

Margot returned with a wicked glow in her eyes. “Well, Stemetski, it looks like it’s your lucky day.”

“Why, who was at the door?”

“It was a boy with a message from SBP. Akayev agreed to a meeting with you.”