5-6-3

As we rode the grav-line two rotations later, the sun was high but hidden from us by the canopy of trees up above. We’d had an uneventful journey, especially once we’d made it to Icanthie territory, and my team and I had enjoyed the break from the relentless pace we set since we’d left the Capital for the Drake Kingdom Nation. Suddenly, the light burst above us as we emerged from the tree line and the Capital came into view. It hadn’t changed since I’d last seen this vista, but my feelings had. Rather than trepidation and anxiety, I felt… safe. I wasn’t sure I had the same idea of home as others, but in the last three moons, the Capital had gone from dangerous enemy territory to another safe haven from a hostile world. What’s more, it held my kin.

I opened a comm to Kine. He looked a little worse, not by much, but I felt my face pinch in worry. “Kine, we’re just approaching the South Gate on the grave line.”

“Right. I’ll let the Guards know. Pause in an eddy but don’t dismount. We’re trying to keep contact to a minimum. You’ll be given air filter hoods, put them on then head straight for the Heart. I’ll have Thane meet you and escort you all here for health checks.” Kine instructed before dropping the comm. He’d been visibly tired just from that little conversation.

“Did everyone hear that?” I asked my team, receiving affirmative nods all around. “Alright, let’s go.”

The wall was rapidly drawing nearer until we were in its shadow. Eecee, taking her turn at the front, guided us into the closeted eddy to the guards and we slowed until our movements were nothing more than a gentle bob in the low gravity. The guards nodded to us in greeting and threw a small pack to us. Mathias caught it and opened it, distributing the tiny devices inside and making sure we all had one. He threw the pack back to the guards who waited for us to don the air filter hoods. It was a simple task, I’d used one of these before, though that was a while ago now.

The packet contained two small, adhesive nodes that had to be placed just in front where the ear opening would be in the Resting Form or at the very top of where the jaw hinged. Once in place, they interfaced with your nanites and emitted a gossamer thin layer of a film like substance that acted as a semi-permeable barrier, trapping anything that passed through it from either direction that it didn’t recognise as acceptable and destroying it. You could choose if you wanted it to cover just your face, from brow to throat, or your entire head. After a few moments, you hardly knew it was there and it allowed you to breathe normally while filtering all the air around you. You could get full body versions too but I’d never seen one, let alone used it. I can’t think what they might be used for…

Once the guards were satisfied that all our hoods were in place and properly activated, they opened the gates and waved us through. We used the cleverly placed grips in the gateway roof to push off from and gain momentum, moving back into the central area of the grav-line. The journey was swift but as we travelled through the city, it became apparent that all was not well. An eerily quiet atmosphere lay over everything and we saw few individuals out and about. The sickness must have affected almost everyone for it to be this quiet. That or they were afraid. But every now and then, a burst of normality helped brighten the strained tension, kids playing outside a front door, or the happy peal of laughter from a window. It wasn’t much but it was something.

We reached the end of the grav-line and dismounted neatly, greeted by a small contingent of Imperial guards. There were relieved faces among both sides but I spared little focus for the reunions going on, the majority of my attention fixed on the central figure.

“Thane, how is he?” Were my first words as I moved towards the welcoming group.

Thane turned to take a position beside me and we strode towards the central circle and the Heart, steps swift and purposeful. Both our groups turned to follow us, merging to speak quietly even as they took up defensive positions, eyes watchful and alert.

“He’s stable, faring far better than many others, his symptoms minimal. But he is not well.” Thane was clearly worried.

“What about Seth, Lazot, Simeon? And you? Are you well Thane?” I asked. From what I had seen, he looked well, though that could be deceiving.

“The majority have mild, though uncomfortable, symptoms. A few don’t seem to have been affected, including Seth. He’s well and being cared for in a special isolation Hall to protect the few citizens who are still well… I’ve been lucky.” He demurred.

“And yet that somehow makes it worse to watch everyone around you succumb.” I commented knowingly, earning a surprised grunt of agreement. The knowledge that Seth was safe and well eased a fear I’d carried ever since I’d heard about the sickness. I’d suspected that his time with the Myath and our regular health checks and vaccines had provided some protection for him but I couldn’t be sure.

We hurried on in silence, the seriousness of the situation making idle chitchat unpalatable. Thane took us straight to the Healers Hall where I found Kine in a Healers Recline with a Healers cover tucked around him. He had a few officials around him but Darius hovered close by, keeping a watchful eye on his patient. The entire Hall was full, every Healers Recline occupied making the space seem smaller, especially as each one had a privacy field available to them and most were set to opaque, chopping the room into smaller chunks. I knew Kine’s was up, because I couldn’t hear a word, yet he’d set it to transparent. It would be reassuring to others to be able to see him working on the current problem but I frowned, concerned about how much rest he was getting in his vulnerable state.

Thane walked us straight to Kine and our group was spotted, Healers descending from all directions to begin tests and health checks, ushering their captives to another hall, no doubt with their very own Healers Recline waiting for them. After all, we were expected. I was allowed to approach Kine, though I didn’t pass through the privacy field yet. Darius (or should I stick with Healer Roake?) hurried over to me, consulting with MACC and running passive scans. I’d expected it so filtered them out as I stared at Kine. He looked worse in person than he had on comms but it may just be my worry fuelling my imagination. He watched me back, pensive until I was distracted by Darius again.

“Sierra, take off your hood and cough into this device for me, put the hood back on when you’re done. And I need to take a blood sample from you. Is that alright?” He asked as he handed me the device that looked like a mask of some type. I’d never seen one before.

“You can take the blood but my usual request applies.” I answered before putting the mask thing over my nose and mouth. It sealed to my skin with an odd gel like feel that was unpleasant but let me take the mask away easily when I tried. Raising a brow, I shrugged and took a good breath, putting the mask back on my face and coughing into it. There was a whining sound before the mask automatically disengaged from my face, no longer adhering, so I took it away and looked inside. The cavity was sealed off, presumably to capture the sample but I didn’t get much more of a chance to examine I as it was whisked away and another device was placed on my arm, extracting blood samples painlessly.

Now I just had to wait for the results. It shouldn’t be too long.

“Can I speak with Kine if I keep my mask on?” I asked as Darius watched his screen intently. He looked up at my request, scrutinising me as if he could tell the future if he looked hard enough.

“Yes but I’ll accompany you to make sure he doesn’t deteriorate. He’s been asking to see you since you came through the gate.” Darius said a little dourly. The stress and strain of this sickness was evident on the High Healer and I worried for him and his staff. They weren’t used to this and were unprepared but at least they seemed to be managing so far.

We moved into Kine’s privacy field after Darius had checked my mask to make sure it was secure. Kine smiled, the warmth obvious in his gaze despite the tiredness there. With a word he gently dismissed everyone that surrounded him and, once they were out of the privacy field, turned it opaque.

“Sierra! You’re back.” He stated unnecessarily, holding out a hand for me to grasp. I hesitated, causing a quick, questing glance to Darius before moving forward to hold it when I got the nod. “I read your report and I’m very proud of you. You’ve done well but I’m glad you’re home again.”

“Kine, you don’t look well but Thane said your symptoms are mild. How are you feeling? Has the data I sent been any help at all?” I asked, forcing myself to relax the grip I had on Kine’s hand as I tried to rein in the worry I couldn’t help but feel at seeing the Healers Hall like this.

It was Darius that answered. “The data was helpful and we’ve begun the creation of the cure after we did some testing. We’re reluctant to make any changes as initial tests show the current cure you provided would be effective and messing around with perfecting it for the Icanthie would take too long. The first patients, those that displayed the worst symptoms, were dosed with the cure at mid rotation. We’re just waiting to see how they respond before we try to mass produce it. In the meantime, we’re exploring other avenues to improve the situation.” Roake said, his tone oddly clinical, very unlike the warm and caring Healer I had first met, who treated both Seth and I so gently.

“Yes, I saw you’d sequenced the Fugal pathogen and were doing tests against known cures.” I encouraged, glad to hear that they were making progress. More data was always useful and the fact that they were administering to patients already boded well.

“Hmmm.” Darius hedged. “We’ve looked at the vaccine but haven’t done anything with it yet, considering most of the population is already infected. We decided to work on the cure and look for any hint of antibodies we could use as a template to synthesise and give to the patients.”

I cocked my head, thinking that through. “That’s an interesting approach but the chances of anyone in the Capital having antibodies against this is very small. Maybe the guards who regularly leave the city to patrol would have encountered it before in a more mild state but… the best chance would be with those who didn’t show symptoms.” I mused aloud.

“These were our thoughts too. Unfortunately, those who show no symptoms aren’t infected so that was a dead end and those showing mild symptoms have no antibodies that we can tell, raising the question of why some are more severely affected than others. We checked everyone’s DNA profile but found nothing to explain it or help resolve the sickness. Until you gave us your data, we were becoming a little desperate.”

Something in Darius’ tone alerted me and I suddenly realised this was not the interestingly informative debrief I had thought it was. I went back over the conversation we’d just had until one thing stuck out.

“You checked everyone’s DNA profile?” I ask quietly, desperately hoping I was wrong.

“Yes.” He said quietly.

“Including mine.”

“Yes.”

That’s it just ‘yes’. Flat and final. That’s all he could say after he’d promised me…

Fury rose in me.

“You said you’d keep all my information locked down, that it wouldn’t leave the room. My nanites, my heritage…” I hissed, suddenly afraid. “Who else saw it Roake?” I demanded.

Both Kine and Roake’s eyes had gone wide, though for different reasons. Kine seemed shocked both at Roake’s confession and my vehement response. Roake’s seemed shocked that I’d object!

“No one Sierra. I showed no one but your profile was the best chance we had at finding a solution. You’re a Myath, you’ve probably encountered this before, maybe even…”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Even what? Brought it to the Capital?” I turned away before he could answer to hide the tears that welled in my eyes. “You broke your oath as a Healer and your promise to me when you accessed my files. You didn’t even ask!” I turned to face them again, any sign of tears gone. I hadn’t let them fall.

“I couldn’t as-” Roake began but I cut him off.

“Don’t fool yourself Roake. Whatever my mission, wherever I was, you could have left me a comm or even sent a text comm to request permission. Make it as urgent. I’d have answered as soon as it was possible! We spent most of our time travelling, you wouldn’t have had to wait.”

I could feel my anger boiling and briefly thought that I should rein it in but I couldn’t get over the betrayal.

“Calm down and think about all those patients who could have benefited from this.” Roake stated, raising his voice a little as he became defensive.

“I have a right to be angry! You should have asked.”

“It was for a good cause.”

“The ends do not justify the means! How am I supposed to trust you again? Why should ANYONE trust you when you’ve proven that you’ll bend and break the rules if you think it’s worth it?” I turned to Kine. “How do you think the people will react if they find out I have human in me and that you knew? They’re already blaming me for this sickness. He’s put us both at risk Kine, not to mention Seth, Lazot and Simeon. My guards. Echo. He’s no longer my Healer. I can’t trust him.”

“Sierra, he wasn’t being malicious.” Kine tried to mediate.

“He reacted poorly when he found out I was a human/Icanthie Myath, he practically accused me of bringing this sickness to the Capital and now he’s proven that my rights don’t matter to him if he can gain from it. It’s completely unprofessional and he didn’t even gain anything from it.” I ran out of steam, suddenly tired and heart sore. A dejected huff left me and my shoulders drooped as I turned away from both of them, feeling trapped and unsafe.

“Roake, we will speak about this later. Give us some privacy please and see if Sierra’s and her teams results are back yet.” Kine ordered as he watched me intently.

Roake hesitated, looking torn but obeyed Kine’s order and left through the opaque privacy screen, leaving a deafening silence behind him.

“I thought it would be different here.” I whispered brokenly. “But I guess that was a bit naive of me.” I’ve fallen into the trap of getting too comfortable around my friends and kin here. I forgot betrayal comes from those close to you. Yet, something in me told me to look again, take a breath and try to be objective. Hurt feelings made for poor judgement.

“I understand your reaction Sierra. What Roake did was wrong, though his motives were understandable…” he ducked his head, trying to catch my eye. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you really lose your temper.” Kine trailed off invitingly, a question hinted at in his tone.

I thought about my reaction, trying to understand what had hit so hard about Roake’s choices.

“… Betrayal is lethal among the Myath.” I said as I lost myself in memories again. “When I was young, we went through a bad patch and my sense of trust was badly affected. Mum had recently left to marry Lazot and I was sore from missing her. Trying to understand why she chose to leave but still hurt that she did. Dad and I were moving around more than we used to, it had been a long time since we’d lived in a stable home. My dad had always been respected among the Myath and held responsibility but his absence and relationship with an Icanthie made them wary. I was his weakness and they tried to use me against him. They took their time and I came to look up to them, respect them, even like them. Until they started asking things I knew they shouldn’t, speaking about my dad in ways that just felt wrong. It turned out that they wanted to betray my Dad to a hunting party and had been arranging it for moons.”

“The Red Claw?” Kine asked, face stony to hide his anger.

“No, no Myath would have been mad enough to deliberately engage with the Red Claw. Their hatred for us would have seen anyone stupid enough to approach them killed on site, or, at best, as soon as the Red Claw were led to the rest of us. I learnt from a young age that trust, once broken, is hard to repair and old wounds leave lasting scars. I try, you know, to trust but it’s rarely unconditional. I’m always calculating if the risk is worth it. I think the only time I ever took a leap and trusted someone on instinct, was when I met you Kine. I had no reason to open up to you, though I thought I might die so I had nothing to lose either, but still, if it had been anyone else, I don’t think I would have said as much as I did.” I paused, frowning as I tried to analyse my reactions. “I don’t think I’m overreacting to Roake’s actions, they were wrong. But I’ll admit, they touched on a raw nerve. I’ll try not to let it affect how I interact with him but I stand by my decision to not have him as my Healer anymore.”

“Who will replace him? He’s the High Healer and no one else knows all the details of your lineage and specific needs.”

“MACC can handle it, and if I need more than that I can ask Amaya or, if it’s sensitive, use one of my own healers among the Myath. It’s not like I’m unwell and in need of constant care.” I said, smiling a little at my bed-ridden cousin. “Roake is a good individual, I know that, but that’s why he can’t just get away with it when he makes mistakes, even taking into consideration all the pressure he’s under. If he’s not held to account, his sense of right and wrong will start to slip, eventually. We all mess up at some point but we also learn most from our mistakes. I hope my decisions will make him think twice before he ever breaks his oath again.”

“But you will suffer for it Sierra.” Kine said quietly, sadness in his eyes.

“Not much and I’ll survive. I have so far.” I quipped. “Besides, I have a few more friends now to help me get through it, right cousin?” I asked. I knew it to be true, but I was shaken by Roake’s actions and the memories it had stirred. I needed reassurance from my kin.

“Right.” Kine grinned at me, opening his arms for a hug that he somehow knew I needed. I made sure to be gentle as he wrapped his arms around me and soaked me in the love and comfort both physical and through the kin bond. It was like finally being able to breath again when you’ve been underwater just a little too long.

Something in the air changed and Kine sighed, weariness radiating from him. I was beginning to see that he had difficulty taking the rest he needed. Resigned to his restless manner, I pulled away and sat beside him, the Recline adjusting to accommodate me so I could rest my head on his shoulder whilst making sure my weight didn’t burden him.

“What is it? You know you need to rest to heal Kine so just tell, get it off your chest and let me deal with it so you can relax.” I chastised, my head still resting on his shoulder, eyes closed.

Kine hesitated before quickly spilling all his thoughts to me. “We’re still having issues contacting the Avaness and I don’t know what else we can do. They may have that one piece we need but we don’t know how we can even invite them let alone convince them to come.”

The silence between us was telling but I had to give him the bad news. “You know the likelihood of them coming is low right? Even if they were inclined, the time it would take to get here is prohibitive, they’d have to travel over the deepest wilds that not even I have visited much… we can’t count on them Kine.” I could feel his disappointment and stress ratchet up and sighed. “But. There is someone I could ask to help. They’d get the message to the Avaness but that’s all I can say. I can’t even promise it will get there in time, if at all, and it will be dangerous for my friend. But I’ll ask if they’re willing to do it.”

The relief oozed out of Kine, a little sigh escaping as the muscles under my head relaxed. “Don’t put them at risk Sierra. Just go to the border and broadcast it or something but make sure they stay safe, okay? And, thank you.” Even as he mumbled his last words, I felt him slip into slumber, finally resting and peaceful.

I carefully got up, making sure not to disturb him now he was asleep, and raised my screen to open a comm, making sure I used the Myath network so it couldn’t be traced. I waited for it to connect. Finally a familiar face appeared.

“Thellip.” I greeted with a smile. “Sorry for the short greeting but I don’t have much time. I have a favour to ask.”

Thellip gave me one of his rare, open smiles. “No need, I’ve heard everything through the vines. I’m already on my way back home, all I need is the official message to deliver.”

I stood there open mouthed as he still grinned at me, though I saw the tightness around his eyes. He loved getting one over on me but he was nervous anytime he returned to Avaness territory, which wasn’t often.

“Thank you Thellip. I hate to ask but you’re the only one I can think of who can travel so far in the time and who would have a chance at succeeding. But you listen to me, and I mean this Thellip, don’t put yourself at risk. If you can’t get it to them, if they won’t accept it, fine. But you stay safe and get out of there as fast as you can. Understand?”

“The tightness around Thellip’s eyes disappeared, gratitude replacing it as he nodded. “… Yes mum.” He teased but we both knew he was relieved.

“You call me anytime, I’ll pick up. If you need help, or just want to chat you call me okay? I know this isn’t easy for you and I’m so sorry to ask.” I said, meaning every word.

“I know. It’s okay but you might be hearing more from me than normal for a while.” For the first time in orbits, Thellip looked a little vulnerable, so unlike the stoic, confident individual I was used to but I wasn’t surprised. It happened every time he made a trip back to his home Nation and every time he returned, we’d camp out together, just the two of us, sharing stories and eating good food until he felt he was ready to return to his life.

“I’ll have the Melted Fluffs ready for you when you get back.” I promised, enjoying the smile that the thought of the tasty treats brought to his face. I was distracted by someone stuffing their head through the privacy barrier, quickly pulling back out when they saw I was on a comm.

“Do you need to go Sierra.” Thellip asked, noticing my preoccupation.

I smiled at him as I answered. “No. I’m here as long as you need.”