The Broken Kingdom (55 page)

‘Zap Zap?’ Vann asked, alarmed.

‘He’s fine, he translates for Commander
Reista.’ Lillia chuckled. ‘I can’t remember the last time I saw him
out and about on the docks! Now he’s out there all the time talking
to the fish people!’

‘So where are the fish people staying?’ Vann
asked. He didn’t think the waters outside the bay would be that
safe for the fish people, even if they had moved closer to
Coastside.

‘In the bay. The bay has been closed for
swimming for months, so they’re not bothering anyone. They’re
acting as scouts for the submarines and fishermen, they’re trying
to be useful.’

‘Oh,’ Vann said, surprised they’d been
allowed in the bay. ‘That’s good.’

‘And what about Riley?’

‘What about her?’ Vann couldn’t help a
smile. ‘We’re together.’

‘Lovers?’

He nodded.

Lillia smiled. ‘Well, you’ll be extra happy
then.’

‘And why’s that?’

‘I brought you a little present. It’s in the
stuff you took.’

He paused. And then a hopeful smile dawned,
‘the necklace?’

She grinned. ‘Yes, the necklace.’

‘Thank you!’

Lillia laughed, and Vann relaxed.

In the lull Lillia asked, ‘What’s that tree
over there?’ as she pointed towards the centre of the shield.

‘That’s the Suntree. It was a gift from the
valkar.’

‘I don’t suppose I could see it close
up?’

Vann smiled. ‘Maybe. It depends how the rest
of the group behaves. You understand Riley has to be cautious.’

Lillia nodded. ‘Yes… I see that. So she
knows what… what happened?’

Vann nodded. ‘She does. Lillia, I need you
to explain this to the rest of your group.’

‘I’ll try.’

‘And they have to take it back to the
government. Riley hasn’t told the Mixed what happened. She’s
letting them believe it was a natural disaster. If they knew… they
would demand justice. Whether you or Astar like it or not, we have
to live together. Astar and Coastside… they need to stop taking
credit for the collapse of the mountain.’

Lillia looked at him with big blue eyes. She
was silent for some time as she tried to digest that. ‘Ok, Vann.
I’ll try and explain it.’ she hesitated. ‘What does living together
mean, exactly?’

Vann shrugged. ‘We can try to destroy each
other, or we can live together. That’s what it means.’

She hesitated. ‘Ok, Vann.’

Later that night, when he and Riley were
back in their tent together, he was surprised to find her a little
reserved.

‘What’s up?’ he asked sleepily. They’d had a
busy day and for once hadn’t seen each other much throughout.

‘It must be nice to have Lillia here.’ she
said, her voice a bit odd.

‘It’s nice to see her.’ he agreed. ‘When I
left I was very angry at her.’ and he hugged her tightly then.
‘It’s nice to not feel that way anymore.’

She was silent for a moment.

‘Is something wrong?’ he asked,
confused.

‘No.’ she replied defensively. ‘She’s your
friend.’

‘I know.’ he replied.

‘I’m not jealous.’ she said heatedly. ‘I’m
fine.’

‘I didn’t say you were jealous.’

Riley was silent.

‘We broke up long before I met you.’ he said
into the quiet, keeping the amusement from his voice. ‘We’re just
friends now.’

‘But you’re not in the submariners
anymore.’

‘No, I’m with you now.’ he was quiet a
moment. ‘Lilia asked me to leave the submariners once. I could
have. Maybe we would have stayed together… until I met you.’

‘I’m not jealous.’ Riley repeated, sounding
a little guilty now.

‘It’s ok if you are.’ he said with a smile.
‘I mean, I guess we were pretty close.’

‘Hey!’

‘And there’s all those other women back in
Coastside just pining away for me.’

She made an annoyed sound. Suddenly, Vann
began tickling her, careful to stay away from her suddenly flying
elbows.

‘And don’t forget Azra, she was always
chasing me.’ he went on.

‘Stop, stop!’

‘Are you jealous?’ he asked. ‘I wonder what
everyone outside thinks of all these noises.’

‘No- I’m not jealous! Please stop!’

‘Promise?’

‘I-hah hah! I promise!’

Chapter 66

‘
T
hat doesn’t look right.
Is that a tail?’ the valkar man said in Valkar.

‘It’s not a tail… why would I be thinking
about tails?’

‘You’re thinking of growing one.’

‘I’m not- it’s just disorganized, that’s
all. We’ll try again.’

‘On a new one?’

‘Can’t you get rid of the ink on this
one?’

‘I thought you’d like to keep it.’

‘Why would I want to keep it, Saerlid?’

Just then Riley interrupted. ‘What are you
doing?’

The two valkar looked up, frozen as if
caught in the act of stealing mud pies.

Aerlid sat in his circle. Spread out in
front of him was huge sheet of what looked like paper, it was
covered in tightly spaced black ink. Or something like that. If it
was from the valkar, it could be anything.

Aerlid recovered first. ‘Saerlid is helping
me try and finish the book quicker. We’re trying to just take
what’s in my mind and put it on this sheet.’

‘And how is it going?’

‘We’re still working the kinks out. Once we
figure it out it should proceed quickly. We’ll need a few more
sheets though. I’ll likely have to… annotate them as well. They may
be somewhat disorganized compared to the book.’

‘Do you want a tail?’ Saerlid asked, still
speaking Valkar.

‘What sort of tail?’ Riley replied.

‘What sort do you want?’

‘A spiky one would be useful, it could be a
weapon. My balance is already very good, but maybe it could
improve.’ she paused. ‘Vann might object. He has funny ideas about
some things.’

‘Can we grow her a tail?’ Saerlid asked
Aerlid.

‘No, Riley, go away.’

‘Thank you for your help.’ She said to
Saerlid before leaving.

She did not go far though, and headed over
to Adila. As always, Adila and the other valkar avoided the new
human arrivals and mainly kept to themselves. The humans had
noticed them, however, and the valkar were the subject of some talk
amongst them.

After some small talk Riley asked, ‘do you
know where the human planes are?’

Adila nodded and described the location.
Riley thanked her before heading towards the Astar-Coastside human
tents. She had not gotten very far when she noticed a procession of
the
other
humans marching on her, led by Catariah. Riley
stopped and waited, wearing a mildly curious expression.

Vann slowly fell quiet as he and the
Coastside team noticed what was happening. He quickly stood and
strode over to stand by Riley as Cata started yelling.

‘Why do you have humans imprisoned here?’
she demanded, in good Astarian.

‘Because I doubt their intentions. What is
it to you, Catariah? Why does it matter whether I imprison a human,
not a Mixed?’

‘What have they done?’

‘They snuck up on the campsite bearing
weapons and have already admitted to wanting to ‘rescue’ my
partner. They will not be harmed while they are here, but they will
not wander around freely or with weapons.’

‘So Vann’s not free.’ she stated, almost
with satisfaction.

‘I am free to go where I wish.’ Vann
replied. ‘Some people don’t understand I want to stay
here
.
Catariah, what are
you
doing?’

Catariah turned her cold gaze back to Riley.
‘You’ve said we are free. Prove it. Free us, and the other humans,
and Vann.’

‘Catariah, I
am
free.’

‘Alright.’ Riley said coolly. ‘You can
leave.’

She almost looked taken aback, ‘w-we can go
back to our home?’

‘You want to go back to the sea shelf?’
Riley asked, her brows lowering. ‘But why?’

‘We had a way of life. You ruined that when
you came, without asking, and took us away.’

‘You didn’t have to leave.’

‘By coming you shattered our way of life. We
were no longer safe. But we want to go back, rebuild it.’

‘I’m not going to apologise for showing up,
Catariah. But if you want to go back, very well. I will have my
warriors escort you and Karesh will take you back to the shelf.’
She hesitated. ‘You do realise, it will be very difficult, if not
impossible, for you to leave that place without my help?’

‘We never wanted to leave!’

Riley looked over at the people behind you.
‘Who wants to go with you?’

‘All of us who are not traitors.’

‘Yes, fine.’ she sighed. ‘Very well. Those
who want to go will be escorted to your home tomorrow morning.’

‘May I interject?’ Azra yelled from where
she was by her tent.

Riley looked over and then gestured for her
to approach. ‘What do you want?’ she asked.

‘First, I want to know what humans are doing
in a gemeng camp. Second, I want some of my team to go with them to
ensure they get to their home safely.’

‘They’re here because we found them. And we
are the Mixed, Azra. As for your request, fine, you can go
yourself. You will not have any weapons with you though.’

‘You fear a single human?’ Catariah
sneered.

‘I don’t trust this particular human, nor
will I underestimate her cunning. Anything else?’

Catariah turned to Vann, ‘come with me,’ she
asked, some of her fury leaching away. ‘You don’t have to stay with
this monster.’

Vann just looked at her in something close
to disgust. Then he walked away.

‘Azra, back to the tent. Catariah, I will
come with you to count who will stay and who will go.’ Riley
said.

‘Fine! Are you going to try and bully and
threaten us into staying?’

Riley didn’t bother responding.

The Coastside team had questions. Vann knew
they would. So after letting off some steam, he headed back to
their tents.

They wanted to know where the humans had
come from, and why. Where were they going? How had they been
treated?

Vann answered as best he could.

‘And why,’ Azra asked, ‘do they speak our
language?’

Lillia looked at Azra in surprise, ‘I never
thought of that!’

‘Yes, it took me some time too. They’re
human, so I expected to understand them. But they aren’t from
Astar.’ She narrowed her eyes at Vann.

The Mixed had been told not to speak
Astarian while the Coastside team was here. They had not let their
Master down.

‘Because I taught it to them.’ Vann replied
impatiently.

‘That must have been hard.’

‘It was actually.’

‘Is there anything else?’

Lillia reached out a hand to try and calm
him, but Vann avoided it. ‘Azra, you’ll leave tomorrow morning. I
don’t know how long it will take. Goodnight.’