Rising Shards

The wind howled that day. It was one of those days, the kind where winter’s just about finally over, where it has to get one last bit of revenge in a big snowfall or a super chilly day. In this case, the big storm was the night prior, and the way too cold day was the following morning. Our footsteps crunched in the shin high snow. I found myself staring at Marm’s nose and ears, which were red in the cold.

”Is this really the best place to meet?” Syval asked.

”My room’s out, Zates could walk in,” I said. ”And probably Oka and Lillia, too. Anyone really, way too many people walk into my room.”

”So the two options in the entire universe are your room and a creepy-ass spot by the train tracks,” Syval said.

Even though a train went right up to the campus grounds, not many of us ever went there. Past the station there was a former yard that was abandoned now, it seemed like a private enough spot. A lot spookier than I expected, but maybe that spookiness would scare us into actually taking this seriously.

”Is everyone here?” I asked.

”I think so,” Marmalade said. ”So this is everyone who knows?”

”Yeah, it’s me, you, Aira, Syval, and now Roux,” I said. ”Oh, Anastasia, Caeda, and Chickadee know, but we’re obviously not inviting them.”

”And uh...” Syval raised his hand.

”Obviously our two new guests too, yeah,” I said.

”Well, I was gonna say. Aira and I are meeting with Octa Kathron about how to fix the whole new guest thing,” Syval said.

”But we swear we didn’t tell her about you!” Aira said.

I believed her, because one more stressful thing about this and I’d lose it. If Octa knew about me, it was probably beyond game over. She worked for the Taramin labs, I stole that gunk from the Taramin Labs.

”What was your excuse for the crystals, again?” I asked.

”Well, we just said we were in the city during the void storm for a dentist appointment, and then the storm hit, and we needed to find a place to hide, and then we tripped and fell and the ground rumbled and the crystals fell in our mouths,” Syval said. ”That’s...the story we told her.”

”So, this whole operation is genuinely run by idiots, then?” Roux said.

”Hey,” Marmalade said.

”Whitton excluded because she is somewhat smart,” Roux said.

”Well, that’s kind of nice at least,” Marmalade said.

”The rest of you? It’s already over, you should just come clean,” Roux said. ”There is no way Octa Kathron believed that story. She likely knows about Koridia as well.”

”Come on, that was...a decent story,” I said. ”I could see Octa buying it.”

”I couldn’t, she’s not half as stupid as our teachers,” Roux said. ”And she works for the Taramin labs. Taramin Industries, they’re huge. Don’t you remember Risa getting whisked away as soon as they wanted her back in the family?”

Leave it to Roux to send me crashing back to reality.

”Yeah, I remember,” I said. Roux and I were friends growing up, and our other friend Risa found out she was a Taramin kid and they had her move away immediately. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again, and only did because of the Ovie kidnapping me incident.

”If you know their influence, you can also understand they probably had security cameras,” Roux said. ”Cameras that caught Syval with his Tokickaman garb.”

”So...what do you suggest we do, then?” Marmalade asked.

”Yeah, are you just gonna call me an idiot for an hour?” I asked.

”I could, and I’d have a lot of fun doing so, but I’ll refrain,” Roux said. ”I would just assume that Octa is aware of what you did, and is allowing you to continue doing what you’re doing for whatever reason. So it is possible you don’t need to fear her, or Taramin for the moment.”

”So why call me stupid then for—” I started.

”For the moment,” Roux repeated. ”This could come back to bite your asses any minute, or you’ll just get away with it. The extreme incompetence of our school system versus Taramin being competent, it could go either way, so you kind of have to let that shake out before you react. I would instead focus on making this Tokickaman and Roux Jr. operation somewhat worthwhile until that minute comes. And that’s where I come in.”

Roux grinned. They told me at Falling Shards that they would help out with all this. Maybe we needed someone who thought ahead as many steps as Roux did. I really wanted to get to talking about Aira and Syval’s deal, but knew it’d be better to let Roux say whatever they wanted to say.