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 ^{(it's beta!)}

This is an entirely different setting from the story we're about to embark on in Ribbons. I'll give you a brief synopsis of what's going on so you aren't completely confused by this excerpt.

An Unseelie girl named Lani has been captured and imprisoned by the council, who intend to interrogate her. She had a journal with her, which Lariot was tasked with reading (because no council member wanted to do it).

It was difficult not to feel pity for her, even knowing what she was, and what her people had done. Every time I passed her cell, she looked at me. I wondered if she knew that I was the one ordered to read her journal, which we had confiscated from her upon her capture. If she knew that I was now a witness to everything she’d documented in her life for the past five years. If she knew that whenever she tried and failed to hide the sadness in her eyes, I knew why it was there.

The Council leader Aeacus had asked me to analyze what the Unseelie had written, and look for any clues or hints about a conspiracy to invade our city of Deepsol. I had spent three weeks reading and re-reading all of it, but I couldn’t find anything to suggest that she had any part in the uprising of her people, their attack and ascent upon the Grand Stair, or the relentless assault they had been unleashing on the humans and Aria of Deepsol.

Still, Aeacus was certain that something there was written in code, something that pointed to a strategy or a leader of the Unseelie militia. He strongly believed, or in my opinion, desperately hoped, that somewhere in this young woman’s diary was a perfect tactic to dismantle and defeat the revolution, and win back Deepsol.

When I said there was nothing, he declared that I was an imbecile and very nearly fired me. Said I couldn’t handle being a librarian, let alone a Council secretary administrator. He took the journal to analyze it himself.

So now I had little to do while our Miner’s Guild-composed civilian police force gradually failed to save Deepsol from the invasion of Unseelie, except question the wounded and lend morale and false hope to the frightened. I wasn’t a fighter, I was a politician. Aeacus and Tulluket and the other council members all had their prized Artifacts, and knew how to use them, but they themselves seemed reluctant to lead the frontlines. They only fought when Unseelie forces broke through and we were directly under attack.

However, as gravely important as I knew all of this was, none of it really seemed to matter to me. Despite the chaos and violence that threatened to destroy Deepsol, all I could think of was Lani Rumbin.

No matter how much I tried to put her out of my mind, I could still see her in my head, trapped in the lowest level of the council building in a jail cell, hugging her knees and staring quietly as she sat in a shadowy corner. In her journal, she seemed to have been surprised as everyone else to see that Unseelie boy steal Don Seragar from Deepsol’s custody and then vanish. To the other Unseelie, that seemed to be their cue to reveal themselves from hiding and assault the Grand Stair from their shanty towns all around the base of the city.

I wanted to ask her so many things, but not about the Unseelie, or Deepsol. I wanted to know more about her brother, Lars, and about her experiences working for the Mafia. What was her childhood like, growing up in a society constantly at war with the monstrous creatures that clawed at the borders of the Imperious? I wanted to know how the hell she managed to hang onto hope despite all of the obstacles she’d had to face. How she managed to keep pressing on and keep trying, and not giving up or dying inside after everything she’d been through and how long she’d been alone. I wanted to hear her sing the songs she’d written on the pages of her journal, even though she wrote that she didn’t sing anymore.

Every time I passed her cell, and I caught her eyes on me, I wondered if she realized how well I already knew her, and how I still wanted to know much more.

I was glad it was Tulluket, and not me, who had been given the task of watching her, interrogating her, and getting inside her head.

I gave Tulluket too much credit.

“Oh, Lariot. There you are.”

I glanced over my shoulder. Tulluket was standing in the doorway behind me, wearing the only expression I had ever seen him use. A smile that wasn’t quite a smile, and a look in his eye that was sharp and thoughtful, but more than anything else, exhausted. He only had one eye. Aeacus had said that when he was younger, Tulluket used to wear an eye patch. But I had only seen him use his long dark hair to cover the sightless half of his face. When I first met him, I couldn’t help but stare, and try to find his missing eye. But Tulluket would always grin at me, amused by my effort, and made me feel a fool.

“Councilman Tulluket,” I said with a tired, but diplomatic grin, turning casually to face him. I was now much more accustomed to looking at his existing eye when I spoke to him. “What can I do for you?”

His smirk widened slightly and he studied me for a few seconds before responding. “I heard Aeacus is disappointed in you. He asked me if you should be demoted back to customs, if not removed from the council’s secretary staff completely.”

I shrugged. “He’s under a lot of stress. There’s a lot happening. I can’t blame him for overreacting.”

Tulluket strode across the room, glancing through a window at a brawl in the streets below. The right sleeve of his silk overcoat fluttered lifelessly as he moved. One of his arms was missing as well. When I asked, he’d told me he lost it to an overzealous opponent in an arm wrestling match. The thought of Tulluket engaging in such a primitive contest of strength had made me laugh. “If you were demoted, you’d lose any chance at becoming a part of the great Council.” He snorted indignantly. “Wouldn’t that just be a TRAGEDY.”

I rested my hand on my fist, watching the back of his head. The way he’d said it, it sounded like he thought I’d be better off. “I don’t think Aeacus will actually do anything,” I replied. “He’s too busy dealing with all this violence and mayhem. I think we’re losing this war.” I paused. “Aren’t you supposed to be watching that Unseelie?”

“It’s only a matter of time before Aeacus does something drastic.” Tulluket avoided my question and continued to stare through the window. I could tell from his voice that his smile had faded. “Anyway, I was wondering what you’d uncovered in that woman’s diary.”

I wafted my hand dismissively. “You already heard from Aeacus, there was nothing in it.”

“Nothing of tactical importance.” Tulluket turned to me again, his familiar smirk returning. “But what did you learn about her?”

I raised my eyebrows, pretending that a million thoughts about her personal memories and wishes didn’t immediately come to the forefront of my mind. “What do you mean?”

“All those weeks divulging in her personal thoughts, you must have learned quite a lot about her.” Tulluket wouldn’t take his eye off me. “Any interesting dreams? She must have had some unique experiences. Does she have any friends or family?”

I raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. “Who cares? She’s just an Unseelie.”

“Oh really?” Tulluket squinted at me skeptically and cocked his head.

I hesitated. I was going to say that she didn’t matter to me, but I could see that Tulluket had somehow already figured me out. I gave a sigh of chagrin. “She had a brother, named Lars.”

“Yes?”

I peered cautiously into Tulluket’s penetrating blue eye. Was he mocking me, or did he really want to know more? “He died in the Long Charge, when the Unseelie first attacked Deepsol. I thought it was strange that he’d find his death here, from the weapons of Men, after he spent years fighting with Illex and antlions and all the other monsters she described that live underground.”

Tulluket gave a half laugh and tried to look satisfied, but I could see a shudder go through him. I remembered that he had a strong aversion to the Illex, something the rest of the Council had discouraged me from asking about. Even Tulluket who could make a joke out of anything, never seemed amused by them.

“Sorry,” I said, glancing downward. Although I’d read about them in Lani’s journal, I still wasn’t sure the Illex were actually real. I couldn’t believe that a girl like her, who looked so small and frail, had been able to stand off against one of those giant, squid-like creatures, and survive. Her people probably used the term loosely to describe any large ocean spawn they encountered.

Tulluket shoved his hand in a pocket. “So you know her quite well, I’d bet.”

“The Unseelie girl? I suppose so.” I scratched my head. It was all I could do to keep my mind off of Lani. All this talk of her was making me increasingly uncomfortable. I shuffled and shifted my balance in my chair. “What are you getting at, Tulluket?”

The councilmember shrugged, and began to walk toward the door again. “Some more important matters require my attention. I need someone watch the Unseelie girl. I’m not getting a lot of information out of her anyway.”

I slumped visibly. God was plotting against me. He couldn’t possibly be serious. “So you want me to do it.”

“Talk to her and see what you can find out. You know better than I do.”

I couldn’t do this. I did not want to battle these thoughts while trying to speak to Lani. I shot up out of my chair in a momentary panic, but I managed to quell my voice as I called out to him. “Tulluket I really don’t think I’m qualified to—”

“Oh, it’ll be easy,” he laughed, waving his hand at me as he left the room. “Thanks a ton, Lariot. Be seeing you.”

I fell back in my chair in defeat, running my hand through my hair. While I knew how difficult this was going to make things for me, I couldn’t help but just be the smallest bit eager to speak to the girl.