Inyanga's Star and Other Constellations

IV.iii Inyanga's Star Finale

Khmara: Assyrian for Idiot

Débile: French for Stupid

Estupido: Spanish for Stupid

Ethwel: Iraqi Arabic for idiot

Hmar kelb tfou: Moroccan Arabic for Idiot

Inyanga's Star Finale – Act IV scene iii

Under the snapping lightning web dome of a soundproofing spell, everyone in Alondra's office sat in a stubborn silence.

The maestra had come in with Mingxia and set the ceiling alight with crackling threads, while Inyanga, Amafu, and Storm, curled up on Alondra's sofa to debate in comfort. Yet when they looked up to see who had come in, seconds passed with Mingxia stopped like a statue in the doorway.

"Was it you?" said Amafu, the closest to the door and the first to think of something to say from her curled up spot. "Did you . . . tell on us?"

The statue of Mingxia shifted just enough to look down at her feet and become stone still again.

"I mean," Amafu went on, "I almost can't be mad at you, since we were the ones breaking the rules, but I kinda am mad. You didn't know why we were breaking the rules, you just judged us. Has it ever occurred to you that just because something isn't allowed doesn't mean it's unethical? Sometimes breaking a rule isn't a bad thing to do, and sometimes it might even be the right thing to do."

When she stopped talking, she noticed another dampening quiet had fallen over her comrades.

"Yes, I have been reading philosophical treatises on ethics. Are you all always going to be surprised that I read?"

Her friends laughed a little at the comedic relief, the tension breaking.

All eyes remained on Mingxia, except hers gazing down at her shoes. The girl didn't speak. The rise and fall of her chest was the only visible movement while she thought. It was as if everyone could see her thinking.

Eventually, after several cycles of breath, she peeked up and said, "You are not wrong, I think. And I'm sorry. I um . . . thought you were going to get into trouble." Her head drooped back down.

The maestra swept toward her desk, tossing in, "They were going to get into trouble."

Three heads snapped her way to glare.

She placed down her gnomon and the airweave contract she carried as if to free her hands to fidget with stacks of papers on her desk while she talked.

"You were. Perhaps it's my fault for letting you proceed down this path. Perhaps it's Mingxia's fault for not asking before acting. Perhaps it's your fault, Inyanga, for your patent recklessness and the unbreakable certainty that you're always right. Or Amafu's fault for enabling you to write the message down. Or Storm's fault . . . I don't exactly see how, but it would be strange if none of this were Storm's fault."

Storm didn't look like she knew whether to be pleased or offended, but her chest puffed with a halfhearted pride.

"It may be some time before you're ready to forgive your classmate, but may I suggest that you accept her apology and move on to consideration of what to do now?"

Three groans emerged from the couch.

Picking up the airweave page and gnomon again, she strode back toward them and perched on the arm of an armchair. She said, "Please come have a seat, Mingxia."

Mingxia sat across from her, at the other end of a low table. It was a comfy chair.

"Let's just move on." Resigned, the maestra placed the contract down on the table between them. The stiff backs of her students softened a little in curiosity as they bent to look down at the page. There was the signature of every Secondae in magically binding ink, except Mingxia's, which was in regular navy blue.