Keeper of the Lost Cities: Rebuild [COMPLETED]

Chapter Thirty-Nine - WYLIE

"What do you do?" he whispered. "Nothing?"

"That's certainly a possibility," Tiergan said, "but it's not the only one. You can choose to support their decision, or not to. Both of them are doing something."

Wylie let out a sigh. Both he and Tiergan knew which option was the better one; to do nothing would be to strain the relationship, and to not support would be to ruin it altogether.

It just felt like a betrayal to back Linh's decision to be a Purity. A betrayal to their friends, yes, but more to the humans. The Purity's speech in Hollowed Hills had made it out to sound like they were trying to protect the humans, but at the cost of their freedom. Simply because a group of people thought the humans would be better off without the elves didn't mean they were. Even if that was true, the humans had a right to make their own choice.

Maybe that was easier for Linh, though. Maybe giving people a choice meant restricting her from making her own. If there was only one option, disguised as "what's best," Linh wouldn't have to sacrifice what she wanted, as long as she wanted what the Purities did.

She thinks she wants what the Purities want, but what if that backfires? What if something goes wrong, and she's forced to do something she would never do?

Wylie rubbed his temples, stoppering the flow of worst-case scenarios before they could send him into a mental breakdown. Linh didn't want him to protect, so he had to stop worrying.

He had to start understanding.

She wanted to be free of the bondage she put herself in. She wanted things to be easy, black and white. She wanted to "find her way," which meant taking risks and making mistakes and picking herself back up again. He could understand that. He'd lost his way when his mom had died and his dad had been imprisoned, had spiraled in and out of depression. Finding his way back to the light was a fight, every step, but he'd done it with the help of her. After he'd been attacked, she'd been by his bedside almost every day, a shoulder to cry on, a silent listener, a compassionate friend.

And now it was time for him to repay her.

"Tiergan?" he asked, hope swelling inside him as a plan began to bloom. "Do you have access to Registry Files?"

Tiergan raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking?"

He considered telling him about Linh, but he wasn't sure how Tiergan would take it. Besides, Linh's truth was hers to tell. So instead he said, "Linh and I split up, and she didn't take her Imparter with her. I need to see her pendant's tracker so I know where she's at."

"Okay, then." Tiergan narrowed his eyes at Wylie for a second before leading him down the hall and into a room Wylie had only been in once in his life. It was Tiergan's office, connected to his room, and was empty save for the long table at the center with a projection hovering above it. "As a former member of the Collective, I had... special access to the Council's files."

"Courtesy of Tinker?"

"And Mr. Forkle. This device is a combination of elvin and human technology." He swiped a complicated pattern, moving things aside like they were corporeal, until he pulled up an image that had a large red lock in front of it. Now he pressed buttons, so fast Wylie's eyes couldn't keep up. He watched the image instead as the lock disappeared, revealing a list of identities. Tiergan typed Linh's name into the search bar.

Wylie took his adoptive father's place, clicking on Linh's name when it popped up. He waited for a moment, but Tiergan hovered behind him, obviously not planning to leave until Wylie had finished.