Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 22 - The Final Piece

Sef stayed with her through dinner. Leah kept scanning the room, well aware of his gentle prods that wanted her to tell him more about the thing she'd found. Leah kept her mouth firmly shut, artfully dodging the questions with more of her own.

But eventually, she'd had enough of waiting and avoiding Sef's well-intentioned but gradually annoying prodding.

"I don't suppose you know where Kieran's room is?" she asked.

"It's close to mine," said Sef. "Why?"

"I might just leave him a note," said Leah, flipping to an empty page. "He has to go back to his room eventually, right?"

"I guess so."

Leah dropped her usually neat handwriting into its rather chaotic, significantly more slanty form in the hopes that Kieran wouldn't instantly recognise her handwriting and tear the paper into pieces.

Kieran - I've found something important with the border symbols and I need to talk to you about it as soon as possible. What Illiya said isn't true, and I shouldn't have let her speak for me. I can explain if you give me the chance. I'll be in my rooms unless I'm on Lightless duty - Leah.

Leah scanned the note before deciding it was good enough and carefully tearing it out.

She glanced to Sef. "Care to escort me?"

"With pleasure."

Leah memorised the route to Kieran's room as they walked. It wasn't hard, and soon enough, she'd slipped the note under his door and quickly walked away, not wanting to hear the rustle of paper if Kieran was on the other side and picked it up.

"Did you need anything else?" asked Sef, hesitating outside another door a few metres from Kieran's that she assumed was his. "I can take you back to your room or something if you don't remember the way?"

"I remember," said Leah. "Thanks for your help, Sef. Sorry if I've been a bit of a mess. I've just bitten off a bit more than I can currently chew, but I'll manage."

Sef didn't seem happy, but he nodded. "Just remember--if you need me, it doesn't matter what I'm doing or what time it is, I'll help any way I can. Okay?"

"Okay," said Leah, giving him a small smile. "Night, Sef."

His eyes lingered on her face, only breaking when she awkwardly turned to leave. "Goodnight, Leah."

*+*+*+*

Leah sat in her room for what felt like an eternity.

In reality, it was barely an hour. She kept glancing at the stars through the ceiling, trying to figure out exactly how long she should wait. If Kieran was in his room, she tried to tell herself that he'd need time to consider the letter, maybe make up his mind. If he wasn't, well, for the sake of her sanity she needed to get this door open tonight.

To distract herself, she turned to her notebooks on the underground temple. She'd drawn in the sun tunnels on each level and drawn so many maps and sketches of the layout anyone could have made a three-dimensional model from the details. She linked their recorded murals to their section of wall, and when she got to Shade's, her fingertips brushed the page.

In a moment of clarity, she understood what Gale had been trying to do when Leah had shown her Pirra's page. Shade's essence was on this page, and a dull ache in her heart made her accutely aware of how much she missed him.

If he was free and alive as Gale had said, he'd be trying to get them out. Surely, that was the reason for his absence--he didn't want her involved. She could barely defend herself, she'd be a burden to protect that wouldn't have much use in the first place... but that didn't mean she couldn't miss him, right? Couldn't he at least have left her a note?