Where the Roots Begin

Chapter XVI

Respect is what you earn not command,

That is something some find hard to understand

-Francis Duggan

Alessandra had breakfast with Orion, who was wearing armor. Old style.

Dmitri was busy, he said.

Alessandra was a little relieved.

"Orion, could you tell me about Sewell?" She asked suddenly. He gave her a confused look.

"I'm just trying to figure out some things", she explained.

"Well, we were both Akraqsews, we grew up together. We were close until... I left".

"You left?" Alessandra asked in disbelief.

"I didn't leave to go to the Lab, Alessandra, they did take me. But I had left the Akraqews before they did. We lived in a beach, because we were fishermen. Or maybe we were fishermen because we lived in a beach, who knows. They made me feel smaller. Insignificant. There was this man, the Exchanger. He traveled and traded the fish we fished, for clothes, other food, weapons, and things like that. At least that's what everyone thought. But the way I saw it, he came back with stories of the world. Myths, beliefs, traditions. That's what I cared about. And I just felt like I had to be part of something greater. I didn't want to die as a fisherman, with the same people I had seen all my life, and only them. Only the simple knowledge of who we were and where we were. I wanted more". He was rubbing at his scarred hands like Sewell did that last day.

"I traveled for a long time and met other tribes. At first I was so shocked that we were the only ones who marked their hands with the sea over the years, and the other tribes were so surprised we did. Some wouldn't even let me in their limits because they thought I was crazy".

"Did you pick up the hairstyle from one of those tribes?" Alessandra asked, trying to lighten up the mood a little. She wasn't expecting the nostalgia that filled his eyes as he spoke.

He smiled.

"Actually, I did".

"How did they find you?"

There was no need to explain who they were.

"Rumor must've spread that a boy was wondering around, with no plans to go back home. I wondered for at least a year, and when I got to the Lab, there were five other kids. Nice ones. Every year, one would go and one would arrive. Imagine my surprise when the newbie was my brother".

"It wasn't a good surprise, though. I felt so guilty I ignored him the whole time. But it seemed too much of a coincidence, so I started digging around".

"There is no such thing as coincidence", Dmitri's words came back to Alessandra.

"Eventually, Nikolai told me the truth, and I was sent here. Dmitri immediately took me in. Did I tell you my 'special ability' is strategy? Scheming included. Dmitri and the counsel were delighted when I told them Nikolai had sent me. I was proof their plan had worked. Or would work. And I became a knight. How's that for a fisherman?"

Alessandra smiled.

"When I got there, just after you left apparently, Sewell was particularly... angry at me. He said he blamed me for what happened to you".

Orion nodded.

"Sounds like him. I guess it's always easier to blame things on other people, to put a face to your pain".