The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 19: Changing City

"You didn't hear?" Dell asked in surprise.

"About?"

She smirked. "They tried taking the pistol apart and it blew up. The Emorians rigged it to catch fire if certain parts of it were messed with."

I laughed, imagining Tobias's face as it exploded right before him. The Emorians sounded like my kind of people after all.

"It was one of the last pieces of news I got from my spies before we left Solangia," Dell said. "The king wanted to use the injuries that resulted as an excuse to invade Emorial, but that lasted about five minutes of arguing — it doesn't hold up as an excuse. All they did was lose the one pistol they had."

"Emorial won't sell them?"

"They're arming their army first. Even smugglers are having a hard time getting ahold of any. Rumor has it they'll start selling within the year — at exorbitant prices, of course."

If they cared more about arming themselves thoroughly than about profit, they must have been truly scared of invasion. "So they want safety even more than money," I said. "Getting rid of Aeric seems like it's good for them in that way too, if he wants to invade them so badly. So is this alliance a pretty sure thing?"

"Hardly," said Joshua just as Cyrus wheeled on us.

"Keep your theories to yourself," he warned. "Dell and I will manage the agreements. I won't have you assassins mucking things up by saying the wrong thing to them."

Joshua looked vaguely affronted. "I was the Auxiliary Captain for five years—"

"We never forget it," I said dryly. I didn't care so much about the alliance-making, myself. I wanted to try out some pistols, and see what Galahad's talents were, and hopefully get news from Nemia about what was going on back home. I wondered if she'd made any progress on interpreting our dreams, and if anything interesting had come up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was evening by the time we entered Stellum. This part of the city looked fine, although Cyrus reiterated that the other side of the city was mostly ruins and we weren't to go exploring there. I wasn't sure whether he was concerned for our safety or that our seeing the Emorians' residual war mess might annoy them; either way, I planned to explore at the first chance I got. It wasn't as if I planned on anyone catching me, so there could be no harm.

We found the inn at the edge of the wealthier district of Stellum where we had been given rooms. It was tall, as most of Stellum was; everything seemed on average about two stories taller than Solangia's capital, the whole city compacted upwards. It wasn't far from the buildings at the center of the city that had been repurposed for the new government, and we were expected.

A woman in a long, elegant blue coat greeted Cyrus with a shallow bow as we entered and swept a look over our party. From the slight pursing of her lips, I gathered she noticed that we were more people than expected. Nick still wore a ragged Solangian uniform that we were definitely going to have to explain.

"Welcome to Emorial," she finally said, choosing to say nothing about the state of us, which could probably be best described as unkempt and undignified. "My name is Liora Chanson. I am one of the representatives of the Provision that will be working with you. We are eager to begin negotiations between our countries, although I expect you would like some time to rest first."

"One night to catch up on sleep is certainly needed," Cyrus said, "but I hope we can begin our talks as early as tomorrow."

The Emorian nodded, giving Cyrus a more considering look as her thumb thoughtlessly rubbed the butt of a pistol strapped beneath her coat. "Very sensible. Will all of you be joining us at the negotiations table?"

Cyrus began saying that we would not and explaining why there were so many of us, but I drifted away, more interested in finding food. It had begun raining; I stopped at an open window to lean against the wall as I looked out. The light out was soft and dim, casting an almost blue tint on the buildings around the inn. Or at least, it looked like a blue tint...

"No matter how many times I see it, I'm always interested in how outsiders react to the rain pigment."

I turned to find a girl sitting at a table nearby watching me. She looked a year or so younger than me, dark-haired and sharp-eyed, wearing a black coat in the same style as Liora's. "You're hard to read," she added, in a tone of voice that suggested the two thoughts were perfectly connected to her.

"Rain pigment?" I asked, on unsteady footing from her inscrutable gaze.

"The rain brings a blue coloring out of our white stone. Quite remarkable, I'm told, though it seems very ordinary when you've lived here for so long." She regarded me with another slow look. "You're the Guardian they brought, aren't you? You hold yourself in that way. Apart from the others."

"What do you know about Guardians?" I asked, but I meant why do you know anything about Guardians. I shot a look over at the group I had left, catching Joshua's eye. He moved toward us, understanding my unease though he looked confused about what caused it.

The girl shook his head. "No, relax. The Phoenix sent word ahead that there would be a Guardian in their diplomatic group, I'm not pulling things out of thin air."

"You're a representative? You're too young." And she was also sitting apart from the Emorians, so I didn't see how doing the same said anything about me.

"Wrong on both accounts." Gripping a cane, she stood, tilting her head to Joshua in greeting, and only then did I realize that her Solangian barely held an Emorian accent. Liora's Solangian had been precise but noticeably foreign; this girl's was, if not natural, then spoken with the ease of many years of study.

"My name is Ari," she said. "Perhaps that would have been a better introduction."

"Morane," I said, since she hadn't bothered with a last name.

"I understand you are not involved with the talks, so I hope there is plenty else in our city to amuse you," Ari said, ignoring Joshua's attempt to introduce himself so completely that it bypassed rudeness and became an utter dismissal of Joshua's existence in our vicinity.

I barely contained a snort of laughter. "I'm— I'm sure I'll find something."

"You would be welcome in our city library, if you wish to visit. I can usually be found there. We have a rather large volume on the Guardians of Solangia if that interests you."

Though I was hardly excited by buildings full of books, the idea of a book about Guardians stopped me from turning her down. Maybe this book would have something to say about Guardians whose identities had been switched around or erased... maybe even could tell me what it meant if you were suddenly told you were the Assassin but didn't feel like it was possible.

Even Joshua had stopped looking insulted and was paying close attention.

"I'd like that," I said. "Are you the librarian?"

Ari laughed harshly. "You know, sometimes I wonder if the representatives think I am." I didn't know how to respond to that, but thankfully Ari seemed ready to leave. "I do hope you come. I would like to ask you some questions — and, I suppose, answer any you have."

What questions was I supposed to have for her? I hoped she didn't think I was all that interested in their color-changing stones, because I had mostly been wondering how easy the walls of the buildings might be to climb.

"Strange kid," Joshua said as Ari left. She gave Liora what seemed an almost mocking salute as she walked past, which the representative pointedly ignored.

I agreed, but it was an interesting strange. I would look for this book about Guardians at the very least. And maybe figure out what Ari was, if not a representative or librarian.