Smoke and Shadow: The Fireweaver, Book 1

Chapter 19. INSIDE

CHAPTER 19. INSIDE

There is an old story, a children's classic, that lives on from before the Fall. From old Earth. Everyone still knows it. Alice looks through a keyhole into a world she can only see but not touch; a sumptuous garden of green hills and blue skies.

Forbidden Fruits.

The city center is one of those places. Of lush, green divided lawns and pathways in front of tidy, immaculate honeycomb housing. Balconies and retractable awnings, rooftop gardens and sparkling pools. Hydrangeas splay over sidewalks in ombré blues and pinks, like demure empresses. Solid oaks rise in soldier rows, and, centuries later, stand so tall they seem to hold up the sky.

There were a few spots in the hedge walls where someone might glimpse the city center. Almost as if those those tiny fissures had been placed on purpose to show what most did not have; to alight false hopes in so many. If you were only good enough, clever enough, beautiful enough, you could get in. Most of all, if you were lucky enough, you could get in.

Dimarrah and Mehlie waited at the Rose Fountain which stood just outside the entry gates. Waiting for Rhoke. Waiting for an Uruque to spot them. Dimarrah reached up to touch the pendant which had grown cool against her skin, the filament inside gone quite still. 

They'd been waiting at least twenty minutes. 

"Seriously," Mehlie whispered, fidgeting again. Dimarrah gave her a silencing look. No one was out at that late hour, but keeping to shadows made Dimarrah feel better. It would seem odd for her to be with the girl at a time when most kids should be in bed. 

Mehlie whispered on, standing up to walk around the fountain, dipping a barefoot in it every few steps. 

"What could you have done to get Uruques after you?" A bit of water flecked across Dimarrah's face.

She hoped the girl couldn't see the rueful grin on her face. Wasn't sure how long she could keep up the charade with this girl. Too smart for her own good.

"I wanted you safe. At the Rendahl," Dimarrah said finally, knowing it was an answer. The only answer she could give. No doubt the girl could read lies straight out of her eyes.

"Good thing I didn't go, right?" Mehlie jumped to the ground as light-footed as a cat, and before asking another question Dimarrah wasn't ready to answer, Rhoke appeared, looking no worse for the wear other than a few buttons of his coat not quite done up and cuffs flapping around his wrists. There might have been traces of blood on his face, but in the dark it was hard to tell.

"You look like you've been in a bar fight." Dimarrah said it in light mockery, but in all truth, she could barely quell the relief she felt. Wanted to throw her arms around him.

He was turned away from them, quickly tidying up his appearance as best he could using a splash of water from the fountain, and then waving his wristscreen to activate the gate.

Dimarrah came to his side, silently, put a hand on his arm to stop him. She wiped her sleeve across a spot on his face that he'd missed. Dirt or blood or both. 

Took you long enough. Those were the words she sent. But she knew he'd take them another way. Maybe she hoped he would. It took all of her willpower not to pull him close. 

He had only to show the guard on duty beyond the gate his Stayhouse documentation proving that Dimarrah and Mehlie belonged with him, and just like that, they came into the city center. How many times had Dimarrah wanted to get through? And now that she was, she felt more an imposter than ever.