Eliuteria

Chapter 34

"Drop the bag," the Morri woman said and I did so immediately. The bag slipped off my shoulder and landed with a loud thud onto the floor.

They didn't seem to want to share anything with me, but I didn't have time for this, so I pressed again.

"I'm looking for Eliro and Tauzil. They have others with them... hopefully they do. I need to get to them."

"The zashar has the whole city looking for them," a woman said implying that I may be sent by Juleen.

"I don't know how to convince you, but I'm sure you've been here too long. In the bag, there's food and water. There's also more ammo and weapons, but please don't take it all."

Someone grabbed the bag and I hated that I was giving it to them, that I was powerless to stop them from taking everything and leaving me empty handed and if it helped me get to Ro, I would do anything.

"She's telling the truth," a woman's voice said, she sounded a bit older and was standing to my left. She must have been the one to open the door for me and pull me in. "Lower your guns. Take some water back to the injured," she said to one of the people who still had their gun pointed at me and pulled out two large bottles. They listened to her, two of the three taking the bottles and the third, the man with the deep voice, staying, wary of me but not ready to shoot anymore. "Hydrate and try to clean them up a bit."

I turned to look at the woman who flashed a warm smile. Something about it seemed familiar. I tried to remember if I'd seen her the paestra.

"Matias, take a seat," she said to the man still in the room before directing her attention to me. "I didn't recognize you at first. It's been so long," she said to me. "You don't remember me do you?"

Numbly, I shook my head.

"My name is Deanna. I used to keep an eye on you when you were young and your father could not. Years and years ago." She smiled warmly as she closed the distance between us. One ran reached out and touched a loose tendril of my hair like she wanted to take me into her arms, but didn't.

"You're covered in blood," she said moving the hair from my face. I looked down and saw that my arms were spattered with blood, the color bright against my pale skin. My clothes were wet with what I could only assume was more of the same, but the dark cloth made it difficult to see. "Mat, get a washcloth," she instructed and without argument he did so. Matias returned a moment later with a small wet cloth and handing it to Deanna who carefully began to wipe the blood from my face. I had not even realized it was there.

As she cleaned up my face, I thought back to my childhood for the first time in years. I did remember her. Aunt Dee. She would always play hide and seek with me and sneak me sweets whenever she had them. When my father was killed and I began to work in the paestra, I hadn't let myself think about the people I knew before, the ones I thought loved me. I hadn't thought about her since my father died and seeing her was surreal. She was older now than I remembered and older than most living humans, the skin around her eyes and mouth lined with wrinkles and her hair graying. Even so, she was fit, dressed similar to me in tactical gear with her graying hair pulled back.

"You look just like your mother."

The man still standing and watching like I might need to be put down at any moment scoffed. "That means nothing, Dee."

"I was very close to your parents," she answered and a part of me wanted to ask a dozen questions about them. I'd been a child when my father was last alive and I'd never had the chance to really know him. But there were more pressing things I needed to do, so I resisted the urge to ask. 

"I tried to take you in after Kristo was killed, but there was little any of us could do after you became property of the paestra." She paused and looked back to the man in the room. "Matias, this is the daughter of Kristo and Ilaena Ivor. This young woman is also the reason the laere's from Sieraul and Eozelle have become so personally involved in the training of our people and our cause."

"I don't think that had much to do with me," I said quickly trying not to get stuck on the fact that this woman knew what I was and that for the first time ever I had heard my mother's name. My father had never said it and when Ro and Tau told me what I was they hadn't mentioned it either. It wasn't until she said the name that I realized I hadn't known my own mothers name and how much I wanted to know it.

"The people you're looking for aren't here," Dee said. "They're closer to the paestra, they were getting humans out."

"Many of the humans are here now, safe in the basement because of them. They got them out and our people met them halfway to get the humans here."

"Are they still there?"

"We think so," Matias said surprising me with the volunteered information. "Two nights ago they didn't meet us at the rendezvous point. They weren't there last night either. They could be laying low if they had a close call, or..." He didn't finish his sentence, didn't have to.

"Can you tell me where they are?"

Matias cocked his head to one side like I had surprised him. "It's not safe to try to get to them."

"Nothing is safe in this city. I need to get to him."

"Lena," Dee said gently and rubbed a hand down my arm in a reassuring and maternal way. "You've still got blood all over you, why don't you come with me and we'll get you cleaned up."

"I'm going and it will be a lot quicker if you tell me where to go. Look, I have a hovercraft and there's another coming. We can get you to safety, but I won't do that until I have them."

It was wrong. I was leveraging every single life there to get to Ro. I knew it even as I threatened to withhold aid until they helped me find him, but I couldn't stop. In my head I began to reason that Eliro was a leader, he was meant to lead. He had the vision for a future that was better than all of this. But that wasn't why I wanted to get to him, it was purely selfish.

"I'll take you," Matias said.

"Mat," Dee said in warning. "This isn't a good idea. We should all get rest and regroup. We'll send a scout out tomorrow night and come up with a plan of action."

It wasn't that she didn't make sense, Tau would probably have said the same thing. He wouldn't have allowed three nights to pass without even sending a scout, like they had. We were out of time to wait. I opened my mouth to argue, but Matias beat me too it.

"You were right Dee," Matias shrugged, "Resistance fucked up her whole life and then she convinced two of the most powerful beings to help us. We owe her and we owe them too."

It felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head. This was the man who didn't want to stop pointing that gun at me and now he was going to help me. I didn't know what to think. I wanted to ask so many questions and I wanted to hug him and thank him. Instead I nodded when his eyes met mine and said, "We should go now."

Dee looked at me and even though I could tell she was deeply concerned about this, she smiled. "They would be proud. You be safe."