"As far as we know at the moment, he isn't here," said Kalindi. She stood at the front of a room, before a detailed map of the Kirovian city-states, the outline of which looked faintly like a rabbit if Zuri turned her head a bit. Kalindi grabbed a carved mahogany pointer from the table and designated a city-state on the map. "He's in Sinje."
"Sinje?" Chike repeated quietly, and though Zuri glanced at him, his gaze was cast down towards the floor, a faraway look in his eyes.
"Precisely," Kalindi said, guiding her braids behind one shoulder. "The River State. Though our intel suggests he fled there two years ago, three months before now he was spotted outside his old shop just outside the central district. But given his talents, he can practically weave himself into invisibility. We don't know much else besides that."
"Hey," Jem said, regarding Chike, who sat opposite her at the meeting table. "What's that face you're making, Chike? Do you know something?"
He shook his head. "Hardly. It's just that—well, I'm from there. Sinje. In fact, my family is still there."
It wasn't the sentence in itself that startled Zuri, but the manner in which Chike said it: a sorrow taste hidden somewhere beneath each word. She didn't need to see into his mind to know that there was something more to this. She asked him, "You've lost touch?"
He glanced at her. His eyes were naturally round, giving his face the illusion of nearly childlike youth, even if he had seven years on Zuri. "Sort of. Yes," he said, and shrugged. "But I suppose it's better that way."
Jem scowled. "I have no idea what that means."
"Moving on," Kalindi said, clearing her throat. Jem raised an eyebrow at her, but the princess didn't seem to notice. "Lucky us. All it means is we'll have someone who understands the terrain and the culture. Even better."
"Let me venture a guess here," said Aldric, who'd been strangely quiet ever since Kalindi had snapped at him earlier. He leaned back in his seat, his hands clasped over his stomach. "Our first step is to go to this shop of his and take a look around."
Kalindi nodded her head. "It's not likely that he'll still be around—he moves fast, after all. But all things considered, I believe it's a good jumping-off point."
Zuri exhaled, leaning her cheek into her palm. "As good as any."
"And after that?" Aldric asked.
"We figure out the rest," Kalindi said, and when everyone eyed her warily, Zuri was surprised to see a high, pinkish flush come to her cheekbones. "What! Believe it or not, I don't know everything. My mother called you all here because she believes you can do what she asks. Are you saying she was wrong?"
"No," Zuri said, getting to her feet. The princess narrowed her eyes at Zuri, and the gap between the two women stretched like a never-ending sea before Zuri's eyes for a moment. Kalindi, pure royalty, born into finery, born for the crown—and Zuri, nothing but a poor civilian who thanked Kiro for every penny she got. How could it be that they were even standing in the same room?
"She wasn't wrong," said Zuri, and she met eyes with each of the Celestials one by one. Jem beamed at her proudly, Aldric's eyes shone with a fainter fondness, and Chike's face revealed wary but steady confidence. Only Kalindi was impassive. "We can do this, and even if we can't, we have to. For our sake, for our family's sakes, for Naino's sake. Right?"
Kalindi straightened her shoulders, a flutter of respect passing in her eyes, just for a second. She coughed, setting the pointer down and making for the door. "I'll have the guards lead you to your quarters for the night," she said, not looking at them, one hand on the doorknob. "Get some rest. The train for Sinje leaves early tomorrow."
Later that evening, after an opulent meal of braised meat and hearth-baked bread and seasoned rice and beans that Zuri was sure she would be thinking about for the rest of her life, Zuri wrote her father a letter.
She sat in the privacy of her quarters: a narrow, windowless room with a twin bed and a shelf brimming with antique novels and reference books that probably cost more than her home. A small gas lamp suffused the room with a warm yellow hue as she smoothed the blank paper out on her lap, tapping her fountain pen against her teeth.
How exactly was she going to explain this, she wondered? Dear Baba, I am alright, I promise, though it's true you won't be seeing me for a while. Please don't worry.
Oh, yes. That would certainly not worry him at all.
Zuri exhaled and dragged her hands down her face with a groan. When she finally put pen to paper, the letter was fairly brief.
Dear Baba,
I am writing to you from within the Celandine Castle, if you can believe it. The Queen has asked us Celestials to go on an important mission for her, though for safety reasons I think it best not to give you the details. Upon our success she will pardon you of your debts—I've made sure of it. We can finally start over, Baba.
Though I will be gone for a while, rest assured I will think of you often. I love you, Baba. Don't miss me too much.
Love,
Zuri
Zuri folded the letter into a square envelope with her father's name across the front, then slipped it underneath the door, where a guard would retrieve it. She clicked the lamp off, and was asleep the moment her head struck the pillow.
The morning of their departure was a fair one, though Zuri imagined most mornings in Celandine were like this, as though some sort of majestic barrier kept storm clouds away from the glistening gardens. She and three other Celestials stood just beyond the castle's doors, each of them in castle-provided clothes, which thankfully had been tailored to their requests. The boys were in crisp slacks and casual travel shirts; Aldric had wound his hair into a braid down his back. Jem was beaming in a pair of linen shorts and a sparkly new pair of high-rise boots, while Zuri opted for a simple gown of rose pink.
Princess Kalindi had yet to make her appearance. The moment she did, they would board a private motorcar to the train station.
Zuri, though she didn't quite know how, had managed to keep her nerves at bay the night before, soothing long enough for her to rest. Now, however, they ambushed her in full strength, her feet tapping against the cobblestones, fingers worrying at her curls.
In fact, only Jem seemed perfectly fine with everything that was going on. She was peppy, as usual, dragging the three of them into conversation without seeming to notice that their minds were elsewhere. "I mean, don't you think it would be rather lonely?" she was saying, lounging on the front steps of the castle entrance. "In that castle all day. And you can't go anywhere because crowds would swarm you. I don't know how she does it."
Zuri dragged her mind back to center. She asked, "Who?"
"Princess Kalindi," Jem explained, looking up at Zuri, who stood beside her. "Do you think she has any friends?"
"No," said Kalindi, making the four other Celestials jump. "I don't, really."
The princess was striding down the stoop, flanked as always by two royal guards. Though each of her steps was regal, almost lyrical, something else was...different.
Chike and Aldric's mouths parted in silence. Out of the corner of Zuri's eye, she saw them exchange a glance, almost as if to ask, Are you also seeing this?
"Your hair!" Jem blurted, shooting to her feet. "Where it'd all go?"
That was indeed it. Kalindi's head of long braids was gone, the hair instead shaved close to her head in small, neat curls that somehow made the pearl earrings at her ears seem twice as big. With less hair around it, her face was sharper, straight brows and high cheekbones reminiscent of a marble statue.
"I cut it," said Kalindi. "Like I'd really go on this mission without changing my appearance a bit? I am Naino's Crown Princess. Naturally I'd need some sort of disguise."
A pause.
"Why?" Kalindi asked, running a hand over her hair, her face a subtle pink. "Does it look so awful?"
Chike, Zuri, and Jem all shook their heads immediately, and Kalindi sighed. "Well. Thank you. That's a relief."
A low rumble split the calm air as a slick, black motorcar rumbled up the drive, its front bumper marked with a glistening silver C.
Aldric scoffed, his voice gravelly as he said, "About time."
The driver disembarked, swinging all four doors open and standing beside the car with an open arm.
Kalindi turned to give the castle one more rueful glance, before she faced the Celestials instead.
"I hope when we return here, it is because we have secured a safer future for Naino," she said, and led the way into the motorcar. "Now. Let's get a move on."
Seeing a train, Zuri realized, was nothing at all like riding one.
Zuri's expertise was more with the street trolleys she rode throughout Naino day-in and day-out, not with these massive, transcontinental industrial monoliths that burped black smoke into the air and rolled thunder into the ground with their wheels. It was at least thirty minutes, likely more, before Zuri released her tight-knuckled grip on her chair.
By then, the others were giving her an array of looks, ranging from mild concern to outright judgment (the last coming from Kalindi, of course).
Chike, who claimed the seat beside hers, quirked an amused eyebrow. "I'm guessing you've never ridden one of these things before?"
Zuri grimaced. "Is it so obvious?"
"Yes," said Jem from her other side, picking at her nails. "Very much so."
"I—well, fine," said Zuri, lifting her chin. "No, I haven't. Neither my father nor I ever had to travel very much."
"Just your father?" asked Kalindi. She and Aldric were across from Zuri, the morning sun a sharp, triangular shaft across their faces even as it softened the hues in their irises. "Your mother isn't around?"
Aldric looked between the two of them warily; Zuri recalled the moment he'd seen the picture in her bedroom, the breath of quiet that had passed before he decided not to ask, after all.
"Died when I was young," Zuri said automatically, though her eyes slid to the dark-carpeted floor anyway. "Yellow fever."
The air in the train car noticeably quieted, as if a cloud had settled over them all. Chike pat Zuri's shoulder, hesitantly. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's no big deal, really," Zuri said, anxious to get away from the subject matter. "It was a very long time ago."
Maybe that was somewhat true, but it wasn't in entirety. Even if her mother wasn't there anymore, her absence still throbbed sometimes like a phantom limb.
Thankfully, Jem saved her from having to say anymore. She tossed her hair over one shoulder, leaning forward as if to study the Crown Princess in detail. "So what exactly is your power?" she asked, and Chike grunted in approval, as if that was something he'd also been wanting to know. "I imagine it has to do with more than just making rings float."
Kalindi raised an eyebrow. "Sure, it's more than rings, and it's more than floating. It's much simpler than that, really. It's—"
"Gravity?" Aldric suggested.
Kalindi's lips snuck into a smile. "Precisely, assassin. I can bend gravity to my will."
"Oh," said Aldric, folding himself deeper into his seat, so that he almost melted in with the cushions. "Neat."
"Gravity!" Jem said, and groaned. "Once again, that idiotic space rock! You can literally control the laws of physics and I can what—see what color gown a person is wearing from a few miles away?"
"Your vision's enhanced?" Kalindi asked, and Jem nodded sullenly. "Well, I don't see what's not to love about that. You could quite literally see danger coming from miles away."
Jem's face turned a vivid shade of red, her eyes darting towards the window. Zuri stifled a laugh behind her hand. "There's much not to love," Jem grumbled. She tapped the spectacles balanced upon her nose with a finger. "Like the fact my eyes will get strained if I don't wear these abominations."
Kalindi seemed genuinely confused. "But they suit you."
"They—" Jem went even redder. "That's very nice of you to say."
"Of course, I received some very basic information on each of your abilities prior to your arrival in Celandine," said Kalindi then, interlacing her fingers in her lap. The train briefly entered a tunnel, shuttering out the sun and closing them in an eerie, near-darkness. "I have to say. I'm most interested in what you can do, Zuri."
Zuri blinked, as everyone's eyes landed on her. "Me?"
"Yes, you. Looking into people's minds? I don't think there's one person on this planet who hasn't wished once or twice to be able to do that."
"Oh!" Zuri worried at a strand of her hair, her heart almost in rhythm with the chugging of the train's engine. "Well, it's not like I can read minds. It's just memories, is all."
"Still. Quite interesting," said Kalindi, her eyes as shimmering and ceaseless a black as obsidian. "Seems so...intimate."
Zuri suffered a small, involuntary shudder, mostly because Kalindi was right. There was something intimate about it, she agreed. The human mind was one of the most unknown places on earth, far more inscrutable than the depths of the sea or the endlessness of the galaxies. She was its weary researcher, caution behind every step she took into the mind's terrain, like she was afraid to somehow tarnish it.
"Yes." Zuri spoke at half the volume she had before. "I suppose it is."
She heard a shuffle of footsteps, and looked up just as the train exited the tunnel and sunlight once again doused the train car in honey.
Aldric's seat was empty.