"Why did you lie to him?" Ashwin asked once they were all inside the cab, the rain-drenched city rushing by them at a hundred kilometres per hour.
Ruban adjusted the sleeping Hiya more comfortably by his side, then tapped the driver on the shoulder. The man raised the partition between them, giving his passengers what little privacy could be had within the confines of the vehicle. "I didn't really," he said, looking out at the pouring rain. "The formula really hasn't been recovered. And to the best of my knowledge, the IAW doesn't have the faintest idea where to find it."
"Why don't you tell them, then?"
Ruban shrugged. "There'd be no point. It's gone."
"Excuse me?" Ashwin's eyes widened.
Ruban smirked. It wasn't every day you got an opportunity to surprise the Aeriel prince, after all. "I burned it with your mother's body back at the villa."
"You...what? Why?"
"To avoid unemployment? Sifblades that efficient would make half the Hunter Corps redundant. Not all of us have royal coffers to draw from in a pinch, you know."
Ashwin looked like the only thing keeping him from swatting Ruban across the head was Hiya, who was curled up comfortably between them, snoring softly.
The Hunter sighed. "What do you want me to say, Ashwin? I was wrong, I know that now. Not all Aeriels deserve killing – though I'm still conflicted about a certain annoying princeling." The princeling in question glared. Ruban ignored him. "And not all humans deserve the life they have. But that's not gonna matter once people have that powerful a weapon in their hands.
"It's been six hundred years since anybody's seen an Aeriel that wasn't trying to kill them. The world barely remembers a time when things weren't the way they are now, when we weren't all trying to kill each other. Once they have the power, humans are going to wipe the earth clean of Aeriels, and they're going to be indiscriminate about it. And not that most of your earthbound kinsmen don't deserve a good stabbing; but not all of them do. It took me a long time to realise that, but I do realise it now.
"And that too would be the lesser of two evils. The other possibility is that some of Tauheen's lackeys would take it upon themselves to finish what she started. If Tauheen could get my uncle to back her in her war against Vaan...well, what's to say there aren't others who could be manipulated the way he was? Considering the hostility most humans feel for Aeriels at present; if they had the means, somebody somewhere would inevitably think that waging war was a good idea. And the absolute last thing we need now is a war between earth and Vaan."
Leaning back into the leather backrest, Ashwin grinned. "My hero! I hope you realise, though, that whatever reprieve you've bought us by this act of uncharacteristic brilliance, it's at best temporary. It wouldn't take them very long to reassemble the formula and start work on it again."
"It'll take them long enough. A few years, at least. If Dr. Visht was right, the formula is stored in fragmented pieces around the country. For the next few months, they'll invest all their energies in trying to find the original. When that doesn't work, they'll start the reassembly effort, which if we're lucky will cost them a few years at the very least. And besides that, there's the question of raw material. Enhanced sif isn't easy to manufacture; or cheap, for that matter. And Tauheen's little conspiracy depleted quite a bit of their stock. Precious ore that they're never getting back again.
"Restocking, reassembly and all the rest of it should keep them busy for half a decade at least. And call me an irredeemable optimist, but I was kind of hoping your sister could be prevailed upon to invest in some public relations efforts in the meantime. You know, just to make sure that she doesn't have an unwinnable war on her hands so soon after being finally rid of Tauheen."
The Aeriel giggled. "If only Safaa could hear you talk. Well, my friend, it looks like you've saved me the trouble of having to steal the formula again. Which is very nice, because after everything, that would have been awkward."
"What?" It was Ruban's turn to gape.
"You didn't think my sister ever intended to allow the formula to be developed into a viable weapon, did you? That's part of the reason I was sent to earth. Neutralise the formula, and flip mommy dearest the finger while doing it – that was the mission in a nutshell."
"Well, you flipped her the finger all right. And what a finger it was, too."
"One laced with enhanced sif, if I remember correctly," Ashwin smirked. "But there's no unmaking what has already been made. Not with humans, anyway. To the last man, you're stubborn as mules." He sighed, "All that remains to be done is to try and be friends again."
"And an easy task that's gonna be!"
"Well, to look on the bright side, my sister's already made it her new agenda to improve relations with earth ASAP. And nothing deters Safaa once she has decided she really wants something. She's like a bloodhound with a scent."
"And you?" asked the Hunter, glancing sideways at his companion. "What do you plan to do? I suppose you want to go back home, now that the job's done."
Ashwin shrugged. "I haven't decided yet, really. But I think I'd like to stay on a bit longer. Explore the planet; see the sights, so to speak. It's sure been a while. Besides," he grinned. "Vaan is nowhere near as exciting as earth."
The taxi left them at the mouth of the lane leading up to their building. At this time of night, the city looked like a ghost-town: dark, deserted and utterly drenched. Far from abating, the rain had only gotten worse, and Ruban was almost up to his knees in water. The Aeriel, being shorter, was worse off, and was submerged to his waist in the muddy liquid. Only Hiya snored on peacefully in Ashwin's arms.
Together, through the biting wind, they began the short walk home. The rain lashed down on them with a vengeance, and drenched to the bone, Ruban cursed himself for not thinking to bring an umbrella. The faint light of the outer gates beckoned to them with the promise of shelter and reprieve.
His wings folded protectively over the sleeping Hiya, sheltering her from the elements, Ashwin quickened his pace and all but ran the last few yards into the building, followed closely by a laughing Ruban. Moments later, soaked and panting, they stumbled into the flat.
Theywere home at last.