Ing : It’s very hard to simulate your own death without making your dead body disapear at some point.
Fey : Wait, you’re talking about you’re abductor, Ba’kyl? Or the one he met in the Lakes?
Zendae : He’s been immersed, I think, following the Tryker funeral rites.
Ingfarah : Xiao… your abductor was behind you when we came for you?
Xiao : The one who brought me to the camp, whatever his name is, is still there, Ingfarah.
Fey : But… Ba’kyl had testified he did it… I guess he’s the Tryker the kidnapper met. The real one is one of the marauder from the Black Sap (Sève Noire)! They persuaded Ba’kyl to surrender in his place, to be captured. That’s why they killed him, so he wouldn’t break and say it. But how could they convince him?
Xiao : The drug…
Lai : Ba’kyl was brittle, unstable. The marauders are expert manipulators.
Xiaomei put her face in her hand, shook her head. Fey-lin comforted her as well as she could.
Fey : You have family here?
Xiao: No, nobody.
Fey: We’ll take care of you. We need to make sure whatever you took has no more effect on you. The best would be for you to stay under observation, close to a healer. Did they tell you anything about what they gave you?
Xiao : They told me it would wake me up… and it made them laugh to no end.
Ing : It just sounds like the Black Sap itself.
Fey (focusing on Ingfarah) : What do you know about the black sap?
Ing : I know that I spent the eight years of the swarm on the bark. I didn’t get to security with all of you through the rainbows.
Fey : It means you spent that time with that marauder clan, doesn’t it?
Ing : Not really. If I had done that, I’d probably have drunk from that sap, and very few can come back from it. All of the Tears (Larmes) stayed behind during those years. We fought at the side of the marauders when we had to retreat into the Prime Roots, but staying with them until the end probably would have meant we’d have ended up being part of them. The Tears ended up treading their path alone in the end.
Fey : You chose wisely. I had hoped the loss of Ki’yume would have made the black sap vanish to, but it seems they still need and use it.
Ing : There are reasons for which so many of our numbers turned to marauding. Some of us never came back… entirely sane… from those height years of hell.
Fey : I’m sorry.
Ing : You shouldn’t. I say how things were, I’m not expressing regrets.
Fey : I am sorry because all of the corrupted souls become a danger to Atys. Tell me, maybe you know some Trykers who are part of the clan.
Ing : Acour, for sure. Osrik. Most of the clan is of Matis birth, I have to say.
Ingfarah’s lips twisted in bitter, slightly angry way.
Ing : Ezek. But this one is a recent acquisition for them. The other two are old timers –from before the swarm.
Fey : Why did they let you go, XIao?
Xiao I remember a conversation. They said I’d be of use to them once back among my people.
Fey : I guess it means they were planning on feeding it to you again once you were here. You’ll need to stay here, in the city, where we can protect you. There is no place where you can hide forever, but there are means we can take to help you hide. Stay close to a healer, learn what you can of his trade. Grow strong, but don’t grow lonely; cultivate the company of people who can and desire to protect you.
They found her a place to stay, new clothes, and as close to a new self as they could. Fey-lin went home to prepare some chaï, for her and Xiao-mei.
Looking at the slaveni leaves slowly sinking in the scalding hot water, she thought of what Xiao had said, and what she could figure out of it. She brought a cup to Xiao, honneying it a bit, then came back to write a letter to Luth MacFay.
Fey : Wait, you’re talking about you’re abductor, Ba’kyl? Or the one he met in the Lakes?
Zendae : He’s been immersed, I think, following the Tryker funeral rites.
Ingfarah : Xiao… your abductor was behind you when we came for you?
Xiao : The one who brought me to the camp, whatever his name is, is still there, Ingfarah.
Fey : But… Ba’kyl had testified he did it… I guess he’s the Tryker the kidnapper met. The real one is one of the marauder from the Black Sap (Sève Noire)! They persuaded Ba’kyl to surrender in his place, to be captured. That’s why they killed him, so he wouldn’t break and say it. But how could they convince him?
Xiao : The drug…
Lai : Ba’kyl was brittle, unstable. The marauders are expert manipulators.
Xiaomei put her face in her hand, shook her head. Fey-lin comforted her as well as she could.
Fey : You have family here?
Xiao: No, nobody.
Fey: We’ll take care of you. We need to make sure whatever you took has no more effect on you. The best would be for you to stay under observation, close to a healer. Did they tell you anything about what they gave you?
Xiao : They told me it would wake me up… and it made them laugh to no end.
Ing : It just sounds like the Black Sap itself.
Fey (focusing on Ingfarah) : What do you know about the black sap?
Ing : I know that I spent the eight years of the swarm on the bark. I didn’t get to security with all of you through the rainbows.
Fey : It means you spent that time with that marauder clan, doesn’t it?
Ing : Not really. If I had done that, I’d probably have drunk from that sap, and very few can come back from it. All of the Tears (Larmes) stayed behind during those years. We fought at the side of the marauders when we had to retreat into the Prime Roots, but staying with them until the end probably would have meant we’d have ended up being part of them. The Tears ended up treading their path alone in the end.
Fey : You chose wisely. I had hoped the loss of Ki’yume would have made the black sap vanish to, but it seems they still need and use it.
Ing : There are reasons for which so many of our numbers turned to marauding. Some of us never came back… entirely sane… from those height years of hell.
Fey : I’m sorry.
Ing : You shouldn’t. I say how things were, I’m not expressing regrets.
Fey : I am sorry because all of the corrupted souls become a danger to Atys. Tell me, maybe you know some Trykers who are part of the clan.
Ing : Acour, for sure. Osrik. Most of the clan is of Matis birth, I have to say.
Ingfarah’s lips twisted in bitter, slightly angry way.
Ing : Ezek. But this one is a recent acquisition for them. The other two are old timers –from before the swarm.
Fey : Why did they let you go, XIao?
Xiao I remember a conversation. They said I’d be of use to them once back among my people.
Fey : I guess it means they were planning on feeding it to you again once you were here. You’ll need to stay here, in the city, where we can protect you. There is no place where you can hide forever, but there are means we can take to help you hide. Stay close to a healer, learn what you can of his trade. Grow strong, but don’t grow lonely; cultivate the company of people who can and desire to protect you.
They found her a place to stay, new clothes, and as close to a new self as they could. Fey-lin went home to prepare some chaï, for her and Xiao-mei.
Looking at the slaveni leaves slowly sinking in the scalding hot water, she thought of what Xiao had said, and what she could figure out of it. She brought a cup to Xiao, honneying it a bit, then came back to write a letter to Luth MacFay.