40. THALIA/AHANE

“Run for it, Red!” I held on for dear life.

Ahane sprinted down the streets, pushing and shoving people out of the way while the guards behind us shouted Human! Human!

Ahane made good time down the network of streets. I glanced behind us. “Shit! Ahane! Cops or something! Whatever you call them!”

Ahane’s scales seemed to get brighter and more metallic. His tail jangled with each stride and bore into my skull.

The Temple emerged between the buildings, just a few blocks ahead of us.

I risked another look behind us. Some very, very large pewter-colored 25XAs with pointy sticks were almost within pointy stick range. “They’re close!”

The buildings parted and the temple courtyard spread in front of us.

How tall was that thing? Ten stories? Twenty? I tilted my head back as he ran, following the line of the building upwards while trying to figure out what it was made of and what color it was, and I hit the sky before I got there, and the stars, leading up into the heavens like a?—

The stars struck my eye like a spear.

I cried out as everything got woozy and spinny and I shoved my face into his back while my left eye throbbed.

Ahane took the stairs three at a time.

Up, up, up, up.

I looked again at the crystal-meteor-shard building that didn’t match any of the rest of the city. It seemed taller and taller and it wanted me to look at the stars?—

He crested the top landing. Three priests wearing robes and half-armor greeted us with pointy sticks, their faces hidden by deep hoods. They dug the pointy sticks into Ahane’s belly. “There is no sanctuary for you here!”

Ahane shouted something in High Dialect that I didn’t understand, but it probably was let me in! Then he switched to Utilitarian. “She is my mate! The one the cosmos chose! She is Human and found me!”

His scales raced the color of roses and sunset and ancient temples and racing sunlight.He dropped me off his back and shoved me between himself and the Priests and spun to face the oncoming soldiers. He backed me towards the edge of the landing, claws sharp, scales extended into gleaming plates.

The dozen city guards piled up the stairs.

Ahane smashed his tail into the stones. It made a glass shattering sound. “She is my mate. She is Human, and the cosmos paired us and I can prove it! I can prove it as my brother proved it!”

The two Priests spun and turned their pointy sticks on the guards. “You will wait while we investigate.”

“Investigate what?” one of the pewters asked. “It’s a Human. And he injured three of us.”

“You drew my mate’s blood,” Ahane snapped, turning me to show the incriminating scratches on my shoulder. “I informed you she was my mate, and she was attacked. I have the right to defend her.”

One of the Priests smashed his tail into the ground. “Inform the Counciltrix of his claims while we investigate. If he cannot prove what he says to be true, they will be surrendered, as is custom.”

“The Temple goes too far,” the lead guard snarled at the Priest.

“The cosmos does as it will and cares nothing for mortal concerns,” the Priest retorted.

“Well, this is a bit spooky,”I muttered to Ahane as we waited in an empty room that had a weird cloud of mist along the bottom, was a pretty shade of twilight blue/purple, and had a real aura of don’t fuck around, because you don’t want to find out oozing from the walls.

In the shadowy colors, Ahane looked, somehow, bright red and gold, like a little miniature sunset stopping by for a chat. His tail wrapped around my ankle, and he held my wrist in one claw, like he was afraid I’d be sucked away into the cosmos.

Jingle jingle jingle.

My brain pounded with each jingle of metallic bangles. I winced and shook my head, but it didn’t help, and my skin raced with goosebumps. The stars seared into my retinas flickered and burrowed into my brain.

Jingle. Jingle. Jingle.

“What the hell is that noise?” I whispered.

“What noise?” Ahane whispered back.

“You don’t hear that? Bells?”

“No.”

A hooded, robed figure moved through the blue mist, carrying an ornate staff that went jingle jingle with each step.

The figure pulled back his hood, revealing a 25XA with scales the same color as the temple ambiance. Ahane inclined his head politely. I tried not to gawk.

Was that what Ahane meant by “breath”? Because that 25XA looked like he was made entirely out of gemstones. His scales were exquisite. He was like artwork.

The Priest looked us up and down with his strange eyes, but mostly down. “You claim this Human is your cosmos-ordained mate?”

“I do,” Ahane answered.

The Priest looked at me, then at Ahane. “Have you bound inside her?”

Ahane’s scales flickered. “No.”

“But you have coupled with her.”

“Yes.”

“Your name?”

“Ahane, of House 8.”

“Brother of the Twilight Scion. Believed dead and lost. I see you are very much alive. I take it this was a Human from the Grey site.”

“We escaped the site together and were separated from the ship. She was in another part of the facility.”

“I see.”

“Is it true there are other Humans here?” I asked carefully.

“It is true, but you may not see them. They are not allowed visitors. And I am not convinced you are what the third brother claims you are. Plain brother, this way.” The Priest beckoned him.

“Wait here,” Ahane whispered.

“You don’t know what this guy is going to do to you.”

“Would you rather take your chances with the gentlemen outside?”

I scoffed and plunked myself down on the mist-covered floor.

Ahane followedthe Priest down various levels and past assorted chambers. The twilight grew thicker, and there were strange lanterns that brushed over his scales and seemed to keep the twilight away, like dissolving fog with warmth.

The Priest led him to a large open chamber that contained a wall of trinkets.

Ahane jerked his head towards the Priest. “What is this?”

The Priest inclined his head towards the wall. “Pick.”

“I did not come here to pick. I have not paid for the pick.”

“Pick.”

“I will not be tricked.”

“Pick.”

“Not without her here.”

“That is not how it is done.”

“None of this is how it’s done. She is my trinket.”

“Focus on her,” the High Priest said, “as if you were to select a trinket. You asked for the Temple’s succor. This is what you are being offered. Refuse it at your peril and your choice.”

Fine. He would play along. For Thalia”s sake. He closed his eyes and summoned his favorite memories of her. And the memory of when she’d told him she loved him.

The High Priest nodded to Ahane’s tail.

His tail seemed half-missing, a red and gold flame that faded and dissolved into the mist around his ankles.

“It seems you too can dip your tail into the well of the cosmos,” the High Priest said. “Intriguing, plain brother. What purpose does your House serve if you also stand named before the cosmos?”

Ahane glared at him. “I serve my House by being the plain brother, and I am content with that.”

“The well of the cosmos rising around your ankles is very rare, plain brother. Very, very rare. Even for one as your brother. For one such as you?”

“I may be plain among my brothers,” Ahane said, “but our House has honored the trinkets and the order of things for countless generations. We have never wavered. We have never faltered. I may not shine, but to waver and falter is a choice. And I choose not to falter.”

The High Priest gestured to the wall. “Pick a trinket. Whichever one calls to you.”

“I cannot pay you.”

“Payment is not necessary. I am curious to see which one calls you, given you are being offered your choice without restriction and have already found your mate. And no, she may not be here. It is research.”

“Research.” Thalia had been someone’s research long enough.

“To understand this strange and unique power Humans have.”

“Isn’t it enough they have it?”

“You know it is not. We must understand. I believe it has less to do with the Grey’s objectives, and ultimately, more to do with the coming Alignment.”

“What could the Alignment have to do with anything?” The Alignment had a lot to do with many things, like the matter of time in the Gestalt, but not Thalia.

The Priest’s scales darkened to an ominous shade. “I am not certain. Now pick.”

“And after I pick?”

“You will be free to go home and I will inform the Counciltrix.”

“She will not be happy, and the Gestalt will also not be happy.”

“Nor will the Temples be happy,” he said with a hint of dry amusement. “The stars are in motion, and the motion of stars change for no one’s happiness. Your tail drifts in the well of the cosmos. I cannot deny that. The weight of the cosmos crushes those who defy it. Pick, please.”

Ahane turned his attention to the wall. “How do you know I won’t pick a top trinket?”

“I hope you do.”

“But my brother did not.”

“Your brother chose from the trinkets he was allowed to pick from. Which we find curious, considering he was able to choose at all. Then again, the expectation that he would find one from the wall may have created the reality of an appropriate trinket.”

“Yet it was not appropriate.”

“The trinkets are merely symbols,” the Priest advised him. “A base trinket can still result in you finding your perfect mate. The top-tier trinket does not assure all your dreams will come true and your mate will be everything you desire. Your brother’s trinket was meaningless, and I’m not sure how he chose it at all. I know the Lady Scion was not at all attached to it. Your brother came here and went through the invocation, envisioning what he wanted in a mate, not knowing there was no point. So perhaps that was why he was drawn to that particular trinket. Perhaps it is one that was fashioned with no one to receive it. An empty trinket. For an empty request for an equation that could never be balanced.”

“I didn’t realize Chess wasn’t attached to her trinket.” His parents had been very attached to their trinkets.

“The trinkets are symbols of the union. They have great sentimental value. The Lady Scion was not the least bit horrified at the loss of hers, since the trinket did not reflect her union. Your brother, I suspect, is more distraught he isn’t upset. It was a trinket for a hollow wish. Quite interesting, really. We have been analyzing it. Now you will be the next participant. Choose.”

“My choice will be influenced.”

“Choose honestly. If you do, I believe your mate will be very pleased.”

He moved into the chamber, consulting the rows and rows of trinkets, one after the other. There were so many, from the very plain to the very ornate and everything in between.

His attention stumbled over one pair, middle of the wall, totally different from all the rest—except they were not all that different.

He scanned the rest of the wall, but returned to that pair. He couldn’t see it from where he was, not clearly, but he pointed. “That pair.”

The Priest used his staff to retrieve the trinkets. “These?”

“Yes.” The trinkets featured a graceful swoop of metal that clung to the ear in a single long cuff, and carved into the metal were the flowers Thalia was named for, inlaid with delicate wafers of rare shells. Chains dangled in graceful loops, with small chips of green gemstones like hanging vines and leaves, and a small sculpture of a kit-kit clung to the very top of the ear.

The Priest observed with a knowing tilt of the head. “You are certain.”

“These flowers.” Ahane ran his talon over the inlaid chips. “Her name. I call her that. It’s my name for her.”

“Then clearly, it was made to be yours. We don’t often make them so ornate, but sometimes it is necessary.” The Priest gestured with one hand. “It was also recently made. Perhaps specifically for you.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Of course it’s possible. But tell me something. Did you realize when you met her she was your mate?”

“No. It took time, but there was always something about her that…” He pondered how to express it. “Occupied my concerns. Why?”

The Priest shifted his shoulders. “Curiosity. Our business is concluded. If the trinket does not suit your mate, come back to discuss.”

“I am not inclined to discuss my relationship with you, and I know she will not either.”

“Your participation in my research is the price of the Temple’s protection.”

The Priest escorted him back to the main chamber where Thalia waited, sitting on the floor among the wispy dark mist while two more junior priests regarded her with abject curiosity. She waited until Ahane was right in front of her, gazing up at him with those bright eyes, which were brighter than anything else in this cosmic murk. Ahane offered her his hand.

She accepted. The High Priest gestured to the others, and they disappeared into the shadows.

“You got it?” Her rough voice seemed to match the strange mist and shadow, like a weapon under the stillness.

Ahane opened his hand, revealing the trinkets.

She gasped. “They’re beautiful!”

“You like what I chose for us?”

She picked up the smaller of the two. He noticed that it was smaller than he remembered—like it had resized itself to fit her ear. Her eyes seemed to sparkle and flicker like the lanterns. She ran her fingers over the inlay, felt the dangling chains and tiny leaves made of gemstones. “I had no idea what a trinket would be or what it would look like or even what would be right, but this is perfect. Except?—”

“Except?”

“How the heck do I put it on?”

He put his on first, sliding the clasps into place. Then he took hers. “These are the flowers that are your namesake.”

“They are? What a coincidence. You told me they weren’t a symbol of love or anything.”

“They are not. They are a warning that that which is precious can be destroyed by those who wish to possess it.”

“You already possess me. No one’s fighting you over me.”

“No one I have not sent on their way. Or to their grave.”

“You’re such a romantic and I love it.”

He was not a romantic. But if his manner pleased her, that pleased him. “It’s not a coincidence. This was made for us. The Priest was… inspired…to recently make them.”

“How is that possible?”

“Science.”

“Sounds like magic.”

“It is not magic.”

“I dunno, Ahane, sounds like magic. Divine inspiration. Intervention. Whatever.” She waggled her fingers at him. “Wooo, woo. Spooooky.”

“Hold still.”

She gave him a bright smile and did as she was told.

He gathered himself, but his hands still shook slightly while he clasped the trinket to the outer edge of her ear. It fit her perfectly, a swooping curve of precious metals and tiny gemstones, and it looked exquisite against her plain skin and deep brown hair.

His hearts throbbed with emotion.

“Oh, it sounds like little bells!” She swished her head back and forth and touched the chains.

He shook his head. His sounded like rattling.

“Little itty bitty bells,” she whispered in wonder, fiddling with the tiny gemstone leaves. “Like strange little wind chimes.”

The translator could not tell him what wind chimes were. It told him what wind was, and what a chime was—a type of bell—but not what a wind chime was. And with Human speech, one should not make any assumptions about what anything was. See: ballpit. Room-in-ating. Clearly, wind chimes were not chimes made of wind. That would make too much sense.

“You look beautiful.” He had briefly entertained perhaps a partner to share his later life with, after all his other brothers had settled and Ohade was well again. He had dismissed anything else as impractical, and looked forward to a life filled with nieces and nephews.

But a mate.

She was so bright. She shone and threw sparks and seethed and even holding her still for a second was as impossible and rare as holding to a hand of embers and ash.

She stilled and caressed the trinket on his own ear. She had to reach to do it.“What now?”

“Now,” he told her, “we go home.”