Pawn of the Neví - Chapter 29 - A'mara Books

29

(Wirnday, cont.)

Outside the Burning House

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Atani had been thrown against the topiary from the force of the explosion. Her leg hurt, but she was limping back towards the burning ruins of the house that had just exploded in front of her. “Lidzi!” she cried hysterically. “Where are they, Ryonis?” she asked the abári who was brushing himself off, having been thrown to the ground a moment before.

He looked at her with a sympathy that frightened her. Her sister couldn’t be dead!

Then she saw Andrian, limping towards her, carrying Lidzi, limp in his arms.

“I don’t know!” Andrian told her as she approached. “We jumped together. I don’t know why she fell.”

“She’s alive,” Ryonis said with relief.

Atani wanted to hug him in gratitude.

“Jaelene!” Ryonis called, looking behind Atani. She turned to see the stella.

“Tell me she’s all right!” Andrian begged the stella, holding Lidzi towards the healer.

“Set her down, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

Andrian obeyed, setting Lidzi down on the grass. Atani stood with him as the old woman clicked and tutted as she waved a crystal over the unconscious young woman.

“Is she okay?” Atani begged the old woman.

“Does it run in the family?” the stella asked.

“What?” Atani asked, confused.

“Acrophobia, of course.”

“No. I climb everything and anything. So does Lidzi, actually. At least, she did as a child. We were up every tree...”

“Pyrophobia then.”

“What?”

“Fire,” the stella explained not-so-patiently.

“No...”

“Explosions then?” Andrian asked.

“Yes. She’s always hated fireworks!”

“That would be it then. She’s simply fainted. Frightened half to death. Exacerbated by her condition,” the stella added.

“What?” Andrian asked, looking at the stella.

Jaelene looked at Lidzi again more seriously, Atani looked for whatever the stella had picked up. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t know yet. It must have happened in the night…,” Jaelene added.

“What?!” Andrian demanded.

Atani looked again, then back to the stella with wide eyes. “Pregnant? She can’t be!”

Jaelene smiled at her.

“You?” Atani asked, looking at Andrian. “Really?” Her mouth was stuck in open amazement.

Andrian seemed to be blushing slightly, but then grinned. “We’re getting married,” he informed. “Once we stopped fighting long enough to know what we were to each other.” He shrugged sheepishly.

Atani could hardly believe what she was hearing and seeing. She looked at Ryonis. “Did you hear that?!” she asked him, still incredulous.

Ryonis smiled. “It happens. I’m glad it’s happened this time. Is Lidzi going to be okay, Jaelene?”

“Yes. She will be fine,” the stella replied.

“Then, I have to investigate this explosion. Atani, when you have seen to your sister.”

Atani nodded, watching the abári walk away. Then she turned back to Andrian and gave him a huge hug. “She has loved you – for so, so long! I’m so glad you finally worked it out! You’re going to be my brother! I’m so excited!”

Andrian’s hand stroked her back. “I am glad that you will be my sister,” he replied.

“What did I miss?” Lidzi’s weak voice asked.

Atani laughed as Andrian rushed to help Lidzi sit up.

“I was so scared I was never going to see you again!” Atani cried, hugging her sister.

“They tried,” Lidzi said, going into a coughing fit.

Andrian grabbed a drink from the stella and held it for Lidzi.

Atani shook her head. “It’s so good seeing you two getting along!”

“What did I miss?” Lidzi asked again.

“Not much,” Andrian said quietly. “Just the best news I’ve heard in a long, long time! You’re sure she’s okay, Jaelene?”

The stella nodded. “Yes. Just a bit of shock. Everything is harder during pregnancy.”

“Really?” Lidzi asked, looking into his eyes.

“Really!” he said, still grinning.

Jaelene smiled again. “Now, I have to get going. Katsia is in labor and requires my attendance. Come see me tomorrow, Lidzi. I have a special tea to give you if you will avoid jumping out of any more windows! Atani, the abári requires your assistance.” The stella hurried away towards the birthing cottage.

Lidzi raised her eyebrows at Atani.

“Nothing to tell there,” Atani said barely avoiding a blush. “I’m just helping out, I led him here – remembering what Uncle Jay was saying.”

“I remembered that too – unfortunately from the room that’s not there now. Anyway, get over to the abári! Be helpful!”

Atani walked around to the sidewalk before the burning shell. Ryonis was talking to a local resident. He pulled up a familiar image on his PCS link and showed it to the woman. “Yes. That’s them. They went in about half an hour before the house blew up.”

“They didn’t come out?”

“No. I was watching closely because there’s been weird stuff going on there for awhile now. I’m glad you got your people out of there anyway.”

“Thank you,” Ryonis replied. The woman wandered along the sidewalk, looking for someone else to talk to. A reporter saw her and pounced.

“Saara’s gone then,” Atani said, feeling the shock.

“I fear it is the case,” Ryonis replied. “It isn’t uncommon for our adversaries to dispose of their property by fire.”

“But to not get out?” Atani asked.

“Maybe they miscalculated. Maybe Saara was meant to be a sacrifice the whole time.”

Atani shook her head. “I don’t believe it! Lidzi showed me the footage of them in the library – they were all over each other! They loved each other! He couldn’t...”

“I don’t know,” Ryonis admitted. “I don’t know if Yerdua are capable of feeling love.”

“They are still people, right?” Atani asked.

“I suppose so.”

“Then they can love – if they let themselves – same as A’mara… Andrian finally let himself love Lidzi.”

Ryonis nodded as Lidzi and Andrian joined them.

“Not much left, huh?” Lidzi commented.

Ryonis shook his head. “It seems that Saara and Viper were inside when it blew… according to the neighbors anyway. They were seen going in shortly before, and didn’t come out.”

Lidzi started crying. “She was a good friend until she got mixed up with them.”

Andrian held her close. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not enough.”

“At least I have you,” Lidzi replied.

“That you do, my darling. That you do!”

Atani looked back at Ryonis, her eyes filled with tears again. “Let’s go back to the Complex. We can investigate further when the ruins have finished cooling,” the abári suggested.

“I’m sure the fire investigators will have a look as well,” Andrian added.

Ryonis nodded, leading the way back to the hoverbils. Some of the A’mara had already started drifting away on foot.

“Where did I go wrong?” Ryonis asked as he walked alongside Atani.

“Yewan would point out the lack of a good shaze trainer,” Atani replied softly.

“But you. What do you think?” Ryonis asked as Atani got in on the passenger’s side of the hoverbil. He got in the other side. He closed the door, then looked at Atani, waiting for her reply, his gray eyes searching hers.

“Abári, I think that no matter what you do, in the end it is up to the individual. Saara made her choice. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what we wanted for her. But it was still her choice to make. You couldn’t make it for her.” She grabbed his hand.

He squeezed it in reply. “You are right. Maybe I shouldn’t beat myself up about it… even though it led to Saara’s death.”

“We don’t lock people up until they have done wrong, Ryonis. If we did, we would no longer be A’mara.”

Ryonis nodded and put the hoverbil into gear.