Chapter 257: Such sweet sorrow

“I promise,” Suri chimes, enunciating every syllable extra clearly, “not to contact or provide information to other Peilor or any of their allies or subordinates, directly or indirectly, without Emma or Kaitlynn’s express permission.”

I narrow my eyes and go over that a couple of times in my head. Seems pretty watertight, if it’s only supposed to be about Suri reaching out.

I can tell from her intended meaning that Suri counts the various hosts the Peilor use as ‘subordinates,’ for example. Perhaps she only chose that phrasing to make it sound a bit less... uncouth.

“All right,” I finally say. “What else?”

“I promise not to attempt to leave the custody of Emma, Kaitlynn, or whomever they choose to watch over me—by any means, including but not limited to violence, bribery, deceit, stealth, or Persuasion—without Emma or Kaitlynn’s express permission.”

I nod, feeling some tension loosening inside of me. I can tell that as far as Suri is concerned, ‘custody’ does not mean just when someone is literally watching over her. Even if we left her behind in a cell made of plywood, she would still consider herself ‘in our custody,’ meaning this promise would prevent her from so much as trying to open an unlocked door.

“And my last promise regarding security,” she adds, “I promise not to attempt to harm either you or any of your allies, nor hinder you from trying to save your people or your planet, in any way.”

Well, that’s not a promise to help us, but it’s still a nice assurance.

“And your more personal promise?” Kaitlynn prompts after a moment of silence.

“Right,” Suri chimes. “Finally... I promise to speak no more lies to either of you.”

My brows shoot up a little. Well, that’s certainly an interesting promise. Especially coming from Suri!

Once again I can tell her intention allows for no loopholes. Though she said speak, her intended promise covers all forms of communication, and completely prevents her from speaking deliberate untruths in our presence, even directed at someone else.

“In that case,” I start, “I have a question. Suri... is everything you’ve told us in this room so far the earnest truth?”

I can feel Kaitlynn tensing up next to me at the question, which I get. After all, this includes some pretty intense stuff, like Suri professing how much her time down here has changed her, her lengthy apology to me, and last but not least, her warning about the Peilor’s plans for Earth.

Time to see if she was playing us for fools.

Suri is silent for a second, as she seems to go over something in her head. “Yes,” she finally says, “I have not spoken an untrue word to either of you within this room.”

I blow out a breath, leaning back in my chair with highly mixed feelings.

On the one hand, the tiny spark of hope I was still clinging onto that Suri was lying about the fate awaiting our home planet is thoroughly crushed. On the other hand, it seems like Suri’s apology as well as her change of heart are actually genuine, which is... well, it’s really something.

Just to be sure, I ask her a few more questions, to check if she hasn’t modified her own memory to trick us, or something like that, but she calmly reiterates the main points of what she’s told us before.

I can also tell that the Command inside of her Core is still active and intact, and in fact, she isn’t even straining against it, telling us the truth of her own free will.

“Okay, so you’ve told us no lies,” I finally state, narrowing my eyes at her. “But did you tell us everything?”

Suri scoffs at me with a hint of condescension. “Of course not.”

My hackles immediately rise, but before I can follow up, she continues.

“No, I did not tell you everything, Emma,” Suri chimes. “I could not possibly tell you everything, for I do not know everything, and even if I did, it would take a literally infinite amount of time to tell you... everything.”

Kaitlynn covers her mouth with a hand, her shoulders shaking as she silently laughs at me.

A muscle next to my eye twitches, but I’ve got no one to blame but myself, because in my eagerness to outsmart Suri, I indeed spoke the word ‘everything’ without a clear intended meaning other than just everything.

“However,” Suri chimes. “If you wanted to ask if I purposely left out any crucial information in an effort to gain an advantage over you or entrap you somehow, I did not.”

“Glad to see you haven’t changed that much,” I grumble, to Kaitlynn continued amusement.

“I’m glad you haven’t either, dear,” Suri chimes.

It still takes a second to hit me that Suri cannot lie to us, and therefore must genuinely mean that. Despite myself, I can’t help but smile at her.

Next, I share a glance with Kaitlynn, who shoots me a questioning look, to which I respond with a nod. She smiles widely, her cheeks dimpling. “All right,” she says, clapping her hands together. “That should cover everything—well, not everything, but everything for now. Are you ready to go?”

Suri manifests her human-shaped conjuration, and gets up from the pillow. Yuna keens pitifully as she does.

“I know, dear,” Suri chimes as she reaches over to rest a hand on Yuna’s head and scratches her behind a big blue ear. “If one day I’m in the position to come find you again, I’ll make every effort to do so, all right? I promise.”

I can’t help myself. “You sure you wanna do that?” I ask. “Is Yuna still going to be... happy to see you, by that time, you think?”

Suri calmly glances over at me. “I never used any techniques on Yuna to make her like or obey me. We’ve simply bonded.”

Huh. I guess that must be the truth as well, then. I shrug, deciding it’s none of my business either way. “All right then. Let’s go.”

A cordon of guards surrounds us as we escort Suri through the hallways below the Arena’s stands.

Frankly, I reckon they’re quite pointless after Suri’s promises. Still, being extra cautious won’t hurt.

We encounter no trouble along the way, however, and soon arrive in the Arena’s ring, where Kirri is hitched to a large barge of purple wood, made to our specifications.

All of Kaitlynn’s cuties are already on board said barge, and barely misbehaving. Kaitlynn quickly skips over to check on and coo over them. Mostly the latter, I suspect.

Right in the centre of the purple vessel, integrated into its very design, is a small safe, right about the size of Suri’s spiritform.

“Not taking any chances, are we?” Suri chimes dryly.

“Nope,” I reply, really popping the ‘p’—something I picked up from Jacob—as I hop onboard and grab one of the chains of blue glass meant to secure her. “Sorry.”

I wonder how he’s doing, how they’re all doing...

Hopefully we’ll find out soon.

Suri sighs, but allows her conjured human shape to fade away so I can stow her inside the wooden safe.

Kaitlynn made sure that there are at least a couple of small windows of thick blue glass to look out of, and she won’t be in here for too long, so I’m not that sorry.

The lock on the little door closes with a click, and I hang the transparent blue key on a cord around my neck. Next, I quickly wind several chains made of glass links around the box, attaching the hooks at the end on elastic ropes which in turn, are fastened to the barge.

Again, probably overkill, considering Suri’s promises, but there’s no telling what’ll happen within the chaotic Realmvoid. I’m not about to let our prisoner get flung overboard, or worse, rescued.

I move on to the front of the barge and go over the various chains and ropes connecting it to Kirri one last time.

My wooden pseudo-daughter impatiently swings her boom. “Are we heading out yet, Em?”

Recently, she’s been trying out nicknames on me. An earlier attempt was ‘Ma,’ but I vetoed that. So far, I’ve managed to stomach this one, even if I sometimes can’t quite tell if Kirri’s saying ‘Em’ or ‘M,’ which I suspect is meant to be short for something else.

I’m too young for this shit...

“Yeah,” I reply, suppressing a sigh as I take my seat at the front of the barge, directly behind Kirri’s rudder. Whiskers, the deep-blue jungle cat leans in to sniff at my hair, but I sprout several tendrils that push him away. “You sure it’s all right if Kaitlynn takes the wheel? You’re not going to be... difficult, when she directs you?”

Kirri dismissively spins her steering wheel in a way I’ve come to recognise as her equivalent to an eye-roll. “I told you, it’s fine, mo—I mean, Em. I never had a problem with her, I just, like, wanted your attention, or whatever.”

I choose to ignore that little slip-up. All right, I guess I can see what Koko meant when she said Kirri takes after me. Or whatever.

“Ah ah,” the Bloodborn in question calls out from the top of Kirri’s mast where she’s hanging upside-down by the claws at the end of her wings, her large, sensitive ears twitching. “I’m so excited we finally get to see your homeland, Emma!”

I shake my head. “I told you, it’s not—you know what, nevermind. Will you come down from there? You’re supposed to be on Kirri’s prow, keeping watch.”

“Ah ah, you got it, Emma!”

“Is this a prisoner transport or a travelling circus?” I hear Suri chime mutedly from within her box.

“A bit of both!” Kaitlynn replies chipperly as she finishes her ‘inspections.’

I turn to glare at the cyan lifeform in her safety deposit box. “You know, I could still gag you.”

“Really?” Suri chimes, sounding intrigued. “How?”

“Ah, ah,” Koko squeaks. “Yeah, how?”

I groan, rubbing at my temple. This is going to be a long trip.

By the time we finally make it to the grand plaza, sailing over the trail of blue sand Bhat has expressly laid out for this purpose, a massive crowd has gathered.

Because of course it has.

While I saw this coming from miles off—literally—when we come into view and the crowd erupts, I’m still caught off-guard by the wall of sound it manages to produce.

“Wow, what a turn-up!” Zee roars into his mike up on the friggin’ stage, his amplified voice booming over the plaza. “I think half the city came to say goodbye to our Descendants!”

“Tell me about it,” Cece adds without missing a beat. “If only we’d gotten a heads-up sooner; we could’ve made a killing charging admission!”

Laughter rolls over the crowd, and I shake my head fondly.

“But people,” Zee growls. “Please do make sure our intrepid adventurers have a clear path forward. We’ve all seen what Emma gets like when she’s angry!”

“That’s right, Zee,” Cece chimes in. “I’d hate to be wearing the hat of the raptor who gets between her and her goal; I like my scales intact!”

Friendly ribbing aside, the crowd responds, quickly parting before Kirri’s prow, to leave a path of pristine blue sand that leads straight to the stage in the centre, where Bhat is waiting behind everyone’s favourite pair of commentators.

On a slightly lower platform to the side, I find the familiar presences of Chief Warden Shaz, her son Rhozk, his partner Vekhza, and last but not least, my trusty Yexl.

The latter seems about ready to burst into tears—if that were a thing raptors actually did.

I’m quite sure he’d come with if I asked him too, but... glad as I’d be of his companionship—and, fine, fun as it has been to have someone waiting on me hand and foot—it doesn’t feel right to drag him into our mess.

“What if it were a really nice hat, though?” Zee counters as we start to pass through the crowd.

“Then I’m sure I have it in my closet,” Cece answers glibly. “Great Guardian City, I present the one, the only, the Apex... the nigh-undefeatable Bhat!”

If Bhat is bothered by the dig, he doesn’t show it. He simply unleashes his presence as we come to a halt in front of him, and the crowd goes silent.

“Emma and Kaitlynn,” Bhat growls, his deep voice rumbling across the plaza unaided. “Roars fail to describe the enormity of our debt to you. I wish you could’ve stayed longer, as I feel like we’ve hardly gotten to know you, but alas... You are heading into glorious battle, to wage war in the name of the Divine One. As such, I can only envy you and wish you a good fight. Honour to you!”

“Honour to you!” the crowd roars in such unison, that I’m beginning to wonder if they’ve practised this beforehand.

“I know your time grows short,” Bhat continues when the crowd dies back down, “so I won’t tarry. May you have a safe passage to the Divine Realm.”

Even before he finishes his speech, my tuned-in senses tell me he’s started to commune with the Realm. And the moment he finishes growling his last growl, he waves a claw.

At the end of our road of blue sand, right in front of us, a circular pane of blue glass comes into being. It quickly darkens, as the Realmvoid becomes visible behind it, with in the distance a bright white spot. Then, the pane of glass shatters, and a howling gale erupts as air starts getting sucked through.

Sheesh. Dramatic much?

“Go!” Bhat roars. “And may the Divine One watch over you!”

In front of me, Kaitlynn pushes the lever that serves as Kirri’s throttle, and the boat-bird obediently unfurls her sail—which immediately billows in the howling winds—and begins to glide forward through the sand.

I narrow my eyes, and will a river of silver light into existence, leading all the way up to that distant spot of light.

Mere moments later, under the accompaniment of thunderous cheers and well-wishes, we exit the Realm.

Next stop: The Realm of Imagination.

Author's note:

Thanks for reading! ^^