“Jint...” Lafier clutched the circlet to her breast.
The name of its owner wasn’t written anywhere on it, but there was only one person that a circlet which had wound up in some crevice of this landworld could belong to, and that was Quartermaster Rearwing Lynn.
“What happened to it? What happened to its owner?” she peppered the woman with questions.
The lady looked at her with glazed-over eyes. “I’m telling ya, I’m not the one who killed the guy,” she repeated.
“Was Jint... was Count Hyde murdered?” she asked Tomasov (as she didn’t think asking the woman would yield any meaningful response).
“We don’t know for sure that His Excellency was killed...”
“He was already dead by the time I got there,” said the woman. “And a dead guy hasn’t got any use for that tiara thing. That’s why I swiped it. It’s nothing to look at, but it’d be a waste to just throw it away.”
“Shut up for a second!” shouted Tomasov.
“Oh come on, you were barking at me to talk a minute ago.”
“That’s enough!” After silencing the lady, Tomasov faced the princess. “I’ve told some subordinates of mine to hurry over to the place this woman’s testimony is pointing us towards. As you can see, we can’t truly trust what she says, but if there is a body, we can confirm right away whether it’s His Excellency’s.”
“I’m coming, too!” blurted Lafier.
“But ma’am, it’s a dead body. Won’t it be rather gruesome for you...”
“I’m a soldier. I’m used to corpses.”
“In all honesty, I thought you might say that,” said Tomasov, shrugging. “In any case, we’ll have to have you confirm it. Let’s head out together.”
Samson couldn’t come with them; he said that they’d caught him at the most crucial moment of the process, so he couldn’t leave his cooking station. But still, he was actively praying that the corpse wasn’t Jint’s, in his own way.
Alongside a contingent of heavily armed guards, Lafier boarded a hovercar and headed for the scene. Needless to say, the woman was brought along, as well as a medical team, just in case.
Shortly afterwards, they reached the inmates’ dormitory in the former Central Correctional Zone from the former Administrative Zone. The woman guided the group to a room in the dormitory, which had been reduced to a shade of its former self. There was already about one squad of security personnel there.
“Is this the corpse?” asked Tomasov.
“Yep, that’s the one. Look at how funny he’s splayed out. Ended up on the floor sometime before I removed the tiara thing off his head,” she said gleefully.
Lafier was afraid to look directly at the body. Gradually, she raised her downcast eyes.
The body was lying on one side, its legs tossed out in front. The man had likely died while seated against the wall, and had tipped over after rigor mortis had set in for a while. She didn’t think it looked like Jint, but sometimes hope and longing clouded one’s perception of reality. Lafier couldn’t be sure she wasn’t lying to herself.
“Running the DNA profile?” Tomasov asked a subordinate who’d gotten there before them.
“Running it right now, sir. Please give it some time. The results will come up shortly.”
Lafier squatted, anxious in the extreme as she peered at the corpse’s face. She’d been holding her breath, but not in order to avoid smelling the stench of death. Relief washed over her heart. This was not Jint.
“So this isn’t His Excellency after all?” asked Tomasov, his voice also tinged with solace. He must’ve read her expression.
“The results are up on our end, too. This is clearly not His Excellency’s DNA.”
“I told ya!” said the woman, pointing at the corpse. “I told ya his name ain’t ‘Hizex Sellensee’ or whatever. That’s Jahn!”
“You said no such thing!” said Tomasov, goggling at her. “You should have told us!”
“Oh, did I forget to mention that?” she cackled, before suddenly cranking the waterworks. “Ahk! Jahn, you poor thing! You were a truly good man. Apart from being a bit stingy. I’m gonna be keeping this tiara thing as a memento of you!” At that, she put her hands on Lafier. “So please, you’ve gotta give me Jahn’s tiara thing back!”
The Royal Princess glared at her in stony silence.
“Yeesh, you don’t have to get that pissed. You can keep it, okay?” she said, averting her gaze.
“What was this idiot doing with His Excellency’s circlet to begin with?” asked Tomasov, quite saliently.
“Hmm, what’ll ya give me if I tell ya?”
“How about some food? Or maybe accessories would suit you better?” said Tomasov.
“Gimme food,” she answered instantly. “They’ve got a monopoly on food round these parts, and it ain’t making its way to us.”
“They” could only refer to one of the two big gangs. Or, perhaps, to both.
“Okay. I’ll give you some. Now tell us.”
“I heard some singing.”
“Singing?”
“Yep. Strange song, too. So I thought I’d swing by and you know, see who’s there. Who should I encounter but a young man wearing that thing on his head, singing away.”
“And you robbed him for it?”
“I wouldn’t have minded, but Jahn, he went and traded some food for it. There was still plenty of food to go around back then, and once our Alkyke kicks in, we get all nice and happy. I know, pretty shameful to get all nice on this godforsaken rock. Besides, Jahn wouldn’t have liked it if we ended up stealing it back and forth among ‘friends.’ We each had our guns, and what Jahn buys is his to own. If he’d known they wouldn’t give up any of their food, he would’ve taken greater care with his own share. Oh yeah, I just remembered, that guy had a gun, too. That’s why we didn’t wanna start nothing. Else something would’ve went down, good vibes or no. Plus, we were packing a gun or two at the time, too. But as I’m sure you already know, when you’re high off Alkyke, well, your aim ain’t so great. And also, handguns, they ain’t too reliable. So if Tiara’s shooting straight and we’re shooting at our feet, that wouldn’t’ve been a fun time. Oh, and—”
“How many are in your group?” interrupted Tomasov. “Is it just you and Jahn?”
“No, there’s more of us, but that’s for me to know and you to find out. If ya really want me to tell ya, then...”
“No, that’s quite all right. More importantly, where was this? Where did you go?”
“That, I’m gonna have to charge you extra for.”
“Fine. So you’ll take us there. One last question, and the most important of all: When did you lot lay your mitts on the circlet?”
“You mean the tiara thing?” the woman replied, begrudgingly. “I’m telling ya, it wasn’t me who took it, it was Jahn.”
“Oh, right you are,” said Tomasov, striving to maintain his patience. “When did Jahn obtain the circlet?”
“Beats me,” she said, scratching her filthy head of hair. “Maybe it was yesterday, maybe it was a month ago, maybe a year ago... Who could possibly know that?”
“It can’t be yesterday! Nor a whole year ago!”
“Sounds like you’re a whole lot more up on things than me!” she cackled once again.
“You damned junkies!” Tomasov spat ruefully. “Never mind, just guide us there. You do remember where it is?”
“‘Course I do. It’s in our precious territory. My house is nearby, too. It’s a wonderful house.”
Tomasov signaled to the rest with his eyes. Lafier nodded in return, and they ambled toward the exit.
“I have a request of you,” said the Royal Princess.
“Name it, Your Highness.”
“Could you give that ‘Jahn’ a proper burial? I don’t know your funerary customs.”
“Understood. But I must ask, why, ma’am? Is it because he shared his food with His Excellency?”
“No. We treat all trade partners
with the respect they deserve. And that man was a trade partner of Count Hyde. As such, I’d like to at least erect a gravesite where visitors can pay tribute with flowers.”
“But we mustn’t put too much credence in the words of that woman. They may well have taken it by force.”
That is a distinct possibility, thought Lafier, who fell silent.
“The chances that His Excellency is alive have grown likelier. I think we have time to run it by him if possible.”
“Yes, right.”
The destination was only around five minutes away by hovercar. They were the longest five minutes of Lafier’s life. Hope and unease entangled within her. Her breathing was labored now.
Soon, they reached a building in an even more pronounced state of ruin than the one with Jahn’s toppled corpse. The brigade members fanned out and kept watch over the vicinity. Lafier attempted to enter, but she froze from the fear. It looked as though she’d exhausted her store of courage earlier.
“What’s wrong, Your Highness?” asked Tomasov.
“I’ll be waiting here,” said Lafier. She tried her level best to remain expressionless, but she wasn’t confident her face wasn’t reflecting raw emotion unbecoming of an Abliar.
“Oh? Actually, that is perfectly valid,” nodded the Brigade Chief, having convinced himself. He raised his hand to draw the notice of the medical team. “All of you, you’re coming with me. Don’t forget the stretcher.”
Half of the armed guards and the medical team followed Tomasov, rushing into the building.
“Your Excellency! Are you in there!”
“Please respond!”
She could hear them shout even from outside. Before she knew it, she had her eyes closed shut. Then, she noticed the voices had ceased, and her eyes reeled open. The lull lasted mere seconds. The very next moment, voices of thrilled excitement exploded through the air.
“He’s alive!”
“There’s no doubt about it! It’s His Excellency!”
“We did it!”
Lafier found herself breaking into a run. Her chest was boiling, near to erupting out into the world.
Jint, Jint, Jint!
Just like the majority of landworlds, the gravity level on Lohbnahss II’s surface was around two times the Abh space-life standard. Despite that, her legs couldn’t have felt lighter as she dashed with purpose.
It was easy to follow the voices. She knew right where he was.
It was a semi-basement. A place that was typically dimly lit, but was now filled with the dazzling light provided by the brigade members’ illumination devices. Upon recognizing it was her, the mercs made way.
There was an automatic stretcher. Somebody was spread out atop it, and receiving the doctors’ first aid. The initial emergency treatment must have already been mostly administered, for the doctors also let her through.
Lafier extended both hands out to Jint’s face and held him. His cheeks were hollow and thin, so much so she might think him dead, but he was definitely breathing.
Jint’s eyes opened slightly. “So bright...” came the words from his cracked lips.
“Dim your lights a little!” But Lafier didn’t register Tomasov’s voice as he issued orders.
Jint knew who it was looking down over him. “‘Sup, Lafier... Long time no see, huh.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” The princess drew closer to his face. “You’ve gotten a bit gaunt.”
“Wow. You know, you sure know how to make whopping understatements sometimes,” he smirked. After which he immediately hacked half a lung.
The doctor hurried to help, but Jint raised a hand to decline. She abstained from asking him whether he was okay. One foolish question was more than enough today.
And what a foolish question it had been, what she’d asked Samson. What expression should she make when facing him? No matter what Samson said in reply, there was only ever one expression she could make. What other emotion could possibly be reflected in her countenance?
“Let’s go back. Samson has prepared a meal for you.” So she said, but even to her untrained eye, she could tell he was in no state to ingest solid food. “I’m sure the doctor will approve of some reurec (clear soup) or hot soup.”
“Sure. Sounds good.”
She knew she ought to hand down the order to have him carried off. Yet she couldn’t tear her eyes from his face, which was so transformed but at the same time, so very familiar. The irrational impulse that he’d disappear if she glanced away took hold of the Royal Princess.
“I dreamed...” said Jint abruptly.
“What sort of dreams?”
“Oh, I dreamt a ton, so I’ll recount them all to you at some point... But in every one of them...” Suddenly, a glint of surprise in Jint’s eyes. He stopped there. And then, a roguish grin curled his lips.
His feeble hands stroked her bluish-black hair. Lafier thought Jint must want to tell her something, so she drew her face even closer to him.
“I thought Abliars don’t cry?” he whispered in her ear. “Far Fïac Cfaina (My Dear Highness).”
“You idiot.”
Epilogue
Dyaho was unwinding in the Cats’ Refectory. In the past, humans would come and play with him around this hour, but lately no one was dropping in.
Of course, Dyaho and his feline kindred wanted for very little. Their feed was fresh, plentiful, and always available. Furthermore, they enjoyed a bevy of others of their kind with which to spend the time. Besides, if the urge to see a human did arise, they could always leave the refectory. There were even more humans than there were cats, so that was far from an issue. Some of them did seem to harbor a measure of antipathy toward Dyaho’s clan, but most were friendly. It was more often the case that he didn’t feel particularly obliging on his end. After all, when he was outside the refectory, it was because he was guarding his territory, and a tad wound up.
That was not to say he did not, from time to time, feel inclined to deign to play with a human or two. Diversions provided by humans offered a different kind of stimulation compared to playing with his fellow cats.
And yet, occasionally, Dyaho felt pangs of loneliness. And even a little concern. Are they well-fed? Are they successfully defending their stomping grounds? Are they managing to get other cats to play with them?
He didn’t feel like patrolling his territory, but he did shift locations. Within the refectory, there were sunbeams created by guiding the rays of Abliar through labh ihosr (fiber optic bundles), and one of them was a favorite of his.
Nimbly, he alighted from atop the table. There just so happened to be a female cat there, with fetching white fur and pale brown mottles. Dyaho did not disdain her, but he wasn’t yet in heat, so he passed her by without incident.
No one else had taken the sunbeam. Dyaho stretched, curled up, and gave himself up to the delights of its cozy warmth.
Until, that is, he was lifted off the ground.
As was his inalienable right, Dyaho mewled in protest.
“Man, cats really are cold. He doesn’t remember me,” said a voice that was striking the cat as familiar, somehow.
“You’re just too rough with cats, Jint.”
“You’ve probably got a point there.”
The name “Jint” had the power to stir memories of a bygone age in Dyaho. He was that bumbling housemate. In deference to their bond of old, he granted him permission to stroke his fur, purring all the while.
“You’re going to take Dyaho, too?”
“I mean, yeah. He’s my cat.”
“But in Dyaho’s eyes, this place might be the more blissful of his homes.”
“He does look pretty debauched. I remember his eyes used to have a sheen of the wild in them.”
“Don’t speak such nonsense. This cat has been far removed from ‘the wild’ since kitten age.”
“Sure, but ‘kitten age’ was before I taught him everything he knows.”
Dyaho picked up on how reprehensibly he was bein
g slandered, and squirmed in Jint’s arms.
“Don’t get testy with me... You know what, it’s all right. It’s not like we’re leaving immediately.”
The second Dyaho landed, he sprinted away from his former housemate. Then he stopped by the brown speckled female, turned his head, and looked back at the former housemate and the other human standing in place near him.
“See? Looks like he likes it here,” said the other human.
“Ah, he’ll forget the place ever existed in a few days. Unless he’s got himself a girlfriend?”
“He must have.”
“Could it be that white one? The one with the brown spots all over? He’s not budging from her side. Granted, he’s not touching her or anything. That cat female?”
“She is a consummate maiden. Come, Sercrucac.”
Sercruca rose to her paws and slowly edged up to the human who’d summoned her. The human picked her up.
“If you’re going to be with Dyaho, then I’ll take this one. They suit us.”
“She comes to you when you call her name?” said the former housemate, impressed. “Hey, Dyaho! Come over here!” he said, beckoning by hand.
Dyaho looked the other way.
“See? Such a wildcat,” he shrugged.
“You’re just that unpopular.”
“Thanks.”
The human holding the brown speckled cat caressed her around the ear with love.
“You’re fine with this, right, Sercruca? You’ll come with me, won’t you? We’ll be going to a place named Martinh. It’s a landworld that’s packed to the brim with exotic creatures. You just might be able to enjoy more unique prey-hunting.”
“Say, Lafier, are you honestly sure you want to come?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, leaving the Star Forces, just to accompany little old me...”
“We’ve already discussed this at length. Counting my time at the academy, I’ve already been in the military for around ten years. I won’t get punished for taking a break.”
“A break, huh... But if you take a long break now, it’ll obstruct your path to becoming a stand-up Empress.”
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