I didn’t want to justify my actions to the leaders. Blue deserved every word I said and more. He’d spent the last two seasons earning much worse than me shouting at him. I considered skipping it, but Ino warned me against it. “Anyone with an appointment who refuses to attend has to leave the Camp.”
Leaving was not in my best interest. I’d lose my training and have my memory erased of ever being here. If they tossed Blue out too, then I’d be right back where I started. As much as I wanted to avoid the hearing, I had to go. I agreed to subject myself to the rules, as ridiculous as they may be.
Thankfully, the session didn’t have to be in front of the whole Camp. Instead, the two parties chose five residents to stand as witnesses to validate the authenticity of the process. Since Blue didn’t know anyone, he sent word requesting I pick the people myself. Members of the Council were exempt from selection, so I chose the only other people I knew. Trisk, Ino, Jaki, Rasha, and Hainen had never been to a hearing and eagerly accepted my invitation.
With Nik tending to other matters, I kept busy in the kitchen until summoned for our appointment. My mark heated as Marsh jogged into view. “I saw someone moving Blue toward the cave, so I assume we’re next.”
“We? Like you’re the one on trial.” I dried my hands on my apron before untying it and placing it on the counter.
I followed him, noticing the empty cage on our way to our destination.
“Everything’s going to be fine, sis.” Marsh hugged my side.
“Yeah? Tell me, how many of these things have you been to?”
“None. But I know the truth. Besides, you know half of the Council, for god’s sake.”
“More reason to be concerned,” I whispered as we entered the narrow hallway that led to the secluded tent.
By the time we arrived, Blue and our acquaintances were there waiting for us.
There were more Council members than I had expected.
“Please sit, Una.” Hawk indicated the seat next to Blue. I sat, refusing to acknowledge my stalker.
“I see you have six witnesses; were you two not able to agree on who to have present?” Paw asked.
“I told her to pick. I have no objections to whoever she wants to have here.” Blue reached for my hand, and I moved it further from him.
“Una, is there a reason you have an extra person?” he asked again.
“I wasn’t sure if family counted or not.”
“And you didn’t have anyone to ask?” He glanced at Hawk.
“I, um, didn’t feel it was appropriate to talk with any of you about this. My witnesses have never done this either, so I guess we just…”
“Very well, let’s begin,” a woman at the end interrupted. “I am Oyal. I’m a Healer, member of the Council.”
“I am Paw, Animal Communicator, member of the Council.”
“I am Hawk, Crossover, Junior Lord of the Authority, member of the Council.”
“I am Donik, Seer, member of the Council.”
“I am Lark, Crossover, former Guard of the Temple, member of the Council.”
Oyal scanned her notes. “According to the documents, the two of you had a public confrontation where you, Una, tried to free the prisoner in order to harm him.” She lowered the paper and raised her eyebrows.
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You don’t deny the charge or your perceived intentions?” She sounded shocked.
“He said something, and I got angry.” I picked at my fingers.
“And what did he say?”
“I don’t remember,” I lied.
“Interesting. Yet you threatened to, and I quote, ‘rip out his throat, eat his heart, and send his eyes and tongue to his family wrapped in a…fancy golden box’?”
Paw snickered, earning him glares from several members sitting next to him.
“Excuse me.” Blue lifted a finger to draw attention. “May I say something?”
Hawk sat back in his chair. “Please do.”
“She has every right to hate me,” he paused, “I’ve done a lot recently to deserve her anger. She’s never harmed anyone. She would never do anything close to that.”
I glared at him, wondering what it was that he hoped to gain with this sacrificial line of reasoning. Disgusted by his sparkling eyes, I turned my eyes to the other side of the room.
Nik spoke my name.
“Yes, sir?”
“Are you gifted?”
I didn’t respond; I froze.
Oyal reiterated his question.
I shook my head. “What are you doing?” I wasn’t ready for these people to know anything about me.
Nik leaned forward with a reassuring smile. “This is a safe place. You picked the witnesses yourself. So tell the Council, are you gifted?”
The room waited on my response.
Marsh put his hand on my shoulder, and my eyes welled up with fear and emotion.
Oyal leaned over the table. “What is your gift, Una?”
I swept the tear rolling down my cheek. “Seer,” I mumbled.
“Excuse me, did you say Seer?” she asked, glancing at Nik.
Blue twisted toward me. “What?”
I glared at my mentor, devastated that he would cast me into the open like this.
Springing to his feet, Blue positioned himself between me and the Council Members. “Wait, is this a joke? Seers, Healers, and Communicators; that stuff isn’t real. What is this?”
“You need to sit, young man,” Hawk warned.
“No, I don’t. This, this is crazy. Come on, we’re going home.” He held out his hand, but I didn’t take it. “Una, I command you as my wife, get up! We are leaving here, now!”
“You claim to be her husband?” Paw asked calmly.
Blue knelt in front of me, ignoring everyone else in the room. “Sweetheart, I know I’ve made mistakes, but whatever this is, it’s not right. We’ve got to leave here. I’ll take you back to your parents if you don’t want to come with me, but please, you cannot stay here.”
“They’re not crazy, Blue,” I confessed. “I know half of the people up there and know firsthand that what they are saying is the truth.”
“So you’re a Seer? If you believe them, it’s because they’ve told you a lie enough times to make you believe them,” he whispered, his words thick with compassion and concern. “Una, listen to me.” He scooted closer, putting his hands on the armrests of my chair. “We’ve been here a while; I’ve seen you visit that man up there for days, and you don’t know it, but he’s convinced you of something that isn’t real. You’ve been misled. Please trust me. Let me take you home to your family. They’ll tell you the same thing. I swear I won’t hurt you. Please, please, let me take you to your mother and father. I’ll keep you safe, my love. I don’t care if you reject me. You are my blessing, and if keeping you safe means I never see you again, then I will do it in a heartbeat. Please, let me take you home. Your home.”
He waited for my answer, and although he finally made me the offer I prayed for, I found something I wanted more. I couldn’t leave. Not now.
“Blue, if you don’t believe us, or her, then prove it to her, and we’ll let you both walk right on out of here, no questions asked. In fact,” Nik offered, “I’ll escort you to the road myself. You, sir, will be cleared of your time here, but, Una, you will retain your knowledge.”
“Fine, tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” He turned to the Council members.
Nik gave him instructions. “Sit and give her permission to see your past, namely all the wrongs you’ve done. Let her search you and see your motivations.”
“What are you talking about?”
Paw spoke up. “If she’s not a Seer, and we’re wrong, you’ve lost nothing and you leave. However, if she is what she claims to be, she will tell the Council the reasons for your behavior, and your actions will be judged accordingly.”
“Do you accept the offer?” Hawk concluded.
“This is ridiculous.” Blue rol
led his eyes.
“Do you accept the offer or not?” Oyal repeated.
“Yes! Yes, I accept the damn offer!” Blue turned to me. “Una, I never meant to harm you—”
Nik interrupted him, coming around the table to join us. “Not with your words, young man.” He pulled Blue’s chair so it faced mine. “Please sit.”
Blue sat and pleaded with my brother. “You don’t believe this, do you?”
Marsh squeezed my shoulder. “Every word of it.”
“I don’t know what kind of control they’ve taken of your minds, but I sure hope you break free of it.” I sensed Blue’s worry, not for himself, but for me. With all the worldly experience he had, he only distracted himself in its pleasures and missed the truth of what happened around him.
Nik was right, it didn’t matter how much I hated Blue for what he’d done to me, and I wouldn’t choose to do it again; however, it did bring me here, to this place. I belonged here. Someday I might be grateful for his role in my life, but that day would not come for many, many seasons.
I’d never completed an actual assessment before. So far, I’d played games, digging for specific answers during brief encounters with random people. In fact, the exercises were so insignificant, the residents didn’t know I was practicing. Before now, the only people I explored were Marsh and Nik. My brother didn’t have many secrets, and Nik was a well-trained Seer with the ability to hide various parts of his life.
I hadn’t searched someone else’s memories without parameters. What exactly was I supposed to look for? Where would I start?
“You should do this, not me.”
“What do you think I’ve been training you for?”
My witnesses watched with curious eyes, and suddenly I felt betrayed by every person in the room.
Did he arrange this as a test of my progress?
I should have seen this coming. Stupid girl. I glared at him, but he stood calm, no doubt expecting my anger.
It must be nice to know the future enough to manipulate everyone in it.
“Let’s begin,” he said.
I held out my hands to Blue as I’d practiced with my mentor dozens of times before and asked, rolling my eyes, “Do you give me permission to see into your past?”
“Yes, do whatever you need to get us home.” He took hold of my hands.
I sat still for a moment, my back and shoulders tense, but saw nothing.
Nothing.
“Relax, Una.” Nik stepped back, giving me room. “You can do this.”
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly in an attempt to release the tension from my body. I focused on clearing my mind, just as he had taught me, and paid attention to my hands in my enemy’s grasp.
* * *
Standing on the porch of his house, I entered through the open door where an argument spilled from the parlor into the hallway. Marquette’s deep and raspy anger berated her grandson sitting at the table.
“She is no better than her whore of a mother.”
She claimed my family made a fool of them yet again by lying about my eligibility for marriage and our intention of hiding my Womanhood. While he did his best to defend us, she refused to entertain his childish interpretations of the situation. They volleyed their opinions and insults until she threatened Blue with altering some sort of document on his behalf. I didn’t know what form she was talking about, but I assumed it had something to do with the Petition.
“Don’t forget whose money purchased her.”
Until then, he thought the fee came from his inheritance, but his grandmother took great pleasure in correcting him. “That’s right, you don’t own a thing. That girl is a gift. One that can easily be taken away.”
Convinced I had been lying about my eligibility, she threatened to register me as a slave. “Then we can be done with her and find a more suitable bride to continue our family’s legacy.”
Though she was drunk, she hadn’t had enough to forget her threats. He knew these thoughts were not new. She only let him know of her intentions because she’d had enough to drink to lower her defenses. Fearing her next move against me, he did the only thing he thought could protect me.
Blue wasted no time. Once she passed out on the parlor couch, he rode to the Authority Building to investigate his options. That same afternoon, he returned to the Officer’s Desk, requesting my Womanhood be verified, using his parents’ wedding rings to pay the fee for the service. He traded the only memento he had left of his mother and father to secure a future for us to be together.
The stone building faded, and I found myself again in the parlor, but this time, Blue sat alone. He fretted over the paperwork for my status when the sudden violence erupting in Kali’s room startled him. His eyes lifted to the ceiling above as unbridled screams traveled through the second floor. Glass shattered, and he flinched as if he expected something to fall on him.
This is the night he locked me in the room.
More screaming. More crashing. He quickly marked the box next to “wife” and ran upstairs before the scene before me faded.
This time, Blue and his grandparents appeared in the kitchen, where Marquette served them a simple breakfast of eggs and toasted bread. It was at that meal Pantis confessed to his part in my escape and that he believed I made it home. Furious at her husband’s deception, she insisted on summoning the Authority but reluctantly agreed to let Blue visit our family first. Fearing she might change her mind, he told her he’d go that very morning.
He thought if he were able to bring me back and prove to his grandmother that I still wanted to be his wife, she’d back down and let things progress naturally.
He readied himself for the trip upstairs, putting on the best shirt he owned, shaving, and combing his hair. When he returned to the kitchen to tell her goodbye, Marquette sat waiting for him at the table with a small vial and a fresh glass of water.
“Your father was weak,” she hissed. “If you have any doubts in your success, let me offer you the courage that he never had.” She slid the bottle toward him. “Most men need a single drop. You, on the other hand, may want to drink it straight.”
The old woman shuffled away, mumbling, and the world again went dark.
* * *
My head spun, and my shoulders were heavier than I’d ever known them to be. I pulled away, unable to watch any more of his memories. Hunched over, I cried for me. I cried for Blue.
Of course he followed me.
“Well? Can we go now, please?” He rubbed my back tenderly.
Not knowing what else to do, I shoved him to the side, pushed past Nik, and ran out of the tent into the shelter of the cave. I leaned up against the cave’s wall and slowly gave in to my legs’ desire to collapse. Grabbing my head, I tried to force out the memories I’d collected from Blue. I sobbed as my confusion overtook me.
Am I mad at him or do I feel sorry for him?
Did he do the right thing or not?
I hit myself on the forehead repeatedly, trying to reconcile the two realities: my truth and Blue’s truth.
I didn’t want to care about him. It had become so much easier to hate him. He sent me to prison. He did it, not his grandmother. Anyone would choose prison over death, especially since I’d been given hope for release. If I wasn’t pregnant, I would have reached Womanhood in custody and be executed anyway. I hit myself again, and again, and again.
“Una, don’t do that.” Nik sat down next to me, keeping my head from the rock wall behind it.
“I hate him!”
“After you left, Blue let me see his past. I understand why you are conflicted.”
“Conflicted! Conflicted?” I shrieked.
“Forget, for a moment, that you were the one wronged. Judge his intentions.” He pulled my hands from my face and held my hand instead.
“Why would you make me do this, Nik? Why Blue? Why not just make him leave?”
“Why let hate over your past control you? Why let misperception and li
es rule your mind?”
“I don’t want another fucking lesson!” I screamed, shoving him away.
He waited for me to regret it.
I clutched my knees to my chest, and when sniffling no longer worked, I wiped my nose on the sleeve of my shirt.
“The old ways of doing things are hard to break. I didn’t know what you would find back there; I made it a point not to approve him until your appointment. I wanted you to have an unbiased experience so you’d understand what others go through when brought to Council. If you cannot accept the intentions of a perceived enemy, how will you be able to aid those without Sight?”
“What if I don’t want to aid others, Nik?”
“Then that is your choice. I’m not here to force you. You wanted to know how to use your gift. I’m your teacher. What you do with it is up to you.” He stood. “Your appointment has yet to be completed. Your actions still require judgment,” he informed me. “We will be waiting for you to return.”
I sat alone a while longer before willing myself to continue the process. Drying my eyes, I took my time going back into the tent. When I arrived, Blue rose to greet me. I stopped just inside the door, not wanting to get close to any of them, preferring to be closest to the exit.
“Welcome back.” Hawk gestured for me to take a seat. When he asked a second time, I did as requested. “So, did you see anything?”
I nodded. Blue huffed and threw himself back in his seat. “Of course she did,” he quipped, drumming his fingertips on the arm of the chair.
“I shouldn’t have attacked him,” I confessed half-heartedly, gazing at the floor.
“What?” Marsh argued.
Confusion washed over Blue to the point he agreed with my brother.
“You deem your actions inappropriate?” Oyal asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I thought I had a clear understanding of the situation, but my assumptions were wrong. I was wrong. If I had known he was only trying to—” I paused, not wanting to say the rest. Crossing my arms tightly across my chest, I continued, albeit painfully, “—he tried to protect me. If I knew that, I might have…I would have, maybe, behaved differently.”
Season of Hytalia Page 21