One of the many ways in which humans were different from the Guild was in their enthusiastic embrace of that form of housing known as the "apartment building". Thus, Luciola was woken up, not by a chirping bird or by the sunlight streaming through the less-than-clean window shades, but by the sound of two people having an argument on the floor above him. His internal clock told him it was early, and so he briefly debated staying in bed a few more minutes, but got up anyway. He had things to do.
There weren't many clothes to choose from in Curtos' closet, but the mere fact that there were choices caused him to spend several minutes staring at the clothes. Finally, he grabbed a black shirt and the same pair of pants he had worn yesterday. It wouldn't kill him to wear them again.
Miss Daphne told me to change my appearance. I suppose I'd better get started. He ran a hand over his stubbly chin. It felt odd, to say the least—Luciola had never had to shave before.
The bathroom was dingy, lit only by a bare light bulb, and Luciola swore he heard a rat scratching in the walls, but there was a mirror, a faucet with running water—cold, but it would do—and a tattered toothbrush. A thorough examination of the cabinet under the sink yielded a razor and a pair of scissors. After brushing his teeth, he reached for the razor. He was very careful.
As he took up the scissors and grabbed a handful of lank hair, someone knocked on his door. He wrenched it open to find Daphne standing there, wearing pants, a sleeveless top, and a skeptical glare. "Hurry up; we have stuff to do. What are you doing?"
"Trying to cut my hair. You told me I should change my appearance."
Daphne sighed and took the scissors from him. "You'll take forever. I wanted to get you down to the vanship union so you could take a look at my vanship before the crowds get too thick. Here, sit."
He took a seat on the same convenient crate that had served yesterday; Daphne stood behind him. "How short do you want it?"
"Short."
At first, there was silence, save for the steady snick of the scissors. From where Luciola was sitting, he could finally take a better look at the picture he had noticed yesterday. It showed a younger Curtos with his arm around somebody who had been torn out of the frame.
Daphne, as usual, broke the silence. "Luciola, right? Doesn't that mean 'firefly'? I didn't know the Guild liked giving kids insect names."
Luciola did not reply. Maybe if he stayed silent, she would take the hint.
No such luck. Subtlety was lost on her, and so with nothing else to focus on Luciola listened as she chattered about the weather (sunny, just like yesterday and the day before), her job (she had been a desk clerk in a fancy hotel until her boss fired her for wanting a raise), and the people who lived across the hall from her (Luciola's upstairs neighbors; creepy).
Finally, after what seemed like forever but was probably only ten minutes, she shoved a small mirror in front of his face. "Well? What do you think?"
Luciola stared. Curtos' face looked different without all that hair in front of it. It wasn't as short or as neat as his hair had once been, but he had to admit Daphne had done a good job. It almost looks…like me. Like how I used to look.
"Good, huh? Now come on."
The Norkia vanship union consisted of a front desk, a tiny stall which dispensed water and snacks, and a vast hangar. Although it was still early, there was already a sizeable crowd of people there. Daphne strode through it, head held high as she pointedly ignored the jibes and catcalls thrown her way. Luciola followed, trying to resist the temptation to break a few of their heads. The mechanics on board the Silvana were not exactly friendly towards me or Lord Dio, but they were not nearly as rude as these people.
"Hey, Daphne! Who's the sacrificial lamb this time?"
"Aww, Daphne's got a new pilot—how cute."
"Think this one'll last the month?"
"Three Claudia says he won't last a week!"
"Nice knowin' you, kid!"
Even among all the other vanships in the hangar, Luciola recognized Daphne's before she pointed it out. It was a racing vanship, and had plainly once been black with blue stripes before the paint had started to peel. It bore several large and impressive dents, as well as a set of long scratches down the side.
"There she is—my vanship. Isn't it wonderful? Shame about the rotation compressor, though. And you really don't want to know about the boiler."
Luciola groaned and opened the maintenance hatch. Daphne handed him a small toolkit, and as he surveyed the damage he heard someone come up behind him. A man's voice rumbled behind him, "Who's the new pilot? He looks familiar."
Being elbow-deep in primitive cables, he couldn't see Daphne, but he had the feeling she was glaring. "Not that it's any of your business, Aias, but he's Luciola. He's a great mechanics, and as soon as he's done with our vanship, we're gonna blow you and that skinny little Teucros out of the sky at the Norkia Cup!"
The man laughed. "You? You couldn't navigate your way out of a paper bag. Look at your face—you know it's true."
As Daphne spluttered, Luciola rested his forehead on a convenient section of pipe. Oh, Lord Dio…this might take a lot longer than I'd hoped.
&
A bone-chilling shriek of despair and rage rose up from the depths of the Silvana and reverberated throughout its halls. All those who heard it, from the mechanics to the command center, winced and clapped their hands over their ears. Wina almost fainted from the sound. Eventually, it faded to sobs, and then to quiet whimpers.
Dio was awake. The first coherent words out of his mouth had been to demand knowledge of Luciola's whereabouts. Claus and Lavie had been the ones to tell him.
He was silent now. He was still tied to the bunk, but loosely, and so he curled up into a ball and buried his face in his hands. Claus and Lavie had taken the precaution of removing anything that could be used as a weapon before leaving.
Lavie shut the door behind her and leaned against it. "I feel so bad for Dio. After that Rite of the Covenant, he was totally gone. And now this…Do you think he'll ever be the same?"
"I don't know," Claus said. "I just don't know. All we can do is wait and see."
"If you say so." Though Lavie said this, she knew that there was a very good chance that Dio might not ever recover; that he might spend the rest of his life insane.
&
A month passed slowly. One day, Luciola looked up in the sky and saw another world suspended in it—Disith. From gossip, rumors, and the occasional official newspaper report, he and Daphne pieced together what had happened—Alvis had awakened Exile, and the Grand Stream was dissipated. As the days grew hotter and hotter and rumors of the end of the world began to circulate, more and more people left, drawn by stories of a blue planet and clean, fresh water.
Luciola and Daphne stayed. He spent his days working on the vanship—their vanship, now—or training. She studied maps and worked with the older men at the vanship union to improve her navigational skills. Although she grew better quickly, Luciola allowed himself a tiny bit of pride to think that she would never be as good as he himself had been.
Finally—after a string of all-nighters at the vanship union, after headaches and bruises and cuts—the vanship was once again capable of flight.
When they set off, it was a clear, windy day. A crowd had gathered to watch and jeer; Daphne waved to them cheerfully as she swung herself into the navi's seat behind Luciola. She raised her voice slightly to be heard above the crowd. "Where to?"
Luciola had to shout to be heard over the wind as he started up the vanship. "Horizon Cave!" If Dio…if Lord Dio is safe aboard the Silvana, then that's where we should start looking.
That night, they stopped in the tiny outpost of Minos for food, water, and a bed for the night. The hangar was vast and empty, but there was a stall set up in one dark corner. Its owner, who was only too happy to sell them Fifth Water and sandwiches, could have been the twin of the man who ran the Norkia stall. Luciola was beginning to suspect all snack-stall owners were cut from the same cloth.
As they took seats at a rickety table held together by three nails and a bit of tape, Daphne asked, "So, about this 'Dio' you're looking for. What's he like?"
Luciola took a sip of water to give himself time to think, grimacing at the feel and taste of grit in his mouth before answering. "Lord Dio is…different. Some might call him strange. He is easily distracted and loves flying vanships." Unbeknownst to himself, Luciola started to smile, recalling Dio's love for flashy, high-speed (and, he was forced to admit, dangerous) stunts. "And cake. He loves sweets. And giving people odd nicknames."
Daphne tore at her sandwich hungrily for a few minutes before asking. "So, is he your boyfriend or something?"
He choked on his sandwich. After some back-pounding from a concerned Daphne and a little coughing and wheezing on his part, he replied—clearly and loudly, so there could be no mistake—"Lord Dio is not my boyfriend. He is not my lover, or anything of the sort. He is…"
And here Luciola paused. What is Lord Dio to me, truly? He is certainly my friend and companion, and I love him dearly. But there is a difference between the kind of love I feel for him and the kind of 'love' that involves pinning someone up against a convenient flat surface and doing various obscene things with them. Not that I would ever think about my Lord in such a way…
Daphne nodded sagely. "So he's not your boyfriend, but you wish he was, don't you?"
He pretended to be very interested in the remains of his sandwich.
&
The blue planet was beautiful. Rich fields of wheat and other grains stretched as far as the eye could see. There was clear, fresh water available for everyone—First Water, the very best. Natural resources such as coal, Claudia, and salt were in abundance. As more and more people arrived, houses sprang up like mushrooms built from materials brought over from Prester. Given time, these houses would coalesce into villages, then towns, then great cities. But that was many years away, perhaps centuries.
As part of the crew of the Silvana, Mullin and Dunya—along with her many siblings—had been one of the first people to settle. Their house, cobbled together from wood and corrugated iron, was sturdy and large enough to house everyone, including Claus, Lavie, and Alvis.
And Dio as well.
He was awake now, vaguely aware of what had happened around him—Exile had awakened, his sister Delphine was dead, the Guild was shattered, Sophia had left the Silvana to shepherd her people to the blue planet as Empress—but he didn't care. Nothing was important anymore.
Now he stood in the bathroom, staring at his face in the mirror. The Guild mark was still there, still a vivid orange.
Luciola is dead he's dead never coming back it's all my fault my fault mine and the Guild it's all the fault of this Guild mark—this Guild mark!
It had to go. And there was only one way to get rid of it. Dio cast about wildly. There was a razor blade in the drawer, wasn't there? Yes. And it was sharp.
He raised it to his forehead and made the first cut.
&
As the sun went down on their second day of traveling, Luciola and Daphne pulled their vanship into Horizon Cave. There was no sign of the Silvana. As she pulled out her bag, she asked, "Hey, what are you looking for, anyway?"
Luciola continued to scan the area. There was nobody around, except another pair of vanship aviators on the far side of the hangar. "The Silvana."
Daphne dropped her bag; it landed on the floor with a thud. Heedless, she yelped, "Are you crazy? The Kill-'Em-All Silvana? Why the hell are you looking for the Silvana?"
Luciola sighed. "Because Lord Dio and I were once on that ship. If I can find the Silvana, I might find Lord Dio."
Any reply Daphne might have made escaped Luciola's notice, as one half of the young couple in the hangar—a young man with curly hair and very expensive-looking clothes—walked up to him. "Curtos Atreides?" His tone was anything but friendly.
Luciola paused. He had no idea who this person was, so it was best to be truthful. "What are you talking about?"
The man's eyes narrowed. "Don't play dumb with me! You tried to kill my brother!"
Luciola glanced around. There was no one else around, and Daphne was useless in a fight—for a fight was most certainly brewing. He just wasn't sure his new body was up to it.
