21
A thousand thanks to "Stephanie"! I'm so glad you like it. You really gave me encouragement. I hope you find this again to read the rest, and I hope you enjoy it.
"So what are we going to do?" Jiimo asked. The hallways were finally quiet and empty, their normal state. We had walked so far that we could see the Hssak guards blocking the way to the bombed part of the building. Stealing a glance down the hallway, I could just see collapsed walls.
Had it been thrown at the palace? Surely it couldn't be aimed so well or thrown so far. And somebody would have seen it and tried to do something, though, with Okutu's minimal technology, I'm not sure what could have been done.
Had it been brought in? Who? What kind of bomb was it? Not that I would know anything about any old-fashioned bomb. Did the carrier die with its victims? Or did it have enough time to get away before the bomb went off?
It could have been Iru Tokan. I doubted it, though. We had been very far away, and he had been coming from the wrong direction. Besides, if he had set it and was any good, he would have been with Tiku Lasir at the time of the explosion so he wouldn't even have to be asked where he had been. Maybe he had helped, but I'm sure he didn't do it.
What had he been doing in that part of the palace? Had he planned to be far away from the explosion? Had he not wanted to be around people who would panic? Of course, he had been going towards the more populated part of the palace, and he had gone straight on.
And, I thought, why were we there? We were playing make-believe. Try explaining that to someone!
"Akite?"
Jiimo knew I was thinking over possibilities, not listening to him.
"What?"
"What'll we do? Can we explain why we don't trust him? The Tiku trusts him, doesn't he?"
"Uh – yeah. As far as I can tell."
"Well? Why don't we trust him? His hatred? What?"
"Who are you? Jiimo doesn't talk like this. He just does things."
Jiimo snorted. "No, that's Dorn. I actually make things work, remember? I just – I'm not used to sharing my thoughts with other people as I work things out."
"Oh." I had always undervalued Jiimo, I realized with a painful shock. He wasn't just a smart boy who followed me around and told good tall tales. He was a planner, like me. That was probably why he followed me.
Have I ever really tried to figure him out? I just took him for granted.
"If he really is working against us, we need proof. Solid proof. The Tiku isn't going to take a hunch."
He was even being careful about names. There were dozens of Tikus but only Lasir that I knew of. Nobody passing would know what we were talking about.
Impressive. I bet he watches holodramas.
"So why don't you trust him?" I know it's more than the hatred."
"It's because he was happy when the bomb exploded. I felt it. And I think there might be something around him – not a shatterpoint, not so clear – something important about him."
"Huh." We walked on. "Taksayan."
I stopped. "What?"
"Well, I know he can't be Taksayan. Taksayan is from the northwest city, or, at least, his legend started there. And I don't think he could have gotten away with it. But I bet they're connected. Somehow. He probably has connections with connections… Or maybe he knows him. We can't know. Not yet, anyway. We need to figure out how to find out."
"I don't think we can find out. He wouldn't do anything with us there."
Jiimo rolled his eyes. "Akite, have you ever been on an undercover mission?"
"Um, unless you count the time the five of us snuck out of the Temple when we were eleven…"
Jiimo laughed so hard that he had to lean against the wall and I couldn't help being worried about him.
"Ak-kite, r-really. You need more ex-experience." He took a deep breath and stood straight again. "Okay, Akite, he isn't supposed to see us. No one is, because no one would think a Rodian is supposed to be in Kebro."
"Jiimo," I said sternly. "We're not doing this. There's no way we're going to follow somebody! We're not allowed to leave the palace, probably."
He gave me a half-disgusted-half-shocked look. "We did so many things that were explicitly forbidden when Dorn was alive, and now, you're refusing to do something because it might make someone mad? Nobody told us not to leave the palace."
"They never thought to. They'd have to be crazy to guess that we'd even consider this!"
"Akite, tell me you're joking."
We looked at each other for a minute or two. And I knew that we'd be off on an insane mission within an hour. "Why do I let you guys talk me into these things?" I muttered, looking away, not thinking.
"It's only me, Akite," said Jiimo.
And that was why.