Flicking open the tiny compact mirror she'd put in her bag before she headed to work, Carla busied herself with fixing her hair and makeup, trying not to let the wobbling of the bus interfere with it too much. She wouldn't normally make this much effort, but she wanted tonight to go well for Kalran. She was kind of hopeful that it might mean Kalran and Ilkiss could get back together. Kalran had said their break-up had had a lot to do with there only being two of them, so maybe this new mate of Ilkiss' would make a difference to that. Carla was curious to meet her, anyway.
She smiled as the bus drew up to her stop: even a party in the apartment wasn't enough to stop Alniss coming to meet her. She'd expected that, of course, but as she moved toward the door she realised Kalran was with her. Her smile shifted into a frown. Why would Kal come tonight? It must mean things weren't going well, and Carla felt a lump of disappointment settle in her stomach.
"Hey," she said to them both as she stepped down, smiling at Alniss before turning her attention to Kalran. "Kal, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
Carla immediately regretted being so direct. Kal didn't seem to mind too much, though.
"I'm fine. I just needed some time to think, that's all."
Carla raised an eyebrow. "Is she nice?"
Kalran frowned, confused. "Who?"
"Ilkiss' new mate," Carla clarified as she fell into step beside the two of them. "Who else?"
"Oh. No, not really. Well, she's okay," Kalran modified.
Well, that didn't sound good. Carla felt her disappointment intensify. "Oh. That's a shame for you. I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Kalran smiled at her, looking happier than Carla had expected. "How are you? How was your day?"
Carla shrugged. "Work's work. It's not that exciting." She hesitated, wanting to ask more about what had happened, but not wanting to be too nosy. She glanced towards Alniss, then back to Kalran.
"Are you having fun, still?" Carla asked after a few moments' silence.
Kalran nodded. "Yes." She smiled. "I'm glad you're here now. Tamhet should meet you, at least, with everything you've done for Oglud."
Suddenly, Carla froze, stopping in her tracks to stare at Kalran.
"What's wrong?" Alniss asked worriedly. "Carla?"
Carla kept her eyes fixed on Kalran. "Tamhet? That's her name?"
Kalran nodded, frowning. "Yes. Why, Carla, are you okay?"
Memories were flashing into Carla's mind. She tried to force them away, aware of the other question she needed to ask. There were many Yeerks with that name, after all, and surely the one she was thinking of couldn't be right, she didn't seem like she'd have the tiniest speck of sympathy with the peace movement. "What's her designation?"
"Eight-one-nine," Kalran answered. "Carla… why?"
Carla couldn't answer for a moment: Kalran's words had prompted a sudden rush of memories, swirling through her brain in rapid succession.
She was standing at the end of the reinfestation peer, her body tense with her Yeerk's fear. Elsa's face was peering into their own, sneering with contempt at Silrin now that she knew who she was.
"Well, now that makes sense. You were far too soft with this human, you know. I've spent the last six months correcting for your lack of boundaries. I still don't have her as broken as I should, as I've no doubt you saw, but I'll get there eventually."
The memory faded, another flickering into its place.
This time, Silrin pushed open the last of several heavy doors that led to the members-only room at the Sharing. They were early, of course: sub-Vissers did not tolerate lateness. In the sub-Visser's absence, a gaggle of Controllers had gathered together, chattering away like kids in the high school lunch queue. As one of them tossed back her chestnut hair self-importantly, Carla felt Silrin freeze, every muscle in her body tightening. It didn't take Carla long to work out why: it had been a few weeks since she'd seen Elsa, but the girl talking like a queen holding court was unmistakeably her.
(Give me control,) Carla said to Silrin, sensing her Yeerk's panic and pain. She remembered what had happened last time, how Silrin had drawn attention to herself by staring. It was too dangerous for her to do that again.
Her body quickly slid back into her own grasp, although Silrin was holding some tension in her muscles, to the point it made it harder to move. The transfer of control was the Yeerk's only response: she seemed closed off, frozen, as Carla schooled her face into as neutral an expression as she could and moved to join the circle.
"The discipline guidelines are there to be used," Tamhet was saying dispassionately, her eyes focused on a boy who looked even younger than her own host. "It's not saying don't use their memories at all to control them, you just have to stay within the limits and give them a chance to back down from whatever they're doing." She laughed. "Not that they do that half the time. If yours is half as stubborn as mine is you'll be playing memories and images for hours. It's terribly tedious, but you need a well-controlled host. You certainly won't get in trouble for a reasonable use of memory discipline. By the Kandrona, he deserves it if he's been fighting you for control. It's your duty. What if he led other humans to become suspicious?"
Tamhet's face seemed to be getting tenser as she made her way through the second half of her speech, the eyebrow on one side jerking strangely.
"For example," Tamhet forced out through gritted teeth. "My host, who I'm beginning to think I should report as defective, as she is so slow to learn, has decided she wants to contest my control now. I'm letting you see it, of course," she said with a laugh. "She can't break through normally. But I want to show you you're not on your own with these difficult humans," she added in a syrupy tone, smiling at the boy. "She's currently on an hour of memory discipline later, and she's aware if she keeps this up it will be an hour and a half, then two, and so on. Up to five. You can't go beyond that for one incident, or you could get in trouble."
Carla felt sick, and she could feel Silrin's waves of pain and impotent rage, her attempts to take Carla's face and voice back. Carla pushed back against her for the first time. (Don't, Silrin, you'll only put yourself in danger. I know it's awful.) She felt the Yeerk's push for control subside, but Silrin still said nothing.
Carla herself was filled with horror, and felt her own urges to intervene, but they were hopeless. It would only put Silrin in danger if she spoke up. Instead she turned to a nearby Yeerk Silrin knew, striking up a conversation in an attempt to drown Tamhet out.
Carla was drawn back to the present at the feel of Alniss' hand nudging her shoulder and turned to look into the Yeerk's concerned face. "Carla, what is it? What's wrong?"
"She… I…" Carla struggled for words for a moment. "But… but how can she want to… why would she want to be with a peace movement Yeerk? She… she's the exact opposite of…"
"Slow down," Alniss said gently, taking her by both shoulders and turning her to look her in the eyes. "Do you know her?"
Carla nodded. "Yeah. She… she was Elsa's Yeerk, after Silrin. Silrin watched her a few times, she couldn't seem to help herself." She swallowed. "She… we… the first time was at the Pool and I…" Carla broke off, wiping hastily at the tears that began to stream down her cheeks. She was shocked at herself: she rarely cried. "I'm sorry, I just… she introduced herself then, Tamhet did, and some of the things she said then and a couple of other times we saw her… sorry, I'm not making any sense."
Kalran had moved into Carla's line of sight too now, an expression of shock on her face. "Wait, what? Elsa's Yeerk? Are you sure?"
Carla nodded. "Pretty sure, yeah."
Kalran's expression of shock gave way to confusion. "But she can't have been," she said gently. "She met Elsa, and Elsa didn't say anything to indicate she-" Kalran broke off, suddenly going pale. "Oh. Oh, dapsen. Oh, how didn't I see it?" She took a deep breath. "No, I believe you, Carla. Something was off about Elsa that day and it happened just after Tamhet showed up. But… why didn't either of them say anything? Ilkiss didn't look like he knew, either, and I know him pretty well. Surely Tamhet's told him about her hosts by now."
Carla hesitated, but only for a moment. This was more important than protecting anyone's feelings, even Kalran's and Ilkiss'. "It probably wouldn't go down well with either of you if she was honest about how she treated Elsa," Carla said slowly.
Alniss tensed. "What do you mean?"
"This isn't going to be easy to hear, Kal," Carla said slowly, watching Kalran's face carefully. "She… she talked about…" Carla swallowed, almost overwhelmed with guilt that she'd seen this and done nothing. "She used her memories to punish her. Not in a way that was illegal in the Empire, but she seemed quite happy to go right to the edge of what was allowed. And… and she talked about her like she… like she was just a thing." Carla shook her head. "I should have done something."
Kalran's face was white, and Alniss' hands had tensed on Carla's shoulders.
"She did what?" Kalran half-shrieked. "But… but why didn't Elsa say anything to us? Oh, Kandrona," she said, suddenly seeming deeply upset. "She can't have thought we already knew? Surely she can't think we'd be okay with something like that?"
"What happened?" Alniss snapped at Kalran, surprising Carla. "Is she okay?"
"I don't know," Kalran replied in a rush, looking horrified. As Kalran went on to describe what had happened when Elsa and Tamhet had encountered each other, a sickening realisation began to sink into Carla's mind. Her guilt and anger intensified as she understood.
"She must have threatened her," Carla said slowly, once Kalran had finished. "That must be why Elsa didn't say anything."
"Really?" Kalran's eyes widened in alarm, then narrowed with hatred. "Kandrona, you're right. What kind of lowlife of a Yeerk would do something like that, would hurt their own host now?!"
Alniss looked similarly enraged. "I'll kill her," she snapped simply, turning towards the apartment.
"Whoa," Carla said, alarmed. "Calm down. I don't want you to get hurt, or in trouble."
Alniss turned back to Carla instantly, anger and pain battling in her eyes. "Okay, Carla. I don't want to hurt you, either. But I…" she sighed, glancing down. "I can no longer deny I care for Elsa like I care for you, much as it pains me to admit it. This must be so painful for her, and we need to make it stop."
"Absolutely," Kalran replied. "I want to protect Elsa, too, she's my friend. She's done so much for me. And Ilkiss. He deserves to know the truth."
"Oh, don't worry," Carla said quickly. "I plan to tell him the instant I get in that door. Elsa's my friend, too."
Carla flung back the door, not bothering to feign even an atom of politeness as she entered the living room and strode straight over to Tamhet. She wasn't hard to identify: she was the only Yeerk in the room Carla didn't know. Tamhet looked towards her, her smile of greeting freezing as she saw the rage in Carla's eyes. Drawing back her hand, Carla smacked her across the face with as much force as she could muster.
"You little bitch!" she snapped.
Tamhet raised her hand to her face in shock
"What by Kandrona are you doing?" Ilkiss roared. "How dare you hurt her?"
He instantly stepped between her and Tamhet, and Carla was suddenly conscious of the height and strength of his human morph. Alongside her nervousness came a stab of guilt: she could have started this more calmly, for his sake. This was going to be really hard for him. "Ilkiss, can we talk privately? There's something I need to tell you."
Ilkiss frowned at her, confusion adding to the fury on his face. "I think you need to apologise," he snapped, tilting his head towards Tamhet, who was still frozen in shock. "Before anything else."
"No way," Carla returned. "She deserved that, and you'll agree when you hear what I've got to-"
"It's maybe better if I break it to him," Kalran said gently, touching Carla's arm. "Can you promise not to hit anyone again, at least until I have?"
Carla nodded. "I promise," she said, looking at Ilkiss. "And I'm sorry for starting this by doing that. It wasn't fair on you."
"Break what to who?" Tamhet appeared from behind Ilkiss, seeming to have recovered. An expression of innocent confusion and hurt painted her face. "What's going on?"
Seeming to decide it was safe enough to look away from Carla now, Ilkiss turned towards his mate with a concerned expression. He murmured a few words in Yeerkish to her as he stretched out his hand, tenderly, to touch the red mark Carla's hand had left on Tamhet's cheek. She smiled softly at him in return, and for a moment Carla doubted herself. The love in Ilkiss' eyes was unmistakeable. Was this really worth ruining both their happiness?
Almost immediately, Carla felt sickened with herself for even letting that thought cross her mind. She remembered the work Elsa had put in to make her and Jasmine feel comfortable at the last interview, her fierce defence of them both even while, as Carla now knew, she was bearing the weight of whatever Tamhet must have threatened her with to keep her quiet. Of course it was worth it. She wasn't going to stand by and watch Elsa suffer. Not this time.
"Elsa," Carla spat out. "That's what's going on. I don't think you need me to say any more. You know what you've done."
Tamhet jumped a little at the name, but quickly stilled herself, her face flowing back into its expression of bemused innocence. "Elsa?" she repeated. "Now, why does that name seem familiar?"
The boldness of the lie made Carla flush with rage. "Oh, I don't know, probably because you were-"
"Carla, wait," Kalran said urgently, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Let me speak to Ilkiss first. Schrellatie," she added gently, turning to him, "can we speak privately?"
"Of course," Ilkiss replied, bemused. "Will you be alright, nishli?"
"Yes, don't worry," Tamhet answered sweetly, smiling at him with wide-eyed innocence. "There's clearly some kind of misunderstanding. The sooner its resolved, the better."
"There's no misunderstanding," Carla snapped, as Ilkiss and Kalran made their way towards the door. Once she was sure it was shut, she continued: "you were Elsa's Yeerk. I heard you in the Sharing, talking about… about disciplining her, with her memories. And Kal says you've met her recently and she didn't say anything, so I'm pretty sure you must have threatened her then, too."
There was a gasp from somewhere to Carla's left, one of a chorus of shocked intakes of breath, but louder than the others. Looking towards the source of the sound, Carla saw Jasmine, blanched with horror. She seemed frozen at first, but leapt to her feet a few seconds later, throwing off Akhir's attempt at a restraining touch to march across the room to Tamhet and deliver two lightning-fast punches: one to Tamhet's chin and the other to her stomach, winding her enough to make her stumble and sink against the arm of the sofa behind her.
"Jasmine," Akhir said warningly. "That's enough. I don't want you on assault charges, tamli."
Jasmine backed away, but her eyes were still full of tears and her face full of hatred as she looked at Tamhet. Breathing hard, Tamhet slowly pulled herself to her feet.
"I'm afraid you must have made a mistake, Carla. I did meet Elsa, Kalran introduced us. But I'd never met her before then. I hardly even know who she is, except she's someone who has tried to help Oglud. And from what you're saying I assume she must have been an involuntary host in the war, probably to someone else called Tamhet, but it wasn't me. Perhaps you've misremembered a digit in their designation? It's easily done."
For a second, Carla doubted herself. Tamhet seemed earnest. But Silrin's gaze had followed her ex-host around rooms enough that Carla had heard Tamhet introduce herself multiple times. "I'm pretty sure I've got it right. I wouldn't have hit you if I wasn't certain."
"You must have done," Tamhet responded, a note of pleading entering her voice for the first time. "I promise I never infested her. The only time I've interacted with her, if you can call a few sentences an interaction, was when I met her with Kalran that day."
"Let's find out, shall we?" Jasmine muttered. Crossing to her bag, she pulled out a cell phone.
"Oh, that's a clever idea," Tamhet responded, smiling at Jasmine patronisingly. "I assume you're going to call this Elsa for her view. She could hardly forget her Yeerk's name."
"She couldn't forget, no," Jasmine snapped, her eyes still full of rage when they met Tamhet's. "But she could lie, if Carla's guess is right and you threatened her. No, I'm going to call her best friend. Kelly."
For a split second, Tamhet's face froze, fear in her eyes. A moment later she'd smoothed her face over into an expression of concern, but it was too late. Carla was certain, now.
"Oh, I'm not sure that's safe, sweetie," she purred. "Does she like voluntary hosts? I'm not sure many involuntaries' friends do."
"And how do you think I got her number, exactly?" Jasmine shot back. "No, I don't think she likes me at all, but she's willing to tolerate me for Elsa's sake. She invited me to Elsa's birthday party. Not that I think I need call her now, your reaction just confirmed everything in my eyes, but I'll do it anyway." Jasmine aggressively pushed a few buttons on the screen, then put the phone to her ear.
Whoa, Carla thought. She'd never seen this side of Jasmine and felt a sudden new respect for the other voluntary.
"Stop her," Tamhet snapped at Akhir.
Akhir's eyes widened, incredulous, before she laughed. "There are a few problems with that, sweetie," she began, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Firstly, I don't want to stop her, except for wishing I could make this call myself so you blame me and not Jaz, because I don't trust you at all. Second, I don't need to stop her, because you've just confirmed everything by your reaction anyway, so it would make no difference. And thirdly and most importantly, I can't stop her. There's absolutely no way Jaz won't try everything she can to protect Elsa now. So I'd be grateful if I were you that I did manage to stop her from injuring you. Though you should know that was for her sake, not yours."
"Hello, Kelly," Jasmine said into the phone from the other side of the room, making Tamhet freeze in terror, whipping her head around. "It's Jasmine. I'm sorry to bother you so late, but it's important. It's about Elsa. We think there's someone… a Yeerk… who might be threatening her, but we can't know for sure. Did she ever have a Yeerk called Tamhet?"
Kelly's roar of rage was audible across the room. Jasmine flinched, holding the phone slightly further away from her ear.
"Okay, so that's a yes. Can you remember her designation?"
As Kelly answered, Jasmine's face darkened. "Okay. Thank- oh. Yeah, yeah that's the Yeerk we've got. Erm… I don't think that's a good idea. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."
Carla could hear Kelly raising her voice again, though she couldn't quite make out the words. She guessed it must have been something about why they thought Elsa had been threatened, though, as Jasmine began then to explain about Tamhet meeting her.
"And… well, you know her much better than me, but she hasn't seemed quite right since," Jasmine murmured. "Although I've only seen her the once. Yes. Yes, it's probably better if you talk to her. I don't know if she'll want to speak to me. Okay. Yes, I'll call you later."
There were tears in Jasmine's eyes when she put the phone down and turned, shaking with rage, to Tamhet. "You little bitch."
"Kelly must have made a mistake, too," Tamhet pleaded innocently. "As I said, I've never-"
"Stop lying before I attack you, too," Alniss snapped from behind Carla. "I don't believe Carla would have said it if she wasn't certain, in any case, but the likelihood of them both independently making the same mistake with a designation?"
Before Tamhet could open her mouth to respond, the door to the living room opened, Kalran and Ilkiss returning through it. Kalran was hovering close to Ilkiss, her expression concerned. Ilkiss' eyes were red, and he looked pleadingly at Tamhet.
"Tell me it's not true," he murmured to her, the shock he must be feeling still evident in his voice.
"It's not," Tamhet replied, crossing the room towards him to take his hand. "Of course it's not. Carla made a mistake, that's all."
"I did not," Carla snapped. "Shut it, Tamhet. Ilkiss…" she turned to him, unsure how to phrase things in a way that didn't make it worse. "I'm sorry, but we know for sure now I've not got it wrong. Jasmine called Kelly, and she confirmed it."
Ilkiss' face whitened, and he seemed unable to speak for a moment.
"I'm sorry," Tamhet murmured, looking down with eyes filled with tears. "It's true, I was Elsa's Yeerk. I couldn't bring myself to tell you, when I saw how close you both were to her. But it's not true that I hurt her," she added, raising her eyes to meet Ilkiss'. "Well, not more than any Yeerk hurt an involuntary just by taking them," she added, with a shudder. "I hated it, like I told you, but I didn't dare do anything about it, and I was terrified my sympathy with her would be discovered. I tried to compensate for it by pretending to others that I… disciplined… her, but I never actually did."
Carla wasn't sure she believed that, but she couldn't exactly prove it wrong. She'd only ever heard Tamhet talk about how she'd treated Elsa, she hadn't ever actually seen it. Doubt entered her mind for the first time. But then, Tamhet had told so many different lies today it would hardly surprise Carla if this was yet another one. Nevertheless, she hesitated, noticing the hope that had kindled again in Ilkiss' face.
"Why was Kelly so mad, then?" Jasmine snapped. "She practically deafened me, she yelled so loud when she heard your name. And why didn't Elsa say anything when you met her?"
"Well," Tamhet began, "any involuntary would be angry to hear the name of the Yeerk that had infested her friend. There's little difference to her between taking a host against their will and treating them as well as you can and being the kind of dapsen that would repeatedly hurt them. Besides, I imagine Kelly feels guilty, irrational though that is. She joined the Sharing first, she was the one that persuaded Elsa to. Naturally, it's hard for her to contain her emotion."
Carla felt a twist of pain as she imagined it: poor Kelly. And poor Elsa. She was kind of surprised any friendship had survived that.
"You mean Kelly's Yeerk… no! Oh, that's awful," Jasmine murmured, seeming distracted for a moment, tears beginning to track their way down her cheeks. Her upset soon turned back to anger, though, and she lifted her head to glare at Tamhet again. "Hang on, no. You shouldn't have told us that. It's not your secret to tell, and I can't imagine either of them would want you to share it." Her hands clenched into fists. "How dare you! You can't just talk about whatever of her memories you want."
"I'm sorry," Tamhet said instantly, looking at Ilkiss rather than Jasmine. "You're right. I'm still learning how to interact with other species properly, and I wanted you to understand Kelly's reaction, so you didn't blame it on something else." She reached to touch Ilkiss' arm. "Nishli, I'm desperate not to lose you."
"You should have thought about that before you lied to him," Kalran snapped protectively.
"I didn't lie," Tamhet pleaded. "Well, admittedly today, yes. I was frightened. But I've always said I had involuntaries, I've always said I was never brave enough to join the movement. I didn't know you knew Elsa until the other day, Ilkiss, and I just didn't know what to do. I maybe should have said something then. I realise you knowing her makes it more awkward, but I hadn't exactly pretended I was a saint before that."
Ilkiss was silent for a moment. "No, that you were Elsa's Yeerk alone could hardly make a difference. It makes things more awkward, certainly, but how could I treat you differently depending on the identity of your host? Any involuntary infestation was wrong, and I think all of us here did it for some length of time or another."
"Not Akhir," Jasmine muttered.
Carla could hardly say the same thing about Silrin or Alniss, but she didn't believe they should be put in the same book as Tamhet, either. And Kalran and Ilkiss were hardly being fair to themselves with that comparison.
"What concerns me," Ilkiss continued, "is what Carla said about you talking about… about hurting…" Ilkiss seemed unable to put it into words. "Even if that was all fake, to help you fit in with the Empire, I… it… I don't know, didn't you think it might influence other Yeerks to hurt their hosts, even if you never did it to your own?"
Tamhet had no answer for that, hanging her head.
"And I'm not at all convinced you didn't hurt Elsa or the others yourself, either," Kalran added, looking furious. "How do you expect us to trust you when you've lied like this? When you said nothing, even after you'd met Elsa with us?"
"Yeah, you didn't answer Jasmine's second question," Carla broke in. "How come Elsa didn't say anything?"
Tamhet looked down. "Well, she froze, at first. Ran away, went to the bathroom. It must have been so much for her to process. I followed her there, I thought we should talk. I apologised to her, I told her how bitterly I regretted what I did to her, and she…" tears had appeared in Tamhet's eyes. "She forgave me. She's incredibly kind like that. I told her I wanted to tell Ilkiss in my own time, asked her not to say anything, and she agreed."
There was a long silence.
"That makes sense," Ilkiss said eventually. "Doesn't it?" he added hopefully, turning to Kalran.
"I'm not so sure," Kalran said gently. "We can't disprove it, exactly, but I don't trust her. It seems unlikely Elsa would forgive her so easily."
"She's forgiven Carla and Jasmine," Ilkiss countered.
"That's hardly the same thing!" Akhir broke in sharply. "I don't think she's forgiven me, which is a closer comparison. I'm a Yeerk who's directly harmed her."
"And I don't think she's forgiven me yet," Alniss muttered. "And I'm only the sister of a Yeerk who hurt her, I didn't do anything myself."
Carla had half-opened her mouth to join the debate, too. She didn't believe Tamhet either. Before she could say anything, though, she felt a gentle touch on her arm. Jasmine stood there, beckoning her in a small gesture and jerking her head towards the door. Carla hesitated, glancing around. Tamhet's attention was entirely focused on the other Yeerks, ignoring her and Jasmine completely. The others' attention also seemed focused on the debate, though Akhir glanced at them for a moment and smiled slightly.
It seemed like they'd hardly be missed, so Carla turned and followed Jasmine out of the room.
"Do you believe her?" Jaz asked, as soon as the door had closed.
"No," Carla muttered angrily. "That doesn't sound like Elsa. Mind you, forgiving her Yeerk sounds more likely than giving in to a threat from them."
"Maybe it wasn't a threat about her," Jasmine mused. "Maybe that- that little-" Jasmine broke off, her breaths coming fast with fury. "Maybe she threatened her family. Her little sister. Elsa's very protective of her."
"Yeah, that could be it," Carla nodded, feeling sickened at the thought. "So, what are we gonna do?"
"I could call Kelly again," Jasmine murmured. "I could see if Elsa's ever told her anything about whether Tamhet… whether she actually ever did…" Jasmine trailed off, wiping at her tears. "Oh, I feel so guilty. I should have…"
"I do, too," Carla said, as gently as she could manage. Hesitantly, she reached to touch Jasmine's shoulder. "But you couldn't really have stopped it happening. All you'd have done is hurt Akhir."
"I know," Jasmine murmured. "I- I feel awful even thinking this way, when she's been so good to me."
"What's done is done," Carla said quickly. "And you can't help how you feel, I'm sure Akhir understands that. But we can help Elsa now, can't we?"
Jasmine nodded, wiping away the rest of her tears and taking a deep breath, raising her cell phone. "You're absolutely right. We have to stop this pain for her."
Carla was glad it was Jasmine who had the conversation with Kelly: she had no idea how she'd have explained what was going on, but she'd never have found words as gentle as Jasmine's to talk about something so difficult. Soon, Jasmine nodded to Carla, her eyes refilling with tears.
Carla took that as confirmation. She hadn't really believed Tamhet's lies, but part of her had wanted to be wrong. She folded her arms against the sickened feeling in her stomach and glanced murderously towards the living-room door that concealed such a nasty piece of work.
Carla turned, almost as Jasmine put the phone down, ready to march into the living room again to give Tamhet yet another piece of her mind. She halted, though, when Jasmine touched her arm.
"Kelly's called Elsa and asked her to come over to hers, so she can tell her what's happened. She reckons Elsa might want to see us, to hear it first-hand I think, and Kelly thinks she'll want to check we're okay, too. She's asked if we can go over, after we've got rid of Tamhet. I said yes, but you don't need to come if you don't want to."
Carla hesitated. The thought of going alone into a house with Kelly, who she neither knew nor trusted, and relying on Elsa to shield her was not a pleasant one, but if it would help Elsa, who must be in so much pain… "Is it safe?"
"I've met Kelly before," Jasmine murmured. "She was okay. Kind to me, even, though that was probably more for Elsa's sake than mine."
Carla nodded. "OK. If Elsa wants me to, I'll come." She turned, yet again, to glare at the door. "Shall we go and kick that nasty, manipulative bitch out once and for all?"
Jasmine nodded, her face set in similar lines of fury. "Absolutely."
Soon Jasmine, again with more sensitivity than Carla could have managed, repeated what Kelly had told her to Ilkiss. Kelly had confirmed that Elsa had told her she'd been tortured. What was more, the change in Elsa's demeanour during Tamhet's infestation had been so extreme Tamhet had been investigated for host abuse, but she'd stayed just within the guidelines, so nothing could be done. Carla burned with rage when she heard that, but not as much as she did when she heard Tamhet attempt one last lie.
"Kelly must be lying," she pleaded. "She hates me, of course."
"Shut up," Ilkiss snapped, with uncharacteristic venom. His face was white with shock. "Do you really think Kelly would lie about something like that? About her friend being tortured?" He shook his head. "Kandrona, Tamhet, I- I don't know you at all, do I?"
Tamhet hesitated at Ilkiss' anger, but only for a moment. "It's awful, yes, but I'm telling you it must be true. I never hurt Elsa like that. The only way to know for sure is to ask Elsa herself."
"No, it's not," Akhir cut in sharply. "I'm sure between myself and Hallim we can find a Pool guard who could verify an investigation of abuse happened, and when it did. It was almost certainly a guard who'll have brought it to a sub-Visser's attention."
"That's not proof," Tamhet argued. "Yes, there was an investigation, which concluded I didn't hurt her, as even Kelly acknowledged. Kelly's drawing on that and building a lie around it. Like I say, please, talk to Elsa. She's so good, she's so honest, she'll be honest even though she dislikes me-"
"No-one is going to ask Elsa," Kalran growled. "No-one is going to put her in a position where she has to lie to us, knowing the emotional stakes that this has for Ilkiss in particular, or accept whatever punishment you threatened her with. She's put herself through so much to try and help us, she deserves better than that."
"You can't speak for Ilkiss," Tamhet shot back. Turning to him, she looked at him pleadingly, touching his arm. "Surely you can't abandon me without knowing the truth for certain, nish'li?"
"Don't call me that." Ilkiss shook off her arm, firmly, though his eyes were bright with unshed tears. "Kelly's fought for Oglud, for us, as well. I don't believe for a single moment that she'd lie and risk spoiling my happiness over a grudge. No, I believe Kelly, and I trust Carla and Jasmine's judgements, too. I didn't want to believe it, Tamhet, but I have to conclude that you were far nastier in the war than I ever could have believed of you, and you've told me a pack of lies about it, to make matters even worse. I'm sorry, but I don't want to see you again."
Tamhet's expression changed as fast as a gunshot, revealing a face full of sneering condescension. "I suppose that's what I should expect of the kind of weakling that betrays our Empire for laklats," she spat.
Ilkiss went pale, and Carla tensed with shock. Lying about Elsa was one thing, but it didn't look like Tamhet had ever cared at all for Ilkiss, like everything was a lie. Poor thing, she thought, glancing at him as the tears began to track down his cheeks.
Tamhet turned to Jasmine and Carla. "And you will both pay for your insubordination. How dare you interfere?!" Her voice became quieter, then, sickly sweet. "How's it going these days, anyway, Carla? Still poisoning your body with alcohol to avoid dealing with the world? I wonder whether your employer'd like to know that. I can see where you work," she added with a laugh, gesturing at Carla's Dominos uniform. "And I know your name. Ought to be easy enough."
Carla gasped, despite herself. How did Tamhet even know about her past? Surely none of the other Yeerks would ever have mentioned it… did that mean Elsa knew, then, from the war?
Tamhet had turned to Jasmine and opened her mouth to speak but was prevented from doing so when Akhir and Alniss simultaneously ran at her. Akhir twisted Tamhet's arm up her back at an angle that was sure to be painful, while Alniss went for the less refined but no less effective method of thumping her across the face.
"Don't you dare!" Alniss yelled. "Don't you dare do a thing to my Carla!"
"And if you even think about threatening my Jaz I'll throw you out of that window," Akhir said coldly. "How many floors up are we again, Kalran?"
"Oh, we're high enough," Kalran spat, furious. "You absolute dapsen," she snarled at Tamhet, her nose wrinkling with utter disgust. "You've abused almost everyone who matters to me. I'm not a violent Yeerk by nature, but I am about ten seconds away from throwing you out of the window myself, so I would get out if I were you, before I do you serious damage."
Tamhet was wincing in pain as Akhir twisted her arm even further up her back, but still somehow managed to sneer. "You're just as pathetic as he is," she snarled to Kalran, jerking her head at Ilkiss. "And you, too, Alniss, pandering to a human like this… you do realise she's just in it for the free accommodation, don't you?"
"I'm not!" Carla yelled, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Anyway, I pay rent, for your information."
"I'm not listening to her," Alniss said, glancing sideways and smiling at Carla. "I know you, honey."
"And as for you, Akhir… well, you over-indulge that host, that's obvious-"
"If by over-indulge," Akhir sneered, "you mean call Jaz by her name, then yes, absolutely."
Jasmine snorted. Unexpectedly, for someone who was so shy, she seemed unafraid of Tamhet.
"Behave," Tamhet snapped at her. "Anyway, Akhir, it's clear she's not your only motivation. Pathetic, the way you follow Kalran around, pretend friendship is all you're interested in. You do realise she's far too good for you, don't you? A top scientist with someone who didn't even pass her hosted examinations? A peace movement member and a Pool guard? Ridiculous fantasy."
Akhir froze for a second, then flushed crimson, confirming the truth of Tamhet's words. Carla was surprised: Kalran and Akhir? Her surprise soon gave way to a glow of happiness despite the awkwardness of the situation. Kalran deserved someone who loved her. Akhir had always been lovely to Kal, and they'd been spending more and more time together; Kalran clearly enjoyed her company. Carla almost smiled. Hopefully, this meant some happiness for Kalran, who'd had so much to go through.
"A minute ago I was pathetic, remember?" Kalran murmured sarcastically. She sought eye contact with Akhir but failed, as Akhir's eyes were fixed determinedly on the floor, looking like she wished the ground would swallow her up. "Akhir… I… this is a terrible way to be forced to have this conversation, but I certainly don't think I'm too good for you. You're wonderful, schrellatie. Let's talk, when we've got rid of her."
Akhir said nothing, still looking horribly embarrassed. Jasmine's hands curled into fists.
"Just get out, Tamhet, before I really hurt you," Jasmine snapped.
"If your pathetic excuse for a Yeerk lets me go, perhaps I will," Tamhet sneered.
Akhir released her without looking up, backing away. Tamhet smiled unpleasantly, moving to collect her things.
"Before I go, you were right, of course. I did threaten Elsa." She smiled nastily. "If any of you speak to anyone else, try to defame me to my employers or my contacts-"
"Some people would say friends, but I can see why you don't have any," Jasmine broke in, rolling her eyes.
"Silence! As I say, if any of you try to harm me, I will come good on that threat. Actually, Jasmine, the same applies if you continue your insubordination."
"What was the threat?" Jasmine asked, in a much more submissive voice.
"Enough to make Elsa obey me, that's all you need to know. As you might have gathered, obedience does not come naturally to her, so you can assume it's serious enough."
"We- we can't let…" Kalran began. "I won't let you carry on threatening her."
"And what will you do about it?" Tamhet sneered. Lifting her designer handbag, she strode towards the door. "I will enjoy not seeing any of you weaklings again."
"Trust me, the feeling's mutual," Kalran muttered, as Tamhet swept out of the apartment leaving a tense silence in her wake.
