"Have you ever thought about…"

Ahken paused for a moment. Aherran looked up from where she was sharpening her knife and eyed him curiously. "I think about lots of things, even if it may not seem like it sometimes," she said. "Anything in particular?"

They were in the old training arena (or as the uninformed might call it, a dirty back alley with enough room to spar). Aherran sat near one of the old buildings, leaning against it in apparent relaxation while she ran her knife along the sharpening stone lazily. They had finished their fight a few minutes earlier and were resting for the next one. Around them, a few people milled about, but Ahken, laying down against a wall with his head propped against it, wasn't paying attention to them.

Ahken searched for the words for a few seconds, and was coming up decidedly short. Instead he just asked, "Have you ever thought about what you want to do?"

Ahken wasn't looking at his sister, but he heard the knife stop. "Hmm," she said. "What do you mean?"

"If you had the time to do anything, what would it be?"

A gentle bump as the stone was put down. "Hmm," she said again. "Anything? Am I rich?"

"Um," Ahken said. "No. Er. A little bit?"

"I can work with that," Aherran said thoughtfully. "Well, I'd start with the Monitors. They'd be put to much better use as my personal slaves. After that-"

Ahken laughed, but said, "Be serious!"

Aherran laughed back, but was quiet for a few seconds. "Well," she said. "If I had the time to do anything, I suppose I'd just… be, you know? Not worry about anything for a moment. Figure out who I am, for once."

Ahken turned to look at Aherran. She was looking wistfully at the sky, but on noticing his gaze she looked at him and grinned widely. "That's a good answer," he said quietly.

"Thanks," she said, reaching to pick up the sharpening stone. "Why do you ask?"

Ahken frowned, and rested his hands on his stomach. He didn't know what answer he would have for that. "Just curious."

"Mmhmm," she said, raising an eyebrow, but saying nothing more.

As they relaxed back into stupor, Ahken reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter.

It had arrived earlier that day. His mother grinned when she handed it to him but didn't say a word, still (Ahken thought guiltily) under the impression that whatever Ahken was being invited to join, it was as wholesome as it could be in Senntisten's Lower District.

On it were the words, still in Common; come tonight.

He had thought for sure that he wouldn't be given a second chance, and he couldn't imagine why even now. Whatever the case, all of his old doubts and fears had returned in force.

All his life, he had imagined that nothing would ever change. He was certain that he would spend the rest of his days exactly as he was until his body failed him, and then he would die. It never seemed like that bad of a life until the idea of something better appeared within his grasp.

Still, he wasn't sure that he was ready to be part of something this enormous. To overthrow the Upper District? This order of things had stood for thousands of years.

And more pressingly… when the time came, did he have the stomach for war?

"You're unhappy," Aherran's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"You are," she said. "About something." He looked over. She hadn't moved from her previous position, but her eyes were fixed on him. "Wanna tell me?"

Ahken laughed a laugh that turned into a groan. "How do you know these things?"

She tapped her head. "I'm omnipotent. Shh, don't tell mom."

Ahken laughed again and returned his gaze to the far building. "Well," he said. "It'll pass."

"That's a no, then." He heard Aherran shrug and shift her body. "Well, whenever you're ready."

Long ago, they'd made a pact that they both had a right to secrets from one another. In the life they lead, sometimes it was for the best.

The people in the ring started to gather once more, ready to fight. From the corner of his eye, Ahken could see Aherran stretch luxuriously while pawing for the finely crafted wooden sword that lay beside her.

"Guess it's our turn," she said through a yawn. With her other hand, she used a heavy oaken shield to hoist herself to her feet, groaning all the way like she wasn't barely twenty years old. Ahken glanced at the position of the sun as briefly as his eyes were able before doing the same. He clenched the sword in his hand perhaps tighter than necessary.

As he assumed his place in the arena, Aherran stared him down and smiled, surprisingly warmly for a training bout. "OK," she said, "I noticed last time your swing came just a little too late, so-" and lunged at him. Ahken laughed and brought his sword up in time to parry, and as they fought Ahken felt for the first time a while like he had no cares in the world.

…

The door hadn't changed much, but Ahken felt different standing in front of it. It looked bigger now, although he knew that wasn't possible. The procedure from last time bubbled up in his memory without complaint, and he performed it with barely any trepidation.

He stood back, and waited. He hoped it wouldn't be the Librarian this time.

After a few moments, the door opened. As usual, none of the people who thronged around him seemed to notice.

The pale, thin face of the Librarian appeared in the crack.

"Oh," Ahken said in disappointment before he could stop himself.

The Librarian grinned at him hollowly. "Trust me," he said. "I'd rather you saw someone else, too."

Ahken walked in, and the Librarian started to close the door before he was fully in. He hastily pulled his forearm beyond it. Finally, the passageway was completely dark.

As the Librarian lit a candle (and Ahken was almost positive the other man had deliberately waited until now to start on purpose), the usual nerves started to crowd in, but this time they were laced with something else. Excitement? Anxiety, he decided.

"You know, I didn't think you'd come back," the Librarian said, incredibly sounding both sullen and subtly proud as he lit the candle. "You didn't seem like the type?"

They began to walk down the passage. Nothing had changed from the first time he had been here, but Ahken could not help but feel that there was something different about the place. "The type?" Ahken engaged against his better judgment.

"Oren seems interested in you for some reason, though," the Librarian continued.

Ahken frowned at this. Why was Oren interested in him? He had humiliated himself in their spar, he knew that for certain. The fact that he had been invited back was blessing enough to last him several years. Or curse, if he were a pessimistic person.

"Before you ask me," the other man said, sounding bored, "I don't know, either."

The room where he had last been taken loomed before him. Ahken wondered why the spell must be done here, and the thought that the Librarian was just trying to annoy him presented itself as a logical conclusion. He resolved not to ask, just in case.

The Librarian paused, and frowned more deeply than usual. Ahken looked at him. "What?" he asked when the other man didn't move for several moments.

"Be still," he responded snappily, and as quietly as he could manage. Something in his voice made Ahken take him seriously, and obeyed without question.

A few more moments passed, and the Librarian slowly began to move forward. "It's a lovely day, is it not, Ahken?" he asked. "Also, please follow me slowly."

"Er," Ahken said, before he cautiously did as he was told. "I suppose it is."

"We'll move on soon," he said. "But first, there is something here that I must… find. Something secret."

"Move on?" Ahken asked.

"Yes," the Librarian hissed. "To the real teleportation nexus. Which is not this one."

Ahken felt his mind shut its metaphorical mouth, lie down, make an obscene gesture, and shut down entirely. He did not argue.

A few more moments passed in silence. Not sure what to do, Ahken walked dumbly in circles as naturally as he could. The Librarian, deep in thought, scoured the walls without pattern.

At last, the other man stopped. "Ah," he whispered, and reached into his pocket. In his palm, Ahken saw the dull grey stone of runestones. He could not tell what kind they were. His incapacitated mind dreamt briefly of the kind of reward he would get if he could bring those to market. The Librarian spoke softly, too quickly for Ahken to hear, and the runes crumbled to nothing.

There was a brief shriek, and a dull orb fell from some secret place and shattered upon the ground. Whatever it was made of, it looked like glass fragments spread upon the dirt floor. "A pity," the Librarian said. "I would have liked to keep it for study. I suppose it matters not." He brushed the rune-dust off of his palms and straightened his sleeves.

Ahken slowly felt his brain recuperate. "What was that?" he asked.

"A scrying orb. Someone was watching us. I suspect that they hoped to reverse-engineer the spell I use to take us to the factory." He paused, and concentrated. "Yes. That was the last of them."

He turned to Ahken. "If this room has been discovered…" he said, mostly to himself. "But who? Sliske, perhaps?"

The rest of Ahken's mind caught up. "Wait," he said. "That was you… trying to be discreet?"

The Librarian glared at him. "Yes," he said. "Pardon me for cultivating more useful skills than… acting."

Ahken wanted to laugh, but the thought we're screwed kept floating in his head. "It was very nice," he settled on.

The glare intensified, and Ahken was sure that he squeezed his hands tighter than he had to when he initiated the teleport.

…

When they reached the factory, the Librarian wasted no time in brushing past Ahken and hurrying out of the passage, leaving the door wide open. After what sounded like a few hurried words in Common to someone Ahken couldn't see, he heard the Librarian's footsteps start to recede.

A young woman peeked around the corner at him. "Hello," she said, and smiled. "You must be Ahken."

"Er," Ahken said, and began to move forward. "Yeah. Where is the Librarian going?"

"To Oren. He rarely talks to anyone else." The woman smiled and seemed disappointed when Ahken didn't. "Anyway, I'm going to take you to her as well. She wanted to speak with you personally. I believe the Librarian wanted to apprise her of the situation first."

"The situation?" Ahken asked.

The woman sighed as she started to lead him through the factory once again. It was startling to Ahken to realize how familiar the place had become over the past few days. "As the Librarian may have told you, the orb he found was being used to spy on us," she said. "We may look numerous, but if the full might of Senntisten came down onto us…" she smiled tiredly and shrugged. Ahken nodded.

The more he thought about it, the more worries clouded his mind. If Senntisten crushed the resistance, and they found out he was a part of it (albeit barely) what would happen to his family? He had heard stories in the past of entire swathes of humans cut down because someone they were even passingly familiar with was plotting against the government. His stomach roiled, and he was thankful he hadn't eaten that morning.

The woman seemed to notice, but didn't comment on it. "I'm Harren," she said instead, extending a hand. Ahken took it.

"Good to meet you," he said as truthfully as he could.

Oren's office loomed ahead of them. "I should be going," Harren said. "Good luck." She smiled at him, and vanished into factory once again.

Ahken approached the door, and to his satisfaction only hesitated for a moment before knocking.

A moment of silence. Then, "Come in, Ahken."

He opened the door to find the Librarian standing awkwardly next to the desk. Oren had folded her hands together and was resting her head on them, but she raised it when he walked in. The office itself seemed much less neat than when he had seen it last. "The Librarian tells me he found a scrying orb in the old church," she said.

Ahken abandoned the good morning he was about to say and nodded. "Yes," he replied.

Oren sighed. "He also wants to register his belief that you may have something to do with it."

Ahken felt his blood run cold, and glanced at the Librarian, who betrayed no emotion. "Me?" He asked finally.

"I, too, am skeptical," she said. "But you must agree that it is not an… entirely irrational viewpoint."

Ahken felt his heart pounding. He had never even considered the idea that they would blame him, but looking back, perhaps he should have. They had no reason to trust him. Oren even inviting him back was nothing short of a miracle as far as he was concerned.

"No," he said finally. "It's not. But-"

"But nothing," the Librarian said coldly. He turned to Oren. "Respectfully, I would like to suggest that Ahken be suspended indefinitely. I admit that my evidence is slim, but we cannot afford to take risks at this juncture."

The silence stretched over the room so thickly Ahken felt he couldn't breathe. Even as his stomach turned, there was a faint shade of relief buried inside of it. Something about having the decision taken out of his hands felt… good. He would go back to his old life, as hard and unrelenting as it could be, and he wouldn't have to worry about being anything more than he was…

"No," Oren said.

Both Ahken and the Librarian looked up in surprise.

"It is in times like these that we must stick together," she said, "or else we are no different from the demons that rule us. Shall we devour each other to grow stronger like they do?"

"We don't need to be better," The Librarian hissed. "We just need to win."

Oren looked up at him. "You are out of line," she said calmly.

Anothr pause, in which Ahken's inner mind took the time to scream endlessly. At last, the Librarian nodded. "I apologize."

Oren looked at Ahken. "You will not be suspended," she said. "But I agree with the Librarian in one aspect. We cannot continue as we are." A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "In fact, you must be brought closer."

The Librarian was wise enough not to say anything, but Ahken could feel him stewing. "How so?" he asked Oren carefully.

"We do not know for how long that orb was present," Oren said. "We must assume that our location has been discovered, and we must make preparations to move."

She inclined her head to him. "And I would like for you to help."

The Librarian could remain silent no longer. "Oren!" he began. "Is this wise?"

Oren ignored him, and stared at Ahken. "It is your choice," she said.

Ahken finally felt the screaming settle into a coherent message. You were thinking about how relieved you were earlier! It begged. Don't do this! You don't know what will happen!

But Ahken did know what would happen if he left. Nothing would change. They would spend the rest of their lives scrounging for purchase in the world, living from meal to meal and praying that nothing bad happened. His mother would die knowing her children would struggle even more without her, Aherran would keep dreaming of a world where she would know who she was.

"OK," he said.

…

Aherran found him at the house later that night. His mother was sleeping in the next room. She had gotten home only after the Monitors had come out, and he wanted to berate her if he wasn't sure she wouldn't listen to him.

"Hey you," she said. "Find anything good?"

Wordlessly, Ahken got up from where he sat in the tiny common room and revealed to her a bag of gold coins bigger than anything he'd brought before. He smiled wearily.

Oren had come through, as complicated as the situation was. She had promised more in the future.

Aherran gasped. "Ahken, that's got to be- that's a lot of money," she stammered. "Where did you get it?"

Ahken wanted to tell her. Every atom in his body was screaming at him to tell her. But he couldn't.

Aherran understood. "OK," she said. "When you're ready." She extended her hand. "May I?"

Ahken handed the bag to her. She weighed it giddily. "This is amazing," she said with laughter bubbling up in her voice. She kissed his forehead suddenly, as she hadn't done since they were children, and then blushed. "Sorry," she said.

Ahken smiled briefly, and spoke with more strain in his voice than he intended. "I'm going to go to bed."

Aherran watched as he turned around. And then turned around again. "Aherran, there's something I should tell you," he blurted out.

She grinned widely. "You're making the right choice, you know," she said. She sat down on the ratty couch they had recovered from a back alley a few years prior and had spent days cleaning, and patted the seat next to her.

He told her everything, and it felt better than anything he had ever done.

At the end of the story, she laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you told me," she said. "I'm not going to tell you to stop. We're in it together from now on. OK? No buts," she warned as he opened his mouth. "I have a right to that, I think."

Ahken nodded, and smiled. He was still afraid, but it didn't seem quite so bad with her on his side. "You do," he agreed.

She smiled, and hugged him. "Alright," she said. "Go to bed. I should, too. And for what it's worth, Ahken? I think you're doing the right thing."

Ahken wished he could convey how good it felt to hear that from her, but just smiled and said, "Thanks." She probably understood.

He went to bed that night with no less apprehension than before, but with just a little bit more hope.

Hey! Hey you! In case you like reading my writing for some reason, you should know that I'm now on Archive of our Own under the name WonderWafles! Check me out! (Or don't, yet, because I don't have anything up, but I will soon!) I'll probably be putting this story up on there eventually, as well as most future fics I'll be writing.

Have a wonderful day!