Precipice by shadowsong26
Part 5: Lessons
Lessons: Chapter 2
Even after more than a year of coming to see Lani, Luke still hadn't gotten used to the Imperial Palace. Not exactly 'cause of the Emperor-he actually hadn't seen him any more often than before-but because the whole place felt-cold. And wrong. Not exactly scary, either (except that a lot of the people there were), but…
Sad, almost; but that wasn't really it, either. He wasn't sure he knew the word for how the Palace felt.
And even when he got past all the more public parts and made it to Lani's room, it wasn't much better. Probably not at all better, really, if he stopped to think about it; except he had something else to focus on besides the way the walls hurt. But it was definitely, definitely always much nicer when her guard took her out to the park and they could play there. And of course he wished that she could come to his apartment sometimes, but he was almost positive the Emperor would never let that happen.
Even the park almost never happened. And it was raining today, anyway, and this was the first time he'd been allowed to see her in almost a whole month. Long enough that he'd actually thought about trying to sneak in. Except she'd get in trouble if he got caught, and probably Mamma would, too. Plus, he was trying to be good, and careful, like he'd promised after he'd first met Lani and decided he needed to be her friend. Sneaking past the guards probably wasn't either careful or good.
But he'd been worried about her, and it had been a huge relief this morning when he'd finally gotten a message, just like before, telling him when he could come and see his friend. So he was okay with going through the Palace for that, especially since she had to live there all the time. He had no idea how she managed.
Except-well, on the other hand, the Palace didn't seem to bother Aunt Motee or anyone else the way it bothered him. Sure, she was tense and doing that careful watching-not-watching thing she and his other aunts did with her eyes whenever they were in Bodyguard Mode. But not really all that much more than she did anywhere else she decided wasn't totally safe. Like when they were too close to the crowds on festival days, or when Mamma went on one of her disaster relief trips.
So maybe that was just something weird about him, like his dreams.
They had a guard walking with them on the way to Lani's room, of course; even though he still remembered the way, and so did Aunt Motee, the guard was there to watch them more than anything else. He was used to it, and he didn't mind too much. And when they got there, there was a red guard on the door like always. It was hard, sometimes, but Luke could usually tell Lani's four bodyguards apart, and he was pretty sure this was the second one he'd met; not the one who'd been on watch at the Empire Day party last year. It would be easier if he could see their faces, or if he knew their names, but he wasn't allowed to ask.
Guard Number Two (Probably) stood still for a couple seconds, probably running Luke and Aunt Motee through whatever scanners were in his helmet. It didn't take long, and then the door beside him slid open.
Luke made sure to Behave, and not dart in past the guard even though he really really wanted to, mostly because there was usually another one inside the room watching her who might think he was attacking or something. And, sure enough, Number Three was standing just inside the door, his armor gleaming red in the shadows, standing exactly still-but Luke knew that was not something anyone smart would take for granted.
The rest of the room was just like how he remembered it, too; tucked away in a corner of the palace with colorless walls and a window that wouldn't open. Lani had a desk in one corner that was too big for her, so she didn't sit there unless she had to. A door on the right-hand wall led to her bedroom, which wasn't much nicer; there was a rug on the floor that was exactly as gloomy as the walls, but was actually pretty soft and nice to sit on.
Lani was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the rug, staring intently down at a datapad. She was a little bit of color, at least, and nicer than Number Three; red hair in a braid like always, and her dress today was dark blue. She frowned a little at her screen, pushed one last button, then set it aside with a sigh and stood up. "Hi," she said.
"Hi!" He grinned at her. "Can I give you a hug?" It was important to ask, especially with Lani, since sometimes she didn't like to be touched.
She nodded, and smiled back.
He hugged her, very lightly; she didn't hug back, exactly-they were working on that-but she relaxed a little.
"Missed you," she said.
"Yeah," he said. "You've been really busy, though?"
She blinked, then nodded. "Yeah. Lessons an' stuff." She sat back down on the floor, tugging on his hand so he would join her.
He nudged the 'pad out of the way so he could. "Were you playing a game?" he asked.
She shook her head. "More lessons. There's a picture of a room, and I only see it for a little bit. Then I have to 'member where all the furniture went and put it back together."
"Did you get it right?" He thought she probably had-her memory wasn't exactly as good as Winter's but nobody's memory was exactly as good as Winter's. Lani's was definitely better than his, though.
"Yeah," she said, but she didn't seem all that pleased. "Except I'm not fast enough."
"You'll get better," he said. "Probably just takes practice."
She did cheer up a little bit when he said that, which was good. "Yeah," she said, and smiled again. "Thanks."
"'Course," he said.
"What about you?" she asked.
"Lessons and stuff," he said, and grinned when she rolled her eyes a little. "Plus, Mamma brought me to her office a couple times. Just sorting stuff."
She nodded. "But it's helping?"
"Yeah," he said. "And I like helping Mamma."
"I'm glad," she said, toying with the hem of her skirt a little bit, then changed the subject. "Wish we could go on the balcony. I'm 'llowed to have flowers out there now, and they're really pretty."
"Maybe next time," he said. Her balcony was on one of the Palace's inner courtyard, so sometimes her guards let them out there. Unless there was a specific security threat or something, which he didn't think there was right now. Rain was a better reason to not be allowed outside.
"Yeah," she said, and let go of her skirt, smoothing it back in place. "What do you wanna do instead?"
"I picked last time," he said. Which he had. They'd spent most of that afternoon playing hide and seek, as much as they could in her room. "Your turn."
"Okay." She pondered for a minute. "I think I 'member the card game you showed me last time," Lani said. "We could play, since we can't go outside?"
"Sure," he said. He'd figured she'd pick either that or coloring, since her lessons all afternoon had been puzzles.
She nodded again, then picked up her datapad and got up and went over to her desk, climbing up onto the chair to carefully set the 'pad on top and open one of the drawers. He couldn't see what was in there other than the cards, but that was probably where she kept all her fun things. Or, at least, he hoped she had enough fun things to fill a drawer.
He wondered about that, for a minute-he'd given her a stuffed shaak a couple months ago, 'cause he was getting too big for it and she needed something soft, but he hadn't seen it since then. He wasn't sure exactly where it went, and really hoped it was only hidden away somewhere, and she hadn't had it taken away. Probably not in the drawer, actually, since looking closer told him it wasn't tall enough, but he didn't know what other hiding places she might have.
He didn't ask, though. Guard Number Three was still watching, and he did not want Lani to get in trouble for hiding things.
"We each get seven, right?" she said, sitting back on the rug next to him and handing him the deck.
"Yep," he said, mixing up the cards and dealing them out. "And you want the color or the number to match, and eights can change it."
She nodded. "Thought so. You go first."
"'Kay." She usually had him do that-he'd figured out a while ago she really didn't like not knowing what she was supposed to do. She learned really quick, though, so watching him once or sometimes twice was usually all she needed.
They played quietly for a couple minutes-he was winning, probably 'cause he'd just gotten lucky and had the numbers and colors he needed to not have to draw too many, at least at first.
But when they'd gone through maybe half the deck…
"Luke?" Lani asked, studying her hand with her head tilted, like she had a couple options and wasn't sure which one she should play.
"Uh-huh?"
"Do you 'member Lord Specter?"
He tensed a little. "Yeah," he said. "I didn't know you did." Oops. Maybe I shouldn't've said that...
"I only saw him a couple times," she admitted. "I was too little, 'cause he's been gone since we met." She finally put another card down on the pile. "Your turn."
"Right. Okay," he bit his lip a little. "Um. Why are you asking about Lord Specter?"
"There's another one," she said.
Luke almost dropped his cards. He looked up at Guard Number Three, uncertain.
But the guard didn't move. Not yet, at least. Luke couldn't exactly tell if-
"His name's Infernalis," she went on, careful to pronounce it right; just like she had been with her name when they'd first met. "He's...big."
He sort of got the feeling she didn't just mean on the outside. But he didn't want her to get in trouble for telling him about the new Specter, so he didn't want to ask.
"Your turn," she said again, nudging his foot a little.
"Right. Sorry. Um." He played a card without paying that much attention to it other than it was a card he could play. "Thanks, for letting me know. Um. I guess...I guess I'll probably meet him sometime."
"Yeah," she said, frowning at her cards again. "I just...didn't want you to be surprised. When you do."
"I know," he said, then scrambled to change the subject. "Um. What kind of flowers are you growing?"
Lani blinked at him, then nodded and followed his lead.
And, when Number Three didn't do anything, and nothing else bad happened, Luke started to relax a little. By the time he and Lani finished their third game and moved on to coloring, he'd almost forgotten to be worried about it.
Of course, that was with Lani, while they were playing and she was as close to happy as he ever saw her. After walking all the way back to the speeder, through the unhappy Palace with Aunt Motee…
Whether or not Lani would be in trouble for telling him, he remembered what Aunt Sabe had said after Lord Specter died-
Think very, very carefully about what it might mean to know a thing like that before it's made public.
Except...Lani was right about one thing; another Lord Specter would be an awful, awful surprise. And now he knew ahead of time, which meant he could tell Mamma, and she would know what to do. If there was anything they could do.
Okay. Whether or not he would've wanted to know before Lani told him-because there were reasons he did and reasons he didn't-he knew now. And he couldn't not tell, even if it was maybe dangerous, like Aunt Sabe had said.
So, once he and Aunt Motee were safely in the speeder on their way back to the apartment, he took a deep breath.
She glanced across the seat at him, looking up from her datapad. "Something wrong, Luke?"
"Um," he said. "Lani told me something, and I think it's important. But I don't want her to get in trouble for telling me."
Aunt Motee frowned a little. "Well, I can promise you she won't be in trouble with us, even if she wasn't supposed to tell you. But if you think whatever she said is that important…"
Which wasn't what he was worried about, but he even his aunts couldn't promise more than that, and he knew it.
He sighed. "It is," he said. "And I don't...I dunno if she wasn't supposed to tell me or not. The guard didn't get mad or anything, but…"
She nodded. "What is it? What happened?"
"She said...she said there's another Lord Specter," he told her, all in a rush. "And his name's Infernalis, and he's big, but that's all she said because I changed the subject since I didn't want her to get in trouble."
Aunt Motee blinked but stayed calm, and reached over and squeezed his hand briefly. Then she was quiet for a really, really long time while she thought it through. "The princess told you all on her own?" she finally asked. "You didn't ask her anything?"
He shook his head. "Uh-uh."
"All right," she said, and smiled at him. "I think you handled this exactly the way you should have. Thank you for telling me right away."
He nodded. "What if...what if Lani does get in trouble?"
"If we can help her, we will," Aunt Motee promised, and squeezed his hand again.
Luke relaxed. He knew it wasn't much, but it still made him feel better, that his aunts and Mamma would at least try. Especially since he believed they could do anything. "Okay." He thought for a minute, then asked, "So...what are we gonna do now?"
"You're not going to do anything different than usual just now," she said. "Except maybe tell Mamma what you told me yourself, if she asks."
"Okay," he said again. But that probably meant that they had things to do. Important things. "Are you sure? Maybe I can help?"
"You already have," she told him. "We know he's coming, and we know his name. We can do a lot with that. Let us handle it from here."
He nodded, then hesitated for half a second. They wouldn't let him help more, and he didn't really expect them to, and he couldn't do much for Lani 'til they knew more, but maybe...maybe there was something else he could do.
He hadn't tried to ask about-about Mamma's mysterious friend, the one who'd gotten hurt when Lord Specter died. Not since then, because it was supposed to be a secret. Maybe Aunt Motee would tell him more than Aunt Sabe, since he'd caught her in a really, really good mood, and he'd helped…
Worth a try, anyway.
"Unless there's something else you know?" Aunt Motee prompted.
"Not...not exactly. Um. When Lord Specter died..." he started, then just plowed through before he could change his mind. "People got hurt. Someone important got hurt. I heard Mamma and Uncle Bail talking about it."
"I know," Aunt Motee said, then smiled. "Aunt Sabe and I do talk, you know."
"Oh." He flushed. "Is...is that gonna happen again?"
"We hope not," Aunt Motee said. "But you're not supposed to worry about him."
"I know," he said. "But I can't help it."
She smiled. "It's always hard to stop thinking about a mystery, isn't it."
He nodded. "Who is he?"
"Your mamma will tell you when she's ready," Aunt Motee said.
Which was not at all the answer he'd been hoping for.
She smiled again and ruffled his hair. "I promise you, you'll understand someday."
He sighed, and slouched in his seat. At least he'd done really good earlier, she'd said. Found out something important, and handled it exactly, exactly right.
But there was a new Lord Specter running around now, and maybe Lani was in trouble for telling him, and 'someday' felt like a really, really long time away.
Today started so good, too, he thought, staring out the window and trying not to sulk. I just wish it could've stayed that way.