I’d hoped to catch him unaware, and maybe I did—but I’d overestimated my ability to understand exactly what went through Vanth’s mind. Anyway, he didn’t reveal anything. Just cracked a spell bead and cast a barrier around both of us. Motorcycle included.

  It wasn’t a mystery why he did that, though—barrier spells block all spells, so it wasn’t likely Amankay would hear us now.

  “I don’t particurly mind if they know what we’re talking about,” I said, “but I’m not opposed to this spell either.”

  “I haven’t thrown my money around in a while and it’s making me antsy.”

  Sometimes I honestly couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but I’m pretty sure that was a joke.

  “This is a pretty good barrier spell. Are you gonna answer my question now?”

  “I didn’t tell you because it’d make things worse,” he said.

  “You should let me decide that.” I had a mostly-finished sandwich in one hand and a whole one, still wrapped up in paper, in the other.

  “That’s not possible. You’ve forgotten almost everything that happened back then, haven’t you? Everything but a sad bowl.”

  “I said that?”

  “Or something like that. So, if I tell you my version of the events, you have no way of knowing whether it’s true or wrong.”

  “I’m starting to remember, though.”

  “That’s good. However, human memory is unreliable. If I tell you my version of the events before you’re done remembering yours, you’ll never know whether your memories are true or whether they were shaped by my words. And you might wonder forever if I made it all up so that you’d like me better. On the other hand, if you remember on your own and then I tell you what happened, you’ll know I can be trusted.”

  “I really don’t think you’re trying very hard to be liked.”

  “Oh, you noticed?”

  “Now I’m being serious, though. Things don’t add up.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Since st Wednesday night, I’ve been wondering why in all the hells did you oath yourself to me. So you wanted to compensate me ‘cause you mistook me for the necromancer’s accomplice. That’s not enough to expin why you’d go so far as to use your life as colteral for my safety.”

  “I suppose not.”

  “You can be pretty infuriating. Did you know that?”

  Vanth just stood there, looking at me down his nose with nothing but indifference.

  “Yeah, I thought so. You found out who I am, and at first you thought I could remember what happened then.” Vanth nodded. “But then I told you I can’t. And that’s when you oathed yourself to me. Is that right? I wasn’t a total stranger after all. Things are starting to make sense, but something still don’t add up.”

  Vanth crossed his arms. “What?”

  “Very simple. So far, you’ve acted like someone who owes me something—something more serious than a misunderstanding like the one from st Wednesday. But then, why did you just say your version of the events sounds like you’re making yourself look good?”

  “If I say anything more, I might as well expin it all.”

  “Wait.” I raised my st half-eaten sandwich at him. “There’s more. You said she can’t touch me ‘cause of something you did.”

  Vanth exhaled. “I fucked it up, didn’t I? All I wanted was for you not to worry so much.”

  “Well, I think that’s a sweet gesture. But, if you already helped me, how come you still owe me something?”

  Vanth stared at me for a moment. Then, before I could see it coming, he reached out and flicked my forehead. It didn’t really hurt, but it made me bristle anyway.

  “You do that again and I bite you!”

  “Good,” Vanth said.

  Sometimes I honestly didn’t know if he’s telling the truth or just whatever would get on my nerves the most. So I didn’t reply.

  “I already told you,” Vanth went on, “I’m not expining that. When you remember more, we’ll talk. I don’t guarantee any answers though.”

  “Of course not.”

  I finished the st sandwich and wiped my mouth with the paper packet. Vanth grabbed the paper from my hands and tossed it into the bag.

  “You’re really prim and proper sometimes,” I said.

  He looked around. “We’re not far from I?í grounds now. They deserve better than finding garbage in their front door.”

  “That’s a good point.”

  I took a step closer and held his face in my hands.

  “So you did shave when I was sleeping! Or kidnapped.”

  He took a step back, freeing himself from me. “I hate the way stubble feels. At least I have plenty of time to shave while I’m waiting for something to happen.”

  “Guess you’re like a firefighter, always waiting for an emergency to happen, and then rushing out like mad.”

  “It feels as if my job’s easier than that, but it’s not wrong.”

  I started bancing myself again. “What else do you do while you’re waiting?”

  “Drink tea. Have my nails done. Practice uba forms. Keep an eye on my kid sibling. Read sometimes. Sleep if I can.”

  “At first I thought you were just a zy rich guy, but I’m starting to think you mostly earn your keep.”

  Vanth snorted. “I thank Your Excellency.”

  “If you’re feeling thankful, you can tell me what is uba. Is that how you pronounce it?”

  “Close enough. It’s how I dispel and deflect spells. Ask me about it some other time, if you want to know more. Now it’s time to get going.”

  I put on the helmet he gave me. “Fine, but don’t compin if I puke those sandwiches on your back. Pretty reasonable, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, you’re almost unrecognizable.”

  I tried to poke his back, but he dodged me at the st moment. When I cheat, I should be successful. Anything else is just unfair!

  Bracing myself, I sat behind Vanth. Holding on to him didn’t feel bad—I was always surprised by how easy it felt to wrap my arms around his waist. But, he also felt solid in a flexible sort of way. That must be what happens when you do a lot of forms.

  I’d barely had time to think that before Vanth searched on his bag for a spell bead and cracked it open. A barrier glowed around us for a single moment before it faded to a faint grey strip.

  “See, that spell is impressive,” I said. Though Grandma Cielo could’ve made a barrier mobile without it losing strength like this one. But that’s a very common issue.

  “I don’t trust you not to fall off when you’re tired.” Vanth cracked a light spell and sent it to hover ahead of us.

  “Well, that’s reassuring. And also worrying. I don’t like the idea—“

  I was going to add “of falling from a moving motorcycle into a barrier spell, even if it’s better than the alternative” but Vanth started it without bothering to hear my remaining words, so I kept my mouth and my eyes shut and clung to him like a baby possum.

  No matter how many times I did that, I’d never get used to the sickening moment when a motorcycle started moving and my stomach felt like it’d been left back where we started. Not looking made it a bit better, but then I got morbidly curious about what could lie ahead and I had to look. Not that there was a lot to see—the light spell was focused on the path ahead, and anything remotely interesting was simply too far away. Like Teferaj-tepuy with its waterfall.

  That birdlike water creature was there, somewhere. Maybe it was asleep, too. Maybe the magma creature was having its first pleasant sleep in many years.

  I don’t want to think much about the rest of the trip. What matters is I didn’t fall off. I might even have fallen asleep instead, though of course it didn’t st long. At first, I was a bit worried Vanth wouldn’t be able to find the entrance to the Emperor’s Path—I’m happy I didn’t say anything, ‘cause I felt ourselves going up sooner than I expected.

  That first leg of the trip was the worst by far—Vanth was driving way faster than the st time, faster than Valentino even did. And I didn’t even want to tell him to slow down, ‘cause there was nothing ahead of us other than maybe a rotten log or two, shattering under our weight with a wet crunch and making my stomach lurch unpleasantly, but barely slowing us at all. And the sooner we got to our destination, the better.

  The city was different. When I opened my eyes, I could tell the factories were even more abandoned than the first time I entered the city—no guards keeping watch, and I’m pretty sure nobody was left inside either. Also, they still hadn’t gotten the trolleys working. They hadn’t even moved them out of the way, and children seemed to have temporarily repurposed a couple of them as pygrounds.

  ‘Cause the streets were full of people outside of the industrial district. Mostly adults, so te after midnight and all, but it looked like pretty much everyone had taken to the streets. That wasn’t so strange, it being a mild summer night and all. But this didn’t look like a normal summer night.

  Bonfires still burned in every other street corner. Everyone had gotten tired of jumping and dancing and just sat anywhere—looked like some people had taken chairs and stools out for this purpose. There was singing, but we only heard it briefly. Every winged tiger that couldn’t be easily fed to the fmes, such as the ones painted on the sides of buildings, had been defaced. I even saw one so covered in burn marks it was barely recognizable—and the burn marks reached into the next building. The wall sporting that one mutited tiger was surrounded by a noticeable water puddle, and I didn’t think the rain had left it behind.

  “You think they’re gonna make this into an official holiday?” I asked.

  “Probably. It’s almost a month since New Year, so not a bad time for another holiday. And tourists will like it. Once things have settled enough for New Tomenedra to get tourists.”

  I personally thought it was way too optimistic to think about future tourists, but I wasn’t going to say it out loud.

  “That’s what I thought,” I said instead. “They can sell winged tigers and toss them to the bonfires. That’s fun.”

  Surely they’d already ran out of winged tigers to burn. I wondered if everyone had rushed out to throw their own ones in the closest fire. That didn’t seem likely.

  Not that many people in New Tomenedra would feel any personal loyalty to the Megarchon—to them, she was just a voice in the radio every once in a while. She didn’t even had photos taken of herself for the papers. But then, if Nina was right, Letheia VII was much, much older than photography. Maybe that’s why she didn’t like the idea of it.

  And tely, of course, the Megarchon hadn’t been seen or heard very much, not even in her periodical radio speeches. No wonder people thought she might be dying.

  What I’m trying to say is, when you’re used to things being always the same way, change just scares you. And as long as the oldest person in the city had been alive, damaging the winged tiger was treason. And treason was death.

  Then what? I didn’t think any winged tigers would’ve been allowed to survive the night either. Maybe doors had been kicked open and homes ransacked for any winged tigers people kept around. I’m sure that happened a few times, but I also doubt anybody was willing to get themselves beaten up over a winged tiger. ‘Cause everybody in New Tomenedra was already a traitor, and the only hope they had was that the barrier spell around the city could truly withstand the Imperium.

  Something I was sure of: many people would be getting drunk that night. Not me, unfortunately.

  At first, I was too focused on whatever went on in the streets, so it took me a while to realize the Big Project’s spires were getting closer.

  “Wait, you’re going to the Big Project? I mean the energy center? Our hotel’s the other way.”

  “I can get you from the center to the hotel, though. There’s an easier route than the one Sergeant Vargas took, straight through that one avenue and then turning on the shopping district. It might take us a bit longer, but it’s better than getting lost.”

  “Fair enough.”

  The truth is I didn’t really want to see the Big Project again—I’d had enough of its unfinished roof, now sporting new burns, and of what I knew y beneath those fancy marble stairs. I didn’t even like the spires much. For that reason, I thought the entire building would be dark and empty—but of course, that was impossible.

  The doors were closed again, but light poured out of every window. Though we were too far away to hear anything from inside, I knew there were many people in there, and they must be busy. Without the Big Project working as it should, they’d never get the trolleys moving again. All the light globes in the city would go dark. The shuttle to the top would stand still. And most importantly, the barrier would fade off.

  “There’s a lot of work to be done in the next few days,” I said. “I wonder if the mayor decided to stay. With Cassel gone, the city administration’s going to be taking the bme for everything, so I wouldn’t be in a rush to leave.”

  “Though the mayor wouldn’t be allowed to remain a mayor, that’s for sure. If the new administration’s smart, they won’t disrupt what’s left of the bureaucracy.”

  “Yeah, easier to keep them than rebuilding the whole chain from practically nothing. Especially when you can’t rely on new people arriving any time soon. But you also got to send the message that things have changed. The mayor’s gonna be looking for a new job, for sure.”

  That’s when it dawned. New Tomenedra sits pretty much on top of the equator, so there’s not much of a dusk or dawn in there. Sun just pops in and out. At the same time, the bonfires went off and people cheered—far from us, but loud enough I didn’t miss it.

  I’m not sure what is it they celebrated. I’m not sure they knew. But I guess it’s good to remind yourself there’s something worth celebrating, so that you won’t fall into despair.

  As Vanth said, it didn’t take too long for us to reach the Luxury Heights Hotel. Unlike the Big Project, the hotel’s fa?ade made me almost nostalgic. Though I don’t know why. People are weird. The hotel’s own tiger had also been defaced, and I think I saw the people who did it still sitting in some of the highest balconies, passing bottles of something around.

  Most importantly, I saw Valentino in the fake jungle close to the street, sitting with his feet on top of one of the rustic-chic tables. As soon as he heard us coming, he jumped to his feet and came to greet us.

  “Your Excellency! Are you all right? Do you need a healer?”

  I even thought he was going to hug me. And maybe he would’ve done that, if not for the need to mantain professional distance, or for Vanth’s presence.

  No, never mind. The way Valentino looked at Vanth, he might’ve even hugged him too. And I get why—if I hadn’t come back, Valentino might as well be stuck in New Tomenedra forever, ‘cause the alternative was expining the Megarchon he’d lost her great-grandson and that’s beyond stupid.

  That’s all I had time to notice, ‘cause right then I saw Valentino was holding a very familiar aguayo.

  “Sergeant Vargas! You picked my stuff up!”

  “I had plenty of time. Now, if Your Excellency will please check the contents, and if there’s nothing missing we should go straight to the airport. They’re waiting for us to set off.”

  broccolifloret