Redemption

Redemption Part 27

"You shouldn't be up!" said Sym.

"I feel a lot better."

"She is right," said Lacy. "You should still be in your healing sleep." She walked toward him, gesturing to the bed room door.

He brushed her off and walked toward the couch. His steps faltered and I leaped up to help him sit down beside me.

"Well enough to sit around my house, anyway." He wore a cream colored robe with a sash around his waist. He looked haggard, but his colors were shifting in a slow, steady swirl, none of them out of equilibrium. A bandage was on his cheek over the cut. Bandages showed on his chest above the robe. Lacy had done a thorough job.

"You've made yourself at home, I see."

"Sorry!" said Sym. "We wanted to make sure you were okay."

"And you've gotten an M to help me, no less. Thank you. Not everyone would be so kind. Seems like you've surrounded yourself with kindred spirits." He looked at me. "People who care about others even though they're strangers. That's a rare breed these days." He turned to Sol. "So you're what all the fuss is about."

Sol looked startled. "Me?"

"Well, your mother. You as a way to get to her. You should be careful—Hale's prowling for you. You probably shouldn't be on the streets."

"I've got protectors."

Merali glanced at Lacy. "Ms don't generally hang around as a rule. Unless... there's something else going on here." He looked between the three of us searchingly.

"We're helping you," said Sym. "Why the interrogation?"

Merali flinched at the word. "I'm grateful. But I am the kind of person that wants to know the entire situation I'm dealing with. If you have...any ulterior motives. You can't be too careful in Q."

"That I know," said Sym.

"For instance, I doubt you were in Hale's office just to rescue me."

I shook my head, seeing no reason to deceive him. "I was looking for a secret."

"Ah yes, I seem to recall something about a secret.... Promising to give you one, or something like that."

"You'll give it to us then?" said Sym.

"Well, I wasn't in my right mind when I said that."

Sym narrowed her eyes. "So you're going back on your word."

"You misunderstand me. It's hardly a secret worth telling. I was in the process of finding out more. But I do think I overestimated my abilities.... I was trying to take advantage of a very...disadvantageous situation. I thought if I could get a secret, I'd impress Dusk and be able to rise in rank. It was worth the risk of death, worth the pain, to be able to find something no one else has. But then my plan fell apart. When we had an...unexpected visitor." He looked at me.

"I—couldn't let it go on like that." I couldn't have known that Merali actually had a plan.

"My mind was weakening anyway, from pain and blood loss. It probably wouldn't be sharp enough to goad a secret from Hale, or even discern a secret if I found one. I had to try, though—if I was going to get tortured, might as well make it count. Wouldn't do any good to have a secret if I died, though. One reason why I promised you one. I felt...on the edge of death. Probably would've died if you hadn't showed up—so thank you. I had to take what escape route I could get. Still... I wish I'd found out more. I do know that Hale is planning a raid on Dusk, probably soon. But that's as far as I got, unfortunately. It is hard to do a reverse interrogation, especially since that's admittedly one thing Hale is good at. Torture at least. He wasn't about to get anything out of me."