The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 18.2

Four days later, Tirqwin found Sabrina and Ford on Khediva's control deck, passing the time by playing chess. Ford was a novice, but he had a naturally quick and devious mind and was more than a fair match for Sabrina's experience.

"You fiend!" Sabrina exclaimed as Ford whisked her second rook off the board. "I thought you were aiming at my queen!"

Ford merely grinned at her in reply. Then Tirqwin cleared his throat, and they both looked up at him.

"Tirqwin, help me," Sabrina said. "I've created a chess monster!"

Tirqwin smiled. "I am glad you are amusing yourselves. Sabrina, I would like you in the lab tomorrow."

Sabrina's expression immediately closed. "Why?" she demanded.

"Scotty is making progress. We told him he has a sister. He wants to meet you."

"I don't see the point in that," Sabrina replied, but her voice shook a little.

"You can spare him his memories if you want, Sabrina, but you cannot spare him the present. He is searching for his identity in the only way you have allowed him," Tirqwin said. "You are an important part of that, memory or no."

Sabrina got to her feet, her mouth flattening into a thin, mulish line. "You can snipe at me all you want, Tirqwin; I know you disagree with my decision. But you can't change it. Going in there and talking to...him...won't change that. He's a new person now. I'll be happy to introduce myself, but I'm not suddenly going to go all mushy and change my mind."

"I am not asking you to. It is obvious to us all that you are determined to stand by your decision," Tirqwin retorted. "I think at this point, even if you changed your mind, you might let the decision stand out of sheer stubbornness."

"All right, you can disagree with me all you want, but don't call me an idiot!" Sabrina snapped. "How dare you judge me? You have no idea what this is like for me!"

"You have no idea what it is like for him. I think you should go find out, and stop thinking you are the only possible arbiter of his fate!"

Sabrina's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you are not the only person with a moral and legal right to choose what happens to Scotty's memories."

Sabrina took two steps forward and glared at Tirqwin, as if trying to drill holes in him with her icy blue eyes. "Tirqwin, if you take this to Mara, so help me God I will never forgive you. Never."

"You do not have to worry about that, Sabrina," Tirqwin snapped. "I have no way of communicating with Mara right now that allows me to bring up the subject. I will not use a message relay to break her heart. You are not the only one who loves Scotty, and you had better remember that before you go back to Praxatillus expecting sympathy for what you have done here!"

He stalked off the control deck, leaving Sabrina to stand clenching her fists as a worried Ford looked on. At last Sabrina had control of herself again and sat down, as if to continue the chess match.

"It's useless now," Ford said. "You won't be able to concentrate."

"Let me decide that!" she snapped.

He shrugged. "I don't think you two should fight anymore. You know all too well how to hurt each other."

Sabrina picked up a pawn and hurled it across the control deck. It clattered off the main console pedestal and began rolling in a long circle on the deckplates. "Shut up," she hissed.

Ford got to his feet and headed for the living quarters. On the threshold, he turned back around. "Just one thing, Sabrina. We all know that if you were happy about or even confident in your decision, you wouldn't be acting this way. Maybe you ought to think about why you're not."