Burning Bridges

Chapter Eleven: Interlude--Asano (II)

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything—"

Asa cut Jules off. "I just don't understand how you can judge someone you don't even know. You trust your grandfather, and he doesn't even trust you with your own family's magic."

He knew this was a stupid argument, that it was hard enough to teach others to question their government, much less the grandchild of a Cast. But that's what this whole thing was about, wasn't it? And the rage pooling in his stomach made it hard to stop the words from coming.

"Um, I guess so. But my grandfather hasn't destroyed any temples recently as far as I'm aware."

Of course he hadn't. Because Asa was the only one willing to. He was stupid to think that the stranger they'd found trying to steal from them off the street would be able to understand that. Entertaining even a sliver of hope that they'd found someone else—by now he should've known better. His initial thoughts were right. He just needed to wait for Jules to leave and run back to her grandfather. At least now he'd know to avoid her and her family.

"Maybe that's a little hypocritical," she admitted, staring down at the floor with her brow furrowed. "My grandfather may not be toppling temples, but he's... intolerant sounds harsh, but the longer I'm here the more accurate it sounds."

Asa stared at her, waiting for more. Or waiting for her to dismiss him so he could leave.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "He was never very accepting of my identity but there was no one else like me so I had nothing to compare it to. It felt awful, but normal. Not like here." She let out a short laugh. "But he's godborn isn't he? I don't know. Sorry, this is stupid."

Asa sighed. Maybe he was a hypocrite too. How many years had he believed the lies told to them by Castrealms? How long had he believed he was godborn, meant for more? And gods, this was what he was here for, to break down their blind faith in the theocracy.

So he did what he always did when Max pulled another disillusioned stranger off the streets. He turned his trauma into a fairytale. He told Kurayami's story—his real story—as if it wasn't his at all.

"It's not stupid," he told Jules. "I used to think the same thing. Actually, I was raised by Casts too, in the Cathedral. I barely remember my parents. To an extent, the Elders were my family."

Jules finally looked up, eyes wide. Everyone knew that Kurayami hated the government. None of them knew it was the government that had raised him.

"I'm not trying to say that all Casts are the same, or that your Grandfather is inherently evil," he said, though in his experience most were abject assholes. "I loved the Elders. They told me they'd always protect me, just like a family would. What they wanted was dependence, though, not love." He couldn't tell her everything, wasn't sure he even knew how to get the words out. Only Max and Sky knew the endless hours of experiments the Elders put him through, pushing his magic to the limits to figure out what made him tick. He needed Jules to understand that Casts were only people, but he didn't need to disclose his entire life story.

"All I'm saying is that if Casts are gods, then gods are just as human as the rest of us. You don't have to go back to your grandfather if he's treating you like shit. And if you do, you don't have to let him."

Jules eyed him as he got up and left, too anxious to wait for her response. She didn't speak, just watched as he left. Max and Sky were still in the front room awaiting his return.

"Is she staying?" Sky asked.

"For a day or two I think," Asa said. "As long as my welcome speech didn't scare her off."

Max whistled. "Thought you were taking a while. How'd she take it?"

Through the entire thing, he'd been too scared to actually look at her. As far as he knew, her grandfather had told her things about his years living with the Elders and she'd be able to connect the dots. He cursed. They'd never had someone in the shop who was related to a Cast before.

But when Jules finally came out into the front room, she didn't head for the stairs. Instead, she slung her bag over her shoulder and said, "If I'm going to stay, can I at least move out of the infirmary?"

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WC: 760

Total WC: 13,350