Restrained

Maz

There's a knock on the door, startling me awake. Beside me Ivy is still asleep.

"Sir, your father is about to head up the mountain." A guard calls out.

"Okay. Give me a minute." I sigh.

I look down at Ivy and shake her awake.

"What?" She groans.

"It's time." I say.

Immediately, she's awake and gets out of bed. Sadness fills her face as she looks at me, searching for the sadness of my own. I give her a weak reassuring smile.

"My father's not really going to die. He's the League leader after all." I say.

"Yeah but, it doesn't stop you from being sad." She smiles weakly.

Ivy starts giggling. Startled, I looked up at her in confusion.

"Why are you laughing?" I ask.

She doesn't answer as I start to get angry, feeling like she's mocking me. She gets control of herself and looks up at me.

"One of our fathers is going to die tonight." She says.

I look at her with wide eyes. Maybe she's still hallucinating, or hit her head or something.

"Yeah. What's to laugh about that?" I ask, narrowing my eyes with suspicion.

She could be faking that she remembers, when she's actually still under her father's memory wipe, or whatever voodoo he did to her.

"Because I'm rooting for your father instead of mine." She smiles.

I look at her with sympathy. Even though she's not close with her father, nor does she care for him, that's still another person she was close to when she was younger to watch die. Leo, and now her father, or mine.

"Are you going to be okay?" I ask.

"Yeah." She smiles. "Just another day you know?" She sighs. "What am I going to do after all this anyway?" She looks down at her hands, fidgeting.

I look at her with a blank expression. I haven't thought about this yet. It hasn't crossed my mind.

"You can stay with me." I tell her.

She looks up with surprise.

"What?"

"Stay with me?" I smile.

She laughs and smiles up at me.

"You want me to stay with you?" She asks.

She's smiling so wide and it makes me smile too.

"I mean yeah." I say. "Only if you want to though." I rush.

"No it's okay. I will. Let's go cheer your dad on." She smiles. "I'm sure he will murder my dad."

"Don't say it like that!" I laugh.

We get up and open the door, and see the guard waiting there.

"Say it like what?" Ivy asks.

"Like you're glad if he dies."

We follow the guard down the halls and outside.

"Well, it was either your dad or mine, and I like your dad better than mine so..."

We laugh and fall silent. The feeling of knowing that someone will die tonight fills our mind as we follow the guard to the mountain in silence.

-------

Finally we climbed to the top of the mountain. The sun starts to set behind the sand hills. My father is standing with his hands behind his back, watching the sun set. Ivy's father is watching beside him.

"Who knew everything would get this far." My father says.

"Yes. The sun is setting, along with a life tonight." John says.

Ivy and I watch our fathers as they fall silent. The guard grabs a torch and lights the bowls of coal circling the edges for the mountain. A hot breeze flies through us, throwing the sand off the mountain.

"What are we waiting for?" Ivy whispers.

I guide her to some stones and sit down.

"We're waiting for the sun to set." I say.

I can see her look at me in confusion in the corner of my eye as I watch my father.

"Why?"

I thought about this for a moment, and look over to her.

"I'm not sure. It's always been the tradition I guess. This is the first time someone ever challenged my father, so it's the first I've seen of this." I whisper.

She nods her head, but says nothing else as we wait for the sun to set.