The Two Sides of a Sword

Chapter Twenty-Six

Rocki hustled behind Kofi, mind working overtime as to why the sovereign might have summoned her. I haven't done anything wrong, have I? All I've been doing for the last few days is learning about the valicara, flying, and hanging out with Kofi. Is this about the trial? Did Arinda escape?! If she did, I'm never going to forgive myself for letting her go to try and kill me again. It's been three days since the trial, maybe her family broke her out by now. But she has to have a ton of guards on her, right? I mean, she admitted to trying to kill me three times.

Kofi knocked on what looked like a random door to Rocki, but must have been Faish's office because he called for them to enter. I really need to get my directions straight. I should be able to recognize his office by now.

Faish had his hands folded on the desk, waiting for them. "Roxanne, Kofi, I'm glad to see you," he said when they closed the door. "General Bry bears good news." He gestured to the valicara beside him.

Bry crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his hands twice. "Savioress, first please accept my deepest apologies for Arinda's actions. I swear I had no part in them, and I had no idea that she felt that way towards you."

Rocki's cheeks reddened a little. I got his girlfriend sent to prison and he's apologizing to me. Well, she did try to kill me, so I guess that accounts for something. "Um, thank you, general. I understand. And I ... I'm sorry about Arinda."

He straightened. "Her actions are her own. I have a report from my soldiers that we dispatched to the other sariun villages. They found no trace of the other savioress anywhere." Rocki's heart sunk. "But, we did receive a letter from the sariun after the fourth village." He pulled out a paper, opening it. "'This war has gone on for long enough. Neither of us are or will be willing to give up a savioress, so I propose a meeting. We will assemble on the grounds of peace to bring the savioresses together and let them decide the outcome of the war. We are willing to negotiate a time and place for this meeting to ensure the safety of both parties. In the name of the sariun, Head TerrCileBreg.' There is also writing on the bottom, but none of us have been able to decipher it."

Hope lit in Rocki's heart at the contents of the letter. "May I see it?" She held her hand out towards him.

Bry bowed his head, handing it over. The letter was inscribed on a very thin, leafy object, but it was about as large as a standard sheet of paper on Earth. The ink was a golden hue and very thick on top of the "paper," the sariun writing round and almost completely attached at all points. It was mostly unfamiliar to her until she spotted the writing at the bottom. It was still in the same ink, but English, and in a handwriting she managed to recognize despite the ink that ran down in almost every word.

Her heart jumped.

"Rocki," it said, "I hope this message gets to you. I've somehow convinced the aliens to write to the other aliens to try to get us to meet. I'm doing fine right now; I hope I can tell you all about what happened to me soon. Blazes, I hope you're all right. I'm really worried about you. If you can, try to send a message back to me. If not, I hope I'll see you soon. I've said hope a lot of times in this note ... Sorry, I know you hate repeated words, but I can't find a way to erase them now. This stuff is really hard to write with. I don't think they like not knowing what I'm saying, so I have to go now. I love you lots, please be safe. Aley."

Her eyes began to mist with tears as she read and reread the note. Aley is safe. She's alive, and she must be doing all right if she was able to write to me. She's safe. Oh, blazes, she's safe.

"Rocki?" Kofi said softly, touching her shoulder.

She had almost forgotten they were waiting on her to say something. "Oh, sorry." She brushed away the light tears. "It's a note from Aley, she says that she's the one who convinced them to meet up, and that she's fine." She looked up at Faish. "Are you going to do it?"