A Walk to Greater Worlds: Aeriel Trilogy #3

Chapter 4

The firebird swooped past, the tip of a massive, fiery wing grazing the back of Ruban's head for less than a second. Ruban flinched, then ground his teeth together in frustration.

His body refused to believe what his mind knew to be a fact – that the flames enveloping a firebird were harmless. Still, his hyperactive survival instinct went into overdrive every time one of the conflagrant birds flew close to him.

A silvery mist surrounded them, partly obscuring the ethereal, evanescent motifs that ever adorned the architecture of Vaan.

"Stop fidgeting," Ashwin snapped, tying off the gauze bandage he'd been wrapping carefully around Ruban's shoulder. "There's a reason why the nurses at Hermanos couldn't wait to get rid of you. You'd try the patience of a saint."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I find myself in the care of the devil."

The firebird swooped over them once again, this time flapping its gigantic wings directly in Ruban's face.

"Nobody badmouths my brother in these realms but me." Safaa swept in on partly outstretched wings, rending the silvery mist until it was gone. The unruly firebird came to perch on her shoulder. "Even when he deserves it richly."

Ashwin ignored her, poking at Ruban's heavily bandaged shoulder. "I knew I should've asked the ward nurse for more medical tape. The upper edges are coming off already, what with all your fidgeting."

Safaa eyed Ruban's bandaged shoulder, prompting him to tug futilely at his partly-undone shirt. Ashwin smacked his hand away, muttering irritably.

"You'll certainly need to stock up on medical supplies if you fail to secure official recognition for this alliance in the near future." Safaa spoke softly, petting the firebird perched on her shoulder. Even so, the sharp edge to her voice was hard to miss. "Because these attempted lynchings are getting worse by the day. And I can't – won't – command my people to fight defensively and spare civilian lives. Not when these so-called civilians are forming cults to actively hunt down and exterminate our kind."

"And you think the Aeriel lynchings will stop if the IAW announced an official alliance with Vaan?" Ruban scoffed, waving Ashwin away. The dull ache in his shoulder was leaving him in no mood for Safaa's persistent politicking. "I know common sense has been out of vogue with you lot for over six hundred years, but do try to make an effort.

"Humans – especially Vandrans – are not used to thinking of Aeriels as anything but the enemy. And the destruction at Reivaa's castle last year didn't exactly help your image, not to mention Tauheen's murderous rampage the year before.

"An open declaration of alliance between Vaan and Vandram will serve only to enrage the public, and they're agitated enough by the rumors as it is. Then we'll be left dealing with widespread public unrest – maybe even a civil war – on top of the goddamn lynchings."

"And that's exactly the perception we're hoping to change with this alliance, is it not?" Safaa demanded, taking a step forward. "Keeping it under wraps indefinitely won't help humans and Aeriels learn to trust one another."

"Humans can never trust Aeriels anyway." Ruban refused to back down. "Not while the Exiles are still on the loose, wreaking havoc in residential neighborhoods and terrorizing civilians. The average human doesn't know the difference between an Exile and a scout from Vaan. Hell, most Hunters don't even know— ouch!"

"Ah, I'm so sorry." Ashwin held up his hands, smiling apologetically. "My mistake. I've made the knot tighter than I should have. Silly me."

Ruban's eyes narrowed as Ashwin began gently unwrapping a section of the bandage. He could've sworn the knot had been fine until the latter had tugged at it, quite deliberately, causing the gauze to dig into his seared skin.