It's a different room than our usual debriefing space, smaller, windowless, and uncomfortably warm due to the lantern providing the only light. Miya is absent when ve would normally be present.
I have just finished recounting the entire story, carefully omitting the parts I vowed to keep secret. The minister sitting across from me diligently took notes of every word I said. Ve wears a sharp light-gray suit with the ministry's distinctive purple slotted seams, adorned with a gold metal circle horizontally bisected by a shut golden eye. The uniform of ministers who do the grunt work pertaining to vetu resources, public relations, and magic support.
The room feels suffocating, and sweat trickles down my face.
"You reported that they took your rirmevu blade correct?" The minister asks.
"Correct." I try to maintain professional composure as I affirm that it was stolen. However, the pressure of the room along with the emotional weight of having lost something as sentimental as my late vedi's rirmevu blade, makes distress seep from my face.
"Are you alright?" Ve asks.
"Yeah. It's just... The blade was my vedi's" I reply. Embarrassed that my emotional vulnerability had been acknowledged, though also appreciative of the compassion.
"I see... did they give you any indication as to why they took the blade and nothing else?"
"They came up with some absurd excuse, but I worry that they plan to use it to frame me for something."
"Hmm... What was the absurd excuse?"
Fearing I might notice a confirming facial response to what I am about to say, I look away, "They tried to claim that the ministry uses enslaved notu to enchant items. As if that would ever happen." I say and then laugh a bit at the absurdity of it. I risk a glance at the minister and ve looks more disturbed than amused.
"It's sick, the sort of things these fose will come up with to tarnish Ritu's reputation." Ve says.
"Yeah," I say, feeling validated by the minister's disgust.
"Alright, let me just finish off my notes here."
I'm relieved to have finished my report because I desperately need some fresh air.
"Okay, to ensure I have all the details correct, I'm going to need you to retell specific parts of your story," the minister explains.
"You must be joking," I say, the words practically falling out of my mouth. "Why are we stuck in this room? Can't we discuss this elsewhere?"
"Dima, I need your cooperation. I promise we would choose a different location if it were possible. Unfortunately, this is the only available space. Now, please tell me about the first enemy."
"Very well, I was perched on a ridge, and there was..." My thoughts abruptly shift, overwhelmed by resentment toward my fellow officers. Those damn fose. They go and break up my family for no Ritu damn reason and somehow it's my fault I ended up here? What sort of monsters would just decide to ruin someone's life like that?
"Dima?" the minister interrupts my train of thought. "Tell me about what you saw from the ridge."
"There was... I think... The heat is getting to me. I can't remember. But you wrote it down, right? Could you read it back to me? Maybe it will jog my memory?"
"Hmm... Perhaps we can come back to that later. Tell me about the two individuals who investigated the loud noise."
"Right, those two came to check the noise, and they were..." Even if I am to blame, how did I not prove myself? I served my sentence, tirelessly worked two jobs during the labor, and in the evenings I was in the food kitchen earning my stay at the ministry.
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Disarm Evil
Ciencia Ficción**New Chapter Every Wednesday!** Dima is a little person with a habit of starting, and occasionally finishing, craft projects, though when on duty Dima is fierce, cold, and calculated agent of justice who's quick thinking and sharp aim makes them a...
