The Remains of the Future

Part XII: There's A Little Less Arguing in this One

The next day is dress rehearsal, and after that, the performance, so, naturally, I can not sleep. An hour or so before morning, my eyes close. The next moment I hear a crackling voice saying Anta's name. My eyes pop open, sunlight flooding them, and I see, sideways, an older woman speaking with one of the guards at the other end of the pen.

I watch her on my side. I have a headache and will not get up, not even for this. Something jittery runs through me, and my stomach is in knots. For a moment, I cannot remember why.

The woman is gesticulating, her face grooved with agitation, and she is talking loudly. Several thin braids run down her back, half-covering her sun-tanned scalp. The lady finally gets a stout older soldier to open the gate. She rushes toward where I am lying, blinking at her, and grabs my arm.

I rub the gunk from my eyes with one of my hands as she pulls me from my spot with an iron grip. The intruder drags me past the rest of the sleeping actors and to an isolated corner of the pen. When released, I brush the hay off my side and open my mouth to ask about what I heard.

"Please," she says before a syllable can get through my lips, taking my arm again, but this time it is a soft hand, imploring. "You must listen to me. I can only be here for a moment. You are Anta's friend, no?"

"Her closest."

"Close since childhood?" the woman asks.

"No." I pause. Time does not have to be the only thing that makes a friendship strong. "Well, you see, we were friends for about a month. But it was the best month of both our lives."

She stops, her mouth closing around the words she was about to say. After an awkward silence, her hands raise in a 'whatever' gesture, and she says: "Anta used her potions to bring a fhuhaiwehfgefb back to life. Her love is...dangerous. Once she loves it, she will do anything for it, no matter the cost. And well, you know how she is, with the ability she now has–"

"She is perfectly sweet."

The woman gives me an astonished look. "No. She is vicious."

"Is she here? Where is she? I must see her."

"She is in Xance." The woman's eyes race every which way, only looking at me in intervals. Her foot is tapping the sand.

"How did she get there?"

"Look, there is no time. I have only a moment to spare. But listen, Anta plans to control them, to be their queen and their mother. You must be quick; you must go to her and convince that woman to give up her ideas. I do not know if she loves you enough to abandon her lethal plan, but she has spoken fondly of you."

"What are you talking about? Please be clearer in your accusations against my friend."

The guard who let her in shouts at the lady to get out. "Speak with her," the woman says, patting my hand. "She will be at the play tonight." She pulls me in for a hug. "Retrieve it," she whispers, releasing me. She darts like a lizard toward the front gate. The guard who threw a rock at me, from his position next to the older fighter, is glaring at the woman with angry eyes.

For the month I had known Anta, she had been like me. She had wanted everything I had desired. She had laughed, and been interested and charmed by me. She had been especially fascinated by my explorations. Anta was everything I had hoped for, but I didn't actually know much about her.

When I say it like this, it sounds suspicious. But if you knew Anta like I do, you would know everything she does is genuine.

Anta had brought a fhuhaiwehfgefb back to life. And... if she is in Xance. If she is ok... Did she betray Dogon? Did the Xance Rangers not capture her? The woman was right about one thing. I need to talk to Anta; she will be at the play. I will see her today.