Moonstones and Madness

Thirty-nine

            Kal Chul arrived back at the rainbow-maker's workshop with silver chains wrapped around his wrists, waist, and ankles. The linkages were not nearly as heavy as they felt with the weight of the bearer's humiliation. He bowed deeply to Rainbow-maker Mein, and then knelt beside the divan where Sister Hye-Su rested. Her pale beauty marred by the bandage on her head stained through with blood.

"I knew you would be returned to us. Tell me you witnessed the flashes." The woman's voice came just above a whisper.

"If you mean the fragments from the wall. Yes. One of the boys took samples." Kal Chul felt compelled to respond even if he originally intended to bargain with the information.

"At least you bring me some hope now it has all begun." Sister Hye-Su signaled for her servants, "Deliver my messages and don't delay. The siege of the Temple of the Dawn will be starting soon." She closed her eye even as her words prompted a flurry of activity in the room. A court physician bustled over to check on the seer and frowned at Kal Chul. The young protocol officer tugged on Kal Chul's chain to take him away from the scene.

"See what you have done? Eun Hye-Su is our treasure but now all she sees is an ending. A bloody war, with bombs everywhere, and many children dying. I wish they had just left you in the caves." The officer shoved Kal Chul into a small room and slammed the door.

"But I didn't mean anything serious. I only wanted to get away. Maybe some mischief to get a little of my own back." Kal Chul whispered his justifications to himself. He leaned over the wash basin and splashed water on his face. He looked at his rippling reflection, taking in wide-eyes, which grew larger and darker, and not of this realm. "Water-mother what have I done?" he said before crumpling to the floor. A silvery mist flowed out of the basin, blanketing the floor, muffling his cries. It was fully dark before anyone came to check on him. He was shivering on the floor so the servants placed him on the narrow bed and tucked blankets and warmed stones in around him. When he woke Rainbow-maker Mein was sitting on the chair beside the bed.

"Is she?" Kal Chul swallowed hard.

"Resting better now but I believe we still have unfinished business," the thin man frowned, "Unless you would rather talk with someone else. Maybe it would be best for someone from the protocol office to record your statement."

"Can it be both. I don't want to repeat everything and get tripped up with different versions if I don't remember everything in exactly the same order. Oh, and don't expect me to be able to name, names just for the sake of it. Maybe if you can prove it will stop bad things from happening, but maybe not even then, 'cause I might not know." Kal Chul plucked at the blankets as he spoke.

Rainbow-maker Mein nodded. He handed Kal Chul a cup of water then went to the doorway to talk with the guard posted there. He then called over a servant to help Kal Chul get ready for the day and took a few minutes to gather his own thoughts. Few people in the room would have been close enough to overhear Kal Chul's exchange with Sister Hye-Su, or understand the reference. He was itching to go check the route the team would have taken to see if the dissonance zone had changed but knew there were more important questions. Questions which drew a senior protocol officer to the dorms.

"Strange sort of escape you made, coming here." The protocol officer said before he introduced himself.

"Do I know you?" Kal Chul squinted.

"Don't you? Have you decided to be a knight instead of pawn?" The man's answer brought Kal Chul back to the interrogation rooms at the jail.