Borderlines

Chapter Five

Travis slowly sat down, placing his cuffed hands on the table. Fawn looked at the guard.
"Those won't be necessary." He looked at her like she was crazy.
"Do I have to repeat everything around this place?" Fawn growled. The guard still stared at her.
"Take the cuffs off, now!" Fawn said loudly. The guard jumped and walked over to Travis hastily. Travis held up his hands, but kept his eyes trained on Fawn. She could just see a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. He rubbed his wrists slowly as the cuffs were taken away. The guard stepped back.
"You can wait outside." Fawn said, the guard shook his head.
"Ma'am, I don't think you should-"
"Did I ask for your opinion?" Fawn raised an eyebrow and the guard looked at Travis. Travis smirked.
"I'd listen to the little lady." The guard frowned, but walked out of the room. Fawn watched him go before looking at Travis again.
"Is it nice, a cold jail cell?" She asked.
"I bribed a guard into giving me a heated one." Travis smirked and Fawn rolled her eyes. Travis leaned across the table.
"What convinced you to come see me?" He asked. Fawn looked at the table.
"Curiosity." Travis leaned back, a coy smile on his face.
"Shame, I thought maybe you missed my company." Fawn didn't have time for his useless banter.
"Travis I want you to listen and listen closely." Travis sat up straighter and motioned for her to go on.
"I don't like you, I want to make that clear." Travis shrugged.
"The feeling is mutual." Fawn tried to keep herself from standing up and leaving him to rot in jail.
"There will be a meeting today at the resort to discuss where we are going to go from here." Fawn looked up to make sure he was listening.
"Now you don't have many friends in this place right now and if there's any chance of you getting out you're going to have to tell me what happened." Travis stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Give me one reason why I should trust you." Fawn smiled,
"Because right now I'm standing between life or death for you." Travis chuckled and Fawn looked at him questioningly.
"You're quite the cheeky little devil under that sweet smile."
"Oh, you're just being nice." Fawn said, but her sarcasm was dry. Travis leaned forward.
"Fine, I will talk to you, but let me remind you that this will change nothing about how I feel." Fawn nodded. Travis ran a hand through his short hair.
"All I know is that one minute I was sleeping and the next, smoke was so thick it was practically choking me. I got out of my room as fast as possible and made sure Ruth was okay when I got outside." Fawn sighed.
"Literally, that's it?" Travis glared at her.
"What did you expect, some confession? Fawn, I don't know who did this, but it wasn't me or Ruth. Section 8 may not be happy with the crown, but we would never dare to hurt the king or queen, much less kill them. What would that do for us? It would just send America spiraling into chaos, and that certainly helps no one. Ruth has an alibi thanks to her servant being in her room all night, but I have nothing." Travis's voice was thick with conviction and Fawn hated to admit that she believed him. His green eyes were troubled and upset, and Fawn could see he was almost frantic.
"The council will never believe your story." Fawn said quietly. Travis leaned forward, even closer then he was before.
"We need a good lie." He said.
"Did anyone see you come here?"
"No." Travis nodded with approval.
"Good. They never knew you talked to me and I can bribe a few guards to keep their mouths shut." Fawn raised an eyebrow, wondering what Travis was planning.
"Everyone on the Eastern side will trust your word right?" He asked.
"Oh, I'm sure."
"Good, we need something that would place you and I together at the time of the fire." Fawn looked at him and didn't like the smile on his face.
"Don't even think about it." Fawn hissed. Travis's smile faded a little and Fawn realized he was playing with her thoughts.
"Fawn you take me for a vile man. The lie is simple going a little like this: you and I both couldn't sleep and decided to take a walk onto the second story balcony. When we heard the fire alarms, we ran like everyone else." Travis stopped, waiting for her approval. Fawn contemplated the whole idea in her head. It seemed sound enough, there was only one issue.
"Did you and I come out of the fire close to the same time? I passed out so I wouldn't know."
"Trust me I saw you." Travis said with a short response that indicated he didn't want to continue on the topic. Fawn eyeballed him, but didn't say anything.
"Sounds safe enough." Fawn said, making sure she didn't sound so agreeable with helping him. Travis nodded.
"If they are gullible as normal they will eat the story up with few complaints." Fawn glared at him for insulting the other overseers, but she knew Travis didn't care. Fawn waved the guard in.
"I've had my fun." The guard nodded and re-cuffed Travis's hands. He stood him up out of his chair and began pushing him toward the door. Travis took one last glance at Fawn.
"Don't let me rot here for something I didn't do. " He said and his eyes flashed genuinely. Fawn dropped her gaze.
I will try.

~

Fawn walked into the small, much less extravagant, meeting room of the resort. Fawn wondered how they had even got everyone in the room. She spotted Garrett and sat down beside him. Everyone was still on their side, East and West. The leader of the guards was there, the one that had arrested Travis, as well as two old leaders of Congress and the Senate. Clay, the leader of the guards stood.
"I know the death of the king and queen has shook us all, but let us not forget that there is still a country that needs our show of strength and control. If we freak out so will they." Clay said, looking around the whole room.
"What about Section 8?" Ashton piped up from her seat. Clay looked at her.
"What about Section 8?" He repeated. When Ashton looked confused he continued.
"Travis and Ruth are criminals, with no rulers Section 8 will have to survive on it's own the rest of the year until we can elect new overseers that are....trustworthy." Fawn narrowed her eyes, that didn't seem fair. Section 6 began protesting as well as few other sections. Clay held up a hand.
"Now listen, there is nothing that can be done unless someone can prove they are innocent. Ruth might be, but Travis is not." Fawn sucked in a breath. This was her chance more or less. She stood up silently.
"I will vye for Travis's innocence." Clay and a few other overseers looked at her like she was insane including Garth and Garrett.
"What?" Clay asked. Fawn sighed.
"You heard me. I believe Travis is innocent and I have proof." Clay snickered and looked around the room before sitting.
"Then please Lady Fawn, give us your proof." He said dryly. Fawn looked around the room.
"Everyone all agrees that they trust what I say?" She asked. Almost everyone nodded at once and Fawn felt relieved. That would make everything easier.
"The night of the fire, about thirty minutes before it occurred, I got up because I couldn't sleep. Along the way to the second story balcony I met Travis. He told me he could not sleep either so we went on the balcony together. After a little bit of talking we heard the fire alarms go off and ran back into the building to find the hallways filled with smoke. Then we ran out, just like everyone else." Fawn finished. The room was completely silent as everyone kept their thoughts to themselves. Sean finally spoke up.
"Why did you even keep company with Travis? Everyone has seen the hate he has for the East." Fawn thought of a quick answer.
"We were, or at least I was," She added for emphasis, "trying to figure out a way to get the attacks on Section 2's border stopped. If the fire was set by someone, like the evidence shows, it couldn't be Travis because he was with me." She felt Garrett looking at her. Her answer seemed to satisfy Sean well enough. Some people looked uneasy, but everyone seemed to believe her. Garth stood up.
"I believe this requires a vote." He said pointedly to Clay, who looked extremely irritated that Fawn had found a loophole in his solution. Clay nodded slowly.
"Alright, all in favor of Travis's release raise your hand." Almost everyone raised their hand, except for Section 1 and 3. Clay nodded in what seemed like forced approval.
"Tomorrow morning Travis will be released from jail and placed back in position as male overseer of Section 8." Fawn felt a small joy that the plan had worked as she sat back down. Clay stood back up.
"Now to the next order of business. As you know the funeral for the King and Queen will be tomorrow." Fawn along with a few others mumbled "long live the king and queen" reverently. Clay continued.
"After the funeral, preparations for a new king and queen must be made. This is where each and every one of you come in." Fawn suddenly focused all her attention on Clay.
"We," Clay gestured to himself and the two old leaders. Fawn knew they were the leaders in absence of the king and queen, "have decided that the new king and queen will be chosen from this group of overseers." Fawn was surprised at such a notion, but then again this situation had never occurred before.
"You ladies and gentlemen have the most training in ruling and are the most qualified out of anyone in this country." The room broke out in mumbles, suddenly Willow spoke up.
"This means we have to be married." Fawn's eyes grew wide. Willow was right. All rulers had to be married to take the throne. Clay nodded.
"That is why we are giving you two weeks to find someone you are most compatable with." Fawn gripped her armrests. Two weeks? That was crazy! Everyone in the room thought the same as protests broke out. Clay silenced everyone.
"Listen! We don't have much of a choice here! The country needs new leaders as soon as possible or we are going to have a rioting country on our hands!" That quieted a few protesters. Clay sighed.
"I know this is a lot to throw on all of you, but we have no choice. We just want to make sure you all are agreeable to this." He said gently. Fawn heaved a sigh, this definitely was a lot. She looked at Garrett who seemed as confused as she did. He looked at her, his hazel eyes portraying words unsaid. Fawn nodded silently and Garrett stood up.
"Section 2 agrees to this." He said. It took only a few seconds for most of the Western section to agree and the rest of the Eastern sections too. Everyone was about to dismiss when Clay stopped them.
"One more thing, the Council will get the final say in who you marry and who will be the rulers."