Reia- A Novella (COMPLETE)

Chapter 2

The two of them bolted through the lab, though Hazira only half-knew where they were going. Morai, who knew the lab inside and out, bounded down the steps with a practiced ease, turned corners seemingly on a whim, and reached the basement office of Voro Marfa in just moments. Morai pushed open the door without knocking, revealing the main part of the scientist's laboratory.

Hazira was confused. "Why are we in Marfa's lab?" she asked Morai in a hushed voice.

Marfa's laboratory was just under the ground floor. Despite its less-than-optimal placement, the facility was well kept and spacious, with lights stringing the walls that pointed down onto rows and rows of bookshelves. Morai had visited the room on his very first day at the lab, and his first thought was that the lab was a library. After a few months of apprenticeship, however, Morai moved out of Marfa's lab and became an advisor for many other projects in the building, including a rather prestigious biology professor who isn't important to the story in any other way.

Voro Marfa, on the other hand, is. He was a specialist in his line of work, which was one of Morai's specialties as well. (The difference was that young Morai had also studied biology in other areas of the city's experimental laboratories.) Marfa dedicated his life to this one area, and he was a quite a specialist. He was the sort of man who was either trusted and respected immensely or immediately despised by those who met him. Morai chose to trust him. Marfa was stout with a round stomach, and a posture that made him look as though the world, to him, was not necessarily something to take seriously. He was nearly bald and had intelligent brown eyes. He was also one of the smartest scientists Morai had ever met.

"Mr. Marfa!" Hazira cried, seeing the man himself poring over a table.

Marfa jumped a foot into the air. "Hazira!" he replied just as loudly. "You'll give me a heart attack! Please knock, you two. I'm getting older, you know, and I can't afford to-"

"But-sir, what happened?" Hazira gasped, running up to look at Marfa's face.

"Hazira," Morai said warningly, but Marfa just waved him away.

"It's alright, Hazira. I'm fine, really. It was an accident," Marfa said, shaking his head. A red slash was going from his –faint- hairline to his jaw, and while the line wasn't bleeding, it looked shiny and painful.

"I've told you, sir. You'll get killed in an accident one day, Marfa," Morai warned.

"And won't that be a good day for the laboratories?" Marfa said, pulling a childish face of disgust. "It was an honest mistake, and I've since taken preventative measures!"

"Really, Marfa," Morai said disbelievingly. "Preventative measures, you say? Like what?"

"Ah," Marfa said vaguely, gently touching the scorch mark. "Uh..."

"That's what I thought," Morai grinned.

"It's fading already," Marfa spat. Morai laughed.

"I'm sure it is, sir."

"What are you here for anyway?" Marfa asked bitterly. "Those upstairs scientists send you for a book? Not that they'd want one. And you've got them all memorized anyway," he said, gesturing at Morai. Marfa sighed and leaned up against his table. "So... I suppose that's not what you need. What can I do for you?"

"Did you hear about the Glass Wing?"

"Tribe of idiots, mostly little kids, possibly dangerous?" Marfa summed up, ticking the characteristics off his fingers with a shrug. "Yeah, I know of them."

"Supposedly they're just a few days from Reia," Morai said. Marfa stared at him blankly. "...you know," Morai added. "Here."

"I know where we are!" Marfa rolled his eyes. "But the Glass Wing couldn't be anywhere near Reia."

"But Silaro sent a message out from just south of the mountains," Hazira argued.

There was a pause, in which Morai looked at his mentor meaningfully.

"Suppose I was to believe that," he began slowly. "What do you want from me, then?"

"I have an idea to help protect the city," Morai said earnestly.

Marfa, noting Morai's look, harrumphed and crossed his arms. "I suppose you're thinking-"

"Yes," Morai interjected.

"Well, when the Four get desperate, they can find me," Marfa huffed.

"They don't know you're here," Morai reminded him quietly.

Marfa scrunched his face up. "I know how this negotiation is going to go," he muttered. "I'll say, 'what's in it for me?' and you'll say, 'ah, Marfa, we're protecting our homeland,' and I'll reluctantly agree and it'll be a big waste of time."

"So..."

"It's a yes," Marfa sighed. "If the Glass Wing really is as close as you say, I don't see this ending well unless someone acts. And as a wise person once said, it might as well be us. Grab the book, Morai."

"Yes, sir!" Morai grinned. He ran to the bookshelf and tapped a book on its spine.

"What... what is it?" Hazira asked, watching Morai gingerly remove a thick, worn volume.

Morai smiled at her, eyes shining. "Just you wait."

"I'll unlock the lousy room and get it all set," Marfa huffed.

"Lousy?" Morai asked. "What are you talking about? It's not lousy at all, Marfa."

"Right," Marfa rolled his eyes. "It's not lousy. And that's why it's operating at less than one percent amplification capacity and is so highly integrated into our society that only two idiots know how it works," he said snappishly, pointing between Morai and himself.

Morai smiled.

"Right, then," Marfa said, taking the book. "You send a message to the Four. Make it fast. If they're really this desperate, you'll get an audience with them in no time at all."

"Absolutely, sir," Morai said. He ran out the door that very second.

Marfa blinked. "That was fast," he sighed, brushing his hands off on his labcoat. "Well, let's get to work."