Fanfare

Lessons

Pierce stands in the doorway. His hair is ruffled as if he's just woken up, and there are dark shadows beneath his pale eyes. He's wearing old jeans and a t-shirt, the clothing that resides in abundance in the city. Most of it is old and ragged; if you're lucky, you can afford one of the newer sets of clothing. Most people have two or three different pairs in their lives. Most people grow into their clothes, wear hand-me-downs from brothers, sisters or parents, or make their clothes into cloths once they have no further use. Some people trade them for larger pairs. Both Trenna, Kina, their mother and Pierce have a spare pair each. They gave their father's spare clothes to him, and he gave his mothers' to them. Nothing goes to waste in the city. Ashes to Ashes.

His fingers curl at his sides before one hand clutches the strap of the gun that hangs across his chest. His eyes squint through the darkness. And she realises he can't see her. She wonders how he made his way here. She wonders if he knows this place so well, he could walk through it in the dark. Find her door in the dark. It makes her a little scared to know that. To know that he has the key.

"Am I threatening to you, or is there some other reason you grab your gun whenever I'm near?" she asks. His eyes search the room blankly, a small smile curling the corners of his lips.

"Anything that can see me in the dark is threatening," he says. His voice is scratchy from sleep. His other hand now comes up to grip the doorframe. "Have you always had this particular talent?" he asks.

"For a few hours it's been known to me," she says vaguely. His mouth twitches, his smile growing, lopsided and a little tired.

"Come with me," he says. It's becoming a common phrase, thinks Trenna. She gets to her feet and waits behind him as he turns, a hand on the doorframe to guide himself. He steps out of the room and Trenna follows, closing the door behind her. She hears the click of the lock as the door swings shut. 

"How do you know where you're going?" she asks.

"I don't," he says. He appears a few metres ahead, four doors away. She walks faster as he waits for her. "It's my magic."

"Magic," Trenna says the word slowly. It sounds foreign and strange on her tongue, but she's beginning to believe in it.

"Still don't think it's real?" Pierce asks. He appears another few metres ahead.

"I'm starting to think it might be." She comes to his side. "Is this where you tell me what's going on?"

He materialises by a door near the kitchen. His hand rests on the wall. "Yes," he says shortly. Trenna takes in the taught line of his shoulders and is quiet as he travels through the door in his particular fashion. She opens and closes it behind her and walks down a corridor much like the one she first came in through, though it, too, is dark. It's also longer than the other one, and moves in a gentle curve that she can tell will end somewhere behind the bedrooms.

She follows Pierce's stop-start motion, and, slowly, the rock-lights brighten til whatever made her see in the dark is no longer relevant. Pierce walks without transporting himself. The tight set to his shoulders disappears and he walks with ease, rather than looking like he's in pain. She lets out the question that's been eating at her ever since she woke up, ever since he appeared at her door in the darkness.

"Are you going to tell me how the lights work yet?"

Pierce laughs, an unexpected sound, and waits for her to walk beside him. "Jack, the guy who asked about you yesterday, his magic controls the light. I don't know how his magic works, don't know how anyone's works, really, but he does something to the rocks. When he's sleeping, they're off, and when he's awake they're on."