The Charlatan

25. Coming Down in Buckets

Shortly after Charlie's waking, the entire group met in the room that Clara and Air shared. The elder Seer, Rime, still regarded Charlie with curious eyes, but Charlie did her best to ignore him and settled in across from Clara. The uneasiness she had felt in her dreams returned full-force.

It took Charlie a moment to adjust to Priyanka's nimble steps as she walked through the doorway; she had only ever seen her being carried and wheeled around. The Dehic twins sat strangely far from the rest of the group and when Charlie prodded them about it, eager to distract herself from her rising agitation, they only glared at Air, who shrank away from their gazes guiltily. It took the next several minutes of explaining from Clara to understand why.

"...You're the Charlatan," Charlie repeated slowly, staring straight into Air's icy eyes. He fidgeted but mumbled a "Yes." Charlie stood and walked over to where Air was leaning against the wall. "You're the fool who took advantage of our nation's most highly skilled courier, destroying her career in the process, for your own petty revenge joke?" she continued, hovering dangerously close to Air. The Genesese man stood a few spaces taller than Charlie, but he shrank back from her intensity.

"Charlie, it's all right. It is not that simple-"

"Clara, I swore to you that I would protect you from being exploited again," Charlie hissed, eyes not leaving Air's. "If you will let people run you over, fine, but I will not stand it when I am around. Now you," she raised her finger up to Air's nose, "You seem to be far too comfortable standing here with a young lady whose career and reputation you have obliterated, and another young lady whose bionic legs will always be a permanent reminder of a home she lost to the people you provoked."

"Velt's decision to blow up a city was not mine!" Air countered. Charlie slapped him without hesitation.

"I will not believe that you decided to swindle the monarch of the wealthiest country on our earth without thinking of the possible repercussions. Your feelings mean nothing against your actions, and you will do well to make up for the evil you turned a blind eye to." Air stared at the ground in silence, holding his cheek.

Clara called Charlie's name in Passeri and Charlie whirled her head around to regard her companion. "I have not forgiven him. But he is our ally. His feelings matter now, and... I control his actions from here out. He has knowledge that I intend to whittle out of him." Charlie tilted her head toward Air, looking at Clara incredulously. Him?! He was a swindler. He could let them all believe he could be controlled and then decide to sell them all to a higher power capable of crushing them to dust. Clara's hard gaze did not waver, however, and Charlie knew that Clara knew that she trusted her. Her courier friend may be hot-headed and prone to cursing in the least appropriate situations, but she was far from stolid.

With a frustrated huff, Charlie reseated herself next to Clara and listened as her friend finished describing her voyage to Genesis and her plans for the future. Unfortunately, regardless of Charlie's insistence that Clara was an innocent victim in the soon-to-be-world war that was raging at the center of the continent, Clara seemed to think that it was her responsibility to prevent the other peripheral powers from getting involved in the battle. Charlie watched her friend sadly as she detailed her plan to gather allies who were in favor of peace.

"If we can convince the other powers to hold off on any attacks, we may be able to stop unnecessary bloodshed before it has a chance to be poured," Clara explained. "Furthermore, it would give us the chance to bring Air before the King." The latter point made Charlie perk up and furrow her brows. Did Clara understand what that really meant?

Charlie looked around the room. There were seven of them. Seven people to convince entire nations to hold off on attacking an open opponent. It hadn't worked for Clara in Genesis, and Charlie suspected that it would not work elsewhere either. Many countries either already had established alliances or were determined to remain neutral and involved. Safiya seemed to share Charlie's concerns.