Excursion

Chapter Twenty-Seven - The Ringbearer

  "Really?" Nova shrieked, turning to face me with a horrified expression.

  At first, I thought that three-bar-one was my score on the Standardized Exam, and since I remembered the guards telling me that any number between three and zero was horrible, I deflated noticeably. But then I remembered that three-bar-one was the same thing that the loudspeaker blurted out just as I started to take the test.

  "Um..." I spoke up. "... what's a three-bar-one?"

  "It's what you are," Lavern responded, before glancing over his clipboard. "Salandil? You received a 5.2 status number."

  Salandil only shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me," he replied.

  "Nomen?" Lavern continued. "You received a 7.9."

  My jaw dropped. My number was inches away from being in the region the guards said was the most desirable. It was a pity that Salandil and I would be leaving soon, for that was certainly something to be proud of. Maybe most of the questions weren't tricks, after all.

  "But he's a three-bar-one!" Nova exclaimed, gesturing in my general direction.

  "Yes, but remember that we updated the test not too long ago to accommodate three-bar-ones. Valentino gave him a CDS."

  I remembered the drink that the matchmaker had given to me. Was that concoction responsible for my high score on the test?

  Nova nodded, deep in thought. "When was he sent out from here?"

  Esis walked over to the double doors to make sure they were locked.

  "At the age of four months," Lavern replied.

  Lavern had a steely, penetrating gaze, but that wasn't what bothered me. It was that he and Nova spoke of sending me out of 'here' – which I presumed to be the city – at the same age that the Vannakai people had told me I was when they took me under their wings.

  "Are you saying..." I spoke up. "... that I'm a Lazullian?"

  Nova and Lavern made eye contact. Esis, proceeded to sit down on the floor in a pretzel shape that I wouldn't have thought possible.

  "Yes," Lavern finally answered with a cough. "Your mother was originally from the City of Lazuli, but gave you up at a very young age."

  "Why wasn't I just kept in an orphanage here?"

  "She specifically requested for you to be tossed out into the desert region to fend for yourself."

  From beside me, Salandil shook his head. "That doesn't seem right. A mother's love is strong. No mother in their right mind would give their newborn up to the whims of nature simply because she didn't want them."

  "Oh, Salandil!" Nova laughed, that charming smile appearing on her face once again. "You're over-thinking things!"

  "No, I'm not!"

  "Thinking can be dangerous for your mental health," Lavern murmured as he went back to his clipboard.

  Salandil's cheeks flushed, but just as he opened his mouth, the doors of Nova's chambers opened, revealing a single guard with a small box in his hand.

  "Premier?" he inquired, glancing from Esis, to Lavern, and back with concern.

  "Yes?" Nova asked, striding towards him.