Spontanéité

Authority 🔹 snapshot

I lean back, setting down the stylus as I glance over the thin slab of mud, then at my companion. I look over his tablet, reading aloud.

"And they shall be My people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."

My companion puts his nib down, seals the inkwell and stifles a yawn. "Can you believe they've lasted this long?" he asks incredulously.

I stretch, rising slowly to my feet. "Not really," I blow out a breath. I grin. "But then again, they were given to us by the Keeper Himself." I shrug. "Of course they'd last eras, then."

He stands too, after carefully securing the scrolls and tablets and nibs and inkwells and styluses in the solid chests. "Yeah," he nods. He looks over the interior of the small and disorganised tent before returning his gaze to mine, opening his mouth to speak when something interrupts him. A noise, a loud one. Indecipherable from where we stand, unintelligible. A shout of some kind?

"Was that the General?"

He shrugs, peering outside through the open flap. "Some of the Guards are moving towards the sound, telling the others to ignore the noise." He glances back at me. "I'm going to go and see what's happening."

"I'm definitely coming too." I follow him out, and we stand still in front of the tent. "Unusual," I mutter.

There are plenty of people in the camp, as usual. But everyone is pretending to go about their usual activities. Well, everyone except for the children who haven't yet learned how to. There are only two Guards left in the midst of the camp, from what I can see. The others have headed in the General's direction with a few of the healers, too. The healers left behind are pretending to adjust the cloths on the healing tent, checking them for holes or tears without looking much away from the direction of the General. The carpenters over there- whittling bark away from branches for instruments and new tent-frames- aren't moving their hands at all, looking straight ahead. One of them pauses in her staring to take the knives from her companions, securing them in their thick bundling on the ground. The children keep running through the camp like nothing's happening, because to them, nothing is.

"Why aren't they heading off for a better look?" I whisper, nodding at the healers and the carpenters.

He shrugs. "Let's find out." We move forward, past the children still running in circles to dizzy themselves, past the healers and carpenters, only to be stopped by a Guard.

"Go back."

"What do you mean, go back?" I retort. "Let us see what's happening."

She frowns at me. "No need for fire. But you need to go back."

I open my mouth but the other scribe speaks before I can. "On her behalf, I apologise and I say that yes, we will go back." He rolls his eyes at me, places his hands on my shoulders, and steers me in the direction of the tent of scribes.

"What was that for?" I hiss.

"Your sister is right, you know. No need for fire." I glare at him. "Relax," he rolls his eyes again. "We're all going to find out what's happening anyway, once the General decides to tell us."

I don't respond. After a moment we come to a stop and he drops his hands from my shoulders. I take the opportunity to run- just like the children I pass- and slip past my sister to stand next to the other Guards. I hadn't realised they were all standing in a circular kind of shape, but now I know, because a whole lot of attention is directed at me. I can hear my sister muttering under her breath behind me, but she doesn't drag me away, so I suppose I can stay.