Codex

17 - The Rim

At mid-day, the ruthless sun bathed the environment in an unbearably hot atmosphere. The topic of discussion was what we'd eat for lunch. Keagan and Pyro were already placing bets on who'd secure the best venison.

What the hell is this, I pondered, my palms clasped together at the tone shift of this party of ours. The more tightknit our group became, the more apparent how humiliatingly ostracised Donna was. I'd witness, over the couple of weeks we began travelling, the multiple attempts Donna made to connect with them, but they kept their wits about them. Nothing wrong with that per se, but the fact that only Donna faced this issue rubbed me the wrong way, and rubbed me hard. Honestly, it felt like a personal attack–and maybe I was reading into it too much–however I couldn't help but feel the only reason they didn't protest her coming along was because I accepted and vouched for her, plus I fed them the truth of her resurrection. Though, that truth seemed like the furthest thing from. Maybe it was the claim that she was the queen that made them act the way they did? I couldn't be sure.

She looked so demoralised, so diminished whilst she switched stares between her feet and the outside of the carriage. Leaving her home to be with me, and this is what she got? I wouldn't have that, I couldn't have that. "I don't like pussyfooting around," I said, a tad louder than their conversation, drawing all eyes to me, "you've all treated Donna like she had the plague but refuse to come out and say it."

At that point, she grabbed my forearm, slightly shaking her head, afraid of the direct confrontation with them. That wasn't like her at all. She was straightforward with everything, just like I was, but these people's opinions of her were probably important because I knew them.

"I can't speak for everyone," Keagan started, looking her straight in the eyes, "but for me, for someone to strut around claiming she's our beloved late queen is like spitting in my face. As much as you say we're pussyfooting around, so is this 'Donna Maxwell', as someone else."

Meagan's inability to keep eye-contact sort of concreted that she agreed with him. "We're, from the same generation as the queen so we feel a particular way about her claims," she said, trying to ease the tense situation, "he's trying to say that if she just introduced her real self, we wouldn't mind her at all."

"Fair enough, I understand your perspective," I then turned to Kira and my students, "what about you guys? You're not from the queen's generation, so what's eating you?"

They fidgeted, and a long silence ran between us, as if they were all banking on another person to answer. "Teach," Pyro started, a nervous smile on his face, "it's just, we uh, well..." he exhaled and looked me straight in the eyes, "we don't believe it. Reviving a dead person has never been done, ever. We all know you're an amazing mage, but a feat like that is..."

"Impossible?"

"Y-yeah."

Volt and Dawn didn't add anything, which, to me, meant they felt the same. I traced Kira's eyes, but couldn't tell what she was thinking. "I'm on the same page with them," she admitted, "but for a different reason. From the stories that the older Apostles told me, the witch did not condone the study of immortality and was against it. So, it's hard for me to believe my master would help you bring someone back to life."

"I see," she had a point, but missed a technical detail. Donna couldn't be immortal unless I was, and I wasn't.

"I don't know why you decided to lie for her," Kira shrugged, "maybe she did some super bad stuff and had to use an alias. That's more or less why everyone's on their toes with her," she explained, not mincing words, "there's a feeling of unknown risk when she's around."

"I... I'm sorry," Donna apologised, and dismissed herself, re-entering my mind like she was before she came back to life. I'd forgotten she could be summoned and dismissed like that. She disintegrated into soft yellowish light and swarmed around me, eventually completely disappearing.