Binary

Chapter Sixteen: Out Gunned

Rain shouted in surprise as the lid of his coffin was pulled open. Light poured in and blinded him for a minute, but it was Xora standing over him.

"Calm down, it's just me," Xora said, "we've arrived at... Well, wherever this is."

Rain pulled himself out of the coffin-like boat and looked around. They were on the edge of a large lake. The boats had popped out of a hole in the boulders nearby, where water poured forth. Neri was vomiting behind a rock nearby.

Across the lake, Rain could see a small fishing village. The twin suns were setting, and the night was falling across the pink rolling hills of Starlust. Out on the horizon, Rain could see Estraya, and he marveled that they had moved so far so fast.

"What was that?" demanded Neri, washing his mouth out in the stream.

"The Elders called them escape pods," said Xora, "like I told you, they're for escaping. I never knew they were real, I thought they were just things someone made up when I was a kid..."

"No, not the boats," said Neri, "the other thing. The Keep. The bombs, the assassination."

"Oh," said Xora, "right..."

She wandered off towards the stream, she had a thousand mile stare.

"Who was that woman," said Rain, "Tatsu... she called herself a Samurai."

"She was Tatsu the assassin," said Neri, "obviously, and she killed everyone in the room. She was unstoppable! What could the Starlings have done against something like that!? What could the Light have done against something like that? There was nothing we could have done against something like that! Oh man, it's all such a mess, what do we do?!"

"Neri," said Rain, "shut up."

Neri followed Rain's gaze to Xora, who was staring hard into the water, her fists clenched. Hot tears were streaming down her face as she glared into the lake. They were all quiet for a minute.

"I didn't ask you to save me," said Xora suddenly. It took the boys a second to realize what she was saying.

"Don't be ridiculous, Tatsu was going to cut you to ribbons-"

"That would have been fine, that was my job," interjected Xora, "I'm a Skystorm, to die for my country is my whole purpose! That room was full of dead Skystorms, and dead Spitfires!"

She stood up, and Neri took a step back.

"Every single morning I wake up disappointed, and think to myself that everyone in that family wants nothing more than to marry me off and tuck me away in some far corner of the Kingdom! But if they had seen me dead on the floor of the throne room, three feet from the King..."

She seemed to be struggling with her words and wrung her hands for a minute.

"Do you really think they would have completely changed their opinion about you if you'd been found dead in the throne room?" Neri snapped, "it's not like you would've even known whether they did or not, because you'd be dead."

"It's a matter of honor," Rain said, crossing his arms. Xora glanced over at him.

"But-"