TIGHTROPE | fitz vacker

Chapter 5.

THE MINUTE AZALEA and Iggy arrived at Havenfield, gasps and exclamations filled the area. Azalea grabbed Iggy's arm, desperate to have a talk with him. 

   "Iggy-"

   "She broke the crystal," Iggy told the Collective in a monotonous voice. "I think I'll be going back to my family now." 

   "Iggy, please." Azalea pleaded.

   But Iggy lifted up his home crystal and stepped into the light. 

   "Damn it." Sighing, Azalea faced the confused crowd and said, "Hey, I'm back."

   MOST OF HER friends took it well. Sophie already knew that Azalea was leaving, Azalea was never really close to Dex anyway, Biana and Tam seemed relieved that Azalea was back, Azalea couldn't read Keefe's expression, but Linh and Fitz were mad. 

   Fitz was mostly angry at Azalea for leaving on such short notice. Azalea knew he had a short temper, so she had expected it. 

   But Linh. Azalea had never seen her angry before. Her face was flushed and her voice, usually soothing, had a harsh tone to it. She scolded Azalea for running away from her problems and Azalea had to apologize many times. 

   "Weren't you dead?" Azalea asked Mr. Forkle.

   He explained that there were two Forkles. They were identical twins who shared the same registry file. 

   Azalea struggled to wrap her mind around the idea that someone would do such a thing. 

   Councillor Oralie, who stood on the far side of Havenfield's enormous living room in her blush-toned gown. Her jeweled circlet was noticeably absent from her ringletted blond hair as she whispered, "Can you ever forgive me?" 

   Mr. Forkle moved to her side and reached for her fragile, shaking hand. "There's nothing to forgive, Oralie. I would've made the same choice my brother did in that moment. And you're an Empath, so you know I'm telling the truth." 

   Oralie's shadowed blue eyes shimmered with tears. "But if I'd- " 

   "One thing I've had to learn," Mr. Forkle interrupted, "and I suspect you know this better than most- is that it's far too easy to analyze a tragedy after the fact and feel like you should've been able to prevent it." 

   "Yes," Oralie whispered. "It is." 

   "For the record, the only person truly responsible for my brother's death is the person who stabbed him," Mr. Forkle added. "And for all the other 'whatifs' that led him to that moment... there's nothing we can do about them. The past is the only finite thing in this uncertain world, and in a way, that's somewhat comforting." 

   "How?" Tam wanted to know. 

   "Because it gives us a fixed point to learn from. For better or worse, this loss- and any others we've suffered -makes us stronger, smarter, more determined than ever to fight back with everything we have. But in order for that to happen, we have to let go of our regrets." His voice hitched and he turned away, smearing tears with the back of his hand. "Part of me will always lament that I didn't listen to Miss Foster and focus harder on interrogating Gethen. But... I'm choosing to channel those feelings into our cause. I hope you'll do the same, Oralie. We could use a Councillor on our side, now more than ever." 

   "I'm already on your side," Oralie whispered, reaching up to trace the part of her forehead where her circlet usually rested. "And if any of you are worrying about my presence here you have my word that none of what I've seen or heard today will ever be repeated. You should also know that the balance in the Council is shifting. Those who mistrust your order are finding their voices overruled. I suspect Councillor Emery will be contacting your Collective soon about truly joining forces. We're just trying to get things settled with the other world leaders first. The attack in Lumenaria has created a diplomatic nightmare."