Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter
110 Days Until Dreams And the Uncertain End (part 1)
Zeydar walked through the house sighing to himself. He repeatedly sighed every time he turned a corner, and each time he found himself trying to decided needed to be done. Even he was annoying himself but there was little else he could do to express his exasperation. He still had not figured out how to break the connection between himself and the Superiors. Soon he’d have to speak to them alone, and things would never go as they did the last few times. They were trying to corner him, and get him to cave. If he wanted to control them, and stop them from controlling him, he had to stop them.
He walked by the door to the dinning room to see Europa sitting with her laptop glaring at the screen. For a moment he paused, renewed sigh at the back of his throat. He pulled it back and starred at her as he saw real human emotion on her for the first time. It was not a calculated emotion. This was how she truly felt, for whatever it was she read on the computer. Glancing her over once more, he tried to sneak away before she noticed.
“Zeydar Arcadius.” She called to him, freezing him where he stood. For a moment he wondered if he could get away. If he used his magic, probably, not that he wanted to do that. She knew he was there and he did not want to see how her retaliation would play out.
With an internal groan he entered the room. “Yes?”
“How is the training going?” She did not look to him. Instead she rested her hands on the laptop keyboard and starred blankly towards the wall before her.
“Well enough. The procedures for saving everyone?” Zeydar shifted his weight trying to balance himself against whatever it was she was about to through his way.
“Well enough.”
“And the next attacks?” He knew she wanted small talk but not why.
“Being prepared for.” She went silent for a long moment glaring at the computer again.
“Is there an issue I can help you with?” He wished he immediately had not asked.
She turned to him with pain in her eyes. “Uly wishes to end our communication.”
Zeydar was lost for a second. The way she said it, made it seem like they were talking outside of giving information. Hadn’t he put a lock on all communications in and out of the warehouse? Was she saying that they had been in communication for the entire time? Zeydar could have accepted it as a way to pass information, and now he was changing it to Kori and Karla as to do a full shut down. However from Europa’s pained eyes, Zeydar figured there had to be little information they actually shared. He hesitated for a moment before asking. “Do you write often?”
Europa pulled herself together before pondering for a moment. When she spoke on it was the first time Zeydar had ever heard authenticity in her voice that wasn’t manufactured but warm. “When Evester was here, in Ovaria, with only father, mother tasked me with emailing to ensure their safety. Kim never looks at her email. Evester would never respond. Father’s responses were inadequate, which left Uly. It became common place as I needed information. He went dark months ago when we didn’t know where Evester was, and then he asked me for help one day to get Evester into Valaria. From that point on we’ve been messaging when necessary. He says that with the established connection between Karla and Kony, it isn’t necessary any longer. Like his email will no longer be encrypted as neither will mine, as if anything has changed.”
There was an underlying anger in her words. A deep anger that told Zeydar exactly one thing . The posture of her body as she hunched over herself and forgot her upbringing. The way her eye twitched and the way she bit her lip. It was exactly like her mother when Estashia spoke about the bullshit Maverin did. Europa liked — for Zeydar would never claim she loved him, not without being certain of it — Uly.
“And it makes you angry?” Zeydar immediately wanted to escape. He was not in the place to speak to her about her relationships. He didn’t know anything about the courting of the Igilistals and he did not want to get more involved than he already was. He knew Evester was the black sheep for protocols, regarding their family, but that did not mean he was too far off from what his siblings did.
“Frustrated yes. But there is nothing I can do but email him back, call him a fool, and remind him of the precautions in place.” She quickly typed something. From where Zeydar stood, he could see how she added a document, and hit send before shutting her computer with a calm click.
“You like him.” Zeydar looked her over when she collected herself and started to look over her journals. She was well put together and regaining her composure but for a moment her shell had cracked to reveal the girl she was underneath. It interested Zeydar as much as it scared him.
“You say that like we speak when he is here.” She flipped through the papers glancing over them as if she had already read them but was looking for something new to examine. He knew it was a facade. She was shaken to her core and trying to brush it off.
“You like him.” Zeydar repeated more certain.
“Emotions are irrelevant.” She looked up at Zeydar with no glare or anger. Instead what lingered on her expression was the cold truth of her reality. “What matters are results, communications, and what is best for our people.”
While Zeydar was not sure what that meant, he knew it was time to drop the conversation. “What do you need from me?”
“The Superiors have requested you return to the Campus.” Europa and he had known it would come. This time he would not be allowed to bring in Kony. They were going to do everything in their power to control him. He had stood by the Circles and exposed their secrets. They had to know of all his transgressions and this was the beginning of their retaliation. “They say its for your Superior duties.”
For the first time that week, Zeydar was thrown off. He hadn’t been doing his Superior duties. It wasn’t as if they could take his status from him, but he did have duties, and classes. How had he forgotten? They had used a perfectly legitimate reason to call him to speak, and a perfectly legitimate reason to speak to him alone. How had he fucked up so badly? “I’ll get to that, but I will be remaining here to live.”
“Acceptable. Take Kony with you to learn at the school, he needs classical training.” And Zeydar needed Kony’s assistance to try to convince other Stars to join them.
“Shawn, Phil, May, and Kony would come with me.” Zeydar already knew he was going to be on campus more often and what that would mean. He needed all four of them, at all times. Europa gave him a curt nod and turned.
“Have a lovely afternoon, Zedyar.” And that was his cue to leave.
Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter
Marlena Marie 
3 thoughts on “YP – B4:Entr’acte – CHAPTER 50 (CHAPTER 197)”