“They’re just so smart,” Kajja said with a sigh. “And so full of potential, in so many ways. I’ve never met someone with so much curiosity—I mean, it’s impossible to be bored around them. Their mind latches onto any and everything.”
“It’s so nice to hear someone say that,” Dagan gushed. “I sometimes think no one appreciates them properly at home. Partly because they’re always buried in that cave of theirs, but when they do come out to play, I think people just don’t appreciate how special they are.”
“And I’ve never seen eyes that color,” Kajja said quietly. “They’re so beautiful. Like the forest itself.”
“True, but I have to say you and Hen have the most stunning eyes I’ve ever seen. Has anyone told you that? Apparently no one had told him.”
Kajja shook her head and put a hand to her face, flushing again. “Really? Do you think so?”
“Absolutely gorgeous,” Dagan assured her. “Look at your brother. You have the same eyes. Are they from your mother or your father?”
“Father,” she said, gazing at Hen briefly. “Eh. He looks like Kon anyhow.”
“Oh? So your father is handsome too?”
Hen groaned. “Please, do not flirt with Konstantin, when and if we see him. You and your silver foxes.”
“What’s a silver fox?” Kajja asked.
“Oh, darling, we have so much to discuss,” Dagan replied. Yes, this would be a fine diversion, while they waited for all the tiny parts of the resistance scattered across the City to wake up and come to arms.
“I’m gonna go see if Piret needs…anything.” Hen stood up and backed away.
“I was waiting for him to do that,” Dagan said quietly. “Now, tell me everything. Did they kiss you first or did you kiss them? And was that the first time?”
Kajja laughed out loud, a welcome, warm sound in the too-quiet room. “Ask them yourself when they come. I’m sure they’ll give you all the details.”
“They won’t mind if you tell me,” Dagan insisted, projecting his bottom lip in what he hoped was a convincing manner.
“Oh, I know.” Kajja grinned wickedly, looking remarkably like her brother all of a sudden. “But I think it’ll be funny to make you wait until they get here.”
“Cruel-hearted woman.” Dagan pouted even harder.
“You’re too pretty for your own good, Dags. You always get what you want, don’t you?” She chuckled again.
“Sometimes.” Dagan glanced involuntarily at Hen’s broad back, where he was talking to Piret in a low, serious voice. “Though it remains to be seen for how long.”
Kajja winced. “Yeah. It’s on all our minds. I finally know Innan is interested but now I’m probably going to end up dead or in a cell beneath the See for the rest of my life.”
“Do they have cells beneath the See?” Dagan wondered.
Kajja nodded. “Sister Eva says so, anyhow. I’ve never been down there. Piret and Hen were but they didn’t see them either, I don’t think. There’s all kinds of stuff under there.”
“All kinds of reasons we need Innan. I wish we didn’t,” Dagan admitted.
She nodded seriously. “Or at least that we’d known ahead of time. They could’ve come with us.”
“The dangers of secret communication. It never goes fast enough.”
“Just one more thing to think about.” She gave a soft sigh.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, assuming we don’t end up dead or in cells, there’s going to be a ridiculous amount of work to do here. For one thing, if we get free of whatever this deadly, draining curse is, it’s going to fuck the See, which is going to leave a massive power vacuum. The priests run everything, so what will happen when they’re discredited?
“Half of the people currently in power don’t know what’s going on or won’t want to believe it, and the other half won’t care because it worked in their favor. We’re making a decision for everyone in this City, plunging it into civil unrest and chaos, and that’s always bad, but you have no idea the way this City focuses on order and light and all that crap. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll be worth the chaos, but communications are going to be the least of our troubles if we survive this.”
“What will happen, do you think?” Dagan wondered. He hadn’t considered any of this, but why would he? The Heart Wood ran as it had for generations, changing incrementally as social or ecological needs evolved. But the City…its core would be burned out, if they succeeded. It’d be as if the earth swallowed up the council and the scouts whole, to have the priests and their guards undermined on such a grand scale.
Kajja shook her head. “We’ll need all our finest minds, and unfortunately a lot of them aren’t prepared. You can imagine the state of education here.”
Dagan nodded. “If Hendrik is any indication, there aren’t many opportunities for it. But then there’s you.”
“I’m not normal,” Kajja admitted, though she didn’t seem the least bit ashamed. “I took to my lessons, and my parents encouraged me because Konstantin has a curious mind, too. But now I see how much the priests hide even from would-be scholars like me. Information is at a premium, here. And once it’s not, things could get…weird.”
“Your city will need you, then,” Dagan decided.
Kajja nodded. “I know. And I’ve decided I’ll be here. You and Hendrik won’t, though, I hope.”
Dagan cocked his head in a silent question.
She smiled sadly. “He’s crumbling. Anyone can see it. He shouldn’t be here.”
Dagan thought of Hen’s desperate kisses and words last night. His chest constricted as he said, “He’d rather be anywhere but here.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ve got him,” Dagan promised.
