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I say it as a joke but both of them look at me with faces I can only define as horrified.
“No!” Khiara says.
“Gwen—”
“Guys, it was a joke,” I say, shaking my head.
“Oh,” Khiara says, leaning back in his chair.
“I thought you were serious,” Dilacs says.
“I would never relegate you to being a cleaner,” Khiara says. “You are much mo?—”
He cuts his own words off, turning his head away from us. He raises on hand to the side of his face and drops it away then clears his throat.
“My brother simply means he does not consider you as nothing more than a slave. Neither of us do.”
“I know, thank you,” I say. “I meant it as a joke. This… all of this… it’s just so serious. I mean, I know it is, but… still. I thought a joke might ease the tension. Sorry it was misunderstood.”
“It is fine,” Khiara says, coughing and rising to his feet. “It is late. Dilacs you should stay here rather than risk the streets tonight. Tomorrow I’ll also need to see about getting a mason in to repair that.”
He points at the crack in the ceiling which I’d all but forgotten about.
“Yes,” Dilacs says. “On both counts.”
I take the hint and get up too. They gave me the bed the day I was put into his house and I’ve tried arguing it over and over but long ago gave up on winning that fight. So I go up the stairs with heavy thoughts and steps.
As I lay in bed I hear them talking. They’re speaking softly, but their rich deep voices carry anyway.
“If we get caught—” Khiara says.
“We must not,” Dilacs answers.
“It is not only our own lives,” Khiara says. “Hers is on the line as well.”
“I know,” Dilacs says. “But that is the situation whether we act or not.”
“True,” Khiara answers. “That does not mean I have to like it.”
“The mountain does not care for like or dislike. It simply is.”
“Don’t quote philosophers to me. I am the older one, that is my duty,” Khiara says sharply.
“Then step up, old brother,” Dilacs says. “For tomorrow we take destiny in our own hands.”
Khiara barks, a sharp harsh sound that I know is his laugh. Much like his brothers, not his most attractive feature.
I roll over and try to go to sleep while my mind races around just how incredibly screwed I and all of us really are.
7
DILACS
The streets are a mess. This is the last surviving city of the Urr’ki. Every living one of us has retreated to here, abandoning all others. While our numbers are greatly reduced there are still lots more than the city was designed for.
Normally the streets are crowded with people going about their own business. In the aftermath of the quake, even now hours later, confusion lies over everything. Most of the buildings have some degree of damage. A few buildings I pass are nothing more than a pile of rubble. Those are the worst to see because of the people huddle together looking lost and forlorn, having lost everything.
So many people are injured but because of the quake or the riot there is no way to know. I pick my way through the city, trying to not let my thoughts dwell on the losses. Despair was heavy on my people before the quake. Now that sense of hopelessness is so palpable as to be choking.
