Injustice.Elena wanted to laugh.Injustice was what happened in the park.
“On second thought, Ferma,” Elena said, her back to them. “Put Varun by himself. Maybe solitude will do him some good. Announce to the people that we found him in collusion with Jangir and have taken him into custody.”
Varun protested, but he was no match for Ferma. There came the scuffing of feet, of struggle, and then his voice faded away.
Elena continued to stare into the flames. A bitter chemical smell rose as her pod started to melt.
“Elena.”
She turned. Ferma stood in the doorway. She had redone her braid, and it snaked down her shoulder to her hip.
“Ferma.” She expected her Spear to berate her. To caution her and tell her to release Varun. Elena steeled herself for it as Ferma drew near. But to her surprise, her Spear embraced her.
“Next time,” Ferma said into her ear, “you just shout. I’ll hang the bastard myself.”
Elena half laughed, half choked in relief. Ferma squeezed tighter and then released her. There was a knock on the door, and Yassen entered.
“The king,” he said, hesitating. “He said that he wishes to be left alone. And to not lie about emergencies.”
Elena bit her lip. She had expected silence, and yet, her father’s apathy bruised her. Ferma caught her eye, nodded.
“Yassen, will you leave us?” the Yumi asked.
He looked to Elena. “I’ll be here, if you need me.”
When he left, Elena glanced at Ferma. “What are you thinking? You have that scary kind of look like when you enter the field.”
“I am about to do something very stupid,” Ferma said.
“Ferma—”
Her Spear smiled. “Come with me.”
Faint sunlight illuminated the stone arches as they walked through the central courtyard. Thick ironwood trees with ivory trunks and pale, pink flowers rustled in the breeze.
They turned past the courtyard and entered the rear wings of the palace. Here, the hallways were tall and ornate but with fewer paintings and stone latticework. Above them, on the arched ceiling, the red feather insignia of the palace guards glowed.
Ferma moved swiftly, her hair rippling behind her as they entered a rear tower. They stepped onto a stone platform, and it began to ascend.
“Where are we going?” Elena asked. She had only been to the guards’ quarter of the palace a handful of times with Ferma, but the Yumi had never taken her up the tower.
The platform docked, and they entered a narrow, dark hall.
“This way,” Ferma said. Strips of light illuminated their path. They passed several doors as they walked, the names of the guards floating before each room.
They came to a plain wooden door at the end of the hall. This one had no name, no design. Ferma pressed her hand against the touchpad, and the locks clicked and spun. They entered a room as big as Elena’s foyer.
Training pads lay across every inch of the floor, while a dozen or so mirrors lined the ceiling and walls. A small corridor connected the room to a kitchen fashioned out of black desert stone. Incense burned in the corner before a shrine, but Elena did not see the icon of the Phoenix. She peered closer. A black statue stood inside. A goddess. Her mouth was bright red, open in a battle cry. Her several arms held various weapons, some Elena did not recognize.
“Is that…” she began.
“The Goddess, yes,” Ferma said. She clapped her hands, and holostrips shed light across the room. “The Yumi’s Goddess.”
“I thought you believed in the Phoenix,” Elena said. She had seen Ferma kneel before the Eternal Fire. Seen her whisper prayers and dot ash on her forehead.
“I do. And I believe in Her too.” Ferma bent before the shrine and cupped her hands around the incense, then draped her hands over her head in blessing. “I find that the Phoenix and the Goddess are similar. Both are fierce protectors, creators of Agni. Yumi legends say the Phoenix and the Goddess were born of the same flame.”
“‘There are three types of fire,’” Elena recalled, and then her eyes widened. “Is that what my mother was studying? Why haven’t you told me this before?”
