I frown. "What do you mean?"
Thalos stares out toward the dark drop-off of the trench.
"The Council demands perfect order," he says. "I am a storyteller. I share the old histories. I speak the truths they wish to bury. They have never been happy with me, little one. I am a loon meant to disrupt their perfect, quiet control."
"But we cherish your wisdom," I argue, my young mind struggling to understand the politics of the adults. "We all gather to hear your stories. Why would the Elders be unhappy with you?"
Thalos places a slim, scarred hand on the stone near my fingers.
"Because I teach you to question the cage," Thalos says, his voice a murmur.
He meets my gaze.
"Forget your childish desires for alchemy, Mira," he warns. "Forget that arrogant young Red. Vaelis will travel his own dangerous path. You must follow the rules. Obey the drillmaster. Or else, watch me today. Let my fate be a brutal lesson to you in going against the grain."
A cold knot of fear forms in my stomach.
"But— What have you done?" I demand. "I'm scared for you, Thalos. What will they do to you?"
Thalos laughs, a dry, fearless sound.
"Don't worry, child," he says, waving a dismissive hand. "I am a single, old Vael. I have learned the hard way that I cannot change what is happening to our home. I cannot impact the tide. I am a nuisance. I am to be silenced."
He leans closer.
"They fear the truth," he whispers. "They fear the bettas rising up against the Council. They fearme, because I speak my mind and I have no fear of their spears."
He stares into the dark water.
"I go to trial tomorrow," he reveals. "They will find a way to break my spirit. But they can't scare me. I have nothing left to lose. I despise the ways of the Vael. I have lost all hope in our kind, Mira. Maybe this is the way it must be. The strong eat the weak."
The finality in his voice breaks my heart. Tears blur my vision, mixing with the salt of the sea.
"That's not fair," I sob, gripping the stone pier. "You are good."
"Life is not fair," Thalos agrees. His eyes soften. "So you must decide, youngling. You can control your own destiny, knowing you must do so under threat of danger, and make the most of the short time you have. Or, you can die an old soldier, following every rule, never knowing what your life could have been."
He strokes his mossy beard.
"I tell you this to keep you safe," he says. "I don't want you to experience my fate. But the choice is always yours."
"The Council is trying to take care of the Reef," I argue, clinging to the lies I was taught. "They protect us from the monsters."
Thalos laughs, a bitter, hollow sound.
"Oh, are they?" he says, his voice dripping with heavy sarcasm.
I nod my head, desperate to believe it.
"Good luck, child," Thalos says, reaching out to place his hand on my small shoulder.
"I am old and bitter," he confesses. "The hope and justice I fought for have failed. I accept my dark fate. But I hope you will make the right choices in your own life."
I turn to leave, my mind a chaotic swirl of fear and rebellion.
"Mira," Thalos calls out, stopping me in the water.
I look back.
