I can’t help but smirk at that, though the expression falters a little once I truly look at him.
The playful energy I felt on the way here is gone. It’s replaced by weariness, like he’s trudging through this conversation. I remember the soldiers out in the plaza. Their exhaustion. Muna did a good job hiding it, and I know it’s only out now because he wants me to see it. He wants me to see the weight on his shoulders, the way gravity is pushing him down.
He’s always wanted me to tell him it’s okay, that we can stop and rest. He needs that, but I never gave it. In my worst moments, I called him a coward, but I know that’s not true. He just doesn’t want things as much as I do. Not him, not Suyai.
Just me and my mother.
I fiddle with the chair he pulls out for me as a chance to look away. Then, I catch sight of the princess, fresh out of the shower yet still glistening despite the dimming light. She’s back to being dead-faced and prim, her chin up and mighty, her eyes looking down on us from her standing position. I want to see her hair. I want to know how the strands would feel under my hands. I want so many things, and that’s what Muna never understood.
We sit at a garden table next to a fountain shaped like a fish, and the gentle sound of water adds to the allure of this fairytale place. Then I remember how it’s the same water used to wipe the blood off Mare’s leg, and the scenery falls apart.
“We’re going to go no matter what. Kick us out if you don’t agree,” I say.
“Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not what I meant,” Muna says with a shake of his head.
“Then say what you mean, so we know if we need to figure out somewhere else to sleep tonight.”
“What I mean is that all the soldiers out there are demanding that refugees register so they can keep track of who’s in and out of the city. You don’t get it. It was chaos when I first got here from Machu Picchu. It only took me two days, but the damage was done. They’re doing this to keep people calm, and I agreewith them. But,” he stops to take a breath. “But I want you to be safe more. Why were you trying to leave the registration line?”
“You said you didn’t want to know.”
He rubs a hand down his face. “Okay, I give. Tell me what you can, and please, I hope whatever you say doesn’t make me regret bringing you here.”
I have another petty remark on the tip of my tongue, but I bite it back. He tried to tell me what to do, and I’m letting it get to me, but a voice that sounds suspiciously like Suyai reminds me it’s not the time for that. I weigh the options of what to tell him. I need to tell him the least amount of information that will get him to trust me enough to help. I won’t say anything about the princess after that announcement. He swore an oath to protect the Inka just like I did.
I won’t out her, but I’m strong enough to out myself.
“I am the princess’s champion,” I start with the general truth. I see the princess’s eyes widen and mouthtrust me. Yet again, she settles into her seat, and I feel a deep burn of satisfaction.
Muna’s eyes track my movements. He wasn’t high up in the army enough to know this, but he doesn’t show a lot of surprise either.
“I’m fulfilling a mission for the Inka and Panaka. My friend is essential to that, and Mare got caught up with us during the attack. We need to complete this before I can return to Lima and find Suyai.”
Suyai’s name adds validity to my story. Muna barely knows me, but he knows that I would never leave Suyai behind if it weren’t for something important.
We wait in silence, the slow-moving seconds making me fidget.
“You somehow get into more trouble every time I see you, Rei,” he says with a strained chuckle that confirms he doesn’t fully buy the story, but he won’t ask questions either.
That’s good enough for me.
Chapter 19
The plan the princess whispered to me before her shower is complicated.
It involves taking the chaski roads through Cusco and then veering south. Then, a two day trek around the mountainsides until we reach a rope bridge. Cross the rope bridge above the Apurimac River and get to the four sacred lakes. There, she’ll find the sacred eye of water and be high enough to the heavens to commune with the Ave, deep in the inner world of the water to commune with the Serpent, and surrounded by the mountainous earth to commune with the Feline. That’s when she’ll ask for her mimicry back. Then, she’ll be back to normal and have more than enough samay to raise Isla del Sol when we get to Lake Titicaca.
Has the princess ever been to these lakes? No. Does she know for sure that the sacred water exists? Also no. Does she know that once we get there, the Guardians will listen to her and replenish her samay? Surprisingly, no.
Do I trust it will work? I have to.
My plan is much simpler.
Small detour to Cusco. Save the Inka. Help the princess. Be the hero.
Do I trust it will work? I have to.
I’m aiming for a compromise that is all of the above.
