Page 52 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

“Why would she do that?”

Zarya looked around, ensuring no one was listening.

“She told me what you saw. Nairrata. The demon army.”

Meera growled low in her throat, but it died out as her eyes widened when she looked over Zarya’s shoulder.

“Commander,” she said, bowing her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s fine,” Yasen said, the lines around his mouth tight. “This is a… social call?”

He looked to Zarya for confirmation, but she wasn’t really sure how to describe the reason for their presence.

“Please come in,” Meera said, obviously reluctant.

“I’m sorry,” Zarya replied. “We’ll only be a minute.”

The tiny home was depressingly bare. A pallet on the floor. A tiny kitchen with a few battered pots hanging on hooks. A single small table with three chairs, where another soldier sat, eyeing them with mistrust.

“That’s Hari,” Meera said as she gestured towards him. “Have a seat.”

Zarya gingerly took an empty chair, afraid the rickety frame would collapse under her weight.

“Commander,” Meera said, gesturing to the third one.

Yasen waved a hand. “I’ll stand. You sit.”

Meera clearly didn’t like the sound of that, either, but she acquiesced, settling into the chair.

“I’m Zarya,” she said. “And that’s—” She waved a hand, suddenly nervous. “You know who he is, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Hari said. “Who are you, exactly?”

“I’m—” She wrinkled her nose and looked at Meera. “Is it okay to talk about this?”

“Oh, you mean him?” Meera said, gesturing to Hari. “Yeah, he’s cool.”

Zarya nodded. “I wanted to ask about what you saw,” she said.

Meera clasped her hands on the table, looking down at them.

“It was… an army,” she said. “But… they weren’t solid. I don’t think they were real.”

“Anything else? Did they move? Or say anything?”

She shook her head.

“No. They just stood there, staring at the city. Did you see something else?”

“It was the same for me,” Zarya said, dejected by Meera’s response. “Have you ever seen anything like that before?”

Meera rolled her neck. “Sometimes, when I’m on patrol in the swamps, I see things the others don’t.”

“You do?” Zarya leaned forward. “What?”

Meera shrugged. “Monsters. Demons. But they’re like that army—not entirely there. More like shadows of what they might be.”

Zarya swallowed the tension building in her throat. A memory surfaced from many years ago when the blight had started spreading. She’d been with Row, examining the rot, when she’d seen something in the bushes.