Library of Rain

Indirect Interrogation

Rain rubbed her eyes as she approached Lucus’s door. Her fingers brushing new hardened patches of skin around her left eye: the results of rising her physical corruption. 

Last night had been long, and between going out with Ise and the others and modifying Snow - also with Ise - she’d gotten almost no sleep. It was so bad that for the first time in months, Sunrise was still sleeping after Rain got up. 

Yawning, Rain squeezed Snow and knocked on Lucus’s door.

“Who is it?” 

“Rain.” the word came drawn out in a yawn of its own. 

A few seconds later, Svend opened the door.

“Come in, Lady Rain,” he said with a flourish of his arm. 

Rain smiled at him. It was finally time to find all his secrets!

“Are you ready, Moon?”

“Yes!”

“Thank you, Svend.” Rain answered Svend as she stepped in. 

Lucus was sitting in a single-person armchair next to a table in the center of his sitting room, reading a formal-looking letter. 

“Morning!”

“Morning.” He didn’t look up from his letter. “You here about the Gathering?”

“What, why would I? I’m not invited.”

Lucus looked up at that, and Rain caught Svend looking at her from the corner of his eye.

“What do you mean you got the news from father yesterday, didn’t you?”

“No?”

Lucus looked confused, and Svend looked intrigued. “Father said he would send you the details yesterday.”

Lucus was telling the truth, but Rain had heard nothing about the gathering. If she had to guess, Lord Estom was playing some kind of game. 

“All right, Moon, is it working?”

“It is Goddess. Your brother is happy to see you despite his words. It feels like he’s excited to explain what's going on.”

Rain tried not to show her joy at Moon's revelation. She couldn’t let Svend discover her secret stowaway; she was hidden in the pocket that Rain and Ise spent the last half of the night sewing into Snow’s belly.

“What is Svend thinking?”

“It's harder to read him because he’s a greater human. I’m getting curiosity about why your backer wouldn’t tell you about the changes even if Lord Estom didn’t inform you.”

“Well, are you going to sit or not?”

Rain realized that Lucus had said something while she was talking with Moon, and she had missed it.

“Oh, sure. Thanks.”

Rain made to sit on the couch around the same table Lucus was sitting at, and then her eye caught sight of the extra space on Lucus’s chair. There was totally enough room, right? 

Emboldened by Moon’s revelation that Lucus was happy to see her, Rain took a seat - in the small gap between Lucus and the armrest of his chair.

“What the! Get off! Go sit over there, weirdo.”

Instead, Rain snuggled into her brother's side, her eyes going closed as she felt the warm comfort. Even the pain of her injured soul seemed to fade as she sat there.

“I said Get off!”

“Moon, is he angry?”

“Um, well, yes, but he’s also happy? Your brother's emotions don’t make a lot of sense, and his thoughts are about how weird you are.”

That was good enough for Rain, and she melted into her brother. After a few more moments of nothing happening, Lucus gave up on getting her to move and hesitantly put an arm around Rain. 

“Whatever, just listen so I can tell you about the Gathering tonight, and you can leave.”

“All right, Moon. I can’t have two conversations at a time, so I need you to help me steer this conversation to topics that will get Svend to think about his reasons for being here without me needing to talk back and forth with you.”

“I understand, Goddess!”

“So, brother, what's going on?”

“Apparently, the Archlord and High Lords decided to have all the nobles bring their entire families, ages eight and up. The first big meeting after the announcement will be a massive gation tonight. That means you and me are both going to be joining.”

Rain’s eyes widened at that, and she nearly lost track of her goals for this conversation until Moon butted in.

“Svend is getting excited. He thinks he won’t have to serve your brother after the gation.”

So, something was going to happen tonight. This was a good start. Rain almost asked Moon if there was anything else but realized that if there was, Moon would have told her.

“So what's the purpose of this gation? Didn’t the Gathering already start with a feast a few days ago?”

“Yeah, but the gathering isn’t a single meeting. They usually take a month or more, and while they’re going on, different families throw feasts and gations so different groups can meet to make plans or show off. There’s also a lot of private meetings, but we don’t have to worry about those.”

“Svend is wondering if you’re ignorant or pretending. He’s thinking about all the advantages of pretending to be clueless that might benefit Lady Tyix, in case you are her.”

Rain fought back the urge to tense up. He knew she was Lady Tyix! But how? Wait, no. Moon had said he was thinking of reasons Lady Tyix would act clueless, which might indicate Rain was Lady Tyix. That meant he wasn’t sure that she was Tyix. Yet. 

The thought that she had been living with a spy trying to find her fake persona sent a chill down her spine. It also raised the question of who Svend was working with.

“So there’s a meeting tomorrow, and we’re invited to this one?” Rain asked, trying to keep up with the conversation while also working to figure out who Svend was and how to steer the conversation in a way that would get Svend to think about what she needed. 

Her head was already hurting.

“Yeah. Lord Imter is hosting a massive gation tomorrow night, and all the houses are invited along with their children.”

“What's the point of that, though?” Rain asked partly to see if it got Svend to think about something good, but mostly because she was curious. 

“Well, the smaller meetings are held to make plans and alliances, but there are people all over the capital right now making note of who meets who. At a big event like this, it's easy for people to slip away and have private conversations without everyone finding out.”

Rain didn’t need Moon to tell her about how Lucus was feeling. She could hear the pride in his voice as he got a chance to show off everything he had learned by studying so hard. He was so involved in his explanation that he had even started stroking her hair as he spoke, something Rain was certain was subconscious because he would never do that knowingly. 

“Svend just had a passing thought about Lord Imter. Apparently, he’s a part of Svend’s faction.”

Rain noted that and made her next attack. 

“Do you know why Lord Imter is holding this gation?”

“...no. It won't have anything to do with us, though, so you don’t need to worry too much. And since I’ll be there, you can rely on me to know what to do.”

“Anything Moon?”

“Hmm, no. He thinks it’s connected to his mission, but he isn’t sure. If you want, I could get all my children, and we could try working together to enter his mind.”

Rain was taken aback by the suggestion. That would make things so easy, but she doubted Svend would be unaware of the attack, and whoever he worked for would get suspicious if he disappeared. 

“Maybe next time.”

“What do I need to do to prepare for tonight, brother?”

Rain felt Lucus shrug.

“Just have Ise get you ready for tonight. There’s nothing else you can do on such short notice.”

“Oh, Svend just thought about hoping you were the real Lady Tyix instead of one of the other possible candidates! Apparently, you have a good bounty, and he wants a part.”

Rain nodded and closed her eyes. She should think of ways to sneak Moon into this gation. And if someone was trying to find out if she was Lady Tyix, then she needed to prove that she wasn’t. Maybe she could blame one of the other possible Tyixs.

Why was being squeezed so tight to her brother so comfortable? She needed to make plans, but being here felt so…

Rain fell asleep.