Lighting the Dawn

(4:2:6)

“—I think they’re eyeing Zannith’s run. There’s been more enforcement there, and those Divinations are tuned to sense scalelets. He’s already nearly been caught twice.” Brei tapped the map spread across the table they’d stuffed into the basement, now lit by proper Light stones and heated, thank Reyahn.

“There aren’t many other ways to safely take them out of Firemount,” Lefei pointed out, the harsh lines of her face turning even harsher with the force of her frown.

“Yes, but I might have found someone who’s willing to run it with his perfectly innocent goods.” She smiled, tapping at the bakery’s location. “Meklin runs the logistics for Abode’s supply, taking food and such to places like the bakery, cafes—even up to the temple. Celaph pointed me to him, and he seems solid. If we can use the rails themselves, it’ll be ridiculously easy to get our finished constructs out to Bante and his people. And from there to the LU in no time at all thanks to the Arachnids.”

Lefei hummed thoughtfully, Ged’s narrowed eyes seemingly attempting to bore through the map. She’d come to learn that was just his thinking face, not disapproval. The two of them were the intense kind of driven people she was eternally grateful dealt with all the organisational side of everything, because her face would instantly sprout lines from the sheer amount of frowning they had to do to keep it afloat as it grew.

Dad had been happy his “friends” were “taking care of her” when she’d mentioned it to him. She wished she could vent more to him, really. Being careful of what they said in Soulspace was quite possibly one of the worst aspects of this entire thing, even if her fitness levels had to have improved from all the extra walking.

Internally, she sighed. She’d rant to Seih, but he was a Domini, and owned several Divinations, besides. And even if he didn’t approve of them being marked as criminals, that didn’t mean he’d approve of her being part of it.

“I say we go for it,” Dais spoke up from where he straddled the corner of a crate, a fierce glint in his eye. “The traitor council’s already moving to crack us under its heel because of Dhosty’s Schism and all the fear-mongering they’re doing. If we don’t move now, we’ll lose time pausing everything, or get caught.”

“Yes, but we also don’t know him, and we don’t know if his driver’s share the same views—” one of the others began, and cut himself off as a knock echoed through the cellar.

Faedihn, the big man who’d ushered her in when she first joined, poked his head through the door, an expression on his face that instantly had everyone standing or sitting straighter. “Miss Brei, there’s a visitor for you. A... boy by the name of Winds.”

What?

“A Divination?” Lefei hissed. “Brei, what have you—?”

“He’s a friend. He shouldn’t know about this place.” She swept away from the table, taking the stairs two at a time in her haste to slip past Faed and out towards the street door.

She found him standing stiff as a boulder outside, the glow in his eyes even brighter than normal. His hair had been growing out, recently—not that she’d dared ask why yet—and a lock of it brushed carelessly across one burning gold iris, his expression rigidly intense.

“Winds...?” She eyed him, subtly hunting for some hint that he’d been tossed around or injured. “What are you doing here? Why are you here, actually? How did you even know how to find me—?”

“If you don’t want to attract suspicion, let me in before someone notices,” he said abruptly. “Not all the people here are friendly to your cause, and there’s a reward for your capture.”

“I—” Before she could do more than begin to step aside, he pushed past her into the dark room, pulling the door firmly shut and engulfing them in darkness before she could activate her Light-beam.

It turned out that didn’t matter, as he somehow lit the room with a soft moonlight glow that didn’t seem to come from his skin or anywhere else, the yellow of his eyes standing out like lamps.

He’s designed to be able to manipulate Light, she reminded herself, stuck in a bit of a frozen daze, half-wondering if he’d shove his way down into the basement and scare the living daylights out of the rest of their group.

“I need to ask you—” He began to pace, his expression twitching as he cut himself off, start-stopping again. “Do you— tssst. Is— What is free will?”

She nearly jumped at his sharp hiss, abruptly struck by just how agitated he seemed. Usually Divinations were a lot more subtle with their emotions. “Are you... okay, Winds? Did something happen...?”

“Please, answer me.” He came to a sudden stop, his gaze boring into hers, something in his expression bleeding around the edges.

Her mouth flapped silently for a couple of seconds before she could manage to force a word out. “Look, I don’t do philosophy—”

“I’m not asking for philosophy. I know what they say, I know every argument and thought anyone has ever recorded on the question. I want your opinion.”

For a long moment she just stared at him. “Free will is... it’s the ability to do what you want, and think what you want. And make your own mistakes, and your own choices.”

“Can you have free will when you’re forbidden from doing those things?”

Her eyes narrowed. She had a feeling she was starting to gather what was going on here, even if she didn’t know why, or what had caused it. “Do you want to be free?”

His head turned sharply away from her, his fingers snapping into fists. “No.” His mouth stayed open for half a second longer than it needed to, seeming to struggle with forming the opposite word that refused to come out before he finally closed it again.

“Yes,” she said for him, risking his glare. It wasn’t meant for her, anyway. Hopefully. “Look, you already have free will. It comes with being able to reason for yourself and think your own thoughts. People can try to stop you from saying and thinking and doing your own thing as much as they like, but they can’t take away your free will unless they kill you to stop having to deal with it.”

Those golden eyes never blinked, staring first towards the wall, and then drifting back to pierce her. “Do you believe I’m alive, Brei?”

That... was a minefield of a question. Not long ago she would have said yes just to make him feel better, and not quite agreed with it. But... even saying yes just to make him feel better implied he could feel better, and only living things could feel, couldn’t they? He wasn’t... human, but he had been imbued with life by the Light Scale. She knew the process. She knew that the constructed soulcore somehow took on a life of its own once the Scale put some sort of mystical essence into it that the pieces of the soulcore couldn’t generate themselves, despite being mimicries of how the human soul was thought to work. “I... believe you were given life by the Scale. You’re not human, but... you’re certainly more intelligent than most people.”

The lightness she attempted to add wavered at his unreadable expression. “Most people are fools, exercising their free will solely to put down others.”

“Well, that’s one way of expressing your own free will.”

“I will never be able to.” He turned, moving for the door, a flicker of—she could have sworn it was sadness—twitching in his eyes. “I must— I must return to my master. I have already gone too far.”

“Winds—”

She reached for him, but the door opened and closed, leaving her alone in the dark, dusty room with only the echoes of an anguished being ringing in her ears. And a twinge of worry gnawing at her stomach. Hopefully he wouldn’t do anything rash.

Masters... didn’t like disobedience.