Ky'an'th III

We weren’t able to talk properly until we were some distance away. Jayla set me down in a back alley and took a look at my leg wound.

“It went all the way through. That’s kind of good. It’s ugly to have to pull those things out.”

“Well I’m not a fan of it being all the way through,” I said.

“Missed the bone, though.”

She poured water on the wound. I yelped like a scared dog, and she pulled back, concerned.

“Just water hurts that much?”

“Just get it over with,” I gritted out.

She stuffed a piece of cloth right into the wound. I clung to her, sweat pouring down my face. Then she wrapped a bigger bandage over it and tied it off.

“I used to wanna get shot,” I said, “so I’d know how to write it.”

“You shouldn’t want to get shot.”

“I don’t anymore. It’s been twice. I’m really not a fan.”

Jayla looked bedraggled, tired and bandaged, with dirt clinging to her clothes. The alley was dark, with garbage and mud covering the ground, except for a narrow space she’d cleared out for me.

“Jayla, do you have a place to stay?”

“Not right now. I didn’t want to get tracked down.”

I thought for some time. My eyes clouded over with gray, and I struggled to keep them open. But I managed to produce one rational thought: “Cousin…”

“Huh? We’re not related.”

“No, not that.” I shook my head a few times, trying to regain my senses. “I met someone a few months ago who said her cousin would put me up in the capital.”

I knew I still had the paper. When I’d left my bag at Jy’kanh’s restaurant, that day I rode along that long trail into the rainforest, I’d taken out the small items I considered important and put them in my pockets. Val had taken my money and my knife, but he’d left the little note since it had been innocuous. I didn’t think he’d read it, either, so he wouldn’t know where we were headed. (Was he naive or kind?)

But if it was in my right pocket, in the leg where I’d been shot…

“Look in my pockets, both of them.”

Jayla dug around. A few moments later she confirmed my fears. “Is this note what you mean? It’s covered in blood.”

Fuck.

“Wait, I think I can still read it, though. It’s an address.” She read the address out. “And below it there’s a couple names. Talk to uhh… M K S, say M R M sent you.” The letter names in Ry’ke’si consisted mostly of making the appropriate consonant sounds. Why did the English alphabet have individual names for every letter anyway? It was weird.

“I think her name was Mauram. I don’t know how I’d read MKS, but we can figure it out, yeah?”

“Yeah. Can you stand?”

“Uh, no. Sorry.” I could hardly move my right leg, let alone put weight on it.

“You don’t need to apologize. Rest a little more, then I’ll carry you.”

“Sure.” I coughed a few times. “You finally going to explain what happened to you?”

Over the next minute, Jayla gave me the basic circumstances. She’d been scared and hated being trapped, so she’d decided to jump out the window despite the dangers. Afterwards she was too injured to get up, so she laid on the ground for some time, but when she realized Ky’cina’s people were coming to get her, she managed to drag herself up and get away—mostly.

Val had found her, but instead of turning her in, he looked after her and helped her out.

“Pretty privilege in action,” I said.

“What?”

It was just a bad joke. I was glad Val liked Jayla and looked out for her. In any case, he helped her get food, but couldn’t arrange a place to stay. Around this time she started planning how she would rescue me. Val tried to dissuade her from even trying, but would consistently give her updates on my condition, making her even more determined.

“He said they drugged you. And you would curl up in your room and not talk.”

I followed her as she turned a corner, taking us into the crowd of the main street. “I was just upset, because I thought you were dead.”

“Did they drug you?”

“Yes, but—”

Jayla took me by the shoulders. “Naomi. It’s fine to say you got hurt. It’s fine to not put yourself last.”

I laughed awkwardly. “Wow, you sound so grown up.”

“Come on, Naomi.”

I looked away.

There was silence for a minute or so.

Eventually, Jayla sighed. “I just wanna say good riddance to those people. But you wanted to work with them, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Guess we can’t anymore.”

“People who hold my—” My Jayla. My friend? My kid, like some Last of Us found family type shit? My remaining connection to sanity in the midst of all my regrets? My homegirl? “People who hold you hostage aren’t people I want to work with.”

“Okay, good. I don’t exactly wanna work with people who hold me hostage either.” She leaned her head on her hand, sulkily kneading her cheek like a stress ball. “But it’s frustrating. We wanted to do something, you know? We came all the way here…I don’t want anyone’s home to get blown up again. I want to do something to prevent that.”

“We still can. I know a couple military secrets.”

Jayla regarded me with a tired half-smile.

“...What?”

“Nothing. Just that there’s a lot you don’t tell me.”

I couldn’t exactly deny that. I shrugged.

“What’re you hiding?”

“...Ky’cina knows, now. She dragged it out of me.”

“You’re a magician, aren’t you?”

“That’s…part of it.”

God. If Jayla found out I was the author, what would she think of me? I couldn’t meet her eyes.

“...Don’t worry. I won’t pry.” She picked me up, settling me on her back. “Let’s go to that address you’ve got.”