Kalon

Chapter One-Hundred-Forty-Three: Akah - Part Two

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

Solar System: D-447

My body tenses, House Draconis, she is related to Dallus somehow. The man that Luna slew to protect me. Is this like Mallock coming for revenge for me killing Betran? My eyes trace her stance, hand moving toward what I have hidden in the folds of my clothes. Can I beat her? How much training does she have?

"I am not here to exact revenge, if that's what you're worried about."

Her words sound soft, elegant even, like she's spent a lifetime learning to shape them in a disarming way. A glib tongue makes me wary, hollow promises are easily spoken from them.

"Why should I believe you?"

She looks down, as though caught in memory, "Because, you did me a favor, and now I owe you."

"A favor?"

She motions for me to sit, I don't. She gives me a warm smile and sits first, but doesn't speak until I sit as well. The table is stone, it looks porous, like a sponge of some kind. I've only seen something like it at Fennec's on a holo display.

"Dallus was…" she pauses, tongue pressing against her cheek for a moment, "A complete and utter piece of shit."

I blink at her, she doesn't appear to be lying, yet she may have trained that art. Unlike Luna when I first met her, this woman Solara does not look to be naïve, she appears sharp. Honed. Like her hands were crafted to kill, it would not surprise me if her tongue was as well. I can feel it in the way she carried herself, in the subtle ways that she studies me as I study her. She is formidable. Dangerous.

"What do you want, and what do you offer?"

She smiles, as though she appreciates the directness.

"I wanted to free you."

"Free me?" I shake my head, "How can I be free when those I care for are not?"

She tilts her head at me slightly before straightening, "Then I will free them as well."

"How?"

"Everything in the galaxy is for sale, even if it doesn't want to be."

"And?"

"And I'm absurdly rich now that Dallus is dead."

"Why though, why go through this trouble?"

She smiles deeper, "As I said, I owe you."

I don't reply, I watch her carefully. Searching for a flaw in the mask she wears over her true feelings. Nothing about her feels simple. Nothing about her feels real.

"What do you really want?"

"I told you, I…"

"You said, truth is the foundation of trust, do not build our foundation on lies, lest it will crumble."

Her smile fades, her face curious, as though it questions if she should really tell me.

"There is a way that both of us can ensure the other is honest."

I squint at her, her face is placid, unchanging in its devotion to hiding her intentions.

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"How?"

"It's a binding ritual."

My eyes narrow.

"Not like that, it would allow us to commune our true intentions, our truths. Without masks, without lies, all is laid bare."

"How does it work?"

"It is easier to show you."

An interesting proposition. I look around the room, if she wanted to have me imprisoned, this is a strange way to do it. There is no malice in her eyes, only curiosity and… something strange. Like a longing to be understood, to be seen.

"Fine, show me."

She moves her chair closer to mine, slowly moving her suit to expose the center of her chest, with the tip of her finger she traces her own skin. Lines of Maka form energy just above the surface, like false runes. I did not know this could be done. The patterns she weaves become more intricate, more… beautiful as they trace her body.

"Now we must do yours."

I remove my shirt, careful to hide the metallic orb in it. Her eyes trace the scars on my body, pausing on them, as though she tries to listen to the stories they tell. She moves her hand in the same motion as before, but her runes fizzle and fade within a breath.

"So, it is true," she whispers, almost reverently, as though she may know more than me, "You will have to draw them, if the legend is true, only you can write your own runes."

"What legend?" I ask, studying her.

She does not give me pity with her eyes, more like a soft anger at my expense.

"They ask much from you, and yet tell you nothing. Even now, she doesn't want me to tell you, she wants you to be in the dark. Like a puppet on a string she wishes to control you."

I shift, "Who?"

"Leora."

My teeth clench for a moment, "I should have known that you were one of her minions."

Standing, I move to put on my shirt, she stands, grabbing my hand and placing it on her chest, the runes dance with light.

"I cannot lie while these runes are written, speak your questions and know answers."

There is a connection that I feel, a whisper of thoughts that meld into Maka, passing through the connection. Honesty… I feel it in the bond. Hope against despair, I feel that too. There is something else buried deep, some kind of infatuation for… me. So much that it gives me pause.

She looks down, not meeting my eyes, "I cannot help what I feel."

Why does she feel this for me? I don't even know her. This is so sudden, so strange.

"Ask me about Leora," she says, her heart beating faster. She doesn't want me to see what she is feeling. It's complicated and raw. Something born from watching me for months… years even.

"Why have you been watching me?"

"Ask me of her, not of what she made me do."

"Do you worship her?"

"Not by choice."

There is no lie here, only bitterness.

"What do you want from me?"

She looks up slowly, her crimson eyes falling into my gaze.

"I want to be free."

"From?"

"Leora."

I shift uncomfortably at the name again, names have power.

"Don't worry, she can't hear us with the barrier up. In truth, I'm supposed to convince you to trust me, even if I have to seduce you. I was forbidden from using this, because she said you would see it all. But I want that, I don't want to be part of the long list of those who deceive you. I want…"

"You would not seduce me," I interrupt, her words lead to a place I will not follow.

Her expression changes, a half grin, "What makes you so sure that I couldn't?"

"My heart is already taken."

"By Lunara?"

My hand that is not on her chest tightens, she knows her.

"Relax, me and her, we are… friends."

There is muddled confusion that I sense from the bond.

"Were you trying to convince me, or yourself?"

She smiles, "There is much to tell you, much that they have withheld. If I do though, you must promise me that you will not repeat it. Else my own life will become in peril again."

"Again?"

She gives a jaded glance toward the ceiling, "One does not disobey their Goddess lightly."

"Does all of your house worship her?"

"No, they do not. If they found out I did, I would be executed for treason."

She does not lie.

"Even as the heir?"

"Especially as the heir."

"Is that why you wish to be rid of her?"

"Partly."

"What are the other reasons?"

"I… you will think me foolish," she says bashfully.

I sense more complex feelings rising in her, wanting at my touch on her skin. She is… obsessed in a way. It borders unhealthy, especially since I do not know her. Whether she has watched me or not, she does not know me, not truly.

"Speak your reasons."

"I… I can't stand to watch you keep suffering. They… they subject you to all of these torments… I want to save you from them… I want…"

Her eyes glance up at mine for a few moments, then back down, she's embarrassed. She presses my hand from her chest, the connection fading.

"I will speak no further until I can see your truths."

"I do not know how to shape runes as you did."

"But… but you did, my goddess showed me when you shaped them on Fennec. When you changed him, when you defeated Ravena, even though she had already laid claim to him… still you prevailed."

I shake my head, "It was instinct, I don't know exactly how I did it."

"Then I will teach you, and perhaps instinct will become skill."

She seems different again, able to hide what lurks beneath, if I hadn't seen it, I don't know that I would believe it. This woman is complicated. Her feelings will be problematic if left unchecked. Obsession must be culled lest it becomes more severe. Still, I need her. Learning how to shape runes, perhaps I can craft them onto my body and store Maka easier… then I can carve the path to free my people, and to return to Luna. My body longs to be reunited with its heart.

Turning to Solara, "I will learn from you. But know this, if you betray me, I will slay you without hesitation, and burn your house from existence."

A smile forms on her lips, "It may take a few months to learn."

"You have until the next challenge, I will not leave them to the fates of your people."

She moves her hair from her ears, I take them in, they are blunted like Luna's.

"They are not my people, not really."

Her heritage is complicated then.

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