Page 67 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
"No." Damien crouched down as she did. "He's our friend. He was helping us during an attempted rescue mission when he was hurt by a landmine."
She removed a glove and smoothed back the hair from Shudder's forehead. "He needs to see a healer."
"Yes."
"And this one?" She glared at Blaze.
"Blaze Emerson, ma'am. I'm just the muscle."
"You're a sparker," she said caustically. "And you've never followed another man willingly in your life."
Blaze turned his gaze to Damien. "I'll follow him. No problem at all."
Her white brows shot up. When she turned back to Damien, she seemed hesitant, perhaps perplexed. "I only let those stay who are seeking sanctuary. Are you?"
Damien took in the beautiful valley spread out before him, a terrible ache growing in his chest. "I don't know yet. It's not why I came. But there seems to be… peace here."
"Something you've never known."
"Never," he whispered.
She pulled out a hand mirror and pointed it toward the valley, tipping it up and down, signaling. "I'm called Shade. I found this valley years ago. At first, I brought family. My family is unusual in the number of variants born to us, and our variant manifestations are rare ones. Too many people have tried to use us."
Damien nodded. He understood that.
"Over the years, we've found people wandering. Variants trying to escape a world where they had fewer and fewer choices. Guild. Government. Poverty. If you didn't conform to the narrow paths the normals set out, you were unacceptable. A menace to society. A criminal."
"There are other choices," Blaze grumbled.
She shot a withering glance at him. "Yes. There are. Few are suited to them. And no matter how many times you help the normals with their problems, Mr. Emerson, they will eventually turn on you. You will, someday, be labeled dangerous."
"I think he already is," Damien interjected before Blaze could start an argument. "Will you help us, please? Let me speak to Tara? Let Shudder rest somewhere until he recovers?"
Shade pointed to Blaze. "If that one causes trouble, I'll have him trussed and his hands put in ice blocks."
Blaze's face turned an interesting shade of crimson, but he controlled his temper and held up both hands. "No trouble, ma'am. I'm about ready to keel over, too."
Young men came up the hill with a stretcher. At Shade's instructions, they placed Shudder on it and took him down the hill. Damien helped Blaze to his feet and followed after with Shade.
Birds sang. Sheep and goats called across the meadow. No weapons appeared to level at them. The healthy, bright-eyed children they passed regarded them with open curiosity.
"A variant Shangri-la," Damien murmured.
Shade's mouth quirked up in a crooked smile. "Lost Horizons. I suppose it's appropriate."
"A place where fragile things are loved," Blaze said as he limped along on Damien's arm.
"You've read it?" Shade regarded him with surprise.
"Yeah. I read a lot. It's okay. I'm big and mean, so people tend to think I'm stupid."
She smiled at him for the first time. "You let them think so."
"Of course. Gotta take advantage of your natural talents."
Her laugh was brittle and strange. Damien realized it reminded him of his own.
The young mentook Shudder away. To see the healer, Shade said. Blaze limped after Damien to a little cabin on the outskirts of the settlement where they were offered cushions, water, and dried fruit. Everything was so damn clean here, so wholesome. It was nice, but Blaze couldn't help feeling uncomfortable, as if he really was a danger to the peace here. Too rough, too dirty, somehow, so much that he would ruin things.
