Page 80 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly
Callie sat upright.“Thanks mom.”She leaned in for a proper hug.“You know this is absurd, right?Three women having a kid at the end of the world?”
“It’s all absurd, Cal.None of it is normal.It’s just what you’re used to.”Cat ran her hand along Callie’s arm.“If it makes you feel better, when I had to make this decision, I thought my situation was unique too.We’re not so different.”There was a long pause.
“If,” Callie sighed, “if I decide to, will you help?”
Cat burst into laughter.“Do you know how long I’ve wanted a granddaughter?”
“I thought you said you knew you weren’t getting one since I was sixteen!”
“And you thought you couldn’t have kids after twenty-four, but here we are.”
Callie stepped out into the dark afternoon.The sun wouldn’t peek out for a month or so yet, but Callie thought she saw a hint of orange in the horizon.
Callie wondered how much of the world had started healing.How long it would take before they could move south again.Without the ability to use cyberware or DocPods, there would be no reason to remain this far north.
She knew nothing about surviving outside of a city.She wouldn’t have to, but her kids would.Sesi knew, though.She would teach them.And Talia would fuck up anyone who came near them.
Callie laughed to herself at how quickly her perception of Sesi and Talia had changed.And at how differently they saw her – a ball of stress, crippled by indecision and anxiety, she wasgood.
But it was true.Shewas the one who convinced her mother to adopt Sparx after her parents had thrown her out.Shewas the one who stood up to her bullies at creche.She left out food for the homeless.She had tried so hard with Brin, even if she had failed.
The thought of Brin brought a fresh wave of anxiety.She texted Sparx.
Right, she thought.Sparx has no idea about this absurd plan.Callie tried to think of the best way to tell him.
Callie explained as best she could, including everything her mom had told her.
Four of Swords
January 13 2268
T
he red glow of afternoon had long since faded.The stars and the city provided the only light.Talia’s knives lay spread out on the table.She drew one across the whetstone, meditating in the monotonous scrape of metal against stone.
Distraction found her anyway.
Talia placed the knife she held next to the four others, meticulous in their arrangement, and pulled out an old stack of cards from her sharpening kit.She shuffled the tarot.
Talia did notbelievein the tarot but Georg had given it to her.It had been his mother’s and he had no-one else to give it to, so it had become hers.Talia used it to concentrate.And keep her connection to Georg.
Despite Talia’s tarot agnosticism, Sesi had only made the mistake of commenting on it once.It carried no magical powers, but like Sesi’s ulu, itmeantsomething.Sesi understood and had felt deeply ashamed.They hadn’t spoken of it ever again.
She turned the first card, relaxing her gaze into the image.The Tower.Talia would be the bolt of lightning that would trigger its collapse.The structures.The organisation.Their purpose.It would all come crashing down.The hint of a smile passed her lips.
Talia took a deep breath and turned the second card.Justice.That was for Elena.The Natalists’, as a group, were indisputably evil.But one could justify the brainwashing.Elena’s sin was uniquely horrendous.She knew the consequences and did it anyway.
A small part of Talia hoped that Elena had changed.A larger, more vengeful part of her wanted retribution — even if the outcome would have been the same.She couldn’t forgive her betrayal, but the guilt of leaving her behind ate at her nonetheless.Elena, alive.Elena dead.Elena freed.She could live with two of those outcomes and Elena had already rejected one of them.
Talia hoped she regretted her decision, but she knew better.They were too much alike – unwavering in their choices once made.
She turned the next card.The Wheel.Change was coming, an unstoppable juggernaut.Talia had known this, but she had not prepared for it.
Before, the voice that told her she would need to change had been a whisper.Now it screeched incessantly in her ear.She had turned her face away every time.She did not know who she would be after.She did not knowhowto be after.But that remained a future problem.Right now, it was a distraction.
Talia turned the last card.The Star.Hope.Sesi.Callie.Kids.All of it too good for her.More than she deserved.Especially Callie.Sesi could understand her need for revenge.But Callie was too pure for it.It’s why she would need to change.
That made her afraid – and Talia never showed fear.She had moulded her muscles and mind to ignore it.But now that tiny voice, that distraction kept telling her that once she fulfilled her purpose, she would fuck up the rest.That Callie and Sesi would see her as a liability, a finely honed tool fit for a single purpose, but obsolete.
