Page 61 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly
“WhataboutTalia?”Sesi threw her entire weight behind the next punch.It knocked Callie back a step.
“You know I don’t want to hurt her.”
“You also don’t want to murder people.”
Callie seethed silently, trying to come up with a solution.She threw down the pads and Sesi stopped, standing up straight.Sweat formed a triangle over her shirt.
Sesi walked to the edge of the mat and drank.Callie dropped her hands, but didn’t move.“Talia told me about you.”
“Did she.”Sesi poured some water into her hand and used it to slick her hair back.
“She said that it could have been forever, but you were both Dommes.”
Sesi huffed a laugh and bit at the inside of her cheek, thinking.“It’s true.”
Callie waited.There was obviously more to it than that.“Did she also tell you that she asked me not to pursue you?”Sesi bounced on her feet, nervous energy refusing to leave her body.
Callie couldn’t imagine Taliaaskingfor anything.She must have stayed silent for too long because Sesi continued.
“I asked you before why you brought this to me and not Talia.You didn’t give me an answer.I thought I might know, but now I think that you probably don’t know her that well.Your reason and mine probably don’t match up.”
“She wouldn’t understand because she doesn’t feel guilty about murdering people.”Callie answered bluntly.
Sesi nodded slowly and then transitioned to shaking her head.“Talia feels more guilt than you can imagine.”
“Then why does she kill?”Callie asked, confusion in her voice.
“Talia has a lot to atone for.The victims are her offerings.The guilt is her penance.At least that’s how she sees it.”
Callie’s mind raced, searching for an answer to what could possibly be horrible enough that murder would be an atonement.“What does she have to atone for?”
Sesi stared at the mat.“Leaving her sister.She’s still in there.Though,” Sesi bobbed her head, “they weren’t close, from what she’s told me, but she still feels...”
“What?”A fresh wave of horror crashed over Callie.“She never told me!”
Sesi scoffed.“Of course she didn’t.In case you hadn’t noticed, Talia hates being pitied.”
“But I wouldn’t…” Callie started.
“It doesn’t matter.Unless you know revenge, what it does to you, she’s not going to trust that.”Sesi grew still.
“So, you’re saying it will never work out?”
Sesi shook her head.“Hang around with us long enough and you’ll find a reason for revenge.That’s probably what pushed you to ice those two guards.Pre-emptive revenge, let’s call it.”
Callie bit her lip.That made some sense.She would have to think on it before she could accept it, though.“She said you wouldn’t let her go after them.Your plan wasn’t good enough.”
Sesi bobbed her head.“Sort of.The plan isn’t good enough because we don’t know where they are.They move often.Any mission would be exploratory and if they got caught, they’d know we were after them.”
“She said she wanted our other mission to fail because she wanted to be in on stealing this tech.She had a grudge against the CEO.”Callie tried to bite her nail, but the punch pad was in the way.
The corner of Sesi’s lip lifted, but she didn’t say anything.
“Did you plan this?”Callie asked.
Sesi removed her gloves.“I’ll see you later.”
The Wheel
