Page 76 of Guiding Reason
Taros gestured at a perfectly rounded tree, at walls bare of decoration, at the sheer absence of things thatlived.
“It’s said the wild growth reflects the love that’s all we’re left with.”
Hyran nodded. “Ah. Here, we say, all the walls are bare, for the love we keep inside us. This place is for ashes and echoes. Love continues on in those who live.”
“Well. That’s different.”
Hyran led him through the streets of sighs, blank to show in their absence what had been lost. The kinetomancer stopped infront of a plate set low, at a Conduit’s eye level. It was matted silver, the lettering sharp, newly carved.
“Undora. Linar’s lover.”
Hyran nodded. “I wouldn’t have wanted to take Col here, but who knows what the Judiciary AIs will decide about Linar. I thought Undora might appreciate someone coming to visit.”
“Loquin was here when she was murdered. Do you think he did it?”
Hyran shook his head. “He was honest in his pain, even if he’s the one who hurt himself.”
“Then who?”
“Perhaps one of the champions. Perhaps someone else.” Hyran ran his fingers over the dead Conduit’s name, engraved on this piece of metal in this most silent of streets. “As it stands, only she knows.”
They kept silence for a minute at least. Hyran ended it by taking a deep breath, straightening, and walking on along the streets. Taros followed him through the orderly maze, and within a few more minutes, they exited on the other side.
“Are you going to lead me in more circles?” he asked Hyran.
“No. It’s right there.”
He pointed at a door, but it didn’t look like a restaurant at all.
“Very funny. We’ve walked all this way just so you could show me some door?”
“I told you it was a small place. It’s also not flashy. You either know it or you don’t.”
Hyran led Taros to the door, which was set low into a building’s wall, like the entrance to a basement. There, once they had gone down a handful of stairs, Taros noticed the small sign in pretty cursive, readingWhistle’s End: food and entertainment.
“Huh. That’s unexpected.”
“You thought I’d take you out here, then speed back to the Tower and lavish Col with my attention?”
“That sounds exactly like something you would do.”
“You are so charming to be around, has anyone ever told you, Taros?”
Taros beamed a very sharp smile at Hyran, even letting blades stand up around his hairline.
“People tell me all the time. Especially beautiful Conduits.” The humor went right out of him. After all, the garden still stood behind them, empty-walled and silent. “I mean…follow my words, that was in poor taste to say after visiting Undora. I’m sorry. Not for anything I insinuated about your dick before, but for this. Col isn’t Linar. I’m not Undora.”
Hyran’s nostrils flared, and he aimed a narrowed gaze at Taros. “He doesn’t love you? Nor anyone from this team?”
“Oh, he loves me. He loves all of us. We grew up together, experimented. I’ll spare you the details, but between Vin, Col, and me, we were good at the physical side of fucking. Easier than learning how random people like to be pleased.” He shrugged. “That’s what it was.”
Hyran didn’t move for several long heartbeats. Then he nodded and opened the door. “I messaged ahead. He’s here.”
“Here? Now? Kashana?”
“Well, that’s what you wanted.”
The ceiling was low, so low Taros could have touched it. The restaurant had been put into the bare, lithomanced walls of what might have been a building erected upon the founding of Ferrea. There were not even smart walls here.
