"You're making me nervous," Tamira said quietly. "What are you looking for?"
"Listening devices," Eluheed admitted. "Cameras. Ways they might be monitoring us."
Tamira's expression shifted, understanding dawning. "You think they're spying on us?"
"I don't know. Maybe. We're strangers here. Unknown entities. It would be foolish of them not to keep some level of surveillance, at least initially. They take security very seriously here, and they've just allowed a bunch of strangers into their sanctuary. Tula can vouch for you and the other ladies, and they know about Tony's past because of Kaia, but they know nothing about me."
A shadow crossed Tamira's eyes, and she looked like she wanted to say something, but then she changed her mind and continued the exploration in the bathroom.
It was spacious and done in soothing cream and brown colors, with a large tub and separate shower. Even here, a small television was mounted on the wall, ostensibly for entertainment while bathing. Or for watching whoever was bathing, but that would be perverted rather than related to security, and he believed that these immortals were better than that.
"Do you think we can have a private conversation in here?" Tamira asked, echoing his thoughts. "With the water running to mask our voices?"
"I don't know if even that is safe." Eluheed studied the fixtures, the backlit mirror, the seemingly innocent decorative items. Any of them could hide surveillance equipment. "We're not in the harem anymore, and you don't have years of testing to see if what you say privately finds its way to whoever's listening."
Tamira used to test the boundaries constantly, saying offensive things about Navuh in the privacy of her room to see if he retaliated in some form. His reaction would have revealed that he'd been listening. He'd never reacted, and yet they had both been careful about saying anything truly incriminating out loudin her room. The bathroom had been the only safe space, and since no one had confronted them about their escape plans, their gamble had proven correct.
Things were different here. They had no idea who might be listening.
"So, what do we do?" Tamira asked.
"We test, just like you did in the harem."
She looked conflicted. "Where can we talk?"
He looked out to the backyard through the expansive sliding doors. "Out there should be safe if we get away from the house. Do you want to go outside?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "I would love to. The weather out here is just perfect. I think that the last time I enjoyed cooler temperatures was when we were living in what is today called Lebanon. That was where Mortdh's stronghold used to be. We lived there for a long time, even after his and the other gods' deaths. It took centuries for Navuh to decide to move to a different location."
Eluheed opened the sliding doors, and they stepped outside onto the wraparound porch.
"I'm not sure I want Navuh to survive," Tamira said quietly.
Eluheed turned to look at her. "I think we are all conflicted about that."
She nodded. "It feels like wishing him dead is a betrayal of Areana. She loves him, and she's been, still is, our unofficial leader. She was kind and supportive, and I have nothing but praise for her." She trailed off, seeming to struggle with what sheneeded to say next. "But I can't help thinking the world would be a better place without him." Tamira's grip on his hand tightened. "Is that terrible? Does that make me a terrible person?"
"No." Eluheed lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "It makes you someone who's survived five thousand years of captivity. Your feelings are valid."
She shook her head. "I'm not even thinking of myself and my sisters when I say that. It's not a vendetta. I just know that he has done terrible things to countless people, mostly humans but also immortals. Without him, there will be less suffering in the world."
"Navuh's death will not solve the problem of human suffering," he said. "Nature abhors a vacuum. Someone else will take his place. Some other big bad wolf. There's never a shortage of them."
Tamira pulled her hand from his, turning to face him. "So, what you're saying is that it's better to keep the evil we know than take it out because an even bigger evil will take its place?" Her voice rose. "If that’s true, how are good people ever supposed to triumph?"
It was a fair question. One Eluheed had asked himself countless times over his long life.
"Sometimes they don't," he said honestly. "Sometimes evil wins and good people suffer. That's the way of the world, Tamira. It always has been."
"That's a depressing philosophy."
"It's a realistic one." He reached for her hand again, and she let him take it. "But sometimes good triumphs as well. Light pushesback the darkness. Justice prevails. That happens less often than we'd like, but since balance is mostly preserved, we have to conclude that good people win as often as they lose."
"That's still depressing." She pursed her lips. "I want good to annihilate evil forever. Is that even possible?"
He smiled. "Not with the players nature chose to play her games with. When times are good, humans get bored and invent reasons for strife. Revolutions start for real or manufactured reasons, and evil gets a new foothold. It's a never-ending cycle."
She sighed. "So, which will it be in this case? Which outcome leads to good triumphing, Navuh's death or survival?"
