By the end of the ten days we had almost sixty Mageia in the underground barracks awaiting the arrival of theChrysalis.
Tensions at the base were running high. V stayed behind most days to help Betts keep the peace between the different Mageia factions. They had all been conditioned to battle and be suspicious of each other. A lifetime of indoctrination didn’t disappear overnight. How they managed to keep so many tempers under control I would never know.
Kat realized part of the challenge was that none of them were used to downtime. Mageia always had tasks to do, training to complete, classes to study for. The forced inactivity was driving them all a little stir crazy. I wasn’t comfortable sending multiple teams of Mageia into the city and risking discovery, especially since I often needed to be in the infirmary. That meant it was up to V and Kat.
V resorted to requiring daily training sessions with the other Mageia, teaching them the benefits of using minimal amounts of power to accomplish a goal and how to work together. These tiny uses of power were something many of them struggled with. Kat told me the Legion teachers had primarily focused on developing brute strength instead offinesse. Many resisted at first, but when V and Kat were able to demonstrate some remarkably subtle uses of power, they began to cooperate.
It helped that Betts was able to demonstrate some of the Illyrian techniques as well. The fact she was a Dual Mageia had many of the group in awe. She was living proof that everything they had been taught was a lie.
Despite all this, I was losing my mind. The little Mageia was driving me crazy. The worst part was, I don’t even know if he was doing it on purpose.
The cave system that had felt so empty just a few days before now teemed with activity. We were converting more and more Mageia to the Illyrian cause. Every few days brought additional recruits, which meant working out a lot of logistics to feed and clothe so many.
Fortunately, I had a pretty decent stockpile of food and supplies, it was just a matter of figuring out the logistics. Kat jumped in immediately, working with V and Betts to set up a plan for meal schedules, showers, and sleeping arrangements.
I noticed most of the other Mageia treated him with a wary respect, but there were some who seemed to just gravitate toward his orbit. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was they all had in common, but I sensed there was something that united them.
One day, I watched as Kat was training with the other Mageia. He was walking among them, pausing here and there, giving a word of encouragement or some advice. He stopped at one young man whose opponent, an Earth Mageia, had just knocked him down. The boy seemed beyond angry and held his head in his hand.
Deliah had been practicing hand to hand combat, and just stopped for a drink, her own workout raising sweat on her dark skin.
“You see it, don’t you?” she stood next to me quietly, her brown eyes solemn as she watched Kat with the young man. Kat knelt by the boy on the ground, speaking to him briefly, gripping his shoulder gently before helping him to his feet.
“There’s something about him. I don’t know exactly what it is, but some of them just seem…” I paused, unsure how to finish the sentence.
“Drawn to him?” she finished.
I nodded.
“They’re both like that, V and Kat. The ones they attract - they’re the vulnerable ones,” she said. “The smallest. The youngest. The weakest. The ones everyone else wrote off as too broken to survive.”
I watched in silence as the pair squared off for another bout, then the Water Mageia broke out into a grin as his Earth opponent went sliding across a suddenly slick area of floor. He high-fived Kat before walking over and offering a hand to help his opponent to his feet.
“He gives them back something that was taken away from them a long time ago,” she smiled. “Call it dignity. Call it confidence. Whatever. It makes them more than they were before.”
“I’m surprised the Legions would waste so much potential.”
“The Legions tend to treat anyone below a certain threshold of power as disposable. If they graduated half the number they send to a Machi, they’d consider it a successful class.”
“Wait— so they expect half of their trainees to die?” I demanded, unable to keep the disbelief from my voice.
“More like two-thirds,” she said, setting her water down. “To graduate, each person needs multiple medallions. Theydon’t supplement with that many wild animals. So if a third graduate, they’re happy.”
“It’s such a waste!” I exclaimed. She shrugged.
“It’s how it’s always been,” she said.
After that, it seemed like every time I turned around I was catching a glimpse of Kat talking with a new Mageia, helping set up some bunks, handing out supplies, or working on training a Mageia in some piece of magic. But I could never get the man alone.
One night I spotted him at dinner, talking quietly to the new recruits while helping serve food. The perpetual frown on his face had softened, but the wariness in his eyes remained. He spotted me watching him while he spoke to young Tik. I began making my way across the kitchen area, only to be interrupted by a Mageia with a question. By the time I made it to the serving area, he had disappeared again and Tik had taken his place in the serving line.
I sighed. I just wanted totalkto him. That’s it. Talk. But he was making it abundantly clear that he didn’t want to talk to me. I should never have kissed him. I had obviously pushed him beyond his comfort zone.
I stomped back to one of the storage rooms, slamming the door behind me. I leaned my head back against the cool stone wall.
I had met a number of Mageia in the last few years, but none of them had ignited the same spark in me that Kat had.
He was so damn infuriating. One minute that smart mouth made me want to shake him, the next he said something so heartbreakingly vulnerable that I wanted to wrap him in my arms and keep anyone from ever hurting him again. I’d never felt this way about anyone before.
