The encroachment was gradual. So slow that you could miss it if you weren’t watching carefully. But I’d been watching for cycles now, tracking the steady progression as the storms pushed deeper into our sanctuary.
A sun-cycle ago, the clouds had stayed well above the peaks. Half a sun-cycle ago, they’d begun touching the highest points. Now they tipped just over the ridges. Not constantly, but more than they ever had in the past.
Our protection was failing. The natural barriers that had kept us safe for generations were being overwhelmed by storms that grew more violent with each passing season.
And if we lost the grow facility on top of everything else…
“Rezor.” Cleo’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. She was already moving toward the damaged control system, scanning the unit with focused intensity. “I need Korin.”
I gestured, and one of the guards ran to fetch him. But when Korin arrived moments later, he looked apologetic.
“Lord Rezor, I don’t work on the grow facility systems. My expertise is water purification. The climate controls use different technology, different principles. I—”
“Then who does work on them?” Cleo interrupted, her frustration evident. “Someone has to maintain this place.”
“I do.” A female voice came from behind us. I turned to see Venith, one of our most skilled engineers, approaching with careful steps. Her eyes were a cautious yellow as she took in the damage. “Or I did. Before this happened.”
“Good. I need your help.” Cleo was already pulling toolsfrom the emergency kit that had been brought. “What systems failed first? What was the cascade?”
Venith moved to join her, and within moments they were deep in conversation. Technical terms I didn’t fully understand, rapid-fire questions and answers as they worked to diagnose the problem.
Cleo didn’t look back at me. Didn’t acknowledge my presence at all. She was completely absorbed in the work while Venith watched and answered the questions she could. There were many she could not.
The other engineers gathered close, observing, asking their own questions. And to my surprise, they seemed open to Cleo’s expertise. Respectful of her knowledge, despite her being an alien.
Maybe because they recognized competence when they saw it. Or maybe because the alternative to accepting her help was losing everything in this facility.
I hoped she could fix it. No, I needed her to fix it. The thought of losing the grow facility, of watching our carefully preserved plants wither and die, of having to tell my people that our food security had just been cut in half, made my chest ache.
“The prophecy warned of trials,” Zelana said from beside me. I hadn’t heard her approach, but there she was, eyes bright gold with that look she got when she was seeing patterns I couldn’t. “This is exactly what has been foretold. The sanctuary facing its greatest challenge.”
“Zelana, not now,” I said quietly.
“When, then?” She gestured at the damaged facility, at Cleo working frantically with Venith. “Three sky people fallfrom the storms, and immediately our systems begin to fail. You cannot deny the correlation.”
“And what would you have me do about it?” I turned to the seer who’d helped raise me with too much heat in my voice. “The storms are worsening. Our technology isancient. These failures were inevitable.”
“Were they?” Vax had joined us, his expression grim. “This is catastrophic, Lord Rezor. If it’s part of the prophecy, if their presence is triggering these disasters, we’re headed for ruin. Can’t you see that? We should exile them before it’s too late.”
“And if exiling them makes things worse?” I met his hard gaze. “If the prophecy requires us to workwiththem, not against them?”
“Unless the sky people can hold back the storms themselves, we’re doomed either way.” His eyes flashed red with anger and fear. “But at least if we exile them, we face doom on our own terms.”
I didn’t have an answer for that. As a leader responsible for hundreds of lives, I wondered if he was right. If keeping the sky people here was a mistake that would cost us everything.
But another part, the part where my marks burned hot and certain, knew that Cleo was meant to be here. That her presence, her knowledge, her impossible effect on me, it all meant something.
I just didn’t know how to explain that to Vax in a way that wouldn’t sound like I was thinking with my cock instead of my mind.
“Lord Rezor.” Cleo’s voice pulled my attention back toher. She’d moved away from the control panel and was crouched on the ground with access plates pulled open, surrounded by a tangle of wires and blackened tubes. “This is just a connection panel. Surface-level damage. Electricity can send shocks deep into systems. I need access to the central system to see how far the damage went.”
“The central power grid?” Vax said immediately. “Absolutely not. That supplies power to everything in the village. It’s too vulnerable.”
“It’s also the only way to diagnose the real problem,” Cleo countered. She stood, brushing dirt from her knees, and looked directly at me. Not at Vax, not at Zelana, at me. “Replacing these connections won’t fix the problem. I can’t fix this from here. I need to see the central system.”
“You’re asking us to give an outsider access to our most critical infrastructure,” Vax said, his voice tight with barely controlled anger. “To the systems that keep us alive. That’s insane.”
“Do what you want.” Cleo’s gaze didn’t waver from mine. “I can help, but only if you trust me enough to show me what I need to see.”
