At some point, I fall asleep beside her. In my dream, I am again walking down the bright, narrow tunnel toward the end, where I see Talin waiting for me. But I walk and walk and walk, and the tunnel goes on and on and on, and I never reach her. Somewhere down there, I can hear the faint steadiness of her breathing. She’s still there. But she doesn’t answer.
I wonder if I will continue to walk in this dream forever. As I go, I remember the way she extended her hand to me in the Striker arena, then the way she reached for me on the battlefield. She had come to my rescue the first time we’d failed to escape the lab complex.
Talin, I say, calling her name over and over through our link, listening for her response.
I wait. The day changes again. Night becomes morning becomes night. Our friends rotate in and out of the room. Talin’s mother sleeps, exhausted, nearby. Outside the window, the chants continue. I drift in and out of my own dreams, and in every dream, I walk down the tunnel and call Talin’s name.
I call and call and call.
Then, finally, on the morning of the fourth day, I call for her.Talin, I say through our bond.
And I stir awake to see her eyes open, clear and vibrant, staring directly at me. She smiles faintly.
Hello, Red, she answers.
43
TALIN
Steelstriker.
That’s what Red says they’ve been calling me in the streets. The Striker from Mara, turned into a Skyhunter, reinforced by steel in her bones. A warrior. A savior. A human who is not human.
By now, the news that I was the one who plunged a dagger into Constantine’s heart has spread: one of the Premier’s own Skyhunters, freed of her bonds, turned on him and ended the Tyrus rule in a single blow. The corners of the Federation—Tanapeg and Carreal and others—have already frayed in response to the Premier’s death. I’ve heard another territory is now claiming itself as independent.
At night, I can hear chants of my name rise and fall in the streets outside. I can’t tell if I’m dreaming or awake when I hear them.
Empire breaker. Steelstriker. Skyhunter.
Another name to add to my list.
It’s a strange feeling, knowing that Constantine is no longer on the other end of my mind. There is no one to tell me that my mother’s life depends on what I do. She is here, beside me. So is Red and Jeran and Adena and Aramin. They rotate in and out of my room at such regular intervals that I quickly begin to anticipate their arrivals, my heartquickening in a different way as each hour brings a different friend to my side.
But even as the days turn into weeks, my mother never moves. Every time I drift off into sleep and wake, she is there, tut-tutting over the color of my cheeks or how much food I’ve left behind on the tray. A new bowl of porridge will be there, or a pot of simmering meat stew, or a savory bun filled with chicken and vegetables. I don’t know how she gets the ingredients or where or when she cooks, but somehow, like she did in Mara, she always finds a way.
“They say you’re recovering well,” she tells me in Basean this morning, as I wake to the aroma of chicken stew and warm sweet rolls.
The constant, searing pain in my back says otherwise. “They say I may never fight again,” I sign.
“I sincerely hope you never do,” my mother signs in return, but her eyes are gentle. She knows that the war has left behind wounds in me that will never heal, but that it also brought me some of the greatest joys I’ve ever known. I’ve found the people who would stand shoulder to shoulder with me. We’ve made it, together, to the other side.
My mother sits in silence as I eat. From here, we get a good view of the city center. Karensan troops are still everywhere, but they are busy directing workers to repair the damage from the fights and preventing scuffles from breaking out on the streets. Others are handing out food to lines of people who have seen their markets burn down. Still others stand idle, wandering restlessly from one end of the Circle to the other.
Their expressions look lost. Who are they now, if not servants to the Premier? What do you do after the regime you’ve served topples to the ground?
“Do you know what else they say?” she tells me after I’ve finished eating.
I look at her. “What?”
My mother rises, taking the empty food tray. As she does, she glances sidelong at me.
“They say you should fill the Premier’s vacancy.”
Then, before I can answer, she turns away, leaving me alone to gather my thoughts.
My gaze shifts to the window.
They have been without a dictator for mere weeks, and already they are prepared for someone else to step into their late Premier’s shoes. Karensa is a Federation where they have been taught to value the strength of their rulers. Well, they’ve seen that strength in me. A Skyhunter is a Skyhunter, seemingly invincible. They believe me capable of ruling them the right way, taking over a regime that had been evil and turning it good.
