Dax shifted closer to Marin, as if to show his support. Or seek it. “Can’t we appeal to someone? If the appropriate people knew, surely they wouldn’t allow this to be happening.”
“If you know the appropriate people to speak to, I would be grateful. However, there is so much not yet settled that it’s unclear who is even in charge. That is the essence of my problem—there seems to be no one with the authority to release me, or perhaps no one who wants the responsibility of deciding to release me. It is, as you said, absurd.”
Marin was certain Dax didn’t know anyone outside the conservatory, much less anyone in the new government. She certainly didn’t. It was a long shot to think they’d be able to reach anyone who could help Rijes. Maybe if they went back to the library, one of the librarians could help? Except they hadn’t done so yet, and the librarian they’d spoken to said they kept hitting dead ends.We’ve already gotten further than they have.
“I am not a priority,” Rijes Velk said. “That is the issue. I amnot important enough to catch the attention of anyone with a high enough level of authority to either decide to detain or release me. Under the empire, it would have fallen to the imperial investigators, but they have been disbanded. So here I wait. Pointlessly.” The last word was aimed at the wall again.
Imperial investigators, gone? That was an extraordinary change. She tried to wrap her mind around that and failed. “Why not just give them what they want?” Marin asked.
“Because I can’t,” Rijes said placidly. “I don’t know where the librarians went. Furthermore, I don’t care. The books will be well cared for, and they will be out with the people, instead of hidden and hoarded within the library. They will be read and used. I love the idea of little libraries throughout the Crescent Islands, accessible to the people, not only the elite… which is the opinion that led to my confinement here. The official who initially questioned me did not believe that I didn’t know the locations of my librarians, given my views.”
“So you’re stuck,” Marin said.
“The empire was unjust, but it was effective,” Rijes said. “Now, with the government being reshaped and laws rewritten…” She smiled wryly. “I am paperwork that no one wants to do. It is, in a way, impressive in its implacable inefficiency.”
She could languish here forever, caught in limbo.
Marin studied the wall where the official was presumably listening in. She couldn’t go back to Terlu Perna and tell her that she’d found Rijes but she was imprisoned indefinitely. But what could she do about it? She had no contacts in Alyssium who would have any sway in a situation like this. She wasn’t even a resident. She was just a supply runner, and this was beyond anything she was equipped to deal with. “How likely do you think it is that your grandmasters would be able to help?” she asked Dax.
“I… I don’t believe they would,” Dax said. “They don’t involve themselves in politics. It’s how they protect the conservatory. When Grandmaster Vorac gave me the letter, he was clear that this was the limit of their involvement.”
Marin did have one idea.
It wasn’t an idea she liked.
She tried to think of any other option. She couldn’t just leave Rijes here.How could I return to Ree and Perri and tell them that? How could I face Terlu? How could I face myself?She admired Rijes Velk. Liked her even. She couldn’t walk away. That left her one terrible idea. Marin knocked on the wall. “Senira? I have a question for you. Could you return, please?”
There was a shuffling from the other side of the wall. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, she would have laughed. As it was, she felt her stomach churning. There was no good outcome here for her. But there was, at least, the chance to do good.
“Marin?” Dax asked.
She ignored him. He wasn’t going to approve of this. Frankly, she didn’t approve of it either. But… she rather thought her parents might. And her own conscience, which was pretty much the same thing.
A half minute later, the door opened, and the official entered.
“You said that they’d dock your pay if you let her go,” Marin said to Senira. “Can you be…” She wanted to use the word “bribed.” “… compensated for your loss?” She pulled out the pouch with every bit they’d earned from singing at the docks. She knew as it opened that it wouldn’t be nearly enough. “Will this cover the penalty?”
He snorted. “Not nearly.”
She didn’t think it would, but she noted that he did not say hewouldn’taccept compensation. Marin dug the heartsinger ruby out of her pocket—
“Marin, no,”Dax whispered.
She held it up to Senira, flat on her palm, catching the light, and said to Dax, “Either I use it to free Rijes, or I return it to Terlu and admit I failed. Either way, I can’t keep it.” She’d have to find another way to save her parents from Iovar’s petty vengeance. She’d take as many jobs from the Alyssium job board as she could, and maybe if she paid enough of the debt…I’ll find a solution. Somehow.
She couldn’t just leave Rijes here. That was a fact.
Senira was gawking at the ruby. “Is that—”
“It is.”
“Youcan’t,” Dax said to her. He spun toward Senira. “I am Daxicend the composer, and I offer you full distribution rights to my opus, which will be presented at the solstice.”
The official blinked at him. “I don’t have a need for an ‘opus.’”
“It is of high value, and once I have achieved grandmaster status, I will have full access to the results of the sale of performance rights, as well as—”
“I’ll take the ruby,” Senira cut in. “I’ll tell my superiors there was a mix-up with the paperwork. They’ll dock my pay, butthatwill cover my loss.”
