The Frozen Moon

chapter NINETEEN: AN UNCOMFORTABLE DECISION



She had never enjoyed speaking indirectly. Their day away from troubles had come to an end, and the pivotal question still hadn’t been addressed. Most of the day had been used to talk about strategy, and yet they still had no plan. Cal and Seth had seemed to know the most about the Vine’s protocols, considering they had the most training. They both agreed that the Vine wouldn’t be of any help to them.

Nameh was beginning to see why the three branches were becoming imbalanced and outdated. The Guild, the Vine, and the Guardians had grown corrupted, perhaps beyond repair.

“I know that no one wants to talk about this,” she began, bypassing the indirect conversation that bothered her and surveying everyone’s faces, “but we really have to consider what our next step is going to be. The Guild has clearly caught wind of what we’re planning, otherwise, the incident at the Warehouse never would have happened.”

“That’s what I was thinking. I think that whatever we’re going to do has to be done soon; it’s only a matter of time before they find us.” Max’s face was serious, but till held the traces of lightheartedness that usually played across his features. Even now, she could make out the lines where his lips bent into a smirk.

“Let’s go then. In the morning.” Mira said simply. No longer the timid girl she had met several years ago, Mira had grown strong and decisive. Nameh still sensed some of the same insecurities as before, but she had learned to mask them. She wondered if the ability to mask one’s weaknesses and pain had become synonymous with power or strength to her. Either way, it was certainly a necessity.

“I agree, the less time we waste, the better.” Talar didn’t speak terribly often, but on matters of importance, he was vocal. Wyd, who was becoming proportionally vocal as his comfort increased, mumbled something inaudible. Max nodded, but she thought he had been the only one to hear him. Seth broke into the conversation, if only to question Wyd.

“What?” Wyd dropped his eyes in embarrassment, but raised them again as he began to speak. Improvement in small steps, at least, thought Nameh.

“Well, I was just saying that acting right away might not be the best idea. That’s what they’re going to expect us to do; it’s probably just a trap.” The end of his sentence ended in a high pitch, characteristic of Wyd when he was nervous about presenting a point.

“It doesn’t even matter now.” Seth’s rough voice was calm. “If we act, they might find us, but if we don’t, it won’t matter anyway. We’re running out of time, and if the Guild can find the Relic before we do, we’re screwed.”

“Definitely. And not just us, basically everyone is screwed. I think this only proves that we don’t have time to find another branch of the Vine,” Cal chimed in for the first time.

“Even if we could find them, it would take weeks to go through the Elder’s Council. Plus, all the sub councils are filled with Guild spies, and the last thing we want is to attract more attention from them than we already have.” Talar, who had sat pensively for some time, spoke up.

“So, basically we’re just acting alone, then. I’m only trying to be realistic, but is there any way we can win this fight?” His voice sounded the most concerned she had heard it since knowing him.

“Does it matter?” Nameh’s question went unanswered for a long moment. “Like Seth said, if we don’t act, we’re only sealing our fate. I don’t know about the rest of you, but there’s no way I’m going to surrender the world to whatever the Guild decides to unleash on it without even trying.” Her voice escalated as she tried to make them understand how much she needed to fight for this. She understood, as she thought they all did, that they couldn’t fight forever. If there was to be a fight, then they would make it a war. A war to end all Guild and Vine wars. Mira was the first to support her, as usual, something Nameh had always appreciated.

“Alright then, we’ll leave tomorrow. Where should we start?” Cal responded definitively.

“I guess we should go check out the memorial, it’s the only thing left of the Great Warlock, and if the rumors are true, it could help us find the Relic.”

“Alright, then it’s settled. Why don’t we get some food and rest?” Nameh’s voice nearly trembled as she paused to collect herself. “We’ll need it.” The group sat in sullen silence for a moment, and she imagined that none of them could resist the urge to consider their near inevitable fate. Seth broke the silence with a second suggestion to get dinner, this one was received better.

Mira turned back to the group, “We’ll go down to the lobby and see where we can order some food from.” The group seemed just as surprised at her leadership as Nameh was, but they were all tired from exhaustive thoughts and plans. Mira extended a hand, and she unfurled her long legs to follow her friend. They descended the stairs into the lobby together.

She turned to Mira, “Nice leadership,” she told her friend with a sly smile.

“Ugh,” she sighed, “Well, no one else had the energy to.” She returned the smile as they entered the small room. Now, a different man sat at the desk, and there was a boy in the dimly lit room. Nameh imagined that the previous man, Gwen and Eve’s uncle, had left to grieve with the rest of his family. The two girls watched the boy bicker with the man at the desk. The boy’s hair was brown and slicked back with a greasy sheen. His blue shirt with a starched collar stretched all the way down his arms into full sleeves, despite the fact that the autumn chill hadn’t yet fully set in. They seemed to stop arguing, yet the boy continued to stand at the desk. Her patience wore thin, and she approached the desk anyway.

“Sorry to interrupt,” began Nameh warily, “but we were just wondering if there was anywhere around here we could order food from.”

“Oh, sure. What are you in the mood for?” His voice held no traces of the frustration he had shown just a moment ago, in fact, he behaved in a charming manner. “Within a couple blocks, there’s pizza, Chinese, Thai, Greek, and a couple others that deliver.” The girls mulled it over for a moment, and turned to each other.

“Maybe we should go upstairs and ask the others,” Nameh suggested. The man at the desk wrote down each number for them, and they retreated back to the now comfortable haven of their rooms. Everyone was still assembled much in the same manner, but now more at ease. Bodies were flopped on the beds, unconcerned about proximity to each other in their comfort. The group decided on pizza, and Nameh phoned in the order, having the most mature ‘telephone voice’, as Mira called it. She was right, though; her eloquent speaking was one of her most prized traits. She was excellent at creating a façade of peace, calm, and pleasantness, a useful skill.

She talked with Seth as they waited for the pizza, their topics switching fluently and quickly. They had become quite comfortable around each other, as they all had.

“So, if you could be any animal, what would it be?” she asked in a light tone. Despite the sleep that crept into the corners of her mind, she was amused.

“Any animal…that’s a tough one.” He thought for a moment longer, and then his eyes snapped back to reality with a decisive expression. “A dolphin” he said simply with a small smile. “Intelligent and protected by humans.” She couldn’t help but laugh at his choice, and began to think about the answer to the question she knew would be returned.

“I think that I would want to be some kind of bird. Like an eagle or a falcon. Flight has always fascinated me, and it would be thrilling to hunt.” Her tone was matter of fact, but even she could hear tones of excitement boiling underneath it. “We talk about strange things, I think. It’s probably my fault, though; I brought it up.” At this, she laughed.

“If we didn’t talk about strange things, then the conversation wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.”

“True” she conceded. They continued talking until the pizza arrived, by which time, everyone was exhausted. Everyone ate in near silence as eyelids became heavier, and the girls soon retreated to their room to sleep in comfortable beds again. For most of them, however, it would be a shallow and troubled slumber.