Ashtium: City of Sun

GRETA

Enoch walked me back to the courtyard after the party. He’s acting quieter than usual. It doesn’t make me feel any better about tonight.

He sets his lantern down on the edge of the fountain. Then he brings my hands to the side of his face.

“What has he done?”

“Who?” I ask.

He lets go of my hands, but I continue feeling over his face imagining what he could really look like.

“Adler,” he responds in a low voice. “Please stop...”

“I want to see you.”

“No you don’t. We cannot be together. You are in great danger, Greta,” his voice begins to raise. It escalates rapidly to a barely withheld yell, “You do not belong in Ashtium. You must go back to the desert tonight...or I will arrest you.”

“For what?” I laugh.

He moves my hands from his face while stepping back from me. “For acting like a whore.”

I smile at his weak threat. I am not scared because I know he doesn’t believe it himself.

“I am not afraid.”

“Greta, you are going to die if you remain here. I’m giving you your chance to leave. Someone else will accuse you of worse. Trust me, they will not give you the privilege of a trial before killing you!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why not?”

Does he really think I’m so dumb? He lied to me about the slynk. Maybe he’s been lying about what I am too. What if I don’t need to stay hidden away any more?

I can live on my own now.

“You need to stop running from me.”

My heart races feeling him kiss my wrists each in turn. “I am not running from anyone,” I pout with a fluttering heart.

“How many times have you went to my father?”

Enoch plays with my hair while waiting for my answer. His fingers feel like fire across the nape of my neck stirring a strange need within me for him to continue.

“A few times. I told you he gave me that tunic,” I admit.

This is old news. I don’t understand why he’s bringing it up again.

His tone remains light, “What else did he give you?”

“He is my god, Enoch.”

“What else did he give you?” he repeats with greater demand.

“Nothing,” I lie hoping my god will understand.

“Nothing else?” he says slowly in disbelief. “You’re telling me a lie. Why aren’t you wearing your slynk? Did he take it off?” he asks in a hollow voice.

“No!”

“Then how-”

“It f-fell off,” I defend with growing confusion. I narrow my eyes at the surface of the water in the fountain not liking the pointed stare I imagine him giving me. “Stop accusing me of things and scolding me as if I am so unaware. I’m not a child, Enoch.”

“Then tell me why have you been going to him.”

What is this feeling creeping into me now? I can hear the disgust in his voice and I know it is aimed at me. He should not be judging me in my god’s place.

“I care about your family.”

“Why?” he asks with fury. “They have hurt you!”

“My god would never hurt me...neither would you.”

“Believe what you want,” he huffs while throwing his hands up in defeat. “I just want you to be safe. If he helped you in that way...it’s fine. I’m just not sure why he would bother and it is worrisome. He is a very sick man, Greta.”

“I’m sorry, Enoch.”

Without another word, he walks away from the fountain where I remain.

For a long time, I mope around the marble structure. Eventually, my stomach starts aching and I wretch up the food from the party. The hard ground meets my butt as I slump against one of the garden walls crying in my pain and confusion.

I’m fairly certain my friendship with Enoch concluded tonight.

“No...” I whimper while watching my surroundings fade to a very dark grey.

The shade quickly becomes an endless sea of black.

Every now and then I hear the familiar chirp of the flying creatures around me. Not a shade of shimmering silver do I see on them or my own skin.

Death.

This is what it must have been like for my parents...who I ate. Footsteps approach me. I cover my mouth to silence my sobs hearing my god near me.

Something soft falls around my shoulders, but I remain still.

“Little pearl, I can hear you crying. What is the matter? Oh, you poor thing. Your eyes are clouded. Let’s clear them up,” Adler says from somewhere above me. “So you can see like me,” he explains while effortlessly lifting me from the ground.

He cradles me against the warmth of his chest. Uncomfortable, I try to move away, but he wraps his robe around me keeping me in place.

“Can you take me to Enoch?” I ask quickly.

My stomach rumbles between us.

“He already left. I can hear your belly crying too. Did you not get enough to eat?”

“I could not stomach it.”

His footsteps echo louder across the marble floor as we enter his temple. One of his arms leaves me and swiftly opens and closes the sliding door. My hand squeezes his shoulder tighter in my growing nervousness.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

***

ENOCH

“What do you mean you heard her vomiting in the gardens? What were you doing back there in the first place?” I ask while hurrying after father.

Adler doesn’t bother answering me as he leads me back into his observatory where Greta lays curled up in his clout bed fast asleep. He folds his hands behind his back watching me expectantly as if I’m to blame for him bringing her here.

“She is a beautiful woman, Enoch...when are you going to introduce us?”

“I think tonight was all the introduction she needed,” I scoff. “How dare you dress her as a whore!” I shout remembering his bizarre behavior with Greta at the party.

He sits down on the edge of the bed and nudges her shoulder.

A rare smile forms on his face. “Wake up, Greta. Someone’s here to see you...”

“Don’t touch her.”

He stands up as Greta blinks her eyes coming awake. She looks around in a daze. First at my father, then at me.

“Enoch is that you?”

It kills me to see her in such a state. I don’t know how, but father has discovered her impaired sight. He told me resting in his clout bed would help heal it. They do have healing properties.

Strange how we both remain silent probably thinking the same. Will she know the difference between us?

My father doesn’t wait. “Adler?” she whispers while being pulled against her will into his hold.

I flinch watching her cup his face with her hands.

“Can you see me?” he whispers with patience I’ve never been spared.

“No.”

“What’s happening to her?” I ask.

He hands me a small glass cube. “The light of our city is damaging her eyes. She’ll need to recuperate in a dark setting daily. Take this,” he tells me. “Have her look in it two hours every morning and night.”

Adler sets Greta on her feet.

I don’t particularly like the way he isn’t eager to remove her grab on his tunic.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“To work. Tell your mother I’m leaving for the south sea again. Take care of Urdmin for me and be careful of her,” he says while watching my forehead.

Of her? If anything, I should be careful for Greta!

“Why are you making Enoch kill the false god?” Greta asks loudly.

How does she know of our plans? There’s only one reason she could know -- he told her. Since when does he tell anyone outside our empirical family about such things?

“Urdmin is a slave beater, little pe-... p-pain. A little pain,” he rambles quickly while stepping away from Greta and clutching the collar of his tunic with a look of dismay.

“You mean a big pain,” I elaborate.

The biggest pain in this empire was never the old advisor though. My real concerns should be with him right now. More now than ever too if my intuition is right.

“Yes,” he agrees stiffly while watching my hand fold around hers.

His cloudy eyes meet mine just before he turns away with a purple face.