Page 26 of Origin (Deridia #13)

The guards held few opinions. Some did. Some must, or else nothing would ever be accomplished. But they left it to Hana to decide the order of things, content to patrol amongst the people.

She didn’t start with the rebuilding of the office.

She started with the medicines.

The impact had startled them from the desk, a few rolling and finding their spots not in the orderly lines the grey man had set them in. Hana had requested an announcement to be made at each breakfast, urging any with missing medications to come for retrieval.

It was a slow process because each number had to be crosschecked with the bottle. She believed no one, had already turned one away, but there was no judgement in her when she did so. Maybe they just didn’t find it.

Or maybe he was a liar, but Ellion didn’t mention that.

It was strange, conducting business in a building that suddenly sported a much larger window than it ever had before. The membrane kept out much of the cold, but Ellion still paced the length of the missing wall, staring at the wreckage while Hana made sure all the bottles were returned to their rightful owners.

It was slow going. It might have been easier if the whole lot had been put into lines and their numbers could be inspected and bottles pressed into hands and be done with it.

But Hana insisted this was more dignified. They knew what was missing, and they should also know that the wardens wanted them to have what had been taken. They just had to come forward.

It took a while before Ellion realised other opportunities. He did not have to approach a group. Allow stern looks to induce silence.

So when an older man came in, with hands that had obviously known hard labour—and still did, if the calluses were to go by, Ellion made an enquiry before he left with his medicine. “What do you know of construction?”

The man turned. Grimaced when he looked over the wall. “I know enough that you’ve got a problem there.”

Hana sighed and waved him off, but Ellion held his eye. “We’re going to need builders. To fix it. I’d like to learn if you, or anyone you know, would care to teach me.”

The man looked genuinely confused before he took a hand to rub it against his chin. “Teach you,” he repeated. “Why would you want that? They’ll just enlist you to build something else fancy like this. You won’t even get to use it.”

Ellion shrugged. “I don’t know that.”

The man barked a laugh.

“Armen, you don’t have to stay,” Hana reminded him. “I’m sure you’ve got things to do.”

Ellion turned his head to look at her. “You think I can’t learn?”

Hana gave him an exasperated look and gestured toward the drawer where she’d stashed the rest of the bottles. “I think there are a lot of people to see before they’re carted off for the day, Armen among them.”

“I had a wife once. We used to talk like you did. Might want to work on that, in case you don’t want anyone to know you’re involved.”

Hana paled. Ellion made no move forward. Did nothing to intimidate. They’d know eventually. Which is why it was important to establish themselves as more than outsiders. Targets. “I haven’t been here long,” Ellion explained. “I don’t know how everything works. But I was promised a new life here, and so far I see a lot of the same. I’d like a spot for me and her. A place to live rather than a dorm. And I’d like to learn how to manage it, and then I’d like to help anyone else who wants the same.” He nodded toward Armen. “That includes you, if you want it.”

Another rub of his hand across his chin. An open mouth. Then a closed one. A few more times as he tried to sort out what he meant to say. “Don’t need much room, myself. Not now anyway. But what I do want is a place for my bones. Something nice. With a marker with my name on it. Not ,” he stressed, turning his head toward Hana, “my number. Just my name. And my wife’s below it. It’s as much as I’ll get all the way out here.”

Ellion didn’t know if there were rules about burial, or if the guards simply enforce whatever they did with their own kind. But it seemed a fair trade. More than fair.

He stepped forward, and he didn’t consult Hana. Maybe that was wrong. But it was a bargain he was making for himself. For them. And she needed to be able to deny any place in it when the grey man questioned her. Ellion held out his arm. “We have a deal.”

Armen watched him. Lowered his hand from his chin and grasped Ellion’s forearm. “You’ll need the bugs to sign off on a crew. Nobody’s going to be too happy to do any teaching if they’re pulling double the work. Get me pulled off the fields, and I’ll make sure you can build something that won’t fall down on top of the both of you. I won’t make any guarantees they’ll let you keep it after, though. And won’t have your hides for wasting company materials.”

He let go. Shook his head. Mumbled to himself about young knees and younger minds, and how the two should never get to go together.

“Ellion,” Hana hissed as soon as Armen left. The door was open at her insistent, lest it serve as too great a hurdle for anyone too nervous to knock on it. “We can’t do that!”

He went and took a seat across from her, folding his hands on his chest and lounging in a way he knew would infuriate her. Casual. Unconcerned. When she was clearly very much so. “Which part?”

She was very ready to tell him they couldn’t do any of it. He could see it just as plainly as if the words had already flown from her mouth. But she held them back. Took a breath. “Why would they have built the dormitories if we were not required to use them?”

Ellion drummed his fingers on the back of his opposite hand. “Because they needed a place to stash all of us until we could begin to sort things out for ourselves. They want to know what we’ll do , Hana. If they just wanted another prison, they would have made one. In a much more convenient spot than this, and for a great deal less money.”

Hana huffed. “You’re making a lot of assumptions.”

Ellion paused. Glanced toward the door. No one was coming in, and he risked Hana’s further irritation by getting up to close it before he came back to her.

Then he delved into his pocket.

And pulled out the pamphlet.

Smoothed it over the desk, and pushed it toward her.

Her eyes were wide, and her anger seemed to seep out of her. Never mind that it was followed by naked concern. Her own eyes darted to the window, the open wall, the closed door. “Where did you get this?”

“I asked, and they gave it to me.”

“You asked and they...” She shook her head, scowling, as if he’d done something wretched. Which he hadn’t. It wasn’t illicit, or else a doctor would not have fetched it for him.

“I told them I liked the pictures. I’m greatly relieved to find there are some, or else she’d have known I was a liar.”

Her scowl softened to a grimace, much as it always did when he reminded her of his predicament. “I liked the pictures, too,” Hana admitted, smoothing her hand over one of them. People staring outward. Smiling, shoulder to shoulder. It wouldn’t occur to her there would be others in the background, stealing and pilfering from those same folk, just because they were weaker or weren’t paying attention.

“The colours are wrong,” Ellion observed. “Far too green.”

Hana frowned. “There’s a few weeks like that. You pay for it with the rainy season though. Which is miserable to walk around, and you’re always wet, and your boots never fully dry out so I tend to just not wear them.”

“Because that’s safe,” Ellion chided, thinking of loose rocks or now, the shrapnel that could have dropped from the ship and littered the grass. “That’s how you lose a foot.”

She shrugged, but her lips pulled upward. Did she like him fussing over her?

“Have you seen that one?” he asked, in case they were going to get into an earnest argument over proper footwear and safety.

“No,” Hana admitted, smoothing out a corner. He regretted folding it now, because she seemed to hold it with some sort of reverence. “But I think they’re much the same.”

She flipped it over to find the picture of the compound itself. Buildings taken at such an angle they looked more interesting than they did in real life. Less boxes and more like a little town, ready for its occupants. There were even flowers around the foundations, bursting out in purples and deep greens, softening the landscape. Grasses were short and well manicured, not the tufts of impudence that refused to be trampled, no matter how many boots trod on them.

“An artist rendering,” Hana muttered to herself, skimming a finger over the picture. “They don’t bother to say that part.”

Ellion swallowed, hoping he could adequately explain himself. “They asked for explorers,” he gestured toward the page, unsure if she was reading or simply looking. Feeling regretful. That hadn’t been his aim, and he’d try to rectify it now. “To put skills to good use. And if you didn’t have any, to come with a willingness to learn.”

“All are welcome,” Hana agreed, but she wasn’t reading it. She was remembering one of her own pamphlets. Committed to memory because she’d studied it so often.

“They wanted people with some grit. Willing to drop everything and come here. And I don’t think the intention was to punish us for building something better. They provided the minimum. Gave us guards that mostly do what they’ve been told, but wouldn’t even learn how to do the entire job alone. They needed you. To read and to keep track of people, because I bet we all look alike to them, just as they do to us.”

Hana snorted but didn’t argue with him.

“So I’d like to build something. Fix this place, because it’ll be expected. Then start on something else. Nothing fancy. Not at first.” And because he hadn’t talked this part over with her either, he slipped it in as quick as he could, hoping she’d be fixated on the dream of a new apartment. “And in the meantime, if our cupboards don’t prove safe enough, we can move into the warehouse. Since it has a lock they can get in to check on us, just like the grey man said was needed.”

Hana looked up at him and arched a brow. “And you didn’t think I needed to be consulted in all this?” He’d wanted a hug. A kiss. Maybe even for her to perch on his lap and wrap her arms about him and thank him for how much thought he’d put into the idea. But this was Hana, and that wasn’t her way.

“I’m doing that now,” he insisted, feeling the first trepidation that maybe she wouldn’t want any of those things.

“Ah, but you’ve already asked somebody else about it,” she reminded him. “Got a deal going, one that I’m not even sure we can fulfil, not without some fuss with the guards. Which I will have to deal with, by the way.”

He took exception to that. “Not so,” he disagreed. “I would be the one to talk to them, I promise. I’m trying to keep you out of it so if this all goes backwards, I’m the one responsible. Not you.”

“You admit it!”

His words had come out in a rush, and he felt a flush about his ears when he realised what he’d said.

“I want to take care of you,” Ellion reminded her. “Protect you. Because I have a theory, and maybe it’s even more of a guess. And if there are consequences for getting it wrong, I want them to be mine. Not yours.”

Hana shook her head. Folded up the pamphlet neatly before walking around the desk. “We’re partners, Ellion,” she said firmly when she’d stepped between his knees and the desk itself. “You and me. Not you and Armen. What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is yours, whether that’s something like a nutri-bar, or a consequence.” She sat down so abruptly, it was like a string holding her upright had suddenly been cut. “Unless you’re changing our arrangement?”

He stood just as quickly. Because this required touches. Required reassurance for sins he wasn’t sure he’d been the one to commit. “Never,” he swore, and he meant it. “I just love you,” he admitted, a bit sheepish. A great deal more sincere. “And I want a spot to call ours. Even if it’s not by a river. And if we have to have neighbours out of the bargain.”

“I suppose I could live with that,” Hana murmured, and she got that look in her eye. The one that said she was about to kiss him, but wasn’t yet. Because she liked to watch him, liked to let the anticipation fill up, and only then would she relent. Lean forward. Soothe them both in a way that seemed so silly—that a simple brush of lips could accomplish so much.

But it did.

“They might say no,” Hana reminded him, and she was still watching.

“They might,” he agreed. “Repurpose them. Maybe even send a few permanent staff down here.”

Hana frowned at the idea.

She wasn’t coming down to him quickly enough, so he reached about her waist and tugged.

And she resisted, because of course she would. Reminded him she was too heavy, and she was the boss, but not in all things. Not in this, when she was most certainly wrong, and he wanted her close. Wanted to tuck his arms around her and rest his chin on her shoulder.

Feel her, restless and fidgety, until at last she calmed. “This is highly inappropriate,” she declared, but at last she was still. Was softening in his arms.

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

She shook her head. “I’d remind you that there’s a new window to contend with, but I don’t think you’ve forgotten.”

He hadn’t. This was an indulgence for just a moment, and then they’d open the door and let the others in again. Set some things to rights. Try to begin a future.

“I want you to have options,” Ellion admitted. ‘I don’t want you to worry that if they release you from this role, your life goes along with it.”

Her breath caught, and he felt it. Felt her still, felt her worry. “I want you to do it because you like the work. Because you think it’s important. Not because you’re afraid of what happens if you lose it.” He nuzzled against her neck, and he felt her shiver, and it was rather wonderful. “Does that make sense?”

“Yes,” she breathed, and he nodded, allowing himself just one more squeeze before he let her go.

Was more than gratified when it took her a moment to comply. Trusting him to hold her. “You’re going to get people riled up. Clamouring for things. And we’ll only have so many supplies.”

“Then we will have to ration very carefully.”

Hana turned her head, looking less than convinced. “It can get messy. When there are too few supplies to go around. People begin to just... take.”

Ellion nodded. “That’s true. But we’re going to work on our negotiation skills.”

She shifted, quirking a brow at him. “And who is this we ?”

He nodded beyond. “All of us. The whole miserable lot.”

“I think that brain injury of yours addled more than your memories,” Hana declared, patting his head so he’d know she was only partially serious. Which was not at all condescending, and didn’t make his arms go back around her while he nibbled at her ear until her breath caught in her throat. “Let me have my optimism, boss,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll have it enough for the both of us if you don’t want to carry your portion.”

She had the audacity to laugh at him, wriggling from his lap and smoothing out her clothing. Then her hair. Which really was not successful at all because her curls were mussed and wild from where he’d nuzzled, and would people know when they looked at her?

“Deal,” Hana declared, her eyes still warm. Still inviting. “While I get to be calmly rational.”

Ellion couldn’t help his own smile even as she shrugged. “Whatever makes you happy.”

And he meant it. That’s what he wanted for her. She’d been betrayed. Sentenced for something she hadn’t done. Harassed by the man who’d done it.

And her escape only led to being abused.

She deserved so much better.

And if Ellion was the only one interested in seeing it done, then that was a privilege he gladly accepted.

“I’m opening the door now,” Hana informed him. “And you shouldn’t be sitting there when they come in. Makes you look lazy.”

Ellion rolled his eyes. “Yes, boss.”