The Great Game 🎲 Kollarum
Two Friends
Farenn waited for his two friends in the Kollixion Caffè, half-way between the Big Four Conference Center and Zoom Station. Farenn was sitting at a table which projected into Kollixion Plaza, from where he could see anyone coming down from the Big Four or up from Zoom Station.
He could see her coming off the escalator and walking toward the caffè. He knew her by the way she walked slowly, as if to give the impression that perhaps she was not quite well, or perhaps she was lost. But her centre of gravity was low and her solar plexus was almost perfectly still no matter which way she looked.
She’d already seen him from the top of the escalator, and could see that he recognized her as she walked onto the ground floor of the plaza. Then he looked in the other direction, at a man who had just surfaced from the Zoom tunnel.
She smiled wryly.
The two friends both arrived at his table at exactly the same moment. They had both altered the speed at which they walked as they reached him. They greeted him and smiled at the other, as if doubling their smiles. They shook hands politely, and sat down.
Farenn broke the ice, which was admittedly thin. “Dactalla, I’m sure I don’t need to introduce you to Qayam.”
Dactalla responded, “Indeed, we’ve met.”
It was clear that Qayam didn’t need to add anything, so Farenn continued. “You are two of my oldest friends, and the only reason that you don’t know this is that you’re both exceptionally good at your jobs.”
The two sat motionless. Usually, they were on high alert, even if they seemed sleepy or pre-occupied. But Farenn could sense that they were alert not from anxiouness, but from pleasant expectation. They were completely absorbed in what he was telling them. They neither looked as if he was surprising them nor as if he was confirming what they already knew. They were somewhere in between, and this somewhere intrigued them both.
Farenn continued, “I’ve got information, and a great deal of friendship, from both of you over the last two hundred years. In the last several months, I was overjoyed to see you get to know each other without any of my doing. But I could also see that neither of you were at liberty to show your true selves to each other, not if you were going to do the kind of work that all three of us have committed to do. So I wanted to get together, and let you know that your instincts toward each other are much deeper than you may have suspected. Instinct lies deeper than suspicion, yet suspicion can smother instinct. Until now, it’s been necessary for suspicion to dominate. Until now.”
Qayam appreciated Farenn’s careful articulation of the situation, while Dactalla thought it was completely unnecessary. She thought to herslelf, Did Farenn really think that she didn’t know who Qayam was? And that she didn’t know who Qayam knew? She suspected that Farenn knew that she knew these things. But they were both Fallarian. The more mystery another person hid, and the more danger lurked in that mystery, the more that person was valued.
Still, she had lived in Aatari Lok long enough to know that Farenn was intentionally using a noordern communication style. It was for Qayam’s benefit, and was intended to lay a strong and smooth foundation, so that distrust or bitterness wouldn’t find a way to slip through a crack. Underneath, she knew that Farenn valued the cracks and fault-lines as much as she did, and that, were they not dealing with a noorderner, they would explain the situation so that the cracks and fault-lines would appear to be smoothed over yet would in fact guide them to the weaknesses inherent in the situation. And, of course, to a way that they could use these weaknesses to further their communal aim.
So she didn’t interrupt. As usual, she realized that she still had much to learn from the man who could counsel the Demon Priests and yet lead them by the nose.
Farenn continued, “It was your professional suspicion that maintained the veils that protected you from the unknown possibilities of betrayal. But it’s time to remove the veil, and to know that we’re all on the same team.”
As he talked, Farenn saw their faces relax, although they were still so professional that they didn’t let much slip. They were deeply conditioned, self-conditioned even, to keep their real feelings under lock and key. But Farenn felt the energy move between them, and through him to others that he also knew, but that they were yet to meet. But that would come later. Tonight, he intended that he and his two friends would have a good time.
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Qayam and Dactalla were too discreet to say anything about their previous relationship, as they walked together toward The Entertainment District. Farenn’s little talk did, however, clear up the situation for Qayam. He had been uncertain about the reason for the strange distance that had developed in Dactalla, just as he expected that she might want to close the gap. He was relieved, and felt that one part of the puzzle of his life had been solved. This is precisely where he wanted to be: among friendly Fallarians who were so deep in schemes that even he would be kept on his toes.
Qayam and Dactalla walked slightly behind Farenn, and let their hands casually bump into each other. Finally, Dactalla took Qayam’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.
Farenn could see this in his peripheral vision and smiled ever so slightly, although the upturned corner of his mouth fell quickly. He worried for Qayam. He loved him, but there was little he could do to make him a match for Dactalla. Still, the situation had its charm.
He wondered out loud, “Why do they bother to call it The Entertainment District, when the entire planet is about entertainment? Still, I guess this is entertainment of a different kind.”
Qayam asked Farenn if they were heading for the Silver Dragon Saloon. Farenn and he had visited it over a dozen times, and each time was different. Next to the Matterhorn Slope, it was the most astonishing recreational facility that either of them had ever experienced.
By professional habit, Dactalla pretended that she didn’t have a clue what the Silver Dragon Saloon was. She marvelled at how universal this tactic was: women from Vicino Concordia to Fallar Discordia, whether they were smart as Fractal Wizards or dumb as army bots, still got where they wanted to go by pretending not to know where they were.
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Next: ✏️ The Girl Who
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