Chapter 54: Choice

Chapter 54: Choice

When he was still sixteen, Aaron sat with his mending basket overlooking the Minnows lake, a rat next to him. Gwen and Clever Hands and the rats less agreeable brother were on the next ledge over, because he wasnt fool enough to let his good sewing thread anywhere near their attempts at fishing. The last time Clev had found them unguarded, hed wasted nearly two spools tying flies. Aaron hadnt gone all the way to a fancy uptown market to filch greens and golds and baby blues for cave fishto appreciate. Most of them were blind.

Your brothers in an extra special mood today, Aaron commented, because the rat doppel in question looked very much like hed rather be using Clev as their bait. Which was entirely understandable, but he was shooting the same glares at Gwen, and there wasnt anything she could have done to deserve them that hed have caught her in doing.

We just learned about doppel lifespans, Pieran Rafferty said.

What about them?

That they average. That between a rat and a human, forty will be lucky.

Thats a long time.

Pieran paused to give him one of those looks, the kind that said he was missing a thing that uptowners found obvious. To those who expected less, perhaps. But theres two halves to a doppel, and the other might not feel so blessed.

Gwen crowed her triumph as she pulled up her latest catch. He couldnt tell the difference between one hand-sized fish and another from here, but from the way she was dangling its flip-flapping tail in Clevs face, and from the way he was snapping his teeth back, Aaron assumed it was larger than Clevs biggest. Ten more of those, and they might bring back something worthy of being called dinner.

How did it happen, anyway? Aaron asked. If I may ask. That was a lot of you, to get doppeled at once.

Pieran looked out on the dark water, with its slow ripples. There was a rock slide. The family was camping in a cave, just south of the foxs forest. We were to take the pass in the morning. A storm moved through overnight, and it sounded like thunder, when it started. Some of the boulders were as tall as our horses. Too heavy to move. There were just these coins of light through them, after the storm broke. We werent sure how much air they were letting in, so we doused the fires. Everything was dark, except for those little lights.

Slashes of sunlight danced off the water, and speckled the ground around them. There was a crack in the plateaus side higher up the wall behind them. That, plus the mirrors that fishers before them had hauled down here and angled just so, gave a golden cast to the usual darkness below Seventh Down.

There was a rat colony nearby, Pieran said. You could hear them, skittering around in the dark, trying to get into the food. But it was the water that ran out first.

A splash echoed in the lake, somewhere beyond the lights reach. The wave reached them a moment later, bobbing all three fishing lines before breaking against the wall below. Clev pulled up his feet with a yelp, and fussed at his wet fur. Aaron shook a few drops from the shirt he was mending.

Cormac doppeled first. He was already the smallest; I think he thought if he was just a little smaller, he could crawl through to the stream outside. Our aunt tried to kill him. She did kill him, she I couldnt stop her the first, but I wouldnt let her do it twice. Neither of us could. And from there, well. Some of us left, through those little holes. We didnt dig out the ones that stayed.

Its a good thing the rats were there, Aaron said, pulling a stitch through, or you would have all died.

Another one of those looks. You have a uniquely practical perspective, Aaron, he said, as if there were any other way to see it. Better to have the choice between dead anddoppeled than to just be dead.

On the next ledge over, Kierans line twitched.

Pull it up, pull it up, pull it up, Clev chanted.

Slower, slower, Gwen said.

You want to know the worst of it? Pieran said. We went back to give them their rites proper. There was no rock slide. It wasnt far from the forest, but we never thought I remember prying at rocks until myour hands bled. I remember it. He flexed his hands, which bore no scars from such work.

The fox?

Who else? he asked, like it was a real question. One hed thought on, more than just today. The entrance was clear as when wed entered. And there they were inside, like they could have just walked out.

They could have. You did.

We did, Pieran agreed. Is life really that simple, down here?

If he thought that was simple, he was the one whod come from a simple sort of place.

Kieran drew his catch in, with a deliberately moderate speed that seemed chosen to irritate his companions equally. Still, there was a self-satisfied smirk on his face when it hit the first sunbeam.

Youre rats, Aaron said. But youre not Twokins rats, and you clearly dont want to be.

No. Hiding in caves and being proud of a history no one else knows is not precisely the life I envisioned.

So why are you settling for it? Aaron asked, and let the silence after that question stretch.

On the next ledge over, Gwen reached over to give Kieran a jab before he could speak. It wasnt him Aaron had brought here for a chat. Clev leaned back, twitching his line between idle fingers, his round ears slanted their way.

The way I hear it, Aaron said, uptowners have got all these laws and such that they say everyone has to follow. And here you all are, a family that was rich and powerful and well known all over Last o the Isles. A family whos still got family up there, and all those people that knew you before. Maybe people whod agree you didnt have any real choice in what happened. Wouldnt be a bad thing, if we could get you ruled blameless. Thats what you uptowners would call a precedent, isnt it? Theres many down here who could squirm through a loophole that size. It would be the kind of start weve been looking for. If youve only a decade or two left, dont you want to make it count?

Pieran had yet another look for him. It was a bit different than the others. Youre worth more than how he treats you, Aaron.

Which was not a real reply, and Aaron did not see how it was at all relevant. But before he could get them back on track, there came the rather distinct sound of something large working its way down the scree-floored tunnel behind them. That was another thing Aaron rather liked about this meeting spot, personable lake monsters aside; it was hard for anyone without wings to sneak up on them there. And there were fewer with wings than one might expect; bats didnt usually care to doppel, and birds didnt usually care to stay.

The golden-furred wolf was, unfortunately, exactly who Aaron had been expecting. At the bottom of the slope, and with the services of his nose no longer required for tracking, the man shook himself out and stood again on two legs.

Sir, Aaron said, standing to greet him.

Gwen had done so, as well. Clever Hands gave a few more tugs of his line before turning around.

The mans gaze settled on the brothers first. Rafferty, isnt it? Ive had a few complaints about your family.

About that, Clev said, scratching an ear. Figured wed have a little chat with them, sir. Introduce them to the Minnow, like the friendly neighbors we are.

I knew that was a threat, muttered Kieran. Which was more helpful than he knew.

Aaron, the man said, after a moment more. A word.

He left his mending behind. Gwen would bring it back for him, though whether shed save his thread from Clev or help him pilfer it was an entirely different matter.

The man dropped an arm over his shoulders. His next words were whistled, in the tongue hed once been born to. I told you to stay away from them.

They have contacts, Aaron trilled back, because while hed not been born to the griffins tongue, hed certainly been raised with it. Outside of here. I thought

Thought that anyone they know wouldnt look down on us just as much as they do? Just living here doesnt make them our people, Aaron. They dont want to be ours.

Aaron knew that. He did. But he knew how to work with people who looked down on him, too. We need more on our side than those who already agree with us. We need people who can help change things, in the uptown

Those contacts of theirs? Theyd want to help them, not us. Were strong enough to keep the guards at bay. The rat hunts dont catch any of ours, now. You need to learn when good enough is good enough, Aaron; pushing for more will only risk what weve got.

You used to talk about more than this, Aaron said. You used to want more.

The mans hand squeezed his shoulder, in sharp reply.

Behind them, he caught a glimpse of Pieran with his brother, talking too low to hear.

The man was still talking too, but Aaron hardly understood the things he said, anymore.

* * *

Aaron didnt have conflicted feelings towards wearing a wolf skin. Mostly, he thought, he understood how powerful the man had always felt. And how confined. A wolf wasnt any real power down in a cave. Hed just been another dead man, even if hed kept moving for a while.