Ari

Ari

Time started to creep as the night went on. The things Rain could overhear were useful but not too interesting. Rain went over her objectives for the night. First, stop Svends people from finding out about her. Until she figured out what was going on, there wasn’t much she could do about that one. Second, gather a list of vulnerable people to make deals with. She could hear Lon snorting from wherever he was hiding as she thought about using people. And lastly, if she had any time, maybe she could perhaps try and make a friend?

Rain had done a good job with the first two goals, so she could spend a little time on the last one, right?

At first, Rain tried to talk with the other children her age, but none of them wanted anything to do with her. Most hid behind their parents' legs, and those who didn’t were cold and hostile.

The rejection forced Rain to confront something: she wasn’t very good with people. When Rain liked someone, her instinct was to hug and get close, but how were you supposed to make friends when people wouldn’t let you close? Her experiences in a slave pit hadn’t helped her learn that, and despite understanding how to manipulate people, Rain didn’t know how to get them to be her friends. It made her wonder what kind of person her past self was.

Her looks didn’t help. She had gotten thin lately; the constant pain in her soul made it hard for her to keep food down. Add in the dark baggs that had returned to her eyes, the black nails, and the twisted hand, and she looked gloomy. Not even a pretty green dress could fix that.

She tried to smile at a nearby group of people her age, but after repeatedly being fled from or having people give her false compliments and offers of friendship, Rain didn’t feel like it. She was pretty sure her attempt came out as more of a grimace.

Unable to make a friend or listen in on any of the conversations - at least any conversations of interest - Rain retreated to the side of the room where she tried to make herself look small and harmless. Maybe if she hid like this, whatever Svend thought would happen today wouldn’t find her.

Rain took a couple of deep, calming breaths. That's right; her desires weren’t important. She wasn’t important. She needed to forget making friends and focus on what she could do to help people like her past self had wanted. Rain sat back and watched the crowd.

For a while, the usual hubbub continued until Rain noticed the crowd thinning. People weren’t leaving but going up the two sets of curving stairs that hugged the outer wall. Rain could see the higher balconies and windows filling up as people watched the stragglers on the bottom floor.

And there were stragglers. Guards at the stairs refused to let certain people ascend. A fair number of the humbler guests, as well as almost all of the children, were denied access. What was the point of inviting these people if they weren’t allowed to join the full party? No doubt, all the juicy conversations were happening up there. There was probably food up there, too, but how could Rain go there without being caught?

She would start with the most basic and try to take the stairs. But as she suspected, one of the guards barred her way.

“Sorry, young lady, but the higher floors are for adults only.”

“But I’m hungry, and there’s nothing to eat down here,” Rain said, trying to look pitiful.

The guard just looked at her with distrust.

“If you must eat, then try asking one of the servants.”

Well, it had been worth a try, but what should she try next? Rain scanned the room. There were other doors and rooms on this bottom floor; maybe there was a stairway somewhere else.

She headed towards a double door, which the servants were using to enter and exit. Before she reached it, a chirpy voice stopped her.

“Hi, I’m Ariana, but my friends call me Ari. What's your name?”

“Yes! Let's be best friends!”

Rain was stunned because those words were entirely true.

“Why? Why do you want to be friends with someone as creepy as me?”

“Because you’re so cool! Like that time you saved me, and I sat in that room with all the mist and the swirly black walls.”

Rain sucked in a breath. This girl knew it was Rain who saved her.

Rain grabbed Ari’s hand and pulled her out of the hall they were in and into an empty room.

“How did you figure out it was me who saved you? Wait a second, how did you know what the walls of that room looked like? You promised you wouldn’t take off the blindfold.”

Ariana broke eye contact and mumbled something about Uncle Manas telling her. Rain noted that while it was the truth, she deliberately didn’t answer about how she knew what the inside of the library looked like.

“Do you promise not to tell anyone about that?”

“Yessir!”

Well, she was being honest, so Rain would have to take it for now. Still, she wondered what she would have to offer to get Ariana to sign a contract, ensuring her silence since she apparently wasn’t good at keeping her promises.

“So, are we really looking for food, or are we on another mission? Are you trying to steal Lord Imter’s treasure?”

That caught Rain off guard. There was a treasure like in the stories? She kinda wanted to steal it now, but no.

“I want to see what I can learn, and the gossip on this floor is all about how badly everyone’s crops are doing this year. I'm also curious about why they decided to invite everyone to this gation.”

“Oh, that last one’s easy. They want to get a scanner next to all the children to check for black classers. Papa says that a lot of the lords are hiding black classers these days, and Arch-lord Tineak wants to find them.”

Rain blinked at that nugget of information. They had a scanner looking for black classers among the lords’ children? Was this how they were searching for Lady Tyix? If so, then it might be a good thing. Rain asked Mr. Purple to show her her information. There it was; her class was a hidden class. Rain was going to bet it meant she couldn’t be found by a scanner. If they were looking for black classers to narrow down the list of suspects, then maybe Rain should let them scan her. But she needed to know how Ari knew about this.

“How do you know that?”

“Uncle Manas told me.” as the words left Ari’s lips, a horrified expression came over her. “Don’t tell anyone I told you that without charging you! Please. We're friends, right? So you won’t get me in trouble.”

For the first time that night, Rain felt like smiling.