Folding the Sky

-10-

Zuri found Aldric in the train's snack car, eating sullenly out of a small dish of bar nuts.

She smacked his hand away automatically, without thinking about it. His gaze trailed up to hers in surprise. "Zuri?"

Zuri sighed and drew her hand back. So much for easing into the conversation, she supposed. "Everyone knows you're not supposed to eat those. Didn't you know you're not supposed to eat those?"

"Well, I was hungry, and they were available," Aldric grumbled, and swiveled the stool on which he sat, so that his back was to her. A beat of silence stretched between them, only interrupted by the faint rumble of the train's wheels against its tracks. The ground swayed beneath Zuri's feet.

"Zuri," Aldric said again, his voice quieter this time. "Why did you come looking for me, exactly?"

"To talk to you," she said. "Obviously."

"About what?"

Zuri pursed her lips, and turned, casting a brief glance over her shoulder. Through the window in the train car door she could just vaguely see where the other Celestials sat, only Kalindi's face visible from this direction. She hadn't realized it until later, until now, really, but Zuri had been expecting meeting the other Celestials to be like discovering a new family, almost. After all, they had more similarities than they did differences—the meteor had made sure of that.

When it came down to it, Zuri had wanted it to be easy. And it was far from easy.

Zuri slid onto the seat beside Aldric's, her back resting against the counter, elbows propped up. "I'm sorry."

Aldric said nothing, but he looked at her, his blue eyes bright with interest.

"Back when we visited you at the jail," Zuri explained, "and I looked into your mind. I know it's not the most pleasant experience, having someone pry into your memories like that, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

"You're right," Aldric muttered. "It wasn't pleasant. Far from it. But at the same time, I'm not sure I would have listened to you if you hadn't."

Zuri blinked. It was a weird answer, she thought. She didn't quite know how to make sense of it. Had she been forgiven, or not? She searched for evidence in his face, but there was none. His expression was still, only a faint but characteristic furrow to his brow, as if he were constantly on the brink of frowning. It was like attempting to read a blank wall.

"I should tell you this," Zuri began, easing off the counter, folding her hands neatly in her lap instead. She stared at where her fingers pressed wrinkles into the fabric of her skirts, ignoring the blare of the train's horn, the world zipping by outside in blurs of green and blue. "Even if Princess Kalindi can't seem to acknowledge you're anything but an assassin, it's simply because she didn't see what I saw."

Aldric scoffed, but Zuri wasn't finished. She told him, holding his gaze, "You may have done bad things in the past, Aldric. But that doesn't make you a bad person."

She'd breached the wall, if only for a second. His lips snuck up into a smile. "Do you mean that," he asked, "or are you just trying to get me to stop sulking and eating bar nuts?"

Zuri lifted her chin. "I both mean it and want you to stop eating bar nuts."

He let out the barest cough of laughter and nudged the tin of nuts away. They both watched it slide down the counter, nearly striking its end. The bartender gave the two of them a strange look.

"You know, to be completely honest," Aldric began, tapping his fingers across the varnished wood. As he did, the barest bristles of ice spread from his fingertips, tiny snowflakes disappearing and blooming again in rhythm. "I can't ever see myself getting along with that princess. She's too—" He scrunched his nose. "Stuffy."