Numbering Graves

Ch.21- Family Matters

Two days.

Two days trapped in the same room. Myra groaned into her hands, slamming her sketchbook shut and staring out the window. It was only 1:00pm and she was already bored out of her mind. She had done nothing but draw, eat, read, sleep and stare all this time. All her stuff had been brought up within the first hour, and since- nothing. Unlike her previous window which had a lovely view, this one was barely a narrow slit that peered out into the station. She was lucky enough to have a stalagmite directly in front of her, so her only view was straight down. But, staring did have its perks. So far she had seen ten people trip on a step, three girlfriends finding their boyfriends kissing someone else, and one guard accidentally drop his pants while trying to adjust his belt.

"This is getting ridiculous..." Myra groaned. She hadn't had any visitors, any communication at all from anyone. The only person who even remotely talked to her was Elvira... But that was just through a book. "Still, it's something."

In all honesty, it was a little more than just something. It had given her time to think. Well, overthink anyways. Something about this whole thing just seemed off. They had two, maybe three of the rings now, leaving Ronan with less. Why on earth would that be the case? It hadn't taken much time at all the find the rings. If Ronan was well and truly searching for them he would have found them long ago, far faster than this. Something else had to be going on, but what? She couldn't tell. She was missing some piece of the puzzle-

"Knock knock!"

Myra nearly jumped out of her skin and the sudden noise. Alden's muffled voice came through the metal door. A few moments later a series of quiet knocks rang out and Alden slid the door open. "Hey," he smiled. "How you doing?"

"Fine," Myra replied a bit grumpier than intended. "Sorry, I'm still a bit... ticked."

"Understandable. I know how you feel."

Shaking her head to change her mood, Myra smiled and gestured for Alden to sit. "But, what are you doing here? I thought you would have gone off with Simon and Aeron."

Alden's face dropped a bit. He laughed awkwardly. "Heh, yeah, no umm... Aeron didn't want me coming along. I, uh, chickened out on the last one with the stone and door people. He didn't want me backing out if anything happened. Said I'd only get in the way."

"I know the feeling," Myra sighed back at him.

"But, I know he's just concerned for me. He's always been a bother in that aspect."

"How so?"

"Let's just say you aren't the only one with a bad family past." At Myra's raised eyebrow he continued. "My dad used to be in the same army as Simon, though it took him longer to get out. But he did, he helped Simon and your dad and Elvira and all the others and that... cost him his life. He died doing what was right. But, the Rajagopalan family didn't see it that way," Alden said bitterly as looked out the window towards a memory. "They said my dad had amassed a life debt, one that could only be through service. That's why he was forced to be in the army. My brother and I were the only ones left to pay it off. We din't think the people of Ecrya would make us serve it off, but so many of them had such a deep hatred of the old army since Simon left, of my father, that they said we had to. I was two, but the plan was for me to help my brother pay off five years of debt. Each of us would only have to do two and a-half but Aeron sent me off and did all five by himself."

"He served the Rajagopalan for five years?!"

"Yeah. He gained quite the reputation himself. In their ranks as a warrior and in ours as a spy. But all the same, he suffered so much to keep me safe. He's still doing it now. And I'm sure that's what Simon's doing for you."