Temple Palace

Chapter 6: Tek

Tek sat curled in her window, her head tucked next to her knees. They had given her a white night dress. It was soft and thin with age. The cool breeze from outside pushed the rain towards where she was sitting with her window unlatched.

Outside in the courtyard the showers were turning the training yard into a muddy pile. Guards walked around the perimeter, watching both inside and outside.

She didn't understand how Tracer could live here. It was like a prison; the constant supervision, the weapons, the guards.

The rain was soaking through her dress, but she still didn't close the window. The water was the only thing that was alive in this world. This kingdom and everything in it was full of death. The machines that burned fuel, the weapons they made. The soldiers that fought and died in wars. They preformed their jobs meticulously, without love for what they did.

No one should have to do something they didn't love. That was one of the rules of the Realms. The Job Seekers made sure that everyone was fitted with the right job. Something they enjoyed doing, something they excelled at. Everyone had a right to be happy.

That's why no one had questioned her when she asked to be trained as a Night Warden. It was her right as a citizen of the Realms to have any job she was proficient at. And she was a great Night Warden. Her previous training as a priestess ensured that she kept her head calm in any situation. She could blend into crowds perfectly, and her small physic enabled her to squeeze into tight places.

The Night Wardens, along with the Day Wardens, were the police of The Realms. Since no crime had been committed in The Realms in 10 years, their policing was nontraditional. The main job of the Day Wardens was to assist the Royal family with their every day tasks. The Night Wardens, however, had a special job. They were the spies.

A shuffling noise in the room next to her brought Tek out of her thoughts. The occupant of the room seemed to have not fallen asleep yet either.

Tek could not picture herself sleeping in the bed they had provided her with. It was comfortable enough, down feathers and soft linens. But ever since she had arrived in Matres she hadn't been able to fall asleep. Only short naps, and fit-full ones at that. She had slept peacefully for the first time last night in Tracer's bed.

She slipped off of the windowsill and moved to the door, pushing it open lightly.

Tracer lay in the middle of his bed, the covers pushed and bunched around him. As she watched him he rolled over onto his side, then back again. Then he suddenly sat upright and stared at the doorway in the dim light.

"Tek?" He asked sleepily.

She moved across the cool stone floor and crawled onto the bed to warm her frozen toes. The proximity seemed to embarrass him. He hastily reached for the candle on his bedside table and lit it.

"My god! You're soaked!" He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her tightly. Gently he brushed her soaked hair away from her face. She closed her eyes and absorbed the feeling.

Then she quickly pulled away. She couldn't start to get attached to him. That would affect her judgement. Besides he was already engaged to someone else.

"Tell me about them?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrow, not understanding. "About who?"

"Your gods. I want to know about them."

He sighed. "Why?"

"Because I want to understand. They are different from mine," she explained to him.

He again lifted one of his eyebrows at her. It was a motion that Tek instantly wished she could copy. Until she realized the ability was far out of her reach.

"Really? Okay. Umm ... After the war a thousand years ago, our people looked around at the vast battle field and realized that the war had destroyed everything. A Messiah appeared to lead our people to a new life. We built a new home for ourselves and were very happy for many years."

"Until?" Tek prodded.

Tracer sighed. "Until the wars started."

He was silent then, as if he had finished his story, but Tek wanted to know more. She still had so many questions. "Why did you start another war when you already knew how the last one ended?" She asked.

"We didn't start it! We were only defending ourselves!"

Tek pulled the blanket closer around herself and gave him a look. "Really."

"Fine. So the war might have been slightly our fault. But what were we supposed to do? By that time everyone who was alive when the last war ended, was long dead. No one was wise enough to stop us." He shrugged at her. "And we've been fighting ever since."

"That's sad." Tek said. "The priests or priestesses that worshiped the last Messiah should have Remembered and guided the people."

Tracer shrugged. "Well, they didn't."

"They lost hope. So they failed."

Tracer frowned at her words.

She realized that he wouldn't understand the responsibility of a priestess, to guide her people and protect them. That was the job she had had in The Realms. Any person that faltered in their paths, or failed, was a personal failure for the priestess.

Being a priestess came with many responsibilities that Tek hadn't always felt ready for. It was part of the reason for her leaving to train as a Night Warden. Priestesses were intuitively expected to be perfect citizens. So even the smallest error was magnified in others eyes. Tek had hated that.

"What are your gods like?" Tracer asked.

"Goddess. We have a Goddess, named the Chamera." Tek smiled. "Our story is much like yours. After the war we realized the we had destroyed everything. The Chamera led us to a new life and educated us so that it wouldn't happen again. Now we live peaceful, happy lives. There is no violence, or lies. We don't have money, because there is no greed. There is no hunger, because there is no poverty. Everyone does what makes them happy."

"That sounds nice."

"It is." Tek said simply. "And you can have that life too, if you want. It's the life you were born to."

Tracer made a strage angry groaning noise at her. "Tek, I'm not who you think I am."

"Who do I think you are?" She asked, confused.

"I'm not that kidnapped boy. I never was."

She reached out and grabbed his head, placing her hands on either side of his face. She let the blanket slide off her shoulders, forgotten. "You are, and I can prove it. Close your eyes."

He did.

She pulled his head closer until their foreheads were touching. She had to rise onto her knees to reach him properly. And then she concentrated.

She heard a gasp from Tracer, but she didn't let it distract her. She instead focused on a far off memory of children playing hide and seek. The view was blurry, but she held it until a boy with messy brown hair was visible, running down a hallway. The scene was shown through the eyes of someone much smaller, Tek, when she was a little girl.

She reluctantly pulled away and met his gaze. "That was us, when we were little. Do you remember?"

He frowned at her. "How did you do that?"

She sighed. She wanted him so much to remember. If he couldn't, it meant that somewhere in his head, the memories were totally missing. And if they were missing, it meant they were never coming back. That he might never come back.

"I was just sharing my memories with you. Everyone can do it, with the right training." He continued to stare at the blank stone wall in front of him. "Tracer? What is it?"

"That building," he asked, "where was it?"

"Inside the Temple Palace, the capital building of The Realms. We used to always play there. Why?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"Because," he said, shocked, "I remember it."