The Restored: Chapter Seven

“I think I want to be called Jin,” the young woman walking beside me said. 

“Jin,” I said, nodding. “I’ve met a few people from the south with a similar name. What, Pareiti, Rejnep?” 

“Something like that, I think,” Jin said, nodding her head rapidly. “I don’t really remember much from before the Arenamaster adopted me. I was… young. Two or three I think? But I remember someone named Jin?” 

“Your mother?” I asked. “Or father? I think it’s a fairly unisex name?” 

“I don’t remember,” Jin said, shaking her head. “I just sort of remember the name. It could have been someone completely unrelated to me.” 

I grunted my agreement, then glanced up, built a quick spell in my mind’s eye, and shifted the sewer grate above us. 

“Come on then,” I told her. “The constables might be slow to respond to the undercity, and slower still when it involves anything outside of the cordon, but something of that scope… they’ll still come eventually.” 

“Where are we going?” Jin asked as she lifted herself with the metal plates in her coat. “Or should you not say? You lost your anti-divination device.” 

I spat out a curse, and she gave me a smarmy smile. 

“Careful old man, you’ll start damaging the youth.”

She seemed to be trying for a lighthearted tone to match the smile, but it fell flat. Both of us were physically and mentally exhausted, even if our auras were still mostly full. At least mine was, and given how little she’d done, I assumed she was the same.

“I got so caught up in the violence and action that I forgot it,” I said. “But no, it’s fine. If Nexus or the Arenamaster is watching, they can probably already guess where I’m going. It’s a bit predictable.” 

“Your boyfriend’s apartment?” she asked. I expected that she was teasing me again, but her voice and face were both completely serious. 

“Not my boyfriend, just a friend,” I said as we started walking down the street and I stowed my guns away in my pockets. 

While walking around armed wasn’t technically illegal anywhere in Elderglass, there were very different expectations depending on where someone was. In the undercity, it showed that I was armed and presumably willing to shoot someone who messed with me. In the overcity, it would probably lead to me getting arrested, because even if it was legal to be armed, threatening people wasn’t, and rich people had a way of always making sure things played out how they wanted. 

Here on the street, it probably wouldn’t get me arrested, but it also wasn’t going to make me any friends. People would be more likely to assume that I wanted to mug them than that I wanted to be left alone. 

I glanced at Fake-Mist – no, at Jin. She had her hand on her thin blade and her eyes were darting around all over the place. 

“Relax,” I told her. 

“Oh, gee, thanks, I hadn’t thought of that, just relax, thanks, I’m cured, wh–” 

I put my hand on her shoulder, and used the other to gently pry her hand from her sword.

Because I recognized the look in her eyes. It was fear, fear born out of coming from a place where her interactions with other people had been entirely too limited. Of the only times she had seen others was when she was out to kill, out on a mission. Of someone who had spent their life trapped in a cage, and now had been dumped into the wilderness, not knowing where to go, what to do, or who to trust. 

“Relax,” I repeated.  “There are a lot of people here, and it’s scary. You don’t know a lot of things right now.” 

I tapped her blade. 

“But this is the wrong weapon for the job,” I told her. “Confidence will cut through the dangers of other people here better than steel. Steel is going to just draw more trouble in. You wouldn’t walk around with a candle while fighting a fire mage. Don’t fight a city with a sword.” 

She took a breath and nodded. I heard her mutter ‘confidence’ to herself under her breath a few times, before she looked up. 

“But I’m not confident,” she said. 

“Neither was I,” I admitted easily. “In some places, I’m still not. But here’s the thing.” 

I tapped her head, then mine, then gestured to the city around us. 

“You know that. I know that. But everyone else? They have no clue what you’re thinking or feeling, unless you show it to them with your body language, or if they worm their way into your brain with mind magic. The average person isn’t a mind mage, though. Even if you’re not confident, act like it. Strut around like you’re in an arena.” 

I gave her the gentlest smile that I could manage. 

“I saw how confident you could be when we first met. Channel a bit of that now.” 

“You mean when I tried to shoot you, you redirected the bullet, then broke my gun?” she asked. “I didn’t think I was very confident then.”

It was an absurd statement on multiple levels, enough that I couldn’t help but laugh. My face was overcome with mirth, and a few moments later, she started laughing too. We laughed, probably looking mad to all the world around us for some time, before I finally wiped my eyes. 

“Thanks kid,” I said. “I needed that.” 

“I’m not a kid,” she sniffed. “But… thank you too.” 

“Sure thing. Let’s go,” I said, and we started walking again. Jin walked with a little bit more confidence than she’d held before, and her hand was no longer on the pommel of her sword. I took that as a good sign. It took us a bit of time, but we made it through the streets until I spotted a taxi, which I hailed and we both clambered into the back, and headed towards Rhys’ building. 

We took the lift up to his floor, and then were stopped by the floor guard, Noor, who was valiant as ever. 

“Hello Mister Doggan.” 

She squinted at Jin. 

“And who’s this? I know you and your son were given temporary residence permits, but I don’t know if I can let you take random girls into our apartments. If you’re hooking up with prostitu–”

Jin reacted, her hand lunging for her sword, and I slapped together a few spells as quickly as I could, and moved my body, knocking the sword out of her sheath at an awkward angle, and then freezing it in place. 

“I’m not a prostitute,” she snapped. “I sh–” 

“Remember what I just said? Swords are not the weapon here,” I said, then turned back to Noor. 

“Noor, this is my niece, Kelly’s cousin. I’m not even interested in women, let alone ones half my age. If you could go tell Rhys, I’d like to get her a visitor’s pass.”

I glared at Jin. 

“And Jin, apologize. This isn’t Saxum, you can’t just draw swords on someone for an insult.” 

Jin, who might have been acting the part of a petulant child, or who might have actually been being petulant, scuffed her shoes, and muttered out an apology. 

“Ah, southerners,” Noor said, nodding and scrunching her nose. “Was she rescued from an air pirate crew?”

Jin’s body tensed, and I had to stop my own hand from flexing into a fist.

It was true that Elderglass was the most technologically and magically advanced nation on the planet, even I couldn’t argue that, but the propensity to write off everyone who wasn’t from the city as a lesser bothered me. I’d seen how terrible, barbaric, and violent the people of Elderglass could be.

But in this instance, it could work in our favor. Out of the corner of my eye, the side facing away from Noor, I glared at Jin to try and get her to play along. 

“She was,” I said. 

“It wasn’t a rescue,” Jin sniffed. “I rescued myself, thank you very much.” 

I took a steadying breath. At least she wasn’t actively resisting the lie. 

Noor made a bit of small talk as Jin put her sword away, and I lied nonstop, before she locked the gate and left to go get Rhys. 

Noor, Rhys, and Kelly returned a little bit later, and Kelly froze, the sleep in his eyes clearing rapidly as he eyed Jin. 

“Is that–” 

“Your cousin? Yes,” I said. “Rhys, can we get her logged in?” 

“Of course,” Rhys said, though he was very clearly confused. 

He did a bit of paperwork, and we were let through the gate. Kelly and Rhys held in their comments and thoughts until we were in the apartment, and Rhys lit one of the stronger ward candles to empower the defenses. 

The moment the candle was placed into its little holder, though, both of them whirled around. 

“Is that Mist? She–” 

“How did you get–” 

“Why did–” 

“But she–”

Both of them spewed questions at me, their words running over one anothers until I couldn’t understand either one of them. 

“Hold on, hold on,” I said, putting my hands up in a placating gesture. “I’ve had a really long night. She has too. Let’s put on tea, and we’ll see about answering some of the questions.” 

“And I’m not Mist anymore,” Jin said. “My name is Jin.” 

It took us a long time to work through both of our recountings, and I noticed that Jin made some minor alterations to her story, namely making herself seem a bit more thought out in her choice to help me, rather than it being an emotionally fraught, spur of the moment, snap decision. 

That was fine, though. I wasn’t a psychologist, but I thought it was probably healthy for her to come up with additional reasons that she had left the influence of the Arenamaster.

“Fallen Void,” Kelly swore, shaking his head. “I… That’s so many people.” 

Rhys nodded, his dark eyes full of sadness, then he glanced at the kitchen.

“I think it’s important that we get as much information as possible while we can,” he said. “I can go put on some tea and make a midnight snack for us, so we can talk things out.” 

“I think it’s better if we sleep on it,” I said, shaking my head. “Both of you just woke up. And after flying through fire and taking on collapsing ceiling rocks, I’m exhausted.” 

“You need to get to a doctor soon,” Rhys said, turning to me. “You covered your face, but smoke inhalation isn’t the kind of thing we want to mess with. Both of you, actually.” 

“I don’t like healers,” Jin said reflexively. “Trusting anyone with your health is a weakness.” 

I had to stop the pang that sent through my heart from showing on my face. 

“We can get someone discreet,” I said. “Concrete Crown has some healers that are able to be both professional and discreet.”

Rhys started to say something, but I shot him a glance, and he quieted. 

“How about we discuss this tomorrow?” I offered. “Let's get some sleep.” 

Kelly looked at Jin.

“Are you just going to run away in the morning?” he asked. 

“And go where?” she asked acerbically. 

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “Away?”

“That will just make more problems,” she said. “Don’t be stupid.” 

“Jin, don’t bully Kelly, he was asking a reasonable question,” I said. “Kelly, we’ll trust her not to run away. Let’s not poke a wolf with a stick?”

That got a sulky look from both of them, and a complex one from Rhys. Amused, but also something else that I couldn’t place.

“Fine, fine,” Kelly asked. “Where’s she sleeping? She can’t have the couch, that’s mine.”