I widened my stance and balled my fists at my side, primed for him to move. Just a forward shift of his weight. Just a twitch.
But Rali didn’t move.
“I’m going to be the one,” he said. A tear tracked down his round cheek. He ignored it. “It has to be me. I’m going to attain hakkeyoi, whatever it takes, and then I’m going to stop you.”
“The universe doesn’t work like you think it does,” I told him, my muscles jumping in frustration under my skin. “You need to figure that out and grow up before you get yourself killed.”
He turned to his twin. “Are you coming, Kest?”
“Oi, big man,” Warcry said, stepping forward, “nobody’s going anywhere. We’ll sort this, then move on.”
“There’s no moving on from this,” Rali said. “I can’t stick around and watch this happen.” He looked pleadingly at his sister. “You need to come with me, Kest. If he doesn’t get you killed, he’ll kill you himself.”
The last bit of control I had snapped. I lunged at him.
Warcry slammed into me, dragging me back before I could touch Rali.
“I would never hurt her!” I yelled. “Never!”
Rali ignored me, locking eyes with Kest. “It doesn’t matter if you have an apparatus that keeps you alive now. It’s just a matter of time until there’s someone he wants dead bad enough to rationalize using you. If he can justify ending one innocent life, then he can justify anything.”
The pit of my stomach lurched when Kest took a step toward him, but she just stopped and planted her hands on her hips.
“We’re not leaving, Rali,” she said. “This isn’t a time to run off to seclusion to pout.”
“That’s not what I’m—” He stopped himself, swallowing whatever he’d been about to say. He went on in a calmer voice, though the black lace patterns in his eyes were shifting in silent panic. “You’re taking the wrong side, and you’re doing it for the same wrong reasons he is. Can’t you see that he’s the bad guy here?”
“This isn’t some sword legend where there are heroes and villains,” Kest said. “This is reality.”
“That’s what makes it so much worse.” He let out a puff of breath. “I can’t make your choice for you,” he said, but he said it like he was trying to convince himself.
“Don’t do this,” Kest whispered, grabbing his hand.
Rali shook his head, then slipped out of her grasp and headed for the tree line.
“Come on, big man, don’t bleedin’—” Warcry started to go after him, then let out a string of curses and came back.
Purple and white scales shimmered next to me.
“Rali?” Sushi gulped, watching him go. “Grady, Rali leaves?”
I nodded because I couldn’t force any words out.
The little fish darted after him, then did a sharp turn and swam back to me.
“Alone?” Sushi turned her big blue and brown eyes on me. “Grady, Rali’s alone!”
“Yeah,” I said. My voice was hoarse.
Sushi looked back and forth between him and me, letting out a whine like we were ripping her in half. It took me a second to realize what she wanted.
I swallowed hard. “You should go with him, Sush. He doesn’t like to be alone. He’ll need somebody to talk to.”
Big tears dripped out of her mismatched eyes, and she mashed her round fish face against my cheekbone. I petted her fins back.
“Sushi will protect Rali,” she promised. “Sushi’s useful.”
“So useful,” I choked out.
With a shuddering sniffle, the little purple-and-white fish swam off after him.
Beside me, Kest’s real hand started fumbling with the buckle of her HUD.
“Rali, wait!” she yelled, running after her twin.
Every thud of her boots was a sledgehammer to my solar plexus, but I didn’t move. Rali was her family, of course she would stay with him. Even if she didn’t think he was right, she still loved him.
When the big Selken turned back, relief was etched on his face. His black-laced eyes stopped on me, and there was triumph there, too. That more than anything reminded me that he wasn’t some all-knowing, perfect sage. He was just a guy scared he was going to lose the last family he had left. Kest running after him proved he could be wrong, just like any of us.
But Kest just took off her SignalSong and held it out to him. “Take my HUD. Then we can come pick you up when you’re ready.”
The hope and triumph in his face withered. “I would rather die than have one of those chained to me.”
“Just take it so I know you’re all right.” She tried to press it into his hand, but he pulled away, and the HUD dropped into the grass. Kest’s jaw tightened, and her real and metal fingers balled into fists. “I’ve never asked you for anything in our entire life, Rali.”
He couldn’t cultivate anymore, but the aura that surrounded him then was pure, icy Cold Heart Spirit.
“Don’t start now,” he said.
This time when he went, he didn’t look back.
Kest’s whole body trembled as she watched him go, but from my angle I couldn’t see whether she was crying or just furious.
Rali disappeared into the undergrowth.
Sushi trailed uncertainly behind him, glancing back at me, tears still dripping off her face. When she reached the edge of the jungle, she gave me a wave with one fin.
I couldn’t manage a smile to make her feel better, so I just waved back.
The little fish ducked into the jungle after him.
For a long time, no one said anything.
Then Warcry slammed a burning fist into one of the boulders lining the river. The whole thing shook.
He pulled his bloody knuckled hand down his face. “Take care of yourself, big man.”
As if that was the final nail in the coffin, Kest dropped into the grass and put her face in her hands, sobbing.
I dug my nails into my palms,
