Slant of Light

Requiem of the Moth S02 C11

Content warnings¹

The ferns have stopped dripping. Without the soothing background noise, the Zillia Downs are still, crystallised. It reminds Usira of something a Silvedhri told him at a clan gathering many yarns ago: that on the surface, the temperature and behaviour of the sky changes depending on the time of year. Seasons, they call it. He wonders if weather on the Downs is divided into a rainy season and a dry season.

Still, everything is wet and the light is stronger, nearly blinding. When he arrives, exhausted from his flight, he crawls into the first hole—not quite a cave—that he finds and hides until his various aches have quieted down.

He fashions a spare belt into a cowl and wraps his brow, shadowing his eyes from the glare. Many Sedrivar believe that even this little sunlight, as diffuse as it is, could blind them if they stay in these caves for too long. Usira wishes he had asked a doctor before sneaking out of the city. As it is, he hopes to intercept the next Silvedhri coming through and squeeze them for all the information he can get. He will need it.

I can never go back. The prospect makes him shudder.

He squints at the ceiling, comparing its structure to the rough map in his memory. He has drifted off to the southern tip of this cavern and cuts through a thicket of waist-high fern. On the other side, he finds the path he was looking for, that leads to a rocky ledge overlooking the entrance.

Vylira, too, was driven from Kandamsin after Yun took the treasury from her. Clan member that she is, however, she will never have to fend for herself in the wilds. She never had to completely cut herself off from civilisation. She never had to sacrifice herself for her family.

Clan members wouldn’t do what he has done, anyway. To them, family is just a collection of tacit alliances that can shift and change at any point in time.

That’s certainly what Usira is to Yun. Perhaps that’s all he ever was.

He shakes himself. It doesn’t matter now. He will learn to live on the surface and never look back. As long as he stays away, his family will be safe—that’s all he wants to think about.

Taking a deep breath, he climbs the rocky ledge—ignoring the fact that the last time he was there with Yun—and gazes over the lush carpet of plants and ponds below. If the Silvedhri find joy in their nomadic lifestyle, so can he.

---

Yun is halfway through the city when a woman he has never seen before stops him in the middle of the street. “Wait. Wherever you think you’re going, it’s a bad idea.”

“Excuse me.”

He makes to brush her off but she grabs his arm with surprising force. Hissing, he shoves her but she pivots and has his arm pinned behind his back before he can yell. His shoulder cracks, punctuating his surprise. He might not be the best martial artist in the city but he is also far from the worst. “Who…”

“Have you missed me?” she purrs into his ear and he finally recognises the smoky voice.

Ulan. “How did you…”

“Shhh,” she whispers. “I know about your moth catcher. As soon as I heard, I came… to warn you against doing something stupid.”

He flexes his arm but her grip is iron. Where has this woman trained to get so strong? “Unhand me!”

“Only if you calm down and listen to me. After that, you may storm off although I hope that by then, you will have reconsidered.”

“I don’t have the time.”

“It will be worth it, I vow it by Isvalri Usira’s life.”

What an odd expression. He nods. When she steps back, he straightens and adjusts his sleeves, huffing in barely contained anger. Every beat he is standing here, chatting, Usira might get farther away from the city. From where he is supposed to be. Still, he sends Zhiven to keep watch at the mouth of the alley. “Out with it,” he prompts.

Ulan leans back under a dark overhang. Even in the dim, her maskless features are lovely, her amber gaze full of spark. “If you force the city guard to scrap his crime using your only authority, it will weaken your standing. Significantly. You have worked many yarns to get where you are now. Will you really throw it all away for him?”

Contempt? He stores the observation for later inspection. “I have to save him,” he insists.

She observes him. He doesn’t bat an eyelid. Finally, she nods. “How?” There’s a command, a challenge in her voice wafting like precious wood smoke to the cavernous ceiling.

Yun takes deeps breath while his mind whirrs. Perhaps this is what Ulan wanted after all, to get him to slow down and think before acting. The Deep knows Usira brings out his anger, his desperation like no one else. “I need to give the guard someone else to arrest,” he begins. “Otherwise Usira will never be able to return to his family and keep his profession. Their reputation is in tatters.”

“The clans are out for blood.”

“We still have no clue who really planted the parasite though. It might have been the course of nature and the Isvalri were just unlucky.”

“I might be able to provide a culprit for you,” Ulan interjects.

He rounds on her. “You know who did it?”

“That’s not what I said.” She smiles.

Yun stares at her. Time passes as he digests. “You’ll give me something or someone to satisfy their blood lust in exchange for…”

“Your continued patronage of our organisation,” she says with a dainty little bow. “Of course, we’re not unreasonable. We won’t demand more than you can give but we expect you to pay promptly. No grumbling, no silly hide-and-seek games. You know I’ll always win those.”

As much as he still doesn’t know about Ulan, he is sure about that. An accomplished martial artist with the power to override command of his own puppets… If all Ithreyesh members are like her, it is an organisation to be reckoned with. To keep a close eye on. As if he didn’t have enough problems already.

“Are we agreed?” she asks, snapping him back to the present. First Usira, then everything else.

“Agreed,” Yun says.

When Ulan steps closer to whisper her plan into his ear, his eyes widen.

Author Notes

Since I’m still writing nonfiction rather than fiction, this is the last backlog chapter. Usira’s quiet loneliness far from loved ones clashes with Yun’s frantic leap to action to save ‘his’ moth catcher in a contrast that wasn’t pre-planned but still feels right. I hope Yun’s scene shows more of his true feelings too. He has to act cool and indifferent in front of other people but once he’s alone, there’s no stopping him.

(It’s not healthy to keep everything bottled up, you know.)

No matter how this season ends, I hope he learns to express his feelings a little more freely. It’s definitely part of the development arc I have planned for him, just as Usira might have to learn to be a little less righteous and judgemental. Ideally, the changes they’re undergoing will bring them closer together too, teach them to better tolerate each other’s faults.

I’ve been thinking about relationships. They require some compromise from both partners but it’s tricky to determine the golden ratio: who has to compromise more, who gives up less and why, where to draw the line and call it quits when it just doesn’t work. I’m still not sure whether Yun and Usira will find some equilibrium with each other as their lives remain turbulent. I hope you’re as eager as I am to find out.

1. Mention of parasites