This is a later scene from the novel I started
last November. Enjoy. :)
The atrium was virtually deserted once more, save for the few apprentices who still lingered in various corners. Tyatsai slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on the cold floor and staring at the corridor that led to the dining hall. It wasn’t fair, she thought fiercely. It wasn’t fair to have to accept that only some people had the option to make something of themselves, while everyone else could only watch and wait for their chance at their most basic rights. Who made those rules? Who said it had to be that way?
Now came the sound of chairs scraping back from tables, footsteps and voices growing louder. A steady stream of officers began to exit the dining hall, heading to their quarters or going out into the courtyard for a smoke. Still Tyatsai sat there, unwilling to move, waiting for she didn’t know what, staring at the floor.
Lone footsteps echoed off the stones, walking in her direction and sounding unsettlingly familiar. Now was not the time for any kind of encounter. She felt that if anyone spoke so much as a word to her, she might very well explode.
“You look alone,” said Enthon.
“You’re perceptive,” Tyatsai said, only half-sarcastically. Somehow, it was all the derision she could manage to summon. The fire inside was no longer burning quite as powerfully as it had been only a minute ago.
She could almost feel Enthon studying her, trying to determine what kind of mood she was in. She considered telling him it was pointless; she herself was suddenly feeling confused.
“Something’s wrong again,” he said finally.
“What kind of thing?” Tyatsai said, playing absently with one of the laces one her shoe in order to appear occupied and avoid having to meet his gaze.
“You’re angry with me, aren’t you?”
Well, yes. She was. But somehow she couldn’t exactly remember why.
Three or four slaves came in from the courtyard, whispering amongst themselves, and came to an abrupt stop when they saw Enthon. Tyatsai looked up and saw that they were some of the new ones. Immediately she remembered what had caused her to start burning again. The slaves’ expressions were part uncertainty, part inexperienced fear, and for a moment they stood frozen, not sure what to do.
“Have you been showed where to go?” Enthon asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence, his voice mild. “Where you’ll be sleeping?”
“No,” one of them replied timidly, and hastily added, “sir.”
“It’s just down this hallway – there are plenty of empty rooms. Take whichever ones you want.”
“Any of them?”
“Yes,” Enthon said, “one to a room, unless you’re married.”
The slaves exchanged surprised looks. “Thank you,” the only man in the little group said, and they made their way in the direction he had pointed out, chancing curious glances back at him as they went.
“Is that what you were celebrating?” Tyatsai said quietly, watching them go. “Is that why you had that nice little banquet?”
Enthon said nothing until the new slaves had disappeared into the corridor. “You are angry with me.”
“I don’t know why I should be,” Tyatsai said, standing up. “I ought to be used to it by now.” She turned to leave, but was stopped by his voice.
“Where are you going?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Tyatsai said, turning back around to face him. “Hadn’t you dismissed me yet?”
“Tyatsai,” he said firmly. She looked down, her cheeks suddenly flushed. “Is it at all possible for you to look at me as a human too? Or are you always going to treat me as if I think I’m so much better than you?” He sounded almost as angry as she had felt earlier. “You act as if you know me, but you don’t,” he continued. “We’re not all the same.”
“But you all do the same things, don’t you?” she said in a low voice.
“You think this was my idea?” he asked. “I really have very little power over most of what goes on here. All of these plans were in place far before I ever showed up.”
“Why are you telling me that?”
“Because, for some reason, I feel like I owe you and everyone else an explanation.”
She looked up at him. “You never thought you owed us anything before,” she said sullenly.
“Look,” he said, exasperation in his tone, “I have to follow orders too, you know.”
“But some things are worth resisting if they’re wrong,” she said. “Aren’t they?”
He was silent for a few seconds. “Like me?” he said quietly.
