Chelen City: Chapter Five, Part One

Notes: Ah, never did the course of true love run smooth…or parenting.

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Five, Part One

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Chapter Five, Part One

Kieron was far too perceptive for his own good sometimes. “No,” he immediately said.

“I didn’t say anything!” Elanus protested.

“I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no.”

“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

“Do you honestly think you can keep something like what you’re thinking a secret from me?” Kieron demanded, putting his plate aside and getting to his feet. “Didn’t we just talk about this? No!”

“What are you talking about?” Ryu asked tentatively. Elanus could feel the man’s implant poking around, trying to access things that he shouldn’t, and he slapped the attempt down, leaving Ryu blinking and probably with the beginnings of a headache.

“This is a matter of life and death,” Elanus pointed out.

“It could be a matter of your life and death if you go out of your way to help someone who made a legitimate attempt to assassinate you,” Kieron replied. His hands were clenched into fists by his side, and his elegance of movement had become brisk and stilted, efficient. The movements of someone on the verge of taking action. Elanus didn’t want to think about what kind of action he was considering.

“That’s not how things work on Gania,” Elanus said for what felt like the tenth time today. “I already told you, attempted assassination is a cultural tool that we use to—”

“Potentially killing someone isn’t the equivalent of theater,” Kieron snapped. “The fact that you can take it lightly doesn’t mean that someone isn’t still attempting to murder you. What if you miss a tell? What if you’re not on guard? What if you die? Then what happens to everyone?”

Was this…about the girls? “That’s what a will is for,” Elanus said as gently as he could while still pretty pissed off. “And mine is ironclad.”

“Really.” Kieron’s expression was completely flat. “You’ve named me the beneficiary of what amounts to a very significant portion of your overall fortune; me, a foreigner under the auspices of a mental health professional who’s gone out of her way to get her claws into me? This doesn’t strike you as the sort of thing to be challenged in the courts? Do you want to make me into a single parent on the run?”

“Why are we still talking as though I’m about to be killed?” Elanus asked. “Because we’ve put a pretty comprehensive stop to that.”

“Um…” Ryu pressed a hand to the bridge of his nose. “I feel like maybe I…”

“No, you stay out of this,” Kieron said. “You’ve done plenty already, you—why was it so goddamn impossible for you to try to make a fucking appointment with Elanus, huh? No, let’s not get on his calendar and talk like reasonable people, let’s use the ninja method and hope his self-defense skills are up to the task, which they aren’t, that’s why I’m here—”

“That’s not the only reason you’re here,” Elanus interrupted, unease curling through his gut. “You know that. I didn’t beg you to come to Gania just to use you for your admittedly excellent skills, I asked you to come here because I want you here. We all want you here.”

“Then act like it! Have a modicum of self-preservational skills and don’t feel the need to go out of your way to get answers for someone who—”

Elanus saw red. “It’s my disease too!” he shouted. “Elfshot Disease is a curse for those of us who suffer from it. It ruins lives every single day on Gania, and it would be morally indefensible of me not to act to try to find the information that could cure us just because it’s coming from an unlikely source.” Kieron opened his mouth to speak, but Elanus cut him off. “No, don’t say anything right now, don’t say that you understand or that you get it, because you don’t. You don’t know what it’s like. You think I want to be weak? You think I want to have to wonder if this bump or that bruise or, god forbid, losing my mind in bed with you is going to lead to a rupture that could kill me?”

Some of the stiffness had left Kieron’s posture, but it was replaced by bitterness in his voice. “Oh, well then definitely, the thing to do is ask your daughter to take on any potential fallout for you.”

“Don’t you fucking talk to me about her like—”

“Elanus,” Ryu tried again. “I’m not so sure that I—”

“We’re not done talking, you shut up,” Elanus said to him. “Look, Kieron, I understand what you’re getting at with your slippery slope argument, but I think in this case the potential for good clearly outweighs the negatives. Guided by us or not, this is the sort of thing she—both of them, really—are going to have to deal with someday, and it’s not an angle that I’m uncomfortable with. This is the needs of the many over the fears of the few.”

“There will always be another reason to make the wrong choice,” Kieron replied. He looked exhausted all of a sudden. “It’s the easiest thing to justify in the universe. And no matter how you dress it up or make allowances for it, the truth is that if you ask her to do this, whatever the benefit, you’re putting a hell of a lot of risks squarely onto her, and I don’t think she’s ready for that yet. I don’t think it’s fair, and I don’t think it’s safe. Who knows how many people know about this research? There must be a team of developers, of doctors, maybe even investors who are going to be keen to discover any hint that the treatment plan is out in the open.”

“I can retroactively make it look like I’ve been developing this on my own.”

“You don’t even know exactly what it is you’re looking for yet, how are you going to—”

“Elanuuuuu…” Ryu collapsed to the floor before he finished the word, bleeding from his nose.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Elanus ran for his in-office, Elfshot-ready Regen unit while Kieron rolled Ryu over onto his back, carefully checking for damage.

It could have been when I nudged his brain. Shit. Is he that fragile?

Whatever. Save him first—he might be a shit, but Elanus didn’t want him to die.

Win this fight second.