Rising Shards

Tik rose, an electricity to her movements that made us all sit up in our chairs. “Shortly after this, Arctus Kathron, Octa Tarian, Dagor Akuar, and Neut Galatia were all exiled from Quatra. And after that…River and I chased after them. From that information, it would seem as though Arctus Kathron is the culprit behind the death of Do Gomang. But was it merely just an accident? Was it simply a series of construction errors that led to this tragedy? I’m not sure. But I’ve spent most of my life trying to understand what happened and the events that spiraled out from this. And this is the first time in a long time I feel like I have a lead. And that is the moment of Arctus Kathron’s desperate anguish at losing out on his dream exploding out so catastrophically. There is much more to this event, both before and after, but that series of kicks to a shoddily put together event is at the heart of it. I believe Do Gomang’s untimely demise is the key to understanding everything. The roots of all the issues that follow stem from this incident.”

“But if Zeta’s father did it…is that not all?” Oka asked. “Isn’t that the solution right there?”

“Perhaps,” Tik said. “But our end goal is understanding what Arctus Kathron is currently plotting, and while I do know him, I am missing many vital pieces. And I’m picking up the trail here. I am deeply sorry that things have begun in such a confusing manner, especially for those present jumping in with this, but most cases of mine start like this. A mishmash of tragic moments with little rhyme or reason to them. But even if you stop here, I promise I will explain everything once I’ve gathered my final conclusions.”

“I’m invested now,” Kalei said. “I can’t come to every meeting if you do it club style, but I’m down.”

“If it helps Zeta, of course I’ll keep going.” Oka said.

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with any of our classes significantly, I am able to help as well however I can.” Lillia said.

“And really,” Kalei said. “If it’s just sitting and watching memories, that’s nothing. Just another memory trial, basically.”

I bit my lip to not let the emotions overwhelm me, but I did have a swell of relief and gratefulness that I had such amazing friends.

“Magnificent,” Tik said. “The school has allowed me to use this classroom as a spare office to gather my thoughts. For any memory viewing that isn’t in the void, we’ll likely meet here.” A burst of cheering came from the auditorium. “And we should likely start wrapping up so you don’t miss class.”

There were a few knocks at the door. A man in a trench coat and a white wolf Kanibari woman entered, the man carrying one box and the woman had two.

“Excellent timing,” Tik said. “This is Mars and Kara Valor, my dear associates. They’ll be helping out as well.”

“I recognize some of them,” Kara squinted at us. “Met ‘em when we were covering your ass trying to teach an art class without you.”

“Sorry again,” Tik chuckled.

“I think I was doing a great job,” Mars said. “So we’re setting up shop in this lovely classroom?”

“That we are,” Tik said.

“Have we shown up in the memories yet?” Mars asked.

“Why the hell would we be already?” Kara asked. “Unless you took a trip to Quatra’s choosing ceremony that I didn’t hear about.”

“Life’s full of surprises,” Mars said. “And I maybe forgot already what they were going to be looking at today.” He set the box down. “You holding up?”

I thought he was talking to me, and started to babble something but realized he was talking to Tik mid-noise making. Tik nodded, but her expression faded.

“This is different from our other cases,” Mars explained to us. “Usually we’re not this deeply involved in the happenings.”

“And this one’s personal to Tik even deeper than that,” Kara said.

“If you lot could be extra nice to Tik, that’d be swell.” Mars said, smiling warmly.

“I’ll be alright, but thank you.” Tik said. “Zeta and her friends are doing swimmingly so far.”

We weren’t exactly dismissed as Mars and Kara started unpacking documents and such from the boxes, but I wanted to end the meeting summarizing what we knew to keep it as coherent as I could in my head.

“So to go over everything, um, so I get it,” I said. “My parents were at this choosing ceremony, and Mom was just kinda sitting there freaking out, and Dad got all angry and exploded everything. Maybe on accident. And then they got exiled, with those other two.”

“I’m wondering about those guys,” Kalei said. “How do we know they weren’t involved?”

“Trust me, they weren’t,” Tik said.

“Yeah, but can you prove that to us?” Kalei asked. “I can buy Zates’ mom just sitting being all anxious, that’s about what I’d imagine if you told me to picture her mom.”

“I don’t know if I should be insulted or not.” I said.

“But these other guys? Dog Go and whoever?” Kalei asked.

“Dagro Akuar and Neut Galatia.” Tik said.

“Yeah, what exactly were they doing?” Kalei asked.

“I could pull it up,” Tik sighed. “I’m warning you now, I’d rather not share this.”

“You’re just making me more curious!” Kalei said.

“Could you maybe tell us?” Oka asked. “You investigated their involvement at some point then?”

“I did, yes,” Tik said. “My powers have some limitations as to what I can see when pulling up a memory. It’s easy to ‘zoom out’ on things so to speak, but harder to ‘zoom in’ on a specific event. While I’d very much like to scan the choosing ceremony incident completely, with the tethers I have it’s very difficult. But I did meet with the two when I tracked them down. I could show you if you’ll give me a moment. But again, would really rather not.”

Mars stifled a laugh that he tried to cover up with a cough, prompting a smack in the shoulder from Kara.

“Come on, just show it,” Mars said. “It’ll be a perfect note to end the festivities of today on.”

Tik tried to keep a straight face, but the three laughed at some inside joke we didn’t get. “Fine. But just for a second.” She concentrated, bringing up the vision of the choosing ceremony, once more focused on my father. Tik shut her eyes tightly, lifting her hand out, motioning like she was turning invisible dials trying to find the right frequency.

Kalei looked like she did when I said something stupid and she was brewing a way to make fun of me for it. “With the way they’re giggling, I’m wondering, like is it gonna be like these two guys making o—”

Literally right as she said that, the view of the vision turned to what must have been Dagro and Neut passionately kissing each other, in an alleyway to the side of the ceremonies.

“Whoa!” Kalei said as Oka and I yelped and Lillia dropped her pen in surprise.

“Ah. Well.” I managed to say.

“And it goes on like that for quite a while,” Tik said, brushing the vision away. “And because I don’t need to intrude on the two’s privacy any further, let’s move on, shall we?”

“Let’s.” I said.

Mars and Kara couldn’t hold their laughter.

“It’s not the kissing we’re laughing at, by the way,” Kara said. “It’s because Tik spent an entire year thinking those two were maybe the ones that were really behind the stage thing, and she tracked them down, and…”

“She was so intense about it, too,” Mars was practically wheezing. “That the key to this was seeing those two at the choosing ceremony. And they were so embarrassed not wanting her to see twenty minutes of them all entangled up like that, they got all quiet, and she thought that meant she finally had it, and she got them to let her use her power, and brought that up…”

“Very funny, yes, it was quite the spectacle.” Tik said as Mars and Kara kept laughing.

“And it’s not possible those two were doing anything besides making out during that whole thing?” I asked. “Like they rigged it before and that was a kind of victory lap for their evil scheme working?”

“Now you sound like Tik,” Kara said, wiping her eyes. “Trust me, she spent so much time on those two. Their involvement at the ceremony is just that.”

“And to not waste any more of our valuable time on that, I will end our meeting here for today,” Tik said. “Thank you all for this. Any help means a great deal to me.”

Between classes, I pulled Oka, Kalei, and Lillia to a side hallway.

“Hey, um,” I started. “You were all amazing. I know it’s probably annoying to help out on this, but. Thank you so much.”

“It’s not annoying,” Oka said, hugging me. She invited Kalei and Lillia in as well, and a group hug told them how I felt better than I could in words.