{"id":432,"date":"2024-05-22T22:50:20","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T02:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=432"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:49:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:49:29","slug":"identity-theft-chapter-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/identity-theft-chapter-31\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 31"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\">\ntt {\nfont: .857em menlo, monaco, consolas, monospace;\nmargin: auto;\n}\nh2 {\ntext-align: center;\n}\nh2.chapterhead {\nmargin-bottom: 2em;\ntext-align: center;\n}\n  .nowrap {\n    text-indent: 0;\n    display: inline-block;\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><b>Title:<\/b> The Changeling Game <small>(Formerly <i>Identity Theft<\/i>)<\/small><br \/>\n<b>Author:<\/b> Ardath Rekha<br \/>\n<b>Chapter:<\/b> 31\/?<br \/>\n<b>Fandom:<\/b> TCOR AU<br \/>\n<b>Rating:<\/b> M<br \/>\n<b>Warnings:<\/b> Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language<br \/>\n<b>Category:<\/b> Gen<br \/>\n<b>Pairing:<\/b> None<br \/>\n<b>Summary:<\/b> As Jack and Kyra prepare to join the Rif in saying good-bye to its favorite son, they try to confront the possibility of a future without the help he offered them.<br \/>\n<b>Disclaimer:<\/b> The characters and events of <i>Pitch Black,<\/i> <i>The Chronicles of Riddick,<\/i> and <i>The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury<\/i> are not mine, but belong to Universal Studios.  I just <i>wish<\/i> I were in charge of their fates.  No money is being made off of this.  I\u2019m writing strictly for love of the story.<br \/>\n<b>Feedback:<\/b> Absolutely, the more the better!  Shred me, whip me, beat me, make me feel grammatical! I post \u201crough,\u201d so I can always use the help. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<input type='hidden' bg_collapse_expand='6a8e7d2bb1fa07050444064' value='6a8e7d2bb1fa07050444064'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e7d2bb1fa07050444064' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e7d2bb1fa07050444064' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e7d2bb1fa07050444064' class='bg-showmore-plg-button bg-green-button  '   style=\" color:#D9ECFB;\">Long post is long. Click to read the story.<\/button><div id='bg-showmore-hidden-6a8e7d2bb1fa07050444064' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">31.<br \/>\n<u>Paint It White<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For the next four of Tangiers Prime\u2019s interminably long days, New Marrakesh felt like one enormous funeral.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Processions flowed, repeatedly, from both the hospital downtown and the makeshift morgue out at the spaceport to the dozens of mosques scattered through the city and up into its hillside suburbs. At least one, every hour, passed through the streets of the Rif to reach the large mosque on a hilltop behind it. The processions, for the most part, were somber and quiet. Everyone wore white.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was the color of funerals, Takama told Jack and Kyra, the color of mourning, meant to help shepherd the way to eternity. Most brides on Tangiers Prime wore different colors for their weddings, although sometimes <i>one<\/i> of their dresses would be white.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There were no weddings that week.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The worst processions were the ones with tiny biers. Whole families, traveling together, welcoming home members or seeing members off, had died in the blast, and far too many had been children. Jack couldn\u2019t see anything beneath the white cloth coverings being borne uphill, but the small shapes were more than enough on their own.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Transports arrived frequently, delivering food and medical supplies, and left filled with coffins. Dozens of off-worlders were traveling home in them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The glitter of downtown, as seen from their window, was mostly intact. But most north, west, and northwest-facing windows had been shattered by the blast. Repair scaffolding had begun to go up around many of the structures. Jack and Kyra still found shards of glass in their own bedroom each evening when the light caught them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sebby enthusiastically chased after insects foolish enough to come through the empty panes of the bedroom\u2019s west window. Watching him hunt was entertaining enough that they\u2019d decided to leave it uncovered unless a rainstorm came. His antics were the only levity they had. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Other tenants in the building were already griping that it might be months before the damage to their units was fixed, and many were planning on moving out. Where, exactly, they expected to go was a mystery to Jack; many more people had been rendered homeless by the blast than had died in it, and even simple walks downtown had become overcomplicated.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">On the second night, during the midnight hour when most of the sound and motion had ceased, she and Kyra had slipped down the hill to the transport station and their lockers to rescue their false IDs before anyone thought to start going through unclaimed contents. The locker that had contained Tomlin\u2019s ID and funding cards was vacant, its key already returned. He must, Jack thought, have collected his package before he went to the spaceport.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She had planned to find a way to isomorph the package out of the locker if it had still been there, so that nobody would have ever known the alternate ID existed\u2026 and so she could have given the funding cards to his family. That money was every bit as lost as any cash people had been carrying in the blast zone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">On the way back up into the Rif, a man in military uniform demanded to see their identification for the first time since they had arrived. The cards Jack had laboriously created passed muster, but they were warned not to violate curfew again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The curfew, which had only just gone into effect, was apparently part of the manhunt in progress for the bomber. Some survivors had seen him leaving the spaceport; new sketches with greater detail were in circulation. So far, no one had seen him since, but checkpoints were appearing throughout the city. Locals spoke in hushed tones about the concern that the checkpoints and curfews might not go away after he was caught.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The newsfeeds covered hot debates, at the local and planetary level, about whether and how much security should be tightened at the spaceports. Engineers argued about how to prevent another hydrolox-M explosion in the future. Chemical engineers spoke of switching to less volatile fuels, while structural engineers argued for radically redesigning the fueling systems that were standard at every spaceport. Everybody seemed to want to find one quick and easy thing they could do to eliminate the new threat decisively, but nobody could agree on what that one thing would be.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even though the man shadowing Tomlin hadn\u2019t actually been a terrorist, he had accomplished the goals of one: everyone was living in fear and in search of a sacrificial object they could burn to make things go back to normal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Through it all, while Jack carefully sidestepped higher security protocols to secure the two of them additional funds, she and Kyra found themselves killing time in the apartment to stay out of the way of the processions, watching Sebby play, and occasionally even talking. Conversations dragged, replies coming after long, vacuous pauses. On the day of Tomlin\u2019s memorial, the desultory talk became more serious. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo where does all of this leave us?\u201d Kyra asked as Jack was arranging for a money drop.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack shrugged. It was hard to feel urgent about anything. She knew she wouldn\u2019t be staying much longer, but a deep malaise had crept in, not dissimilar from the one that had settled over her while she\u2019d lived with the al-Walids. In some ways, it felt worse; Riddick had left her, yes, but Tomlin had been stolen from her and Kyra right as the bond between them had tightened into something she\u2019d thought would be unbreakable. Now she just felt empty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cUp to you, really.\u201d She looked over at Kyra, trying not to seem completely uncaring. She <i>did<\/i> care. But the silence inside her had only grown. In the al-Walid house, she had tried to escape it with a razor. Now, she had other, less nihilistic ideas of what to do about it. But first she had to make sure Kyra was going to be okay.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It suddenly hit her that <i>that<\/i> was what Kyra was no longer sure about.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDo you still want to stay here?\u201d Jack asked, realizing that what had been a foregone conclusion just days ago might be in doubt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2026\u201d Kyra started, and then paused. She looked up at the ceiling, blinking a few times before she continued. \u201cI don\u2019t know anymore,\u201d she said, her voice small and wavering.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack felt a pang move through her. Just days ago, everything had seemed so sure. But that had been while Tomlin was alive and planning to help them. He\u2019d known exactly who Kyra was but had come to his own conclusions about her, offering her sanctuary and the exact opportunities she needed most of all. <i>His<\/i> reputation, when he introduced her to others, would have outweighed or even erased hers. Could\u2014<i>would<\/i>\u2014anyone else be able to do that for her?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou\u2019re worried that his dad\u2019s contacts won\u2019t be as good as his, and that he might not be willing to use them at all if he finds out who we really are, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra nodded, sitting down beside her. \u201cI just\u2026 I didn\u2019t even tell Tomlin who I was and I don\u2019t think I\u2019d\u2019ve had the <i>guts<\/i> to. He already <i>knew.<\/i> I still don\u2019t know what he\u2019d have thought or done if we hadn\u2019t already done him a huge favor before he figured it out, but his <i>family\u2026<\/i> I mean, I know <i>he<\/i> trusted them and all, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack put her arm around Kyra\u2019s shoulder, letting the older girl lean against her. \u201cBut family\u2019s where people have their biggest blind spots, yeah. They seem <i>great<\/i>, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut who\u2019s to say they won\u2019t switch from thanking us for helping him to blaming us for his death once they find out we\u2019re a pair of killers who escaped a loony bin?\u201d Kyra asked with brutal frankness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack winced. She didn\u2019t really <i>want<\/i> what Kyra was saying to be true, but there it was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. We can\u2019t ever testify against his killers even if we got the chance,\u201d she mused. \u201cTheir defense team would eat us <i>alive.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI just\u2026\u201d Kyra turned her eyes toward Jack, her expression somehow pleading as if she didn\u2019t expect her to understand. \u201cI don\u2019t think\u2026 I can\u2026 I don\u2019t think I can take that risk. They\u2019re being so nice, and all, but <i>would<\/i> they be if they really knew everything we got up to? Tomlin told Takama that we rescued his charges, but I was with her the whole time we were bringing them back through to U1, and he <i>never<\/i> told her we killed a whole merc team to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He had, Jack remembered, been circumspect in even alluding to it later on in the shop, when he\u2019d said what turned out to be his final good-byes to them. Takama might have imagined that the whole thing had been some clever bit of cat-burglary on their part. On some level, she had to know the truth; she\u2019d tracked the mostly-empty shuttles out to sea and confirmed that they\u2019d crashed into each other on schedule. But she probably didn\u2019t realize that all the bodies inside were Kyra\u2019s\u2014and Jack\u2019s\u2014handiwork.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWell,\u201d Jack said after a moment, \u201cFortunately, Kali Montgomery is a military academy graduate, then, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She couldn\u2019t help feeling a little proud of that. She\u2019d been even happier about the idea that Kyra might not need the identity she\u2019d laboriously constructed, but as much as she hated to admit it, she was a little relieved that the work wouldn\u2019t go to waste. Kyra could replace her past with a new one that had no stigma attached to it and build a whole new life upon it. Still\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut let\u2019s not completely rule Cedric out. Maybe he can still help. You never know. We\u2019ll see how good his connections are and how much they ask, and maybe using the Kali ID with them will be enough anyway.\u201d Jack grinned for the first time in days. \u201cIt\u2019s <i>really<\/i> well made, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra grinned back at her. \u201cIf you do say so yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHell yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack could see the tension leaving Kyra\u2019s body. \u201cOkay. We\u2019ll see what happens at the memorial,\u201d Kyra said, her voice hopeful. \u201cMaybe it\u2019ll still all work out. What about you? Are <i>you<\/i> still good?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack shrugged. \u201cI\u2019m probably gonna have to go to either New Casablanca or New Fes to meet the transport to Furya, but it should be okay. It\u2019s still about two weeks away. Plenty of time to get everything lined up. By then, things should be a little better here, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">If she had needed to leave for one of those two cities in the next few days, however, she would have had to get in the back of an interminably long line.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat are you gonna do about the checkpoints?\u201d Kyra suddenly asked. \u201cWord is they\u2019re patting everybody down and running people through scanners before letting anybody into any kind of transport hub. Even the <i>buses<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cGot a plan for that. You know how the clothes we brought with us existed in both worlds?\u201d Jack suddenly felt some real enthusiasm for the first time in days, thinking about this.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah?\u201d Kyra, picking up on her mood, looked interested. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOkay. So\u2026 you get a belt. And you make it so it\u2019s half in U1 and half in Elsewhere. Solid in both places\u2026 and then you put your scabbard with your knife on it\u2026 but <i>that<\/i> is one hundred percent in Elsewhere. The knife won\u2019t register at all on scanners here in U1, but it\u2019ll be on you the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra\u2019s smile had been widening as she spoke. \u201cBetter make it a waterproof belt, just in case the tide\u2019s in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBut once you\u2019re on board a ship that\u2019s, you know, gonna launch?\u201d Jack continued. \u201cYou gotta move it all back to U1. Gotta have it one hundred percent in U1 for all launches and re-entries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra looked like she was about to ask why, but then realization came over her face. \u201cFuck yeah, that\u2019d be bad if you didn\u2019t. Is that why Tomlin wanted the <i>Matador<\/i> to land here instead of docking at Station B?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. Straddling both worlds like we were, if we\u2019d come down in a regular shuttle, that only existed in U1, the fifty percent of us in Elsewhere would have burned up on entry.\u201d It was a gruesome thought that had come to Jack as she was figuring out how to get Kyra\u2019s knives, or anything else they wanted to keep hidden, past security.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDamn, no wonder he was so happy about our tricks.\u201d Kyra abruptly gasped, her eyes going wide. \u201cFuuuuck, Jack, Quintessa was <i>counting<\/i> on that happening during a launch, too, weren\u2019t they? Those shuttles were <i>ordinary<\/i>. Didn\u2019t have any connection to Elsewhere until you pulled them in. When they hit escape velocity\u2014\u201d She stopped and made a retching sound, grimacing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAssuming the survivors didn\u2019t know how to anchor themselves in U1, yeah,\u201d Jack said, trying <i>not<\/i> to picture what would have happened to some of them. \u201cMost of them would have been surprise survivors of <i>that<\/i>, but Tomlin hadn\u2019t had a chance to tell them how to anchor their little kids and the baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFucking <i>bastards,<\/i>\u201d Kyra hissed. \u201cI\u2019d go to war with them if I had anything to fight them <i>with.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack nodded. She felt the same way, but she had no idea where they\u2019d begin. The Corporation had casually murdered the last person who was onto them, along with several hundred people who happened to be even remotely near him at the time. <i>You\u2019d need an army to take them on,<\/i> she found herself thinking. <i>A really big one.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">With a rattle of pincers, Sebby reared up on his back four legs and snapped at the air.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI think someone\u2019s volunteering to enlist,\u201d Jack said. She had noticed, more and more, how nuanced the little crustacean\u2019s responses to their emotions were. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">That put a wan, fond smile back on Kyra\u2019s face. \u201cI think you\u2019re right.\u201d She reached out a hand, letting Sebby crawl up her arm and onto her shoulder. \u201cHey little guy.\u201d She pursed her lips at him and he reached forward, touching them with his antennae. Then he climbed onto the back of her neck, nestling under her hair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo\u2026 lacking a whole armada of Sebbies\u2026\u201d Jack sighed. \u201cThe best we can do is stay off the Quintessa Corporation\u2019s radar and hope they think the <i>Matador<\/i> issue is resolved. And just hope Karma has <i>plans<\/i> for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThe New Christy Elders would\u2019ve said all their sins were gonna come home to roost in the afterlife,\u201d Kyra said thoughtfully. \u201cAs if that excuses making <i>this<\/i> world a living hell or something. I mean, I get that divine justice doesn\u2019t just <i>happen,<\/i> I saw that firsthand back on Canaan Mountain, but\u2026 we need <i>more<\/i> guys like Tomlin in this \u2019verse, not even fewer of them. Karma needs to get off its <i>ass<\/i> already.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack was still nodding when Takama knocked on their door and then entered. Safiyya and Tafrara followed her in. All three were wearing white, their faces and hands decorated with henna tattoos. Takama and Safiyya carried white bundles, while Tafrara had what appeared to be a makeup kit in her hands.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack and Kyra glanced at each other in wordless surprise. They had already bought white outfits to wear to the memorial, which was still a few hours away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThere is a slight change in plans,\u201d Safiyya told them as she walked over to Kyra with her bundle. \u201cThe envoy of the Quintessa Corporation has asked to attend Brahim\u2019s memorial and wishes to bring guests with her. Cedric got a look at her guests and believes they are mercenaries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBrahim did not tell us much about your pasts, and we will not ask,\u201d Takama continued, bringing her bundle over to Jack, \u201cbut he wanted you concealed from the Corporation and, even more, from any mercenaries who might appear. So while we still want you to attend\u2014and certainly more than that <i>tagat<\/i> woman\u2014we must make you look as much like true Imazighen as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For the next hour, while Sebby hid in their bedroom, Jack and Kyra sat as still as possible while the three women decorated their faces and hands with Tamazight markings and Safiyya schooled them in the proper wording and pronunciations of different simple sentences they could use around \u201coutsiders.\u201d The entire community had been put on alert to close ranks against strangers\u2026 with the girls firmly inside those ranks. Safiyya spent extra time helping them master the <i>kh<\/i> and <i>gh<\/i> sounds that they had barely any experience using, until she was satisfied that they could pass as members of a tribe that rarely had contact with non-Imazighen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf the envoy or her mercenaries attempt to speak with you, you will say that you do not understand in Tamazight, and we will translate their words for you. Obviously you will understand everything that they are saying from the beginning, but pretend that you do not, please,\u201d Takama said as she put the finishing touches on Jack\u2019s hands. \u201cYou know how to say \u2018yes,\u2019 \u2018no,\u2019 and \u2018thank you,\u2019 and we will imply to them that anything that requires more involved answers from you is a rude imposition on their part. I doubt that woman has the audacity to give open, public offense to the family of the man she murdered, but you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Safiyya sniffled at those words.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOh, my dearest, I am sorry\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNo, it\u2019s all right,\u201d Safiyya said, although her voice quavered a tiny bit. \u201cI have done my weeping and my wailing. I am ready to face this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Her eldest child is dead,<\/i> Jack thought, <i>murdered by a woman who\u2019s now insisting on crashing his funeral\u2026 and she\u2019s spending her time working on protecting <b>us\u2026<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But the community had made its decision: to protect the <i>Matador<\/i> survivors, and to protect themselves from any further retribution, they would all pretend that Tomlin\u2019s assassination was nothing of the kind, and that he\u2019d just had the misfortune to be in the wrong place when some misguided terrorist committed a heinous act. Virtually everyone in the community knew better, but none of them wanted to go to war over it. An army of a hundred million nomads, farmers, shepherds, and artisans\u2014even ones who were also stalwart warriors\u2014could not hope to defeat the Quintessa Corporation; it would take something far darker than they could ever be.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>An army of Riddicks?<\/i> Jack mused. <i>Maybe.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She and Kyra let the women clothe them in the white woolen dresses and veils that they had brought, until Jack could barely recognize herself in the mirror. Then they made their way carefully down the stairs of the building and over to the market square, to join the procession. To the Tomlin-Meziane family\u2019s <i>church.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It had come as something of a surprise to Jack to learn that, in fact, many of the Imazighen weren\u2019t Muslim, following older faiths from the North African region of their origin. Some of the tribes were Jewish, others Christian, and others followed still older polytheistic and animistic faiths that resonated with some of the most ancient works of mythology Jack had heard of. Many, fascinatingly, mixed and matched multiple belief systems to create new hybrids uniquely their own. Takama\u2014who, it turned out, was spending a year playing at food cart vending and more seriously acting as an intermediary between the New Marrakesh government and her people while on <i>sabbatical<\/i> from Khair Eddine University\u2014had had a wonderful time explaining the convoluted history of Amazigh religion once Jack got her talking. She was a sociology professor most of the time, when she wasn\u2019t putting her degree to practical field use in the Rif. Her love of teaching had surged to the fore as soon as she realized she had an attentive audience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Many of the different conquerors of North Africa had brought their religions with them, and the Imazighen had selectively adopted them to varying degrees. One of Catholicism\u2019s most venerated saints\u2014Saint Augustine of Hippo\u2014had been Amazigh. When the Arabs had come in as conquerors, many tribes had violently resisted them for centuries, while others had paid lip service to their beliefs while clandestinely practicing their own. Still others had grafted the Islamic faith onto their existing Christian beliefs, recasting prophets and warriors of that faith as Catholic-style saints. \u201cIf you ever hear some misguided anthropologist talking about \u2018Chrislam,\u2019\u201d Takama had told Jack, her smile turning a little bit scornful, \u201cthat is what they are referring to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">But Safiyya and Takama came from a tribe that had stayed Christian, something that had probably made it a little easier for Safiyya to marry an outsider who belonged to the Church of Scotland. In deference to the inclusion of many of Tomlin\u2019s colleagues and former comrades-in-arms, the service was non-denominational, albeit held at the church where he had been christened and married.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The family entered the church first, and Jack found herself and Kyra surrounded by its members. A day of mourning or not, they had clearly made a mission of protecting \u201cDihya\u201d and \u201cTislilel.\u201d Jack caught a momentary glimpse of Tomlin\u2019s younger brother, Ewan Zdan, tall and dashing and movie star handsome like his brother and father, but with a drawn look of deep misery about his face. Takama had told her that the two brothers had been the very best of friends.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Cedric took Kyra\u2019s hand in his, leaning close as though giving her a kiss. \u201cI won\u2019t be able to introduce you to the officers Gavin served with <i>today<\/i>,\u201d he murmured, \u201cnot if we want to keep that Quintessa bitch off your scent, but I haven\u2019t forgotten. I promise I\u2019ll do right by you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThank you,\u201d Kyra murmured back, saying it in perfect Tamazight instead of English.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For a moment, Cedric\u2019s eyes twinkled before his expression turned somber again. He gave Jack a gentle hug, too, and led them to the seats reserved for the family of the deceased.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There was no coffin, no urn, nothing to represent Tomlin\u2019s lost earthly form except a stunning portrait of him in military uniform, from the height of his combat pilot days. Other pictures abounded, and Jack took them in with fascination. Childhood pictures, adolescent pictures, <i>wedding<\/i> pictures with a beautiful woman who, Jack thought, looked a little like her own mother\u2026 lovingly chosen to showcase not just his cinematic looks but his intelligence, humor, and warmth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Even though her departure from Tangiers Prime had been, and still was, relatively imminent, Jack found herself envying everyone who had been given the opportunity to spend years getting to know him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Other guests had begun to fill the pews behind them when Cedric\u2019s comm chimed. He glanced down at it and then leaned over, holding it out to Jack and Kyra. \u201cThe envoy and her <i>entourage<\/i> are arriving,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The comm\u2019s screen showed the scene outside of the church, and a new group of arrivals disembarking a large vehicle. Their leader was a regal-looking woman with long white hair, clad almost properly in all white, although there was something a little too ostentatious about her clothing. Jack\u2019s mother would have said she was dressed for a wedding where she intended to upstage the bride. The envoy reminded Jack, for a moment, of Antonia Chillingsworth. To either side of her, even less appropriately dressed for the occasion in a variety of colors, were her \u201cassistants,\u201d the people Cedric suspected were mercenaries\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack thought, for a moment, that her heart had stopped.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Alexander Toombs and Eve Logan were among them.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 31\/? Fandom: TCOR AU Rating: M Warnings: Adult themes, controversial subject matter, harsh language Category: Gen ","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"\u201cThe Changeling Game\u201d chapter 31 by Ardath Rekha","bgseo_description":"As Jack and Kyra prepare to join the Rif in saying good-bye to its favorite son, they try to confront the possibility of a future without the help he offered them.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fan-fiction","category-the-changeling-game"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}