{"id":434,"date":"2024-05-25T09:38:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T13:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/?p=434"},"modified":"2025-01-28T23:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T04:49:16","slug":"identity-theft-chapter-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/identity-theft-chapter-32\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changeling Game, Chapter 32"},"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> 32\/?<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> An encounter with the Quintessa Corporation\u2019s envoy reveals a disturbing clue about the mystery that the Corporation is willing to kill to keep unsolved.<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='6a8e7241ade3c8051283097' value='6a8e7241ade3c8051283097'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-more-text-6a8e7241ade3c8051283097' value='Long post is long. Click to read the story.'><input type='hidden' id='bg-show-less-text-6a8e7241ade3c8051283097' value='Hide the story again.'><button id='bg-showmore-action-6a8e7241ade3c8051283097' 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-6a8e7241ade3c8051283097' ><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"chapterhead\">32.<br \/>\n<u>A Lake Full of Tears<\/u><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was hard for Jack to concentrate on the memorial service with Toombs and Logan somewhere behind her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was a long service. There were prayers and readings, most of which she couldn\u2019t manage to focus on. Family and friends told stories, some in English, some in Arabic, many in Tamazight, and one in French. Safiyya, who had thoughtfully prepared translation tablets for all of the guests, had one for her and one for Kyra, so they could follow what was being said. Everyone seemed to have a story about a time when Gavin Brahim Tomlin, or Brahim Meziane, or \u201cthe Colonel,\u201d or <i>El Krim<\/i>, had helped them when they needed him most. A number of the stories were surprisingly funny. Jack felt herself wishing, yet again, that she could have spent years discovering his hidden depths as they had.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Everyone in the church seemed content to reminisce for hours, as if they might call him back to living, breathing flesh with their words, but eventually Cedric stood and thanked them all for coming.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There would be, he told the audience, a family-only reception that evening, and another reception for his son\u2019s service colleagues in two days\u2019 time. A proper public celebration of his son\u2019s life, open to all, had not yet been scheduled but everyone in attendance that day would be informed as soon as it was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Somehow, Jack suspected, any invitation addressed to the Quintessa envoy would mysteriously go astray and not reach her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could feel the tension humming through Kyra as they rose and followed Safiyya to the vestibule, where the rest of the attendees could offer formal condolences on their way out. This was the most dangerous part. Just how much camouflage could face tattoos and head draperies really create?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou are shaking, Tislilel. What is it?\u201d Takama whispered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cTwo of the mercs\u2026 they <i>know<\/i> us,\u201d Jack whispered back. \u201cIf they realize who we are, things could get really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cFor them,\u201d Takama said firmly. \u201cBut I think I know a way to improve your disguises a little. They have not seen you from any direction but behind yet\u2026 Lalla, darling, do you have your wig bag with you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Within minutes, both she and Kyra had been whisked over to a side room. Takama and Safiyya\u2019s cousin Lalla, it turned out, had an extensive collection of wigs she liked to wear\u2014she had developed alopecia as a teenager, she explained\u2014and often brought several with her to major events. She did not disappoint now. Kyra rejoined the reception line with sleek black hair, bangs draped artfully across her forehead to obscure her distinctive eyebrows. Jack, now wearing a wig that almost exactly matched the long blonde hair she\u2019d cut off when she first went on the run, joined the line a moment later. Lalla had proudly told them that the wigs were made of natural, undyed, untreated human hair, and no one would believe they hadn\u2019t naturally grown it on their heads. The veils, now draped loosely over and around their new hair, completed the illusion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack had to admit that Kyra looked convincingly unlike herself. She suspected that, aside from the \u201ctattoos\u201d on her face, <i>she<\/i> probably looked more like Audrey MacNamera than she had in a year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">They were already in place as the first well-wishers came through.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Most of them just gave simple condolences. It wasn\u2019t long until Jack was into the rhythm of saying \u2018thank you\u2019 back to them in whichever language they had used, making sure to use a thick Tamazight accent in the process. Beside her, Kyra was doing the same. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the envoy and her mercs approaching. While the envoy was offering condolences to each member of the line, the mercs were hanging slightly back, all of them looking uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>What, are we too <\/i>native<i> for you?<\/i> she found herself thinking angrily. Their expressions made her think of the time she had been invited to a classmate\u2019s Kwanzaa celebration, along with the rest of her class, and had watched as some of her other classmates treated the experience\u2014the foods, the music, the colorful outfits\u2014as too outlandish to even try to appreciate, much less enjoy. Did just wearing white instead of black to a funeral make everything too alien to empathize with? Or did Tomlin\u2019s murderer just naturally gravitate to the types of mercs who had no empathy to begin with?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She tamped down on the anger as fast as she could. <i>I\u2019m grieving here. Grieving. Not wishing for a gun\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Audrey MacNamera, she chided herself, had never fantasized about shooting people. If she wanted to ever be her again, she had to put these awful thoughts out of her head.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI am so very sorry for your loss,\u201d the envoy said, offering her hand to first Lalla, then Takama, and then Safiyya in turn. Her voice was cultured, her accent the kind Rachel had told her was called <i>Received Pronunciation<\/i> in really old vids. \u201cColonel Tomlin was a good man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She offered her hand to Kyra, who took it\u2014<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u2014and flinched.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The envoy gave her a quizzical look as she repeated her platitudes. Kyra stammered a thank you in Tamazight-accented English, drawing her hand back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The only reason <i>Jack<\/i> didn\u2019t flinch when the envoy took her hand was because she\u2019d been warned by Kyra\u2019s reaction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">There was something <i>wrong<\/i> with the envoy, something wrong with her touch. Something\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Similar three-shape. Different five-shape\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">The thought skated through her mind and was gone. She could feel the woman\u2019s eyes on her, could feel the <i>wrongness<\/i> of the hand in hers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThank\u2026 you\u2026\u201d she managed, taking back her hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAre these your daughters?\u201d The envoy asked Safiyya and Cedric, suddenly seeming far too interested.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMy cousins,\u201d Ewan said, walking over and putting his arms around their shoulders. \u201cDihya and Tislilel. They had come to town in preparation for the Engagement Moussem. I think that\u2019s now postponed, though. My parents had hopes that one of them might choose instead to marry my brother, anyway\u2026 but now that\u2019s not to be, either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey marry their <i>cousins<\/i>,\u201d Toombs muttered to one of the other mercs, just loudly enough for them to overhear. The envoy shot him a quelling look.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cDistant cousins,\u201d Takama said, also giving him a look that suggested his behavior could get their whole merry troupe thrown out on their asses. \u201cBut yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBetter a member of one\u2019s own tribe than most <i>abrrani<\/i>,\u201d Lalla said. \u201cMeaning no offense, Cedric.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou did say <i>most,<\/i>\u201d Cedric replied, winking at her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat the hell is \u2018abrrani?\u2019\u201d Toombs bristled.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Logan, Jack noticed, was studying Kyra with a slight frown on her face. This needed to all end fast.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2026 do not\u2026\u201d She pretended that the word she was seeking was on the tip of her tongue, but unreachable, before looking up into Ewan\u2019s handsome face and making her expression pleading and a little hurt. <i>\u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d<\/i> she said in perfectly accented Tamazight.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan caught on instantly. \u201cDihya and Tislilel don\u2019t speak English,\u201d he rebuked the group. \u201cIf you wish to continue talking about them in a language they don\u2019t know, I will take them home now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Safiyya nodded. \u201cI think that\u2019s for the best, Zdan. The rest of us will join you shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It seemed as if the envoy wanted to object, but the atmosphere had chilled. Toombs had given just enough offense to sabotage whatever it was she\u2019d intended to say or do. Ewan steered Jack and Kyra away from the group and out of the church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWell played,\u201d he murmured once they were a block away. \u201cI don\u2019t understand what was happening in there, but you put a wonderful stop to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t understand what was going on, either,\u201d Kyra muttered. \u201cThat woman\u2019s hand\u2026 what the <i>fuck\u2026<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHer hand?\u201d Ewan asked, frowning in confusion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah,\u201d Jack said. \u201cWhen her hand touched mine, it felt <i>wrong<\/i>. I don\u2019t know how to explain it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cMade my skin <i>crawl<\/i>,\u201d Kyra huffed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack was trying to think of anything that had ever felt like that. Something about it had momentarily brought back an instant from one of her terrible dreams about the creatures in the darkness, but she wasn\u2019t sure why. Something about three-shapes and five-shapes\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It hit her so suddenly that she stopped walking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan, still walking between her and Kyra with his arms through theirs, turned to look at her. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI think she\u2019s connected to another universe,\u201d Jack gasped.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat?\u201d Kyra shook her head. \u201cNo. No way. You and I are and you\u2019ve <i>never<\/i> felt like that to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot Elsewhere. She\u2026 she <i>isn\u2019t<\/i> connected to Elsewhere, I know that much. But\u2026 only <i>part<\/i> of her was here in U1. The rest of her\u2026 it\u2019s in another \u2019verse and there\u2019s something about it that\u2019s\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAbsolutely fucking <i>horrifying<\/i>. Yeah, you\u2019re right. <i>That\u2019s<\/i> what I was feeling, too. <i>Damn.<\/i> You think she\u2019s partway into the \u2019verse where the thing that wants us dead comes from?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan was looking between them with concern. \u201cI think we should take this conversation somewhere more private than this avenue,\u201d he said. \u201cI followed most of what you just said, though. If you\u2019re right, this could be a serious problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He led them down two more streets and through a gate in a high wall. Inside, surrounding a courtyard garden that looked, to Jack, like it had sprung out of one of the fantasy novels she\u2019d loved as a kid\u2014<i>I\u2019m still a kid, damn it, it\u2019s only been a year<\/i>\u2014was a large multi-story house, its walls, pillars, and carved screens painted various brilliant shades of aqua, blue, and indigo. As Ewan led them past a large room where some of Takama\u2019s marketplace colleagues were setting up the reception Cedric had mentioned, he finally spoke again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI don\u2019t know everything that happened leading up to my brother\u2019s death, but my aunt told me that you two, like the passengers and crew of the <i>Scarlet Matador<\/i>, were stranded between universes, and that you learned how to maneuver between them and helped him teach the others how to do the same. That you call this world \u2018U1\u2019 and the other universe \u2018Elsewhere,\u2019 and even brought back a pet from that other world. Is all of this correct? It sounds like something that belongs in one of the novels I read in college.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt\u2019s true, yeah,\u201d Jack said. His summary reminded her, with a powerful ache, of how Tomlin had answered one of her questions. She found herself wondering if it was a product of their military training, or of the college educations that all military officers, according to her father, were required to have on top of that training.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou spoke of something that wants to kill you?\u201d His expression was almost a mirror of the one his older brother had worn when <i>he\u2019d<\/i> learned that she and Kyra had nearly drowned.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWants us to die,\u201d Kyra corrected him. \u201cWe both\u2026 we encountered it, and some other <i>entities<\/i>, the morning after we helped get the <i>Matador<\/i> survivors out of New Marrakesh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack noticed that she was careful to omit all mentions of the deadly battle.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWe thought we were dreaming at first,\u201d Kyra continued, \u201cuntil we realized we\u2019d both had exactly the same dream. Most of the entities seemed\u2026 scary as hell but almost <i>friendly,<\/i> but then one showed up that hated us and wanted us dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat did it do?\u201d To Ewan\u2019s credit, he seemed willing to believe them, but Jack had to wonder if he still would be if he knew where they\u2019d escaped from.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cJust talked. Scary stuff. I don\u2019t remember what it said exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI do,\u201d Jack sighed. She\u2019d gone over its terrible words in her head several times, trying to figure out what they meant and whether any of it might be connected to the secret Tomlin had thought he\u2019d uncovered. The very fact that she could remember it so clearly drove home to her just how much more connected to reality it was than any other dream she\u2019d ever had. \u201c\u2018Death to the things that killed us. Death to the makers of the cages. Death to the \u2019verse that trapped us. A trillion deaths for every one you took from us. We come. We come to take it all back. All the worlds your filth has stolen from us will burn.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThat,\u201d Ewan breathed, \u201cis a declaration of <i>war.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah,\u201d Kyra said, \u201cbut by <i>what?<\/i> One thing we\u2019re damn sure of is it ain\u2019t human.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan nodded, his face now pensive. \u201cWhy do you think they found you <i>then?\u201d <\/i> he asked after a moment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIt was after we went back and forth between universes a <i>lot<\/i>, and brought people and things across in both directions. J\u2014Tislilel\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">For the briefest instant, Ewan\u2019s eyes narrowed, marking the tiny slip.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201c\u2026She moved two hundred-seater shuttles over into Elsewhere and then back. Maybe doing something that big sent out some kind of shockwaves? It practically knocked her out for the rest of the night once it caught up with her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd then you were stuck helping all the <i>Matador<\/i> survivors cross back into U1 in the marketplace, all by yourself,\u201d Jack pointed out. \u201cThat probably sent out some shockwaves, too. They reached out to both of us at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhy in your sleep?\u201d Ewan wondered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cThey wanted to show us things,\u201d Kyra said, her words coming slowly. \u201cThings I don\u2019t think our eyes could even see if we were using them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhat kinds of things?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cHigher dimensions,\u201d Jack blurted, only realizing it was true when she spoke. \u201cThey tried to \u2018teach\u2019 us how to see them. But once they got past the three-dimensional object it got scary fast. They\u2026 apologized for scaring me, after.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou actually kept <i>looking?<\/i>\u201d Kyra asked. \u201cI ran\u2026 or something like running given that I was floating out in <i>space<\/i> in the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd all of this happened after you saw my brother for the last time, so he didn\u2019t even know\u2026 but he already knew something terrible was happening. He sent me a message telling me that\u2026 I don\u2019t even know. It didn\u2019t make sense. That we might have to prepare for the end of the Federacy as we knew it, that a monstrous crime was being perpetrated\u2026 he said all of it in my mother\u2019s invented language, so that only I would be able to hear the message, so I know he feared he was being surveilled. He asked me to arrange to come home on leave as soon as I could, so that he could explain it all to me. I was arranging my leave when word came of his <i>death.<\/i>\u201d  Ewan sat down, his expression a devastating mixture of grief and horror. \u201cI don\u2019t know where to\u2026 begin\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack did. This was pure Audrey. She sat down next to him and put her arms around him. He gasped and then leaned against her, releasing a heavy sob, the first of many. After a moment, Kyra joined them, putting an arm around him as well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It would be a long, long time, Jack thought sadly, tears leaking out of her eyes as well, until he began to heal from this. And while he might respect the community\u2019s decision to conceal what they knew of the real reason his brother had died\u2026 she doubted he would ever be able to let it go.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Because she couldn\u2019t have. And his brother wouldn\u2019t have. In that moment, she understood him as well as she understood herself. Warning him to stay away from the mystery would do no good; she would warn his aunt and mother instead.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">He had almost composed himself again when the rest of his family returned to their house half an hour later.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Sunset was approaching as the family\u2014quite large, Jack soon realized\u2014gathered for the meal that the community had prepared them. As with virtually everywhere in New Marrakesh, Jack noticed a complete absence of alcohol; instead, Maghrebi mint tea was poured from long-spouted teapots into ornate glasses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Jack and Kyra found themselves on either side of Ewan at the table. He was regaining his equilibrium, slowly. The talk around them moved through a variety of topics, including stories of wild scrapes that \u201cBrahim\u201d\u2014within the family, only his father seemed to have called him Gavin\u2014had gotten into as a child. They reminded Jack of the stories her father had told her about her fictitious namesake.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAre you three feeling better?\u201d Takama asked during a lull.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYes, thank you,\u201d Jack said. \u201cHow did things go after we left? With that envoy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cPfft! That one. What a terrible excuse for a person. She tried to keep the conversation going, asking us where you were from and how long you had been in town. I told her it was tribe business and of no concern to outsiders unless one of her men was planning on offering himself at the Moussem. Not that anyone would ever take up such offers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSorry, what\u2019s a Moussem?\u201d Kyra asked.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSafiyya, perhaps you should tell this story?\u201d Takama\u2019s expression had gone from scornful to mischievous in less than a second.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Safiyya\u2019s eyes went wide.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cA Moussem is an annual meeting of the tribes,\u201d Ewan told them, rescuing his mother. \u201cThe <i>engagement<\/i> or <i>wedding<\/i> Moussem is the one time, each year, that couples from different tribes can arrange inter-tribal marriages. There\u2019s a long story behind it, which is much better sung than spoken, but the legend is that long ago, in the Atlas Mountains on Earth, two tribes of Imazighen were at war. The son of one of the tribes, \u2018Isli,\u2019 one day met a beautiful young woman, named \u2018Tislit.\u2019 The two fell in love, only to realize that Tislit was a daughter of the tribe that his was at war with. They begged their families to let them marry, but their parents refused. Unable to bear being apart, their tears flowed from them in rivers that filled two valleys, creating two new lakes where their tribes\u2019 lands bordered each other. They drowned themselves in the lakes of their tears.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cIf this story sounds a little familiar,\u201d Cedric put in, \u201cI\u2019m fairly sure old Will Shakespeare stole it from the Imazighen. Just like half of <i>Hamlet<\/i> is straight out of Thomas Kyd\u2019s <i>Spanish Tragedy.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan snorted. \u201cUndoubtedly. But the two tribes were devastated when they realized what their enmity had done to their own children, and decided that every year, once a year, all of the tribes would gather, and marriages across tribes would be permitted. Men and women seeking partners come, wearing their best. And, in accordance with custom, the women are the ones who initiate the courtship, approaching the men that they fancy most. They talk, and negotiate, and if they are happy with each other, then they introduce each other to their families and then have their engagement recorded. Depending on their negotiations, the marriage may even occur at the festival, too. Which brings us to the story of my parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWait,\u201d Kyra said. \u201cReally? The women get to initiate it all?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cBefore the invaders came and tried to change us, almost all of the tribes were matriarchal,\u201d Takama affirmed. \u201cMany are not anymore, thanks to the influence of <i>abrrani<\/i>\u2014foreigners\u2014but you can still see it, and feel it, in so many of our traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWhich brings us,\u201d Ewan repeated, looking amused, \u201cto the story of my parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI was new on Tangiers Prime, just learning my way around, after they\u2019d courted the <i>hell<\/i> out of me to come teach at their flight school because I\u2019d been breaking records all over the place,\u201d Cedric explained. \u201cThe money was too good for me to pass up, but somehow nobody ever asked me if I could speak Arabic, or <i>anything<\/i> other than English, Gaelic, or Scots. Didn\u2019t occur to me either for some damn fool reason, until I was standing in front of a classroom full of pilots who couldn\u2019t understand a word I was saying to them. My brogue was a lot thicker back then, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSoon after,\u201d Safiyya laughed, \u201cI got a call at my University office from this <i>panicked<\/i> Scotsman who needed a translator, or needed to learn Arabic as quickly as he could, and had no idea how to begin. Bear in mind that he was already fluent in three languages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNeither one of us was thinking of falling in love,\u201d Cedric continued. \u201cBut there it was. We would find the most ridiculous excuses to check in on each other and spend time together. But what could we do? I was <i>abrrani<\/i> and my colleagues kept warning me I was playing with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNone of which meant a thing to my sister,\u201d Takama said. \u201cShe had a <i>plan.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Kyra snickered. \u201cShe sounds like <i>you,<\/i>\u201d she whispered to Jack behind Ewan\u2019s back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI got an invitation to witness a genuine Amazigh cultural event,\u201d Cedric chuckled. \u201cThe Engagement Moussem. Foreigners are allowed to observe but are instructed to stay on the sidelines and not get involved. And there she was, right in the middle of all the hopeful brides, and all I could think was how crushing it was going to be to watch her choose some other lad to be her life partner. I was going to leave, but my friends wouldn\u2019t let me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI had bribed them to make sure they would keep him there,\u201d Takama added.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cSo after all of the singing and dances and things, when the ladies started approaching different men and <i>I<\/i> was wishing for a swimming pool full of whiskey,\u201d Cedric went on, \u201cI felt this hand on my arm and heard the most beautiful voice in the world asking me if I would walk with her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOur parents were <i>scandalized,<\/i>\u201d Takama laughed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cEspecially when they realized you\u2019d been in on it the whole time,\u201d Safiyya teased her.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cAnd that\u2019s how the love of my life proposed to me,\u201d Cedric finished, grinning.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">It was, Jack thought, the most romantic thing she had ever heard.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Full night had descended before the gathering broke up. Ewan insisted on walking Jack and Kyra back to their building. Jack had the suspicion he was worried that the mercs might still be interested in them and might try to follow them; he had tried to talk them into taking a guest room in his parents\u2019 house, but had graciously accepted their refusal\u2014\u201cSebby will be getting worried about us\u201d\u2014as long as they let him see them safely home.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Safiyya and Cedric raised their kids right,<\/i> she thought to herself, wishing the boys on Deckard\u2019s World had been more like Gavin Brahim and Ewan Zdan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">When he gave each of them a hug at the door of their building, not asking to come in, she had a sudden thought. \u201cI need you to ask Takama something for me,\u201d she murmured to him, not letting him go yet just in case anyone was watching. A lingering hug might play into the weird assumptions Toombs had made at the church\u2026 and that would be better than anyone realizing what they were talking about.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cOf course,\u201d Ewan said. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI need her to reach out to the <i>Matador<\/i> survivors and find out if any of them had contact with the Quintessa envoy. If she ever touched any of them, or if any of them ever touched her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Ewan\u2019s expression was only quizzical for a second before understanding struck. \u201cYou need to find out if she knows you were on board, too. She became awfully interested in who you are and where you\u2019re from after she touched you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYeah. We need to know how much she suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cI\u2019ll make sure the message goes out and an answer comes back. I promise.\u201d He gave her another hug before letting go. \u201cGood night, Tislilel, Dihya. I will see you again very soon, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>I hope so too,<\/i> Jack thought as he walked off into the night. It was hard not to worry. Too many people she cared about had vanished from her life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Inside, a very clingy crustacean made it clear that they had been gone for <i>far<\/i> too many hours.  Jack had discovered that, in addition to the bugs he ate, he had a great love for olives\u2014enough to sneak up on her plate and steal one if she had any\u2014and had brought some home for him from the gathering. After half a dozen, he was appeased, if still determined to sit on one of them at all times.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">While Kyra vanished into the bathroom with Sebby\u2014the little guy loved showers and would <i>screech<\/i> if he was excluded from one\u2014Jack sat down on the couch and opened her tablet to check on the status of the money drop she\u2019d arranged. The confirmation was waiting for her; the one-time code that she\u2019d programmed into the locker she had rented for the next month had been used. She and Kyra could get the money cards inside whenever they wished.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Low tide had ended in Elsewhere, she noted as she checked her tidal chart. The waters were still another hour or two away from reaching the Rif. They had been on Tangiers Prime for ten and a half of its wildly long days, and Megaluna was almost a new moon. In another night, high tide would peak at midnight again.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Maybe she and Kyra could finally do their beachcombing in the dawn hours, she thought as she shut down the tablet. She was suddenly so tired. Closing her eyes, she decided to rest for a moment on the couch before it was her turn to shower while Sebby danced in the water at her feet.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She could feel <i>them<\/i> as her mind slipped away from consciousness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Little larva, are you well?<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She was about to answer them when something cold touched her throat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cWake up, little girl,\u201d a strange voice said. Her eyes sprang open.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">She recognized him from the church immediately: the merc who had been next to Toombs when he made the wisecrack about marrying cousins. He had a knife resting against her throat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cYou an\u2019 me are gonna have a little talk,\u201d he told her. \u201cI just need to know one thing from you. Where\u2019s your friend?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\"><i>Oh shit, Kyra\u2026<\/i> Her eyes, of their own accord, moved toward the hallway door into the bedroom and bath. The shower noises had stopped at some point, but she wasn\u2019t sure when.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">\u201cNot her, you imbecile,\u201d the man snarled. \u201cI\u2019m after the <i>big<\/i> game here. You\u2019re gonna tell me where <i>he<\/i> is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent:1em;margin-bottom: 0\">Riddick. Oh fuck. He was after <i>Riddick.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: The Changeling Game (Formerly Identity Theft) Author: Ardath Rekha Chapter: 32\/? 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 32 by Ardath Rekha","bgseo_description":"An encounter with the Quintessa Corporation\u2019s envoy reveals a disturbing clue about the mystery that the Corporation is willing to kill to keep unsolved.","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434","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\/434","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=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1192,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions\/1192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/wips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}