108- Ally in Treason

Kyffin followed Phaedra as he led him through the archives and into the preservation and research area of the archival floor.

"Are you going to tell me why you've had me transferred here?"

"Shortly," Phaedra replied as they arrived at a door marked 'Conservation 2'.

Swiping his card, he opened the door and ushered Kyffin inside.

The room was windowless and had a higher ceiling than the archives where the books were stored. Tables were arranged around the edge of the room, with a large metal table in the middle, with plenty of stools tucked beneath. On the large table was a small stack of books and a couple of scrolls, a tray of tools, and a book cradle. A large glass cabinet at the far end of the room was filled with conservationists implements, chemicals, oils, pigments, inks, and paints. Next to it, were shelves of papers, rolls of vellums, canvas, cloth, leather, and wood. It was perhaps as much a studio as a workshop, but Kyffin had a sinking feeling that something else entirely was going on.

"My assistant will be joining us shortly. Until then, make yourself comfortable at the table," Phaedra remarked motioning towards the center of the room.

Stepping further into the room, Kyffin pulled a stool out from under the central table and sat down.

"I apologize for the timing of this, but advantages must be taken when presented. These rooms aren't monitored, so let me be clear; our time to speak freely ends once my assistant arrives."

"Then I suggest you get to your point."

"I need your help," Phaedra stated, as he locked his eyes to Kyffin. "Quayleigh and Dylan spoke highly of you. They said you were to be trusted. That I could rely on you."

"They shouldn't volunteer me so haphazardly," Kyffin replied with an audible sigh, pulling his glasses from his pocket.

"Because of your mother?"

Kyffin put his glasses on, shifting his jaw to activate their enchantment.

"Who are you to Quayleigh that she would introduce you to my brother?"

Phaedra's eyes dropped to the tabletop as he said, "A long lost sister." Clearing his throat, he pulled a stool out from under the table and sat across from Kyffin. "We share the same surname. Her father gave it to me."

"Her father?"

"Sebastien."

The name alone meant little to Kyffin. Not recognizing it at first, he gave a slight shake to his head.

"You may have seen him in passing. You aren't that much younger than me."

"A year. I'm a year younger. We shared classes together when we were kids. At least until you were kept prisoner down here permanently."

"We did?" Phaedra questioned as he rubbed at his chin looking overly perplexed.

"We did, not that it matters at this point."

"I suppose it doesn't," Phaedra replied as he looked towards Kyffin once again. "The Professor taught the History of Magics course. Some of the students used to call him Seabass."

"Professor Bastien." Kyffin sighed as he removed his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "It never even crossed my mind. I don't think I ever even knew his last name. Didn't he die here?"

"He did."

"I'm sorry for your loss Archivist. I had no idea that he was your father."

"He wasn't. He only treated me as if he was. But thank you. As a ward, no one here acknowledges that he gave me his name and Quayleigh had no idea of it either. As you can imagine, we are still trying to figure out this relationship between us and working together has had its benefits. However, she shouldn't be tied to this place forever. Gerotherine seems to already be making plans, and there is little I can do to stop him on my own. I need allies, who will also be hers. People who will ensure that she doesn't end up in a place she doesn't want to be."

"I am her ally. I have yet to determine if I can be yours," Kyffin replied as he put his glasses back on.

"I have looked into Quayleigh's eyes, and I have seen the truth. I know she was touched by a god. I fear it is also the reason that she's been pulled into this mess between the MET and the Police."

"She showed you?"

"Not exactly, but once I found out, she allowed me to examine her eye more closely. To be honest, I don't know what to make of it. I only did a visual examination though. However, this is all beside the point. I suspect that due to your connection with Quayleigh, you are aware of the situation?"

"I know the basics. There is a creature killing people and she was sent here to find answers because she's an apostate they can manipulate with ridiculous, petty games. Both sides should be ashamed for involving a civilian. Circumstances haven't been kind to her."

"I agree. And no, they haven't, and as unfair as it is, the police want to know what this creature is regardless of the collateral damage. Renford Harlowe is the detective pulling the strings on the cop's side, but he has agreed to work more closely with us, thanks to Quayleigh."

"You are aware that he is the Starbitten?"

"Yes, I am aware. It is most likely the reason that he brought her into this. He would have recognized her name and been aware that Gerotherine would have been eager to allow a Vershinin back into MET. It's Quayleigh's other liaison that's still a mystery to me. Her name's Hayden Folsten, and she didn't leave a mark on an imprint canvas."

"That's nearly impossible," Kyffin remarked, finding the news to be troubling.

"I agree. I don't trust her. She and Renford seem closer than work colleagues, but I don't know what their end game maybe, and I fear it will not end well for Quayleigh regardless of the cooperation they are currently showing towards us. Before the lockdown began, we were at the police station going over the files they have on the case. We believe this creature is one of Death's servants. Given that you're already familiar with Quayleigh, I wanted your help to find answers. I also wanted to give you a reason to freely come down to this level for as long as she's here."

Using the enchantment of his glasses, Kyffin could see the shifts in his magic, and knew that everything he had said, thus far, had been genuine in nature. He believed that Phaedra was truly concerned for Quayleigh's wellbeing.

"So, this is all for her," he concluded.

"Yes. Today, I saw how frightened she was when I was forced to come back here. She was scared for me. She told me to jump out of the car and run back to her if I couldn't make the deadline."

"That sounds like something she would say," Kyffin replied, easily imagining the way she would have crossed her arms as she spoke.

"I don't think she'll come back once we're done with our research," Phaedra said, his tone solemn. "It would be for the best if I didn't allow us to spend too much time alone together. I don't want her to become anymore attached."

"She doesn't know?"

"No. I didn't see the point in telling her. I didn't realize that we would respond to each other as we have. I don't want to hurt her by telling her that I can never leave this place."

"It may stop her from pursuing a relationship if you told her the truth."

"True, but how do I tell her in one breath, that the MET isn't a bad place, and she can trust them to keep to the contract, and in the next, admit that they don't consider me a person? Or that they will never grant me a commuter's certification and I will never be able to visit her at her home again?"

"Again? You know what will happen if the Tribunal finds out. How could you put yourself in such a position?"

"She wasn't feeling well. What other choice did I have?" Phaedra questioned, his eyes damp, even as he was smiling beneath his mask. "It was worth it though. I got to taste Dylan's tea and sit in their company to enjoy it."

"You realize I could destroy you with this information," Kyffin said wanting to see how he would react to a veiled threat.

"Yes, but I doubt you'll ever get the chance to use it. I suspect the driver has already reported to Magister Gerotherine, and once this lockdown is over the enforcement agents will come for me. I need someone here that she can trust, Kyffin. I don't want her to be scared, for me or for herself."

"You would think being the Archivist would grant you some leeway."

"For anyone else, perhaps, but what leeway can you give to property? I maybe the Archivist, but even if I had the power of a Magus, this is as high of a position as a ward can ever hope to get. I'm at the same level, if not above, half of the current Magistrate, but I am given less than half of their authority. Quayleigh will struggle to understand this. She already has an unfavorable view of the MET. But we have laws and restrictions for a reason. I know them, and I broke them. Now, I must contend with the consequences and I'm lucky that I've had this time to make arrangements."

"How long?"

"Five years, and demotion. They will also, most likely, send me to a different branch and restrict my communications once I'm released. If I ever speak to her again, it won't be for a number of years."

"You ruined your life for a cup of tea."

"For the experience of being a normal person," Phaedra replied, the tears escaping from the corners of his eyes. "I never knew how small my cage was until I saw it from the outside."

Kyffin shook his head, "You have no idea what she's going to do if they take you away from her. You better hope that driver keeps his mouth shut. Making an enemy of Quayleigh Vershinin…" he paused, wanting to choose his words carefully, "it will be the ruin of this place." He chuckled and grinned like a madman at the thought of what Tauluthet and Uroxuz could and would do. "Never mind. I hope he tells everyone that will listen. You may have to endure for a little while, but I swear to you, it will be worth it."

"I don't understand," Phaedra remarked as Kyffin regained his composure setting his hands onto the top of the table.

"You don't need to, at least not at the moment. I still haven't determined how much I can trust you, and the information you gave me doesn't matter if the magistrate already knows. So, allow me to clarify this situation for you, Phaedra, what I do, I do for Quayleigh. If helping you, helps her, then you have the ally you're seeking."

"That, I did understand. Kyffin, if it were possible, I should like to break this cage."

"Even if it means moving to a larger one? Or are you hoping for real freedom?"

"I would simply like a cage as large as yours. Even I'm not foolish enough to hope for something more."

"Perhaps not, but some reform certainly couldn't hurt?" Kyffin poised his statement as a question. He wanted to know how far Phaedra was willing to go, what risk he was willing to make now that he was facing a harsh penalty for a stupid minor infraction.

He could see Phaedra's hesitation, his eyes bouncing back and forth, the way he sucked in his lower lip, opening and closing his mouth as if to speak but refraining, and the awkward shifting of his body, the twitching of his fingers and the stiffening of his muscles. Admitting out loud that the system was flawed, talk of reform, for a ward, this was treasonous. This could get Phaedra executed if he wasn't extremely careful of the next words to come out of his mouth.

"Yes," Phaedra stated, "Reform is long overdue."

"You are a wise man, Phaedra. It's no wonder Quayleigh trusts in you," Kyffin replied, trying to fight against the sinister grin that he felt creeping onto his lips. Kyffin no longer needed to trust Phaedra, for he had signed his own death warrant and handed it to him for safe keeping. "Now tell me, what was the excuse you used to lure me down here?"

"Should anyone ask, you were here to work a moisture control ritual for a conservation effort on a very expensive artifact, and you aren't at liberty to discuss the matter further."

"And these are the artifacts in question?" Kyffin motioned to the books and scrolls laid out on the table.

"Yes. This is everything we have on Baandahg and Mohalbás. You said you knew the basic reason Quayleigh was sent here, and you weren't wrong. Sadly, they didn't exactly have a reasonable direction for her to go when she first arrived, but that had now changed, based solely on a comment the creature made during an attack that took place last night at the police station."

"Hence the subject matter?" he asked as he looked towards the books.

"Precisely. I don't know if my declaration at the police station will hold up, given the uncertainty of my future, but I have given Quayleigh full educational access to the archives," Phaedra replied as he stood up and began to spread the books out.

"Then this is in case your permissions don't hold up. You don't want the higher ups to see what she's studying."

"Death practices are mostly incomprehensible and the bits of information she could obtain wouldn't amount to much. The magistrate may be paranoid as a collective, but they should have no reason to believe Quayleigh would be dangerous for knowing any of that subject matter. This is different though. While mostly historical, there is some magic craft involved. Magic craft that in her hands could be potentially dangerous."

"Then you've seen her magic?"

"Yes. I was there when Gerotherine insisted on the imprints being done. He also had her fill out an aptitude test. He knows she was trained by a magus."

"I see. Did she tell you which one?"

"No. She may trust me with her secrets, but she doesn't seem to trust me with anyone else's."

"It's not her secret to share, but I'm certain you will discover the truth in time. She has a lot of squandered potential. I've seen her book. The Tribunal should be concerned, if she ever decided to specialize or make a concerted effort."

"Have you worked with her magic?" Phaedra questioned only for the door to fly open and Riannoske to run inside.

"Phaedra, it's the magister, Gerotherine," he panted, his eyes full of fear, "he's dead."

Kyffin turned, shocked by the news, because this could potentially change everything, his thoughts coalescing into a single thought, 'Shit.'