⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
SYLVANNA — SPECIALIZED RESEARCH FACILITY, HOLDING SHELTER
Dinner arrived on time.
Trays slid into the lounge on quiet rails, steam lifting in soft spirals. Warm food. Clean portions. Someone had planned the intake down to the gram.
The survivors gathered without being called.
Mae took the long side of the table. Colt eased down opposite her, brace stiff. Aria and Lisa filled the middle. Kit took the end, back to the wall.
They ate for a minute.
Forks tapped. Cups touched stone.
Then Colt looked up.
His eyes swept the room once. Then again.
“Where are my guards.”
The table went still.
Mae froze mid-bite. Lisa lowered her cup.
Kit followed Colt’s eyes.
Colt’s voice stayed even. “They were right behind us at the ceremony.”
No one answered.
Footsteps sounded outside the lounge.
The door slid open.
Two officials entered. One Sylvannan. Another that didn’t identify themselves. Tablets in hand. No food.
The Sylvannan woman smiled politely. “We wanted to check in before the evening ends.”
Colt didn’t look at her. “Where are my guards.”
The woman glanced at her slate. “Royal escort assignments were concluded following the ceremony.”
Colt leaned back. Slow. Careful. “Concluded where.”
“Temporary reassignment,” the woman said. “Standard protocol.”
Colt sat his fork down. “Reassigned to who.”
The woman met his gaze. “Facility security.”
Lisa’s eyes sharpened. “They’re not facility guards.”
“They’re Vharon royal,” Colt added. “They don’t move without orders.”
The unidentified official tapped his slate twice. A projection unfolded above the table.
Names. Call signs. Clean columns.
“Your escort is currently housed elsewhere on the grounds,” he said. “Resting.”
Colt stared at the list. “I didn’t authorize that.”
The woman nodded. “General Asher was informed.”
Kit stood.
“Then call him.”
The room shifted.
The woman’s smile tightened. “The General is engaged.”
Mae rose beside Kit. “That wasn’t an answer.”
The official cleared his throat. “This arrangement ensures consistency during the observation window.”
Colt laughed once. Low. Sharp. “Observation.”
Aria leaned forward. “So they separated us.”
“No,” the woman replied. “We streamlined supervision.”
Lisa crossed her arms. “You took our guards.”
The woman didn’t deny it.
Colt pushed his chair back. The brace scraped stone. “You don’t move my people without saying why.”
The official spoke quickly. “They’re safe.”
Kit looked at him. “Safe where.”
A pause.
Short.
Contained.
The woman closed her tablet. “Dinner is for nourishment. These concerns can be addressed tomorrow.”
Mae stepped forward. “Not tomorrow.”
The woman held her ground. “This is how it works.”
Colt leaned on the table, weight forward. “This is how you think it works.”
Silence pressed down.
“Of course,” the woman said smoothly. “This won’t take long.”
She gestured to the official, who tapped his slate once again. The projection above the table switched.
A rail manifest.
Names scrolled in clean columns.
“Earlier today,” the woman continued, “there were questions raised during the ceremony. We’d like to clarify those points directly.”
Lisa set her fork down.
Mae leaned back in her chair.
Kit watched the list.
The official spoke now. “All personnel who boarded the rail at Depth One have been accounted for.”
Mae lifted her eyes. “All of them.”
“Yes.”
Colt swallowed. “Say that again.”
The official repeated it, same cadence.
“All personnel who boarded the rail at Depth One have been accounted for.”
Aria’s gaze fixed on the projection. “Then show us Buck.”
The Sylvannan woman smiled faintly. “Explorer Buck completed transit through the Borderlands Union Station.”
“And?” Mae asked.
“And proceeded onward,” the woman said. “He’s scheduled to arrive tomorrow.”
Kit felt the table vibrate as Colt’s hand tightened around his cup.
Lisa spoke calmly. “On what rail.”
The woman spoke. “Explorer Buck’s arrival falls outside observation parameters. No need to worry about that.”
Colt slammed his cup down. Liquid sloshed over the rim.
“He didn’t fall outside anything,” Colt said. “He was right next to us.”
The woman raised a hand. “We understand emotions are still close to the surface.”
Kit spoke before Mae could. “Where is he now.”
The room tilted toward him.
The official checked his slate. “Last confirmed transit placed him Forty-Eight hours outside of Sylvanna.”
Colt held his gaze. “Confirmed by who.”
“Rail systems.”
“People,” Colt said. “Who saw him.”
The official hesitated.
Just long enough.
The Sylvannan woman stepped in. “Explorer Buck chose privacy. We respect that.”
Mae stood.
Slowly.
“You’re erasing him,” she said.
The woman’s smile stayed in place. “We’re honoring his agency.”
Lisa rose beside Mae. “You didn’t ask us.”
“We didn’t need to,” the woman replied. “This information is complete.”
Colt pushed his chair back with a sharp scrape. “You don’t get to decide that.”
The woman closed her tablet. “Dinner is for nourishment. We’ll continue these discussions tomorrow.”
She turned toward the door.
Mae spoke after her. “If anything happened to Buck, you need to tell us.”
The woman paused.
“That will be documented,” she said.
The door slid shut.
The projection collapsed into nothing.
Food cooled on untouched trays.
Colt stared at the table. “They already wrote the ending.”
Lisa shook her head. “They’re lying straight to all of us, like they expect us to just go with it.”
Mae looked at Kit. “That was the first one.”
Kit nodded.
He could feel it now. The shape of it. Clean. Polished.
The lie hadn’t come with threats.
It came with precision of something the survivors were just starting to understand.
They aren’t here to tell their story. They are here so it doesn’t get told.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣