Okay, I'm aware that I haven't yet replied to every review I've received on the previous 2 parts. Nothing to worry about! I'm very busy so I don't have to time to reply to every one; if I haven't replied to yours it just means I pretty much agree with everything you said.
Also, just to get it out of the way, there is an incidence of swearing within the story, beyond just "damn" or "hell." I'm wondering how appropriate that is for a YA book? I've seen worse language in some of the high school ones, but as I've said before, the fantasy ones tend to be cleaner language- and sex-wise. Is that single "s-word" too harsh? Out of character? Or does it work?
Anyway, in the previous chapter, Kutho woke up, explored the apartment a bit, reminisced about his inferiority complex towards Sazuk (who he's supposed to be saving), startled Ren when she awoke, and began an argument with her.
As always, follow Munera here: page.php?id=737
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Kutho didn’t speak for a long time. His throat convulsed; he looked as if he wanted to keep arguing, but couldn’t dispute what Ren had said. When he finally spoke, he had lowered his head so Ren couldn’t see his face.
“I won’t,” he said quietly, “become a slave.”
“Then what do you want? You have to think about what’s realistic, not what you want to do or don’t want to do!” Ren shouted. She had the uncanny feeling that she was arguing with Rau and Lepo.
“I won’t become a slave. I won’t let anyone sell me on any market. I’ll gut the man who tries.”
“They’ll put you to death if you do that. No macor is allowed to attack a human,” Ren said. Despite everything, she began to admire Kutho. She’d heard similar brash sentiments from dissatisfied young men on the streets, but unlike them, Kutho appeared willing to follow his words with actions. His eyes were narrowed, deadly; he’d extended his fingers as if they were claws, and for a horrifying—yet exhilarating—second, Ren pictured him tearing out a man’s innards with them.
“And you’re fine with this?” Kutho growled.
“I’m a human,” Ren said. “And if there aren’t laws against this kind of thing then the macor will go wild.”
“For good reason.”
“Okay, well, can you tell me what you want? Aside from gutting imaginary people.”
“I don’t want to be sold on a damned market. How hard is that to figure out, human?”
“My name’s Ren,” Ren said, annoyed. “Why don’t you use it?”
“I don’t give a shit what your name is or isn’t, human,” Kutho spat. “You’re all the same to me. You’re all complicit in this system—you don’t have any problem with people selling my brothers and sisters, do you?”
“Look, it doesn’t matter what I think or feel,” Ren said. “I need a plan so that I can figure out just what I’m going to do with you.”
“Break the contract,” Kutho said.
“I don’t know how,” Ren said. “And that’s why we should go to the Munera Center.”
“Well, if I go there I’ll get sold,” Kutho snapped. He rubbed his chin and gazed into the distance. It was the first time Ren had seen his face without the shadow of his usual intensity; he looked younger. And more human.
“I want to find Sazuk,” Kutho said after a long silence. He looked straight at Ren and his gaze pierced her like a knife. “That’s all I want. To find him and save him.”
Ren said, “Then I’ll help you.”
“How?” Kutho looked suspicious. “You’re just a human.”
“And in Arxia, a macor without a human is nothing!” Ren shouted. “Look, I don’t have to help you. As a matter of fact I shouldn’t! You’re just an extra mouth to feed and a waste of space. So you should be grateful, macor.”
Kutho’s mouth twitched. Ren had the feeling that he was more amused than offended, and that just made her angrier.
“I don’t want to keep you around forever,” she continued. “But as long as you’re looking for your friend, then…I think you’d be better off sticking with a master—er, human,” she amended when a thunderous look crossed Kutho’s face. “And we can ask around at the Munera Center and maybe they’ll have records of who your friend is bound to…”
Ren let her voice trailed off, because she realized the logical conclusion to her words. Kutho’s friend had to be bound to another human. If Kutho wanted to free him, that involved breaking the contract between him and his human master. Precious few humans would want to release their macor, and certainly not because a free macor told them to. The only other way to undo a human-macor bond was to…kill one of the participants.
Perhaps Kutho already knew that. Knew it, and didn’t care. Ren saw the hardness in his eyes, the twitching of his fingers, and she fought the urge to shiver.
“Fine,” Kutho said. “Do that. Human.”
“My name is Ren,” Ren said, and turned and walked inside the tiny apartment kitchen. The sun had already begun rising, spilling bars of white light into the living room. Soon Rau and Lepo would be awake. They would expect breakfast, and Ren’s stomach was starting to gnaw too: she hadn’t eaten last night.
Kutho would need to eat too. She hoped he had no objections to bean soup.
“Ren, you should enter the weekend tournament!” shouted Rau the instant he slid into the chair.
“What’s that?” Ren said. She hadn’t been paying attention to her brother, since she was bent over the stove, stirring a pot of viscous soup. Though she’d tied her hair back, clumps of bangs still fell into her eyes and worse, wouldn’t dislodge when she shook her head, because sweat had flattened them to her face. She’d thrown open the windows, but the kitchen still felt like a steam bath. To avoid the worst of the heat radiating from the firestone-using stove, the dining table was placed on the opposite end of the kitchen. Even then, the boys fanned themselves and chugged glasses of lukewarm water.
“The weekend tournament!” Rau shouted, louder. “You should enter! I mean, you’ve got a macor now.”
“You’re kidding, aren’t you?” Ren said. “I’m only with Kutho until I finish helping him find his friend. I’m certainly not going to fight with him.”
“Why not? I bet he’s really strong,” Rau said. “He might even beat Strear!”
Strear was Delk’s macor. Ren only knew that because Rau and Lepo talked about their successful cousin so often. It annoyed Ren more than she could say. After Delk had won enough money to move out of the tenement, Ren started to pretend that he’d never existed. Not because she was jealous of him, but because he set a bad example for impressionable children like her brothers. Before Delk had become a Munera player, Rau had been one of the best students in his class, but now he was one of the worst. Ren didn’t doubt the connection.
Ren was about to retort, but Lepo said, “Think the soup’s done.”
While she’d been talking to her brothers, Ren’s attention had slipped. During cooking, of all times. The soup was bubbling merrily, the stage when it should be taken off the heat. A few seconds longer and it would solidify into an inedible block. She turned the switch and the stove top stopped glowing as the firestone quieted down.
“I don’t want to hear about Munera while we eat, okay?” Ren said, as she walked towards the table carrying the pot. Rau and Lepo had already set the table with four bowls, and Rau had dragged in a stool from the living room for Kutho, although the macor was nowhere in sight.
“Aww, why not, Ren?” said Rau. “I mean, you’ve got your own macor now—”
“And not for long,” Ren said. “Now shut up and eat.”
She finished doling out the soup between bowls and sat down in her chair at the end of the table. Just a typical breakfast with her brothers…except one seat was conspicuously empty.
“Where’s Kutho?” Lepo said.
“If he doesn’t want to eat with us then that’s his problem,” Ren said. He hadn’t moved from his perch on the coffee table, and she didn’t want him to move anyway. She wanted as little to do with her new macor as possible. Inviting him to her table struck her as altogether too civilized for someone as wild as Kutho. Not to mention, though she didn’t want to admit it, Ren did not like being in Kutho’s presence because her gaze inevitably fell upon parts of his body at which she should not be looking. As soon possible, she was going to buy him new clothes.
Ren sighed inside. Even more of her paycheck wasted. As it was, she already had to feed and clothe two people. Could she support another?
Rev bean soup was always flavorless except for a hint of salt, but now it became dry and bland as paper in Ren’s mouth. She lowered her spoon and stared into the bowl and told herself that she must not waste food, she must finish it even though she didn’t want to eat anymore.
“So, what are you gonna do with him?” Rau said. He’d already finished his bowl and was leaning across the table to better talk to Ren.
“I’m going to go to the Munera Center,” Ren sighed. “And I’m going to ask around about the friend he wants to find, that’s all.”
“Good that you were already planning on going there,” Rau said. “Since you need to register him and all.”
“Register?” Ren stared at him blankly.
“Oh, Ren, how could you not know this?” Rau said.
“Ren doesn’t like Munera,” Lepo said.
“That’s right,” Ren said. “So what do you mean, register?”
“Every macor’s got to be registered,” Rau said. “Munera officers, they shoot unregistered macor on sight.”
“How can they tell?” Ren said.
“Registered macor have a mark,” Lepo said, tapping his collarbone.
“Looks like a star,” Rau said. “Only Munera officers can put it on.”
Ren lowered her spoon. “Great. Do I have to participate in Munera if I register my macor?”
“Well, no,” Rau said, “but you’d be crazy not to! Come on, Ren. You could make loads of money if you win a tourney!”
“If I win,” Ren said, slamming her palms onto the table. “And I told you, I won’t waste my time doing something so frivolous.”
Rau folded his arms. “You’re totally nuts, Ren. Anybody else who got a chance like this would jump on it.”
“Well, I’m not anybody else,” Ren said.
“Then can’t you get the Munera Center people to transfer the contract to me?” Rau said hopefully.
“No. Way.” Ren jabbed her finger in Rau’s face; he had to lean back to avoid getting poked in the eye.
“Just sayin’, Ren…”
“No. I won’t let either of you fall to Munera. That’s a promise.”
“Ren is mean,” said Lepo, staring dejectedly at his bowl of soup.
“And Lepo,” Ren said, scooping up a spoonful of soup and holding it to his lips, “needs to finish his soup.”
“So does Ren,” Lepo said.
Ren couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing. It was a brief laugh, more like a high-pitched giggle, and it sounded strange in her ears. But it was a laugh all the same. She’d almost forgotten what it felt like to enjoy her family’s presence. Enjoy it as she had when Mama and Papa had been alive… Unbidden, a lump rose in her throat.
“Ren?” Lepo and Rau stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. She might as well have. Ren had forgotten the last time she’d laughed, and it certainly hadn’t been in front of her brothers.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she said through the throat-lump. She reached out and ruffled both boys’ hair, above their indignant shouts. “I’m sorry, I…I love you both. I really do, I… I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, that’s all. I just want you to do well in school so you can go to secondary schools and get good jobs and move out of the Garment District, that’s all I want…that’s why I don’t want you to play Munera.”
By the end of the speech, she had to blink hard to keep at bay the tears that had sprung into her eyes. When she saw Rau’s and Lepo’s identical expressions of surprise and love, her heart broke all over again.
“I know, Ren,” Lepo said. “Love you too.”
“Oh…oh, I’m sorry, I…” Ren slid her hands away from her brothers’ heads, so that she could brush her palm across her eyes. That wiped away most of the tears, but the lump grew and grew and grew. She gripped the hem of her tunic and stared at her lap and willed her shoulders to stop shaking.
“It’s okay, Ren.” Lepo got up from his seat and patted her on the shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re my best sister.”
“Mine, too,” Rau said. He remained seated and stared at his lap as well; his voice was so quiet it could have come from another room.
Ren stood up and forced a smile. “Okay, well…we should get going soon, hmm? Get cleaned up and in your good clothes. Let’s try to get their early, though, so we don’t run into too many people.” She didn’t fancy running into Sadra’s bunch, especially in the company of a macor.
Rau and Lepo nodded. Rau leapt to his feet and darted from the table so fast that Ren didn’t have time to shout for him to be more careful. Lepo lifted his rear from the chair as if he wanted to follow his brother; Ren held out her hand to stop him.
“Not so fast,” she said. “Someone’s got to finish his breakfast.”
Lepo stared at her with huge dark eyes, and then glanced at Ren’s barely touched bowl of soup. Ren laughed and ruffled his hair again.
“Make that two someones, I guess.”
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This actually is a scene break.
Review away, folks!
