The cane halted midair.
Footsteps crossed the street, unhurried, amused. Voices carried laughter, soft and curious. Navir lifted his head just enough to see them, ash-toned skin catching the amber light, blue-black flowing smoothly, diamond eyes bright with interest rather than fear.
One of the Luho elders chuckled. "You Argathes have excellent posture lessons."
A murmur ran through the compound.
An Argathe elder stiffened. "They are being punished."
"Of course," the Luho replied calmly, hands folded behind his back. "We discipline too. Children wander. Curiosity happens."
Another Luho leaned in, smiling. "But you treat curiosity like treason."
"What exactly have they done?" The Eldest Luho asked, his walking stick stomping the dirt.
The power grid sparked, startling everyone.
"They tampered with the power grid." The Argathe adult replied.
"We didn't do it." Nimi screamed in defiance.
"Yeah. We didn't." Ardavan added, eyes hot with repressed anger.
"Then why do you treat them so harshly?" The old Luho asked, his diamond eyes blazing."
The elder's jaw tightened. "They were responsible."
"Pain teaches wisdom," he added.
The Luho elder tilted his head. "Yes it does. But your discipline is too salty."
A few youths snorted before they could stop themselves.
The Luho glanced at Navir, eyes warm, measuring. "Your young ones are strong," he said lightly. "Stronger than your patience."
Silence pressed hard.
"In our lands," the Luho elder added, eyes gleaming with dry humor, "elders apologize when they're wrong."
The compound froze.
Torin lifted his head just enough to flash a crooked grin at the Luho. "So… is this a cultural exchange, or do we get graded for posture?"
A younger Luho woman laughed before she could stop herself. Her ash-toned skin caught the fading amber light, diamond-bright eyes crinkling with mischief, blue-black hair pulled back in a loose braid that brushed her shoulder. She pressed her lips together, then smirked.
"If that's the case," she said lightly, "you're failing magnificently."
Snickers rippled through the line. Navir felt it too, light, reckless, unstoppable. Laughter slipped out of clenched mouths, sharp and brief, like sparks escaping flint.
The elder snapped, swerving his cane, "Silence."
Torin blinked innocently. "Apologies. I laugh when I'm nervous. And when authority is confused."
A few youths choked, shoulders shaking. The elders shifted, unsettled. Pain could be commanded. Laughter could not.
Navir watched their faces tighten, eyes darting, unsure where control had gone.
The Luho stood relaxed, amused, letting it happen.
One of the younger Luho stepped closer, lowering his voice near Navir's ear.
"Is this how young people are treated around here?"
Navir didn't answer.
His smile did.
Argathe adults began to gather, voices low but firm, each asserting their right to discipline their own.
"This is our responsibility," one murmured, eyes darting to the Luho.
Authority pressed inward, thick and territorial. "We cannot let outsiders dictate," another added, jaw tight.
Yet none dared step too close. The Luho were delegates, guests of weight. Their presence bent the rules without breaking them.
The eldest Luho stepped forward, eyes sharp. He paused before the Argathe adult who held the cane.
"Hold," he said.
He pointed calmly. "Your forearm."
A darkened burn marked the skin beneath his forearm. Cloth above it was singed, threads curled and blackened.
A murmur spread.
The Argathe adult jerked. "What are you implying?"
Murmurs began to spread.
"You…" The old Luho said, pointing at the man, "you must be the culprit."
The Argathe adult stiffened, sweat dripping from his face. "That proves nothing."
The Luho elder's voice hardened. "You stand near the grid. You carry burns. And you accuse children?"
"That is coincidence," the man snapped.
"No," the Luho replied evenly. "That is evidence."
He turned to the gathered crowd. "Observe the scene. The grid. The lock. The scorch patterns."
An uneasy pause, then a respected Argathe elder stepped forward, his yellow tipped crescent horn earrings jiggling softly. "Do as he says," he ordered. "Look."
Reluctantly, several adults went into the power grid's control room. Their hands hovered over the exposed control panels, where panels had been ripped away, wires jutted bare, and threads of the adult's white shirt with blue stripes clung to the copper strands.
Eyes widened as they traced the chaotic damage, evidence unmistakably pointing back to him.
Silence fell.
One voice whispered, "It matches his burn."
"We found a piece of his cloth on the naked wire." Another added.
"Aha!" Torin screamed.
"I knew it," Nimi added, clenching her fists and gnashing her teeth.
The accused Argathe adult backed away. "This is absurd."
Nimi got up abruptly, dusting the dirt from her clothes.
Torin followed.
Then Navir and the rest of the teens.
But the truth had settled.
The Adult's heart spiked.
The cane slipped from his hand.
He tried to run.
"Seize him." The respected Argathe Elder commanded.
The teens outpaced him.
Torin dashed ahead of him.
He spread his muscular arms wide.
Double crossing him.
Torin grabbed the man, his muscles constricted him.
He then carried him to the midst of the crowd.
The other teens tied him down.
"That was embarrassing Mr. Gonar. We appreciate your intervention. Thank you so much." The respected Argathe Elder said, his crescent horn earrings tipped with light yellow Ochre jiggled as he bowed his head in respect to the Elderly Luho.