Chapter 9: Shuun-Vo's Visit
Shuun-Vo appeared without warning.
Not that he ever gave warning. But Kael was in the unregistered space, as had become his habit, when he felt the change in the air: that specific quality of silence that only Shuun-Vo's presence produced.
- "You came - said Kael, without opening his eyes."
- "You've changed - replied Shuun-Vo."
Kael opened his eyes. Shuun-Vo was leaning against the stone wall, arms crossed, the plates of inverse biomatter glowing faintly in the dark. He looked the same as always: austere, impenetrable, a presence that denied the world without hostility.
- "Changed? - Kael asked."
- "Your rhythm is different. Slower. More... stable."
Kael thought about it. Threnaal pulsed calmly in his chest. Ser'kaum slept coiled on his forearm. His hands still had calluses from fixing the conduit.
- "Maybe I stopped trying to be what the universe expected - he said."
Shuun-Vo didn't answer. But he also didn't leave. He sat on the floor, back against the opposite wall, and closed his eyes.
They were silent for a long time.
- "I've changed too - said Shuun-Vo, finally."
Kael looked at him. The plates of inverse biomatter, which once seemed like impenetrable armor, now had small cracks at the edges. Not wounds. Wear marks.
- "You're wearing down - said Kael."
- "No. I'm spreading."
Shuun-Vo opened his eyes. There was something new in them: not exactly emotion, but a quality of presence Kael had never seen before.
- "I've created over forty spaces like this - Shuun-Vo continued." - "In different regions. Different levels."
- "Why?"
- "Because people need places where the system doesn't reach. Where they can do nothing. Where they can be."
Kael smiled.
- "That sounds almost like... care."
Shuun-Vo frowned. It was the most human expression Kael had ever seen on him.
- "It's not care. It's logic. If the system collapses whoever tries to be an axis, then people need spaces where there's no axis at all."
- "That's care, Shuun-Vo. You just don't want to admit it."
Shuun-Vo didn't answer. But when he stood to leave, he stopped at the alley entrance and looked back.
- "Yallin sends her regards - said Kael." - "She wants to know if you'll have dinner with us someday."
Shuun-Vo hesitated.
- "Maybe - he said."
And disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.