Planet Balia of the Kira Star System
The food I found on the floor when I woke up tasted like defeat. It was real meat, Utanian aves with a spicy sauce. I hadn't tasted that dish in more than a decade, and I knew what it meant. Go home. Go home to warm oceans and the blue light of the moon, where the food will taste like freedom.
I set the tray near the door when I was done eating. It slid open and revealed a short corridor with more of the same sliding doors. In another time I would have left the room to explore, but not today. I went back to the bed and as soon as I sat on it, Toro walked in. He stopped in front of me, holding out a bag.
"Madame, the ship leaves in a few hours. The Count has asked me to inquire about your decision," he said, with no hint of emotion in his voice.
I took the bag from his hand and looked through it. Inside were my Balian outfits and my Paguan military suit. Why had they had kept it all these years? I undressed in front of Toro and put the military suit on, knowing it'd make him uncomfortable. He looked at the ceiling, and clasped his hands.
The suit fit tighter than I remembered.
"I don't know why I ever thought you cared about me. Guarding me is just your job, isn't it?" I said.
Toro's pursed his lips and glanced at the spyeyes on the wall, and then at me.
"Oh, that's why you did this? Did you have fun editing the footage of my vacations here?"
He gave a long sigh. "I need an answer, Madame. The ship is leaving in an hour and we need to board if we're going."
"We? Why would I need my prison guard inside a ship?"
"The Count asked me to accompany you. He assured me that it will be a pleasant trip, unlike the one that brought you to Balia. You're to be treated as a guest, if you decide to come."
"Does it seem to you like I have a choice?"
"It is not for me to decide Madame."
"Ok. You like recommending things. What do you recommend I do this time, Toro? Stay here and freeze my ass off until I die, or help your government invade my home planet?"
Toro's face hardened. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he lowered his head and said nothing.
For a brief moment I empathized with him. Maybe he didn't have a choice, just like me.
"Take me to the ship," I said, and handed him the bag. If they insisted on treating me like a guest, I'd start acting like one. "I want to take a bath when we're inside, and I don't want to eat any more Balian food. Tell them to get aves for the journey or I'll starve myself before we arrive."
Toro nodded with his eyes downcast and turned around. I followed him into the corridor and through a maze of doors and more white hallways. We took a lift and emerged on a place I had never seen. It was a long rectangular room, with displays mounted throughout its walls. Inside the glass cases, flat screens showed footage from the Paguan war. Some displays contained reconstructed Paguan ships, guns, and uniforms.
It was a museum.
I left the lift and walked to a display that held a sword. It was Solano's.
A description below it said: SWORD WAS USED BY THE EMPEROR SOLANO DURING THE PAGUAN WAR. THE HEIRLOOM BELONGED TO HIS FATHER, EMPEROR CARLOS, WHO PRECEDED HIM. THE SWORD WAS RECOVERED BY BALIAN SOLDIERS DURING A RAID WHICH CRIPPLED THE PAGUAN FORCES AND ADVANCED THE BALIAN OFFENSIVE TOWARDS…
I stopped reading after that. My eyes caught my name written on another display. It said: ALYSIA LYNCH, UTANIAN. The display held the wooden furniture that had once decorated my home in Pagua: the mirror I brought from Utania, my desk, and the rocking chair Solano made for me. I hadn't seen real wood in so long that I wanted to touch it, to feel its smoothness. An empty clothes rack stood in the corner, also labeled. I got closer and read the small white sign.
MADAME LYNCH'S PAGUAN MILITARY UNIFORM. IT WAS STYLED IN THE TRADITIONAL...
The lift opened and two guards walked towards me.
Did Toro get my uniform from there?
Toro remained near Solano's display, watching me. "The ship is about to depart Madame, we have to go," he said.
The guards led the way and we followed. It was the first time I understood the magnitude of my presence in Balia. They didn't capture Solano's mistress or whore, they had captured an Utanian. I represented the planet they had been planning to conquer all along.
When we left the building, Kira was already low in the horizon and snow fell from the darkening sky.
I finally recognized where we were. It was the Military Ministry, where they had kept me when I had arrived. Where they had sanded the tips of my wings after the first Victory Parade and interrogated me, as if I knew anything of value to them. We boarded a rover, which took us to the hangar where the ship was waiting. I followed Toro onto the ship, which looked just like the one that had brought me to Balia, years ago.