Sabre

“Has your brother gone again?”

Her voice cuts like a guttural knife, a baited hook that reaches out to snag my throat and expose my secrets. I feel frozen beneath her stare—like a deer caught in the headlights, stage fright, take your pick—with every muscle of my young body leeched of its warmth and left immobile. I don’t like feeling so vulnerable, but I am not a practiced liar. You see, I usually tend to take a more direct approach (more apt to pounding someone into the ground to get what I want, rather than sneak around all smart like and make elaborate plans). I’m fine leaving all that up to brother.

Except for in a situation like this, when I’m pinned beneath Ma’s steely, narrowed gaze. I feel my ears flatten in my sudden agitation, a knot in my chest tightening from fear and frustration, and my fluffy tail whizzes sharply around my butt. “Uhmm,” I stammer, grinding my little teeth together, wanting to look away from her stony eyes but somehow unable to (how does she do that?!). Ugh. I love Ma, I suppose, but I am bound to brother with a bond far tighter than I could ever hope to explain.

I’m not about to rat him out, even to Ma (especially to Ma, perhaps).

That is—intentionally, at least. As afore explained, I am far from the best little liar out there, and she is bound to read every line of my blood-splattered face.

I growl to myself in a low huff of breath, gesturing with a sharp nod of my head, “He’s gone just over there.” I’m not exactly lying. In that general direction is where I had last seen him disappear, and who’s to say that he’s not there now? Ma can go check herself if she really doubts me (a half-hearted flare of my indignant spirit, knowing full well that I have been discovered. My pride is just too hopelessly bloated to admit it outright).

Fearing the wrath of her anger, I continue quickly, hoping to distract her. “Ma,” I speak boldly, hoping to demand her attention as I circle around, facing her more directly, “tell me more about the Empire.” I can only hope that she catches what I’ve thrown out; if I have learning anything, it’s that Ma worships her Empire, it is everything to her. I know its kingdom, and I know the most basic of principles, but anything more complex than that is a mystery. I’m not interested in all the semantics and politics, but my curiosity does get the better of me. “Why aren’t there more with us?” I question genuinely this time, unable to understand that if we are part of the supreme Empire, then why do we seem so alone?


“Speech.”

.