Micah Trace and the Shattered Gate by Eric Swanson

Author:Eric Swanson [Swanson, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-21T22:00:00+00:00

Garreous’s Lab

0900 Hours

Dark hallways in old buildings always unnerved Susa. Juxtaposed with the fact that she was raised in the Pillar, one of the oldest known structures on Ceres, her discomfort seemed odd. Her floor length robe, black with a soft velvet purple lining, swept the floor with a soft sound with each step. Her shining blue eyes swept the quiet corridor then fell to the Carer to her left, dressed in bright white.

“Shellai, does it ever feel like your robes glow in the dark?” Susa asked with a warm smile.

The young Royal wasn’t entirely wrong. The Carers who surrounded Susa as she walked all wore almost obscenely white robes and hoods, the uniform of their order. In the shadowy hallway of the old Physics building of the Royal Pillar University, Shellai and her cohorts very nearly shone among the shadows. Shellai returned the Princess’s grin with a shy smile of her own. Her wide, dark green eyes twinkled with what little light came off faux torches on the dark stone walls. Curls of deep red-brown hair fell around her face and moved a bit with her hood as Shellai walked.

“As often as we’re here, Princess, one would think I would acclimate.” Shellai looked down at her robes then craned her neck toward some of her Carer colleagues around them. Shellai pinched a bit of her robe between two fingers and pulled it up toward her face a few inches. “I cannot say that I have.”

The pair laughed softly as they continued down the corridor. Raised together since toddlers, Susa and Shellai thought of each other as sisters, Royal station really not a factor.

“Are we here so often?” Susa asked with a knowing smile. The pair shared another smile as they moved toward a doorway which tossed light into the hallway.

“Oh, certainly not…” Shellai shook her head with an exaggerated expression. “Have many of the arrangements for the wedding been completed?”

“The principal actors have been selected.” Susa joked with another grin. “Aside that… I’m afraid not.”

Quiet understanding hung between the young women for a moment.

“He’s a good man.” Shellai said. Her tone sounded like the final point made in a lengthy discussion.

“I know, Shellai.” Susa replied. Susa recalled the last drawing she’d received from her husband-to-be: a charcoal caricature of Tobiah. Hot air, twirls of steam and smoke, came from the cartoon’s mouth. After a lengthy discussion of the Hybrids and their place in Ceran society, the future spouses found more common ground than cause for argument. Susa smiled thoughtfully for a moment as she stepped into the light which spilled from the doorway.

“Here we are…” Susa stepped into the room and turned back to Shellai with sharp white light splashed on her face. “I’ll be out shortly.” The door creaked shut and settled in with a soft click. The light from the doorway snuck out under the heavy wooden door, the hallway substantially darker now.

Crouched over a monitor, Garreous squinted at the screen and leaned too near it for comfort.

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