2407 Iclis 19, Jyda

Canelis licked her fingers free of the crumbs she attained from eating the slice of bread with her hands, uncivilized as it might be. What choice did she have? It's not like they gave her silverware to eat. She could barely fit the slice in between the rails.

A sigh built in her throat but never quite reached her lips. She had been limiting the number of sighs she let out in a day. If she let out another, she might lose it completely. None of them wanted that.

How many days had it been since she was taken from Xai-Ren? Nobody was around to give her any clues if she had been here a week, a month, or at least a year. They had also thrown off her count by giving her meals at odd times around the day. It was a common tactic to distort a prisoner's sense of time and, as much as it pained Canelis to admit, it worked. Now, she had no idea if it was night or day, afternoon or dawn.

She blew a strand of hair off her face. She had let it loose two meals ago when it began straining against her forehead, causing pinpricks throbbing in her temples. It wasn't that painful but it could get distracting and annoying. So, she had slipped off the twine off her head and flung it across the room, letting the darkness swallow it whole.

It would not be long before she thought of the darkness as a companion and gave it a name. That's when the time she would know she really did lose it.

The lack of anything to do was more frustrating than not knowing anything about her current location. She could have painted a dozen more landscapes with the time she spent ogling at the odd patterns in the rocks making up the walls of her cell. Tears crept to her eyes as the thought of her poor succulents dying of thirst. These people would pay if just one of their leaves turn wrinkled from lack of water. That, or she would have no choice but to bust a hole through the walls with whatever magic she could muster. Her succulents didn't deserve such loneliness.

Canelis let herself sigh the fifth time since she finished eating her bread. Her breath echoed briefly across the walls before dying off without a trace. She leaned her head against the stone wall, letting the cold soak into the muscles on her back despite the hollow nagging of her trainer's voice in her head.

She closed her eyes and crossed her arms on her chest, tucking herself in. As a soldier, she was used to sleeping in all kinds of places and she could trick herself into falling unconscious as she wanted. If she wanted to get some sleep, she could. But now, she's got to think.

What the boy and the Marshal mentioned about the plague had been bugging her since forever. They both said it came from the sea before ravaging Ok-Sa. What had transpired and why was Ok-Sa the only one affected?

The Marshal mentioned using murwen leaves to treat the physical repurcussions of being exposed to this plague. The boy claimed using quilderfen bones in holding it off. Was that why the renegades have been surviving in the barren city that was Ok-Sa for so long? Where were they even getting those bones? As far as Canelis was aware, the animal in which they belonged to wasn't native to Peltra.

Could there be any more territories being affected by the plague? If so, why hasn't anyone said anything about it? This could affect the whole island if they're not careful. All fairies should be concerned about it. So...why weren't they?

A clatter from behind her made her flinch. She turned to find the boy delivering her next meal again. How long was she hunched over herself, thinking? Well, at least, she could appreciate the wonders of meditation now.

"What are you doing in a barren land?" she asked, making the boy pause once more.

There was nothing in his dark eyes as he regarded her. "Unlike you, we don't have a choice."

Canelis scoffed. An inexplicable frustration climbed up to her throat. "You defectors claim you don't have a choice when, in fact, you do," she said. "You're just too selfish to choose the other option that involves serving our people."

"Look, I don't plan on going into a debate with you about choices," the boy snapped. "But if it helps ease your mind, at least we didn't get our asses kicked by egotistical fairies whose given power went way above their heads. I'm already treated like I'm not a fairy of equal standing. Might as well do it without being exploited."

Canelis had never whipped that fast to face someone. "Did you just call the army an explotation?" she hissed. "Take that back."

"No, I won't," the boy's eyes narrowed. "You people are too brainwashed to even see the truth."

"What truth?" she snorted. "That we are able to provide for our people? That we don't force our soldiers to live in dingy caves?"

The boy's nostrils flared. "You people are all the same," he said. "If not for you thinking of yourselves as great, we wouldn't be in this position."

"Stop playing the victim," Canelis said. What was his deal anyway? These people chose to be in this barren land. They chose to run away from their obligations. Wouldn't it be sensible for the Army to punish them? "You chose to be here. Nobody forced you."

"Uh, the Army kind of did when they barred entry to Xai-Ren?" the boy shook his head like he couldn't believe he was having this conversation in the first place. "Isn't that what you are doing? You've driven off your own people into hopelessness with all the impossible hurdles in the Army. You've tied people into their ranks, reducing them to just what their badge displayed. They can't move on in life without moving forward in the army. The required years of service is just another form of slavery."

Canelis blew an exasperated breath. "Hopeless? When has the Army done that? Everyone is treated fairly and squarely. Ranks are awarded based on a soldier's merit," she said. "Who said anything about not moving forward outside the Army? What about the people in Xai-Ren? Are you saying they're not valid fairies because they've stayed away from the army? And slavery? How bold of you to call giving back to the race that cradled you 'slavery'."

"If there was anything good existing inside the Army, fairness is the last of it. Don't tell me you know better. Have you experienced any hardship at all, Crown General?" the boy's eyes held a challenge Canelis had never encountered such provocation in all her life. Plus, he knew what she was. It wasn't a far-fetched guess that the other renegades knew about her too.

"You are the real proof of the unfairness of the promotion system, Officer, as much as you hate to admit it," the boy continued. "There are a lot of other soldiers waiting in line ahead of you. Most of them have worked most of their lives to get to your position. What did you do to get your rank apart from being the Riogener's kin, huh?"

Canelis blinked. As expected, there was going to be this sort of backlash regarding her promotion. The Riogener's risking too much with this move.

She took too much time in coming up with an answer. Understanding and disappointment shone in the boy's expression at her inability to throw a rebuttal. "Thought so," he stood up with a grunt and began to walk away. "We don't need your pity, Crown General," he glanced behind his shoulder. "It would serve you better to keep it to yourself."

With that, he walked off, carrying the silence along with him. Canelis stared down at the tray of food lying before her. Her appetite had thrown itself out of the nonexistent window in the cell. He basically implied she benefitted from the unfair merit system in the Army. What struck her was that she had no alternative reasoning for it, mostly because she couldn't understand it herself.

She stared into the direction the boy had vanished into. Her mind ran over the things they reportedly stole from the outposts. None of it cost more than a kalta sigra. They weren't stealing to be rich. They were stealing for survival.

She swallowed against the growing lump in her throat. Pixies were proud creatures. They wouldn't admit that there was something wrong in the way they've been brought up. None of them would dare question the things they were taught. The way they view the world and how they make decisions—all of it was shaped by none other than the race they belonged to.

Those who chose to go down a different path were labeled renegades as well as those who saw their society for the way it was, without all the filters. Whose fault was it that they ended up this way, then?

Moreover, was it Canelis's duty to fix this from the root? Because she wouldn't know the first thing to start. She couldn't even help herself escape a physical prison. How could she help an entire race break free from a cell they couldn't see, something they couldn't even prove to exist?