Sharon Shinn - Gateway

She didn’t bother protesting; she knew he would insist. So she dropped beside him, leaned her back against the rock, and locked her arms around her updrawn knees.

“I’m so glad you were here today,” she said. “I always feel safe when I’m with you.”

“So what happened?” he asked. He prodded her with a finger in her ribs. She grabbed his hand to make him stop and then didn’t let go.

“Chenglei,” she said.

“You’ve talked to him again?”

She shook her head. “Heard him deliver a speech. About why the sick people in the northwest need to be quarantined.”

“Well, that’s always been his position.”

“And everything he said sounded so plausible,” she said. “I mean, he could very well be right. If there’s some-some-plague in the northwest territories and it moves to Shenglang, it could wipeout halfthepopulation.It’s notlikeithasn’t happened before in the history of the world. At least, my world.”

Kalen was watching her, his face unreadable. But his hand was still clasped with hers, warm and comforting. “Then why are you confused?”

“Because he’s wrong! I know he’s wrong! If a civilized society turns its back on its weakest members, then it is no longer a civilized society. And the sick and the dying are the weakest of all. If I learned nothing else from my father, I learned that.”

Now Kalen gave her a smile and squeezed her hand. “See?” he said quietly. “You didn’t need me to remember that for you.”

For a moment she was startled, and then she laughed. “You’re right. I can practically hear my father saying the words.” She shook her head. “But it took me a long time last night to come up with the counterargument. I lay awake for at least three hours, trying to figure it out.”

“And that’s why you’re confused?”

Still leaning against the stone, she turned her head to look at him. “I’m confused because I don’t know how he could make it sound right in the first place. How he could make me believe him when I know he’s wrong.”

“A lot of people believe him,” Kalen said. “It’s hardly surprising that you did too.”

“ Aurora says that evil is seductive,” Daiyu said, her voice troubled. Aurora also said that Chenglei was evil. Daiyu was far from sure Aurora was right on either count.

Kalengrinned.“Doesshe?I’ve always found evil to be flat-out ugly. But maybe she knows a higher class of villain than I do.”

Daiyu gave him an absent smile. Her voice, she could tell, was anxious. “But what if Chenglei is not actually a villain? What if he’s just mistaken? What if he truly believes that Shenglang is endangered? I might not agree with his conclusions, but that doesn’t make him a bad man, just a misguided one.”

Kalen didn’t answer, just watched her with his calm brown eyes. When she went on, her voice had dropped to a murmur. “What if Aurora and Ombri are wrong? Worse, what if they’re lying? What if Chenglei doesn’t deserve to be sent away after all?”

She half expected him to berate her for her loss of faith, to state with conviction that Aurora and Ombri were pure-hearted as angels sent from the most benevolent of the gods. But he didn’t. “I have come to believe in them, but I can only speak for myself,” he said slowly. “And maybe I would have believed in anyone who gave me a place to live and food to eat. Maybe I would believe in Chenglei if he was the one who offered me shelter. Maybe I’m just a simple man.”

“Kalen,” she whispered, “that doesn’t help at all.”

He laid his free hand along the side of her face, drawing her toward him until their noses almost touched. “You have to act on whatever it is you believe,” he said, his voice very low. “No one can tell you what that is. Not me, not your father, not Aurora or Ombri. Only you.”

“I wish you would tell me,” she replied, still whispering. “You’re the only one who makes sense to me.”

He closed the distance between them, placing a gentle kiss upon her mouth. Instantly, she was flooded with a sense of well- being, a conviction that everything would be fine. She dropped his hand so she could twine both arms around his neck, ands he scooted closer so she could kiss him back. His other arm came up to encircle her waist and his kiss grew a little harder; he shifted positions to draw her deeper into his embrace.

And then abruptly he released her with a muffled exclamation of annoyance. At first she was shocked, and then she started laughing. He had accidentally swept his feet through the waterfall and now he was wet up to his knees.

“I hope nobody was walking by just now and happened to see your feet poking through the water!” she exclaimed.

“Well, that’ll teach me to be places I shouldn’t be, doing things I shouldn’t do,” he remarked. He seemed cheerful but a little unsure, as if utterly unable to predict what she might say now.

She laughed a little shakily. She was fully aware of all the reasons it was a bad idea to be kissing Kalen, from Xiang’s horror at his unsuitability to the fact that she would be leaving him behind forever in a matter of days. Even so, she felt decidedly pleased with herself; she knew the heat in her cheeks was part embarrassment and part delight. “Then it seems unfair that you’re the only one who got drenched, since I shouldn’t have been here doing that either,” she said.

“I don’t think I’ll be mentioning it to Ombri,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ll be telling Xiang.”

He smiled, but quickly turned serious. She wished he would take her hand again, but he didn’t. “I wonder if it might do you good to hear Feng talk about Chenglei.”

“Who’s-oh, the dissident you told me about? I’d like that.”

“I’ll see if he’s got anything planned. It’s been a while since I’ve heard him, so maybe he’s still in hiding. They say that Chenglei hates him.”

“Every political party needs the righteous anger of the loyal opposition to keep it honest,” Daiyu said.

Kalen laughed at her. “Is that your father talking again?”

“No, that’s Isabel. My boss.” Daiyu paused, for she hadn’t thought about Isabel in days. “If you let Aurora know where he’ll be, I’ll try to get free to go hear him.”

He hesitated. “Sometimes Feng speaks at fairly disreputable places. Will you be afraid or uncomfortable?”

“Not if you’re with me,” she said honestly.

He nodded. “We’ll meet here and then slip away.”

“ Aurora won’t like it,” Daiyu said. “She doesn’t want me to do anything to risk Xiang’s displeasure.”

“I’ll find a way to give Aurora a message so that she won’t realize what we’re planning,” Kalen said.

They smiled at each other in perfect complicity. For the most part Daiyu was a docile and obedient daughter, but she had learned years ago that there were times the adults in her life didn’t need to be apprised of all her plans.

“I suppose I’d better go,” she said. “But it was so good to finally see you again! And to talk face-to-face without having to pretend!”

His smile deepened. “It was good,” he said meaningfully, and she blushed again. She scrambled to her feet and shook out his shirt, which was now both wrinkled and a little mudstained, before handing it back.

“I hope your shoes and pants dry,” she said. “Sorry you got wet.”

He shrugged and pushed her gently toward the opening where they had squeezed in. But right before she flattened herself against the stone, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up, he gave her one more brief kiss.

“In case I never have another chance,” he said.

She looked up at him for a moment. “I hope you do,” she said.