Amiss

Magan clenched his hand, turning his whole body into rigid ice with a crunching hiss. Aeryn held up her hands, tight to her chest, but her dark eyes remained unwavering. 'I understand,' she soothed. 'I understand completely. You blame me. I blame myself.' She shook her head, stifling the tears trembling at the corners of her eyes. 'I had the whole country blame me. I accepted it all, so I could go down in history as evil. For losing you, I felt like I deserved nothing less than hatred. I wish I could give an explanation, but I have none to give, none that you are deserving of.'

'You could try,' Magan growled.

Aeryn nodded. 'Very well. I knew, as you did, that the government were planning to gather unemployed citizens and give them work, but then we noticed that the government was bolstering its security personnel, an we were curi-'

'You sit in the highest chamber of government. Don't dare say you are innocent.'

She gulped. 'You are correct. I was hoodwinked, manipulated, lulled into falsehoods, and how that happened I can not give an explanation, but I do know I am not innocent. I asked, and was told that it was a drive to give everyone work, and it would boost the economy. Creating more security work was part of that drive, and that there would be increases in all divisions. And like everyone else, I thought, what an excellent notion. This country needs to help its people work. This,' she indicated to Magan, and then pressed her hand to her lips, stilling her trembles. 'This... this is not what I agreed to.'

Magan's eyes audibly rolled, their icy condition grinding against his equally icy sockets. 'Where were you the day of the Reconstruction?'

Aeryn took a moment to wipe her cheeks free of tears with her fingertips. 'Well, I had entertained Arlene Dawes the night before. We had been discussing plans to reunite the people of the Stiriphese and Black Hollow. Exchange programs, and the such. We got a little drunk, and then when I woke the next morning, Ibaleban had already fallen.'

'You were drunk?' he gasped.

'I have no defence. Arlene told me you had died in the bomb, but I knew you were alive. It was the only truth that seemed plausible. I searched the rubble for weeks. I saw so many faces, so much death. I went to every warehouse I could find, I read through every roster, even the international ones. And now I've found you, my darling Hannan.'

'You didn't find me. I called you here.' He turned away, folding his arms as the ice faded and his skin returned to its normal pale hue. 'Seven years I've rattled my brain as to what happened, only for you to tell me that you were drunk.' He pressed his hands against his head. 'I'm so confused at the moment.'

'I wish I had a better reason to give you.'

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, the shortest Aeryn had ever seen it, and scratched at the nape of his neck with tattooed fingers. There was a number there, as there was a number on the neck of every Ananan, crude and drilled deep into the skin. 'I wish I could say sorry,' she whispered.

'Don't bother,' he grunted. 'I'm not going to forgive you... but maybe,' he turned to look at her, his pale eyes narrowed. 'They told me you wanted me dead.'

Aeryn blinked in surprise. 'Who told you that?'

'Is that true?'

'No,' she replied firmly. 'You believed that? What logic is there? What would I have to gain from your death?'

He shrugged. 'I had a hundred reasons, and none of them make sense now.'

'Because they're lies. They told you lies to keep us from each other. Who are 'they'? Is it Listelle?'

Magan's eyes flashed. 'She has nothing to do with this.'

'Well, she will shortly when I tell her she has my son.'

'You keep that to yourself.'

'I have to take you away from here.'

'You don't have to do anything with me.'

'Then why did you call me here?'

'Because I had to control how you found out.'

Aeryn placed her hands on her hips. 'And what exactly was your plan? That you and I would agree to ignore each other? There is only one conclusion to this situation, and that is you come home with me.'

Magan moved away from her, pacing across the floor. Aeryn frowned. Even the way he moved had changed. He walked with his head down, his hands pressed tight to his chest, and every once in a while he would dart his eyes to the door. The tattoos and short hair alone were jarring. She watched him wring his bony fingers together in thought, noticing how dark the ink had made his hands appear. Her proud wolf was now a nervous fox, scuttling about in a dark room.

'Let's think this through,' he said eventually. 'I tell Listelle, and she'll... she'll tell everyone else, and I'll be handed over to you... and then what? I won't be able to leave Steffen. I'll be a prisoner in a different city. Even if you free me, I'll never be able to drop that I was once a slave, you will always be associated with it. It's better I bide my time, and make a clean break.' He paused in his fidgeting to look directly at Aeryn, his bright blue eyes burning cold in the darkness of the room. 'And then there's those who lied to us.'

'Arlene,' Aeryn hissed.

'And the thousands of people who are loyal to her. She can't know I'm alive.'

'I see your point. But I won't be able to hide that I know you. Anyone would know instantly.'

Magan shrugged. 'Then don't. I was your pet. Straight and simple.'

Aeryn reached one hand out to him. 'Hannan, that's a lie.'

'It's Magan,' he muttered, immediately brushing her away.

Her brow furrowed. 'You're using your birth name?'

'What makes more sense? That my name is Hannan Marisa, son of Aeryn DeSteffen, or that my name is Magan, pet, slave... this,' he indicated the length of his wiry body. 'You might call it a lie, but it sits better than the truth.'

She shook her head, but still replied, 'Very well. You were my pet. I suppose there is no meeting with Listelle.'

'If you would like.'

'No. No I don't think I could bear it right now. I think I would be unsubtle and of no aid to you... and my darling... no... Magan, despite my desire to scream it from the rooftops that my son is alive, I will be an aid, and we will work this out.'