Bones of Salt

Jonathan

Mira's birthday party might have been the first social gathering I attended without drinking, involving myself in polite conversations, or dancing.

I simply couldn't stop thinking about Aurora, Adina and the Creatures. When I put my mind to something, there was no turning back --- my brain literally worked on a one-way track. And when a problem was solved, I simply moved on to the next one.

I never thought parties were exactly fun, just to be clear. But there was a lot one could learn about people and the world by engaging in social interaction. And some bits of it, come to think of it, were amusing.

But what stung the most was that I didn't work up my courage to ask anyone to dance. No one in the room had caught my eye, and it simply seemed innecessary to show off my skills when the most good looking guy I'd ever seen didn't seem like he would be interested in them. But there was no use thinking about it the morning after. The Prophet was very different from the boys and girls I'd asked to dance in my youth. First of all, the nature of our relationship wasn't similar at all.

And then, he might have thought nothing of my dancing, just something pretty boys did, something that his own brother Atticus probably could already do quite well.

I decided to stop thinking about it. Minx had warned us that the Court wanted to visit us and give us news about Aurora, and while I'd only met Mira the day before, I was already warming up to her. The six of us felt like a team, or maybe it was just the realization that, anyway, we were going to have to be. There wasn't any reason I should have let my thoughts about dancing distract me.

Perhaps it was because it had come too easy, in the past, to impress the wrong kind of people, and now that there was someone that I admired enough to want to have an impact on, the timing of my actions never felt quite right.

That afternoon, when the Court arrived, I noticed how Chae-won was looking at the warehouse in distaste. While it was not illegal to live there, it was also true that everything about it screamed that it was something we wanted to keep as low-key as possible. I tried to smile warmly at them, only to feel a little discouraged when I noticed Atticus was already doing that.

"So," Tori took a seat, and motioned for her colleagues to sit around the table. "The five of us already know Jonathan very well --- thanks to Athanasios. And I gather the Prophet and his brother were friends or aquaintances of Minx. But how did you and Minx Morris meet?"

"It's a very lovely story, interesting to say the least," I replied. "I was wearing handcuffs at the time."

Roman gave me a weird look, and so did Tori. User laughed.

"It was one of those guards who always ban my newspaper, I wasn't enjoying it," I defended myself. "Though I heard other people do."

"Very well," Bertha commented dismissively. "But your meeting with Minx Morris is not what we wanted to talk about, is it? No, I came here to tell you news about Aurora and then decided it should be something the Court tells you directly. We will also issue an official statement about the way Creatures have been acting."

"Please, if it's bad news say it now," Atticus pleaded, a stern look in his green eyes that made the Court see he wasn't begging, just asking. "I can't bear to wait any longer. You know Aurora is my girlfriend."

Chae-Won wrinkled her nose at this display of affection. "Aurora is in stable condition, though I'm not sure this will change in the future if she doesn't progress. But the good news is that she's resting and she's not risking her life, so far."

"An interesting fact," User said. "We asked her parents if we could use the Prophet's healing powers on her, and her mother told us she doesn't think it's the case just yet. Her father made a joke."