Ante | ONC2021 Round II Qualifier

V. Interlude

Isla paused as Lav went silent, fingers hovering over her holographic keyboard. She waited for him to continue but the silence stretched on for too long. She lowered her hands and looked up at the Lieutenant General. He had leaned back, tilting his face up to the sunset sky, the shadows dark on his face. The light glinted off his pale-gold hair. There was something wistful in his far-away gaze, but it was quickly drowned by chill-blue melancholy. 

"I miss those days," Lav murmured, soft. The tone of his voice had changed. Before, it had been the icy, mirror-surface of a frozen lake, pale and pristine. Now it betrayed cracks, offering a glimpse of the hidden depths beneath. It sounded like the sort of private voice he would use alone or with a close friend, one he wouldn't have used if he weren't so caught up in thoughts of the past. He spoke to someone who was no longer here, and Isla knew exactly whom.

"What part do you miss?" she asked quietly. Lav didn't move but she could see from the flicker in his gaze that she'd interrupted his reverie and had brought him crashing back into the present. She regretted speaking instantly.

Lav's voice returned to its still-water calm, cool ice stretching over a lake. "Testing our powers. Learning new things. Spending time with Kel's family — his mothers are excellent cooks. Aoife bakes the best cookies I've ever tasted and Alima cooks a mean curry."

Isla furrowed her brow. "Are?"

Lav glanced at her. "Why, yes. They're alive. I visit them," he said, "though not as often as I should."

"I didn't mean to be rude," Isla stammered, "I didn't know — I hadn't —"

"It's all right," Lav said. "Their surnames were changed for their protection and they are monitored by a safety detail. I'm not surprised you don't know of them." He straightened and crossed his long legs, the white Gemma Special Forces uniform creasing. "Though I'm willing to bet you never associated Kel with family at all." The look he slanted her was equal parts critical and uncompromising. Isla hesitated a moment too long, and that moment was all that was needed to give Lav his answer. 

"It's funny, isn't it?" he said, " You don't know more than the fact that Kel killed, that he fought the Tower and lost, and that he died by my hand. You know Kel is a Gemma like yourself, but all you have for him is hatred. You never think about how he had friends and loved ones." The Lieutenant General turned, his white Gemma Special Forces uniform creasing. "Would you like to meet them?"

"Them?" Isla asked.

"Kel's mothers."

Isla twisted her hands in her lap. "I'd rather not intrude," she said. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to meet a murderer's parents, and Lav's sudden invitation had caught her off-guard.

"You won't be a bother. They would be happy to meet an acquaintance of mine and you would be welcomed as a guest in their home."

"Wouldn't it be a security issue?" Isla asked.

Lav levelled his gaze with hers and Isla saw the cool steel behind them. "Are you doubting my ability to keep them safe?" he replied. 

It was phrased as a question but demanded no answer. In its undercurrents was a subtle declaration of power that sent a shiver through Isla. She could hear it in his voice: the quiet surety of a man who could stop bullets with his mind, a man who could fight a group of Gemma soldiers six to one — and win. It was ridiculous to question his ability. 

"Well?" Lav prompted. 

Isla shook her head. She didn't need to meet Wolff's mothers. That wasn't her mission here. 

Lav's blue eyes glittered and she knew she'd made a mistake. "Strange. I would have thought a reporter interested in learning Kel's past would have jumped at such an opportunity."