The Light On Your Face For The First Time

Chapter 11: The Heavy Lever

What objective did she risk by saving his life? Was this what he called her in for, to criticize her for helping him? Was his ego so overbearingly massive that he had to privately scold her for robbing him of his death?! "I—"

"But," Redmaw silenced her, "if you make that choice, I will do the same for you."

Lotusfoil sealed her lips. So he didn't mean to afflict her with criticism, but an offer—one that baffled her even more than the flash of his skin. Redmaw was... unpredictable. She struggled to trust his intentions, given what she'd seen of him. His wrath toward Beocraft. His secrecy about the trials. Lotusfoil studied him, uncertain if she had any leverage, but taking a chance all the same. "Why did you have Wrytangle transform that null shard?"

The question took him aback. "It was the first trial. A test of greed."

"Were you testing me too?"

Redmaw rumbled, thinking, calculating. He ran the same mental formulas as her. "Yes," he said finally.

"Are you testing me now?"

"No. I extend this offer separate of the trials."

Lotusfoil mulled on it. "It may be a bit of a one-sided arrangement, given that I'm hardly a warrior."

"Then I will train you personally."

"Do I have to worry about you killing me?"

He took a few seconds longer to reply than she'd have liked. "I will not kill you."

"Okay."

Redmaw squeezed his fists, withholding some kind of reaction. "When I call on you for training, you will heed me."

"Yes."

"And in battle, you will not stray far from me."

"I won't."

The growl behind his mask was more akin to a purr. Redmaw stepped closer, looming over her, his hands rigid like he might have wanted to do something with them. Instead it was his feet that kept moving, drawing him closer and closer, until she could feel the warmth from his uniform reaching out for her. His arm hovered, a gloved hand drifting close to her face hidden by the silk sleeping veil. Lotusfoil regarded him with curiosity more than worry. His mask stared back down at her. If she looked hard enough, she wondered if she could glimpse the hue of his eyes behind the mask.

Redmaw reached past her and unlocked his door. "Go to your bed and speak nothing of this," he warned quietly.

She nodded, speaking nothing indeed. His door shut behind her the moment she stepped out, and she did not stop walking until she'd found herself back in her bed, looking around the dozing slumps of blankets, ensuring her teammates were none the wiser to her agreement with Redmaw.

He may have answered some questions for her, but the conversation yielded twice as many more for her to chew on. Chief among them, the question of why Redmaw thought he could trust her more than anyone else to have his back. It must have something to do with her Type 0 ability. Even Evander exalted the value it placed on her.

Perhaps she had leverage after all.

---

The morning gathering was cold and damp like the day before, but that morning Lotusfoil was warmed by a fire in her heart. Counting heads, she quickly noticed that they were still two short, but hadn't sussed out who was missing until Redmaw emerged into the rain, and Suncleary reacted in frantic urgency.

"Redmaw!" she cried, "Where's Gillstain? He never returned to the keep last night!"

"Ivorybelt is missing too," pointed out another Knive.