~

Chapter Forty-six

~

“Well why didn’t ya say that earlier?” I shouted at Jam.

His head drooped a little. Swiveled around some. Had no idea what that meant.

“Uh—”

I waited. Seemed somethin’ tickled his tongue.

“Spit it out,” Nuel said.

“Non-trolls aren’t—uh—very welcome inside the community even on a regular day.”

No wonder he was tight-lipped about us headin’ to the troll-side of the city before. I never would have guessed they weren’t on the Northern grid. Wow. They’d really managed their own little world next door. Different water and sewer systems. They clearly lowered their standards to keep the same cellular. We had too, though. But we localized the administration of the network.

“We couldn’t get in?” Asog asked.

Nuel laughed. I didn’t see anything very funny about his question. Weren’t we sittin’ in a darkened city to help troll kind? Then she told ’em how unwelcome we’d been in the Lake’s South Slope mine. Still didn’t see the humor.

Jam’s face reddened. “I said ya’d be unwelcome. Didn’t say they wouldn’t let ya in.”

I asked if there was a Hilton. He nodded. That was enough for me. Jam and Asog were studyin’ Nuel. I hadn’t noticed she was still talkin’. Maybe I block her out now and then. Or maybe, often. But honestly, it’s mostly to keep from killin’ her. Missed the lead in, but she blabbed about how bad it was likely to get if the South didn’t relent very soon.

She said, “the South,” but I’m pretty certain it was the North that needed to make concessions.

Asog nodded a lot. Jam rubbed the five whiskers on his chin. She went on. And on.

I sighed. Was losin’ patience. “So?”

The three turned glares at me.

After a long pause, Nuel asked me how I couldn’t possibly get it. Like I couldn’t see humans were gonna suffer for a few days. Not exactly her words. I was fillin’ in for her—that whole, keep from killin’ her thin’.

“The lingerin’ resentment,” she almost whispered.

I really couldn’t see a downside for us. Long term, especially. What folks used to call the Wildes directly competes technologically and industrially with the North now. Maybe the North has a much greater population—because of that whole rabbit thin’—but they would remain isolated in the tippy-tip of the continent with a fraction of the resources. They wanted to hold a grudge, it’d only hurt ’em.

They’d been pokin’ their noses in the world’s business for a century and were already becomin’ isolated overseas. I would call all that comeuppance.

“What I care about today—” My chest was growlin’ deep. “Is keepin’ my pretty head attached to my handsome body. I’m not responsible for the corner the North has painted ’emselves in. Ike and the Council reached out, got their fingers about snapped off. They gave ’em a warnin’, which they ignored—”

“Ya can’t be that shallow,” Nuel shouted at me.

My entire body vibrated, and it wasn’t with joy. There had been a day I’d never be able to speak in this state. But words streamed into my head. Wasn’t sure if they came out of my mouth. Jam stood quickly and moved between me and Nuel. Asog extended his hands at me, like that was gonna calm me down.

“The only reason ya’re here to have this conversation,” I hissed, “is because yar folk asked ya to meet with us in the South, for help dealin’ with the persecution. Don’t turn hypocrite on me. We hurt our bottom line doin’ what we could. Doin’ what ya asked of us. Now all I see is yar kind streamin’ out of the North. Not fightin’ to make thin’s right.”

I didn’t remember standin’ up, or Asog grabbin’ me, as though I’d attack a hen. Especially a one-armed hen. But her every remark the last hour had edged insultin’, now she was callin’ me a fool. Blamin’ Ike for pushin’ the humans to stupidity. It was their own stupidity. They thought they could bully the South, and we flipped a few switches and made ’em out to be the blowhards they are.

Oh. That was a good summary. I should’ve said that out loud. Maybe more concise, but I think what I did say was a little more bitin’.

~

Nuel

~

Not long ago I’d admitted to not bein’ very introspective. So after Kriz stormed out of the house with Jam on his heels, maybe it would be good to go over the conversation in my head. Papa put his arm around me and pulled me into him.

On a regular day, that might have felt supportive. But it made the already zingin’ wound scream.

“Are ya that dull?” he asked softly.

What! I sucked in a sharp breath, which doubled my pain.

“Ya couldn’t see ya were tickin’ that bull off somethin’ awful? Ya complained endlessly that he’s clueless to yar emotions and needs. I love ya sweetie, but didn’t ya sense his emotions? Ya outright attacked his clan. That isn’t taken well, by us ogres.”

“Us ogres,” I hissed. “I wasn’t raised as an ogre.” I pulled away from him, glared at him hard. “Ya danced on eggshells with humans. I had a human nanny. Ya sent me to human schools. Told me assimilation was important—”

I had been accepted into a human sorority, because I was so human. I’d heard that whispered more than once. I was only different from ’em because I weighed a hundred fifty pounds more than ’em.

And now I’m usin’ a Southern accent.

I had called my nanny Mama.

Tears welled. She’d walked out of my life as though we’d never meant anythin’ to her. I exploded into deep sobs.

And it hurt so much.