9: Forgiveness

Art and animation by Shauntelle Benjamin

“May your apprentice forgive you one day.”

As the gas lamp exploded, Ela considered the last six years, the orders she was a member of, the damage politics and hidden knowledge did, the medical knowledge she had acquired, the piles and piles of engineering notes, the advances she’d made in medical engineering -

all the parts, all the materials, the time, the energy, the sleepless nights, the hours spent talking to Zehra and reminiscing, her pleas that Ela get out and see the world…

As glass shattered and popped, as metal melted and people began to crowd around to stop the fire, Ela stared out of the window and wondered who Dr Quo had used instead. Zehra’s body was well taken care of, but she hadn’t preserved it. Zehra deserved to return to the flowers. To rest. She hadn’t known it at the time, but under those conditions, she could not be used for the purpose Dr Quo had intended. More than anything, she wished she could speak to Zehra, tell her she was sorry, that she hadn’t known and…and that there was nothing she could have done if someone was interfering with her attempts to restore her. It had been before she knew of sorcery, and it made sense - it all made sense now. The same illness, three years running…each worse?

Three years. Three years they would not have had.

Was that why Dr Quo had taken her on as an apprentice?

Did Isik know? Should Ela tell her? Isik’s child had been murdered - did she know who by? Did she know why?

Everything was so interconnected. Would telling Isik one thing prompt questions about how she’d gained the information? How was she to know what information Isik had? How did this information help them now?

Eyes still on the window, she was listening and not listening to the others in the room.

The World Crime League. Dr Quo was a member, Mirabel Grunders was apparently a member, Professor Moriarity was a member… were they the ones helping Rain? Or were they simply taking advantage of the situation as it unfolded?

Did Professor Moriarity think Dr Quo had told her? Was she part of the control he thought he had? The coroner was a useful person to have if you could speak to the dead. She hadn’t been coroner when he had approached her - so then why?

Why her? Because she’d managed to thwart his sorcery, or his attempts to poison Zehra? Had Zehra been a test for her as much as she was a tool for him?

Ela was not the murderous type. She did not want to become the murderous kind of person. She was not a murderer, she was a doctor. And yet.

And yet.

He had to pay for what he’d done.

Death was too easy.

Death was too circumventable.

The World Crime League though…to bring that down. To burn it the way the lamp burned. Gouts of flame from its carcass until it was nothing but a husk…

Zeynep had access to a lot of information, as did Kate and Cassandra. This was good. Theodosia was… Theodosia was ill, and she was so like Zehra.

So very like Zehra.

If the group became their own secret society, who better to lead than one who thought and felt so deeply for others?

For now, there were a number of things that needed to happen -

keep that emerald from the World Crime League at all costs

protect the pond on the Oikolygos estate

protect Cassandra from Rain

protect the locked doors and their keys

find out how Kate got hold of that emerald and get it back to them - quietly

Ela carefully tucked her emotions into the letter she still gripped in her hand.
There was, as usual, work to be done.