When I wince, her hold loosens immediately, her cheer returning. "But enough talk of business for now. Toren - May I call you Toren? - You may not be aware of this, but joining is something to be celebrated. I want you to make full use of our facilities and enjoy one another's company." She beckons a technician who passes her the magnetic key card to unlock our cuffs with a finger's curl. "Think of it as a pre-honeymoon. We'll meet again tomorrow when you've had time to rest and regather yourselves." She gives me a hand up, lips tightening when I pull away.

"I am sorry I had to lie to you both. But the fact is that you wouldn’t have agreed to the process otherwise.” She gives me a squeeze and Toren's shoulder a friendly pat. "Gentlemen, if you would? Please return them to their quarters. We can continue this later once you've had some proper rest." The guards bring us back to the main level; we walk the same path as the previous day and stop at the River Bend building first. Toren touches the corner of the throw I kept around my shoulders, making me pause before going in.

"I'll see you later?" His eyes meet mine, staring hard. I nod back, head tilting curiously. He wants something. His eyes flick to the escorts and then back to me. 

"Maybe before dinner? We could walk together." He suggests. He's getting at something, but I'm not asking in front of Dumb and Dumber.

"Yeah. Just come get me. I don't know how I'll feel at that point." He nods. One of the escorts rolls his eyes.

"Aw, that's cute. Miss Roma might be right about you two. Lovebirds in the making." He snickers.

"That's cute. The dog knows how to heel and speak," I shoot back. The man growls at me, and his partner puts a hand on his chest. “Leave 'em be you, big lug.” The man glowers at me, but there are no other rebuttals from him, and they leave with Toren to the Districts building on the opposite side. I fall into the doorway, Bash catching me just in time.

"Zara! What-" He helps me into a chair, kneeling before me and tipping my chin up to look me over. "You ok?" I remember Toren's eyes and look into Bash's.

"We have an appointment this evening." 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN- ZARA

 Toren comes into my room, stiff-legged and moving slowly. He's quiet, but his back is straight.

"What exactly are we-" Bash starts before Casper throws a pillow that smacks him directly in the face. I dive for him when he tries to grab the future Chancellor. Casper's already scribbling a note on a pad by the door for messages. He tosses it onto the bed, surging forward.

CHECK FOR LISTENING DEVICES. I FOUND SOMETHING.

As told, we check pillows and plants while he searches for any cameras in the light bulbs and the crevices in the window frames. After that, he uses his phone to scan the room, the little device crackling and chirping.

"Okay. We're good. The room is clean." He sighs, peeking out into the hallway to ensure the escorts aren't hanging around before perching on the edge of the bed. Bash makes a point of hanging on the other corner, smirking at me when Toren ends up pressed against my side.

“After they took you this morning, I felt bad about all this.” Casper looks to Toren. “I didn’t understand why the guards were necessary since they weren’t in other places in the Clan. So, I decided to try and gather more information. They have an old library here near the back of the Clan, so that’s where I started. And I think I found something." There's none of his usual smiles and playful jokes. I notice that his shirt is lying oddly, not as flat, and a bit thicker around his midsection than I recall.

"Cut the dramatics. What are we talking about?" Bash rolls his eyes, but his arms are tightly folded over his chest. He, too, is beginning to look to the door.

"This," Casper begins, lifting his shirt, "Is a document I found in the first edition section.”  He pulls down a manilla folder and a thin book, with handwritten notes in the margins visible as he flips through the pages. 

“Now you’ve got to understand, this place is massive. There are easily thousands of books here. The first editions are tucked away in a nook, and they have a librarian who comes along with them. There's this girl there who's a spicy redhead, and I guess she isn't promised or bonded to anyone, and we were thinking of going to lunch-" He grunts when Toren kicks him.

"Right, beside the point. Anyway, we make plans for lunch, and then she has to go help a patron trapped under one of the shelves or something, and while she’s gone, I find this book.” He turned the novel so we could see its title.

REJOINING - THE MYTHOLOGY AND LEGEND OF THE REUNITING OUR PEOPLES

“You just found this lying around?” Bash asks.

Casper squirms.

“I mean, once I used the keys she’d left behind to get into the locked research room, I did. I didn’t want to bother her if she was helping someone else!” He says. Toren sighs. Something makes me think Casper has done this before.

"This book was behind a false cover and loads of other publications.” Cas continues. “But those other books were covered in dust. This one was not. On top of that, I found these files." One last nervous glimpse towards the door, and he opens the folder. Inside it, papers with data and percentages neatly graphed out, with notes alongside them.

"Let me see that." I grab the folder, Toren looking over my shoulder while Bash pages through the book. One paper has a line graph with percentages labeled with current demographic info. Another of the articles looks to be some medical report, signed off by Roma herself. Toren reads that while I look at another story.

"Zee, check this out." Bash shows me the novel and dog-ears a page to read later. "I'm fairly sure this was on the outlawed literature list during our schooling. It's a book all about the rejoining-"

“Of course, it was outlawed,” Toren speaks up. “The idea of the rejoining suggests forcible takeovers; think of the riots and unrest that would occur.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Bash argues. “And that shows how much you know, goose; The Districts probably banned it to keep The Clans under their thumb.”

Casper hugs himself.

“I knew something was up when they put the toilet paper under the roll instead of on the top, but I didn’t expect anything like this. And a lot of it doesn’t make much sense.”

The boys look to Bash and me as though expecting us to provide an answer. Bash licks his lips and then his forefinger to turn another page.

"We know about as much as you do,” I tell them. “The rejoining is a story, but it's not one we talk about in the open." Bash nods along with me.

"So, fill us in where you can," Toren suggests, still studying the file. Casper shakes his head hard enough to make the mattress bounce beneath us.

"Not here. We need to go. Roma and her people, whatever they want with the two of you, have something to do with the file and the book. Look." He points out one of the pages and notes a highlighted section.

Subjects G.B. Dis.2 file under Emote. telepathy

Subjects A. C. Cln Two. File under Spont. Combust

Pairing to be determined

Current comp. 43.2 percent

Subjects T. M. Dis. 5 under Plt. Manip

Subjects M.E. Cln Fire under Water manip.

Pairing to be determined

Current comp 34.5 Percent

The list goes on for some time, at least three more examples. Toren studies it carefully and examines another piece of paper with a report.

"So far as I can tell... these are the outcomes of experiments concerning two test subjects put in pairs. And they're testing in the same fields, checking for something but not finding the result they're looking for." His exhaustion is a coat no longer necessary. It's tossed aside carelessly as he takes in the information before him. His thumb touches his lips, eyes scanning the paper from one end to the other.

"I have some experience with reports like these, but I'd only just begun to see this side of our labs." Toren mumbles. "Com. percent would most likely stand for the compatibility found between each pairing, so I wonder if they're attempting to do something akin to what the BACC labs do?" His distraction doesn't stop him from noting Bash's shudder, and he glances over sharply.

"Something I said?" He looks to Casper for confirmation, who shrugs helplessly. Bash's lips curl in disgust, his face probably a mirror of my own.

“BACC labs are twisted. You’re trying to force a Bond connection on someone because math tells you to? It’s an insult to the entire idea of a Bond Mate, and you’re completely fine with your test tubes telling you to be joined to a person. You disrespect our entire culture with that bunch of Borgs.” He sneers as Toren's expression darkens.

"Bash! They're trying to figure out what's happening like we are. Knock it off." I hold his glare until he looks away, but he doesn't apologize, and I don't expect him to. I keep second place for having a hard head, but Bash is first.

We were probably both thinking it, but I can't believe he said it to Toren's face. Calling a member of The Districts a cyborg has been the proverbial middle finger to them for years. Their penchant for avoiding love matches, their often overly logical attitudes, and their distinct lack of emotions in their thinking led to the slur cyborg, or borg for short. We all know it. Bash might as well have spit on his mother.

Casper bites his lip.

"Borgs? I'm not a Borg." His big blue eyes are all but welling up, and I scowl at Bash before crawling to his side.

"We know you aren't Casper. You've been nice to us." I give him a little hug, and he shrugs.

"Is this first base?" He mumbles. I give him a half-hearted shove. Neither of us is really into it, though. Toren is still staring Bash down.

“We don’t even know much about these labs. Toren? Can you explain anymore?” I cut into their contest and to my relief, Toren starts talking.

“BACC stands for "Biological and Chemical Compatibility,' and the labs were a collaboration between Apparatus and Medicia. They're where our people go to find their genetic compatibility percentage with whomever they've chosen to enter into a marriage with." He glowers at Bash.

“So, like I said, the science dictates your joining.” Bash mumbles back.

"The BACC labs are there to keep order and help our people prosper. Just because we don't dance around chanting and rely on love potions-" He begins, cut off by a horrid laugh from my best friend.

"Is that what you think we do? And you accused Zara and me of being backward? I thought you'd do better homework than that, borg. " Toren's back straightens, and Bash's fists are beginning to ball up.

"Maybe I should water it down for you, yokel." He replies easily. Bash's arm swings out, stopped only by my hand.

"I said, knock it off." His eyes blaze while Toren growls under his breath. “Now, I agree with Casper. Something’s not right, but we’ll need more information to figure out what it is. Casper? Any chance your new friend could help us?” We three look up at the boy, who, after some consideration, nods.

"Should be easy enough.” His smile is all charm and cheese, and he winks at me. "Don't get jealous now, Miss Rueben. Remember that when I'm talking to her, I'm thinking of you the whole time." I roll my eyes.

Toren ignores him, looks at the book, and files for a second longer before nodding decisively. “If you can find me the information, I can decipher it..”

Bash glowers but glances my way. “We need any lock picking; I’m ready.”

"Alright.” I decide. “Here's what we're going to do."    

EIGHTEEN - TOREN

In the dead of night, Casper and I leave the District building. The plan was to sneak out to the library, and have Zara charm the older gentleman at the security desk into letting us in.

I hope it works for you.

Away from the security guard's eyes, Casper leads us to the second level, down the hallway to a set of stairs, and around a corner to a smaller section tucked in a back entrance.

This library section is more shadowy than the rest, with dim sensor-activated lighting leading the way down the various paths. After what seems to be a maze of walking around, he stops in front of a French door and brandishes a key card, letting us in when the lock glows green.

Here is a small room of books and tables, impressive only because they're locked away.

"I found it here. This section contains first editions as well as copies of the city registry. The book was somewhere in here!" Voice low, the section I'm looking up at is a glass case kept under a paneled lock. I try to open it, to no avail. Casper, too, gives an experimental pull on the front handles and frowns when he ends up with the same result.

" I could get in before. Why would you keep books locked away in a library? Isn't the whole point of a library to take the books with you?" He mutters.

"There must be some way we can get in here... Can you see inside the case?" Zara asks me. She's trying to stand on her toes, doing little hops to see what I do. For such an imposing figure when she wants to be, she's small. I peer down at her, weighing the height difference. Our offspring would hopefully have my height; as I doubt she’s past five foot two-

One of her legs shoots out, connecting with my shin.

"Ow! Violence is not necessary, you might have just asked-" That seriously hurts. What does she usually kick, boulders?

"I've been trying to ask you what you see for like five minutes. What else was I supposed to do?" Still rubbing my shin, I scowl at her response but notice that Casper and Havocs have disappeared while I am lost in my thoughts.

"Where-"

"They went to see if they could find a key card at the desk. Seriously, where did you go just now?" She frowns at me. Her nose scrunches when she's thinking—an odd quirk.

"Here, I think I saw a stool in the aisle over," I say instead of answering her question. It's a quick jog to retrieve it, and then she's clambering up, cupping her hands around her face and rubbing on the glass with her elbow.

"That's weird." She rubs the glass again and frowns at her shirt.

"What?" I can hear the other two near the desk, rummaging in the drawers. I wish they would be quieter. My stomach is in knots, and I'm thinking about getting caught.

"My shirt. See?" She holds out a sleeve, which looks like it did when we first came in.

"I don't see anything." What's taking them so long?

"Exactly. Look around you. Everything in here is under about five layers of dust at least." She gestures, and I follow her instructions, understanding dawning.

“Everything except this case. Even if Cas opened it earlier, there should at least be dust tracks.” The stool is enough to put us nearly side by side, and I do my best to look inside. I can see books and something that seems full of paper, maybe more reports?

"Got the key card!" Casper stage whispers at the end of the aisle. He and Havocs trot down, flicking it over the box on the case. With a soft beep, the lock turns, and we're into the cabinet.