The dagger lay in the not-zeman’s hands. “Here. You’ll need this too. Everyone needs a knife. The Shivs attack at random.”

Lilly touched the knife. “I’m going to kill them.”

“It doesn’t have to be used to kill. Could stab an assailant in the knee or the arm or such. This kind of knife does not make a good fruit peeler. Don’t try to block with it either. You could bluff with it.”

“Bluff?”

“Pretend you’re going to do something dangerous to scare someone else away.” 

“Why? I don’t want to scare anyone away. I want to make them stop killing.”

“That’s what bluffing is. You trick the other person, or group of people.”

“I’m not good at that.”

“Take the knife at least. I have more to hand out.”

Lilly took the knife and put it down on the table in front of her. 

“Oh and here’s a sheath.” Lilly took the casing the knife blade could go in. There were two cords attached.

“You can tie that to anything. Not a wall. Anything tie-able. Alright, I need to hand out more knives.”

Lilly watched as the not zeman, not woman, not man, talked to a waitress. She waved at Lilly and walked out the entrance. 

“She’s paid  for a snack for ya.” She told me to go away. Why did she give me a knife and pay for a snack? She chose a tart off the menu and ate it while she wondered. Where did that Le’falyne she’d gathered go? Was it playing around trees again? 

At the morgue next door over, she learned from the mortician that after he had finished his autopsy, he’d sent his mother to the militancy hall for further investigation. She felt like her mama was teasing her.

“That’s nice. You’re called a mortician. You’re like a musician for the dead!”

The man chuckled, and watched her go on her way. 

The large blob of let-water that was helping her was still not anywhere. She was glad someone was giving knives out. Maybe the Shivs would stop killing if they got hurt back. The Shivs hunted people. Murder. Justice. Lilly was hunting people too, but she didn’t know who she was hunting. First she needed to go back to her abductors. They deserved to know what she was doing. Then the militancy hall. Maybe one of those groups could tell her who she was hunting, and they had her mama.

At the workshops the barrier was gone, leaving only runes in the dirt. So that wall was made by runes? Lilly noticed that there was a flat spot of earth near her which did not have any runes dug out. Was that how the man got in? The militants were everywhere in this place now. It looks like a village. The short workshops and drapes with humans walking between them reminded her of her toy town of wood blocks and wooden humans. She’d played with them just yesterday. Where was that little kid Lilly now? Not ready to wake up again yet. Maybe one of the militants could help her. That man and zeman were going to take her to them before anyway. 

They noticed her first. She felt their inspective eyes very keenly upon her. “Hi. I need help.”

One walked up to her. His top hat had a brass disk in the middle of a black silky ribbon that ran all the way around it. “You! Where are your parents?”

Lilly stopped, suddenly tense. “They’re both gone.”

“Lilly!” the zeman’s voice carried far. After shuffling between men inspecting blood on the ground and women scanning further in. “Sir Thettan. I’m her charge for now, until we register her at the hall. She’s a victim of the murders yesterday.”

The man’s eyebrows rose and he seemed bouncy with pleasure from the new information. “Good. I have many burdens right now as you can see and ... feel.” Other officers were nudging their elbows into him or forcing him to step forward to let them through. “These spaces between workshops are very cramped.”

The zeman nodded to the man and took Lilly by the hand. Lilly did not pull away or try to twist her hand free. Holding someone’s hand felt nice. Like none of this was happening. None of last night. But this hand was more calloused than her mother’s.

Lilly wondered why none of these people commented on Le’falyne. They reached a workshop somewhere in the middle of the lot. She tried to identify whether this was the same one she’d been abducted to.

“This is the same one. The workshop. They’re hard to distinguish, but I haven't moved since you left.”

Lilly saw Drizzelda sitting alone with the tarp pulled aside so that the workshop was far more lit than before. Lilly’s mouth was open. She was about to ask where the other’s went, but Drizzel widened her eyes and looked at the zeman and shook her head. While Lilly tried to decipher that gesture, the zeman stepped behind the personal chariot and looked at Lilly. 

Zher posture was so straight. Zhe smiled and Lilly smiled. “This is Drizzelda. She’s my sister.” 

“She’s very pretty.” Lilly blushed. What was she supposed to say? 

She noticed the seated woman’s cheeks redden as well.

“Oh I’ve met Drizzelda.”

The zeman stared into space. She seemed to be thinking of what to say. Suddenly, zhe turned and squatted in front of the chariot. Lilly could see the shape of her butt in the tight militant pants. Drizzel’s cheeks blossomed with redness. “Drizzelda. Did you send Alyz to abduct her?”

Drizzel sat up straighter. “Yes! We needed to know what happened!”

The zeman sighed. Finally someone sighing not at me, Lilly thought.

“Ugh Yanil, you do not have to get on my level to talk to me.” 

“Hmmh. Well, You’ll keep Lilly safe. Safe until I escort her to the hall. You’re welcome to attend as you are representing our father here.” Yanil adjusted and to do so her butt bounced on zher heels. “The other living victims and family members are settled in there now.”

Lilly failed to stifle a giggle in her throat. “Your butt.”

Yanil didn’t react. Drizzel started to giggle too. “I know. They need a redesign.”

“Alyz isn't here. That’s good. We can go now without having to send her off.”

Two of them giggled off each other’s mirth. Yanil waited patiently for that to die down.

After catching a breath, they all paused. Everything needed saying, had been said. Their minds wandered. Lilly looked around. The dirt was getting wetter as if it were a sponge with water seeping in. The wet portions spread in a ring around the poles of the workshop. 

The three of them watched the darkness spread on the ground in a familiar spotty-edged pattern

Drizzel spoke again first. “Is that…?”

“Yes, That’s Le’le. I didn’t even notice it leave me. I even rode it around town.”

“Le’le. That’s a sweet nickname.”

Yanil stood and adjusted zher top hat. “There’s nothing for us to do here. I’ll escort you to the hall now Lilly. We have the path back under surveillance. Treelight and streetspy teams. No more ambushes and no more abductions today.” 

Lilly stood there while the others got the chariot ready. She wandered over to the bench where the orb still lay forgotten. She picked it up and felt along the defiles that vanished deeper in at points. She decided to bring it along. 

The three of them walked around the edge of the workshops. Lilly heard all the conversations happening past the walls and gaps where voices carried well.

“Where’s this mud coming from?”

Le’falyne was agleam with silly joy. It had seeped into the hard dirt under sections of the workshop, where militants were standing or crouching. Lilly caught glimpses between workshop walls. They slowed and had to shlop around. One lost a boot in their attempts. Then a different militant lost a boot! Lilly laughed.

“There may be a pipe that comes down here from the river. Maybe it leaked.” The owner of that voice was level headed and direct.

“Maybe…” 

Lilly gained amusement at the confusion.

Her mother. Other people. Suspended upright in tubes of Le’falyne. She only knew because she felt the intelligence and life flowing and settling constantly. The bit in her and her Chila hymned in rhythm. A rhythm without sound. One of the floating people had eyes open. Militants were walking around the displays with glass circles in their gloved hands and parchments on small planks of wood..

Three other bodies. 

“Your mother and a family of three.”

Lilly looked at the crushed organs and bones. 

Yanil held her arms and pulled her away around the side. Lilly writhed out and walked back in front of her mama. “I want to see.” 

Relatives of the other family were talking to officers in an open alcove off the main hall. She caught them looking back but never right at their dead family members. Lilly tried to ignore them.

Lilly looked at her mother floating upright in the Le’falyn. She was dead. Spiritually. Physically too, but not in the face. She looked beautiful with her eyes closed. Would Lilly look like that one day? Would her breasts grow to be the same size? Would she be that tall? Would she have that much fat? Would she have that much compassion? 

Her bones were crushed but still there. Her guts were squashed but still there. They could rebuild her. 

Her mother preserved. Floating in Le’falyne. Yanil rolled zher sister up next to Lilly.

The zeman officer then addressed a desk where she took a paper and wrote something down.

“Lilly.”

“She’s there. Why is she out here?” Lilly felt a light response from the liquid around her mama; something akin to the breath of leaves from trees nearby, or the smell of wet soil. This had intention behind it. 

“Lilly. The dead are always put on display immediately after the autopsy. Lilly. I need to tell you about the Shiv leaders. I should have thought this through. Several of them defected back to the militancy. They might be here. One is named Shawn. The two others are Doan and Thettan. You might see them, but they won’t know what you look like. Shawn was the one who killed your mother. He’s in custody. Yanil told me all of this. Are you listening?”

“Hm?”

“The Sh-”

“We need to move to one of the private side pods. Drizzy, do you have information about the Shivs?” Yanil was back with them.

“Ummm.”

Yanil grabbed the bar of the personal chariot and leaned it back to guide them all to an alcove further back and around a low wall. Nothing outside was visible other than some sunlight reflected by mirrors on the outer walls of the cubicle.

“That other officer called them cubicles.”

“Pods sounds better. We’ll get to the topic of the Shivs later anyway. Lilly, an officer and myself will interview you about the incident”.

“She’s still in shock!”

“Yes she’s emotionally locked down. That’s the best time to interview. The memory is there. She saw her mother’s body. Her denial is temporarily down.”

“Your militant methods are terrible.”

“They are effective, yes. So Lilly.”

“That’s not what I meant.” The young lady mumbled.

“So Lilly, Lillian.” The masculine voice came from the open entry to the pod. The three occupants jumped.

“Thettan. You’re so quiet. Yes, her full name is Lillian.”

Drizzelda went cold and stiff. Lilly would have as well, but she was already having cold sweats since the night before. The two militants stood and bowed toward her, then introduced themselves in a formal manner.

“I am a Finger Militant, Bronze Ring.” Yanil touched the disc on the top hat zhey were wearing.

“I am a Finger Militant, Brass Ring.” Thettan. He touched the disc on his hat as well. They then took seats across from her. There were only seats. No table between them. 

“Thettan defected when the Shivs got violent. Many city militants did. He’s lost his Bronze Ring status, but still has the training and instincts.”

“I, Drizzelda will attend the interrogation. I will not provide input or judgement. I am a neutral bystander. Bysitter is more accurate.” She sat on her wooden chariot to one side opposite the entryway.

“Good. Lillian. Please tell us what you did the day you were attacked.”

Lilly was quiet.

“Did you have a good day before that?”

“Yeah. Mama took me to work.”

“Is your mom’s name Vlashen?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see the man who attacked you?”

“His name is Shawn. He’s a Shiv leader. He can’t hurt you now.”

The questioning wasn’t very interesting. Lilly just wondered about Thatten. Was he a killer? He had the same name as one of the leaders she learned about a few slivers ago. Did they know the other two from that night? It could have been the Shivs. Or someone else. A militant. A student. Shawn was here. Thettan was right in front of her. She’d need to go kill him first. She had a shiv of her own. She knew who she was hunting now. Thanks  Drizzel. “Thanks Drizzelda.”

Her interrogators stopped, and all three other people looked at Lilly. Oh, I said that out loud? “Thanks. for being my friend. I made friends…that day. I don't think I can be their friend anymore.”

“Good time for a break.” Thettan paused.

Yanil nodded“ We can continue questioning after a break.” 

Break?

“There is food and water in the waiting corridor.” Drizzelda seemed to have been in this building before.

Lilly drank one of the rarer juices that were in the corridor - which was huge and not narrow or dark like she’d expected. There was even a vaulted ceiling. The light coming from the ceiling windows was somewhat bothersome, but she forgave the sun, since the light also gave warmth.