Gold Sky

The trees were swaying in the wind. Vinnie sat next to me in the grass, throwing rocks in the river. She always knew how to make them skip the furthest. The air smelled like the peaches the farmers grew.

This time of year everyone was busy with the harvest. Everyone except Vinnie and I. Today was my day off, and she decided to join me by the river. I wondered if she would get in trouble for not showing up. She didn’t seem to care though, as she threw more and more rocks in the river. The water was clear blue like always. It felt like we were in paradise.

When we were kids, before the empire decided they could use us, we would come here all the time. It felt different now, being here after so long. I knew Vinnie still came every chance she got, but I hadn’t been here in years. It was a little weird that everything was the same.

“Eren do you think you’ll ever meet a fae inside the empire?” she asked. At the word fae the trees seemed to begin paying attention to us.

“No. Not by its own free will at least. I think the only way I’ll ever meet a fae is if one gets captured and brought inside,” I said. I stopped looking at the trees. Speaking about the Fae always made me nervous.

“Do you think I could get it to take away the curse?” she asked. Before I could answer I heard a shout from the other side of the clearing.

“Eren! Mom wants to see you! She says it’s important,” It said. I recognized the voice. It was my brother Airill. I stood up from my spot on the grass.

“Sorry Vin, I’ve gotta go,” I said. I looked back at her. Her eyebrows were pushed together and she was looking at the water seriously. I felt bad for her. I patted her shoulder before I left.

I met Airill near the empire walls. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his pants hung off his hips too much. He had a small toy knife strapped to his hip.

“Airill did she say what she wanted?” I asked as we began to walk together. He shook his head no.

Soon we came upon the main gate. Three soldiers were lined up on each side of the entrance. They had very real knives and swords strapped to their hips. One was armed with a crossbow that looked like it could kill a fae in one shot. Their armour gleamed in the light. Every time I tried to get back in I had the slightest fear of them not letting me through. My mom said not to worry, they weren’t allowed to do that. Still, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t.

She had a normal job in the left sector as a baker in an empire shop. She always knew when to take them out of the oven. She also knew exactly how much change to give people without them even paying first. She kept her Gift to a minimum, but like everyone that has one, she used it.

As we approached the soldiers began to ask us questions, even though they had seen Airill leave less than half an hour ago.

“Are you a Gifted?” one asked. I had met him in school. He stole from people he didn’t like.

“Yes, both me and the boy,” I replied curtly. I had answered these questions every day of my life from the moment I could remember.

“Do you or your family have any association with the fae?” he asked. He liked to be the one in charge.

“We haven’t for a thousand years,” I said.

“Do you currently work for the empire?” another chimed in. The first one that had spoken, the thief, glared at this question.

“I do, the boy does not,” I said.

“Do you ever use your gift for work outside of your service to the empress?” The thief asked.

“No.” I lied firmly..

All six looked at me skeptically but they officially had no reason to keep me here. They let us through without anymore questions. My heart was pounding in my ears as we passed through the gates. Once we were out of earshot of the soldiers Airill spoke.

“Why did you lie to them? The most the punishment would have been was a fine,” He said. There was an edge to his voice. He seemed almost angry at me.

“I’m sorry Airill but that’s not what would have happened. I know that you like to think they have your best interest at heart and that they protect you, but they don’t,” I replied. He would have to learn to lie at some point. It’s the only way our people had made it this far in the first place.

He walked slowly the rest of the way home dragging his feet through the dirt.

Mom was waiting for us in the garden when we got there. She told Airill to go inside. Her face was ashen and wrinkled. Her eyes were more tired than usual. She clutched a letter in her left hand. Through her fingers I could see my name written in gold.

The empress had written.

“She sent a letter for you. She heard of your ‘outstanding’ work in your position for the general. She says she has a special job for you.” she said. Her voice was shaking. When people went to see the empress nothing good could happen.

“When?” I asked. My own voice was quivering now too. My hands clenched at my sides uselessly.

“Two weeks from today. In her chambers,” She said. She took a sharp breath in before continuing. “This letter mentions the prophecy our ancestors made. I think she might want you to decipher it,” she said.

“Of course. I’ll begin making my preparations in the morning,” I said. I shouldn’t be surprised. Everyone with powerful Gifts gets called into the empresses chambers one day. It doesn’t happen as much now that practicing them is illegal, but eventually one of her letters finds everyone.

Mom took a few steps toward me and wrapped me in her arms. “I can’t see what’s going to happen Eren. I have no idea what will happen to you if you go. I love you and I’m sorry,” she said. If she couldn’t see what was going to happen, it wouldn’t do me any good to even try. My powers hadn’t even fully come in yet, and she had years more practice than me.

“I love you too. I promise I’ll be fine,” I said. My words didn’t make her squeeze me any less tight or cry any softer.

She brought me inside for dinner.

Airell was just behind the door with his ear pressed against it. He was too young to understand what a letter from the empress meant, but now that he heard what we said we would have to explain. He opened his mouth to start asking questions, or maybe make excuses, but I cut him off.

“Dinner first,” I said. He seemed to understand.

Mom made my favorite. Bread and butter with peach jelly, and some fae pastries we inherited the recipe for. There was a small pile of pasta with butter on top. I sighed as I sat down to eat.

“Thank you mom. This means a lot,” I said. Airill sat down happily and began to munch on the pastries first. Mom seemed to have regained her usual happy demeanor while watching us eat. It was the most food we’d had for one meal in weeks. She really went all out. I wondered what she had to give up to get it for us.

“Yeah thanks mom,” Airill said with a mouth full of food. I reached over and smacked him. “Hey!” he yelled.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” I said. He pouted for a few minutes before returning to normal. I saw mom watching from the other side of the table smiling at us.

After we finished eating and mom began the dishes, I started to explain what had happened outside.

“Airill there’s a lot you don’t know and a lot you haven’t seen yet. You’re too young for your sight to have come in yet, but, people that don’t have Gifts...” I paused trying to think of a way to say it. “They think that people like me and you and mom are somehow less than them. They’re jealous and angry and scared. So when a person like me, who works for the empire, has strong powers they get called into the empresses chambers,” I say.

“Why is that such a bad thing?” he asked me, “she probably just wants to tell you, job well done.”

“Sometimes the empress isn’t kind to us either. She wants me to decipher a prophecy our ancestors left behind and if I can’t do it, then she might punish me,” I said slowly. He didn’t understand fully what I meant. He didn’t realize that when I said punish it’s possible that I could die or be thrown out of the empire itself. Maybe I didn’t fully understand it yet either. I was still in shock hours after reading the letter.

It wasn’t uncommon for people like us to be treated like a lower class just because of our ancestors choices. I wish I didn’t have to explain this to him. I wish I could just leave him in the dark about it and let him live a normal life until he found out on his own.

But he deserves better than that, and I won’t rob him of the truth.

He didn’t say anything else. He seemed to be mulling it over in his mind. He was so young I wondered if he’d ever understand. After a long time he just said okay and walked out to the garden outside. He always loved the flowers. Sometimes me and mom wondered if somehow he’d have an earth based gift instead of the sight that runs in the family.

I would have to tell Vinnie in the morning too. She would be angry and confused, I could already see it. For now though I just wanted to sleep, and think about what I was going to do.

I walked down the short hall to me and Airill’s shared room. He had his bed, made of straw and cotton and some wool we got on sale, neatly made in the corner. My bed was in the other corner of the room, I filled mine with fresh leaves every few days, but it was already day three and they were getting flatter and flatter. We couldn’t afford to get me a bed made out of the same stuff as Airills so I would just have to deal with it. Even my pay from the empire wasn’t enough to support all three of us on it’s own. It was moms baking job that really helped. The people in the left sector had been kind to us. They knew what kind of life we lived and went to moms shop to buy bread every time they needed it. The people that lived in the left sector were all poor gifted citizens. They worked normal jobs and supported each other.

I sat down on my mostly flat bed and tried to sleep. I lay twisting and turning for an hour before Airill comes in and lays down too. I hear him whisper a goodnight to me and I say it back. Our mother is still up in the kitchen with the lights on. My sight kicks in and I know she won’t be asleep for another three hours. She’s too worried.

I had never slept worse in my entire life. I was awake long enough to hear the soldiers switching positions for the night shift, and the rustling of the forest even though it was nearly a mile away. The forest always got louder after dark.