Mediation went well.

For thirty seconds.

"We all came to the Refuge for the same reason," said Ivogg, perched on the edge of his chair to my left. "To strive for peace and equality throughout the North and the South."

Evil-grandma snorted and flipped a white curl out of burning green eyes. "So you argue for equality after taking everything from us? The South is gone, fucker."

Oh, did I say thirty seconds?

I meant five.

"But the Implant affected the North almost as much as it affected us, Mazamu," said Zhina. "And we must work together to rebuild."

Ivogg splayed his hands wide enough he grazed my — still flour-dusted — knee. "Exactly. How about we let past be past?"

Bezan snorted. "How about the Northerners fix the problem they created?"

Mekkar's frown scrunched his heavy brow. "We've been killing each other since long before the Implant Era began."

"A war started by Northerners," said Bezan.

"Ha!" Figgel blasted Bezan with a glare. "My father was alive already when the war started, and he said Southies started it."

Evil-grandma — Mazamu — folded wrinkled arms over her chest, propping sagging breasts. "Southies started it? My grandmother fought in the first war, and she told me the North attacked us."

I darted a glance at Rekkan on my right, gauging his reaction. No one here had been as involved in the war as he had.

A Southie blew off my leg, but I probably filled half a graveyard with your people.

Rekkan linked his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. Even though we sat mere feet from each other, he felt like some orbiting moon — visible, but inaccessible.

I turned my attention to the rest of the group. "Southies are taught that Northerners started the war, and I'm sure Northerners are taught the opposite. Whoever started the war is long dead. What matters now is how we move forward."

Bezan stifled a laugh with his fist. "At least, that's what matters to a Southie who has acquired a taste for Northerner."

Rekkan shifted forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His hands closed into half-fists, and his head cocked slightly. His expression still appeared disinterested, but I recognized his stance.

He was ready to defend me.

The reaction was more dog than human, but... I kind of liked it. He could feign ambivalence in our conversations, but he could not ignore any hint of a threat against me.

Ivogg's mouth flopped open, and he flipped up both hands. "Hold on, now. This is not something to scorn. This is a shining example of what our world could become!"

The henchman in the yellow cap nudged the blue-capped henchwoman at his side. "I would rather fuck a man than a Southie woman. Don't you agree, Megg?"

The blue-capped henchwoman tilted her head. "Hard call, Bokk. But yeah, probably."

Ivogg cut in with a too-loud chuckle. "Come, now. I thought we were past this. Only a few hundred Southies remain, and most Northerners are also gone. Do you really still see such a difference between us?"

Bokk and Megg both snorted laughs into their elbows, and Bokk said, "Would you fuck an animal, Doc?"

Rekkan leaned further forward, and his muscles locked, like clamping a tight lid over a boiling pot. Oh, shit, this was too far. This reaction I did not like. I licked my lips, scrambling for a response.

"Well, now," said Doctor Ivogg, frown etched into his mouth, eyebrows, and words. "That's a bit far, don't you think? We are all humans here."

Bezan's snort flapped his lips like a horse. "All human? Na. We just disagree about who the animals are."

Ivogg's eyes roamed the circle, one knee bouncing. "Aren't we here because we believe it's possible for us to work together? Isn't that why we all came to the Refuge?"

"Actually, I'm just here for the free food," said Megg, and Bokk nodded in agreement.

Grandma-I-never-wanted uncrossed one arm to stroke the loose skin beneath her chin. "If the Seven Sentries are so sure we can work together, why is one of them teaching Zafaru how to defend himself?"

As all eyes turned to me, I dug my nails into the backs of my hands. How did Mazamu know about Uzmed's lessons? And why reveal this in front of everyone? Did she want me to divulge her secret?

Did she want war?

Rekkan broke the silence, voice too low, too even. "Defend yourself from what, Zafaru?"

The redhead, Lekk, raised a hand toward me palm-up and clucked his tongue, though a smile twisted his lips. "Right, you don't need to defend yourself, darling. Recluse is very good at defending his own property."

Rekkan's jaw ticked. "He's not my property."

"No?" Lekk popped up from his chair and sauntered toward me, grinning. He stopped when his knees brushed mine. "Does that mean you're willing to share?"

I pressed my spine into the back of my chair and turned my head away, throat bitter and palms clammy. I knew I needed to diffuse the tension fast, but fear and disgust obliterated my higher-order thinking.

Apparently, I was not alone in this regression of cognitive reasoning. Ivogg squawked an unintelligible protest, Mekkar and Zhina audibly gulped, and a growl rumbled deep in Rekkan's chest.

Lekk lifted a slow hand and stroked a few fingers over my cheek.

Movement blurred, and Rekkan's fist smashed Lekk's face.

A crack, and a gush of blood. Lekk staggered back, both hands cupping his nose. Red seeped out between his fingers and spattered the floor.

Rekkan stalked toward him.

Zhina, Mekkar, Ivogg, and I all shot to our feet, but the henchpeople reached Rekkan first. They lobbed fists at Rekkan from either side. With a scary calmness, Rekkan dodged both attacks, landed an uppercut in Megg's gut, and slammed an elbow into Bokk's chest. The hench people doubled over, gasping, and Rekkan continued toward Lekk. He pulled back his elbow like a slingshot, body tight with unstoppable, brutal intention.

Fuck, he might actually kill him.

Though I didn't give my legs the instruction, I found myself stumbling past the hench people. I launched myself in front of Rekkan and raised my palms toward him. "Rekkan, stop."

His attention redirected toward me, but the fist remained raised, face stony and eyes unseeing.

When I was a child, I once pumped too hard on a swingset and lifted out of my seat at the highest point. I hovered for one endless second, waiting for gravity to reclaim me.

My gut now swooped with that same sensation.

Rekkan blinked. Jerked back. His arm dropped, his face paled, and his mouth moved wordlessly. Then he spun on his heel and paced toward the door.

An exhale fluttered across the room. Lekk hacked a gurgling laugh, blood bubbling from his lips and seeping into the red fabric still tied around his wrist.

I jogged after Rekkan.

Just outside the room, I caught his elbow. "Hey, where are you going?"

He wrenched his arm free from my grasp. "Don't follow me."

"Are you ok?"

He snorted a laugh, a harsh sound that strangled at the end. "You're worried about me?"

I planted fists on my hips. "Yes."

He shook his head and looked away, but his voice softened a little. "Yeah, Zaf, I'm ok. Just need some time alone."

Music spilled from the speakers. "Freedom, freedom at last. Isn't there such joy in letting past be past?"

Rekkan resumed walking. I watched his back, chest burning with the withheld desire to chase him down.

"I'll see you at dinner," I called after him.

* * *

Rekkan did not come to dinner.

Platters of salmon with brown rice and broccoli florets appeared in the center of the table. Chatter filled the room, and forks and knives clinked against plates. But the seat beside me still lay empty.

Fear pinched my chest. I rolled back my shoulders and forced myself to take a deep breath. Only a few hours had passed since Rekkan told me he needed time alone. He wouldn't return to his fortress without even telling me... would he?

"You alright, Ru?"

I met Ivogg's warm brown eyes on my left and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just worried about Rekkan."

"I figure they all need some time to cool down."

They all? I swung a glance around the room and realized Lekk, Bokk, Megg, and Bezan were also absent. And, per usual, Uzmed.

Across the table, one of the pigtailed lab experts engaged Mekkar, chattering on cheerily while he nodded with the steady repetition of a rocking chair, eyes distant.

Amid an explanation of the developing prototype for lab-produced meat, I interrupted. "Mekkar, have you talked to Rekkan since Mediation?"

Mekkar flashed an apologetic smile at the lab expert, who waved it off and dug into her food. He turned toward me, broad shoulders hunched. "No, I haven't. How is he?"

"I haven't talked to him either."

Mekkar wrung his napkin in his hands. "Maybe you should. Just check how he's doing, and let me know what you find out?"

From Ivogg's left, Zhina muttered something into her glass of water.

Mekkar's heavy brow furrowed. "What was that, Zhina?"

She set down the glass with a thud. "You're a fucking coward. If you want to know how your nephew is doing, you should ask him yourself."

The napkin slipped out of his hands.

Ivogg splayed his hands on either side of his plate. "Zhina, we can't afford to have unrest among the remaining three Sentries."

A little of the venom drained out of her voice, but her shoulders remained tense. "Five. There are five Sentries at this Refuge, Ivogg."

Ivogg cast an uneasy glance at Serigg's table. She chatted with Nikkla and Fennikk, but I could have sworn her eyes flicked our way.

"Anyway," said Ivogg. "It's not cowardly to fear real danger."

Zhina's gaze pinned Mekkar. "Rekkan might be a real danger, but Mekkar would sooner let everyone die than face down a fly."

Mekkar sat very still, eyes on his bracelet.

I pushed away my empty plate and stood up.

Ivogg twisted toward me. "Ru, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Rekkan."

He sucked a breath through his teeth. "Well, that's, er... are you sure that's a good idea right now? He might still be upset."

To my surprise, Mekkar defended Rekkan before I could. "Rekkan won't hurt Zafaru."

Zhina's voice grew soft, anger subsiding. "Mekkar, how do you know? Serigg told us what happened when Rekkan was a child..." Her eyes flitted to me and back to Mekkar. "The reason you couldn't keep him at your home anymore."

"That was over twenty years ago," said Mekkar. "He was just a child."

Ivogg skirted a finger around the rim of his water glass. "But you saw what happened today..."

Mekkar growled, sounding surprisingly like Rekkan. "I think we can all agree that punch was well-earned."

"He almost hit Zafaru," Zhina whispered.

"No, he didn't," Mekkar and I said in unison. Then our eyes met, and Mekkar's brows lifted and lips pursed. He dug a hand into his pocket and produced his platinum keycard. Eyes solemn, he extended it toward me.

"Go find him, Zafaru."