Station 2-14: Chapter Six
Ley's moving up in the world
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Chapter Six: Ley
Ley wakes up in a room she doesn’t recognise, in sheets that cost more than her life. She goes to the window to try and orient herself and find some marker or building that she recognises. But when she looks she finds herself high above the clouds. The vertigo’s immediate - no one should up this high. If she had anything in her stomach she was sure that it was going to come roaring back up again. She jumps back to the bed and tries to remember something, anything that can help her work out where she is.
The last thing she remembers is being trapped by Tessa in the ring. She remembers struggling to pull herself from the wall and then trying to lift the ring itself. Her head is still throbbing from the strain, a dull ache that makes her want to lie down again. She finds a note on the bedside table:
We’re in the library.
She’d never been to a library before. Anyone from the fringe wasn’t allowed to enter - they couldn’t be trusted to bring the books back. Even still, she had a general idea of what a library was and couldn’t imagine where she was supposed to find one this high.
She peers out into the hall and finds a labyrinth of rooms stretching before her.
‘Hello?’ She calls but there’s no reply. In the distance she spies a warm glow of light. She steps out into the hall and wanders towards it. The walls of the hallway are drenched in deep green and covered in swords and blades. Some of them she recognises from earlier versions of the Games when they had a deadlier goal. Most of them, however, are foreign to her eyes even though she can tell that they’re just as lethal.
Voss’ voice becomes clearer as she walks towards the light, passing room after room. She finds him in the library at the end of the hall, along with Tessa and Avery Pangere. The walls are lined with books that tower over them as they sit around a roaring fire. The other rooms she passed looked out onto the station with windows that lined the outer walls but this one was closed in. It was secluded from the rest.
Private.
She feels almost rude for interrupting them and can’t bring herself to walk in uninvited. As if it was illegal just to know about the space let alone enter it. She watches them from the door for several minutes as they settle into comfortable silence. If she didn’t know any better she’d say they were family but beneath that appearance she could feel a tension being drawn like a wire that was about to break. Voss spies her at the door,
‘She's awake!’ He cries and she can’t help but shrink as if caught. Before he has a chance to get up, Pangere rises from her chair with open arms,
‘Ley,’ she says, ‘welcome.’ She guides Ley to sit by the warm fire.
‘Where are we?’ Asks Ley.
‘This is my home,’ says Avery. ‘Voss called and told me what happened.’
‘Yeah, how you passed out in one of our training sessions.’ He doesn’t look at her when he says it, but she can feel that tension being drawn tighter. Begging her to say the right thing. Or in this case, to lie.
‘… Yeah. It was stupid, I shouldn't have done it.’
‘No matter,’ she says. ‘That's why we train. It's better to learn your limits now than realise them in the Games.’
‘Exactly what I said, Avery. Exactly what I said.’
‘Oh, which reminds me. I have something for you. One moment.’ Pangere glides out of the room.
‘You should eat,’ says Tessa, nodding to the table in the corner. ‘You'll be hungrier than you think.’ Ley goes to the table that’s ladened with so much food that she can barely find the empty plates amongst them. She sits down, trying to take it all in. It’s more food than she’s seen in her lifetime. A waiter arrives and takes some plates that looked like they hadn’t been touched, only to replace them with a freshly steaming serve.
‘Eat,’ says Tessa. Ley tentatively grabs some chicken, the only thing she recognises, as Voss leans in glancing to the door where the waiter just left.
‘Just so we're on the same page here, love.’
‘It's Ley.’
‘Yeah - we told Pangere that you got over excited at how well you were doing and pushed yourself too far. Tessa is obviously in and we’re all ready for Team Ley to win the big buks, capeesh?’
‘Got it.’
‘Have you ever done that before? What you did with the ring?’ Ley shakes her head. ‘Good. Don't do it again. And stop sniffing at it, just eat.’
Ley takes a bite, her mouth exploding with flavour. She’s never tasted anything like it - and this was just the chicken. Her eyes roam over the rest of the food until she can hold herself back no longer. She snatches up serves of meat and fish, using her TK to get the plates that are out of her reach.
In a land-locked station, fish was poison but if it was anything like the chicken it was worth the risk. She piled her plate high with vegetables and bread. Taking fists full of cheese and devouring it before breaking grapes from the vine and stuffing them into her mouth. Barely taking a moment to breathe, she asks:
‘How did you do that thing with the wire? I couldn't get out.’
‘It's called a trucker's hitch,’ says Voss.
‘A what?’
‘It's a knot,’ says Tessa.
‘Yep, you couldn't get out because you couldn't undo it - get's 'em every time.’ Voss goes for a high-five which Tessa dutifully ignores.
‘But I don't get it,’ says Ley. ‘I couldn't move it. At all.’
‘The thing has nothing to do with strength or mental ability,’ says Tessa. ‘You were just trying to pull at it instead of trying to untie the knot.’ Ley eats grabs more food, taking a plate out of the waiter’s hands as they arrive before piling it onto her own.
‘I am hungry,’ she says. ‘How long was I out?’
‘’bout a day.’
‘What! I have to get home, my mum—’ She jumps to her feet, ready to flee, just as Pangere walks into the room pushing Ley’s Mum ahead of her in a wheelchair. Ley scrambles towards her,
‘Mum!’ She shouts, pulling her from her chair into a tight hug. ’I’m so sorry, I should have come back sooner, I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay,’ she says. ‘I’m okay.’
‘I’ve got the best doctors onto the case,’ says Avery. ‘They're confident that they'll be able to help.’
‘Thank you. Thank you so much.’
‘You're welcome.’ Ley turns her attention back to her mother, taking her in. She looked… good. She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t returned to her old self, of course, but looking at her mother now made her realise how exhausted she was before. How it was almost too late. She kneels beside her, taking her hand in her own and feels a thousand waves of relief in her gentle squeeze.
‘Ley,’ says Pangere, growing serious. ‘I must apologise. I fear that I was abrupt when we first met. I get so many people coming to me and saying that they're going to win and it's always about that. Winning. But when Voss told me about your mother...if I had known that's why you wanted to compete…’
’It's okay,’ says Ley. ‘This is amazing, thank you.’
‘You're fighting for something more. Something bigger than yourself. Here she'll have the best care and I'll have her move into the building as well.’
‘Thank you,’ says Ley.
‘It's nothing,’ says Pangere.
‘Sorry - move?’ Says Tessa. ‘You want us to move in here?’
‘Of course,’ says Pangere. ‘There's enough room and I'm sure, and I mean no offence, but I'm sure that this is much nicer than wherever you are now. It'll be good for us all to be together. You'll have your old rooms back and I’ve set up two more for Ley and her mother. I'll get someone to sort new clothes for everyone so there’s nothing to worry about.
‘I’m in!’ Says Voss.
‘Fantastic,’ says Pangere. Voss clears his throat - urging Tessa to agree.
‘… Okay, yep. If that's part of it,’ says Tessa.
‘Wonderful!’ Says Pangere. ‘Tomorrow we’ve got a full day of press but before all that, I think we should celebrate. Drinks all round.’
‘Yes!’ Cries Voss. ‘Drinks!’
