Page 5 of The Amber Sunburst

Hell, he really needs to pull himself together. He’s always been good with people. Good at getting what he wants from them. And right now he wants information, water, food, and a bed. In that order.

“Yeah. I’m okay,” he says with a few slow, unconvincing nods.

Caeneus squints, sizing him up. “You’re not from here, are you?”

Well, that’s great.

He opens his mouth to explain himself, but before a verbal trainwreck of epic proportions can ensue, Caeneus cuts him off.

“You’re from the countryside. Not just a different Arc of the city.”

Alexander’s brows push together.

“Right?” Caeneus tries to confirm.

“Yeah. The countryside,” he coughs, throat still burning from the salt in his lungs.

“What a dream, dude. I love Kallipolis, don’t get me wrong, but I really want to just breathe in some fresh farm air. You know, I’ve never even left the city. My mom’s been out there though. She told me that…” Caeneus seems to catch himself beginning a rant and sheepishly backtracks. “Well, you’re from there so, you would know, I guess. It must be a big change to be in the city.”

“Yes. The city. This great city of—” he crosses his fingers that this leap in logic is correct “—Kallipolis.”

“Yup! So are you homesick? Is that why you look spooked?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” He shifts his hips and wets his dry, sandy lips with his tongue. He notices Caeneus’ gaze flicking down to his mouth, then back to his eyes a few times.

Ah, that’ll be useful.

And now that Caeneus has opened the door to talk about feelings, Alexander’s confidence grows. Emotions can’t be wrong, after all, no matter what mysterious country you’re in. “The city is just so… It’s marvelous, really. My town is pretty small. And tablets like that kid was holding? I don’t see those a lot. Just caught me off guard.”

Caeneus nods. “Makes sense.” Then, clearly angling to continue the conversation, he asks, “What are you up to in the city?”

Alexander starts to give a broad ‘just visiting,’ but Caeneus cuts him off again.

“Wait—don’t tell me. You’ve been pulled up to be an Auxiliary. You look like the type.”

He’s been what to be a what now?

“Thank you?”

“So it’s true, then? You’ve been pulled up?”

Alexander doesn’t want to say yes. He has no idea what he’d be agreeing to if he did. But what if humble countrymen like whoever he’s pretending to be aren’t allowed to ‘just visit’ Kallipolis? That old guy seemed pretty serious about class separation. What if being pulled up, whatever that means, is the only way to be here without causing problems?

So, it doesn’t really matter whether he wants to say yes. He does it anyway.

“Yeah, pulled up.”

Caeneus beams and continues speaking. It seems like ‘speaking’ is his natural state.

“Oh, Forms, when I was a kid all I wanted was to be an Auxiliary. Not that being part of the Producer Class is bad, obviously, but you’ll be a Guardian one day, which is just so cool. Plato and his prophecies, you’ll get to be in the Trials too. You could be on the Council of Kings.”

He nods, eager to steer the conversation away because this train of thought is just confusing him more, but— “You must have done something to get pulled up then, huh? Unless you’re seventeen and you tested in, I guess, but you don’t look seventeen.”

“No, I’m twenty-two. But⁠—”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Do you know how hard it is to be pulled up after seventeen? Well, I’m sure you do given that you did it, but… Anyways. Whatever you did to get pulled up must have been extraordinary.”

Alexander stays silent, ready for another ramble, but Caeneus just blinks at him expectantly. Without any time to process, Alexander stutters, “Um, yes.”