Wilde Card, page 28
Tia followed quietly as they continued patrolling. The pain in her finger was a slight throb, nothing she couldn’t handle; she'd had worse. Natalia turned her head slightly as they walked. “Still clumsy as hell then, I see.”
“You call it clumsy, I call it being vertically challenged.”
“Considering that I’m as vertical as you - more so, in fact - that seems like bullshit to me.”
Tia shrugged, enjoying the lightness of the conversation. “You’re also horizontally challenged, if that sparring match was anything to go by.”
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” Natalia sounded exasperated. It brought to mind all the debates they’d had that Tia had won just by purely irritating her.
“Remember who you’re talking to,” she smiled. “I don’t let things go.”
Natalia snorted. “Like a dog with a bone.”
Suddenly they heard footsteps, heavy, dragging. They heard it at the same time, paused, defences coming up. Natalia’s throwing star was back in her palm and Tia had unsheathed the blade she gave her. They were hidden in the shadows of the perimeter, waiting for the intruder to step into the light. Two guards were revealed to them, explaining what Tia had assumed was a dragging noise; just two different steps out of beat. One of them was slender, the other was much bigger, more Kal’s size. Tia’s pulse began to race when she saw that they were carrying guns. She looked to Natalia and she looked back steadily, conveying a message with her eyes: trust me. Oddly enough, the notion of putting her trust in Natalia’s hands brought Tia back to how firmly she could hold her; when Natalia had wrapped her arms around Tia so completely. Tia swallowed heavily, hoping Natalia couldn't read her expression.
The guards in front of them were chatting away to each other, not particularly paying attention to their immediate surroundings. Natalia looked into Tia’s eyes once again and then jerked her head towards the slender one. Tia got the message loud and clear. Any other time, she would have demanded to know why Natalia was giving the skinny one to her, but this time Tia couldn't stop thinking about the guns, so didn't say anything. They moved almost at the same time, soundless, creeping along like smoke. It was like they became one movement, the two of them, flawless. Tia punched her guard in the side, like Jay had shown her, winding him and driving all the air out of his body before he could make a sound. She kicked him in the back of his knee, it buckled forward and as he fell and she knocked him in the head with the solid base of her blade. He hit the floor unconscious. When she looked up, grinning, she saw Natalia on her knees with her arms around the guard’s neck. The guard flailed his arms weakly until finally he stopped moving. The smile slid from Tia’s face.
“Natalia” she whispered. Her eyes were wide, she could feel them. “Is he-”
“What? No.” Natalia sprang to her feet and approached Tia, to reassure her. “We don’t kill unnecessarily; it’s self defence only. He's just unconscious.”
Her breath snaked out. “Thank God.” She looked down at the blade in her hand. “I think this might be my new favourite.”
Natalia followed her gaze to the narrow blade and smiled wistfully. Gently, she raised Tia’s palm so that the blade was balanced in the centre, visible in the moonlight. “You know what this is?”
As Tia shook her head, she tried to concentrate on Natalia’s words, and not on the feel of Natalia’s calloused hands against her skin. The blade was tapered, wide at the bottom and razor thin towards the end. It was perfectly balanced, the way Raghida had shown her a blade should be. “It’s a kunai; a Japanese dagger. It’s one of my favourites too. After my grandmother died, they sent her things to my uncle. He wasn’t bothered to go through it, asked me to throw it all away. But my grandmother liked to collect antiques. I found this amongst her things.”
Tia heard the nostalgia in Natalia’s voice, a brief ‘weakness’ she hadn’t shown before. It was nice to hear her talk of her culture, even though her uncle had raised her without one - nice to know that she had done her own research and discovered what she was made of. Natalia didn’t mention it often and people often just attributed the slant of her eyes to genetic lottery, but her mother had been Japanese and her mother and her mother before that. Natalia was a mixture of her parents, tainted slightly by her uncle.
Tia remembered the beautiful sheathed katana she had seen in one of the weapons rooms. “You don’t train with the katana, do you?”
“No.” Natalia said it with a wry smile, like she regretted that fact.
“Why not?”
“I wouldn’t do it justice. It just reminds me of everything that I am not, and never will be. I stick to what I know best.”
Tia could understand that. She imagined that if she wasn’t so good at archery, then using her mother’s old bow would feel like sacrilege. Sometimes it was best to leave something alone, if it meant you wouldn’t destroy its meaning. She looked down at the blade in her hand, catching the way the moonlight struck the handle, and couldn’t help but ask: “Why did you give this to me, if it means so much to you?”
“I’ve read all her journals and I know she would have liked you. Her name was Mei and she was a very strong woman,” Natalia chuckled. “I wish I had known her but I’m confident that she would have said…”
And then she said something in Japanese that made Tia gape. She had never spoken it around Tia before - Tia hadn’t known she could. Natalia saw her fascination and mistook it for confusion. “It means: she’s too good for you.”
Tia laughed, despite herself. The language was beautiful in Natalia’s mouth and powerful. There was something so exciting about knowing a second language. She wanted her to speak more. She told Natalia so and she raised her eyebrows, clearly amused, but she obliged. The timbre of her voice dropped and Tia felt goosebumps rise on her arms.
“What did that mean?”
“It means,” Natalia looked into her eyes. “Why did you run away from me?”
Her stomach dropped. She’d been dreading this. It was the situation with Jay all over again. She couldn’t even begin to word the mess that was her emotions and her thoughts. Natalia was waiting, expecting an intelligible answer. Instead, Tia glanced over her shoulder at the guards. “We should really continue our watch, Talia.”
The look Natalia gave her was odd but she didn’t argue. She knew better than Tia did that their job was important and they shouldn't get distracted. They came across no other guards on their patrol and when they heard the plane pull up on the runway, they jogged over to join the Rebels in pulling the goods. The pilot was quickly dispatched and Bolt had pulled the truck around to the hole in the fence. They set up a sort of human chain, passing boxes and packages along until the very last one was loaded into the back of their truck. As they worked, Tia found herself sweating slightly, her arms heaving under the weight of the boxes. Whatever was in them, she thought, had been packed tightly.
Tia and Natalia made the first two links in the chain, their arms grazing against each other every time Natalia bent down from the cargo bay. Then, as everyone ran off to climb into the truck, she pulled Tia back. “Wait,” she murmured.
Tia watched her take out a small card from her pocket and fling it into the empty cargo hold. The shape morphed in Tia’s eyes until she saw it for what it was; a small black flame. Natalia stood over Tia, the light of the plane illuminating her silhouette, her expression fierce. Tia’s heart actually hiccupped.
19 - Angles and Muscle
The truck journey back to the Tunnels was interesting, that much could be said for it. The atmosphere was loud, energetic, and joyous - a stark contrast to the subdued murmur it had been not even three hours ago. Tia sat between Raghida and Jay this time, listening to their back and forth banter. She was trying to pay attention, really she was, but her gaze kept skittering to Talia. Talia. She hadn't corrected her today like she usually did, Tia realised with a fizz of pleasure. She stood, again, between the two benches, holding on to the overhead strap. As they all lurched side to side, she appeared to be cracking jokes with Eliza. It was so unusual, so out of sorts, that Tia was watching Eliza too, trying to decipher the expressions on her face, trying to find a message in the curve of her lip or the crinkle of her eye. Were they flirting with each other? She mused.
“Tia.”
She turned, dazed. “Hmm?”
Raghida smirked. “Were you even listening? I said, what happened to you guys?”
Tia realised she meant the watch with Natalia. “Oh, I knocked out a guy. It was actually really fun.” She laughed a little and saw that they wanted details. So she elaborated, careful to leave out that she’d distracted Natalia when they should have been focusing. That they had both been very distracted.
“What happened to your hand?” Jay demanded. He reached for her, raising it to the light. Blood was crusted into the lines of her palm and around her hastily bandaged finger. His voice sounded sharp as if he were worried, although he held her hand delicately. It did look grim, she couldn't blame him for thinking it was much worse than it was. Tia looked up as Natalia swung her head to see what the commotion was about. She saw Jay’s hand wrapped around Tia’s. Her face inexplicably darkened. Tia’s stomach dropped as she looked away just as fast.
“What happened?” Jay repeated.
“Err, I cut myself on a star.”
“Wow, and you wanted me to teach you how to use them,” he shook his head, releasing her.
His comment annoyed her - or was it the look on Natalia’s face? - so much that she snapped at him. “It's because you didn't teach me how to use them.”
The two of them were shocked at her outburst. She sighed. He hadn't deserved that even though he was annoying her. “I'm sorry, I...I just feel dizzy.”
Jay didn't look convinced but he didn't say anything more on the matter. Hesitantly, the two fell back into conversation. Feeling guilty, Tia lay her head back and stared up at the ceiling. She wished she could make sense of the chaos in her mind but the turmoil was only digging in it’s heels. She decided to keep to herself for the rest of the journey to avoid any more outbursts. Lost in her thoughts, the lurching of the truck became soothing and she was asleep by the time it came to a stop. She found herself being shaken awake.
“Oh, God,” she groaned, blinking. Natalia was standing over her, looking amused, with no trace of her earlier glare. Sometimes, Tia thought, the mood swings were enough to give her whiplash. She rubbed at her eyes.
“The night is not over, sunshine.”
“What do you mean?” She rose to see that people were rifling through the cargo, separating and shifting goods. They seemed to have an efficient system setup and had created another human chain. She wasn’t at all sure how she had slept through it all. “Oh, you mean getting it into the Tunnels?”
“Yes and no.” Natalia gestured at the boxes that had been moved to the side, that weren't being passed along. “You can help me with those whilst they do the rest.”
She took a seat by the biggest pile of boxes and began what Tia could only describe as rearranging. Sensing Tia’s confusion, she patted the bench. “Come.”
She sat not on the bench but by her feet so she didn't have to bend down to reach the boxes. Natalia rolled her eyes before she gestured to an open one. “See, we give half of every raid to those in need, driving around and handing out what we can spare. But it's easier and a lot faster if everything is already prepared beforehand.”
“Wait, you're gonna give all this to the homeless?” Tia was surprised. She hadn't seen the Rebellion as samaritans, though she supposed it should have been a given. They were protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. Natalia nodded as she condensed boxes of bottled water. She took a box from the pile and saw it had a variety of clothes in it; loose trousers, plain tops and small blankets.
“It's our duty.”
Jay, who had mounted the truck to grab two boxes, overheard them. He chuckled. “She's being modest. This was all her idea. The Rebellion never even thought of doing this until recently.”
Natalia’s jaw rippled. Tia, alarmed, thought that she was going to say something offhand. She seemed to dislike Jay - or, well, his presence at least. Instead, she shrugged. “It’s not modesty: it's our duty.”
So she had orchestrated the whole thing. However, she obviously didn't want credit. Tia didn't comment further. She knew that Natalia had a sense of right and wrong that could surpass even the best of people, and sometimes the need to do the right thing was her undoing. Where most people wanted recognition, she only asked for results. It was a blessing and a curse. It was only when Jay hopped off the truck with his armful of cargo that Natalia visibly relaxed. They continued sorting.
“So what do you do with all of this?” Tia finally asked.
“I drive around London and hand them out.”
“Wait, I?”
Natalia nodded, concentrating on the task at hand. She was stripping packages of their wrapping, fingers deftly shredding the flimsy plastic.
“By yourself?”
“Well, it was my idea, so I do it. I don't expect anyone to help me after a raid - they do a good job. They’re tired.”
Tia didn't mention that Natalia, too, had just raided, had just done a good job, and was tired. “How long does it take you?”
“A few hours.”
“A few hours?” Tia echoed, incredulous. She said it like it was nothing, like it was actually her duty. Tia couldn't even imagine how she had been doing it; sitting here stripping all of these boxes, strategically allocating them, and then driving around all night, stopping at each destination to climb into the back and delegate supplies. “Do you have to do it straight after a raid? Can't it wait?”
Natalia shook her head. “We have to stash the truck before daylight.”
Tia felt an incredible swell of affection in her chest. She had not known that Natalia could be so selfless or thoughtful. When Tia thought about all the insults she had ever spewed at her...it didn’t seem possible to reconcile the two sides of this person. They'd spent a long time despising each other, thinking the worst of each other, trying to get back at each other. And now this. She could only shake her head in wonderment. “This whole time...I thought-”
She stopped herself but Natalia had already caught her train of thought. She looked back at Tia, long eyelashes brushing her cheekbones as she blinked. There were some things that Talia did fast, by nature; live, move, speak. But there were some that she did slowly, as if she knew the effect it would have; breathe, smile, blink. “You thought what?”
“That you were a selfish bastard,” Tia murmured, unsure how she would take it. She could be so prickly when she wanted to be and Tia was enjoying their rapport - she didn't want to piss Natalia off, not right now. But she simply laughed, and the sound was light and musical. Tia liked the sound of it, nearly told Natalia so, and caught herself in time.
Natalia did something unexpected and put her hand out. Tia found herself staring at it like it was a foreign object. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you, I'm Talia.”
She hadn't joked like this with Tia in years. And she'd said Talia, not Natalia. Her hands, like Tia’s, were layered with grime but somehow her fingers managed to look elegant. Tia crooked a smile, aware that she had been staring for too long, and took her hand. “Nice to meet you. I'm Tia.”
“I guess we didn't really know each other, even when we were friends,” Natalia mused.
“It kind of feels like getting to know a stranger.”
She snorted. “Except you haven’t changed a bit and you're still scared of your own blood.”
Tia gasped and threw a pair of socks at her head. “I'm not scared. It's just disgusting.”
They were still laughing when they looked up, towards the doors and realised that they'd been alone for a while. The supplies allocated to the tunnels had been removed swiftly and it was just Tia and Natalia left in the truck.
“Right,” Tia said, rising to her knees. “We’re going to need a better system if we're going to get this done before sunrise.”
Talia looked surprised, eyes widening, murky in the fluorescent lighting. “We?”
Tia gave her a blinding smile that could have brought the angels down. “You didn't think I was going to leave you alone with all of this, did you?”
“Well,” Natalia said. “I was hoping to get some alone time with this bottle of vodka.”
She held up a bottle that had fallen free of the Rebellion’s supplies during the hustle and bustle and rolled under the bench. At the mention of alcohol, Tia felt her face warm. They made eye contact, briefly - registering the incident that they still hadn't discussed - before turning away. She cleared her throat. “Too bad, Archer. It's time to put some work in.”
She didn't know how she was still awake. She had mustered up energy from the deepest dregs of her body; she was exhausted, but she knew that she wanted to be here, helping her tonight. They shifted everything so that they were both sitting on the floor. She stopped Natalia from condensing and showed her that, instead, they should be creating packs. “That way, all we have to do is hand out the packs, rather than going through each box for one of each.”
The idea, so simple in its concept, had never occurred to Natalia. She looked at Tia like she had just invented the wheel. Natalia was also running on no sleep but was enthusiastic about her plan. They began creating packs of water, dry biscuits, tins of food, clothes. Tia was having so much fun joking around with Natalia in a way that she never had before, that she barely noticed the throbbing in her finger or the ache in her shoulders. They spoke about the Rebellion, the weather, Natalia’s affair with Summer, the argument Tia had with her mother...by the time they came up for air, they had surrounded themselves. She looked at all their hard work and felt pride.
“Road trip time,” Natalia jerked her head.
