It should be obvious. She had made it obvious when she threw him out. She had not simply sent him to another settlement; somewhere reachable, somewhere reversible. She had not sent him south to the Midlands, from where he might return on his own. No, she had paid to have him taken here, to this faraway death trap.
It was only a matter of time before the raiders realised the same thing; that Tria would not take Yu back, even if they gave her money.
So it did not even matter
whether they held him captive or not.
In fact, it would be better.
It would be better if they did,
if they mistook his presence for leverage,
if they assumed Tria would simply hand over the estate and fly off,
when instead she would gather and protect the people,
and meet the raiders head-on.
Knowing Tria,
Yu was sure that she would probably turn the whole thing around,
and find a way to get some of the bormen killed in the process.
The settlers would not even have to fight.
They could just wait it out, within the estate or the habitat,
until reinforcements arrived from the south.
The thought stilled many things in Yu.
It was not like he had not known these things.
He knew his place.
He always had.
But it had never felt like this.
Not like this.
For several minutes, Yu just sat there, on the stone floor.
If you thought about it from another perspective, it was funny, almost;
His worthlessness had probably just saved the settlements.
So then . . .
Why.
Why did he
even bother ?
It should be obvious. She had made it obvious when she threw him out. She had not simply sent him to another settlement; somewhere reachable, somewhere reversible. She had not sent him south to the Midlands, from where he might return on his own. No, she had paid to have him taken here, to this faraway death trap.
It was only a matter of time before the raiders realised the same thing; that Tria would not take Yu back, even if they gave her money.
So it did not even matter
whether they held him captive or not.
In fact, it would be better.
It would be better if they did,
if they mistook his presence for leverage,
if they assumed Tria would simply hand over the estate and fly off,
when instead she would gather and protect the people,
and meet the raiders head-on.
Knowing Tria,
Yu was sure that she would probably turn the whole thing around,
and find a way to get some of the bormen killed in the process.
The settlers would not even have to fight.
They could just wait it out, within the estate or the habitat,
until reinforcements arrived from the south.
The thought stilled many things in Yu.
It was not like he had not known these things.
He knew his place.
He always had.
But it had never felt like this.
Not like this.
For several minutes, Yu just sat there, on the stone floor.
If you thought about it from another perspective, it was funny, almost;
His worthlessness had probably just saved the settlements.
So then . . .
Why.
Why did he
even bother ?
It should be obvious.
She had made it obvious when she threw him out.
She had not simply sent him to another settlement; somewhere reachable, somewhere reversible. She had not sent him south to the Midlands, from where he might return on his own.
No, she had paid
to have him taken here,
to this faraway death trap.
It was only a matter of time before the raiders realised the same thing;
that Tria would not take Yu back, even if they gave her money.
So it did not even matter
whether they held him captive or not.
In fact, it would be better.
It would be better
if they did,
if they mistook
his presence
for leverage,
if they assumed
Tria would simply
hand over the estate
and fly off,
when instead
she would gather and protect the people,
and meet the raiders
head-on.
Knowing Tria,
Yu was sure
that she would probably
turn the whole thing around, and find a way to get some of the bormen killed in the process.
The settlers
would not even
have to fight.
They could just wait it out, within the estate
or the habitat, until reinforcements arrived from the south.
The thought
stilled many things
in Yu.
It was not like he had not known these things.
He knew his place.
He always had.
But it had never
felt like this.
Not like this.
For several minutes,
Yu just sat there,
on the stone floor.
If you thought about it
from another perspective,
it was funny, almost;
His worthlessness
had probably just saved
the settlements.
So then . . .
Why.
Why did he
even bother ?
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