It was Aeneat who sought him out early the next morning, knocking softly on the bedroom door before slipping inside. He blinked blearily, but the closing door smothered the light from outside before he could get much more than a glimpse of his visitor.
“Can you see?” Aeneat asked, voice quiet. When he shook his head, Aeneat paused. “Oh, hold on then.” The door opened and shut once more, and the man found himself alone again.
He recognized Aeneat if only because both Lars and Anai had referred to the small figure by name several times, but he realized he knew even less about Aeneat than he did about anyone else. They had never spoken, and he found it surprised him that Aeneat even knew he existed – everything had been so hectic that he doubted he could have drawn any attention to himself had he tried.
His ignorance went beyond the commonplace, however; even the basics were muddled. Aeneat was so androgynous that neither sex really seemed to fit. He tried to imagine a man with Aeneat's jawline or slender neck but he found it just as difficult as picturing a woman with Aeneat’s voice and narrow hips. Such people existed to be sure, but he couldn’t tell if he had just met one of them.
When the door opened once more, Aeneat slipped inside with a small lamp in tow, navigating the darkness with apparent ease and setting it down in the corner. A few soft clicks later and the room was covered in a soft golden glow. “There. That’s probably better for you.”
The light may have made it easier to see, but it didn’t illuminate Aeneat’s identity any more. Small and fine boned, the revolutionary’s body didn’t reveal any clues either. Likewise, the quiet man realized that Aeneat’s long mass of curls would have seemed rather feminine on most people, but when paired with a face that was just angular enough to be confounding, the room might as well have remained shrouded in darkness for all the light revealed.
Aeneat smiled faintly before bending to sit down nearby. “You’re trying to figure me out, aren’t you?” At his nod, Aeneat only looked more amused. “You looked like you were giving yourself a headache staring at me like that, so I figured that had to be what it was. Asking would’ve been easier, I’d bet, but then people seem to get embarrassed when they can’t tell one way or the other.”
Unsure about what to say, he looked down and away. Even still, he could feel Aeneat’s gaze on him, and for a moment it felt as though his thoughts had been laid bare on the floor between them. He lifted his eyes in time to catch Aeneat’s smile, and he could feel his cheeks heat before he lowered his gaze again to look at the lamp in the corner. The laugh that burbled into the air soon after hardly soothed his flaming cheeks, and he barely resisted the urge to cover his face in his hands.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Aeneat had pity on him. “So, Anai says they found you at the base they hit earlier, and Lars says you’re nameless. Are they right?” When the man nodded, Aeneat’s soft smile made its reappearance, lingering across obviously amused lips, “And I see they were both right about your silence. Lars seems to think we should just call you that until you decide on something for yourself, but I’m not sure that’s much better than naming you “08.”
It may have been a joke, but the man found he was suddenly too nervous to appreciate it. Instead, he let the room fall quiet once more, looking down at his hands where they curled in his lap. Aeneat sighed a little. “Well, my conversational skills’re obviously lacking. Do you want to check the news reports with me? They should be coming on soon, and the television always does a good job of replacing meaningful conversation.”
He nodded, not catching Aeneat's wry tone, and they both pushed themselves up from the floor. Aeneat moved to turn off the light but stopped when a quiet voice trembled through the air.
“Aeneat..?” He chewed at the inside of his cheek for a moment when Aeneat turned to face him. “What… are you?”
He wasn’t prepared for laughter, and he felt a bit put out when that was Aeneat’s first reaction. “Oh, isn’t that a loaded question? Everyone here is a great many things. You could say that’s part of the problem.”
“But I mean…” he trailed off and was grateful when Aeneat spoke up to compensate.
“I know. I’m sorry – I was just being difficult. I’m male. I know it gets hard to tell sometimes if you aren’t used to looking at elves.” His lips twitched a little. Then he bent at the waist, pulling the lamp's cord from the wall and swathing the room in darkness once more.
He was so distracted by his thoughts that he nearly missed the only other thing the news had to offer: the knowledge that nearly everything was controlled by elves. Almost everyone on the screen was elven, from the reporters to the various interviewees and government officials. He was pretty sure the station had adopted that last group's point of view if only because no one seemed to contradict whatever the officials said, even when most of what they said was extraordinarily dull.
Shifting slightly in his seat, he turned his eyes toward Aeneat, comparing him to the figures flashing by on the screen. They did look rather similar, even if Aeneat was darker than the blonde reporter who was currently discussing some raid or another. So Aeneat was an elf. He guessed that explained why it had been so difficult to discern his sex – he wasn’t quite sure about the reporter's either.
But at the same time, it just didn’t make sense. Why would an elf be part of a group that certainly seemed determined to undermine an elven government? If Aeneat really was an elf, and it certainly seemed as though he was, then he had everything to lose and nothing to gain by helping Anai and Lars. It was self-sabotage. After all, if they were successful, where would that leave Aeneat and his brethren? And if they failed, well those consequences were fairly obvious.
He had to be missing something. This time, he decided, he would just ask. “Aeneat..?”
Aeneat shook his head, pressing one finger to his lips and then pointing it at the television where “Breaking News!” flashed across the screen in bright, bold lettering.
“And in breaking news,” intoned the reporter, “the insurgents have attacked another base in a shockingly brazen move. This is the fourth such assault on the city this month. Casulties are reported to be limited, though several guards are currently en route to the local hospital, said to be in critical condition. Officials suspect the criminals were after an experimental weapon created to aid in defending our great city, and state they are certain that they will be able to track the thieves down to recover what has been lost.” The reporter's face was then replaced by that of another elf, her eyebrows drawn sharply downward in a stern frown as she ultimately repeated much of what had already been said. The man found his mind wandering and, by the time he managed to drag it back to the television, the programming had been replaced by an advertisement.
The news meant very little to him, but "breaking news" sounded as though it ought to be important. He looked back at Aeneat, hoping for an explanation of what he'd obviously missed. Instead, the elf was staring at him, expression completely unlike the soft smiles that had flashed across his face before. Then Aeneat stood and quickly walked out of the room.
“Anai!” His voice rung through the bomb shelter. “Anai, get up!”
It took a moment, but eventually Anai opened the door to her bedroom, scrubbing at the lines on her cheek. “What is it, Aeneat? I’m up. It’d better be really fucking good.”
Aeneat ignored the sleepy glare she sent in his direction, but his voice was low and angry when he spoke. “Where exactly did you find our friend?"
"In one of the rooms in that compound tonight," she said, forcing the words through a wide yawn.
Aeneat shook his head briskly, almost gritting his teeth. "Which room, Anai? Where was it?"
She frowned, bristling at the tone in his voice. "I dunno... Shit, I was kind of busy running away from guys with guns. I didn't check my map." Aeneat made a low sound in his throat, turning to stalk away. She stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Hey. What's going on? Why're you all agitated?"
"I think they’re rebuilding the Guard,” he said, turning to look at her over his shoulder . “And if I’m right, you just stole part of it.”
