Nara woke in the morning, and for a blessed moment she was confused. She opened her eyes, she wasn't in the East Wing. Reality set in.
Oh.
Oh no.
Oh fuck.
Last night she had followed the Jackal, and had run away from the East Wing, and the Palace of the Khann. She was unbelievably fucked. The Palace hunted down runaways, the punishment was typically death. She held her head in her hands and dry heaved. No, no it was okay. It hadn't been long, she could go back and just say she got drunk and lost. She would be beaten and put on the punishment rota, but that was better than being labeled a runaway, and having the Wolves of the Palace set on her.
She looked around and found that she had spent the night in a dockside warehouse, buried amongst the crates. She rolled over and got herself into a kneeling position, automatically falling into her morning routine of praying to Syn.
"Stop that." The Jackal spoke to her, now next to her - like it had always been there.
"I… I, What?" Too confused to pounce on this motherfucker with a million questions.
"You're not my siblings' anymore. I've claimed you."
"Your sibling?"
"Syn. It's not your god anymore. You are mine now."
Nara was taken aback, praying to Syn was just something you did, something she had always done. The rites and rituals were an ever present part of Khannite life. It was like being asked to stop breathing. "I... I, what?" She said for the second time. "Do I pray to you now?"
"NO! Absolutely not! Gross!" Jackal sat down in front of the kneeling girl and licked its paws. "Honestly I don't know how my siblings can stand it. Being prayed to, it's all so cringe."
"But I do give this to the people I've claimed." A necklace appeared before Nara, floating in the air. A thin silver chain with a little coin shaped pendant - a dog face embossed on the front. "Welcome to the cult of the Jackal. You can't pray to me, but I do accept the lengthy cursings of my name."
Nara took the necklace from the air. "I can't do this, I have to go back. They're going to kill me."
"Too late for that now, I'm afraid." It sported a wicked grin. "Syn knows I took you, it is in the rules of the game, but Syn always gets so prickly about this sort of thing. Even if you tried to go back Syn wouldn't accept you. You are 'sullied' now. You would be ostracized, and probably used as one of the many sacrifices that you Khannites are all so fond of."
Nara's hope drains away from her face. "Oh fuck you." It now dawned on her just how much Jackal had destroyed her life.
"Now you are getting into the spirit of it!"
"Well, what do we do now?"
"So about that..."
"What?!" Nara's face like thunder.
"There is no we, per se. I can guide, I can talk, I can cryptically point you in the right direction with lengthy amounts of self reflection and introspection, which cause you to grow as a person... But I can't actually help you, or control you, or intervene, or interfere, or save you. It's against the rules." Somehow the black dog appeared to be sweating. "But I will be with you every step of the way! Cheering you on!"
Nara wanted to puke. She felt bile rise up from her stomach. She latched onto one word. "What rules?"
"Rules of the game. I am bound by them."
"Who wrote the rules?"
"Well, they're not really written down as such."
"Then why can't you change them, and fix this... mess you have made of my life!" She snapped.
"Think of it like having a conversation. It's not written down - that while talking to someone, you shouldn't squat in front of them and take a fat shit while holding eye contact. But everybody knows that it's against the rules."
The mental image threw Nara for a loop.
"There are accepted ways to play the game. I have already done one cheeky but 'technically' tolerable thing by claiming you out from under Syn. I have to be polite for a while, or I will start to gain my siblings' attention and wraith."
Nara now had her head in her hands. She could feel the cool metal of the necklace she held, against her skin. What the fuck was she going to do?
"Put that on, and follow me."
With no better idea, she slipped the necklace around her neck and followed the Jackal out of a small hole, at the back of the warehouse. They exited out onto the city streets. "I thought you just got done telling me that you couldn't help me?"
"Yes, but I can guide you, so I am guiding you. Directly to a place you need to be. Whether you accept the help that's there - that's up to you."
It was early morning, they were walking the capital city that surrounded the Palace of the Khann. It was still quiet, the dock workers were just beginning to arrive for work.
There was no sea close by, no boats, this was a Jump Ship dock. There was a large open plaza, surrounded by warehouses. Once the day began, Warlords would bring their Jump Ships to the plaza, filled with the taxes and tributes from all the worlds of the Khannite. This was how the city, and the empire, fed itself.
Nara followed the Jackal as they weaved through a number of back streets. Eventually they ended up outside a dusty looking shop. There were various bits of cookware hanging out front, rusty and stained, this place looked like it hadn't had a customer in years.
"Go inside, meet the man. Show the necklace. I can't intervene in there, and nobody but you can see me."
"Your rules seem awfully restrictive."
"Let's just say that I'm on thin ice with the other players."
The Black dog winked at her, which was very unsettling, and faded away. "I'll be watching." Its voice whispered from the nothingness.
"Creep."
Nara ignored the closed sign, and tugged open the door, it was sticky but not locked, and slid open with a little force. A bell attached to the door rang as she entered. The inside of the shop showed even more disrepair than the front, dust caked everything and there was very little light, even though it was morning.
"Can't you read?! The sign says closed." Said an approaching, squat, bespectacled man, wearing the thickest woolen jumper she had ever seen.
"Does this mean anything to you?" She asked, holding up the necklace. Ignoring his question and cutting straight to the chase.
The man paused, and nodded, hooking a thumb under his collar and pulling out a matching necklace. His tone softened, "I'll make some tea, and you can tell me about how the arsehole ruined your life."
The man, whose name she learnt was 'Tsagaan', took her through the shop and into the rooms behind. This was a very different side of the store, the wall covered floor to ceiling in archeotech, every piece highly illegal. Her eyes went wide, if she was caught here she wouldn't just be killed for running away, she would be tortured, then killed, and her head would be put on a spike as a warning for others.
"Relax." Tsagaan said, offering her a chair. "I've been here a long time. I have ways, due to our mutual friend, for this place to never be discovered." He handed Nara a cup of tea with both hands. Steam rising from the surface. "So tell me about the trouble you are in."
Nara drank the tea, and told him everything, about the black beast, about the fateful ride, about following the Jackal, about the dire situation she found herself in. The only thing she left out was Esme, still too raw to talk about. He sat, and listened calmly.
"Well if that arsehole brought you here then it clearly expects me to help." He waved vaguely in the air. "It's still too rude to show its face here. I see." He said loudly, knowing the Jackal was listening.
"He said there were rules."
"No, the arsehole just owes me an apology."
A faint chuckle could be heard in the distance, as if coming from everywhere and nowhere.
"Yes you do, you pathetic excuse for a cosmic fart!" Tsagaan yelled angrily.
"So can you help me?" Said Nara, trying to get things back on track.
"I can. You will need to leave everything on your person here. I will find some clothes that help you blend in. You are going to need to get off world, I'm guessing Jackal will lead you on one of its horrible 'adventures', I can get you jump ship permits."
"I don't have anything on me, I can't pay for any of this." Nara interrupted.
"You're part of the cult of the Jackal now. For what that's worth." He said with a calming smile. " I was once led to someone that helped me, and in the future, someone will be led to you."
He bundled a bunch of clothes into her arms and pushed her into a side room, "Now go change."
Nara quickly changed from her palace customized tac gear into the given unassuming serf clothing. It felt strange and loose to her, and the materials made her itch. At least it had a number of pouches sewn to the front. It was always the fashion, to replicate what taccy nobles wore.
She returned to Tsagaan, handing over her old clothing. He gave her a conical, wide brimmed, straw hat and some jump ship papers to get off world.
He also handed her three small pieces of archeotech. "Dont get caught with this" He said, "This one here is a weapon. Point, shoot, things die. It's semi homing, so just aim vaguely in the correct direction." Pointing to the next item. "This thing here should keep you safe from sensors. It needs a little time to read the signal environment, but will either try to mask you as something that belongs there, or failing that, will make you invisible to sensors entirely."
Tsagaan takes the last one. And turns it in his hand. "I'm almost sad to part with this, but it's better that it's used, instead of gathering dust with an old man. It's for the young to be galavanting about, after all." He hands it back, fondly. "When the time comes, Jackal will tell you how to use this."
After feeding the girl up and making sure she had everything she would need to take on a long journey, Tsagaan waved Nara goodbye.
He returned to his store alone, reminiscing about old adventures and days gone by.
A pot of salt wobbled and fell, the salt scattered across the table. The split salt formed some words.
I'm sorry. Thank you.
Tsagaan smiled. "You're still an arsehole." He said, to the empty room.