Honored (Book 2 of the In Search of Honor series)

She pulled up the dark mesh screen in front of her hood to show her small square pale face, and then she pulled the full hood back to show hair that was about an inch long and the most brilliant shade of pink on one half with a matching brilliant shade of lime green on the other half of her head.

She smiled at me and ran her hand through her short eye catching hair. “Looks pretty cool doesn’t it? I read about a style called punk in one of the libraries and decided to recreate it.”

“I, umm, haven’t seen anything like it before,” it’s inappropriate to stare, but I couldn’t stop staring at her bright hair.

She laughed, “Of course not. I found it and developed the dyes to recreate this look!”

“No one else in the Wall seemed to care much about looks,” She was so different from anyone else I had seen there.

She shrugged, “Well, they are old stogies. I like to stand out and look cool.” She paused and tilted her head to the side with a thoughtful look, “That might be part of why I was sent off to join the City repair corps. They don’t really like those of us who are different.” She smiled brightly again, “And it’s why I am your personal stylist for your latest City wide show! I’m excited for this one. I’ve heard it includes some fireworks, oh, and it includes using the announcer system in the city that hasn’t been used in a hundred or so years! I’m so excited for this! Well, are you going to start cleaning yourself?”

Her words felt like whiplash. I looked down at the leather armor. “Getting this stuff off is hard.”

She gave an exaggerated sigh and grabbed my arm to start unbuckling the old stiff leather. “This stuff is nasty. It’s a good thing I insisted on a new cool outfit for you!”

“A new outfit?” I didn’t need a new outfit to die in. I’d worn these leathers to leave the City for the Wall and I’d worn them from the Wall to the village, and then for the return trips. I’d been wearing them here in the City in jail next to Dan, and I was wearing them when we survived our execution date. I was wearing them when I finally confessed the feelings I’d been burying inside myself. This armor felt almost like an old friend at this point. It was the constant in my life of change.

She giggled, “You sound like a new outfit is the same as death! Cheer up! I didn’t make it neon pink or anything.”

“I’ve worn this leather armor through a lot. I don’t really want to part with it,” I told her as she unbuckled and pulled off the shoulder guards and casually dropped them to the floor.

“Then it’s most definitely time for something new! This old armor needs a break, and some cleaning.” She wrinkled her nose at the last statement.

I watched in silence as she unbuckled each piece of armor and dumped it on the ground like trash. I wanted to reach down and touch it. To remember all of it’s memories, but I couldn’t allow myself to be nostalgic now. I had to stay stoic and complete my mission.

Before long she had the armor off me. She went off to the bag, and I moved over toward the bucket. It was filled with water and had a cleaning cloth in it. I pulled off my undergarments and started scrubbing at myself with the cloth.

She came back over. “Can you bend over a little so I can clean your hair?”

Instead I kneeled down. It was easier on me. She didn’t seem to mind as she went to work on my hair and I worked on cleaning off my body with the water logged rag. It reminded me of the Dishonored baths next to the well when I worked for the Konjack household. It was so strange to remember back on that time that felt like it belonged to a different person. That young girl in those memories was so naive and angry, yet here I was following her original plan filled not with anger, but with a sense of inevitability. Maybe I should still be angry at this City, but I felt too empty for that.

I jumped when cold water streamed over my head, and Cat laughed. “Didn’t you see me pick up the bucket?” She asked.

“No, I was thinking about something else,” I told her, not feeling the need to elaborate on my musings.

She giggled again and clapped her hands, “Well, you’re as clean as we are going to get you today. Stand up. Let’s get you dressed up now!”

I complied as she went back to the back and pulled out a number of different things, including fresh undergarments which she handed to me and I put on.

She held up new looking light weight leather trousers and a leather breast place with some sort of flower pattern stamped into the leather. She helped me buckle them on, and then helped me buckle on a shoulder and arm guard piece that matched. Back to the bag she went, and this time she came back with some metal armor pieces that reminded me of the ones I had on when we went to the supposed safe house. It was a good thing I wouldn’t have to sleep in this outfit. She buckled these on as if she had quite a bit of experience with this armor. What use would a Wall repair person have for armor?

The final thing she put on me was a white cape that hung to my knees off two connections on my shoulders.

She stood back and looked me over, “There, now you look like a proper Exile, leader of the Undesirable rebellion.” She squinted at me, as if thinking hard about something and then raised a finger up in the air. “Oh, you need a new Wall cloak too. Can’t have you wearing that grimy one!”

She ran back over to her bag and held out a new Wall cloak to me. “Here, put this on.”

With those final words, she walked over to the door where the men had disappeared off, and pulled it open.

“Behold! Your Queen!” She called out to them and pointed toward me.

I shook my head, “Don’t call me a Queen. I have no plans to continue this ancient system. Just as I was taught by the Wall, the system after this should be a democracy, and I will be nothing more than an instrument to bring that about. I am the Exile. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

She giggled, “Can’t you let me have a bit of fun?”

One of the Wall people walked forward, grabbed her hood, and pulled it back over her head, “Cat, you shouldn’t go around showing off your face. We repair people have to be careful.” It was the dulcet tones of Von’s voice. The original repair gang was truly here.

The third Wall person walked through the door and shrugged, “She looks just like she has new clothes on. Not like she is an Exile who has been through lots of hardships.”

Cat sighed and I could just barely see her rolling her eyes as Von pulled on the black mesh to pull it back over her face, “Everyone has seen her in the old armor already. It doesn’t help her cause at all, and the King would refuse to see her if she smelled and looked like a pig. There’s a reason the pig pens are vented all the way through the Wall to the world outside the Wall.”

“She looks passable,” Daniel said, his eyes glancing at me and then at the entrance to the regular Wall tunnels. “Are you all ready to take her to meet her squad? I have more tasks to do to make sure all of this proceeds as planned.” He looked back at me and clearly took in the full outfit this time. “She needs boots still. And make sure she actually wears that Wall cloak until it’s her turn to speak. Oh, and don’t forget the white flag and the black box.” He pointed at the black speaking device that was sitting in my pile of armor.

I must have let go of it when Cat was taking my armor and not noticed. I went over and picked it back up. Cat came over and did something to attach it to my waist. She pointed at a piece black material sticking off it, “Press here and you can pull it off.”

I nodded and hoped it would work as she directed. The cloak was easy to put over my armor, and when I finished getting my head through the weird hood, I could see Daniel was still standing in the door with his arms crossed. “Boots and flag.” He stated, tapping his foot.

“I’m getting there!” Cat exclaimed from somewhere behind me. The hood was limiting the range of my vision. I felt someone tap on my shin, and I looked down to see the top of a wall cloak and the person holding open a brown lace up boot. “Put your foot in before Daniel drags you off shoeless.” She ordered.

The cold boot enveloped my foot and sent a shiver up my spine as I stepped into it. Before I had a chance to start lacing it, she was lacing it up efficiently as if she laced boots everyday. I stepped into the second boot while she laced the first.

She finished lacing my boots, pushed a metal rod with a piece of white fabric attached into my left hand, and stepped back. Her eyes ran up and down my body as if looking for a flaw. “Now you look like a proper revolutionary leader.”

“I feel like a dressed up fake,” I retorted, looking down at the brand new armor that was peeking out from under the Wall cloak, and missing my old beat up leather. I stepped forward and forcibly moved my arms; feeling how stiff the armor was. “I feel like a brand new Exile again with this stuff on.

She shrugged, “Looking shiny is a low price to pay for a chance to meet the King. Have fun at your little gathering!” She waved and giggled as she moved back to join her fellow Wall people Near the entrance of the regular tunnel system.