Kevin McLaughlin
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Paladin 2: Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2026-01-01 02:44:34 +0000 UTCHappy New Year, everyone!!! :) -Kevin
Kira followed Jace toward the main entrance. It was elaborate, long panels of glass framing the entire thing for twenty feet on either side of the doors, which were also glass. She opened and held the door for Jace, then stepped through. The climate inside the place was day and night different from that outside. The heat outside was replaced by cool, almost cold air that raised goosebumps along her arms. She released the door, letting it close behind her.
Tristan was there. She knew he'd be on site, of course. Having him show up as soon as she arrived was unexpected. Kira walked directly toward him, arching an eyebrow, and offered her hand. Tristan shook it.
"Good to see you again," he told her. "Staying out of trouble?"
"Yes. I had a question for you, though."
"Shoot," he replied, then held up a hand. "Not literally though, please. I've seen you fire a gun."
Kira chuckled, then dropped her voice as she spoke. "Should I refer to you as Tristan, or Your Grace?"
She'd looked him up, since the mission they ran together. His activities on Percival made him into a person of interest, and she was more than a little interested. Kira asked Sage for help, and with her computer systems it wasn't impossible to track down Tristan and the Dauntless. It was fascinating to find out his previous employer had been the world of Kasimir, where he'd served them as privateer and naval officer for long enough he'd been granted the title of Duke.
Things went badly there, though. The neighboring power attacked, wiping out the ruling family of Kasimir and killing most of the other nobility. How the Dauntless escaped that mess, Kira wasn't sure, but it couldn't have been easy. She'd wanted to show off her new knowledge and let Tristan know he wasn't the complete enigma he'd been before.
The look on his face was priceless, though. Tristan's shock was clear in his open mouth and wide eyes. He collected himself quickly enough, but it was delicious seeing him surprised like that, and Kira promised herself she'd do it again as soon as she could.
"Just Tristan is fine, thanks," he replied. He called out over Kira's shoulder. "You all set there, Mr. Haven?"
"Right as rain," Jace replied. "Which we could certainly use more of. Speaking of water, did you take care of the little matter I asked about?"
Tristan snapped him a nod. "Absolutely."
"Excellent. I was hoping to give her a surprise," Jace said.
Kira blinked. The 'her' they were referring to was probably herself. "I'm not fond of surprises."
"Oh, I think you'll like this one," Jace said. "Mr. Hawke, I'm fine to get myself up to the party, and I won't need Kira until much later. Why don't you take her to see the surprise while I go join the others at the party?"
"Happy to," Tristan said. "Kira? If you'll follow me?"
Kira gave him a nod, hoping she wasn't going to regret it. If Jace was involved, whatever it was probably couldn't be too bad, right? Any surprise he'd planned for her would probably be a good one. She just wasn't fond of surprises. Never had been, at least as far back as she could recall, which wasn't especially far. Most of her memories were still locked up. Everything from before she woke in the Havens' guest room was a blank.
Sage had tried to do what she could there as well, but it wasn't happening. Whatever the damage had been, it was beyond the power of her medical machines to repair it. Kira might someday get her memories back, or might not, but whichever it was going to be would probably be up to her body, not medical tech.
Tristan led her to an elevator. Jace waved as he got into a different one. Then the doors closed, cutting Kira off from the outside world. The lift shot skyward, eating up the floors rapidly.
"Mind telling me where we're going?" Kira asked.
"Yeah, I do. Made a promise I'd keep this a secret, and I keep my promises."
Damn it, how was she supposed to argue with that? Call him out for being too honorable? Kira simmered as she waited for the lift to stop moving, hoping whatever this secret was wouldn't be too much of a pain in her ass. Judging from the wry smile Tristan wore, she wasn't sure.
The elevator doors snapped open, showing her a lobby that stretched about twenty meters wide and long. Instead of walls, there were railings making the other three sides of a rectangle, with the wall and its set of elevator doors making up the fourth. There were two openings in the railings, with what looked like stairs leading down from them.
Tristan made for the left hand gap, and Kira followed hot on his heels. As they got nearer, she saw they stood on a sort of mezzanine overlooking an even larger area below. The walls on all four sides of the building were glass on this level, with only thin lines of steel to break up the transparent surface, letting a flood of sunlight into the level.
Centered in the middle of the main space was an enormous pool of water. It was larger than the Havens' biggest barn, at least sixty meters long and maybe half that wide. The thing was enormous. She couldn't remember ever seeing that much water in one place. Maybe she had, once upon a time, but with those memories gone, the experience still delighted her.
"Wow! That's amazing." Kira skipped a step as they went down toward the pool. Was this the surprise? If so, it was worth the buildup! Just looking at that flat, blue surface excited her.
"It is. And it's all for you," Tristan said, confirming her suspicion. "Mr. Haven asked me to see if we could make the pool available to you. He seemed to think you might enjoy it. I thought that was a grand idea, so I called in a few favors and managed to reserve the floor for the day. This space is all yours. Nobody else should be bothering you. You can swim as long as you like."
"Really? That's amazing!"
"You can swim, right? I sort of assumed, but..." Tristan said.
"I don't know," Kira replied, tapping the side of her head. Tristan was one of a handful of people she trusted to know about her memory issues. "But I'm not afraid of the water, which ought to be a good sign. If I can't swim, I'll work at learning how. Thanks, Tristan. This really is a nice surprise."
He flashed her a broad smile. "I'm glad. I'd hoped it would be. Okay, I can't stick around. They need me back at the security office. But changing rooms are over there, and you'll find swimsuits there. They've got suits for a wide variety of body sizes, so I'm sure you'll find something that will fit. You stay here, enjoy the swim, and I'll make sure someone comes to fetch you in time for the award ceremony. I know you won't want to miss Mr. Haven being presented his award."
"Definitely not!" Kira didn't even want to think about how hurt he'd be. Probably be, anyway. There was a good chance he'd just laugh it off, pleased as punch his surprise had delighted her so much. But the man had given her far too much already for her to miss him receiving his award this evening.
"See you at the awards banquet, then," Tristan said as he went back up the stairs.
Kira turned toward the pool. She went to the edge and knelt there, then dipped her hand into the water. It felt cool and relaxing against her skin, and she was excited at the idea of immersing herself it in. It was frustrating, not being able to remember anything of her past. She didn't know if she could swim, couldn't recall when she'd done so before. That hurt.
But she was starting to become used to feeling her way through these sorts of things. Like with the water; that excitement she felt about the idea of swimming told her she had probably enjoyed it, back before she lost her memory. While her mind couldn't recall doing so, her body remembered.
Kira stood and went quickly to the changing rooms. The space was large and clearly meant for a large number of people. There were scores of lockers, each one capable of being keyed to a person's fingerprint. Past the lockers were a set of showers, enough for maybe a dozen people to shower at the same time. Clearly, the pool was designed to see heavy use. A set of shelves held towels and bathing suits, both ready to use.
She snagged a towel and a navy blue swimsuit that looked about her size, then went to the lockers and scanned her finger on one and it beeped, the little screen informing her it would retain her biometrics for twenty-four hours and would only open for her during that time. Satisfied, Kira slipped out of her boots and clothing and left it all inside the locker. Then she availed herself of the shower, which felt nice, slid into the swimsuit, and headed back toward the pool.
Once she left the changing room behind, Kira hesitated before moving on. She was unarmed, and now she didn't even have her clothes or boots. Old instincts told her to be cautious at times like this, and although she knew her life on Percival was mostly safe these days, she'd already seen enough danger and risk to know that there was a good reason those old, half-buried instincts were there in the first place.
Her eyes scanned the room for possible threats, automatically cataloging places where a hidden shooter could be waiting and making mental notes of possible escape routes, like the two massive air vents at either side of the room, or the closed doors across from the elevators. If you always knew the ways out of a place, it was far more difficult to trap you.
Satisfied at last that the space really was as clear of threats as it looked, Kira nodded to herself, then stepped up toward the pool again.
It was just as enormous as it had looked before. There were a dozen lanes set up for people to swim back and forth, and each length of the course was long. Her initial guess at sixty meters was probably spot on. That was quite the swim! Time to find out whether she could swim well or not!
The pool varied in depth from one end to the other. One side had a few diving boards set up, and was quite deep, while the markers on the other side said the water was less than two meters deep. Given the choice, Kira didn't hesitate for a moment. She took quick steps to the deep side, then walked up to one of the diving boards. She climbed up the short flight of steps, took a deep breath, and then raced down the board to the edge before leaping up, her body angling face and hands first toward the deep water ahead of her.
