Chapter 100: Dance

  Ellie sat alone in the Algreil Aerospace private box.

  She watched the Crimson Phoenix and the Divine Auric Drake rise into the airless sky of Etemenos's core. They exchanged almost courtly bows. With no medium to vibrate and transmit sound, the mighty battle machines were silent. With the solid walls between the Algreil box and the stands surrounding it, the crowd was, too.

  Ellie couldn't imagine either would make a sound even if she could hear them.

  There was a hush over the scene, a tension in more than just the air, that she couldn't explain. Ellie felt short of breath, impatient for the match to begin and nervous it would.

  She couldn't explain the feeling. Her husband would soon be executed. Her daughter would likely follow. The match above would change none of it.

  Yet Ellie, not even a fan, could not look away from the mecha hovering overhead.

  She could scarcely imagine what the people thronging the stands must feel.

  Slowly, the mecha began to circle.

  It was like watching the first movements of a masterful dance, the rising tension of each footstep blending together in tune to the music. Ellie could not hear the music Rudolf Algreil and Marcel Avalon danced to, but she imagined she could feel it.

  The first blows were ritualistic. Neither combatant was even truly probing the other's defenses. Perhaps neither needed to. They knew each others' styles as well as any two men alive.

  Mechaneers. Rivals. Perhaps even friends.

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  Ellie was glad to know them both. Someday, if the Principle were so kind as to grant the pattern to her days she could only pray for, she would even tell Rudy Algreil that.

  But not just yet. First, he had to do right by her daughter for a whole lot longer than he had!

  First, he needed the chance to.

  Ellie supposed she was probably on the verge of tears.

  With a sweep of his lance, Avalon banished them. Now it was a fight indeed, though still a slow one. When the Divine Auric Drake missed, the Crimson Phoenix just twisted out of reach and watched him rather than trying to exploit whatever small opening he might have had.

  Ellie didn't know enough about combat or tournament mechaneering to know if it was the curious grace of the moment that stayed his hand, or some prudence she didn't understand.

  After a few seconds, he struck back. His fist flared out, he twisted, and instead his leg was what nearly caught the Divine Auric Drake in the side of the head. Another near-miss. The Crimson Phoenix's thrusters fired laterally, turning the kick into a cartwheel and carrying him out of reach of his opponent's counterattack.

  They separated, no doubt assessing one another again, or maybe just putting a beat into the rhythm of their dance.

  Ellie felt she should not allow herself to embrace that rhythm, to give in to that dance. Chloe and Jack needed her. She had no right to enjoy the Etemenos Cup. She had never enjoyed a tournament before.

  Any yet –

  Another exchange of staccato punches, kicks and thrusts drew her attention back to the mecha overhead. The beat of dissonance only enhanced the harmony when they began to match movements, their timing perfect, their strikes ideal, their dodges, somehow, better still.

  Ellie understood. She allowed herself to watch.

  She knew she must be strong for her family's sake. But when it came to fighting and scheming, she felt out of her depth compared to Jack. If she tried to measure herself against geniuses of battle like the two mechaneers dueling above, or to an Imperial like her daughter and foes strong enough to give her pause, Ellie knew she might as well not even try.

  She didn't have to be strong that way. She had only to do what she could to support those who were and tried to use their strength for the right reasons, those she was blessed enough to know and love.

  If it was the pattern of her days to watch and wait, so be it.

  She would do it to the best of her ability – and she'd make sure that when their struggles were over, the people she loved always had a home to return to.