Beneath the Mask

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Erix tried his best to breathe steadily through his mask while a million other thoughts flashed through his mind. Am I walking too much like myself? Is the mask enough to hide my face? What if Ov’oks suddenly developed X-ray vision? Could someone have an X-ray scanner?!

His heart beat so loudly that he was sure it would leap out of his chest altogether and give him away. His feet carried him on autopilot, traversing the outskirts of the ballroom to make a beeline for…somewhere. Maybe the balcony so he could get a breath of fresh air before—

“Oh—! Excuse me, sir.”

Erix’s thoughts came to a screeching halt as he found his foot stepping firmly on a male Ov’ok’s thick tail. He quickly hopped on one foot to right himself and instead crashed straight into a serving droid, whose tray of drinks spilt all over a woman’s elegant deep blue dress. To end it all, Erix’s momentum didn’t stop until he fell, his chin smacking right onto the hard marble flooring. The pain reverberated through his jaw and took up permanent residence in his head, where it promptly started a band and played some sort of upbeat song with heavy bass. Very heavy bass.

Silence. The chatter in his immediate vicinity ceased altogether, though Erix was relieved to hear that the undercurrent of talk further away was undisturbed. He hadn’t managed to draw attention to himself from the entire ball, at the very least.

“Oh, you poor dear!” The click-clack of heels drew nearer as Erix finally shook his body awake and raised himself to a sitting position.

But he almost fell over again when he saw the face looming over him. Dusted in light makeup, the scales on her face were almost unnoticeable, but her half-Ov’ok heritage was still obvious in her pointed ears, stocky frame…and the burning fire in her eyes that no human could imitate.

Daphnae.

Her glance at him was brief, and she quickly turned her head to address the startled onlookers with a toothy smile. “Isn’t he a sight? He’s my dear nephew, you know; it’s his first ball! Doesn’t even know how to put one foot in front of the other.”

Daphnae’s motherly tone and airy voice made her audience laugh and smile with relief. Erix had never known how she managed to make herself seem decades older just by changing her tone of voice, but it worked every time. Who didn’t trust a doting motherly figure?

It took too long for her actual words to catch up with him, and when they did, they smarted nearly as much as his chin. Nephew. Doesn’t even know how to put one foot in front of the other.

She’d seen straight through his mask.

As Erix’s audience slowly cleared away, Daphnae made one more laughing comment to a concerned Ov’ok before turning to meet Erix’s eyes. Her grin melted away, replaced by a thin, hard line.

“Come, nephew, let’s get you cleaned up,” she stated, her perfectly practised voice a little strained with irritation. She walked straight past him towards the balcony doors, no doubt expecting him to catch up.

Erix scrambled to his feet, slipping in the champagne he’d caused to spill. He muttered a hasty apology to the server droid, who was starting to mop up the floor (and somehow glaring daggers at Erix through unchanging robotic eyes), and dashed toward Daphnae’s retreating figure.

How could Daphnae be here? In the king’s court?

Despite the anger he could feel rolling off his childhood friend, nostalgia took over his mind. Climbing up trees, throwing mudballs, exploring the Alacour Canyon… He and Daphnae had done everything together in those golden days, the days before his premature ascent to the Nitarian throne, before the Ov’ok Rebellion, before his exile…

He’d almost forgotten what it was like to not have a care in the galaxy.

Daphnae’s pointed stare drew Erix from his fond memories. She held the balcony door open for him, one foot tapping impatiently. As he drew nearer, this throat tightened. Daphnae was the one girl he’d never been tongue-tied around, but this night was so strange, so dire, so…confusing that he found himself nervous to speak to her for the first time ever.

It’s been nearly six years… Whose side is she on?

Goosebumps flared down his arms. Daphnae had always had sympathy for the Ov’oks for obvious reasons, but she’d also frequently criticized their ruthless political manoeuvrings. Erix had had no communication with her since the Rebellion; was she using this opportunity to put him at ease, then turn him in?

She could have ousted me to the whole court a moment ago, Erix reminded himself, but the thought brought little comfort as Daphnae led him to the ornate balcony railing carved of sparkling edinsite, a rare mutation of a common white stone that glittered under moonlight. Erix let his fingertips glide across the smooth railing; he remembered when these had been installed. Dad had been so happy…

Erix gulped and banished the bittersweet thoughts. This was his palace no longer—and depending on how this conversation went, it might never be his again.

Daphnae edged so close to him that their shoulders were almost touching. They faced away from the palace, looking over the sprawling Inner City with its soaring towers, polished stone, and hushed darkness. On a normal night, Erix remembered that the city would still be vibrant with life at this hour, but as the home of the wealthy and elite, it lay abandoned in favour of the king’s ball.

“What. Are. You. Doing here?” Daphnae hissed, her voice now carrying its natural rough edge. Some had called it unladylike in the past, but Erix had always liked it; her mixed heritage was something he found fascinating, endearing, and even beautiful.

“Indulging in nostalgia?” he tried, his joke sounding weak to his own ears.

Daphnae growled deep in her throat, a distinctly Ov’ok sound that made Erix want to shrink away in fear. But he clamped his fingers around the railing and breathed out slowly, holding his ground.

“I could understand why you’d need spies at this ball,” Daphnae said, “but why, in God’s name, would you come yourself?”

“I’ve sent spies in the past, but I wanted to see things for myself. Everyone back on Volara told me not to come, but they couldn’t stop me.” Erix took a steadying breath. “Daph, I can’t ask you to understand, but this is still my kingdom, whether I’m here or not. I had to know how my people were faring, see them for myself.”

Daphnae huffed. “But to come during the king’s birthday celebration—! It would have been safer to come any other time, Erix. I don’t even know how you managed to get past the planet’s checkpoints.”

“I’m not as helpless as you might think,” he countered a little haughtily.

Daphnae gave him the most sarcastic look to ever live on a face, and in a single, humbling moment, Erix remembered everything that had just happened in the ballroom. His cheeks burned and he was, for once, glad to be wearing a mask.

“You have a king’s heart,” Daphnae said, her voice softening, “but you’ve never had the bearing.”

Erix shrugged off the embarrassment. “I always had you to help me.”

Daphnae briefly glanced back over her shoulder and minutely shifted her arm further away from him. It was such a small movement that most wouldn’t have noticed, but Erix did, and it made his heart sink.

“I can’t afford to help you any more than I just did. Things have changed since you left; the king’s court is a dangerous place, but I’ve managed to—”

A distinct hum and the sudden influx of sound from the ballroom halted her words in their tracks. Erix looked over his shoulder. A smiling, giggling couple emerged from the ballroom, so completely enwrapped in each other that Erix wasn’t even sure they knew they weren’t alone. He turned back to Daphnae, expecting her to finish, but she was standing straighter, her eyes more alert and her ears twitching.

“I can’t stay any longer.” Before Erix could protest, she met his eyes, her look betraying true care beneath layers of worry and frustration. “Keep out of trouble and go back to Volara. One day—” She stopped again and huffed. With one step, she began to back away from him, at the same time reaching into the sleeve of her gown. She held out a dainty handkerchief. “Take this in case you spill any more champagne on poor, unsuspecting women.”

Dumbfounded, Erix took the offered token automatically, his mind swimming with too many words to say. “But— What about—? I—”

Daphnae offered him a half-smile. “I mean it. Stay out of trouble.”

And just like that, she was gone, back in the ballroom and lost amid the enormous crowd.

Erix stood frozen, holding the handkerchief tightly in his fist. Had he said something wrong? Was Daphnae now fully allied with her people? He should have expected…

An obnoxious giggle broke through his concentration. He glanced at the flirting couple and promptly stomped back into the ballroom, his mind already half-made up to go in search of Daphnae. But he had a greater purpose here tonight, nearly lost in the overwhelming meeting with Daphnae. Confirm the palace’s defences, determine the populace’s general attitude toward the king, see if his own people would still be willing to ally with him…

Somehow, none of it seemed quite as important anymore.

Erix’s fingers began to hurt and he realized he still gripped Daphnae’s handkerchief so tightly that his fingers were nearly bone white. With a long sigh, he finally loosened his grasp and began neatly folding the fabric.

A splotch of ink caught his eye.

Erix’s steps halted. He had the presence of mind to make sure he was unobserved, but with a popular Ov’ok dance being played, almost everyone was on the dance floor. Still, he turned his back to the crowd as he unfolded the handkerchief and cupped it in his hands. The dark ink staining the white fabric formed strange characters that he hadn’t seen in many years.

Erix smiled. His and Daphnae’s secret language; they were the only ones who knew it.

I’m with you. —Daph

Four words, but they made all the difference. Erix hastily tucked the handkerchief into his pocket and could have floated through the ballroom. He still had a long way to go before he was ready to confront the Ov’oks again, but until then, he knew he had a friend.

And for now, that was enough.