Book 6: Chapter 3
Kay tapped his fingers against the thin railing that ran underneath the windows of the carriage he and Eleniah were in. The expansion of roads between Avalon’s cities had gone well and continued to progress, letting people move with vehicles and mounts and not being forced to walk between settlements. That meant they could get back to Avalon City from the port at a much quicker pace than it had once taken to walk there. Somewhere along the way the port town had gotten an official name, Breakport, referencing how the pirates that had once lived there had been broken and the port had been rebuilt into something better. Or so Kay had been told. Personally he found the name a bit jarring, but other people had complained about his naming sense so he kept his thoughts to himself.
Eleniah glanced over at him from across the carriage and noticed his impatient fidgeting. “You going to be alright?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m just worried.” He shot her a quick smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “The letters were one thing, but getting even more up to date reports when we got back… It’s not looking good.”
She reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it tight. “Don’t work yourself up. Things don’t look great, but they’re not looking terrible either. Amanda, Cindy, and Meten have managed to hold the fort down and prevent anything from getting worse. Not we just need to work together to make things better.”
Kay took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’re right.” He squeezed her hand. “I just… it feels wrong to not be there when things are going wrong, you know? I could have been helping this entire time.”
“You could have, but what would have been the consequences? It might sound a little selfish of me, but if you hadn’t left to go help the Isles my family would be gone and there would be a threat to the whole world out there gaining power.”
He reached out and grabbed her other hand. “That is not selfish of you. What it is is manipulative because you’re making me look at this in the point of view you want.”
“Oh?” She smiled and cocked a brow at him.
“I left good subordinates here and delegated the jobs that needed doing to them. All the reports we’ve gotten so far say they’ve done a great job, and I was probably the only person that could have cut those nanomachines off at the pass the way we did. I did what I could do where I needed to and the people I trusted did good jobs, proving my trust in them.” He leaned back against the wall of the carriage, still holding her hands. “I can work through the logic and see that I made the right decision, but that doesn’t completely erase the emotions that say I could have been here to help.”