Excerpt: Not yet decided

“Can I stay for a while?” Aspen asked respectfully.
Ariadne turned her stern, razor sharp eyes on him. They flashed. “I suppose so. It’ll do you good to get to know others your age from other places, I suppose. Be back in time for supper.”
Aspen gave a short bow as his mentor turned and left, striding quickly out the door. “Thank you, ma’am!” he called after the closing door.
Ember turned to Nukan, but he had already wandered off into the other room to look over some book or theorem or other. The sunlight filtered in through the huge windows, flooding the unusually tidy room with light. She turned back to Aspen. “So. Guess we’re on our own for now.”
He nodded and peered curiously at Nukan ambling around in the other room. “Does he often wander of randomly like that?”
“All the time. Does your mentor often, um…snap and leave without a word like that?”
Aspen grinned, his eyes flashing. “Frequently.”
Ember bit her lip. She frowned. “Do you…are you worried, about everything that’s going on?”
Aspen shrugged nonchalantly. “Why? Nothing’s proved yet.”
“Yes, I know, but I meant…I mean, are you worried about us trying to do something about it? I feel like so much is weighing and depending on us, I’m really nervous. What if we screw up? What if we’re wrong?”
“Nukan and Ariadne are technically the ones doing the investigation, not us.”
Ember stamped her foot. “Yes, I know, but you know what I mean! We’re going to be in the middle of it, we’re going to be helping, aren’t you worried about sharing that responsibility?”
Aspen looked left and right, bit his lip and looked at the ground for a moment as though he was ashamed of admitting fear. “If you must know…yes, I am very worried indeed. But I won’t let that stop me. No fear stops an assassin; we do not let it control us.”
Ember sighed with relief. “But you are afraid, too. That makes me feel so much better. It’s just so…above us. I mean, even if we aren’t the main investigators, what can the two of us possibly do?”
Aspen’s eyes clouded slightly as he looked into the distance, as though at something Ember could not see. “I’ve no idea, but…I’ve got this feeling. Something tells me we’ll do more than we think. Much, much more.”