Not when I fired the missile, I think, and he must see it on my face because he squeezes my hand again and suddenly that’s not enough, even though I still hate not hearing his insides, even though it’s like talking to a photograph of the Todd I used to know, I push myself into him and he puts his arms around me. He presses his face into my hair, smelling god knows what awfulness of fever and sweat, but just to be close to him, to feel his arms around me and to be surrounded by all that I know of him, even if I can’t hear him–

I just have to trust that it’s still Todd in there.

And then, somewhere out in the world nearby, the Mayor starts his bloody speech.

[TODD]

The Mayor’s climbed up on a cart near the scout ship, standing above the crowd.

“Today is both a culmination and a new beginning!” he says, his voice booming thru the Noise of the soldiers gathered in the square, of the non-soldiering men of the town gathered there, too, a Noise which amplifies his voice, so there ain’t no one here who can’t hear him, everyone looking back at him, weary but hopeful, even the women, some of ’em at the edges even holding kids, who they usually do their best to keep hidden away, but every face, young and old, wanting what the Mayor says to be true.

“We have fought our enemy with great cunning and bravery,” he says, “and we have brought him to his knees!”

There’s a cheer for this, even tho it ain’t exactly what happened.

Mistress Coyle’s watching him, her arms folded, and then we see her start walking over to the Mayor’s cart.

“What’s she doing?” Bradley says, coming over to me and Viola.

We watch as she pulls herself up on the cart till she’s standing next to the Mayor, who shoots her a glance of death but don’t stop his speech. “This day will be remembered by your children and your children’s children!

“GOOD PEOPLE!” Mistress Coyle shouts right over the top of him. But she’s not looking at the crowd, she’s looking up into the probe broadcasting back to the hill. “TODAY IS A DAY WE WILL REMEMBER FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!”

The Mayor raises his voice to match hers. “THROUGH YOUR COURAGE AND SACRIFICE–”

“HARD TIMES WHICH YOU MET WITH FORTITUDE–” shouts Mistress Coyle.

“WE HAVE ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE–” shouts the Mayor.

“THE SETTLERS ON THEIR WAY WILL SEE THE WORLD WE’VE CREATED FOR THEM–”

“WE HAVE FORGED THIS NEW WORLD FROM OUR OWN BLOOD AND DETERMINATION–”

“We should leave,” Viola says.

Me and Bradley look at her, surprised, but then I see a glint of mischief in his Noise. I ask Angharrad and Acorn to both kneel and I help Viola on the back of Acorn. Wilf gives Bradley a hand getting up on Angharrad. He don’t look too sure on her, tho.

“Don’t worry,” I say, “she’ll take good care of you.”

Boy colt, she says.

“Angharrad,” I say back.

“Todd,” Viola says, echoing her.

And I look back at Viola and I say, “Viola.”

That’s all, just her name.

And we realize this is it.

This is it starting.

“A SHINING EXAMPLE OF PEACE IN OUR TIME–”

“I HAVE LED YOU TO A GREAT VICTORY–”

The horses start moving thru the square, past the speech cart, thru soldiers getting outta their way, heading towards the road, the one that leads to the Spackle hill.

The Mayor’s voice falters a little as he sees what’s happening. Mistress Coyle keeps bellering cuz she’s looking up into the probe and don’t see ’em yet, not till the Mayor says quickly, “AND WE SEND OUR AMBASSADORS OF PEACE ON THEIR WAY WITH FULSOME VOICES!”

The crowd cheers on cue, cutting Mistress Coyle off midstream, something she don’t look too happy about.

“Viola’ll be all right,” Wilf says as we keep our eyes on her, shrinking down the road. “She always comes thru.”

The crowd’s still cheering but the Mayor hops off the cart and comes over to me and Wilf. “And they’re off,” he says, his voice a little peeved. “Rather earlier than I expected.”

“You woulda talked all morning,” I say. “And they’ve got danger waiting for ’em up that hill.”

“Mr President,” Mistress Coyle grimaces as she passes by us on her way back up the ramp of the scout ship.

I keep watching Viola and Bradley until they disappear outta the square, then I move my eyes to the big projeckshun Simone set up while everyone was speechifying, hovering huge over the ruins of the cathedral, the same image broadcast back to the hilltop, the image of Viola and Bradley riding down the road, heading into the dead zone of the battlefield.

“I wouldn’t worry, Todd,” the Mayor says.

“I know,” I say. “Any sign of funny business and the scout ship’ll blow the Spackle sky high.”

“Yes, indeed,” the Mayor says but in a way that makes me turn, that way he has like he knows more than he’s saying.

“What?” I say. “What have you done?”

“Why do you always suspect I’ve done something, Todd?” he asks.

But he’s still smiling that smile.

{VIOLA}

We ride out of the last edge of town and through a field of burnt bodies, still here after the burning arrow attacks, scattered everywhere like felled trees.

“In a place of all this beauty and potential,” Bradley says, looking around, “we just repeat the same mistakes. Do we hate paradise so much we have to be sure it becomes a trash heap?”

“Is that your idea of a pep talk?” I ask.

He laughs. “Think of it as a vow to do better.”

“Look,” I say. “They’ve cleared a path for us.”

We near the bottom of the hill that leads up to the Spackle camp. Boulders and stones have been moved out of the way, along with Spackle bodies and the remains of their mounts, remains put there by artillery from the Mayor, a missile from me, and a bomb from Mistress Coyle, so we’ve all had a hand in it.

“It can only be a good sign,” Bradley says. “A small welcome, making our path easier.”

“Easier to walk into a trap?” I say, nervously gripping Acorn’s reins.

Bradley makes to go up the path first, but Acorn puts himself in front of Angharrad, feeling her hesitation, trying to make her more comfortable by appearing confident. Follow, his Noise says, almost gently, Follow.

And she does. And up we go.

As we climb, we hear the hum of engines in the valley behind us as Simone pilots the ship into the air, where it’ll watch us like a hawk hovering on an updraft, ready to swoop down with weapons if anything goes astray.

My comm beeps. I take it out of my pocket and see Todd looking back at me. “You all right?” he asks.

“I only just left,” I say. “And Simone’s already on her way.”

“Yeah,” he says. “We can see you, bigger than life. Like yer the star of yer own vid.”

I try to laugh but it only comes out as coughing.

“Any sign of danger,” he says, more serious, “any sign at all you get yerself outta there.”

“Don’t worry,” I say. And then I say, “Todd?”

He looks at me through the comm, guessing what I’m about to say. “You’ll be okay,” he says.

“If something happens to me–”

“It won’t.”

“But if it does–”

“It won’t.” He says it almost angrily. “I ain’t saying goodbye to you, Viola, so don’t even try. You get up there, you get peace, and you get back down here so we can make you well again.” He leans in closer to the comm. “I’ll see you soon, all right?”

I swallow a little. “All right,” I say.

He clicks off.

“Everything okay?” Bradley asks.

I nod. “Let’s get this over with.”

We climb up the makeshift path, getting closer to the summit of the hill. The ship’s high enough to see what’s waiting for us. “It looks like a welcoming party,” Simone calls over Bradley’s comm. “Open ground with what has to be their leader sitting on one of their battlemore things.”