caged :: petra

Deep breaths.

It had been three days since Paisley had seen Petra, the woman who had inadvertently drug Paisley miles away from Nadar and to a sinister part of the forest on the mainland of Amelia.

After a horrific night, Paisley, along with the brothers Henri and Nils, had captured Petra and had taken her to Lilycove, the closest inhabited city with an unquestionable police force. Paisley had been vague about the situation, but since she was an overloridian few questions were asked. The next day Petra had been transported to Western Nadar, which is where she was currently being detained.

And that is where our post starts. Paisley, who had taken a few days to try to find information on this supposed mob, was finally ready to talk with Petra again. This time with woman behind bars and without any way to use her eilemaiden as a weapon.

Paisley walked down the cement hallway, and finally found the cell labeled P. Lovison.

"Petra?"

Three days. It certainly wasn't the longest time Petra had ever been confined to a single room, and at least she didn't have a daily beating to look forward to this time, but it was starting to get to her nonetheless. A few times she had woken up in a cold sweat, convinced she was back in that building four years ago. Just bad dreams, she told herself.

But she knew that the longer she was here, the worse it would be for her when she got back. It was one thing to fail. It was another to get caught. She'd be lucky if she didn't get at least a few good bruises once she returned.

Why return? Tasia asked her. This could be our chance. We could get out of here and go on the run.

They'd find us, she thought back. Just like they had found the brothers, again and again. Only unlike them, she was just one clio, with no one to help her.

"Petra?"

Petra looked up to see the Paisley girl, the one who had caught her. Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want?" she asked.

"I... I just came to see how you were doing," Paisley said softly. She felt bad seeing Petra locked up, but it was the only way.

She wondered how the last few days had been for her. The cells in Nadar weren't awful, but they weren't exactly homey, either. How was Petra handling being locked up?

Petra looked at Paisley like she was an idiot. "'See how I'm doing'?" she repeated. Did Paisley really think she was going to believe that? She laughed humorlessly and shook her head. "You don't care how I'm doing. Why are you really here?"

Paisley probably just wanted information, so she was playing nice to get Petra to let her guard down and talk to her. She was Paisley's enemy, after all. There was no way she would casually stop by just to see how she was doing.

Paisley paused, a confused expression on her face. "Petra, I came here to see how you were doing."

It was true that Paisley had been doing some research on her own, but it wasn't because of Petra that she had done so. Paisley honestly wanted to help the situation if there was any way she could. The only reason she'd done any history checking on Petra and the brothers was so she could track down the organization that had terrorized them so.

She hadn't told Henri and Nils of her digging, however. They had been keeping to themselves in an empty adviser's suite. To her dismay, they hadn't been interesting in much conversation--not that Paisley had tried to pry. She had just gotten used to their company over the last week in the jungle. It was a little disappointing to see them withdraw from her.

"Why would you even care?" Petra asked, shaking her head. She knew that the short answer was, Paisley wouldn't. Petra had found out after all was said and done that this naive, dumb, patronizing girl was actually somehow the overloridian of Nadar. Someone as important as an overloridian wouldn't care about her well-being.

"Because I don't think that what you've done is your fault," Paisley said without skipping a beat. After hearing Nils' story on the boat ride, Paisley had done a lot of thinking. It was true that Petra had kidnapped Henri--but hadn't Nils told her that the brothers had done the same thing in the past?

Paisley had already decided to trust both Nils and Henri. The fact that she'd slept with them for a week in seclusion told her they weren't deadly (at least not anymore), and Paisley hoped that in time she could extend this trust to Petra. Petra who had definitely had the time to stab Nils. Petra who could have killed Henri in the time it took for Paisley to follow them to the secret shack in the woods.

"I want to help you."

Stupid girl. You don't even know what I've done, Petra thought. Paisley wanted to forgive her crimes--and Henrik and Nils' crimes--without even knowing what they were. Such an idealist. But maybe Petra could use Paisley's naivety to her advantage. She needed to get out of here. Paisley wanted to help. They could both get what they wanted.

"How would you help me?" she asked.

"Well I think we would need to decide that together," said Paisley, thoughtfully. She walked to the little cushioned bench that sat across from P. Lovison's cell and sat down.

"Whatever you wanted to tell me in the woods, I do not doubt that it was true. But from what I can tell, Petra, you were forced into this."

Paisley tried hard not to be patronizing, but even as she spoke she could hear it in her voice. How could you not sound that way when you were extending niceties to your prisoner? And how would she know that she could truly trust Petra?

Nils and Henri had come to her already with the will of someone who was trying to separate themselves from their past lifestyle. They'd been on the run for years, trying desperately to leave their troubled past behind. Petra, for whatever reason, was still embracing it. Paisley didn't know if it had to do with the fact that she hadn't escaped with the brothers or something else, and Paisley also wasn't sure how to find out.

How would she ever find the information she needed to help the three without asking questions? It was a frustrating circle, and Paisley didn't know how to escape it.

"That's true," Petra said slowly, watching Paisley's face carefully. She was hoping she was right, and that Paisley was just too damn idealistic for her own good, but part of her was still worried that it might be a trick. She had to keep things vague, just in case. "We were forced to do a lot of things."

Did that matter though? Forced or not, they still did them. Prostitution, theft. Murder. Not the kinds of things that society would be willing to forgive. That was why even if you escaped, you had nowhere to go.

"Forced," Paisley repeated. It was the key word that both Nils and Petra had used. It was the word that kept Paisley hanging on to her hope that there was good somewhere in there. That Petra was redeemable. That she hadn't wanted to hurt Nils or Henri.

"I want to stop this from happening," Paisley told her. Perhaps if Paisley worked from this angle Petra would be more willing to give up information. "I don't want anymore children stolen and forced into what you had to do."

"You really think you can stop them?" Petra asked, making a sincere effort to keep the skepticism out of her voice. Overloridian or not, Paisley had no idea what she was dealing with. How dangerous these clio were. That and the fact that they operated out of the neutral cities made Paisley's influence almost worthless. Not to mention, Paisley knew absolutely nothing about them.

"Wait, let me guess. You want me to tell you about them? Names and locations and that kind of thing?"

So this "how are you doing" visit was for information after all.

There it was. The wall Paisley had been expecting/fearing.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Petra," Paisley said calmly. It was best to be honest and straightforward, she had decided. "Whatever you can tell me would help. But that is not why I came here."

She sighed. She wished she could let Petra out of this cell. "My first interest is in your well being." And it was true. These three were safe. Even Petra who was a prisoner was safe from whatever horrors had conditioned her to be a killer. Paisley's main goal right now was to keep them that way--out of harm's reach. "But, as I've already told you, I also want to stop this from happening ever again.

"The problem is, I don't know how yet." She paused. "Because as you've mentioned already...I'm sorta in the dark here."

"If I tell you anything about them, they'll kill me," Petra said bluntly. "So if your first interest really is my well being, you probably shouldn't ask me."

She wasn't totally sure that was true. Punish severely, yes. But she had proven herself useful too many times in the past for them to kill her...she hoped. Either way, Paisley wouldn't be getting anything out of her, and hopefully what Petra had said would get her to stop asking.

"Why don't you just ask your new friends?" she asked, referring of course to the brothers. "They have no reason not to tell you everything, right?"

"Well, as I said before, my reason for coming here wasn't for information," Paisley told her. She'd been put off a little by Petra's first comments. It meant Petra still didn't trust her, which Paisley supposed was fair, given their current location.

"And you're right--I can talk to Nils or Henri about things if I need to. I only brought it up because you did. I know you don't believe me, but I did just want to make sure you were okay. "

Petra sighed, frustrated. "No, I'm not," she finally just answered honestly, because she was sick of just talking in circles. "I'm not okay, but unless you're willing to let me go, which I know you're not, then there's nothing you can do for me."

There. Honesty.

"Well I'm sure you know why it's not just that simple," Paisley told her. At least Petra knew that release wasn't an option right now.

"And, though I'm sure you know this too, I'm not exactly positive you'd be anymore 'okay' even if I did let you out."

Petra raised her eyebrows. "I'd be much better off out there than in here," she insisted. The longer she was stuck here, the worse it would be for her. "But I get it. I tried to hurt your precious boyfriends. You can't let me out."

She had decided over the course of the conversation that trying to manipulate Paisley into trusting her and letting her out would take too damn long, not to mention she'd probably have to give up some valuable information in order for that to even happen. She would just have to find some other way to escape, then.