Page 41 of The Night Prince 2

“But so much of it is lost. Is anyone, I don’t know, like cataloging it or something?” Gemma suddenly asked, slightly anguished.

“What do you mean, Gemma?” Finley asked gently. “Shonda is–”

“Mom is more focused on keeping us safe, which is the most important thing, of course. But…” Gemma swept an arm around the shop. “There’s so much we’re not talking about, not considering, that’s going away every day.”

Rhalyf thought about his initial impression that Hope was built out of garbage. It was true. But this was all that was left of human civilization really. And with the reclamation of the ruins, even this would soon be gone. He couldn’t see someone like the Glass Scholar taking an active interest in preserving any of this. But without some kind of concentrated effort like that, things would be forgotten. Gemma seemed to realize this too.

“I was just thinking about YouTube the other day and how I used to love watching so many channels.” Gemma’s fingers intertwined around her cup tightly. Her eyes were distant as she remembered. “Reaction and unboxing channels, let’s plays and story times. But that’s all gone. All television and movies are gone. Video games and comics are gone. I mean, I guess we can still find some old copies and maybe people might make more, but they’ll be limited. We might not even know they’re being made because there’s no internet anymore so who will hear about it? I know I’m forgetting stuff that used to be normal. And it’s only been five years. What’s going to happen in ten years, twenty or more?”

Rhalyf thought of the civilizations that the Kindreth had uncovered in the Under Dark. Some were simply wiped out with no one remaining and only their ruins left behind. The Kindreth scholars would scour them, meticulously cataloging everything, and then pouring over all they’d discovered. But the truth was that most of those civilizations were lost forever and would never be known. While in other cases there would still be a tribe or two remaining, but all they would have was vague histories, fables or fairy tales about the past. They had no real knowledge of who and what they had been before. Their greatness, too, was lost. Would humanity become like that?

“It must feel worse for you, Finley, and the older people here,” Gemma remarked. “You can remember more than me. Things have changed so much for you and them.”

Finley’s expression was surprisingly mild. “Sure, there are some things that I’ll miss. The internet especially considering how much knowledge was freely available to everyone. That is definitely something I wish we still had.”

“But?” Rhalyf prompted softly.

Finley shrugged finally. “We might have lost a lot of things, but we’ve gained a whole lot more. And we’ll figure out ways to entertain ourselves again. There will be some new versions of YouTube and the internet eventually.”

“Humans born after us won’t know any of those things though. They won’t be the same as us,” Gemma pressed. “They’ll grow up knowing only this. How we are now.”

“Which is?” Rhalyf prompted her this time.

She looked down at her tea. “I don’t know. Everything’s… I don’t know.”

But he had a feeling that she did know. Humans being afraid and unable to take care of themselves. Human culture being reduced to junk and trash, being slowly eliminated overall. Humans having to adjust to being second-class on their own world. It was not a pretty picture and the fact that Gemma saw this at her young age just showed how intelligent and thoughtful she was., too

Finley reached over and covered one of her hands with his. “Gemma, we’re going to find our way and our place. People,” and here he cast a narrow-eyed glance at Rhalyf, “are underestimating us. Think about it. Humanity has never had claws, fur or fangs, but we managed to wrestle the entire natural world to our will from animals that are far better set up to defend themselves. Believing we can’t make this new world work for us is a bet no one should take. We’re nothing if not adaptable.”

Gemma nodded and let out a breath. “Right. Normally, that’s considered a bad part of humanity. But you’re right. We’ll figure it out.”

Rhalyf wondered if that was true though he hoped it was.

“Oh! There’s Sally! Finley, is it okay if I go over and say hello?” Gemma asked, indicating another girl her age who had entered Cara’s Place with what appeared to be her father.

“Sure. We have time enough to shop before we need to head back,” Finley assured her.

Gemma got up and raced over to her friend, leaving them alone again. This was when the awkward silence fell. Rhalyf was certain that Finley wanted to ask him things about magic. And he wanted to ask the young man things about Declan and Illithor. But neither of them felt quite capable of going first.

“So… what exactly is your plan for this evening? What do you need to get here?” Rhalyf finally asked, knowing he needed to slide gently into this.

Finley twitched his glass between his fingers. “Are you really interested?”

Rhalyf shrugged. “Normally? Perhaps not.”

Finley actually gave him a crooked smile. “At least you’re honest about that.”

“Yes, well, I feel with you I can be,” Rhalyf admitted. Finley seemed to react far more poorly to lies and small talk than to blunt truth. “But, as I said, I actually am interested in this.”

Finley lifted his chin up. He had a rather delicate-boned face. Some would say it almost elfin though really what intrigued about it was the contrasts. Finley was all peaches and cream complexion with wide blue eyes and a soft, almost doe-ishness about his movements, but then there was his mind. He was incredibly sharp and incisive and driven. There was a ruthlessness underlying that softness, which, in the Kindreth world, would have made Finley both predator and prey. Which he ended up being would have been determined by how truly ruthless and powerful he could become and how quickly he could accomplish both.

“You’re interested in my game?” Finley narrowed his eyes at him.

“I’m interested in the Big Bad–that’s what you called him–of your game: Vex. Or rather, I should say, I am curious why you are so interested in him,” Rhalyf explained.

Had Declan told Finley something about himself? Let something slip? But no, the boys seemed completely oblivious to what Declan really was.

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Finley took off his glasses and polished them assiduously with a clean cloth.

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