#"The Assassin and the Dancer

[spinningsari]

Prompt 13: Confluence

I've got your secrets, and you've got mine.

She pursed her lips, staring into the stew she was tending. Why did she say that? It was a true statement, but having someone know the whole story, particularly someone in the line of work Nelka was...it was dangerous for her. Someday, somehow, he would talk, and her situation could be made so much worse. The paltry bits of freedom she had earned could be taken away. Her brain told her that she ought to distance herself immediately, and cease fostering this association.

Her gut, though, told a different story.

True to his word, Nelka had given her no reason not to trust him at least a little--save for the meeting, and he seemed like he had genuinely not known of her predicament, for all his bluffing. Yes, she had been neatly fooled, played right into his hand, despite thinking she had the upper hand. Some bargainer I am. But that was the situation now, and Sasari and Nelka both had come out of the deal with a fair bit more than each had planned, she thought. I've got your secrets, and you've got mine. A fateful confluence of criminality, the assassin and the dancer.

Sasari sighed. Despite her own misgivings, she needed a partner in her endeavors. The logging boy she'd met--Erfan, she remembered--he was far too naive. She couldn't drag him into her increasingly tangled web of secrets. Muki was too good, too charitable. She may have need for them both, but she couldn't share this part of her life with either of them. She couldn't bear the looks of pity, the apologies, the stumbling attempts to help.

No, she needed someone closer to her line of work, someone used to working outside the law. She needed secrecy, and she needed loyalty. That she could foster in Nelka, and perhaps beg of his connections from time to time. Her eyes fell to the latest tome he'd lent her, already carrying little scraps of paper to mark certain passages. Yes...she could use a partner like that, for sure.

And any other feelings she may be experiencing would simply have to take a backseat, she decided over lunch. No time for emotions, attachments. She had research to complete, and projects to build. She had a goal to secure her own freedom, and then...then the rest could come.