Chapter Eleven: Heart of the Mystic

"Felix."

"Lothar."

"Vieno."

"Matoya…. You come seeking my wisdom."

Felix had expected her to say more, expected something a little more elaborate from a person so mysterious and ethereal, but it seemed her silence was part of her mystery. "We come seeking to revive a warrior who has fallen in battle. A warrior of legend," he told her, figuring she might be less annoyed at the request if it came for someone who was more than an average person.

"You do not need to speak so elegantly," she told him with a smile. "Nor do you need to explain. I already know what has transpired. And who you are."

She said this last with a dark tone. Her head turned as though she looked behind Felix with her glassy stare. He had noticed that she never blinked. He turned to see that she was directly facing Vieno, whom Lothar stepped away from, and who was holding their hat in an unconscious attempt to shield themself with their arm. "Why have you brought this evil one here?" Matoya stood suddenly and slammed the tabletop with her thin hands, with far more force than Felix had expected. "You are a blight of humanity, a mistake!" Her pointing finger was raised to Vieno, and being long and thin and tipped with an oddly dark nail, it looked sharp and dangerous somehow. Remembering that she had magic, Felix wondered if he should be afraid. The brooms around the room, sweeping happily before, collapsed like puppets dropped from their strings, the clatter of wood on stone ringing throughout the room. The air swirled, dark and heavy.

"You are nothing but a blank slate, no skills or weaknesses or desires written into your person. You are not fully human, just an impersonation, without gender or mind or purpose. Your body cannot tell if it is tuned to magic or strength; your mind cannot tell if it is tuned to dark or bright arts. You're caught between the worlds of dark and light, a torn, unfinished soul riddled with blank holes. Where brightness should be, you are beheld only as a black void! It is dark in my Sight. You would never have any place – I cannot believe any would have chosen to have you live, be they gods or parents!" The mystic's voice had risen in volume and pitch until she shrieked at the top of her lungs. "What hellish freak of nature and heavens do I receive to my front door?"

Felix wanted to say something, anything, in Vieno's defence, but felt his cowardice come to play. Why was he always so unable to keep a cool head? He panicked when facing danger, and shrunk before a strong-willed adversary. Vieno, of course, said nothing, stood with their hat pulled down over their face, their heart slamming in their chest, the force unbearable, and their lungs devoid of breath when they forgot to breathe.

It was Lothar, the quiet, reserved Lothar, who may have often been coldly uncivil, but had barely even frowned in anger since Felix had met him, who knocked the table over, grabbed Matoya by the collar of her loose-fitting dress with both fists curled into the fabric, lifted her off her feet and roared, "You knock it off! Whatever it is you think you see in Vieno with your stupid Sight, IT'S WRONG!"

He dropped her to her feet, and although Felix expected her to tumble unceremoniously to the floor, she instead seemed to flash before reaching the ground, and was found again on her feet in a rush of bright light, hands folded neatly before her as though nothing had happened. Felix blinked, confused at what he thought he had just seen. She tilted her head down, half-shielding her eyes behind her brows, and giving Lothar the look of a disappointed parent to a misbehaving child, without ever really altering a single feature of her face.

She lifted her right hand, long, thin, bony fingers strained as they pressed together at the tips, she snapped her fingers, far too loudly to have been just a finger snap… and the brooms just slowly rose and began their sweeping, the marble table back in its exact previous location, despite Felix's certainty that it had been in a few pieces lying much further to his left a moment ago. Her hand lowered, and Felix felt himself sigh in relief.

"I'll go." He didn't need to see them to know they would leave, and not come back, hearing the gentle tapping of their leather boots as they retreated.

Felix turned. "Don't." He whispered it, though he knew Matoya would hear, and heard Vieno stop at the door to lean against the wall, arms crossed and face mostly concealed behind a popped collar and tilted hat, leaving only their mouth revealed, in a thin, tight line. Felix didn't know why, but he felt safer with Vieno around, and there was some comfort in the fact that Matoya feared them.

The woman continued as though nothing had happened. "The answers you seek are entwined in the essence of time, as are many things you are to encounter, you will find. This means they are lost to us. You may check in the tomes behind me, if you desire, but I don't believe there will be many answers for you there."

"Can we even read them?" Felix asked.

"If you have the ability to read, then yes."

"Well, I can," Felix told the other two. He thought they had to at least try, though literacy was a novelty in their world.

Vieno coughed into a fist, and said awkwardly, "Actually, so can I."

They waited, and Lothar fidgeted one foot around, "Uh, well… I can't. Guess I'll be pretty useless." He scratched at the short blond hairs on the back of his head.

Vieno's mouth, still visible, could be seen grinning, the light wrinkles of their dimples deepening. "Lothar, you're adorable."

Lothar's face twisted into a confused mask, and he turned with a look that clearly asked, Did you just say that? Really?

"I think you have a different idea of 'adorable' than most people, Vieno," Felix whispered.

"The answers may be beyond us. But not to all. May I bring this fallen warrior?" Matoya asked.

"Well, we left him with two others," Felix started, "and we wouldn't want –"

"I will bring them as well." She snapped her fingers again, and a noise outside made them turn. Vieno had already gone, so the other two went after them, not looking back to the witch.

Outside the cave, they found Rhea, staring bewildered at them, next to the deel, and Loki, crouched on the top of the carriage, clutching it with all four paws, leaving gouges in the wood. Its eyes were perfectly circular, reflecting back at them accusingly, as though it knew its fright was their fault.

Felix walked by, passing close to Rhea as he did so. After a look in her own very round eyes, he pointed at her, said, "Don't even. If you think you're shocked, then it's nothing compared to what we've seen in the last ten minutes."

Dimas's casket was eventually placed before the mystic, who placed her hands carefully on the top and closed her glassy eyes, for the first time Felix had seen. "He is not gone. But he is very lost. There must be a way to call him back – something that holds some of his power. Anything. Does he have someone here he is very close to?"

Felix shrugged. "We were sort of friends. But I haven't known him for too long."

A broom had brushed its way over to Vieno, who was giggling as their legs were brushed off of any dust. Matoya 'looked' over to them, as they ran a gentle hand over the broom handle's polished surface. Vieno looked up too, and their gazes seemed to lock. Oddly enough, it was Matoya who broke it off, swallowing uncomfortably and looking back at the dead teen before her.

"What's that?" The gentle, genderless voice was Vieno's, and Felix looked over his shoulder to see them talking to the broom, apparently.

The broom's voice was more of a mumble, as opposed to the bright and happy tone it normally had. "Heart-to-heart-heart-to-heart-heart-to-heart-to-heart-to-heart-to…"

"The broom speaks your answers," Matoya told them.

"I thought you were controlling the brooms," Lothar said. Rhea stood next to him, staring at the brooms with wide eyes as they made their ways past her.

"I channel power to the brooms. They are spirits, inhabiting their chosen bodies. They may have many answers you seek." The broom was still continuing its chant, though it was meshed into a garbled set of words now, order forgotten. "Something of hearts. Perhaps it speaks of love."

"Or these." Rhea's hand fiddled with the crystal heart that hung from her left ear.

"His crystal heart," Felix mumbled, "to his heart?" The young man's hand travelled to the necklace that lay on his new friend's collar, one of black wires that twisted together around the blue gem at the front.

"Go outside," Matoya told them.

They went out via the back to the ledge that jutted out at the top of the mountain, a wooden platform built over it. Felix carried Dimas up, laid the youth down on the boards, then reached around his neck to undo the necklace. He felt uncomfortable, seeing the boy for the first time since he'd left him with the church overnight. Even though it had been a month since his death, he looked bright and fresh as though he were in deep sleep. They had cleaned him apparently, his face actually a lighter golden brown, rather than the darker, but dingier, brown it had been before; changed him into white clothes, which were long pants and a long-sleeved shirt with a high collar. Felix grinned, since he didn't think they normally put gloves and scarves on people before burials, like they had here… in fact, they had also put on a headscarf, a new, white one.

Felix frowned just as the necklace clicked and came undone. Why would they have covered him up so completely? He placed the necklace lower down on Dimas' chest, and thought he saw the gem, which was a dark, dull blue, throb.

"You don't think you have to shove it into his heart?" Vieno asked jokingly. Felix looked up to glare at them, just as a bright light flared out from the crystal heart. He looked back down at it and thought it shimmered a little, which it hadn't done before.

"Does he need healing?" Rhea asked. She knelt next to Dimas, touched her hands to his neck and forehead. "He's still…dead? Well what did that do?"

"It called him back." Matoya had come onto the platform as well. "He is not too lost now. It showered him with the immortal blessing he needs to come back to life, but it itself did not revive him."

"I have a spell that's supposed to be able to bring things back to life," Vieno pitched in. "It's taught only to a few. My master was a little too lenient with it, I thought, but I've never tried to use it, anyway."

"Try," Rhea told them firmly. Felix raised an eyebrow at her bossy tone.

Vieno chuckled. "I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Anything for you, dear." They closed their eyes and concentrated, their hands glowing with light that was less pink, like healing magic, and more purple. Matoya stood behind Lothar and Felix. Rhea backed away from Dimas' body to avoid any magical discharge, pulled Loki, who had curled up next to the familiar face, with her.

Rhea began to wonder if it had maybe not been a good idea when the light clouds in the sky turned darker and darker grey and roiled above them, the air around Vieno twisting. Vieno's short cape whipped in a wind that was concealed in a round knot around them, their hat flew off, and Lothar caught it, their untied hair twirled. The air itself turned heavy and purple, and Rhea pulled up her travelling cape, attempting to breathe through it to avoid taking in the thick purple gas. There was a crack, and Rhea jumped, looked up at the sky with circular eyes to see the flash of lightning. Why would a life spell cause lightning? Did Vieno do something wrong?

The blue gem on Dimas' chest flashed and began to shoot off light in a steady pulse that seemed to mimic a heartbeat. Water droplets sprayed out from the water-heart in all directions, and Rhea felt the cool spots appear on her face. Then more and more. She saw streamlets of water run out and pour in runnels down Dimas' sides, wetting his shirt, pooling under him. And then more. Water gushed into being and sprayed out at them like a fountain, sputtering and shooting out, and then finally pouring in waves outwards, falling down the sides of the platform like a waterfall. Then more…

If this kept up, they would be swept off the platform. She got up, slipped in the water, which ran over her feet up to her ankles, and grabbed Vieno around the waist, slipped down, but continued to hold them by the hips, and attempted to push them. They didn't respond, and Rhea could feel the magic rip its way out of their mind. She could feel their life force too, and noticed that it was smaller than hers, or anyone else's. She began to worry they were too old to do this, got up to shake their shoulders, shouted at them to stop…

A glowing figure gilded in gold appeared, topped by great silver and gold wings, with a wingspan of more than three men. All around them, everything was pale blue, gold and pink, like a sunrise, and a heavy silence fell on Rhea's ears. Rhea looked up and was totally in awe. All she saw was the gentle face, long, dark-skinned, but with pale eyes, partially obscured by the long, straight silver hair that floated before it, and a halo of light that burst around the head. A hand reached down, a long thin finger touched the spot between Dimas's eyes…

It disappeared, and everything was grey and dark purple again. The sound of the rushing water filled her ears and turned to white noise, and she wondered if perhaps it had been just an illusion. Dimas' body jerked and began shivering in the cold water. The water stopped gushing from the crystal quite suddenly, just trickling now. Shivering?

She closed her eyes, slipped down in relief…then realized with an embarrassed start that she still had her arms wrapped around Vieno's hips, her head rested on their front. They helped her up, grinning at her dark blush. The wrinkles of their face, normally quite fine, seemed a little deeper, their expression tighter. Rhea reached up with both hands, touched them to either side of Vieno's face, and let a light healing mist seep from between her fingers, watching their expression soften. Then she went to Dimas and did the same for him. His heart thudded firmly in his chest and his body trembled, wet in the cool breeze. The clouds above them had broken up.

"Come inside," Matoya said, eyeing Vieno closely with some admiration as they retrieved their hat from Lothar and stuck it firmly back on their head. Felix picked Dimas up, holding onto the necklace with one finger. They followed the witch, filing after her to re-enter the cave.

The deel was in the main cavern near the pool, feeding on the handfuls of long grasses someone collected for it every day, the cart with it. They all stayed in the small hollow spaces carved out of the west wall, hanging sheets in front for privacy, with food placed on their small tables every morning. Dimas shared a space with Rhea, their beds side-by-side, so she could be there for him in the night, to help with the bouts of chills or burning fever. Matoya was usually nowhere to be found, even in the large room of bones and brooms they had first seen her in.

Loki crawled through the damp cave, loving the escape from sunlight, not having to hide under a straw hat. It climbed up the stalactites hanging from above, balanced on the stalagmites on the ground, jumping from one to another. It crawled into the room full of bones and played with them, then stopped when the human in red walked in, looking towards it with her weird eyes.

Loki paused and hissed, curling in its arms to hide a bone it had stolen, afraid of this being, as magical as it was, perhaps even more so. It was always afraid of others who had the dark arts – even the old one made Loki uncomfortable – but not as much as this one. But she walked to Loki with an outstretched hand. "Shh. It's okay." She reached out, pet it with a gentle hand, then felt the bone in its hand and smiled. "Oh. You want to keep that? Go on, then." Her hands brushed over the chain that hung in a few loops over Loki's shoulders like a necklace and the small bronze discs that were clipped onto it still. She examined the engravings carved onto one with her fingers.

"Ilokivarla?" she asked. It was said with the inflections of Loki's language, and it purred happily in response.

Another night, Vieno, unable to sleep, walked out into the main cavern, eyes following the lines and shapes faintly marked out by the dim lighting of a few glowing orbs that hovered a few inches from the cave walls, without any suspension. They nearly touched a finger to one, then thought better of it. They continued to pick their way over the uneven surface towards the brooms' room.

They pushed the door open slightly, heading towards the chair and marble table near the back, just wanting to sit down and have a drink near the fireplace. Then they started in surprise at the sight of Matoya standing at the side of the room, near the rack of brooms that currently hung motionless. Vieno froze, then began to walk backwards to the door. The door shut firmly just before they got there. Vieno swallowed, feeling their mouth go dry in anticipation of whatever was to come.

"I owe you an apology." Matoya's eyes stared blankly into a void before her. "I was wrong about you, I think."

"Oh really?" Vieno's hands had slipped from their pockets, and felt like weights on the ends of their arms. "And what made you come to this conclusion?" Matoya paused a moment to savour the sound of Vieno's gentle voice a moment before answering.

"You… confound my Sight. Most people, I can see into. With you… it is as though there is a sheet in my way, separating us, and try as I might, I cannot See through it. You do appear as a void. But the void is in my Vision. You are not dark, just blocked from me." Matoya frowned; she didn't seem particularly pleased that she could not See quite everything as she wanted. Vieno was surprised by just how pretty the woman was at that moment, and their body responded with the rare tingling excitement in the pit of their stomach.

"There's nothing wrong with your Vision," Vieno said. "You're just trying to See things that aren't there. You seek answers within me that don't have answers with me. I am not always one or another, sometimes I just am. And I'm not 'neither one or another', I'm usually 'both.'"

Matoya was used to being the odd one, and though she liked the idea of meeting someone who had 'layers' in her mind's Sight, not just a sheet spread out for her to read, she couldn't quite believe that it was true. Vieno was too interesting, too out of reach in her mind. "That doesn't make any sense. One can only be…"

Feeling bold, Vieno walked towards Matoya, cutting her off short, and placing their aged hands, complete with the darkened skin at the tips of the fingers from many years of the use of magic, and a cross-pattern of scars from many years practising with and using a sword, on either side of her face. Her skin was like velvet, and the silk of her dress was cool against the arm Vieno leaned against her shoulder. "Perhaps, I'm just beyond your comprehension." Hoping it wasn't coming too out of the blue, they bent their head and brushed their lips against Matoya's.

That, at least, Matoya had seen coming, though she didn't close her eyes. Though Vieno knew she couldn't actually see them, it was still a tad disconcerting. Matoya's hands quickly ran over Vieno's face, piecing together what she thought Vieno probably looked like.

There was a flash of indecision in Vieno's mind. They had skirted around each other the few times they had come across one another in the last few days, and Vieno thought there had been some mutual attraction. But though Vieno was one for free and casual love, they didn't wish to hurt others – were they setting Matoya up for desiring something she probably couldn't have again, if she lived the rest of her days out here, alone?

But one look at the woman's smiling face reassured Vieno she knew what she was doing, and wanted them, too. Vieno thought they knew why, as well. They were unique, someone with whom Matoya might have to guess what was the right thing to say, or what it was they desired. And people were always curious, exactly how would Vieno make love to them without them gaining some insight about their body?

The lights popped out, the previously glowing orbs dark, though it didn't really matter, but Matoya probably realized it would make Vieno more comfortable. In the near pitch black, Vieno's hands roamed over their partner's body, finding the ties that held her dress together and undoing them, and kissing the bare flesh that emerged between the fabric as they slowly parted the front and sides of the gown.

Vieno was relieved of their red coat; hat; boots; belt, sword and purse and all; and eventually their loose, grey blouse. Matoya's hand slipped down their front, nearly inside their pants, when they took her hand and stopped her. "Not like that. You understand, I'm sure," Vieno whispered in a ragged breath, attempting to sound apologetic, their own hand tracing a path up Matoya's leg.

Matoya was laid back totally naked on the marble table. She abandoned the ethereal world that surrounded her, that normally filled her day, in favour of the physical one before her now. Vieno's breath was hot on her neck, travelling down her chest, their long hair feathery light over her breasts, one warm leg pressed firmly against her knee, a callused hand moving insistently between her thighs.

The woman's old age, though in her case it didn't show in her face, shined through in her fearless touches and obvious experience. Though Vieno only allowed Matoya to touch them in a few places, they nevertheless found themself turned on by the gentle caress of her hands travelling lightly over the small of their back, and sometimes a bit lower, her mouth kissing them sensually on the neck, the jaw, the nose and cheeks. Then back to the lips. Vieno always found that kissing was very erotic to them, more than most other things they tried, since there was also some comfort in it…

They always had to worry about their partner's hands touching them there, or if they saw them in the light, and Vieno was normally too uncertain to actually remove their pants. Just once, they'd like to be with someone where they could be themself, without having to worry about hiding something, but they could never bring themself to actually allow someone to see them.

The thought alone of someone actually seeing them naked, actually touching them, brought Vieno to the peak of their pleasure. They felt the excitement build, higher, and higher, HIGHER, then felt it tumble to the ground, bringing them back to earth, and reality. They found themself in a cold dark room, their head buried into Matoya's neck, their hand still resting against the damp spot between her legs. Matoya's head was turned to the side, her dark hair flung over Vieno's back, mixing with Vieno's silver locks. Vieno lay still for a while longer in the mystic's embrace, collecting their thoughts and calming their shaky breathing, and then daydreaming.

Vieno didn't see Matoya again after that, until the day they all chose to leave. It was obvious that Dimas wouldn't exactly 'wake up,' despite all of Rhea's efforts, so Felix took the top off the casket and they put him in there, complete with pillows and blankets for warmth. It was better that way, because the sides kept him in and they chained the casket down again so it wouldn't tumble over on bumpy roads. Rhea stayed inside the cart with him.

Loki liked to ride on top of the cart, and it seemed the deel had gotten used to the creature's presence as it would leap off, then come back a while later to jump on it again, shaking the cart and the deel's harness. There were many white marks where its claws had taken out hunks of wood, scratching through the stained surface and revealing the light wood beneath.

Just as they moved down the path from the cavern, Matoya came down, holding the handle of a broom that pointed out horizontally, and they realized it was guiding her, another broom sweeping the ground before her of any pebbles.

"I came to say goodbye," Matoya said, staring blankly ahead past them.

"Eyedoog yas ot emac ehs," muttered the broom sweeping around her feet.

"What?" Vieno stared at the broom, wondering if spirits could be plain stupid.

"This one always speaks backwards," Matoya explained.

"Sdrawkcab, sdrawkcab," it chanted.

"I still haven't figured out why. But I wished to ask something of you."

"You, as in… all of us?" Vieno whispered. "Not just me, surely."

Matoya smiled coyly. "Any of you. I had the Crystal Eye once; it's an ancient relic created by the Lefeinish, the ancient people from the northern lands. It was given to me by one I knew once, to let me See better, and to see things around me somewhat. But it was taken from me by Astos. Considering that he is a being of darkness, I thought perhaps you might fight him one day. If you do, I would like it if you could return the Eye to me. If he even still has it. And perhaps I could See something for you in return."

"Okay. What does it look like?" Felix asked.

"It is cut into a diamond shape, with an eye carved onto the front. It has a purple back. It isn't very large. Could I maybe send my broom with you to get it?"

"Oh, I don't know." Felix tried to avoid looking at the annoying thing, feeling guilty.

"I could look for this Astos," Vieno said.

They heard a voice in their head that sounded just like Matoya's, but that echoed, and that no one else seemed to hear. "We don't owe each other anything. That night was only for fun. We are friends, perhaps, but not lovers."

"I know that, but I'm offering as a friend."

Felix looked sidelong at them. "Vieno, what –?"

"Nothing."

"Well, then can it go with you?" She held the backwards-talking broom out to Vieno.

"Uh, I guess." Vieno took it, set it hovering beside them where it proceeded to sweep and mutter, "Nuf on. Eye eht dnif."

"Yes," Vieno muttered absently, patting the broom's handle, having absolutely no idea what it was saying.

Rhea stayed with Dimas, continuing to heal him, and feeding him liquefied food that she could spend an hour grinding. She only saw the others during the evenings, and she spent the day reading some of the books Vieno had brought.

Eventually, she collected a bowl of water, heated it, and brought it into the cart to wash Dimas off while she checked him over for bedsores. But when she removed his shirt, she froze at the sight of his skin. She pulled off his gloves as well to see if his hands were the same, and was shocked to see the same damage. Rhea felt guilty, as though she'd seen something she shouldn't have, but if she was to do the healing for the group, then she supposed she would have seen it eventually. So she stripped him bare, blushing a little as she did so and draping a blanket over his hips and hoping no one else would come in at that moment, washed him over with a rag, and covered him up again, even wrapping the scarf lightly around his neck, pulling the blanket up to cover his hands.

They continued south, past the rivers, then back to the mountain pass they had parted from the Quadrin caravan from. The only other way was east, so they turned that way, soon reaching a desert-like patch of land with cracked, dry earth and blowing grains of sand every which way. Rhea stayed holed up in the cart even more often than normal, and combed the sand out of Loki's fur every night.

"There's a port town a little further east," Vieno said, walking casually, their hands in their pockets, next to Rhea.

"Yeah, Pravoka, right? It's been forever since I've been in an actual town. How long has it been?" She asked.

"Uh, two months, maybe, since we left Cornelia?" Vieno guessed.

"Oh, gods," she muttered.

"See, sis?" Lothar muttered, throwing an arm over her shoulders. "I told you you'd get used to travelling eventually. You'd never know that she used to be all fussy about having a bath every night, and getting her hair done, and all that," he told them, pointing to her with his other hand.

She knocked it away. "Don't even."

None of them had realized how much they'd missed civilization until they came across a wooden sign with PRAVOKA carved into it, the letters shallow after years of the wood fading away, paint worn off to just a green and red stain. Rhea felt the excitement bubble up in her chest as she forced Loki into its blue robe, and to stand up a little straighter.

Pravoka was sparsely populated, with few people actually living in it, but with many who stayed for weeks at a time while they were docked there, selling off their wares and buying new things from the merchants, who made up most of the permanent residents, and restocking for new journeys south. The houses were old, scattered around, hugging the coastline in a sprawling state. Everything was on high walkways of stone which could only be reached by a few stairways, the few buildings that weren't on the stone suspended on stilts, with rivers being redirected into the canals that eventually emptied into the sea via locks that helped the ships get to different parts of the bay. It was all very confusing to them, as none of them really knew anything of ships.

"Let's just try to get to the inn and sleep," Felix muttered. They left the deel and carriage on the ground level with the storage buildings next to the docking stations, and had Dimas lifted up in the casket and all by a pulley, then had their belongings pulled up the same way and piled on a trolley by a man with a very depressed expression on his face. They found the inn, though there had been no one in the streets to ask for directions. Felix held the door open for them, then entered behind them and closed the swinging door with a loud creak.