CHAPTER I: THE DAWN'S COMING

True to her word, Shyael left the palace in the silence of the night. I heard the whispers from the winds and felt the coolness from breezes that were foreign to the kingdom. The sylphs were the ones helping Shyael and Tehlmar escape. I peeked through the curtains and watched as Shyael hefted her bag over her shoulder and accepted a male sylph's proffered hand as the two of them jumped out the window. Drawing the curtains of my bed once more, I laid down and tried to get myself to sleep.

Shyael and Tehlmar will be safe at least.

~~oOoOoOoOo~~

I was the only one in the meditation chamber that had arrived on schedule when the dawn finally broke.

Settling myself in my usual corner, a placed my palms upon my lap and tried to concentrate on thinking of Shyael just to see if I could at least see a future for her.

'Training is postponed for the day, Aelinor.' I sighed and opened my eyes to meet Dagadan's cool gaze.

'I think I'm still allowed to try and practice even so.' I replied, trying to keep my voice hushed so no one would hear.

Dagadan walked towards me, tying up his flowing locks that echoed the coleus plant as he settled beside me. Placing his own hands upon his knees, he looked at me as if waiting for me to start.

Unnerved, I tried to sidle away from him for just a fraction before resuming my exercise.

Focusing on the thought of Shyael, I tried to see if any paths would come to me.

'You will not see anything if you scrunch your face up like that.'

Opening my eyes once more, I looked at Dagadan who was observing me with his unnervingly bright eyes. Tilting his head slightly, he made a vague gesture and relaxed his posture a bit before closing his eyes and letting out a slow breath.

Uncertain, I mimicked him.

'Find your own method, Aelinor.' He told me, voice stern. 'Teroth and Shyael were fools to try and teach you their methods when you need to find your own way of pulling those paths from The Lady's Mirrors.'

'It's not as easy as you make it seem, Dagadan.' I replied, keeping my head down.

'You could act more confident about your abilities to start.' He replied as he rose from where he was sitting. 'Learning the process of pulling the paths and seeing them was never an easy trek but I assure you, fear and anxiety is one of those obstacles that blocks you from reading them.'

I watched as he began walking out. Unsure if my question would be answered, I gathered up my courage and picked up the lower part of my robes to rush to his side.

'And if I discard that fear...will my training grow easier?' I asked hesitantly.

Dagadan looked at me strangely before he shook his head. 'No. But it's at least more of a start than when you've begun.'

And with that, I was left alone once more.

~~oOoOoOoOo~~

I took refuge in the private garden the prophets, seers and oracles had been given. It had been where I would hide whenever I need to think to myself or whenever Halor had been there and I was unable to escape his harshness. Today, however, I was not overcome by anything. I just needed to be. Chasianna had been called to a meeting with the King along with Halor, Aralas and Vaegon which left me with Teroth to speak with but when I searched for him, Aego told me he had entered Seclusion the moment word had spread Shyael and Tehlmar had gone from the palace.

So now, I took refuge in the gardens.

Not many would stay around here since they often wandered to other grounds of the palace but the few that did often came there to seek solace among the flowers. Fortunately for them, they no longer needed to wear shoes, they could stay connected to the earth and listen to her whispers as they approached every plant, every flower, every tree. I was mute and deaf to the flora of the garden, only seeing them as the centauroi and other beings would. Hesitantly, I hovered a hand over the flower that my hair echoed. The white jasmines with its sickly sweet scent that heralded death.

'I'm sorry.' I whispered to the flower. 'I wish I could touch you without seeing anything.'

The only part of me that anyone could touch was my hair. But that was only because it was dead matter. Chasianna only kisses the veil as her way of kissing the top of my head like a mother would but when I am not too wound up, she would sit behind me and braid my hair while I meditate. My case was an oddity and a severe one at that. It was already rare enough to have someone unable to learn past touching things and seeing the different, tangled paths of the future. Rarer still was it for someone to keep seeing futures at even the slightest touch of anything that had been unwashed or unchanged. I sighed and shed my veil, laying it before me and smoothing it out so I don't have to touch the ground in case I see anything that might provoke visions. Bowing low and pressing my forehead against my veil, I reached out to the Lady of Mirrors, begging for her guidance and aid in what was to come, I prayed to the Blind Father whose dominion was the lack of clarity in the world but most of all, I prayed to Her. The Gentle Mother. I prayed she protect my people, that she watch over Visal to ensure that we all survive through the war, that the damage not be so strong. I prayed and hoped that they heard my prayers. I knew that the palace temple would have been more ideal and to offer my prayers to the priests and priestesses would have been more efficient, but I found that I preferred to be by myself when I prayed to the Lords and Ladies of Creation.

'Please watch over us in our time of need.' I breathed out, my chest clenching in fear as the thought of the impending war came upon me once more. 'Keep my people safe.'

Planting a kiss upon the veil, I sighed.

I was just about to begin gathering my things when I heard rapid footsteps and I was hauled up by the arm. I cried out and turned to look at whoever it was that dared do such a thing. Meeting Vaegon's gaze, the oracle began shepherding me back inside the safety of our chambers, my veil now forgotten in the gardens.

'The King had issued an announcement.' The oracle told me, their tone urgent. 'Civilians are being led out of Visal as we speak.'

I let out a relieved breath and almost collapsed at the assurance I was told. Thank the Gentle Mother for her love for all of Creation.

'King Adanion had also issued the release of the oracles, prophets and seers should we wish it.' Vaegon continued, their tone brisk. 'Already, three Seers, Aego, Ialantha and I had taken his offer of freedom.'

'I pray for the Lords and Ladies of Creation to guard you and guide you.' I told them, bowing my head.

Vaegon's gloved hands tilted my face up to look at them and they raised their brow up at me in response. 'Do you honestly think I had come here to tell you that a select number of us shall be fleeing?' They asked me, lips twitching up ever so slightly. 'Chasianna had sent me to you to tell you to come with us. Pack your things and we shall leave before moonrise.'

I was silent for a few moments, my lips pressing together. My heart was beating rapidly once more and I looked upon Vaegon who was turning their head this way and that to monitor the chambers. Their hand came upon my arm and they squeezed it minutely in an attempt to have me respond faster. Trying to think past the myriad of thoughts that ran through my head, I carefully spoke to them.

'You...mean for me to join you.' I said slowly.

Vaegon looked up at the ceiling as if seeking for a source of patience or strength before looking back to me. 'Yes.' They said slowly. 'Chasianna had ordered it so and you best get packing. Now.'

As they moved to pull me forwards, I jerked back and tried to hold my ground. Just this once, I wanted to exercise my own freedom of choice.

'Oracle Vaegon, I'm afraid I must decline this.' I told them, trying to inject a bit of steel to my voice though it still came out as the same timid voice I had come to King Adanion's palace with.

Vaegon looked at me as if I had sprouted horns and I ducked my head once more, trying to avoid their searing gaze. Vaegon's reputation was well-regarded as an oracle seeing as they had the sheer ability to know all that is, was and will be. Rumours even circulated that they would be able to glean the contents of your mind with just a look. By far, that was what I feared. What would they see that even I cannot feel or think? What memories would they be able to dredge up that I had forgotten or had chosen to forget? There was something unnerving about their skills though it was also something I deeply admired.

'Why in the Lady of Kindness' name would you want to stay here?' Vaegon asked, disbelieving. 'You are doomed here, Aelinor!'

I shook my head and looked around the chambers where I had spent two hundred and eighty-one years in. The place I had taught myself to call home ever since I was sold away from my first one.

'Where would I even go, Oracle Vaegon?' I countered, my voice becoming further hushed. 'Where would I begin rebuilding my life when I am to abandon Visal?'

'King Adanion would issue each of us a note to help us begin our lives.' Vaegon explained, their tone coaxing. 'We would all be assigned towns and villages, some may even be led to cities far from Visal where we can rebuild. Why do you protest at such a chance?'

'I only wish for our people's safety.' I explained, hiding my hands within my sleeves. 'I never said anything about any desire of mine in escaping.'

Muttering an oath under their breath, Vaegon looked at me in what I knew to be frustration. 'And what of Chasianna's desire to see you safe?' They snapped at me. 'Would you have her wishes be ignored for your sense of honour?'

'I wish to remain and I ask you to respect that.' I replied hurriedly as I made for my shared chambers.

Vaegon was not the harshest oracle among the four but they were among the most frightening. They knew all the ways to pull someone into the direction they wished for you to go and they knew the right words to coax everyone into following what it was they were suggesting. They were a danger that no one could foresee due to the calm control they always exercised. Though I did not know whether this was fortune or misfortune, but I had always held a distrust and fear towards those of a higher rank than me. So escaping Vaegon's presence and bolting the door to the chambers so they would not charge after me. The shame of my actions will consume me later but for now, I kicked off my slippers, rushed to my bed and drew the curtains to offer myself the soothing darkness.

~~oOoOoOoOo~~

I did not realise I had fallen asleep until I woke up, my pillow wet with cold sweat and spit. Wiping the saliva from my face, I drew back the curtain of my bed and looked outside the windows, expecting to see the early evening sky.

What greeted me was the starry night with its luminous moon shining its rays into the window.

It appeared that I at least managed to make up for the short bouts of sleep I had been having prior to Shyael and Tehlmar's departure. Out of instinct, I made to grab my veil from my bedside table only to freeze. Vaegon. The announcement. My veil had been left behind when Vaegon took me out of the gardens. Muttering a curse to myself, I rubbed my face and tried to gather my wits before leaving my bed and straightening my wrinkled robes. I would have to sneak into the kitchens to see if I could make myself something for supper seeing as I was unable to eat due to my escape from Vaegon.

Unbolting the door, I peeked outside and let out a relieved breath. The common hall that adjoined all chambers together was empty.

Opening the door further, I stepped out and made for the gardens.

However, the moment I stepped upon its grass, I realised something all too late.

I had forgotten my slippers.

'Blind Father protect me.' I breathed out in fear.

But the Blind Father was not listening for the moment I took a step back to return to the chambers, I collapsed upon the ground as visions engulfed me.

And yet, there was something wrong with these visions.

For every vision I'd received of the future, it felt like a path I've yet to tread. An untravelled road. An uninhabited city. But the visions that assaulted me now, filling my sight and mind with foreign things felt too old, too worn, too rusted that I knew it had already come to pass. I tried to pull myself out, but like all my visions, I could only lie prone on the ground and let it wash over me until what was being shown had run its course.

It started with halls of greenstone with veins of gold running through the cracks, three children - two raven-haired and one golden-haired - chasing one another through its halls while tired parents called out to their children in their tongue that I had never been exposed to. Then it was a diplomatic meeting where tall beings met with shorter beings, both of which looked foreign to me as I had never seen cultures such as these before. The next vision to come was a firestorm. The screams from the people in my vision burned in my ears and the sight of a golden-haired woman - at least, I assume the one in a gown to be a woman in spite of her beard - pulling two familiar figures that I identified as the children from before behind her that were stumbling behind as they looked back.

Further glimpses came and went as if time were passing rapidly until it finally settled on another vision. It was only then that I realised that there was a constant in the vision I was trapped in. The golden-haired child had grown into a charming looking male with a short beard and intelligent bright eyes that bordered between green and blue. He was the one the vision seemed to focus on as I noticed him to be the clearer, his eyes looking at someone off to the far distance of the room. I did not look away from him and watched as a small smile graced his lips before he replied in that harsh sounding language that seemed to be his people's. His hair was tied back in a simple style but I noticed various beads being used to keep his hair in place.

All too soon, the vision changed.

It was a battle. That much I was certain of at least. The golden-haired male was fighting side-by-side with the raven-haired male, both were trading comments with one another as they moved fluidly as one. I followed them through the battle until the golden-haired man caught sight of something I was unable to. The next thing I knew, he was shoving the raven-haired man aside and was struck down by a volley of arrows blackened by what I could only assume was poison.

I screamed just as the vision released me.

Scrambling up, I looked around and tried to control my breathing before scrambling back up to stand.

I had half a mind to leave and lock myself within my chamber but I reminded myself of the reason I was here in the first place.

My veil.

I just needed to find it and then I can return to my chambers so I would not have to interact with anything that might give me visions for the rest of the night. Safety will come after I retrieve what is mine.

With my courage gathered once more, I let out a slow breath before heading to where I remembered I had left my veil. Instead of the pristine white cloth with golden linings to it that I had grown fond of and quite familiar with over the amount of time I had spent in the King's palace, I found it covered by something I was not expecting to see whatsoever.

Upon the garment I had neglected to retrieve was the golden-haired male that had invaded my vision so violently.

I stumbled back at the sight. I had been exposed to enough sight of violence in my past, that I can assure to myself. But to see the effects of a battle? Of a war? I doubt anything would prepare me for how bloodied a man might be after such an ordeal. Falling upon the grass, I flinched as my hands made contact with the ground before letting out a relieved breath when nothing happened. Assured that nothing will happen, I scrambled over to the golden-haired male to check if he still breathed.

When I approached him, I was about to move to press my fingers against his neck when I caught sight of the weak rise and fall of his chest. Trembling, I stood to try and catalogue his wounds and injured. All I could see was blood. Both his and his foes', I assumed. Running a hand through my hair in agitation, I tried to weigh my options. Alert the palace of an intruder and save a life or let him die and let the palace assume him to be some sort of spy.

The choice was an easy one to make.

Slipping off my prophet's ring, I used my sleeve as a barrier between my flesh and his as I pressed the jewellery into his clenched hand. It was a relief to feel his grip to be so strong but I dared not tempt the Blind Father nor the Lady of Kindness in this. The ring would at least be used as a way for those of the palace to know he is no spy. It was a foolish instinct to immediately do this, I will admit, but a part of me felt no threat from him.

'Please keep yourself from answering the Kind Lady's calls.' I pleaded with him as I picked up the bottom part of my robes.

Casting a final look at the comatose figure that had materialised in the private gardens the moment I envisioned him, I ran back inside, shouting for someone to fetch the healers. All the while, I prayed for his safety. After all, if the Lady of Mirrors granted me this vision, then surely there must be a reason to all this. And may the Gentle Mother guide me in what I had decided the Lords and Ladies of Creation desired for me to do.