Then came the day when Ramuh prepared to leave, for it was the god's habit in those days to herd the spring and summer storms across the sky astride his mighty steed, Ixion, feeling the wind in his hair, casting his lightning about with joyous abandon. This he had done every year since the long-past days of his youth.
But on this occasion, Hildagarde wept. "Stay, father," she begged, "for I am uneasy to see you go, though I do not know why."
And Ramuh smiled the smile of a doting parent, for he loved Hildagarde, the most mortal of his daughters, especially. "You have wept for my leaving before, though you may not remember it. When you were a small child, you would always cry upon my leaving."
"I do remember," she said. "But as I aged, I learned that you would always return to us in the autumn, and without fail."
"And so I shall again," he said. "I cannot forsake my task, lest the storms range wild over the land. But I am a god, dearest daughter, and I wield lightning at my command. Do not fear for me. I shall be safe upon my journey, as ever I have been, for nothing can defeat a god in his element." So saying, the great god Ramuh bestowed one last kiss upon each of his daughters and rode off into the sky, leaving the Magisterium in his daughters' care.
Despite his assurances, Hildagarde remained uneasy in her heart, and Giles of the temple guard disliked her unease, for long had he loved her from afar. "Remain vigilant," he bade his men, "For if my lady senses trouble in the aether, trouble shall find us soon enough."
And so it was that when the fires started in the plains surrounding Mysidia, the people were not entirely unprepared.
From "A Spell to Cure the Dead", The Ars Paladia, as translated by Melanie the Wise, Queen Consort of King Titus VI of House Plein.
The water was colder today, almost too cold. In the days - weeks now - since they'd arrived at Crescent Lake, the leaves had turned from green to brown. The breeze rattled through them rather than whispering, carrying them off their branches to land in the water beside Lena as she floated there in the moments before sunrise. Like little boats, she thought, then quickly pushed the thought away. She didn't want to think about little boats or the boys who played with them, or the way those boys had treated Jack.
Thinking of Jack, she almost wasn't surprised when she found him sitting on the lake shore, waiting for her. He had built a fire. He sat near it, arms folded over his drawn up knees, and the flames glittered in his eyes as he looked up briefly at her approach before averting his gaze from her soaked and clinging shift.
"Hello," she said, finding her towel beside the fire, finding that he'd warmed it for her. She could still feel the traces of the warming spell as she wrapped it around her middle. "Another early morning walk for you?"
He nodded. "I sensed you in the water."
And you didn't just keep walking, she thought, secretly thrilled. He was still distant, emotionally - though the sages had stopped their antagonistic questions, he still kept his feelings locked away, guarded - but she felt that part of him needed her, even if he couldn't express it. She sat across the fire from him. Not too close: she didn't want to overwhelm him. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able to swim like this. Do the winters get very cold here?"
He nodded again.
She sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. It's so much warmer back home. It's hardly ever colder than a mild Cornelian spring." She stretched her legs, putting her feet nearer the fire, feeling the warmth of it on her toes. "I wish you could have had more time in Cornelia. Spring was always the best part. There was a florist who would set up her cart right in front of White Hall and-"
"Do you miss it? The city?" he asked.
She stopped, surprised by the question. "Hmm," she said, considering. "No, I suppose not. Parts of it were nice, but I never did feel I fit there."
He nodded. His eyes were fixed on the fire.
"Jack," she said, "do you think we'll still be here? In the winter, I mean? When it gets cold like you said?" What she really wanted to ask was, Will the sages never finish with you? Will you be like this forever?
She watched him, downcast blue eyes through the dancing flames. He shrugged. "I don't know but... but I hope not."
Hope. Lena smiled. He kept his emotions locked away, but he still had them. He still had hope. And he still needed her. "Would it be alright if I... if I came over to sit beside you?"
He stiffened. His eyes flicked up to her and back down to the fire again. But then he nodded quickly, decisively.
His eyes stayed down as she stepped around the fire, as she settled in beside him. She felt the tension in his arm as she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, felt the tension melt away on a long, shuddering sigh. Yes, he still needed her, and because she needed him just as much she laid her head against his shoulder, warmed now by more than the fire. When he lowered his head, nuzzling his scarf-covered cheek into her hair, she released a sigh of her own. They stayed that way until the fire died down as the sun rose over the lake.
"Again?" Kane asked. It came out louder than he'd intended. "Sorry, it's just- I thought-" He ran a hand through his hair. "How long are they planning to drag this out?"
"At least another day, apparently," Randell said, eating his breakfast with an exaggerated politeness that told Kane the old sage felt at least as frustrated with his colleagues as Kane did.
"It's fine," Jack said quietly from across the table.
"It isn't," Kane said, gesturing with his fork. "You were supposed to have the day off! Working the orbs is exhausting!" He'd seen that for himself on the voyage from Melmond, when Jack had used the orb of wind to steer their ship. Now, the sages had him using the orbs one after the other, wind, water, and earth, even making Jack break rocks for them as Kane had done. "What do they expect you to do? Keep casting spells for them until you drop?"
"Or until they learn something, yes," Jack said.
"Learn what? Your limits?"
"If need be," Jack said, mouth set in a line. His face was uncovered here at Dahlia's table, but Kane noticed he'd hardly touched his food. "I won't yield."
Kane growled, throwing his hands up. "Fine!" he spat. "Kill yourself for their amusement! That'll show them!"
"We will have our day off tomorrow," Orin said. "We will insist upon it." He stood. "Master Jack?"
"Yes," Jack said, standing as well.
"Oh, don't go yet!" Lena said. "You need to eat more!"
"I can't," he said, shaking his head.
"I'll see that he gets something in him later," Redden said.
"Well, I'm finishing my breakfast, at least," Kane said, angrily stuffing scrambled eggs into his face. "Mm. Delicious."
"Mm hmm!" Shipman agreed, mouth full. He had already moved into Jack's chair and tucked into Jack's unfinished plate. The plate was nearly empty now, though Kane could have sworn more than half of the food had remained on it only a moment ago. Does he even chew it or does he swallow it whole? Kane wondered. The boy was already eyeing the food that remained on Orin's plate. Kane had no doubt he'd finish it off as well.
"You're both terrible!" Lena said, standing to go with the others.
"No," Jack said. "Stay. Please."
"I'll walk with you," she said.
Orin shook his head. "Master Jack needs time to focus. He is too polite to tell you that you distract him."
Lena blushed immediately, a brilliant shade of red, but Jack made no reaction at all, his face an unmoving mask. He reached for Lena's hand and brought it to his lips for a quick kiss before he released it and tugged his scarf back into place over his nose. "I'll see you afterward," he said, not even looking at her.
Lena nodded reluctantly, but she sat back down beside Thad.
"Well," Dahlia said, standing to go with the others, "if you're staying, you can clean up."
Sarda looked up at her and smiled, bits of egg falling into his beard as he ate with his bare hands. The table around him was smeared with more, like a toddler had eaten there.
Dahlia chuckled, patting Sarda's shoulder as she moved around the table past him. "Though I don't envy you the task."
"It's no trouble," Lena said.
"Ha!" said Dahlia. "Not for me, no. But it might be for the two of you."
"Two of...?" Kane looked around the room. "Gods damn it! Where did Shipman go?"
Lena followed the line of his gaze, noticing that the chair beside her now sat empty again. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, hand flying to her mouth in surprise. "I only looked away for a second!"
"Disappeared as soon as he heard the word 'clean', I'll warrant. Still, it needs to be done. I'll thank you to do it for me," Dahlia said, winking as she closed the door behind her.
"Goodbye!" Sarda said, laughing as he waved, sprinkling bits of egg from his fingers in all directions.
Lena and Kane exchanged a harried glance, and then, in near unison, they sighed. "I'll do the dishes if you clean up the old man," Kane said.
"Agreed," said Lena, though she did pick up Jack's plate and her own and carry them to the wash basin before she grabbed a rag and began wiping off Sarda's hands.
"Are we going to read more stories today?" the old prophet asked her, smiling.
Lena sighed again, but she smiled. "Not with food on our fingers," she said. "My book may be warded, but I'll not chance it."
"Another battle story, I hope," Kane said, gathering the rest of the dishes. "The fights are the only thing that make those old legends tolerable."
"Yes, yes," Lena said. "You'll get your battles. And Sarda will draw us some pictures to go with them. Won't you, Sarda?"
"To go with what?" the old man said. "What were you saying?"
"Gods, he's lost again," Kane grumbled. We'll have to watch him extra closely, he thought to himself, noticing, as he picked up Orin's plate, that it was empty.
Jack didn't remember how many days it had been, didn't remember the last time he'd drawn from Orin or Redden. He wasn't sure he wanted to at the moment - he'd used so much aether, cast so many spells, that the thought of drawing in more made him feel physically ill. His body felt sharp and hot with it, every soul in the room an annoyance like a burr beneath his skin as the sages questioned him over the same things repeatedly, had him demonstrate the orbs for them repeatedly, and then they would stuff him in the corner - a few moment's welcome rest - as they tried to replicate what he'd done.
He passed Lena's orb to Tylen Stokely, their chosen water mage for the day, noting the disgust in Tylen's face as their hands touched. Jack was aware of his own disgust - the thought of that arrogant bastard trying to use the water orb, Lena's orb... - but he shoved it down along with everything else. Had she spoken to Tylen again since that day when- No, he told himself. Don't think about that now.
He retreated to his corner again, only half listening as the sages tried to tell Tylen what to do, what Jack himself had done to make it rain - again - in the chamber. Redden came with him, stood beside him as he flopped into the padded chair Orin had arranged for him.
"You're favoring that left shoulder," Redden said.
Jack nodded. "The rocks," he said by way of explanation. He'd used Kane's sword to break more than a few boulders these past several days. And shift bags of sand. And shape stone. The earth mages had extensive imaginations when it came to coming up with experiments for him. They had yet to find something they could do through years of practice that Jack couldn't do with the earth orb. But none of them could use the orbs.
"Need a Cure?" Redden asked him.
Jack nodded. "But don't touch me, please. The aether... it's too much."
"Sure," Redden said, leaning against the wall beside Jack's chair. He closed his eyes, held his hand up in front of him. Jack felt the spell forming, saw Redden's hand glow as the spell filtered out of him and into Jack's aching shoulder. Sensitive to the aether as Jack was, the spell bit into him like a wasp, at first causing more pain than it relieved, but then it sank into his soul, settled there, and the pain of both the spell and the injury faded.
Jack hissed out a breath, groaned.
"You alright, lad?" Redden asked him.
Jack nodded again. "Just sensitive. Everything feels... raw."
"I'm familiar with the sensation," Redden said. "When I first learned to move the aether, I did nothing else for weeks. I was obsessed with it, you could say. Kept casting even when it hurt, so anxious to learn it all, do it all. Did the same thing when I learned the lute, actually. Played until my fingers bled."
Jack looked up at him. "You play the lute?"
He shrugged. "I am a bard, son."
Jack snorted. "Sure. And I'm only a black mage." He watched the sages, watched Tylen, through his aether sight, watched as Tylen tried to pull aether through the orb of water like trying to pull a dog through the eye of a needle - not only was it too big, but it fought him all the way. The sages snapped at him, telling him what he was doing wrong, what he needed to try next, and Tylen protested. Jack couldn't hear their exact words from this side of the room, but the tone carried. "I've tried that!" he could imagine Tylen saying. "It doesn't work!"
"I keep telling them it only works for you," Redden said as though he could read Jack's mind.
Jack shrugged. "I imagine it does something for Lena, too. You've seen how she swims."
"I meant the four of you, but yes, I'll admit Lena's skills are impressive," Redden said. "She's at home in the water, comfortable with it. The progress she's made on that rain repelling charm - I'm sure I don't have to tell you no one's been able to do that before."
Jack nodded.
"And Thad," Redden went on. "Swift as the wind, comfortable with heights. I can see that too. Kane... his connection to the earth orb, it fits him. He's always been..." He trailed off, considering.
"Rock-headed?" Jack offered.
Redden chuckled. "I was going to say 'grounded.' There's always been something solid to him, do you know? Something, well, 'down to earth'. He feels what he feels. It's very... real. Very natural. Am I making sense?"
Jack nodded. Across the room, the aether stopped moving. Myron said something, doubtless telling Tylen to keep trying, but the young water mage had had enough. He snapped sharply at the gathered sages - Jack wished he could have heard what Tylen said - before shoving the blue orb at master Randell and stomping off toward the side of the chamber where other elemental mages waited in reserve. Phin waved another water mage forward, and the experiments continued.
Jack almost smiled. Didn't know her as well as you thought you did, he thought at Tylen who now sulked in a chair, arms crossed over his chest. When Redden had said it was about souls, he had seen it. That orb was part of her. Knowing it was connected to her, that was what had made it work. Now that he knew to look for it, he could see the connections to Kane and Thad in their orbs as well.
"And you?" Redden went on. Jack waited, but Redden let the question hang in the air.
"Me?" Jack prompted.
"How is it you don't see the fire in yourself?"
Jack shook his head. "I don't know what you mean."
"That's why it won't work for you, lad. Don't you get it? You are a Warrior of Light. You are. You're brave, determined. A force to be reckoned with."
"A force of destruction, you mean," said Jack.
"No," Redden said. "Fire can burn, or it can warm. There's a warmth within you, lad, if you'd only let it out."
"I..." Jack said. I don't know how. "I'll try."
Thad watched through the gap under the door. He couldn't see the sages from inside the storeroom but he could feel the aether as the mages out there gathered and drew it, as they tried to force it through the orbs. He could hear the arguments. He might have been able to see more if Orin would move. The old monk had placed himself right in front of the door, giving Thad a fine view of his floor cushion. Only a few inches of the gap remained unobstructed by the pillow, and part of that was obscured by a bit of cloth draped over Orin's knee.
"Is that one of my shirts?" Thad whispered.
"Indeed," Orin murmured. "You were missing a button."
"Are you seriously mending one of my shirts right now?"
"It needed to be done," Orin said. "And my hands were otherwise idle. I can listen to these proceedings and still complete this simple task."
"You know, it would be easier for me to listen if you moved!"
Orin chuckled. "If I noticed you within that storeroom, young master Shipman, then what makes you think these mages with their aether sight will not notice you as well? Your aura is similar enough to mine that I can hide you sufficiently. If you insist on spying on these meetings, you require my aid."
Thad groaned. "But how did you know I was in here? You don't have aether sight!"
"That is a conversation for another day. Hush now. They are starting again."
Thad grumbled, but he let the matter drop. He was able to see the center of the room, saw Jack walking back to his seat there. The mage who had been working with the water orb returned it to the little folding table that had been set up in front of Jack's chair, the table that held the other orbs, but Jack didn't reach for it. He had demonstrated the water orb for them already that day. Thad knew what came next.
"Alright," Lukahn said. "Again."
Despite what the monk had said, Thad noticed Orin scooting his cushion over - just an inch or so - to give Thad a better view. He saw Jack's nod of assent, saw the mage reaching for the only orb he hadn't touched yet that day, the red orb of fire.
Work this time, Thad thought. Please work.
The sages and their underlings retreated to the edges of the chamber. Even Redden left Jack alone at the room's center, a precaution should the orb's power surge forth unexpectedly. The room fell quiet, but the aether roared. Thad could see it circling the room, could feel it surging around Jack, a tidal wave, a whirlpool, focused on that single point of light in Jack's hand, the orb there glowing in Thad's aether sight like a tiny star. And there the aether stopped as though it had hit a wall. It quivered as Jack pulled against it, tried to force it onward, but the aether stubbornly refused to go through the talisman.
This was where it always stopped before, but Thad was surprised this time when Jack kept trying. The room seemed to shake, but Thad knew that was only the aether fighting him, struggling to break free. Jack held firm, drawing, drawing, drawing the aether through the orb with all his strength. Thad waited, hoping. Work! he silently urged.
But it wasn't enough. Thad felt the moment Jack lost his grip, felt the aether puff away like wind from a sack. Just as he had done before, Jack collapsed against his chair, but unlike before, a small, dark stain appeared on the gray scarf that covered Jack's face, growing and deepening to a brilliant red as his nose bled uncontrollably. Redden was on him in an instant, along with Phin and Wrede, all Curing him at once.
Thad cried out in concern, forgetting himself. He quickly clamped his hand over his mouth, but his own noise was lost amidst the sudden outcry from the sages, cries of both horror and pity.
"You see?" Lukahn crowed, his voice carrying over all the others. "He can't do it! I'm telling you, it can't be him! It can't be!"
"Who else then?" Redden demanded. "One of your people? I don't see them working the other orbs!"
"Nor can he!" Lukahn shouted. "How can you claim he's a Warrior of Light if he can't even work the orb he carries?" Several other sages murmured in agreement.
"Wait," Thad said. "They think he's not one of us?"
"Hush now," Orin said. "We will discuss this later."
"But that's stupid!"
"Hush," Orin repeated.
Thad growled in frustration.
In the chamber, the argument continued, with Redden and the Randells defending Jack against Lukahn and his followers. Under the healing hands of the white mages, Jack was beginning to stir. In a few moments, Thad knew, they would want him to try again. And Jack would do it, no matter how much it hurt him. Because that's who Jack is, Thad thought. Not a Warrior of Light, just because of the fire orb? Ridiculous, Thad thought. If he's not a Warrior of Light, how is it he can work the other three?
Jack had seemed extra tired that night, Kane thought. He knew Lena sensed it too, as he caught her casting Cure under the table more than once during dinner.
"What have they been doing in that chamber?" he asked his father after Jack had passed out in the bed. He'd just learned that, despite Orin's insistence, Jack had not been granted the next day off to recover. "Aren't they done yet? Surely they've seen all there is to see by now?"
Redden shook his head. "He still can't work the fire orb, son. I don't think these sages will rest until..."
"Until he figures it out?"
"Until he admits he can't do it."
Kane said nothing after that, but he laid awake in the dark for hours, seething, and then he slept poorly.
He didn't say anything to Jack at breakfast. He was still angry - maybe even more than he had been the night before - and didn't want to take that anger out on his friends. It wasn't until they were all walking to the Circle Chamber that he felt ready to speak his mind. He walked beside Jack, with Lena following as she kept a tight hold on Sarda. Sarda chattered inanely about fairies granting wishes - probably something he'd seen in one of those storybooks Shipman had stolen from the library - but Kane ignored him.
"How'd you get the water orb to work?" he asked.
Jack walked on in silence as though he hadn't heard. He gave no reaction at all, but Kane was growing used to seeing Jack like this, noticed the subtle flicker of his eyes that said he was only contemplating his reply. Eventually, he said, "I realized its connection to Lena ran deeper than we thought. I may not know what the orbs are, but..."
"But you know her?"
Jack shook his head. "Not just her. All of you. You, her, Thad."
"Better than you know yourself?"
"Beg pardon?"
"How is it you can work our orbs but not yours?" Kane asked. "Father says these things are tied to our souls. Our souls! I know how you feel about Lena, but you really think you know her that well?"
Jack shrugged. "I suppose I must."
"Oh? Then how'd you figure out the wind orb? My sword? Any of it?"
"Lena says both of your souls are exceptionally easy to read."
"For her, sure! But you're no soul reader. How does it work?"
"I don't know," Jack said. "I don't understand it. The four of us... We're... we're friends, aren't we? Maybe... maybe that's all it takes."
"We're not friends," Kane said.
Beside him, Jack stumbled on the path. Kane grabbed his arm to steady him, saw a hint of pain in Jack's eyes breaking through that stoic facade.
"Jack," Kane said. "You and me? We're brothers. Not in blood, no, but in every other sense of the word. We've journeyed together, fought together. You've saved my life more than once. We're not friends. You're my brother, Jack Carmine. I mean that."
Jack was silent for a long time, nearly all the way to the town square, before he softly said, "Thank you."
Kane shook his head. "You don't have to thank me. Just don't yield."
"I won't."
"Good."
When they reached the chamber, Kane clapped Jack on the back, then he turned, grabbed Sarda's shoulder and steered him toward the temple, leaving Lena with Jack. "Come on, old man. Let's give these two a moment alone."
"Oh? But I want to watch the interview!" Sarda said.
Kane looked over at the Circle Chamber where the two guards were on duty yet again, admitting only the sages and those the sages deemed important. "Doesn't look like that's an option," he said. "Come on."
Inside the temple, they found Sarda's drawing things still in the pew where he'd left them. Kane took a moment to admire a picture of what he knew was Bahamut in his guise as a great dragon, wings spread wide as he flexed massive talons, jaws open in a roar. Kane found that he was awed by it, rather than frightened. He'd seen Sarda's drawings of Ffamran's dragon, a five-headed creature out of nightmare disturbing to look at, but this... It was terrifying, but righteous somehow. Majestic.
"I hope we read about the Sisters today," Sarda said, settling down cross-legged as he spread several blank sheets on the pew before him.
"I rather hope we don't," Kane said. Yes, there was a battle in that story, but it happened out of view of the main characters who cowered inside the temple as the legendary Sisters defended its doors.
When he had Sarda situated, Kane wandered out to the temple steps just as Lena was coming to join them. There was no sign of Jack - across the square, the chamber doors were closed now. Lena smiled at Kane as she sat on the steps. "What did you say to him?" she asked.
"To Jack?"
She nodded.
Kane ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed at the thought of repeating it. "Men stuff. Nothing you need to hear."
She snorted a laugh, elbowed his side. "Whatever it was... I think it helped."
"Yeah?" he asked, passing her the white book from the pack that also contained their lunch.
"I do," she said. She opened the Ars Paladia to the table of contents, setting aside the yellow ribbon she kept to mark their place. "What shall we-"
"The Sisters!" Sarda called from inside the temple. "The Sisters!"
Kane winced, but managed to play it off as a shrug. "No preference."
Lena smiled at Kane in a way that said she wasn't fooled but, regardless, she turned the page to the story of the Sisters and began to read.
The sun rose higher as Lena read. She had heard the story of the Sisters many times as a child, but never in such detail until she'd begun reading the Ars Paladia. The four magus sisters were daughters of Ramuh, the elder three as powerful as their father while the youngest was an ordinary mage. That, and their names, was all Lena had ever known about them as people, but the Ars Paladia described each woman - her appearance, her personality - making them seem more immediate, more real. Amandine, the black mage, the shortest and angry about it, tended to respond with fire and lightning at the slightest provocation. Tsanegi, the warrior, would be right there with her, while Sindila, the matronly white mage and eldest of the four, was always there to heal her younger sisters' victims.
And Hildagarde, the youngest sister, the abbess, ran her father's temple with unfailing dedication under the watchful eyes of her doting sisters. Their love was at the center of their story, the detail that gave meaning to the spell included in its pages, that of the Cure for the Dead that Lena had found so useful in Melmond. Of course, the tale of sisterly devotion held little that would be of interest to a boy like Kane.
"'And so, Ramuh kissed the girls then departed, leaving them in charge of the Magisterium,'" Lena read, translating the Leifenish into common speech. She paused, reaching for the tin cup that rested on the step beside her, and tried to be subtle about elbowing Kane as she did it.
He grunted. "I'm awake!"
"Are you?" she asked, sipping from her water cup.
"Mostly," he admitted.
"I can feel your boredom, you know," Lena said.
"Sorry," he said, rubbing his eyes. "I am trying. I know you love these stories."
She smiled at him. He'd grown terribly bored of the Ars Paladia these past several days, but Lena knew he stuck with it for her sake. While Kane viewed the stories only as a convenient way to refresh his childhood lessons in Leifenish, Lena found herself growing to understand the spells they contained through this close reading. Sometimes, when Kane nodded off, she would take the chance to more thoroughly review the white magic spells each story described, running her fingers over the golden diagrams and occasionally practicing what she saw there. Only two days ago, she had managed to cast Float for the first time, causing a gil-sized pebble to elevate an inch or so off the ground, though she hadn't been able to replicate the effect the next day.
Still, she hated to think Kane was getting nothing from these lessons. "If you're bored, I'm sure we can find something in the library that would be more interesting for you," she said.
He shook his head. "It's not the subject, really. I just don't care enough about Leifenish. I doubt I'll ever be fluent in the language. At least this way I get to brush up while you learn something. Carry on. I'll try to stay awake."
"Why don't we stop for lunch?" Lena suggested.
Kane brightened, reaching for the pack that rested beside the temple steps. "That sounds like an excellent idea. Sarda! Come get some food."
The old man shuffled over to join them, carrying an untidy stack of papers with him. "I have pictures!" he said proudly.
"Oh, show us, Sarda!" Lena said encouragingly, feeling his pleasure at her enthusiasm. His pictures were always excellent, but Lena made a point to exclaim over each one as though Sarda were a child sharing a finger-painting, knowing how much it pleased him.
Sarda sat on the floor just inside the temple, spreading out his drawings as Kane distributed their day's meal. "This is Mysidia!" Sarda said, pointing to an illustration of a majestic city with the sun rising behind it.
Lena squinted at it. The shading made it difficult to see anything but the skyline, but she pointed at a spire looming above the other buildings. "Is that Ramuh's temple?"
Sarda nodded, moving papers around until he found another picture. "I have that here!"
"Huh," Kane said, sounding impressed as he passed Sarda a bread roll. "Wow, that's... I had been imagining something similar to the cathedral in Pravoka. This is more like a fortress!"
Lena nodded. "It's beautiful, though!" she said. "Just think how many people it must have held as three mages - only three! - defended those gates!"
"Yeah," Kane said, wonder in his voice. "That does make it more interesting!"
Lena smiled, glad he was seeing the tale in a new light. Kane wasn't stupid, he just seemed to have trouble picturing stories without a visual aid. "Sarda, I don't suppose you illustrated the battle?" she asked.
"No," he said, and Lena saw Kane deflate slightly before Sarda went on, "but I've drawn the Bane, if you'd care to see that?"
"Yes, please!" Lena said at the same time as Kane. She giggled at his curiosity. Leave it to Kane to care more about the monster than the rest of the story.
Sarda dug through his drawings, passed one over, and Lena gasped.
The creature now known as the Sisters' Bane was never described in the stories. Lena had expected it to be a dragon for some reason, but it was nothing like one if Sarda's drawing was to be believed. Though its bottom half from waist down was a long and sinuous serpent's tail, its top half was humanoid, female and bare-breasted. Lena blushed at the nudity, but there was nothing sensual about this… this thing. Its eyes were cruel, with vertical slits like a snake's, and its mouth was full of dripping fangs, its jaw open wider than any human jaw could be. The thing had six arms, each ending in hands tipped by jagged claws. Each of those hands could have lifted a man like a doll. In fact, one of them did, raising the poor victim inexorably toward that gaping maw. Lena took one look at the man's face and pushed the picture away. "Oh, how horrible!"
Kane pulled the page closer, his mind a mix of fascination and horror. "Hey, I heard about something like this at Lord Unne's house. It was in his bestiary. I don't recall the name."
"I don't like that," Lena said. "If it was in a bestiary, that implies that there are more of them in the world. I don't like that at all." She reached for her water cup, found she'd nearly drained it. She held it out to Kane and he reached for the waterskin that rested beside their pack.
Instead of filling her cup, he shook the skin. "I think we're out," he said.
"I could get more for you!" Sarda said.
"I don't think so," Kane said quickly.
"Oh, please!" Sarda begged, pouting somewhat.
"It's fine, Kane," Lena said. "He's a grown man, and he wants to be useful. The well's right over there. We can watch him the whole time."
Kane grumbled. "Fine. But I'm following him."
She watched the two of them walk away. The well, as she'd said, wasn't far. Crescent Lake seemed to have one beside every fourth building here in town, most with pumps or spigots attached. She wondered, briefly, if the presence of so much water in the ground was what made the place feel so peaceful to her. If only the people were nicer, she thought, immediately berating herself for thinking such uncharitable things.
"Lena!"
She shrieked. Thad's appearance had been so sudden, his call for her so loud. "Sweet Leviathan! You scared the life out of me!"
"Lena, come quick! We have to go!"
"What's going on?" Kane said, returning at a jog. "I heard screaming."
"I'm fine," she assured him.
"You!" Kane said. "Decided to join us today, have you? Where have you been?"
"In there," Thad said, pointing across the square.
"In the Circle Chamber?" Lena said, scandalized. "But you said you were visiting the clinic to learn about white magic!"
"I do that!" Thad said. "Just not as much as I let on! Listen, we have to-"
"Thad, we're not supposed to be in the chamber! The sages said-"
"Listen to me!" Thad snapped. "We have to go! It's Jack! They're killing him!"
Jack woke, wishing he hadn't. His head throbbed. He felt another trickle of blood working its way from his nose, but a gentle hand guided his head toward the back of the chair. Jack felt the Cure in that touch. He could hear Lukahn across the room, already demanding that he try again.
"Lean back," Wrede said, for it was his Cure Jack had felt. "Rest a moment. You don't need to try again yet."
Jack almost argued, but now he could taste the blood in the back of his throat. He swallowed hard, felt his ears pop.
They'd wetted a rag for him. He used it to mop his brow, let the cool cloth rest over his eyes for a few seconds, then used it to wipe his mouth and nose. He'd removed his scarf before they started. He'd learned a cloth-cleaning spell from Wrede years ago that could get the blood out, but it was aether-intensive. After yesterday, Jack knew he wouldn't have the energy for it. He carried a change of clothes with him in case he bled on his shirt, but he'd resigned himself to the bleeding. He saw no way around it.
There had been no other experiments today. Jack had started with the fire orb, and he worked with it still. A handful of sages swore they had almost seen something the day before. If they could just pin it down, they said, if he could just try again... It was for their sake that Jack kept going. They could see something in the other orbs, but this not this one.
"Anything?" Jack asked, coughing as he spoke.
Wrede shook his head. Neither Master Randall nor his son, who had been training as a fire mage himself before he took up the study of white magic, could see anything in the aether when Jack used the fire orb.
"You can't keep doing this, lad," Redden said, beside him once more, casting another Cure.
Jack started to shake his head then immediately regretted it, stopping with a grunt. When the wave of dizziness passed, he said, "I'm going to get it. I'm nearly there."
The sages kept their distance, worried about the fire he might summon, though it was clear many hoped he wouldn't succeed. From their places near the walls, Jack could hear them arguing: Lukahn, and those who followed him, suggested yet again that this wasn't the fire orb of prophecy, that it couldn't be, that the reaction in Cornelia had been a fluke.
"You'll never get it if you die trying," Phin said from his other side.
"I've told him as much," Redden groused. "He won't listen."
Jack closed his eyes, waited for the throbbing to ease. He was listening: he could still hear Lukahn telling the others that maybe the orb would work if they found the real Warrior of Light, that the orb was never meant to be with Jack at all, and Jack frowned at that. The orb was his. It had been his mother's, and it was all he had left of her. He knew it was real because he'd seen her make it work. He'd seen-
What if it was her? he thought suddenly. What if his mother was meant to be the Warrior of Light instead of him? He remembered thinking something like that before back in Cornelia, thinking the people there would have accepted her. She was older than the others, but who said the Warriors of Light all had to be the same age? Thad was ten years younger than Jack, after all. And it wasn't as if his mother would have been an old woman - she would have been perhaps Redden's age if she had still been alive.
If she were still alive, Jack thought. If I hadn't cried out, if I hadn't distracted her, if I hadn't run to her. She would still be alive, he realized, and she could work the orb. My fault. My fault.
No. He sat up, ready to try again.
"Not yet!" Phin said, gasping. He grabbed Jack's shoulders trying to force him back, but Jack shrugged him off. "Damn it, young man! Give your body time to recover!"
The room grew quiet, the sages' arguments trailing off, and Jack thought at first it was because they had seen him move, knew that he was ready to resume their experiments, but then he heard the commotion outside, the shouting at the chamber doors. There was a crack, a shriek, and then the doors burst wide open as Kane kicked them in.
Kane strode across the chamber, flanked by Lena and Thad. Sunlight streamed in behind them, showing the crumpled form of Cade moving feebly just outside the door, of Jasper nearby, shouting and flailing as he - remarkably - floated about a foot off the ground, trying to crawl through empty air that gave him no purchase. Lena raised a glowing hand toward him, and Jack saw the Dispel fly straight and true until it hit Jasper who fell hard, his shouts ending on a pained bark. Lena walked on, not timid as she usually was, not timid at all, but straight-backed and proud, a warrior goddess in a white robe.
They marched to the center of the room, arraying themselves around Jack's chair, Kane and Lena on either side both with a hand on his shoulder. Jack felt a warm Cure sink into him from Lena, felt the throbbing in his head ease at last.
"The Chamber is in session!" Myron yelled. "You can't just-"
"I think we can skip that part, don't you?" Kane said, voice booming in the cavernous room.
"What are you doing?" Jack hissed. "You don't have to rescue me. I won't yield."
"Sure you won't," Kane said. "But you don't have to fight alone either."
"I've been watching the whole time!" Thad shouted at the sages from behind Jack's chair. "You're mean! You're all just... just mean!"
"Now you listen here!" Myron continued.
"No!" Kane yelled. "We're done."
"We are not done with you!" Lukahn growled.
"But we're done with you!" Lena said. She didn't shout it, but she spoke firmly. "We won't let you treat Jack like this. Not anymore."
"We've done nothing!" Lukahn said.
"Liar!" Lena said. She stepped forward, facing Lukahn as she pointed at Jack behind her. "Look at him! He's run ragged!"
"We haven't forced him-"
She raised her voice. "But you haven't stopped him, either! You saw what this was doing to him and you let him keep going!" Her hands fell to her sides, and Jack was surprised to see them clenched into tight fists. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet, accusing. "How could you? Any of you? You should be ashamed. All of you should be ashamed." She looked at each of the sages in turn, and as she turned to take in the room, Jack could see surprise in her wide-eyed gaze. "Oh," she said softly. "You are. And that didn't stop you?" She shook her head. "I'm ashamed for you."
She waved a hand at Kane, who nodded. "Come on," he said to Jack, his voice echoing in the silence that followed Lena's words. He grabbed Jack's arm and hauled him from his seat, draping the arm over his shoulders so Jack could lean on him. "We're leaving Crescent Lake."
"Leaving?" Jack said, his question nearly lost amidst the outcry from the sages, calls of "No!" and "You can't!" from a dozen voices at once.
"We're not your prisoners!" Kane shouted, silencing them again. "We're the Warriors of Light. We have a task to do. Yeah, we don't know what it is, but apparently neither do you. We're wasting our time here."
Thad gathered Syldra's Tear and Kane's sword from the little table in front of Jack's chair. Lena rejoined them, pocketing the other two orbs before she moved in under Jack's other arm. Together she and Kane guided him toward the door. Orin and Redden walked with them. Thad scurried on ahead. Guilty silence lingered behind.
Author's Note: 2/5/21 - Posting on time! As I said last month, this chapter came together rather easily compared to the one before. Maybe the next one will be a bear? Maybe it's cyclical? Easy, hard, easy, hard. Who knows? Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, expecting it all to go wrong…
Not much to report since last month. I spent most of the winter playing Breath of the Wild, and I've just started Terraria. I don't know if there's a point to it. So far, I've just been digging holes and building houses, and that's kept me plenty entertained. It's very soothing. I think we could all use more soothing things right now.