by Liz Delton
“Jun, Kira will be your mentor, which means that she is your superior here at the temple. You will respect her and her wishes as you would myself. When the next trainee arrives at the temple, you will guide them.”
“Yes, Master Starwind,” Jun said, and his voice seemed to bring Kira out of her momentary panic. She nodded numbly at Ichiro to show that she understood. He gave her an almost apologetic look, which went unseen by Jun, who lifted his cup to finish his tea.
Kira narrowed her eyes slightly as Ichiro gave them instructions that Jun would start lessons tomorrow. She had no choice but to obey and shepherd Jun, but she would get her answers soon. Even more, now she suspected that Ichiro was avoiding her.
Jun and Ichiro rose from the table, and to Kira’s surprise, Ichiro accompanied them out of the Moonstone and to the kitchen house so that Jun could get something to eat. Kira’s mind raced to remember what her first day had been like, but then she calmed. It hadn’t been long ago at all, and she was sure she could fill the rest of the day by showing Jun around the temple and perhaps trying to get to know him. A small thrill of excitement darted through her at the thought of telling Nesma that she was a mentor now.
Ichiro hung back to speak with her while Jun went to get food. The temple leader put his hands on his hips in an impressive gesture.
“I know it’s soon,” he said, piercing her with his gaze. “But you’ll have to do your best, Kira. He’s—well, he’s from a rather important clan.”
Kira cocked her head and slipped her hands into her pockets. Jun emerged from the shadow of the kitchen house, but after a glance at Ichiro and Kira, he sat on a bench to eat by himself.
Ichiro lowered his voice and said, “I know it’ll be hard for you, being from—” he raised an eyebrow, refusing to even say it, “—but tradition is tradition.”
“I understand,” Kira said. “But please, Ichiro, we need to talk about—” She imitated the eyebrow raise.
He nodded swiftly. “I know, I know. I apologize for keeping you in the dark. It’s just—there are a lot of elements we aren’t sure of. Mistress Nari and I have been trying to get some answers. As a matter of fact, she’s been conducting some research—we’ll talk tomorrow, after your Light lesson, all right?”
“All right,” Kira replied, a genuine smile gracing her face. She almost felt bad for causing such trouble for the old man—but she hadn’t asked to be brought to this realm, and it hadn’t been her idea to lie to everyone.
“Just—just do your best with Jun.”
“I’ll try,” she said.
“The Kosumoso clan has a lot of influence,” he explained. “Mostly because Jun’s family has turned out more Grey Knights than anyone. But I must go, Kira.” He darted a look out of the corner of his eye, and Kira could see a brightly glowing Light fox sprinting toward the Moonstone with unusual haste. It sparkled with Light as it ran through the shadow of the kitchen house and returned to near-invisibility as it passed back into full sun.
She bid him goodbye and turned toward Jun, who was carefully and neatly finishing his food, alone under the kitchen house’s pergola. She let out a puff of air and strode toward him, thinking about what to show him first. She hoped he didn’t have too many questions for her. What if he asked about her heritage? Even worse, what if he hated people from the Shadow region just as badly as Rabenda?
Jun, finished with his meal, rose from the bench and brushed a few strands of hair out of his eyes. Kira forced a smile to her face, Ichiro’s words about Jun’s clan echoing in her head. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about. She knew almost nothing about Camellia’s clans, only the off-hand comments Nesma and the girls in their dorm house had made.
Her smile faltered when the temple’s bell began to ring. The lesson was only halfway through.
“What’s the matter?” Jun asked, his eyebrows knit together, watching her.
“I’m not sure,” Kira replied, her voice even. “The bell’s early.”
They both turned to look at the Moonstone, from which an assortment of trainees now spilled, all heading purposefully across the courtyard.
“Something’s wrong,” Kira said at once. “Come on, let’s go.”
They caught up with the line of people, the trainees looking worried or scared. Some summoned Light weapons as they walked, bows and quivers full of arrows appearing from thin air, staves and swords of different sizes glowing like moonlight.
Kira spotted the Master who taught history and strategy trotting along, looking harried but purposeful, and she beelined for him. More trainees were pouring into the courtyard from all directions as the bell continued to ring. Those coming from the combat rings had not banished their Light weapons, and their staves and swords glittered in the morning sun.
“Master Eizan, what’s going on?” she asked, falling in step beside him and hurrying to keep up with his long legs.
His bushy eyebrows rose, crinkling his forehead. “There was an earthquake down in the village. They think it might have been caused by Shadow mages, and now there’s a fire. Everyone must go to aid the village.”
He raised his arm, and as his hand drew level with his shoulder, a great staff glowed into existence in his grasp. With well-practiced ease, the staff in his hand became an addition to his quick pace, and it clinked along the stones as he walked.
“Everyone?” Kira repeated. Not the two newest trainees.
“Yes,” he replied shortly, clearly interpreting her unspoken thoughts. “Now, excuse me, my dear,” he said and sped off, quick for his age, to confer with another Master hurrying toward the gate.
“Come on,” Kira urged Jun. She navigated through the crowd to the stairs leading up to the garden, down which a trickle of trainees was still streaming. Kira searched their faces and quickly spotted Nesma, who was lingering at the bottom of the staircase, dark eyes wide and searching.
“Kira!” shouted Nesma, and she rushed over. Her eyes widened even more when she spotted Jun, and despite the general chaos of the square, her mentor grinned.
“This is Jun Kosumoso,” Kira said, smiling back. “Jun, this is my mentor, Nesma.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jun said. He stepped forward and offered Nesma a slight bow.
“Kosumoso? So nice to meet you.” She threw a panicked look at Kira, who shrugged. “Have you seen Hikaru?” she asked Kira, eyes searching through the passing trainees.
Kira shook her head. “No, but here comes Mistress Tori. Let’s follow her, shall we?”
Nesma nodded, and they hurried to meet up with the healer. They joined the group of novices carrying boxes and bags of healing supplies. Mistress Tori’s wide-legged black pants whipped together as she strode toward the gate, a worn leather and wood box swinging from a strap on her shoulder. A nod was all the Mistress offered as Kira and her friends joined her.
Before Kira knew it, they were all swept up in the stream of trainees, which flooded through the gate and down the stairs. Tightly packed, they descended. Kira took care to avoid the gleaming staves and swords of her fellow trainees.
Without warning, she slammed into the person in front of her, who had stopped suddenly. She caught herself before Jun bumped into her, preventing them from all being knocked to the ground. Everyone had stopped. Kira offered apologies to the girl in front of her, who turned around at the words. Most unfortunately, it was Rabenda.
The girl narrowed her eyes, and her nose wrinkled as though she smelled something foul, but for once, she did nothing to antagonize Kira. Rabenda’s eyes darted to Jun, peering eagerly around Kira’s shoulder, and her mouth drew into an unpleasant grin. Without a word, Rabenda turned back around.
Kira knew no good would come of the encounter but shifted to the side to get away from Rabenda. From here, she could see the reason for the halt. A contingent of trainees on horses was trotting down the path that converged with the stairs. There was a rhythm to the procession; the trainees and horses’ gear clanked and jingled amid the cacophony of hooves on the
path.
Mistress Tori made her way to the front of the waiting trainees, and when the contingent passed, she led them onward down the mountain. Another Master joined her, one Kira didn’t recognize. She only knew his status by his silver sash, from which hung an enormous sword.
They passed through the wooded mountainside, which was awash with autumn color. Kira kept a nervous eye on Jun, and she now understood why Nesma was always watching out for her. She felt a sudden responsibility for the boy and was desperate to keep anything from happening to him under her watch.
Jun didn’t seem bothered by the sudden emergency; in fact, he seemed thrilled, curiously turning his head this way and that to watch the other trainees and staring around at the mountainside. Kira herself didn’t know what to think. She knew the pages and squires helped out on the knight’s quests but hadn’t yet heard of an all-temple emergency. It must truly be serious.
Chapter Eleven
The Defector
By the time they had reached the outer gate at the bottom of the mountain, Hikaru had caught up with them. After exclaiming at Jun’s presence, and assuring the new trainee that he was in good hands, Hikaru filled them in on what he had found out from his older brother, Hoshi, while he’d helped him ready his horse.
A knight named Murasaki had been in the village when it had happened. On his way back from a quest, he’d stopped there to greet a friend when they heard a deep rumbling in the earth. Murasaki and his friend rushed out into the street to see the earth split open at their feet. The rent tore through the village indiscriminately, wreaking all kinds of havoc and thus starting several fires.
Kira and Nesma had listened to Hikaru’s story carefully, but Jun appeared outraged at the tale.
“And it was the Shadow mages who caused the earthquake?” he asked through clenched teeth.
Kira took a sharp breath. Hikaru’s eyes darted toward her as he responded, “They’re not sure, but it could be. We didn’t feel the earthquake at the temple, so it must have been concentrated on the village.”
Outside of the mountain temple’s grounds at last, they followed the dirt road east, the path beaten hard by the horses. Kira had come through Gekkō-ji’s gate from another direction and hadn’t even known there was a village in the area until Master Eizan had told her.
Kira eyed the various staves, knives, and swords carried by the trainees around her. If they were attacked by the Storm King and the Shadow mages, how would she be able to defend herself and Jun? All she could summon was a needle, and what use could that possibly be against a man who could summon storms with Shadow magic? She almost laughed at the thought of brandishing a handful of needles as a weapon.
Hindered by her supposed birthplace as she was, she hadn’t even been able to ask any questions about how Shadow magic worked. But it was clear that the Storm King had power over the weather, and earthquakes, if this disaster was suspected of him.
She glanced nervously over her shoulder at Jun, whose face was set in a determined scowl. The scent of smoke reached Kira’s nose, and she scowled too.
They came around a bend in the road, and Kira spotted the village. The houses were clustered close together, nestled against the forest that spread over Mount Gekkō. Most of the houses and buildings seemed untouched, but a dark tear in the earth was evident from the road. Kira had never seen the effects of an earthquake before, but something told her the gaping tear in the earth wasn’t right.
It was surprisingly quiet. Far off in the woods, they could hear the hooves of horses as the perimeter was secured. A baby cried in the distance, on the other side of the village. A thick river of smoke curled over the houses, menacing in its silence.
Then it grew loud, and Mistress Tori was issuing orders, and the novices were scurrying around to help their superiors in a rush of movement. Kira, Jun, Nesma, and Hikaru attached themselves to Mistress Tori and helped set up what Kira thought of as a field hospital. Other trainees, more skilled in Light magic, summoned stretchers, bandages, and splints from thin air. The lesser skilled were given the task of applying medicines and treating wounds as the injured villagers were brought to them.
Older trainees, pages, and squires brought them a steady stream of injured. Most suffered from burns from the fire that was still snaking through the village or from minor injuries inflicted by the force of the quake.
Hoshi came by around mid-day and enlisted his brother’s help. Hikaru in turn enlisted Nesma, and they all went off to the southern side of the village to help assess the damage to a well. The fire was still thriving in that part of the village because it took so long to carry water to put it out. If they could fix the southern well, they could stop the fire from burning more homes.
Kira and Jun remained with the others at the healer’s tent. They didn’t have much time to spare for conversation, for which Kira was grateful, but they got along easily enough as they worked.
She had never seen so many Light knights in one place before. Many were already on site when they had arrived at the village, but others arrived intermittently throughout the day, galloping up on their decorated horses and determining where they were most needed with ease. Kira wondered how they all knew about the earthquake, but then she remembered about Mistress Nari’s glowing messengers.
Several such knights had applied themselves to the healer’s area, and one of them had even summoned a tent made of Light magic to protect them all from the haze of bright sun that filtered through the smoky air.
It was late afternoon when Kira and Jun were afforded a short break from their tasks. They were hastily gobbling some food when one of the knights sank down onto the grass beside them with a thwump.
Kira risked looking at Jun to judge his reaction. The only other knight she had been in the direct presence of was Anzu, and she had been quiet and easy-going. Did she bow? How was she supposed to address a knight? She couldn’t do the wrong thing in front of Jun.
To her surprise, Jun was grinning from ear to ear at the knight, who tugged a kerchief down from his nose to reveal an equal grin. No doubt he had been helping to fight the fire; his face was sweaty and blackened with soot where the cloth hadn’t covered his skin. Rivulets of sweat dripped down through his black eyebrows, and his messy hair was so filthy with soot that Kira couldn’t tell what color it was.
Before Kira could worry if it was too late to bow, the man slapped Jun on the back and said, “Kosumoso, my boy, I heard you were off to Gekkō-ji. Is this your mentor? Why don’t you introduce me?”
Jun glanced at Kira, as if he had forgotten she was there, and his face pinkened a little. A cringe crossed his face, and he said, perhaps reluctantly, “Kira, this is Lord Zowan Koi, a friend of my family. Zowan, this is my mentor, Kira.”
Lord Zowan did not offer a hand to shake, nor a bow, so Kira inclined her head and said politely, “It’s nice to meet you, Lord Zowan.”
Neither Jun nor Lord Zowan spoke. Kira froze, wondering desperately if she should have bowed or offered more niceties. Rather than appearing afraid, however, she kept her face carefully composed. When you don’t know what to do, pretend, her mother had always said. Lord Zowan still said nothing, just studied her with narrowed eyes.
Then he burst out laughing in hearty guffaws that Kira thought were hardly appropriate for the situation. She looked at Jun out of the corner of her eye; he was smiling at her in a dazed sort of way, a slight crease between his eyebrows.
Lord Zowan was still laughing, but it had subsided into mere chuckles as he wiped tears from his eyes. Finally, she had had enough. “What?” she demanded.
This brought fresh chuckling from the knight, but he cleared his throat and finally spoke. “Ahh. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. Thank you, Kira.”
At the look of complete confusion on Kira’s face, Lord Zowan continued. “Not that I like to make a big deal about myself or anything, but what sort of backwoods hamlet do you come from that you haven’t heard of Zowan the Defector? People normally stutter th
eir way through a hello and get away from me as quickly as possible. No one’s spoken to me so nicely since before the Fall of Azurite.”
Kira’s insides hardened to rock. This was dangerous, this game she was playing. It had seemed fun yet risky at the temple, pretending to be someone she wasn’t. But now, meeting a decorated knight she was supposed to know, called Zowan the Defector? How could she bluff her way out of this one?
“Well,” she said, leaning back and propping herself up on her hands in a casual gesture that was quite at war with her emotions, “Jun said you were a family friend.”
Zowan snorted at this then took a long swig from his water pouch. “Anyway, it’s not Lord anymore,” he said to Jun.
Jun shrugged and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. Kira, desperate for Zowan to stop drawing undue attention to her, began to tidy up and get ready to go back to work.
“But seriously,” Zowan went on. “Where’re you from, Kira?”
It was unavoidable. A knight had asked her a direct question. Her stomach was in knots as she told them, “The outskirts of Heliodor.”
Not knowing how big Heliodor was, or what it even looked like, this seemed like a safe answer. She averted her eyes from Jun as the words hung in the air. She had been dreading telling him she was from the Shadow region all day.
Zowan seemed to notice this. He smacked Jun on the shoulder and said, “Just like me, eh, Jun?”
Shock—and relief—filled Kira. He was from the Shadow region? She gave Zowan a tentative smile. The clear eyes beneath the dark brows seemed to narrow at her, but he continued, friendly enough, “So you’ll be knowing Mika Emeraldine, then? Best healer in Heliodor, they say.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve heard that,” Kira replied faintly.
“Not many measure up to Tori, here, though,” he went on, cocking his head back to indicate the healer moving swiftly from patient to patient in the tent behind him. “I’ve always said Shadow mages make the best healers.”
“We’d better get back to work,” Kira said to Jun, taking advantage of the change in subject. Before they departed from Zowan, the Shadow knight promised to visit Jun at the temple when this was over. Kira vowed to be out of the way of the inquisitive knight when he did.