by Lexy Wolfe
“How is it more Desanti came to Forenta? You know why Storm and Skyfire left. Only divine direction would have prompted any to break the edict that none of their people leave the territory.”
The man shook his head, guilt in his voice. “Star, Seeker and the others had come to Forenta seeking to bring Storm and Skyfire back here. A prophesy of some sort. Star is a thoughtful, gentle soul.” He smirked. “As gentle as Desanti get, I imagine.
“Ellis saw a chance to try to build relations with the warrior folk to prevent another Great War. I wanted it to happen so much so Star could stay in Forenta…” He exhaled, moving his right hand to draw attention to the star-shaped scar he shared with Ash. “I knew you weren’t returning right away, so I suggest we attend to the diplomacy matter in the meanwhile. My impatience caused the trouble you saved my foolish backside from.”
“I imagine having so many strange Desanti in Forenta is quite a tale.” He sighed. “I wish I could tell you about…so much that had happened in Fortress,” he began, stopping when Nolyn put a hand on his forearm. “What?”
“We know,” the Edai Magus of Verusia stated in a low, grave voice. “The Desanti who came and I know you and Storm were once Avarian and Zhekali. But only us and the Second Chair.”
Ash’s eyes dilated. “…How?”
Nolyn pressed his lips together as he sat forward. “I best start from when all of you left, else I will only make a confusing story even more tangled.”
SEATED NEAR THE fountain, Mureln quietly played his mandolin while Taylin rested her head on his shoulder. Izkynder leaned over the side of the fountain to swirl the water with his hand. All three looked up when Star approached, lowering her veiled face and cradling her infant. “Dusvet Guardians, may I join you? My daughter finds peace near the sound of wind or water.”
“Of course,” Taylin and Mureln answered in unison.
Their son lost interest in the water, watching Star settle her daughter to nurse. He hopped off the side of the fountain and walked up to Star. “Hi! I’m Izkynder.” He lifted her veil. The Su’alin flinched, starting to slap the veil from his hands but froze when she met the boy’s eyes that glittered gold. “You have pretty eyes,” the boy told her as he let go of the sheer fabric. “Like Uncle Skyfire’s. Do you know him?”
“Yes, he is my brother.” Star blinked, her gaze moving from his eyes to the pendant at his neck. “You have a blood crystal?” Shifting her hold on Laurel, she reached up to touch the dangling object, tilting her head to the side. “Both Githalin Storm and my brother made this? For you?”
“Uh huh. Mama and Papa told me Aunt Storm and Uncle Skyfire protected me when Mama healed Uncle Almek so he wouldn’t die.”
“The blood crystal represents the essence wrapped around the one protected.” The dark-skinned woman reached out to touch the wisp of his multi-colored hair at his temple, near his gold-flecked eyes. “You must have been very near death if you have physical traits of both of them.” Sadness touched her smile. “You even have Citali’s blessing.”
Izkynder nodded with vigor. “Mama had to work very hard to heal time on Uncle Almek and they nearly died to keep me safe. Aunt Storm says protecting children is very important because they are the future.”
“Heal time?” Star looked at Taylin, lifting her veil with an air of uncertainty. “You are Healer Taylin?”
Taylin blinked, looking at Mureln a moment before turning back to the Su’alin. “I am, yes. You know of me?”
The young woman smiled shyly. “I do, yes, Dusvet Healer. Tobias speaks of you with great love and reverence.” She looked down at her daughter, caressing her soft hair. “It is because of him Laurel survived her birth. And I am alive to know her.” She put a hand over her heart in a reverent gesture. “It is an honor to meet you. I am Githalin Su’alin Star na’Citali.”
“Tobias? You met him in Forenta?” Star nodded. Suddenly awake, Taylin moved to kneel, anxious. “Did Father finally allow him to test for his mastery?”
Star shook her head, adjusting the baby to her other breast to nurse. She smiled as Izkynder gently pet the little girl’s hair before giving Taylin her attention. “I do not think so. He called himself Journeyman and traveled with Unsvet Guardian Valerian.”
“What?” A flash of envy washed over the woman. “Father allowed him to leave the temple without his mastery? How hypocritical of him after he tried to forbid me from accompanying Almek.”
“No, Dusvet Healer.” Star became deadly serious. “He did not allow him anything at all. Tobias chose to follow your path to become a better healer. He said he would become nothing if he were not allowed to go to those in need of his skills.”
Taylin gasped, covering her mouth in horror. “Because of me? I never disobeyed—“
“No, Dusvet Healer. You traveled with a Guardian of Time. He chose to do the same when Unsvet Valerian asked for a master to travel with him and was denied.”
She blinked, then sighed, covering her eyes. “Father, why do you insist on bringing insult to Fortress?”
“I am deeply grateful he disobeyed.” Star looked at the baby. “It is because of him that my lifemate lives. If Nolyn had died, our daughter Laurel would not exist and my life would have been empty. Many would not be alive if he had obeyed and remained where he had been.”
The healer bit her lip, trembling. “Could you tell me how he is doing?”
Mureln smiled as Laurel began to fuss and held his hands out. “Permit me to soothe her while you talk, Githalin?” Star hesitated a moment, then rose, handing the small bundle to him. Izkynder immediately sat on the floor in front of his father. The man grinned, helping the boy to cradle the little girl, humming a soothing lullaby. While it did not put her to sleep, her blue eyes shone as she looked up, waving her hands happily.
Trusting the bard with her daughter, Star turned to Taylin. “He is doing very well. After the mercenaries attempted to steal him away from Nolyn’s home—“ Mureln looked up sideways with surprise, but did not break the lullaby.
Taylin stared, horrified. “Oh, Zeridus! Father sent mercenaries after him? They did not hurt him, did they?”
“No. He hurt them,” Star told her. The Desanti tilted her head, perplexed at the horror on Taylin’s face.
THE THREE FORMER Unsvets sat together, contemplating the chamber they found themselves in. “There is a certain elegance in their illiteracy,” Bella mused. “The images on these walls say so many things. I am not sure I even have words for it.”
Jaison kept his voice low as he spoke, watching the four unfamiliar Swordanzen from the corner of his eye. “You have to understand that Desanti often do not communicate in words.” He rubbed his scalp with his fingertips. “Storm and Skyfire’s frustration with writing isn’t simply about their dislike for northern things, it is the lack of words.”
Tyrsan frowned, studying the younger man curiously. “Because they are so short-lived they have forgotten them?”
“Partly. But simply because words are…inflexible. They label and quantify. They limit. Written down, they cannot sense the intensity of feeling behind them.” He half-smiled at the man. “Even the Desanti tongue lacks the words to truly express the emotions on a matter. We just…sense what others project.”
“Hm.” Tyrsan frowned, looking up at the murals. “I will be at a distinct disadvantage here.”
“Not as much as you think,” Bella murmured, her eyes drawn toward the Swordanzen approaching. “You do not need Desanti empathy to read body language. If that isn’t screaming hostility…”
Jaison raised his hand to stop Tyrsan from getting to his feet. “No. I have been expecting this confrontation ever since I became fully part of the na’Zhekali. If I do not face it myself, I will never be considered one of them.” He quirked a wan smile as he got up. “At least Storm reinforced the edicts of the Time of Gathering. They won’t kill me.”
“There is nothing that says they won’t hurt you, either,” Bella hissed, her hand slipping off his arm as
he stepped away. She looked at Tyrsan when he put a hand on her shoulder, watching the confrontation with keen intensity.
“You!” Seeker stopped a half pace in front of Jaison, his eyes raking over him. He crossed his arms. “Is it not enough Githalin Storm claims you as part of her tribe? How dare you mock the memory of the First Tribe?”
“I am na’Zhekali! But my mother was Vodani.”He stood his ground, mirroring Seeker’s posture. “ My sire was Githalin Swordanzen Hunter il’Thandar. He taught me how to look like her and hide my Desanti heritage so no one would attack her or me trying to get to him.”
“But you left Desantiva,” Seeker growled. “While it was forbidden to leave. It is still forbidden!”
Jaison clenched his fists at his sides, muscles taut with tension. “Forbidden but for divine exception! My sire told me my destiny lay outside of Desantiva!” He took a step forward, shaking his fist. “You are Githalin. Ask your Totani to ask Thandar! He knows the truth!”
Seeker pressed his lips together, expression dark. “I cannot.”
“You cannot? Or will not?” Jaison demanded hotly. “For all my life, I have been neither Vodani nor Desanti. Storm gave me my identity and I will be damned if I go back to what I had been because you want to prove you have rocks for brains!”
Seeker’s scowl deepened, baring his teeth, but not drawing a weapon nor unfolding his arms. “I cannot because Anibu cannot ask Thandar anything.” He pressed his lips together, his inner debate obvious. “He is missing. He has been missing since the solstice. Neither our great father nor any of His Totani can find him.”
“Missing?” Jaison’s anger evaporated into shock, looking toward Storm in reflex. “Is that why she tried to—?” He stopped himself, but not before it roused Anibu.
Seeker grabbed Jaison by the throat, but did not do more than hold him there. Jaison did not make a move, avoiding Seeker’s eyes. Even the other Swordanzen were startled when Anibu spoke directly through the man. “What did she do? Neither Dzee nor Kailee nor the Heart will tell us because it pains them too much.”
“I can’t betray my tlisan,” he grated out.
“She may be born of the same tribe as you, but she cannot be your tlisan,” Windsong argued, standing by Seeker’s shoulder. “She is Swordanzen as we are. We have no tribe! It is forbidden.”
“It is true a Swordanzen cannot have a tribe,” Tyrsan said. “But a Githalin can.”
Seeker’s expression registered shock for a heartbeat before Anibu reasserted control. “Do not distract my Githalin, boy! I had lost too many brothers and sisters to the defilers and their mortal get.”
Both sides startled with Skyfire’s sudden appearance as he put a hand on Seeker’s wrist. “Do you really want to know?” the older brother demanded, his tones grim. “So badly you would risk her wrath for harming her only other blood tribesman?”
“We deserve to know! She is our tlisan, too!”
Skyfire closed his eyes, bowing his head a fraction. “He is right, Kailee. Not knowing is a distraction.” He looked at Jaison a moment. “I will take responsibility if telling them angers Storm. Better me than you or Terrence. You are both more important than me.”
Seeker released Jaison, who stepped back and rubbed his throat. He grabbed the front of Skyfire’s sleeveless tunic. “We tolerate the young defiler being Dzee’s Githalin, but that does not change the fact he is still—”
“He was Tristan, Anibu,” Skyfire stated in flat tones.
As if hot coals seared his hand, Seeker released his brother, staring at him. “Tristan?! Impossible! He can’t be…he was lost when—”
“Release my brother, Anibu. Your Githalin must know the greater threat.” Skyfire stared down the Totani, waiting until Seeker had control of his body again.
Seeker put a flat hand over Skyfire’s heart. “Explain, Brother. Please. Anibu listens for the others.”
The taller brother nodded once. “When Storm’s soul was restored during the winter solstice, we suspect it disrupted the bond between her and Thandar. That alone can drive a mortal to seek death, and I had done everything I could to help her hide the problem so the truth would not distract the others.
“But the ancient trinity had become a threat to her tribes, mortal and divine, because They desire Zhekali’s return. Enough she believed They might threaten us and them to coerce her back. She saw no other option than to seek oblivion.”
The four Swordanzen stared in horror. “Soul death? No. Storm would never do anything like that. Zhekali would not—”
Skyfire hissed, “I was there, Brother. I saw her soul dying with each beat of her heart as I held her. If not for the Timeless One, she would have been lost to all of us.”
Seeker appeared briefly confused until Anibu’s understanding became his own. “The first gods threaten Desantiva?”
“And us,” Skyfire stated, indicating himself and the other Dusvet Guardians. He sighed, putting his hands on his brother’s shoulders. “Rengi, the patterns our people have known must change if we are to survive. We stopped the decline, and we endured despite what the ancient defilers had done to us. But we have never been able to recover beyond this as we need. The land has been unable to grow stronger. Desantiva needs help to heal. The northborn here are not our enemies, they are allies! The outlanders are not our enemies. They never truly were.”
Seeker raised his eyes with a scowl, then exhaled, his shoulders sagging. “Some were. Some still will be. But you are right. They are not our enemy as a nation, no.” He glanced at Nolyn and Ash, then where his sister spoke with Taylin. “They have offered their hands in friendship, even when we slap them away. Nolyn has no malice toward our people despite nearly being killed.” He looked uncertain. “But are our people ready?”
“If they are not, then everything we fight for will be for nothing. We must make them ready.”
Seeker, eyes closed and head bowed, shook as he clenched his fists. “Tell us what we need to know,” he said after a long silence. “I will not let our people die without fighting to save them.”
Skyfire stepped to the side, waving to Jaison, Bella and Tyrsan. “Sit. Hear about how our absence from the world has impacted it from those who have served the Timeless One nearly as long as Almek himself.”
SEATED IN A dark corner of the chamber, Marcus sat on the floor with his legs crossed, deep in thought as he studied a pendant in his hand.
“So, you are Master Nolyn’s new apprentice?” The boy jumped, staring at Terrence. He turned bright red and stammered incoherently, looking away as the older mage sat beside him. “Do you think I broke him, Petal?”
The forest sprite hovered under the boy’s nose, making him jerk back. “No, he not broke!”
Marcus blinked and smiled, holding his hand up so Petal could land on it. “Hello! You are Master Terrence’s forest sprite, aren’t you?” She smiled brightly, fluttering her wings as she crouched on his palm.
Terrence chuckled. “I would have thought you would be more surprised seeing a forest sprite than seeing me.”
Marcus blushed again as Petal fluttered to sit on top of his head. “But you are an Illaini Magus and a Dusvet Guardian.” When he looked at Terrence, his eyes widened when he saw the dark mark on his bared shoulder. He stared in awe-filled surprise. “You have…a Githalin mark?”
“Mm hm. Believe me, it is not a position to envy me over. Though I am grateful that Dzee is less volatile than the other Totani. It can be terribly exhausting.” He took a drink from a water skin, offering it to the apprentice. “How are you holding up? I imagine it was rather traumatic to have your master nearly killed by a mob.”
“He told me to protect Star and Laurel.” The boy closed his eyes and clenched his fists. “It was…hard. He was the one getting hurt and we both wanted to help him. But even the Swordanzen were having a hard time because there were so many, and then Laurel started crying. No tears, which is really weird, but her face was really red with her screaming.” Petal flitted off his head
as he hugged his knees, hiding his face. “Star started begging Citali to save him and then…well, all of you showed up.”
Petal landed on the boy’s shoulder, petting his hair. “Apprentice did good. Not strong enough to fight so many.”
“It isn’t easy with masters like Ash and Nolyn.” Terrence’s voice held such kindness and understanding, the apprentice lifted his head and turned to look at him. “They do not hide behind others. When they make a decision, even if it is risky to themselves, little will sway them.”
“Especially if it is risky to them,” Marcus muttered.
Terrence grinned. “Mm hm. And they are absolutely terrible asking for help.”
Marcus clapped his hands over his mouth, trying to stop his giggling. He looked down, cheeks red. “Forgive me, Master Terrence. I should not laugh at the Edai Magus or Illaini Magus Dusvet Guardian…” He made a face. “What a horribly long title.”
“It is. Even Ash doesn’t like it. He prefers Illaini Dusvet. The ‘Magus’ and ‘Guardian’ parts are understood without needing to be spoken.” To the question in Marcus’ eyes, Terrence shrugged. “I prefer whatever suits the moment. I’m still not used to being called a master.”
“You aren’t?”
Terrence shook his head. “I wasn’t even a journeyman when we first left Forenta.” He laughed quietly, looking at the ceiling. “Gods, I was terrified. I had never traveled beyond our borders before in my life. Then I saw the ocean, sailed on ships, and nearly fell off my horse because I overheated and was not drinking enough.”
Marcus, staring in awe, suddenly made a face. “Master Nolyn was making me drink so much water that we had to keep stopping on the way here because…well. It was a lot of water.”
“And here I am, giving you water to drink,” Terrence laughed. He patted the boy’s knee. “It is a lot less embarrassing than collapsing from heat exhaustion. Or worse.”