Selena wasn't too surprised to find out that Aadhira was not in her room. Aadhira had a tendency to stay out quite late when nothing was expected of her, and that wasn't even after a full moon.
When she found her in Mona's bed, her first reaction was one of almost motherly tenderness. Aadhira looked so uncharacteristically peaceful lying there among the pillowy layers of fluff and fleece, so much more luxurious than the rather more spartan taste in bedding that Selena shared with her twin.
Streaks running through the dirt on her face made it evident that she had been crying about something.
This might have surprised anyone but Selena. Aadhira always put on a brave face in front of anyone else, but Mona and Selena alone were privy to her innermost thoughts and darkest desires and fears. She was much more fragile than anybody else could ever know.
"What happened to you last night?" she sighed, stroking her twin's cheek.
Then Aadhira shifted in her sleep, and Selena saw blood. Resignedly she peeled back comforters and sheets to reveal a network of knife wounds covering her sister's arms.
"Whatever it was, it looks like you dealt with it," she muttered.
Selena placed her hand on Aadhira's brow, the physical contact intensifying the bond they shared as twins to the point where she could dimly feel Aadhira's wounds, both physical and emotional, almost as if they were her own.
She then cast a basic healing spell. It began with feeding a trickle of magic into her, questing to identify specific wounds and triage which ones needed attention most urgently.
The initial probe was followed by a much stronger surge of water magic and positive energy, targeting as many wounds as she could maintain a simultaneous focus on. Skin was brought together, wounds were closed, and the body's natural healing processes were boosted, resulting in a couple weeks' worth of healing happening in mere seconds.
The only things that her magic couldn't help were the emotional wounds she felt through the enhanced twin bond. Not that she could tell what they were, either; but at least she could tell that they were fading.
Selena removed her hand from Aadhira's brow to see her unusual, vivid orange eyes looking at her. She couldn't quite keep herself from jumping just a little – why couldn't the twin bond tell her something useful, like if her actions had woken her twin up? – but at least she didn't squeak.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," she said quietly, so as not to also wake up Mona. "Rough night?"
"You should see the other girl."
"What happened?"
"Some lady told me that I wasn't worth her time to fight."
"So you gave her her money's worth?"
"It's the least I could do. Can't have dissatisfied citizens." Aadhira frowned. "Though the city itself might have dissatisfied her in other ways."
"How so?"
Aadhira held her eyes for a second before responding. "Low tide."
Selena's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?" Surely she was misinterpreting what her sister was saying.
"Apparently the water only came to their ankles." She bit her lip, eyes searching her sister's. "Selena, what happens if someone misses a Convocation?"
Selena stared through her sister as she recalled her lessons from the temple.
"It's far from unheard of for a woman to miss a Convocation," she finally said. "You know that women have a higher affinity with the moon than men do. Our bodies naturally want to support the Night Mother; the Convocation only regulates what comes naturally, improving the efficiency of the energy transfer and stabilizing any deleterious effects on the body."
"Deleterious effects?" Aadhira asked. She crawled carefully out from under the blankets, taking care not to awaken Mona. She was still wearing the same street clothes she had presumably been wearing last night, knife holes and everything, and made no move to rid herself of them.
Selena nodded. "Long-term, the body will more or less adapt to the loss of regulation. Without synchronization, it will start to find its own rhythm that will likely drift from the moon's most receptive phase. And from what I've heard, the tribute will even flow for more than a day at a time."
"That sounds awkward," Aadhira said, closing Mona's bedroom door softly behind them. "And messy."
Selena nodded as she took a seat at a small table against the wall in Mona's sitting room and Aadhira joined her. The servants must have made their morning rounds already; there was a piping hot kettle of water next to the typical stash of tea. Selena started steeping a cup.
"Sometimes the body responds poorly to the inconsistent cycle. Having life essence drained so crudely can sometimes lead to mood swings, varying energy levels, even physical pain at various times throughout the month, though I really don't know a whole lot of detail."
"Wow," Aadhira said. "That sounds serious."
Selena shrugged. "These are only possible symptoms. Priestess Tulsi says that it is apparently possible to live a full and productive life without proper lunar regulation, but I sure wouldn't want to try it.
"All that is after the body adapts, though. I mean, the human body really is an amazing feat of engineering. It can adapt to almost anything, given time."
Aadhira nodded as her fingers traced imaginary whorls on the table between them. "What about when you first start missing?"
Selena shook her head. "I suppose, in order to adapt, there has to be something to adapt to, right?
"So think about it this way. Your body has grown accustomed to having life siphoned on a regular basis. So it starts to plan for it. You start to have a surplus of positive energy, readied for that one night a month.
"Then, whoops! No Convocation. You don't get tapped. All that extra energy is there inside you, waiting to get out, but it doesn't have any way out. What do you imagine the result might be?"
Aadhira took a deep breath, then exhaled. Another breath, and another breath out. Quicker, then, in, out, in, out. As fast as she could, she kept breathing in and out, and when it seemed she couldn't keep it up anymore, she abruptly stood up.
Selena calmly took a sip of her tea.
Aadhira made a big show of acting lightheaded, staggering around like a kid's imitation of a drunk, waving her hands in front of her face like she found them oddly fascinating.
Selena set her teacup back down on the saucer.
"Yes," she said drily, "something like that."
"So if my friend got a little more stab happy than merely stealing a bunch of gold from her would explain, and then she suddenly tried to kiss me, that would probably be why?"
Selena stared at her twin for a long moment before sighing.
"Why do I even bother getting surprised at your antics anymore?" she asked. "Yeah. Probably."
"Okay. Umm – will she be better soon though?"
Selena grimaced. "I think she'll probably be better within a few hours, maybe a day or two?" She glanced at Aadhira's clothes. "Did she gain a few holes as well?"
Aadhira nodded.
"I really have no idea if that will change anything, or if it will be for the better or the worse. I suppose I can ask the priestesses, if you're concerned."
"Yeah," Aadhira said. "That would be nice. I wasn't sure if this would be a problem or not, so I asked someone to let me know how she is when she wakes up."
Selena straightened and set her tea down. "She wasn't awake when you left her? I've never heard of unconsciousness being a symptom before."
"Not of that, maybe," Aadhira replied. "More a symptom of my forehead contacting hers."
Selena nodded. "Okay, that makes sense. I mean, she might want it looked at to make sure you didn't hurt her too seriously…." She trailed off as she thought back to healing Aadhira several minutes earlier.
"Yeah, if the bruise I healed on your forehead is any measure, she should be fine."
"Thanks," Aadhira said. "I think I'll wait for word, and if there's any problem I'll let you know.
"In the meantime, were you planning on breaking your fast this morning?"