"The rest you can probably guess. Ash and I moved to the village and raised a family until he died a few years ago. I don't know what all happened back in Klain, but I do know that the Rhone will be extremely interested to find you. I didn't think anything when we first met, because your name itself was not enough to convince me of who you are, but the necklace... it's undeniable." Amelia finished her tale.
Roland floundered, at a total loss to absorb everything he'd just been told. So many things, so many pieces, slowly falling into place in his mind. And yet, many more questions were left behind. Maybe even more than he had before.
"You... named me." Roland said slowly.
"Yes. You were such a precious little thing." Amelia's voice was hoarse, and Gabe shared from his waterskin. She must have been speaking loudly this whole time to be heard over the oppressive dark silence of this land. She gulped down the water.
"You must escape." She urged. "Before they put it together. They mustn't find out who you are. Who knows what royal politics have taken hold in the last twenty years?"
Roland was still weighted under the enormity of all he'd just heard. He was heir to the throne of a race he hadn't heard of until a few weeks ago, but the last known monarch was a homicidal dictator. His name wasn't even his real name. Slowly, an important detail emerged from the mountain of information.
"Aunt Betty told you... my necklace let people in and out of the darkness?" He asked. Amelia nodded. "Did she give any instructions? Any clue how to use it?"
"No, none. But you'd better hurry and figure out how to go." Amelia urged.
"Will I come out too near them, even if I figure it out??" Roland asked. "Should I wander away into the darkness for a distance and chance coming out somewhere else?"
"I'm not sure. Take Gabe with you, the boy deserves a chance. I would go with you, but my children are still here in the darkness. I cannot leave them."
Roland nodded and took Gabe's hand. "Let's go."
Thinking as quickly as he could with what information he had, he decided to move close to the location that the woman entered earlier. Maybe there were only certain doors between the darkness and the light. It was better to chance being caught than to chance being lost forever in the dark silence.
He grabbed the charm in his hand and tried to think up an opening. He felt a bit silly, just holding the jewelry and trying to concentrate some kind of portal into existence.
"Is it working?" Gabe asked. Roland took a deep breath and suppressed a sarcastic response.
"What would you do if you were trying to open the door?" He asked instead. Gabe had surely seen the Rhone come and go more times than he had.
"Sometimes... they look like they're waving something, maybe?" Gabe said tentatively.
All right. That might be helpful. Roland held the charm as far forward as its chain would allow and slowly waved it in a small circle. He suppressed feeling ridiculous, reminding himself there was no one there except Gabe to see, and even Gabe couldn't see much in the dark.
He sighed. "If only it would just open." He said.
At that moment light, like a spear, cut through the darkness as the shape of a door formed. "Yes! You did it!" Gabe said as Roland exulted in the mysterious success.
Until the Rhone stepped through.
__________________________
Finn and Mayra made time to visit Ashley in the women's barracks as soon as their various responsibilities allowed. Mayra had begun selling baked goods to neighbors, which kept her fairly busy as orders picked up, and Finn busily tended the garden as several plants at once came ready to harvest. The pickling and preserving process consumed much of her immediate time.
With Victoria at school, Mrs. Sherman was spending more time with her new friend Gladys. The widow found comfort in the warmth of the doctor's home, and sharing the grief of lost sons seemed to suit both women.
Arriving near the city gate where the barracks stood, they waited for the end of Ashley's shift. If the Provider saw them walk from her post to the barracks with them, it might cause trouble, so they thought to spend time with her in the least conspicuous way they could.
Soon enough, Ashley came around the corner, her feet almost dragging as she walked. It seemed more of an emotional exhaustion than a physical one, because she perked up as she spied her two friends.
"I'm so glad to see you," She sighed, "Please, come inside before someone shoos you away." Though various soldiers milled about in the front, Ashley led them around the side of the building and out to a much smaller, but similar structure. It contained only a few bedrooms with a central common area.
"I'm the only one that lives here right now. There really aren't very many women in the military. The only two others I know of have been released from duty for the time being due to injuries. It gets a bit lonely, but I have a lot of space to myself, I suppose." She tried to highlight the bright side.
Mayra laid out a few of the things she had brought on the common table. Slicing a loaf of sweet bread, she passed out slices and took one for herself. The ladies munched quietly until Finn spoke.
"How was your day?" She asked politely.
"It was the usual. Father came by again to harass me. It's exhausting. He hasn't always been like this," She felt the need to backtrack a little of her harsh criticism of her father.
"What's changed? Is there anything you know of that caused him to become this way?" Finn asked curiously. If they could figure out the true source of the problem, maybe a solution could be found.
"I'm not sure. My earliest memories are happy. Mother was thriving, our house was filled with laughter. They were in love. Though his name is Lysander, she always called him 'My Heart'. Apparently it caught on with his military friends and became his nickname, but that was before I was born."
"And then what?" Mayra said around a mouthful of the bread. Finn gave her a look for talking with her mouth full. She'd gotten used to chastising the orphans to use proper manners, but Mayra's stubbornness was something else.
"When I was young, things began to change, slowly. At some point, he told me I was betrothed. I shrugged it off, since I was young and had many years before such a thing would actually happen. Perhaps Father would change his mind. Mother felt the same way. She objected, but thought it was a passing thing. As the years went on, it slowly got worse and worse. The past year in particular, I hardly recognize him as the man I knew as a child.
"He won't ever say why. He won't even tell me the name of the man I'm engaged to, which seems strange to me. I feel cut off from him except that he wants me to bend to his will and do what I'm told. He's constantly switching strategies, from browbeating me to pleading to manipulating. It's exhausting. I just want to be left alone to live my own life.
"My mother, it's like she shut down. I heard her tell my father it's like she doesn't even know him anymore, he's so different than he used to be. He says she's been going mad for years. She slowly broke, and now stays at home and sleeps most of the day. It makes me sad, but I can't live like that. I refuse to break and give in." Ashley breathed and pushed back the tears. She loved both her parents as she remembered who they used to be, but it was unbearable now.
"Could we pay a visit to your mother? It sounds like she could use some cheering up, if we're able. Poor woman." Mayra said, and Finn admired her ability to feel compassion for the stranger. She'd been focused on how to help Ashley, but perhaps the way to help Ashley was to try and help her parents, too.
"Maybe," Ashley brightened a little. "You may not get through to her, but it would change up her day a little, at least. I tried so many times to cheer her up, but she would just cry and murmur about how I was being sent off soon. Make sure to do it when Father's at Council meeting though, or you may not be let in. My father has most people convinced she's crazy; she does say some very odd things. But, I think the servants won't deny you entry, at least the first time."
Finn nodded. As hard as it was to accept things that she couldn't change, it helped to have something that she could do to try to help others.