Chapter 71 - The Week of Conflict
Mairaela had been sleeping over every night for the last week, and as promised, she'd been giving Tess head before they went to sleep every night. Then there were the mornings. The afternoons. The after-dinner desserts. Any time that Tess brought up that Mairaela's promise was paid, the Fey would insist that she couldn't remember the other times. Tess had just learned to go along with it. It seemed to make Mairaela happy and it definitely made Tess happy.
Oddly enough, except for the times that they were having sex, Mairaela was rather aloof and off in her own thoughts. They still had dinner together. Well, sometimes. But the Fey spent more and more time by herself, only coming to Tess when she was in need.
Tess didn't feel particularly used. If this was her only experience with Mairaela she might feel disrespected, but she knew that there were some feelings involved, at least from their time in the Void. She knew that Mairaela just needed a distraction from whatever was bothering her, and Tess was happy enough to give it.
Still, with Joyona either off at Oar's Rest or studying to make up for what she missed of class, and with Gwendolyn not talking to her and not coming back to the dormitory, Tess didn't have much to do. Well, besides training. Her sorcery class was still in the theory stage, and most of it was about what Gwen had already taught her.
So Tess had been spending a lot of time with Ylla lately. Well, Ylla and Miri, but when it came to the latter she didn't really have a choice. Not that she minded. She had grown to quite like Miri, even more than she may have before.
In any case, Ylla had become something of a friend. She still called Tess little mouse, but that wasn't much of a big deal to her. Tess considered herself rather mousy, and compared to the tall Ylla, she was little, so she supposed it was a fair nickname to be called. She'd learned that Ylla was from a city known as Isyenalin, but was born in the capital of the Winter Court: Syln Caelora. Hearing about how harsh the conditions are there, she had newfound respect for Fey of the Winter Court. Ylla especially, who grew up an orphan.
In any regard, the two of them began to get along, and it became a common thing for them to be seen together. She just hoped that Mairaela hadn't noticed yet. She wondered how the Summer Fey would react if she knew that Tess was willingly—eagerly, even—spending her time with a Winter Fey. She wondered what Ylla would think if she knew about Tess' regular bedroom shenanigans with Mairaela. At the thought, Tess felt a little bit pulled in two directions.
"When's your match?" Ylla asked, nudging Tess on the arm, "Mine's tomorrow."
"So is mine," Tess responded.
This week was the week of conflict, a week of student-on-student combative matches ending in a combat festival that's different each year. That day is called Lady Morro's Day, named after the late Goddess of Conflict, who was defeated by the Black Sun only after killing three hundred Old Gods. She was an icon among warriors, the Valkyries of the Empire especially. The Valkenlord, now ruler of the Empire, has vowed to bring Lady Morro back to life, but no one expects him to.
No deity has ever been brought back from the dead, and there are a good few that have died, including Vitr, the brother of the God of Light, Uthr. Vitr was the God of Life. He was the first to approach the Black Sun, greeting it with his herald's horn as one would for a king's arrival. For it, he received a spear down his throat and out his belly. He was the first, our God of Life, and ever since his defeat, magic has been unable to bring the dead back to life. Tess wondered what they lost when Morro died, because they still had plenty of conflict. Perhaps it was resolution that she took with her.
"Who is your fight against?" Ylla asked her, watching as the stage was set for the first matches. They were in the middle of the crowd, upon a bit of slanted ground that gave them the ability to see over the heads of those in front of them. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was loud enough that her and Ylla's conversation would get lost in the chaos.
"Oh," Tess said, looking upward for some divine intervention, "I… don't know. Am I supposed to know?"
"I swear…" Ylla groaned, "You're hopeless, Tess. How do you remember to breathe?"
Tess rolled her eyes, "Well, fine, but who are you up against?"
"Duk."
"Duck?"
"Duk."
"Is that a person or are you fighting a small animal?" Tess asked.
Ylla chuckled, "Hopeless. Guy's name is Duk Dun Mar. He's been up for a commission to officer for years now and keeps turning it down. Fucker likes fighting in the Void too much." Ylla let out a sigh, "It's addictive, I'll give him that."
"You'll get him," Tess nodded, having never seen Ylla fight.
Ylla gave a little laugh, "I appreciate that, but I'm gonna get my ass handed to me."
Tess raised an eyebrow, "You are? But you're so…"
"Confident?""
"Right," Tess nodded.
"Part of being confident is knowing your limits," Ylla advised, "And Duk is far beyond my limits. Maybe in the Void I could put up a fight, but not out here."
"Because of your gift?"
"Yep."
"What is your gift, by the way?" Tess asked.
Ylla's eyes widened, "Excuse me, little mouse, do you know how rude that is?"
Tess was taken aback. Had she offended her?
"That's like asking someone's dick size," Ylla shrugged, "Personal information, you know?"
"Sorry," Tess responded, looking back toward the stage. For a moment, she wondered if Ylla knew. Was she hinting at something?
"What about your friends' matches?"
"Um.. Joyona's is today. Mairaela's too. Gwen's is on the third day," Tess replied without much hesitation.
"Oh, so you can remember their match dates but not your own opponent?" Ylla groaned, "Hopeless little mouse."
"I just hope…" Tess paused, taking a deep breath, "I hope Dame Gwendolyn wins hers."
"Yeah, we'll see," Ylla replied, "You think she's here somewhere?"
Tess shook her head, "No, she's probably going to be completely absent until her match. It's going to be real important to her; I know it."
They stood in silence for a moment. Well, relative silence; The crowd was pretty loud. Ylla eventually spoke up and asked, "She's important to you, huh?"
"Yeah," Tess replied, wiping at her eye, "Really important."
Chapter 72 - Worthy Causes
Gwen gripped the wooden sword in her hands, watching the rotating training dummy with its limp arms of a sword and shield. Each strike would spin it around, lifting the arms to try and connect against the trainee. Gwen had seen novices defeated by training dummies. She always felt bad, but right now it was the last thing on her mind. Right now, the upcoming match was all that she could think about. "Admaris Miraj," Gwendolyn repeated the name in her head, "Admaris Miraj."
She was the only one in the training yard that day, so she had all the time in the world to focus on her foe. She'd made sure to get a good look at him before she went to train, imagining him as the training dummy in front of her. Her strikes connected with the head, the neck, the bicep, anything to get a knockout or to disable him. As the dummy swung around, she dodged back a step and then lunged forward for a thrust into the chest.
She knew that Admaris was around Joyona's height; an Evigkin. It didn't matter. Gwendolyn would've beaten Joyona in their fight if she hadn't had to worry about Mairaela too. Joyona was easy. Joyona was weak. Gwendolyn was better. She was better. Better than Joyona. Better than Admaris. Better than she'd been when she got that letter from her father. She's getting better. She's doing better.
She danced around from leg to leg, bouncing up and down and shaking out her arms.
She gripped her wooden sword in both hands and charged toward the dummy once more. "Fuck you, Admaris," she thought with a cuffing to the side of the head, "Die, you stupid fuck!"
She parried the swinging blade and slid inside the minimum reach of the longsword, but her own edge pressed up to the dummy's neck. That's how she was going to do it. That's how she was going to win. Admaris wasn't going to see it coming. He thought she was going to be on the backfoot. That she was afraid. That she was weak.
She was going to show him. She was going to fucking show him. She had cut a slash down the torso, slipping beneath the sword arm and slicing where the hamstring would be. "Fuck you," she thought, "I'm better. I'm better than you. I am a knight. You're just trash."
Gwendolyn started to feel sick. Why was she thinking this way? This wasn't her! It wasn't! She was kind. She was dutiful, yes, but kind. She was determined and strong, yes, but she was a servant to the people, not a tyrant. What had her doing this?
No distractions. No distractions. She wasn't going to think that way during the fight. She was going to hate her opponent. She wasn't going to show mercy. He was an enemy. He was evil. He was going to die and Gwen was going to be the one to put him down.
He was the one that was standing in Tess' way to greatness. She was going to win her fight. She was going to win all of her fights. She was going to be the one to ascend to the prestige of the champion of Lady Morro's Day. She was going to tell her father. He was going to write back, proud. She was going to make him proud. She was going to prove that she was a knight. That she was the best. That she was more disciplined, committed and virtuous than any other. She had to. She had to do better. She hadn't been doing enough. She had been lazy; distracted.
The imagined image of Admaris' face upon the dummy began to fade. Instead, all she could see was Tess' face. Gwendolyn teared up, her hands shaking. She'd already requested a change in lodging. In the meantime, she was sleeping in the back of the library. Tess would be okay. She had friends. Gwen brought her to safety and brought her to a purpose. She didn't need to do anything else. So what if Gwendolyn may have been responsible for her predicament? That's how the world worked. It was shit. It was unfair, and to survive it you had to be strong. Tess needed to be strong.
"Let me train," she thought, staring at the face of Tess upon the dummy, "I need to focus, and you take that away."
"This isn't you," The dummy of Tess whispered back, "This isn't right. This isn't knightly."
"Go away," Gwen hissed, "Go away or you'll just be my target instead."
The dummy of Tess began to tear up, "Gwen, I miss you."
"My name-..." Gwendolyn raised the training sword into the air, "Is Dame-...!" The blade crashed down into the neck of the dummy, splitting some of its stitching and revealing the stuffing and hay beneath, "Fucking-...!" The sword slammed into the neck once more, splitting it wider and exposing the post that held the dummy in place, "Gwendolyn!" The blade struck the post this time, breaking in half. The top part of the sword clattered to the ground, splintered at its end.
Gwendolyn looked down at the long edges of wood sticking out from where the sword broke. She looked up at the dummy and screamed in absolute rage, plunging the broken blade into the dummy's gut again. Again. Again. Gwendolyn's other arm was wrapped around the dummy's neck, forcing it close while she disemboweled it. Eventually, leaning on it so hard, the post lifted the ground and collapsed. Gwendolyn went down with it, falling forward onto the dummy.
Her body was shaking. She must have scraped her forehead, because blood was dripping onto the ground, running down her brow and into one eye. She got up to her knees, bent over, hands shaking, screaming and sobbing, "I don't want this. I don't want this."
Her body was wracked with shakes by the force in which she shed her tears. She reached into her shirt, pulling out her holy symbol and placing it into her shaking hands. Blood dripped into her palms, soaking the metal circle that housed a small diamond. A symbol of Aros, god of perseverance, self-sacrifice, zeal and worthy causes. She had always felt a greater attachment to Aros than any other goddess.
What was the better cause in this situation? Should she abide by her father's wishes? Was he right? Does she need to be more honorable? More prideful? She brought a demon into the Corps. Knowingly! If Sir Strand knew, she would be stripped of her knighthood.
What was sacrificing more? Gods, she was sacrificing so much by following her father's insistence and pressures. Wasn't staying with Tess the easier path? This was hard. Hate was hard. Loneliness was hard.
Gwendolyn squeezed the symbol in her palm, replacing it upon her neck and rising to her feet. "That settles it," she thought, "This is the right path, even if it's far more difficult. This was the sacrifice that she needed to make to be proper. To be strong. To defeat the Black Sun.
No friendships. No love. No distractions.
She twisted at the hips and looked back over her shoulder as boots signaled someone's approach. It was one of the festival's volunteers. "Dame," he said, "Your match is coming up."
Gwendolyn dropped the half of the training sword she carried.
Amaris was going to fucking regret this.
Chapter 73 - Regret
Gwendolyn stepped into the festival yard, looking around for the staging area. Before she found it, she heard a shouting, "Dame!" It was difficult to tell exactly who it was over the din of the crowd, but when she turned, she saw Tess, Mairaela and Joyon approaching. They squeezed through the others and made their way to Gwen. She watched them, but said nothing in return.
"Hey," Mairaela said. She had a cut on her temple and a bruise on her cheek. Gwen hadn't seen the fight, but she heard Mairaela lost it. Any thought about that was stuffed down. "We wanted to wish you luck in your match; You're gonna kick his ass," the Fey said with a fist pump into the air.
"We're going to be cheering your name!" Tess explained, clapping her hands together once, "You'll probably hear us from the crowd. We'll make sure to say the whole name too."
Gods, was she cute.
Gwen pinched her lips together, "Okay." She nodded, "Thank you for the support." She needed to leave. It was too difficult to stand here and not appreciate them. To not be friendly.
No, she was going to do it. Perseverance. Determination. Zeal.
"Admaris is strong, but-..." Joyona started.
Gwendolyn interrupted, "Don't. I am fine."
Joyona stopped, nodding her head. The other two looked uncomfortable now.
"Um," Tess started, pausing for a moment as she seemed to choose her words very carefully, "You'll do great."
Gwendolyn turned and stepped away. She could practice hear their stares at one another. Their judgments. Their concern.
They'll get used to it. It wasn't her problem anymore. She was going to be better. No distractions. No distractions.
When she arrived at the staging area, she was given an option of armor and weapons. All of them were training weapons, of course. They wouldn't risk the death of one of their Corpsmen. The fight only went until there was a killing blow, upon which time a bell would sound to declare the end of the match.
Gwen elected to wear no armor and no shield. Admaris was Evigkin. A blow from him, regardless of armor, would be crushing. It was better to be mobile; to be faster. To be better. She was going to be.
Gwendolyn picked up a new training sword, testing its weight before deciding to go with another that had a better balance to it. "They're all the same," the arena master said to her. Gwendolyn shook her head.
She thought, "No. This one is better."
She flipped the sword in her hand, hopping up and down and shaking out her limbs. She needed to warm up. She should've done that already, but Tess and the others slowed her down. She shouldn't have even stopped for them. What was she thinking?! Again, she fell for distractions. She wouldn't make that mistake again.
When the gate opened into the arena, Gwendolyn hurried out, jogging to her position. The arena was toughened dirt, though Gwendolyn could see chunks dug up from weapons, or little bits of blood from a strike that connected too hard. It didn't bother her. She was going to make Admaris bleed, too. He was the enemy. He was evil. She was going to make him regret this.
There were two stone circles level with the dirt to signal where each fighter would stand. They were about twenty feet apart. At first, Admaris didn't show up, it seemed. Gwen stood upon her stone and looked around. Joyona was too tall to miss, and her eyes landed on her party. They were cheering, clapping, standing and waving their hands.
Gwendolyn redirected her sight, shaking the thought from her mind, the growing smile from her face. Fuck this. Fuck them. Fuck Admaris. No friendship. No love. No distractions.
At that point, the crowd began to cheer as Admaris took to the stage. He was tall. A little taller than Joyona, carrying a hefty wooden warhammer. "That thing could break bones," Gwen thought, "And a blow to the head could kill me." That's why she wasn't going to get hit, she told herself. It was too slow. She was fast. She was better.
Admaris was wearing leathers, with a few gaps around some of the joints and flanks. It was meant for front-facing attacks, nothing from the back. Gwen took note of that.
"Get inside his reach," she told herself, "Sword to the throat before he can grab you. That'll be a win." Her opponent inclined his head toward Gwendolyn, and before the Dame knew it, the bell sounded for the fight to begin.
Immediately, muscle memory took over and Gwendolyn lunged off of her stone circle and charged Admaris' position. The giant swung his hammer horizontally, timing it with Gwendolyn's charge. "He's fast," was the first thought that came to Gwen's mind. She had to end her charge—lest she suffer the killing blow—her boots skidding on the ground and kicking up dirt as she tried to slow herself. She could feel the wind off of that swing across her torso. He didn't go for the head, though.
Admaris thrust the head of the hammer forward. He was exposed! She pressed in, within his reach. She was going to win! At least, she hoped, until Admaris struck her in the side with the haft of his weapon.
Tess had the breath knocked out of her, falling to the ground. Admaris brought the hammer up for a killing shot, but as he brought it down, Gwendolyn noticed that he was bringing it to the side so that it wouldn't actually hurt Gwen. She took advantage of this and rolled in the opposite direction, and the judges must have determined that as a dodge.
Gwendolyn came up to her feet, but the pain in her ribs caused her to stumble, and Admaris took advantage, bringing his hammer up and to the side to catch Gwendolyn as she rounded him. Gwendolyn was off-balance and couldn't dodge the attack, so she brought up her blade to parry at the haft of the hammer. The force of it crushed her against her blade, causing her to slide backward upon her feet until she managed to press off of him. She could hear her training sword straining and flexing. Her arms were shaking. Her legs were shaking. Her body was jelly.
"Stop fucking around," Gwen told herself, "You're a knight. He's nothing. He doesn't deserve to win. He hasn't trained as hard as you have."
Before she knew it, another hammer was swinging toward her side. She pressed in, hopping over the haft and swinging her blade toward the giant's throat. Admaris brought up his hand and Gwen's sword only connected with his leather bracer. That wouldn't count, she knew. For a moment she thought she had it. Admaris took one hand off of the hammer. He couldn't swing it while that was the case.
Gwen underestimated the strength of Evigkin and found that hammer coming her way. She brought her blade back down, parrying at the haft like she did last time. She felt the strain on her blade, and it snapped, allowing the haft to connect with her forehead.
She wasn't sure what happened after that. There was a slam, then a bell, and then a cheering from the crowd. When Gwen came too, her hand was shaking, instinctively searching around for her blade. She found it, bringing it up defensively, but it was only a handle, and judging by the warhammer planted into the ground beside her head, she'd already lost.
Gwendolyn was stunned. Admaris held a hand out to offer her a lift to her feet. Eyes wide, Gwen rolled to the side and got up on her own, looking around as though she just woke up here with no idea what was going on.
"You're really fuckin' good," Admaris said with a laugh, "I think you just came in a little fast. A little too open, you know? With some patience, you would've won for sure. I bet next time we fight, you'll definitely w-..."
"Shut your mouth," Gwendolyn interjected, holding back tears.
Admaris was declared the winner, though Gwendolyn's mind was fuzzy throughout that whole ordeal. It was only when they were good to exit the arena that she really began to think. Admaris turned and began to walk away.
Gwendolyn looked down at the long edges of wood sticking out from where the sword broke. She looked up at Admaris and screamed in absolute rage, plunging the broken blade into his exposed back again. Again. Again. Wooden splinters stuck into his skin only to leave more upon the handle.
Admaris let out a yell and collapsed to the dirt, struggling to get Gwendolyn off of him. Gwen was still swinging. Still stabbing. She was yelling something, but she had no idea what it was. Admaris was calling for help.
She was watching herself, standing beside herself; outside her own body, wishing that she would stop. Instead, she watched herself rage at this defenseless man. She watched as soldiers approached her from both sides, as they grabbed her arms and took her to the ground. She watched herself struggle and swing, watched them drag her away. She watched Admaris get up, his back bleeding, watching her like she was insane.
She watched herself realize what she'd done. She watched herself gasp and scream, reaching for Admaris and begging for forgiveness.
Chapter 74 - Vials and Vexings
It'd been a week since Lady Morro's Day. The festival had concluded with Admaris' crowning as the honorary Valkyrie of Lady Morro. Despite his injuries, he still managed to win his next fights. Tess was certain that Joyona would have beaten him, but she missed her second fight entirely, disqualifying her. That one angered Tess. She was angry at Admaris, even if she knew that was unfair. He hadn't done anything wrong, but it was difficult to blame anyone else for Gwen's mental state.
She hadn't seen Gwen since that day. She could only assume that she'd been in holding or under an isolated probation. She hoped that she was still in Kravana, at least. She hoped that fight wasn't the last she saw of her friend. The thought that she might never see Gwendolyn again gave Tess a nauseous feeling.
"Tess."
Tess looked to her side to see Esma leaning over toward her desk. "Want to see the cutest little critter ever?" She asked.
She was waiting for her Sorcery and Ritualism class to begin. The classroom was an odd one to sit in. There was a near-constant tingle on the skin of the anti-sorcery field emanating from the crystal by the teacher's desk. Professor Dorn would turn it on and off with a touch of their hand. Tess liked Professor Dorn well enough. They were kind, soft-spoken and timid, but they were knowledgeable and helpful when a student needed assistance. Even though Tess had struggled with much of the practical aspects of Dorn's lessons, they had been extremely patient.
On that same note, Esma was someone that Tess had begun to get along with. She was an interesting woman, with tan skin and moss-green hair. Small twigs and leaves seemed to sprout from within her hair at a slow pace, and occasionally flowers would blossom around her ears or temple. Her arms and shoulders were no different. Some areas it even looked like her skin turned to bark. The first time Tess saw her, couldn't keep her eyes off of her. She was attractive, yes, but it was mostly because she was so unusual. She wasn't Fey, but she lived in the Summer Court. In fact, Tess didn't know what she was.
She knew what she did, though. Esma belonged to a group known as Thornseers. These sorts of Wyrden drew their power from their blood which, in some ancient time, had been mixed with the blood of the goddess Cenerine; deity of nature. Esma explained how—something about another god cutting her and her blood spilling—but Tess couldn't remember the exact details. She didn't understand all of Esma's capabilities, though, except that she was especially good with animals and knew a lot of sorcery involving natural elements.
"Tess," Esma said again. Tess shook her head a moment. "No? You don't?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was off in my own little world. What did you say?"
"I asked if you wanted to see the cutest, most sweetest, most adorablest being you've ever laid your eyes on," Esma squealed quietly.
"Sure," Tess replied with a soft smile.
Esma pushed aside a couple leaves on her arm and revealed a tiny rat, covered in gray fur with a bright pink tail. Its nose wiggled rapidly as it sniffed around Esma's arm. Tess never thought that she would like rats, of all things, but this one was really cute. Tess smiled and whispered, "Hey, little guy."
"She's a she," Esma corrected.
"Hey, little gal," Tess replied with a chuckle, "Where'd you find her?"
"Out in the gardens," Esma replied, "I'm going to bring her down to Hastenburgh and build her a nice little home this Rijen."
"That's two months away," Tess whispered, "What are you going to do until then?
Esma gave the rat a little scratch on the top of the head, "She'll live with me."
Professor Dorn approached the front of the class and collected the attention of the students, "Umm.. hi, class. We're, uh.. Today, we're going to discuss sorcerous aids. If that's okay."
They always seem to check with the class before presenting a lesson. Some of the students respected them less for it, but Tess found it endearing.
"Umm.. Let's start with Star Vials," Dorn started.
A student objected, "Everyone knows about Vials, professor, and most of us are blood Wyrden anyway."
Ugh, Morena. She was a shapeshifter, her blood flowing from the jungle Cadamma, a terribly dangerous place. She was always so rude. It was clear that she finely tuned her body to near perfection. That was, at least, for people that enjoyed fair-skinned, black-haired women with curves in all of the right places. She hardly wore anything, too. Not that Tess minded that part, but it was just of note that Morena knew how pretty she was, and was confident enough to flaunt it.
How Tess would like to wear something skimpier below the waist. She didn't have many options in that regard without letting her secret out, though.
Tess raised her hand in defense of the professor, "Actually, I don't know what Star Vials are." It wasn't entirely true. Tess knew a little bit about them. They house the power of stars, making sorcery a little easier to perform.
Dorn nodded and said to Morena, "We should have, umm.. Everyone should get on the same page before we, uhh.. Before we continue on to the advanced informa-..."
"She's not even a Wyrden!" Morena replied sharply.
That stung. It didn't take long for Esma to lash back, "Shut the fuck up, Morena!"
Morena continued, "I don't even understand why she's in this class!" Morena went on a tirade, throwing her hands into the air. Suddenly, she looked furious and was running her mouth, but not a sound could be heard.
Dorn had cast a silence spell over the classroom. This was their typical go-to whenever something like this broke out.
Tess rolled her eyes at Morena. What was with this twelve-year-old drama queen?
Once everyone seemed to calm down, Dorn dropped the spell and cleared their throat, "We will go over Star Vials." They looked to Morena and added, "Briefly."
They turned to the class, though gave Tess a glance since it was she that likely needed more information than most.
"Um.. well, in their simplest form, Star Vials enhance the performance of star Wyrden. While at the Sea of Stars, only a few days' travel from here, one could find falling stars and well, uh… trap their power within the vial," Dorn continued.
"Umm, opening a vial during a casting effort empowers the spell, both making it easier to perform and with a, um… a stronger effect," Dorn added.
Morena's hand raised urgently.
"Um.. yes, Morena?"
"Aren't they prone to exploding, though?" The Shapeshifter asked with a smirk on her face.
Dorn nodded their head, "Uhh.. well, yes, there is a possibility. Using a Star Vial too often can make it unstable. An, um.. an unstable Star Vial may detonate, releasing its powerful fury into the surrounding environment, uh.. Which is very bad." They explained, "This is why Star Vials are not allowed in certain towns, but, um… Wyrden will typically keep them in a magical holding pocket, uh, well… during a visit to those towns, I suppose.
"Each Wyrden with a Star Vial latched to their soul will see a constellation appear upon the, um… the vial. This will represent your sorcerous gift, uh.. That is, I mean, your magical specialty."
"I bet Tess won't even get one on her vial, it'll just say 'You're Not Even a Wyrden, Dumbass,'" Morena whispered, just loud enough for Tess to hear.
"What a fucking child," Tess thought, rocking her head back with a sigh.
Chapter 75 - The Ledger
After a bit of fun, Scirocca and Almithara—a more sane Yysh than most—sat down to take another look at the ledger found in Madame Pava's dwelling. They'd been poring over this bloodstained book trying to make out Pava's writing. All of her words had been written in some sort of code, but it was in a scribbling that Scirocca couldn't make out. Almithara was able to read it—barely—but she couldn't decipher it. Together, they were slowly teasing out little bits of information at a time.
"Here, what about this part," Scirocca said, "What's this say? Rice?"
"Dache, actually," Almithara replied, scratching a little at the scales that coated her body, all the way up to her chin and cheeks, avoiding her mouth and nose, "It means flower. Flowers, rather. Plural. But it doesn't make sense here."
"No, that helps," Scirocca replied, "She's been referring to her patients by different flower names. She must be referring to all of her patients here. Past, present, future."
They had already discerned that there were at least two other giftless that died under Pava's care. One of them may have been an accident, but the other one was directly due to Pava's experimentation. She was testing the limits of her patient's mind, folding their soul upon itself again, and again, and again. The patient's mind broke, unable to tell who it was. Living five lives at the same time, with five sets of memories. Five minds. They went mad and killed themselves. Scirocca wondered if it was the doing of only one of them, or if it was all five coming to an agreement.
The more they learned, the more Scirocca was glad that Gwendolyn had put the woman down. Perhaps, however, that was staging Gwen onto the slippery slope that led to her mental collapse. She wondered what she could've done differently. "Nothing," Scirocca told herself, "No one but herself could've saved her from that outcome."
"This next bit here," Almithara started, "Translated, it means 'their deep moor blatant under makes poppy lightning.' Nonsense to me, again." She handed the translated version to Scirocca, who compared it to her notes once again.
"Something about… hrm… maybe a leyline? It says 'magic place," Scirocca replied after a thorough scanning.
Almithara nodded, "Verdona. Our literal translation for it is 'magic place.' Silly, huh?"
Scirocca nodded her head, comparing the rest and coming up with, "Subjugation rebellion?" She brought her notes over to Almithara, "Slave-make fight freedom."
Almithara nodded her head, "Sounds right to me. A coup, maybe?"
Scirocca nodded her head, "A century ago, or so, a very young Mage-Empress put the city on lockdown. A lot of people were strung up. Executed. Political opponents, I believe."
"There was a rebellion," Scirocca added, looking back through the notes, "A princess from Krico."
"Who won?" Almithara asked.
Scirocca shook her head, "Oh, you know how it goes. In rebellions there are only losers."
Almithara nodded, looking through some of the next part. "This part just says 'demon' but in common imperial."
"Any idea why?"
Almithara shook her head, "No. Maybe she was in a hurry? But then why didn't she write in Yysh? Maybe that wasn't the more familiar tongue, but it seems unlikely."
Scirocca nodded, "What's next?"
"Seven tossed party deep spider next," Almithara said the random words with a sigh, "Looking forward to seeing what that mess means."
Scirocca put it up against the incomplete cypher that they had, "Something about corruption and… let's see… a cover of red. It reads almas. Does it mean a red sky?"
"Cloak."
"A red cloak," Scirocca nodded, "Corruption." Scirocca sighed, "Maybe some red cloak corrupts the wearer.
"What's that got to do with Tess?" Almithara asked.
"Nothing that I know of," Scirocca sighed. What's the next part?
"I know this one. We saw it earlier. Constellation. Barge power deaf."
"Unseen constellation," Scirocca nodded, "That's interesting. Would have been nice to have Pava alive for this."
"Yeah," Almithara responded, "What about this one? It's circled. 'For lime garb haste target.'"
Scirocca leaned in toward the cypher, reading aloud, "That would be…" The phrase meant "head inhabitant," but Scirocca didn't want Almithara to know that. It was talking about Miri, a topic that Scirocca didn't want to bring up to the Yysh. Scirocca said softly, "Says something about head."
"What are the words you don't have?"
"Gorlati morst sskt," Scirocca's pronunciation was probably terrible.
"Vivisection. She was going to open up Tess' head."
Scirocca nodded, thinking to herself, "Probably in a metaphorical way. She was trying to extract Miri."
Almithara continued with the next line, "This one is… written strangely." The Yysh leaned over to show to show Scirocca, "Look how this is written."
Scirocca examined the ledger and saw one of the phrases written chaotically, as though each letter was scrawled with a heavy hand, scribbled in.
"Probably important then," Scirocca replied, "Why else would she do that?"
"Here: 'To More Halt A Mist Paw Land.'"
Scirocca compared it to the cypher. Her chest ached. She swallowed, certain that she was turning pale. "We don't have that one. Something about a previous patient, but we don't even have the words for the other part."
"Shit," Almithara grunted.
"I think that's all we need to do for today," Scirocca said, taking the ledger, stuffing the cypher into it and closing it up. She rose to her feet, helping Almithara up before she turned to the Yysh and said, "Thank you for your help."
"Want to have a go before I head out?" The Yysh placed one hand on Scirocca's shoulder, the other on her hip.
Scirocca replied bluntly, "No." She added, "I have somewhere to be. Later."
Almithara's shoulders sank and she held her arms out helplessly, "Alright, then. Let me know when you want to do more."
Once Almithara had left, Scirocca thought over the words that she had deciphered and hid from the Yysh, "Patient; Possessed since the arrival of the sky ink."
The Black Sun was viewable from the surface centuries ago. Tess had Miri in her mind since then? Is that what Pava was saying? Tess was human; She couldn't have even been alive back then.
She needed to talk to someone about this, but she didn't know if Tess or Miri knew about it already and was keeping it a secret. She needed to talk to Mairaela. Perhaps Joyona too. Scirocca reminded herself that this wasn't her business; It was only a casual interest of hers. She could just leave the information with Mairaela and ignore the rest. She knew that wouldn't happen, however. Curiosity would get the better of her.
Especially now that there was a suggestion that Tess and Miri have been linked for far longer than either of them know. Who are they?
Chapter 76 - Articulation
"It's, um.. It's not just about remembering the constellations, uh.. Alright?" Dorn explained, drawing out a constellation in the air. Tess carefully watched them, following the movements. The Wanderer. The Wanderer. The Devil. She was surprised to see two of the same constellations in the same spell. "I didn't even know that was allowed," Tess thought to herself. No one else seemed surprised in the classroom, so she hid her reaction as best she could.
Dorn's voice began to sound from all directions and Tess looked around to find copies of the Professor standing on all four sides of the classroom. They moved and spoke in unison, "It's, um… well, it's about articulation of the movements; pliability of the hand. Control, control, control."
The images faded, leading only one, but it wasn't the one that Dorn started at. That seems like a useful spell. Wanderer, wanderer, devil. Wanderer, wanderer, devil.
Of course, Tess could form it differently. Of course it worked so long as her constellations made sense to her; however the constellations were applicable to her. As long as those conditions were met, she could cast it.
Dorn returned where they were originally standing. "Now, um… watch closely," they said. Dorn gestured constellations with their hand. The Archer. The… wait, they didn't do another constellation.
Regardless of that fact, the professor's eyes began to glow. Tess didn't know what that meant, but it was definitely an effect of sorcery. Dorn asked, "Did anyone notice how I did that?"
The class was silent. If anyone knew, they weren't willing to speak up.
Tess leaned forward in her seat. This was important. This is what she wanted to learn about.
Dorn's eyes returned to normal and they said, "I'll do it again. Umm.. very slowly, okay? Just watch my movements."
Once again, they performed the movements. Slowly, this time. The Archer again. One constellation. The professor's eyes began to glow again. "Um.. did anyone see this time?" Dorn asked.
"I saw it," Tess thought, "I saw it! Oh my gods, that was incredible!"
Tess raised her hand.
"Yes, miss?" Dorn asked, pointing a finger to Tess.
"As your arm made the Archer, with your fingers you made the Keepers. With your free hand, you signed the Wanderer," Tess did her best to not gush too much over how amazing she found that to be.
Dorn's eyes sparkled with amusement, the light fading from their eyes, "Absolutely correct, Tess." Dorn looked at the rest of the class, "We always sign with one arm, um.. but what is special about your arm? Uh.. nothing, I think. You just need to make the signs to cast the spell."
It was about control of the body and mind. Articulation of the hand. Pliability of the fingers.
After class, Tess rushed to her room, excited to test her new knowledge. She quickly found that gesturing with her fingers, two or three at once, was extremely difficult. Still, she practiced. She practiced and practiced until she lost track of time and her fingers were cramping. Her hand was sore, and she'd only been working with her dominant, right hand. It would be a nightmare to practice with the left. Gods, how did Dorn do it?
There was a knock on the dormitory door, so Tess got up to open the door. Scirocca was there, looking ambivalent as always. "May I come inside?"
Tess internally chuckled at the phrasing. "Ugh, when did I become such a pervert?" She thought.
"Of course, come in," Tess replied, standing aside.
Scirocca moved inside, looking around the room, "They haven't taken any of Gwendolyn's belongings?"
"No, not yet," Tess replied, souring at the thought that this is why Scirocca came over. She really didn't want to talk about Gwen right now. It was just too much to bear.
Tess took a seat while Scirocca looked around the room. Tess felt like she was under scrutiny for a moment. There wasn't much that the woman missed. She only hoped that she didn't leave any underwear on the floor for her to see. "Why?" Tess thought, "We've had sex, so what's the big deal?"
She shrugged the thought aside just as Scirocca asked, "How are you and Miri doing?"
Miri appeared, floating just above Scirocca. Tess looked up at her and Scirocca asked, "She's floating above me, isn't she?"
"Yes, Tess replied, "You can't see her right now?"
Scirocca shook her head and Miri chuckled aloud, "I could do so many naughty things to her right now!"
Tess whispered, "Don't you dare."
Scirocca sighed a moment and asked, "About my question?"
"Which was?"
"How are you two doing?"
"Oh," Tess mumbled, "Well, we're alright. I think."
She looked up at Miri and the demoness replied, "I'm good!"
Tess nodded to Scirocca, confirming her answer. Scirocca continued, asking, "Could you tell me more about how you two were combined together, and how you arrived? I would like to look into methods of separating you."
"Ugh," Miri complained, "More experiments? Like we haven't had enough from snake-hair."
"Well," Tess started, giving Miri a sharp look, "Gwendolyn said that there was some dark lady. Black hair, black clothes, black nails, black eyes."
"Sounds like your typical Dark Wyrden. So dramatic," Scirocca said, shaking her head.
Tess continued, "They fought and Gwen was about to die, but she swiped a hand through the ritual circle, and then I appeared."
"We appeared," Miri corrected.
Tess conveyed the correction to Scirocca, giving Miri an apologetic look.
"And you don't remember anything before that?" Scirocca asked.
"No," Tess said, shaking her head, "I mean, I remembered some things about the world, but not anything about myself. Except that I was different. My dick, I mean." Tess looked up to the ceiling with a sigh. So awkward!
"Right," Scirocca nodded, "What about Miri? Does she remember anything?"
"What? No!" Miri replied.
"She says no."
Scirocca nodded her head once more. She looked like a doctor, questioning her patient's symptoms, "Nothing at all?"
Tess looked up at MIri. Miri scowled, "Tell her to buzz off. I'm sick of this inquisition."
"She wants you to leave," Tess replied.
"Ah," Scirocca said, nodding, "I'll go."
"Oh, hey, before you do," Tess interrupted, opening a drawer beside her bed, "I found these." She pulled out the amulet and the gloves, showing them to Scirocca, "Or, well… a fox showed them to me, actually."
"A fox led you to them?" Scirocca asked, looking a little surprised for once in Tess' experience.
"Yes," Tess replied, "It stood around me until I followed it and then dug into the ground. The key to the box they were in was in its mouth."
"I see," Scirocca responded thoughtfully, nodding, "Have you worn them?"
"No, Miri said not to," Tess replied.
Scirocca raised her eyebrows, "I think that you should. They look like Artifacts to me. It is very likely that it will help you. Make you stronger. Make you more useful."
Tess took in a deep breath, letting it out a bit shakily. That is exactly what she wanted; to be useful to her team. Had Scirocca known? Was this a ploy? Gods, was she playing Tess like a lute right now? Tess shook the thought from her mind. She had no reason to distrust Scirocca. It was because of her that she was saved from Pava. It was because of her that the ledger was being translated. It is because of her that she entered the Void and was assigned to her team. She has helped so much.
"Fuuuuck no," Miri said, unknown to Scirocca, "Don't trust this little-winged idiot. Something is real fishy!"
Scirocca added, "Trust any fox that you see. They are a lucky sign."
"Like a foxpaw flower?" Tess asked. Scirocca nodded.
"Thank you, Scirocca," Tess said, smiling. She was excited to try them on, but she wondered if Miri would intervene somehow. Maybe she needed to wait until they were in the Void, or wait until Miri wasn't paying attention. Could she even bring these items into the Void? Tess was unsure.
"Is that all you needed?" Tess asked.
"That's it. I just wanted to check up on you," Scirocca said, "I'm going to look into Gwen's state, too. I'll let you know if I find anything."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Have a good night."
Tess held the gloves tightly in her hand, running her fingers over the fox-engraved coins strung up in their palms. Artifacts. How amazing was that? She couldn't keep from smiling. For once she had some good fortune.
"Don't even think about it, Tess," Miri chided.
Tess nodded her head, "Why not, Miri?"
"Random items from a random fucking hole in the ground from some random gods-damned fox? Don't you think it sounds suspicious?" Miri asked, "It could be a trap. It could teleport you somewhere dangerous. It could kill you."
"But Scirocca said…"
"You want to trust her, or trust me?" Miri replied, "I am sharing this fuckin' body, Tess. Don't you think that if I thought they'd make us stronger, I'd want to use them? I don't want to die, so I'm telling you not to."
Tess saw the logic in that, but she was so curious. She placed the gloves and the amulet back into the drawer for now, but they were on her mind all night long.
Chapter 77 - Joyona
The carriage bumped and swayed as it went over the rocky terrain. Its wheels were uneven and old, squeaking and grinding as they turned. The driver was a middle-aged woman with a hunched back and one eye. She didn't bother to cover the empty socket.
Joyona didn't mind. She always wanted to let people do what makes them comfortable. She didn't want to interfere with others' happiness unless it came at the cost of another. That was her motto, anyway. That was her father's motto too. Gods, she missed him.
In truth, Joyona was intensely homesick. She missed Sevarra. She missed her Cairn. She missed her family. Her father sent her the scribestone that barely had anything on it. It tore her up, but she didn't want to worry the others, so she put on a good face. She wanted to hear from him. She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to hug him and be hugged by him. She missed the love.
She looked into the sky, watching the dark night and the moon above. She'd started trying to take these little sojourns during the nighttime and attending class during the day. It had left her exhausted, but she didn't want to worry the others.
Joyona had made some friends during her time at Kravana Hall and she didn't want to risk losing them for something like this. Gwen, Tess, Mairaela. They were wonderful. She respected Gwendolyn's discipline, even if it drove her a little crazy this time. She appreciated Tess' persistence to be helpful, even if she could be an evil deceiver.
Mairaela, though? The Fey was gorgeous. She was sweet and kind. She was professional when she had to be, polite when that was the proper course. She was everything that Joyona had ever wanted. She couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted to be closer to the Fey; to be more than a friend. When she saw Mairaela and Tess sleeping with one another, all she could think about was how happy Mairaela seemed at that moment. It brought Joyona such a euphoric feeling; She wanted to be someone that gave her those feelings too.
This loneliness was like a vice on Joyona's heart and a weight on her shoulders. It wasn't physical, though. Joyona couldn't lift it in her arms. It was just mental. Emotional. Spiritual. It distracted her during the Void Exercise. Slowed her. Clouded her mind. She could have been so much better. She protected the Fey from the Arbalest's blast. She came to her aid at a moment's notice. She healed her after Miri's assault.
She didn't turn Tess in—despite knowing that she should—because it would have upset Mairaela.
But the others were emotional. Scared at times. They had so much going on in their lives. So Joyona would be their rock. She could push down her own problems and be the foundation for the problems of her allies. She was big. She was strong. She was an Evigkin and she would bear that weight, just like her father would. She knew that he would be proud.
The carriage pulled up to the humble town of Oar's Rest. It wasn't much but a few streets and four dozen homes and businesses. It made a living off of its sizable port however, being the last refuge before heading into the long stretch of sea known as the Waterway. Wheldrake, the next stop was over a week away, so ships often traded a great deal at Oar's Rest in exchange for repairs, food and other supplies. Joyona could respect the people here. They put their money back into that which makes them money. Instead of expanding they have restricted how many people could set up homes here. They kept the town small and manageable while putting a great deal of its profit back into the port.
Joyona appreciated the practicality. A giant's Cairn was a very small group of people, most often only a single family. She knew that humans and Fey were more social creatures, but even still, Oar's Rest kept things simple.
The carriage pulled up to the town hall and let Joyona step out. The giant had already paid—as was the carriage driver's rule—so she simply walked off. She didn't engage with the driver. She would only embarrass herself. She wasn't the best in social situations, so she usually just kept her mouth shut rather than risking faux pas. She may look strange for it, but at least she didn't have to look at their expressions while they did.
On her way to her destination, she passed a number of stores. Armories, smithies, general stores, fish sellers and some empty markets that would be filled up during the daytime.
She wondered what Yerthwerk was up to. Was he even conscious while she was out of the Void? What happened to him? She should introduce the others to him next time. She'd just been so worried that she would be misunderstood. She wanted to be normal. She didn't want to be the weird one. She certainly failed at that when Gwendolyn overheard her. She grimaced at the thought that she was perceived as talking to herself. She just didn't think the others were ready to hear about Yerthwerk. Even still, they had their own problems to deal with. She shouldn't trouble them with her own. She was the rock.
Joyona took one of her braids in hand, tugging it and twirling it around a hand. A passerby gave her a look. It wasn't particularly judgmental, but it still caused Joyona anxiety. She released her braid, tossing it over her shoulder and giving the man nothing more than a glance. He looked uncomfortable with her gaze. Was she so intimidating?
Even at her Cairn she stood out. Everyone else was full-blooded, towering over Joyona. But there was something in her mother's blood, something that thinned it, even if she were as tall as the others. And that blood was passed onto Joyona. Her parents loved her no matter what, and those at her Cairn didn't give her trouble for it, but Joyona felt their stares. She felt their pity. She'd been short. She'd been weak. She stood out.
Now she was too tall. Too strong. She still stood out.
She was relieved to find Admaris in the Corps. Another half-blood. Of course, he didn't seem to have the same troubles as Joyona. What was his secret? Was there just something wrong with Joyona that others in her position didn't experience? She constantly wondered if she was simply broken.
Joyona opened the door to her destination, immediately met with the scent of cinnamon. One of the ladies was standing behind the desk. The others were giving Joyona welcoming glances, fluttering their lashes and coaxing her to pick them. "Welcome back," said the Madame, approaching Joyona and taking a puff from her slender pipe.
"Hi," Joyona replied, keeping things brief so that she wouldn't mess things up.
"How can we help you this time?"
"Same as before."
"Who do you have a taste for tonight?"
"Lira." Joyona replied
The Madame of the place gave a little laugh, "You must really like her. I swear I was going to kick her out before you started coming almost every day for her. I'm sure that she appreciates your patronage."
Joyona didn't reply, didn't react. She just wanted to move along.
She was escorted into a well decorated room. Red everything. Sheets, curtains, pillows, rug, even the walls. Enhance the passion, Joyona supposed.
"Lira will be right with you," the attendant spoke softly.
Joyona nodded and took a seat on the bed, kicking off her boots and removing her cloak. She folded it neatly upon a nearby loveseat, organizing the boots along with it.
When Lira entered, dressed in little more than small strips of clothing that did very little to hide her body, she smiled wide at Joyona. She was a sweet woman. Pale, auburn hair and freckled face. Blue eyes. Pretty.
"Same as last time? You just want to talk?"
Joyona nodded, taking a seat upon the bed. Lira joined her, sitting a friendly distance away.
Lira turned to Joyona and asked, "So, how have you been?"
Chapter 78 - A Proper Squad
"I hope you can all understand why I am frustrated," Kofi explained from the front of the briefing room, "And I would hope that you are all frustrated as well. This was a hit to our entire team."
"More concerned about Gwendolyn, ma'am," Mairaela replied, "It's unfortunate that we've been set back, but she's our friend and her health is more important."
Kofi let out a sigh and rubbed at her forehead, "I am concerned for her too." She ran a hand down her face and said, "But we have a job to do. The world is at stake, and if we don't do it, Gwen will die along with everyone else.
"If we aren't doing work, we aren't going to be allowed to stay at Kravana, or in the Corps at all."
Tess frowned. That wasn't what she wanted, of course. She was torn between duty and friends. She knew what she had to pick—friends of course—but it was a difficult sacrifice regardless. When Gwendolyn made the opposite choice, she broke. Tess' heart ached at the thought of the pain that Gwen must have been experiencing. Pain that Tess wished she could have healed. If only she'd known. If only she'd been more aware; less self-centered.
She shook the thought from her mind. That was the pressure that Gwendolyn must have been putting on herself. There was no problem with how Tess behaved. There was no problem with how Gwendolyn behaved. She had a mental disease. Too much pressure; too much stress.
"We need to do something to bring up our numbers," Kofi said, looking around the room, "And speaking of numbers, where is Joyona? I thought she would only be late, not absent."
Mairaela frowned, "She's been exhausted lately. Sleeping a lot. She must've slept through the morning."
Kofi pinched her nose and let out a sigh, "This is unacceptable. You two know this isn't alright, yes?"
Tess and Miraela nodded their heads. Mairaela explained, "We've just been under a lot of pres-..."
"The Void is full of pressure. We need to learn to handle it. Combat should be hard, not our time at home," Kofi explained.
Tess couldn't argue with it. Maupoissant was making a lot of sense, even if she didn't want to admit it. How were they going to handle all of the dangers of the Void when they couldn't handle passing a class, or a letter from a father?
For a moment however, it made sense. In the Void, everything was a danger. Everything could be handled physically. You could cut, punch or incinerate a monster. The solutions to mental and emotional trauma were not so easily handled. She wished she had the courage to say that to Maupoissant.
"What can we do, Captain?" Mairaela asked, "We want to be here. We want to fight. I think we're just going stir crazy. It's been months since the Void exercise. We need to test the things we've learned."
"And to do that," the Captain replied, "We need to show the higher-ups that we can be professional. So far we have done the opposite. Once we can get assignments, successes will only lead us to further assignments. We'll be on a roll after that."
Tess spoke up, "Is there anything that we can do to gain points and get an assignment?"
"A few things," Kofi replied, looking over a book of notes, "There is a sorcery duel, but none of you are Wyrden."
Tess raised her hand, "Captain, can I please be assigned to that?"
Kofi looked Tess over and shook her head, "I'm sorry, but no, Tess. If you showed and could only do rituals, we would likely lose more points out of embarrassment. We cannot risk that."
Tess sucked at her teeth, already plotting how she could get into it anyway. She did it with the Void exercise, right? She could do it with this, too.
Maupoissant continued, "One of you could teach a course, or be a teacher's assistant for a course."
Miri appeared, invisibly settling into a seat beside Tess, "You should teach a class. I'll just tell you everything you need to know."
Tess raised her hand, "What classes need to be taught?"
Kofi looked over her list, "Courtish History, Umbral Omens, Oddities of the Tul, The Cenean Massacre, The Heroic Divine-..."
Miri snapped her fingers, "That one! That one!"
Tess raised her hand, "Could I teach that one? The Heroic Divine?"
Kofi looked Tess over, "How would you know about that?"
"I've been reading all about them in the library," Tess lied.
Kofi nodded her head, "Okay. So long as you aren't reported by a student, you should be fine. Read up on it every moment you have."
Tess looked relieved, "Thank you, Captain."
"There's the military ball coming up," Kofi replied, "Attendance will earn a small amount of points. I expect you all to be there. Joyona too. We'll have a fitting for your dress uniforms tomorrow. Please, make sure that she is there."
"What else can we do, Captain?" Mairaela asked.
"Spars. Spars, spars, spars," Kofi replied, "We need to start sparring regularly. Ideally without actually stabbing your opponent once the fight is done."
Tess didn't like these little jabs at Gwen's predicament, but she supposed she couldn't blame the Captain. She was under pressure too. Everyone here seemed to have someone's thumb pushing down on them.
"We also have a decision to make," Kofi added, "As to whether or not we keep Gwen in the party."
Tess' heart leapt, "We can't go without her. She's practically our leader."
Mairela nodded her head, "We need her, Captain."
Maupoissant nodded with a sigh, "Was expecting you to say that. Just… consider it. What's good for you may not be best for Gwendolyn."
The door opened and in came Ylla of all people. What was she doing here? She was wearing common clothes, her hair looking immaculate as always. The tighter clothing flattered her lovely figure. Ylla caught Tess staring and she fanned a wave with her fingers.
Mairaela looked sour over her appearance. Her lips were tight. Tess could tell she was trying to keep from speaking up.
"This is Miren Tel'Ranyre," said the Captain.
Miren? What happened to Ylla? Tess scowled at her. Miren just shrugged a little when the Captain wasn't looking. She was content with her little deception.
"She's going to be joining our party," Maupoissant explained, "Hopefully you're all acquainted."
Miren nodded her head, "We've all met. Tess and I are good friends, actually."
Mairaela gave Tess a look that said, "Seriously?"
Tess shrunk in her seat a little bit, frowning.
Chapter 79 - Lesson Planning
"Okay, so I don't know shit about the Heroic Divine," Tess panickedly reported to Miri once she closed the door to her room, "What was I thinking?! You gave me no time to think!"
"What was there to think about? I've got this." Miri replied, appearing on the bed, "You wanna fuck again?"
"No, I don't wanna-.." Tess sighed, "Well, yes, I do, but first I want to make sure that we get this figured out. Like, you know… I want to make sure I know what I'm talking about."
"I'll just say it to you at the time."
"I do not trust that you won't get me reported."
"What? What do I say that would get us in trouble?" Miri demanded answers.
"Really?" Tess raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah! Give me one example!"
Tess sighed and adopted an impression of Miri, higher-pitched and seductive, "'She wouldn't know 'useful' if useful shaved those disgusting noodles off her head."
"Okay, that was about Pava," Miri said, floating into the air and rolling over onto her stomach. Her feet were crossed at the ankle behind her, her elbows propped up onto nothingness and resting her head in her hands. "She deserved that one."
"Alright, how about 'I'm going to rip this bitch in half?'"
"What? I never said that!" Miri guffawed.
"Remember, in the Void? Mairaela?"
Miri laughed, "Okay, once again, well deserved. She was trying to kill us!"
"What about when you said you could do 'naughty things' to Scirocca when she couldn't see you?"
"Oh, please, that was a joke!" Miri insisted.
Tess rolled her eyes, "Well… what about…"
There was a pause.
"Ha! You can't think of one!" Miri cheered, "I win! I'm kind and well-spoken!"
Tess sulked, "I wouldn't go that far. And still, I'm not going to let you teach me in the same moment. There will be awkward pauses between statements. And what if I misunderstand you and say the wrong thing? I want to know what I'm talking about."
"Fine," Miri rolled her eyes, "What do you want to know?"
"Well," Tess started, looking around the room for inspiration, "I don't know, who were the Heroic Divine? I don't know anything about them, except that they… I don't know, they saved the world?"
"Almost," Miri said, "Well… they did their best, and probably bought us some time." She waved her hand in a circle, "Still, we call them heroes."
"Wait," Tess said, cocking an eyebrow at Miri, "How do you remember this stuff? I thought you didn't remember anything before we merged."
"I didn't include the fact that I know my alphabet and my numbers, either. But I do! I remember things about history, just not who I was, you know?"
"Alright," Tess nodded, "So who were the Heroid Divine?"
"I'm so glad you asked, Miss Tess!" Miri replied, floating from one side to the other. "Extra points for you! But don't be a teacher's pet."
Tess groaned, "Just keep going."
"Okay, so, the Heroic Divine were three people," Miri explained, "Maeros the Mad, Krahe and Harkroth Firmheart."
"Why did they call him Maeros the Mad?" Tess asked.
Miri smiled and stuck out her tongue with, "Good question! See me after class for some special instruction!"
"By the gods, Miri, stop being so horny and just get on with it! The sooner you teach me, the sooner we can have fun."
Miri scoffed, "Sourpuss." She shrugged, "Maeros Whitecross was his real name. They called him Maeros the Mad because he heard voices in his head." Miri's eyes sparkled, "Sounds familiar, yeah?"
"Did he have a demon in his head, too?" Tess asked, shocked at the similarity.
Miri shrugged and thought aloud, "Nah, he was probably just insane."
Tess was a little disappointed about that, "So what about the others?"
"Well, Harkroth is still alive today. You could go see him. He's probably a week's travel from here, and like.. Three months awaiting an audience with 'em," Miri explained, "He's a Valkyrie of Morro. Used to be an inquisitor and turned into an errand boy."
"How do you know about all of this?" Tess asked, raising an eyebrow.
Miri furrowed her brow, "Cause I'm smart as fuck, Tess!" She groaned, "But mostly because it's pretty common knowledge, this part." She shrugged, "Harkroth was set on an errand to go ask the Summer Court for help in fighting off the Winter Court when they invaded the Empire from the East."
Tess leaned in, listening closely. She wished she'd been writing this down.
"But he ran into Maeros and Krahe and ended up joining them. Besides, the Summer Court told him to fuck off," Miri laughed, holding her stomach as she flipped over in the air and onto her back.
"So who was Krahe? You skipped him."
"Her. Krahe was the coolest of them all. She was this badass thief. They wouldn't have gotten anywhere without her. I mean, yeah, Maeros and Harkroth were the must, right? But Krahe was the talent," Miri said.
Tess could hear the admiration in Miri's voice. She really liked this person.
"Anyway, that's the common story," Miri explained, "You wanna know the truth?"
"Um.. yeah, if I gotta teach it," Tess replied with a nod.
"There were more of them. It was this whole group, but a lot of 'em died or… well, worse, in some cases," Miri explained, "The others were Dolen, Rahberon, Elnaril and Henry."
"Why don't people talk about them?"
"'Cause they got fucked up, Tess."
"Well, who were they?" Tess asked, urging Miri along.
"Alright, so, Dolen was this guy working for the Underking. He was like… his right hand. Or whatever hand the Underking used to jack himself off. That was Dolen," Miri replied, "He was some priest for some god. I don't know. There was something special about a ring he had, but fuck if anyone knows what it was."
"What about Rahberon?"
"Summer Elf. I don't know. He was probably useless. Next!"
"Um.. Elnaril. That name's familiar."
"Strongest Wyrden in the fuckin' world, that one! Everyone knows Elnaril. They just forget that he got his ass handed to him by Arlen. You know, in the permanent sense," Miri groaned, "Smartest and dumbest bitch in history."
"See, this is why I'm glad we're going over this now, so that you don't make me say stuff like that."
"Whatever, I can be proper," Miri groaned, "Anyway, what else?"
"Well, who was Arlen?"
"Arlen Daerora. That's the Great Betrayer. Some human fuckface that brought the Black Sun here," Miri shrugged, "Mommy probably didn't give him enough attention. You know how humans are."
Tess laughed, "Bitch."
Miri smirked, "Finally, a sense of humor! Alright, so Elnaril and Arlen were buddies. They studied sorcery together. They were two of the strongest Wyrden alive."
"But Elnaril was stronger?"
"Yeah, by a decent bit," Miri replied.
"So how did Arlen kill him if Elnaril was stronger?"
"Cause Arlen was a heartless motherfucker," Miri said with a roll of her eyes, "And Elnaril wasn't. He wanted the old Arlen back. Arlen wanted Elnaril dead. Those are two different things and one ended up being easier than the other." Miri nodded, thinking for a moment in silence, "On that same day, Arlen killed Dolen and Rahberon, too.
"So the only survivors were Maeros and Krahe," Miri concluded.
"What about Harkroth?"
"He hadn't joined them yet," Miri replied.
"What about Henry, then?"
"You know when I said some of them underwent things worse than death?" Miri asked.
Tess nodded.
"Yeah, well," Miri replied, "That's Henry."
Chapter 80 - Postage
Tess knocked on Scirocca's door. Now that she'd been living in the Corps dormitories for some time, the stark difference between it and Scirocca's living quarters was obvious now. If Gwendolyn wasn't going to be her roommate anymore, maybe she could set something up to room with Scirocca instead? She doubted that it would be allowed. The College and Corps were separated for a reason. Though, Tess didn't exactly know what that reason was.
The door popped open and Scirocca stood on the other side, undressed from the waist up. Tess' eyes flicked down to the tanned woman's breasts before returning to her face, "Uh.. I can come back?"
Scirocca shook her head, "Not necessary, I was just masturbating. What can I do for you, Tess?"
Tess' eyes were wide open, but she tried to shove down the awkwardness and ask, "I was wondering-..." Her eyes flicked back down to Scirocca's tits, "Could I come inside? Maybe put on a shirt?"
"Sure," Scirocca replied, inviting Tess inside. She walked to a dresser and pulled out a tight, linen wrap that she used to tightly embrace her chest. Their definition was still clear, as were the woman's nipples, but Tess could concentrate enough to get her words out.
"I came about the letter? I know you've been working hard on the ledger, but I gave you that letter from my mom a few weeks ago and I wanted to know if you've had a chance to invert it yet," Tess felt terrible asking so much from Scirocca, but wasn't sure what else to do. She appended her statement, "And… Thank you. I can't imagine what I would have done without your help. Your… constant help."
"Of course. I inverted it the day after you gave it to me," Scirocca replied.
What?! Tess was aghast. Why hadn't she said something? She was just in her room two days ago!
"Oh," Tess tried to not sound angry. Scirocca had done her a favor and even though Tess was assuming she'd be told then the letter was figured out, she also didn't ask Scirocca about it until now.
There was a pause until Tess asked, "What'd you find out?"
"The raven came from Elinmylly," Scirocca replied simply, "From your mother, I presume."
"Did you see her?"
Scirocca nodded.
"Did she look like me?"
"Not particularly," Scirocca shrugged.
Tess couldn't keep from beaming in happiness. Trying to contain her smile, she asked, "Where is Elinmylly? How can I get there?"
"Not easily. Head to Oar's Rest, take a ship through the Waterway and into the Greater Sea, head around the Aelin peninsula, dock at Tillydrone and then take a month and a half's walk to Elinmylly. If you're quick. And if you find a ship doing that right away," Scirocca rambled the words off from memory as though it was her name, age and favorite color. Tess could hardly keep up, but she understood enough to see that it wasn't a trip she could make without preparation.
Tess bit her lip in thought, "So what could you tell about my mom?"
"Half-Fey," Scirocca said, leaning to the side to get a good look at Tess' ears, "Which makes me think she isn't your mom. Either that or you've got your father's ears."
Tess' lips parted. She sank a little. It didn't matter. Maybe she was adopted. It was still her mom either way!
"She's in Amaranthe's camp," Scirocca said. She must've assumed that Tess had no idea what she was talking about, because she immediately explained, "Amaranthe is… well, officially a vigilante. She and her company of warriors move through the worl-..."
"She's a criminal?" Tess hadn't gotten that sense from the letter.
"No, listen," Scirocca explained, "They move through the world doing the good and righteous acts. Most often killing monsters, hunting down evil, so on and so forth. They killed the demon prince a long time ago. Amaranthe herself uses the divine wyrd, but prays to no divine, so the rumor goes. People think she must have some relation to the gods. They don't abide by the law, so their assistance is welcomed in some places more than others, but the commonfolk typically idolize them."
"So, my mom is following her?"
Scirocca replied thoughtfully, "She is one of many in the camp, it seems."
"Should I send a letter back to Elinmylly?" Tess asked.
Scirocca shook her head, "Write one and I'll send it off with a spell to track her down. Amaranthe's camp doesn't tend to stay in one place for long, so the spell will be necessary."
Tess smiled and moved to embrace Scirocca, squeezing her around the midsection. "Thank you," she said, holding back from breaking down into tears, "Thank you so much. She'll be able to tell me who I am."
"Think we can trust her?" Miri asked, "We're just going off of her word, you know. And she told you to try on those dangerous gloves. She's been acting weird."
Tess shook the thought from her mind and stepped back from Scirocca, "How can I repay you?"
"Well, I wasn't able to finish what I started before you arrived. Do you have a moment to help?" Scirocca asked, adding, "I wouldn't want to be a bother." It was hard to tell if she was joking or not.
"It's the least that I could do. What should I-... do you just…" Tess was at a loss. What should she do? Should she kiss Scirocca? Should she start touching her? Should she take her to the bed? Why was she so bad at this?!
Scirocca removed her wrap and began to remove each little piece of jewelry that she had on. Her skimpy pants came next, the sphinx-daughter wiggling her hips to squeeze out of them. Once undressed, she made her way toward the bed.
Her ass was nice and plump, well rounded at the hips and firm. Tess wanted to be giving—she wanted to be sexy-so she reached out and clapped Scirocca on the ass. Her rear bounced a moment, the woman going to her tiptoes and bringing her hands up to her shoulders in surprise. She turned to look at Tess with an emotionless expression, asking dryly, "Why did you do that?" Despite the seriousness, there was a pinkish hue across the bridge of her nose and cheeks.
Tess felt like she was going to melt from embarrassment and sink through the floorboards, "I, you-... I thought you might… like that?" Scirocca just continued to stare, so Tess added, "You have a really nice butt, so.. I wanted to touch it."
That response seemed better and Scirocca gave the faintest upturn of a smile at the very edges of her mouth, "Thank you."
"Should I be on top? Like we did last time?" Tess asked.
She then turned around and went to the bed, lying down on her stomach. She laid her head upon a pillow and crossed her arms underneath, rotating her hips to angle her ass, but not lift it from the bed. "I'm ready," she replied.
Tess could feel herself hardening and began to work her way out of her clothes. She might've appeared to be in quite the hurry, which looked to amuse Scirocca. Once freed from her confines she made her way to the bed. With Scirocca prone upon the sheets, Tess wasn't certain exactly how she wanted to do this. "Do you want to bring your butt up?" Tess asked as she climbed onto the bed.
"No," Scirocca replied, reaching back with both arms to spread herself, angling her hips to expose her pink slit, "Here you go."