Turn27
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C'tis
Deep in the rock, there is a crypt. The paths to it are tortured and misleading, and few each generation are inducted in their secrets. It is said that no invader could find them without a traitor's help; but no invader has threatened C'tis in the oldest lizards' dimmest recollections of the stories of their grandsires. It holds the remains of the past, and perhaps the future as well.
Hema wonders if dropping the bones of Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Simith (so the tag reads) is sacrilege. She decides that if the council had wanted the bones retrieved perfectly intact, they might have hid them someplace a little more easy to reach. "Or else assigned some hatchlings to help me carry them," she mutters. But the hatchlings are all training for war, and the other sauromancers are too busy with mysteriously vague tasks to assist Hema with the heavy lifting.
"You are so much more knowledgeable in the ways of the dead than I," one of them had the nerve to tell her, as he begged off. Bodimmud, that was his name, and he was even younger than she was. But Bodimmud was marching off to war in a few days, and there was so much to pack, so many incantations to review... Hema treacherously hoped something heavy fell on him in battle, as karmic recompense.
Finally, she reaches the opening to a large, well-lit cavern. She places the box containing Simith next to Great-to-the-somethingth Grandfather Uvatha, and dozens more, some whose names are still familiar to the city, others who died so long ago they are nearly dust. So long as the skull remains, she recalls from the scroll that lies open on a table, worn from heavy use. Not all of the wise can return as revenants, but so long as the skull remains, their wisdom is not lost.
Larch is putting the finished touches on Kurgarru when Hema walks into the lab. "Guild's been keeping you busy with their backlog, I see," says Hema. But then, it's easier to bring back the newly dead, and the Guild is a good source of bright young minds. Too good, sometimes.
Larch nods, looks up, stares inquiringly. He makes as if to speak, then reaches for a tablet. "DID YU FIND HER??" he scrawls. It is ironic; most revenants can speak, after a fashion, but the former masterful spinner of yarns lost his vocal cords to the illness that also claimed his life. And he never bothered to learn to write; let others take down his masterful words.
Larch is learning now. Mother Lalek even says the hatchlings are over their initial terror of his shriveled, bony form in her classes. Mostly.
"Yeah, right where you said she'd be," says Hema. "But, um, her bones were too cracked... when I found her, I mean..." and dropping them while trying to wedge the box out of its hiding hole hadn't helped matters, but Hema wasn't bringing that up. Simith had been pretty far gone when she found her.
Larch nods again. She can tell he is disappointed; he clearly remembers the wise elder from his youth fondly, and is sad that she will not be joining him as a revenant. But all is not lost. Larch points to Kurgarru, who is starting to twitch randomly; in a few days, perhaps he will be able to lower his arm-stump from where it lies locked above his head, vainly trying to ward off a cavalry captain's looming lance.
Larch points again, nods toward the other room. His meaning is clear. He has found someone for his old mentor to teach. Or her skull, at any rate.
Now that that's been decided, Larch turns to his next task. Leaning heavily on his skull staff, he shuffles over to the workbench containing former Guildmaster Nanugal, who lived, and died, for his experimental strong poisons. There is little that can harm a revenant, but Larch is taking no chances with this one. He reaches for his thickest dragon-hide gloves, the ones Cole will never know exist, if he can help it.
Hema descends back into the crypt for another long journey. C'tis needs its dead now, their knowledge, their secrets. Every bone helps, in the war with Pythium.
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Ermor
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Man
It sure is a lot different reading about the war instead of participating. For example: ‘the enemy was destroyed at the cost of only thirteen troops.’ On paper, this looks sweet. But in person, you see the troops die. Both friendly and enemy! While I like watching the battles in third person like this, I do wonder if I should be there.
But I am not there. I am committed to staying home for a while, as Veronicas has me busy, busy, busy. There is a long list of artifacts that I alone can construct. There are spells only I can cast. I can do faster research than any other person in the entire Kingdom of Man.
Maybe I really am a deity!
But probably not. Although, I must admit that I am far more powerful than I ever believed possible. That much is certainly true.
But, enough about me!
This latest report was odd. How did my army grow so fast? After trailing Pythium for years, we passed them up in military might? How indeed?
Ah, just ask and you shall be informed. Being Queen does have its advantages. Veronicas explained everything.
It seems that our old Crones of Avalon are pretty darn good with spells! I have been investing lots of my precious treasury recruiting and paying those old Crones. I have been wondering if this was a wise investment despite Ralph assuring me it was so. I am wondering no longer.
Man swept through no less than SIX Pythium provinces with nothing more than a bunch of old Crones sitting at home casting spells. Those Crones are so in tune with nature that birds from the air and wolves from the forest can be called at will. Those beasts fight and kill our enemies. And the best part? After the battle, the birds and wolves serve me! I am totally amazed by this.
The Lord Warden Cleges, my recently appointed Minister of War, says that those numerous hawks and wolves are precisely what hath caused my Man army to be at the top of the land of Inland. He says, though they be weak, they are numerous. He also says that other nations may now fear Man’s growing might.
I love it!
I especially want to keep the fear in the minds of the Inquisitors of Marignon. Those guys scare the living hell out of me. All that intense fervor and scare tactics and burning people at the stake. How can they keep the population under control doing these kinds of things?
In fact, I read the report from Umidor with trepidation. It seems that when my hawks and wolves arrived, they found Marignon already entrenched. I had ordered that we fight only Pythium! How did this happen. I am doubly worried now.
I summoned Ralph to explain. He had just returned from a delicate diplomatic mission to Marignon. It did not take long for Ralph to arrive.
“My dear Uncle!”
Ralph bowed to me and replied, “My dear Queen! You called for me?”
“Yes, I did. I want to hear everything about Umidor. And I mean everything.”
“Well, Selena, you had ordered the army to attack only Pythium. We obeyed, or so we thought we had. But in two provinces, unbeknownst to us, Marignon had also attacked there during the same month. Our army arrived and attacked as ordered. It was only afterwards that we found the slain enemy to not be from Pythium.”
“Two places?”
“Yes, two. In Aole, the entrenched Marignon army proved too powerful for the hawks. The animals fought briefly, a few of our hawks died, and they all retreated in haste with fright. Marignon lost nothing and therefore kept Aole. But in Umidor, we had a much stronger invasion army. We attacked the small but well-entrenched Marignon army and utterly destroyed it to the last man. When we examined the bodies, we discovered they were not Pythium soldiers as our scouts had led us to believe.”
“Oh my!”
“Yes, my Queen, an apt response. Oh my indeed!”
“We cannot afford a war with the zealot inquisitors right now.”
“I know.”
“Tell me all, Ralph.”
“Yes, my Queen. I hear and obey. As you know, I just returned home from the Marignon capitol, where we frankly discussed both these incidents. And I have a signed document from Father Muszinger himself that both these fights have been ruled to be pure accidents! It seems that they want to avoid war with Man every bit as much as we want to avoid war with them!”
I let out a long, slow sigh of relief. I did not even realize I was holding my breath! And I knew I would sleep better tonight than I had for quite a while.
Ralph continued, “Selena, we even made an agreement about which former Pythium provinces should belong to which nation! We pledged to keep communications open so that accidental battles between our nations do not happen again.”
“Very good, uncle. Very, very good!”
“But…”
“Darn, there is always a but!”
Ralph closed his eyes for a moment. When they were reopened, he continued evenly, “But, in Umidor, where we liberated the land after Marignon had liberated it from Pythium first, we saw evidence of people burned at the stake.”
“But that is normal for the Inquisition, right?”
“Yes, of course it is. Those guys are incredible zealots. If anyone in their controlled lands doesn’t believe properly, they die a gruesome death. But, Selena, you have to realize that our army arrived only days after theirs! They actually had an Inquisition set up in a few short days! I had not completely realized the full measure of their zealotry. I do now.”
“I see. What do we do?”
“Well, nothing to Marignon, for there is not one single thing we can do about the Marignon Inquisition. That will continue unabated.”
“What about Umidor?”
“There, we must try to convince the populace to worship you instead of Aftial. I am sending some Monks to preach your divinity. I hope we can stamp out the last vestiges of the Inquisition locally. It may take a while, though. Meanwhile, the populace has growing unrest, for there are an amazing number of zealots still prowling Umidor from the few days that Marignon was in control. Furthermore, Suthu has a big problem with zealotry, for Marignon actually controlled that one for a while before Pythium took it back from them and we took it from Pythium.”
“I see.”
Ralph then asked softly, “Are we done, my Queen? If you will excuse me, I do have more correspondence to write.”
I smiled and said, “Yes, my Prophet. And I thank you for keeping me informed and always telling me the truth in our private discussions.”
Ralph nodded politely, bowed to me again, and quietly exited my chamber. I stayed deep in thought. Ruling a nation was such a huge responsibility, but I was surely growing into the job. I had no other choice anymore anyway.
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Marignon
Start small. Unstop your ears.
"Gentlemen , I am as fond of pointless talk and endless meetings as the next man, unless the next man enjoys pointless talk and endless meetings, but we have been following this Pythium army for five ..."
"Three, sir."
"Three months now, and we are no closer to defeating it then when we started."
"I must say, Father, that I agree with Sir Gawain in this instance, even though he is in muscle-bound idiot. We cannot catch this force and while we all stay together here the border is in disarray. Everywhere the forces of Pythium slip into weakly defended provinces. The beasts of Man hold parts of the Plains of Eternal Peril and ..."
"Polgrave, relax. We'll regain the lands once this last gasp of the empire's strength is quashed. I remember standing on Canese Plain with you arguing that we had to follow this force North and protect your precious Shadow Watch. Now all of a sudden you've changed your mind-"
"And you change yours as we get close to your precious forest and dark temple-"
"Brothers! Peace be among you."
Open your eyes.
A frail, sickly man glares hatred at a relaxed man in red robes. This paragon has his feet up on a small stool while another man wearing the dark robes of the inquisition stood nearby. The dark robed man spoke again.
"The Three Below must remain united in this. Pressure from Marignon is increasingly calling for an end to this war to enable the great final battle against the shadow, or to fight the Vans or the lizards. Especially since your spy, Polgrave ..."
The frail man sputtered indignantly, "Barely mine. You know that whole cadre answers to Avoca."
"What is this news the spies bring?" This from the booming voice that opened this conference.
"Never mind." snapped Polgrave.
"Yes, sir-thinks-not-much shouldn't hear scary stories," said the relaxed man shifting his weight a little.
"No, Wic," said the inquisitor. "Rumors must be brought into light and tried before God." He turned to Sir Gawain, "A spy reports seeing Vanheim's mages using death magic in a battle with Pythium forces. A bane, and many wights were among the undead reported."
"My God! But this is horrible news. We have only five allies ..."
"Three, sir."
"Three allies in this war. If one of them has fallen into darkness ..."
"Yes, yes, yes," said Wic, getting up. "Very wrong, very naughty of them. But before anyone believes this flunky he will have to come before the inquisition to prove his veracity. I assume Ratty here will conduct the trials himself and, well, people do die during the trials . Dreadfully sad of course ... "
"Wic! You overstep the bounds of godly conversation. And you will address me as Father Muszinger. The trials are judged by God alone. I am merely the vessel of his righteousness. The inquisition is not used for political aims, and if these ridiculous charges happen to be true, a notion so ridiculous I laugh at the mere thought," (the speaker's face was devoid of mirth) "If they are found to be true then of course we must have peace with what remains of Pythium and war with the Vans!"
"Yes, father." said Wic in a sullen voice, but a smile in his eyes.
Loose your tongue ...
What am I seeing?
The war council of those who did you wrong. Esclave is about to speak.
"My lords! My goodly lords." Esclave's voice could be heard above the chatter only with difficulty. He looked nervous. "Are we not here to discuss how to defeat the Pythium legion rampaging through our lands?"
"Yes," said Gawain, "The little man is right."
Wic casually flicked his wrist and the candle by Gawain flared, singeing his beautiful hair. The knight put his hand on his sword but only but only glared back at Wic. Then he spoke, "Do we have bows?" Everyone ignored him.
"Can't we just assassinate the leaders? Doesn't Aftial have a club of martyrs for that cause?"
"I believe she just had the one," said Muszinger. "Now deceased."
"And where is Aftial, Father? Couldn't she just drop from the heavens and deliver good smitings all round?"
"As I understand it, and I am no mage, such an act requires some advanced and forgotten earthly magic to aid her heavenly abilities. She is working to discover this, and also was busy planning the fort at Towen ..."
"Another fort!" said Gawain with a sigh. "Don't have enough? We've got, what, Marignon itself, the Shadow Watch, Camelot, that's five ..."
"Three, sir"
"Three already, why more?"
"The lizards are capturing many of Pythium's forts. We need to protect our land."
Polgrave spoke gently, "So what can we do?"
"The LORD has revealed to us how heavenly fire may fall for great distance and burn the unfaithful. Marignon and Spire will be blasting the army with this. The fires may not kill a man in armor, but the theurgs and communicants will toast up nicely.
"Very good," said Wic with gusto, "That'll finally whittle them down. What else?"
"For now, little. We will attempt to guess where they will head next, and I will take some of the fastest troops to meet up with the eastern army. Whether by fire, or the sword, we will send this army to their final rest." Father Muszinger rose, signaling the end of the conference.
Well?
I do not understand why you show me this.
In time, all will become clear.
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Pangaea
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Pythium
The journey had been easier than they thought, only a few Lizard militia had attempted to stop them as they made their way around the lake. But then they had reached the library, at first they were overjoyed, surely fellow scholars would put aside petty political squabbles to help colleagues in need. However, they had not counted on the presence of a militia commander, who had soon convinced the sages that they were Pythian commandos intent on sabotaging their research. Miraculously, they had won the ensuing battle (if one could call it that, it was mostly just the tossing back and forth of minor charms). Of course, they could not stay at the library, they would no doubt be hunted by the Van militia not to mention the now justifiably upset sages.
Both soon caught up with them some miles west in Belmar. Once again they faced across a battlefield colleagues whose names they recognized from research papers (not that they were very hard to remember, they had some very odd naming traditions in Vanhiem). The battle went on for some time, with mages on both sides falling unconscious, then coming to just long enough to cast one more spell. At last the guardsmen that had been with them through all of this decided the fight unwinable, and attempted to pull out under the cover of some of the theurg's illusions. Degalus eventually was forced to leave behind his unconscious students as the militia closed in, and he tried to follow the guardsmen. He had not made it far off of the battlefield before rounding a tree and almost colliding with one of the Van mages. Sage A wasted no time in stopping his heart with a quick shocking grasp spell.
It had been a good few years running the temple of the druids in Saran Forest. Of course, not all the druids joined the new theurg order, but enough that the long-shot mission Silvius had been sent on was considered a success. He had then been made official administrator of the temple, and eventually even gained the respect of the nature priests enough to be named honorary druid. The new order had done much to build the empire, with members spread far and wide searching for sites of magic, building temples and laboratories.
But now they were called to war. The battlemagic of the druids had not improved much since the time of the conquest of Brutus, but every priest was needed against the undead hordes the Lizards had mustered, and druids had better eyesight than most. Silvius had manged to gather the entire order apart from Rex, who was apparently engaged in some kind of rescue operation related to war with Vanhiem.
It was tense journey to the Legion mustering ground in Boggdarn Weald, they had heard many tales that the land was thick with assassins, and many theurgs and communicants had gone missing. When they arrived they found again more bad news, the New Temple of Nature's Will had been ransacked by some insane religious fanatic from Marignon that had slipped past the Legion. But there was not much time to contemplate repercussions of the event. The neighboring fortress of Sibermark was under siege, and the Legion could not afford to delay a confrontation with the Lizard army any longer.
When the army arrived in Sibermark, the Lizards were ready for them. Ranks of ironclad lizards with eyes like slits, behind them the robed lizards obviously the much rumoured Sauromancers known to be masters of unlife, and flying above it all, a red Dragon of such immense size it made the fire drakes in their own army look the size of iguanas.
They were ready for the endless hordes of undead known to be the favorite tactic of the Lizard mages, what they were not ready for were the clouds of fear that swept in on the legion. All but the bravest of of the legionaries were running before they even reaching the enemy line. The mercenary and his fire drakes more than earned their gold by holding the line when Pythium's own legion had fled, and frying countless undead and lizards before finally being overwhelmed. The Lizards quickly swept past the remaining troops and were on the druids and theurgs before they could react, the last things they saw were heavy falchions descending.
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T'ien Ch'i
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Ulm
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Vanheim
In which we learn what Belletennares saw while strolling, and what Pherios did about it.
Belletennares
"Well," said Vethru. "You've thrown them out of Vanheim. Congratulations."
I nodded. That the plan would work, I had been confident; that it would continue to work, I was uncertain. Our forces, though highly mobile, were spread thin. The enemy could very easily, once again, infiltrate its forces into our territory at almost any point. That we could expel them as easily was little comfort. The disruption, we could not afford.
Vethru continued. "When will you throw them out of Fom and Great Woods?"
"Soon," I said.
"And Iron Range? I need to get into that tower!"
"Reinforcements have arrived; I will storm the castle soon."
"Excellent."
"And what then?" I asked. "What is our next target?"
"Whatever you want. Just keep what we have."
"And the war? When does it end?"
He smiled. "Will it ever? Your nephew doesn't think so. He's starting to sound as apocalyptic as the Marignonians," he said. "No matter. Use your judgment, unless I tell you otherwise."
As I saw him to the dock, I wondered: when does the risk become too great? We have no hope of massive conquest against our more powerful neighbors, yet we cannot be left out of the spoils. Vethru's wink, as he was rowed away, told me that he knew exactly the dilemma he had left me with.
Later, I walked the night alone. My small dose of Alteion's gift is peripatetic; as I wander, my mind drifts, and my feet bring me to visit places where the future impinges on the present. This night was portentous. I walked deeper in dream than is usual, visiting many locations, each more ominous than the last. I cannot say which of them truly existed and which were only landscapes contained in my own imagination. Of this, though, I am sure: I was drawn by destiny, towed by a thin hawser through the heaving swells of possibility.
I paced along the campfires circling the walls we besieged. As I walked on the beach, I startled a nest of seagulls. I inspected the dying embers of a pyre, of what, I do not know. I visited a graveyard, dark and still.
Through the night, I felt the presence of my nephew Pherios beside me, as if I were guiding him, or acting as his proxy on roads he could not tread himself. Perhaps my small gift had become an agent of his, or perhaps it truly was the gift of Alteion's house, and we but shared it in common.
He walked with me, I felt, when I encountered the dark rider. I came upon it as it rode down a fleeing victim on a straight, dark road overhung by trees. I watched its terrible blade rise and fall.
"Who are you?" I called.
"The enemy of your enemies," it replied, in a chill whisper. It coughed, and it sounded to me like the bark of the hounds of Hel.
"Will you come home?" I asked, or perhaps Pherios asked, through me. At the time, the question seemed appropriate; in retrospect, puzzling.
It flinched. I heard the rustle of mail under its black cloak.
"I have found no path but sorrow," it said. As it wheeled its horse, I could see the horse's reins were wrapped around the stump of its left hand. It galloped into the night.
I would not have credited the experience with any truth, or even any reality outside my own unquiet mind, but the next morning, my scouts reported finding the body of a Pythium deserter, on a straight, tree-lined road, cut down by a rider, left in festering decay.
I detailed my memories in script and dispatched it immediately to Pherios, with the day's reports.
Pherios
Later that afternoon, I returned to Petema's house, bruised and unsuccessful. Molly was still working in the library. She looked up when I walked in. "Sir..."
"Pherios," I corrected her. It had taken her almost a month to learn to speak to me informally, but every now and then, especially when she was nervous, she returned to her old ways.
"Pherios," she said, with concern. "Are you hurt?"
I thought I had washed away the blood. She must have seen my puzzlement. "I heard it," she explained. "About it, I mean."
No blood, then. It never gets easier, being around a seer. "Tell me."
"Someone was reporting to Vethru. Vethru asked if you were injured. The other man, a messenger, said, 'Not too badly. She had no choice. He wouldn't leave.' Vethru thanked him, and I heard the door close."
After getting my uncle's note, I had thought it was time to press forward. I tried to convince Kestumaia to tell me what happened to Galameteia. She refused, and when I insisted, she and her Valkyrie friends threw me out. Hard.
"And then..." said Molly.
"There's more?"
"I heard another voice. One I didn't know."
"What did it say?"
"First, Vethru asked, 'Where is she?' " Molly said. "Then, the other voice said, 'We're not sure; we lost track after she left Iron Range.' "
I didn't think there was anyone important she hadn't met in the last month. I asked her to describe the voice.
"It was odd, kind of small. I couldn't tell if it was a woman or child, or I guess it could even be a man with a high voice. It was almost musical but also kind of coarse."
Quellian Ji knew something! I couldn't believe I'd overlooked Ji. I hadn't seen him much recently, since he spent most of his time with Vethru. But he knew something about Galameteia.
"Who? Who is it?" she asked anxiously. For her, it was as important to recognize the voices she heard as it was for me to decipher the symbols the birds represented.
"Please?" she said.
I could hear the tension in her voice. It wouldn't leave her until she knew. "It's Quellian Ji. You've seen him. He's Vethru's seagull."
"Is he Vethru's familiar?" I couldn't tell if she was frightened or just confused.
A plan started to form in my mind. "No, just an advisor. You should meet him..."
* * *
Ji flew in the window of the library and landed on the table. "Hi, kid, it's been a long time."
"Molly isn't here yet," I said. "Make yourself at home."
"Thanks. How have you been? Hey, can I have some of these blueberries?"
"Go ahead," I said, and while he was occupied, I closed the only open window in the room. I sat down at the table. "Let's talk about Galameteia."
"C'mon, kid. You know the boss won't let me." Then he noticed how serious I was, and he looked around the room at the closed windows and doors. "Oh, crap. Look, Pherios, I'd like to. But boss says no. I can't talk about what happened...then."
"I want to hear that story eventually, but today, I'd like to know where she is now."
A pause. He wasn't going to give anything away. "You know I can't say anything."
I leaned forward. "Do you think you're leaving before you do?"
He squawked. "Sorry, kid, but you don't scare me as much as him. The worst you can do is torture and kill me, and you're too nice for that."
"I need to know!" I said. I didn't know if he was right. I didn't know if I wanted him to be right or not.
"No, you don't," he said, softly. "You really don't."
"There's a hole in my heart, Ji. It's still bleeding. It won't stop until I see her again."
"Just forget it. Please."
"It's destined," I told him. "I see it constantly. It won't leave me alone. I know, it won't fix anything. But it needs to end. Until I see her, until I know what happened, I can't rest. I know it's a blade waiting to fall, so let's be done with it. I need to move on."
"Jeez, kid!"
"Please! Help me. Have you ever lost someone, and not known what happened?"
He flattered his wings. "Damn. Let me think...look, I don't know. I guess I know somebody. I can ask..."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me, kid. I ain't doing you a favor."
"I know," I said. "I've seen it."
"OK. Just promise me this--don't tell him. He finds out, you saw all in a vision, right? Leave me out of it."
"All right," I said, and I got up and opened the window. Ji flew to the sill.
"Good luck, kid. Hey, I will see you again, won't I? You aren't, uh, looking for the easy way out?"
"We'll meet again, friend. There are no easy ways out. Not anymore."
* * *
I found the rendezvous point without much difficulty. It was within Vanheim, near a secluded waterfall in dense forest. The stream was only six or eight feet wide, and the waterfall was not much taller.
Quellian Ji's contact rode up on the opposite side of the stream, silently, in the manner of the Vanir, out of the green. Although she rode, she wore the scale mail of a Valkyrie. She wore a full helm, with its visor down. A white cloak trailed behind her. She did not dismount.
I bowed deeply, and she nodded in return.
"A great wrong has been done to her, and to you" she said. "It will not be undone if you see her." Her voice was hollow in her helm, yet hoarse as well.
"I know, Lady."
"It will not ease your heart, or your mind."
"That I also know."
She fidgeted with the reins. "I want to help you, son of Alteion. But I am not sure you know what is best for yourself. Your choices are born of pain. Do you still see clearly?"
"I wish I didn't. It is fated, Lady. It blocks my path. Until it is over, I cannot be whatever I must be."
"Very well. I will contact you, when it is time." She turned her horse to leave. "Have courage, dear Pherios. Afterward, if you have need of me, tell Ji."
The familiarity I had been feeling in her presence coalesced. It was she that wrote an anonymous note to me half a year ago. "Do I know you, Lady?"
As she disappeared, she called, "I am forgotten and remembered."
I looked up to the sky, and two white birds flew across a streak of blue breaking through the canopy. Peace, at last?
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