by D. E. Morris
Kenayde nodded, a knowing frown on her face. “That will do it.” Turning to Ashlynn, her sense of urgency returned. “Lilia and Cavalon have arrived.”
Ashlynn cleared her throat and ran her fingers under her eyes. “Well then, I think it is time we reconvene.”
It hardly came as a surprise to find that most of the others had already begun to gather where Lilia and Cavalon stood in the great hall; his form in the sky would have been seen far enough off that word would have had plenty of time to spread that he was coming toward the castle. It was a bit of a shock to find Mairead on her way to see them, however. By the look of her, if she'd slept at all it had been very little and not well. Though everyone had questions for Cavalon, Mairead only had eyes for Lilia. The two girls threw their arms around each other as soon as they saw one another, relief evident on both of their faces.
“I'm so sorry for everything I said.”
Mairead held her friend just a little tighter. “I should have listened to you.”
Pulling away only enough to look at Mairead, Lilia's eyes were sorrowful. “Your scars...what did she do to you?”
“There will be time for that later,” Ashlynn put in gently. “I would like to move this to a less public area and find out what has happened in Braemar.”
“It isn't good,” Cavalon grumbled. “Where's Badru?”
“Is he okay?” Lilia asked urgently, looking around as though she somehow missed him among those that had assembled.
“He's fine,” said Jaryn, coming down the corridor toward them. “Gifts for you. Don't ask, just put them on and don't take them off.” Handing both Lilia and Cavalon their rings in a close, subtle movement, he then turned to his wife. “I don't think the solar can fit all of us now.”
Tentative, Mairead asked, “I wonder if I could speak with just the Elementals for a moment...yourself included...and Lilia and Killian.”
“The solar can certainly handle that,” Ashlynn conceded. As they all moved as one group toward the familiar meeting place, she glanced at Elas and Kenayde with a grimace of regret. “I will inform you of what I can, when I can.”
Elas didn't hesitate before saying, “Of course.”
Glancing back before they disappeared, Mairead caught his eye and held his gaze for the quickest second. In that moment it seemed as though she wanted to speak, to ask something of him. Ashlynn looked from one to the other in confusion, but it was over in the space of a breath and the group was moving on without her. His eyes lingered only a second longer, a flash of anger amid the cool blue hues, before he turned to Kenayde and extended an arm, serene and understanding once more. “Let's go get Allorah, then.”
Left to question what she had just witnessed, Ashlynn hurried to catch up with the rest of her party, her list of queries piling up minute by minute. Servants were scattered to collect everyone that was needed for the second meeting that day. She kept her mouth shut as she walked ahead of everyone with Jaryn. Vala happened across them, shying away when she saw Lilia but throwing her fear aside as soon as she saw Mairead. The girls were allowed a brief moment to greet one another wherein Lilia offered a reserved apology, but soon they were on their way again.
“Is Vala no longer in Ashlynn's services?” Lilia asked quietly, though not so quiet that Ashlynn herself could not hear.
“Rowan said she has asked for a few days to herself. Apparently you caused her a great deal of mental stress,” answered Mairead.
Lilia scoffed. “Please. Since when do we get days to ourselves? Ashlynn only let her do that because Vala's annoying and Ashlynn's already under enough strain as it is.”
“Ladies,” Ashlynn chided, crisp and clear, “that is enough gossip for now, thank you.”
“We apologize, Your Majesty,” replied Mairead, casting a dark glance at Lilia. The younger woman only rolled her eyes and gave her a smug smile.
Rowan and Lochlainn were already in the solar when the group arrived with Killian watching over them. Misuzu and Tasarin, acting as Luella's proxy, came shortly after. When Badru entered last, he and Cavalon embraced as brothers who thought they would never see one another again, long and solid.
“Don't you ever do that again,” the Badarian growled when they finally parted. He took Badru's face in his hands, giving the older man's cheek a familial pat. “You have any idea how worried Lilia was?”
The question released some of the tension in the room as a collective laughter rippled throughout, and Lilia rose to embrace him as well. He bent to kiss her face, then pressed her knuckles to his lips. “I am overjoyed to see you.”
“You, too.”
“Now that we all know we're all of us alive and happy about it,” said Jaryn, “we've got a mighty amount of business to take care of.” Everyone found their seats around the table, looking to him as the leader, but his attention was on Cavalon. “What's the latest in your country?”
The muscular man heaved a great sigh and ran a hand over his head. “It's pretty grim.” His gaze flicked to Lochlainn, uneasy. “I don't need to say what's going on, but we've discovered a lot of what has been happening is because of a vigilante group that has been pushing people into doing what they're doing, threatening them with death if they don't cleanse themselves, or threatening families.”
“And where one group exists, so more groups are also born,” Killian muttered.
Cavalon nodded. “Exactly. It spread so fast...if the whole thing wasn't disgusting, it would be amazing.”
“Do you have Keepers deployed there?”
“No, so we could use your help.”
“It is yours.”
“Casualties?” asked Rowan.
A humorless laugh came through Cavalon's nose. “Far too many. No one knows what they're doing so pretty much anyone who attempts a purge ends up dying.”
“I think the vigilante groups have origins in Cieria,” Lilia offered, “specifically, Rhiamon's hunters. Though it was brief, I had an up close and personal experience with how they slaughtered their victims, saw the way they held their weapons, how they corralled people before killing them. Everyone that was found in Braemar that wasn't an accidental suicide had the markings of a slaughter the likes of what Connor and I witnessed in Cieria. These people are trained assassins training more men and women to be just as dangerous and deadly as they are themselves, and to reach a wider distance.” She glanced at Mairead before continuing. “The last night I was in Cynefin, when I happened to hear Rhiamon speaking with Merrik, they spoke of someone...Emerion, they called him...Ashlynn, I think he was the elf that tried to assassinate you. I don't think he was meant to truly kill you, though, because Merrik said it all went off without a hitch.”
“Merrik doesn't want to kill me,” Ashlynn growled. “He told me that a long time ago. He wants to toy with me until the very end, and then kill me.”
Lilia frowned. “Clearly this Emerion has a great deal to do with these vigilantes and is connected to Rhiamon and Merrik. It's all tied together.”
With a questioning glance in her husband's direction, Ashlynn asked, “Have you located my father yet? Perhaps we should call him home.”
“Don't do that yet,” Cavalon advised. “I think what he's doing is important. If Siness sees you pulling your people back in, they're going to wonder what's up. He isn't a Gael so he's probably safer than any of us right now.”
“But he's my father,” Ashlynn argued, “and a valued and high-ranking member of the Sinessian high court.”
Cavalon shook his head, unconvinced. “Still pretty inconsequential given recent targets. Let him do his job instead of wandering around here worrying about everyone he loves who happens to be Gaelic and able to do nothing to protect them. Give him this.”
Ashlynn was about to say more, but Mairead's voice invaded her thoughts, startling her into silence. Please, can you two argue later? There is something I must share.
“We'll discuss this further after,” Ashlynn conceded, gaze sliding toward her friend. “Mairead did not as
k us all here to sit and listen to us go back and forth.”
The younger woman shook her head only slightly, her inability to maintain eye contact with anyone for long giving away her nervousness. “I experienced something that I felt important to share, though not, perhaps, with everyone just yet since I am not sure what it means...if it means anything at all. I do not know what Ories told you,” she said, addressing Cavalon.
He shrugged and shook his head. “Nothing but that you were safe.”
She nodded, expression reserved. The whole thing needed to be explained again for the sake of both Lilia and Cavalon, the process of being brought down to the ring stones, the poultice, all of it, but instead of skipping over what happened to her once she lost consciousness, this time she held nothing back. Revealing how she'd hovered above the stones as though not only out of her own body but out of time as well had everyone staring at her with mixed expressions of confusion and disbelief, save Lilia, who understood perfectly. When the man was spoken of, however, the energy in the room shifted to that of great curiosity. She described everything about him that she could remember, from his accent, to the words he spoke, his strange clothing, and his worn face, scarred with know-how, aged by experience, and world-weary, the look of a man who had seen too much, too soon.
When she told them of the way the stranger sent her to Horse Head Island, how he followed her and guided her toward the statues, her voice softened, colored by the trepidation she'd felt in the moment. Mairead looked down at her hands as she spoke of the way the stone lit up at her touch, how it felt as though fire was consuming her from within before blue and gold flames surrounded her body.
Badru and Cavalon met eyes across the table, something unspoken passing between them.
“You summoned fyre?” Lilia asked, skeptical.
“I summoned nothing,” corrected Mairead. “It came to me of its own volition...and it was only a vision. It was not real.”
The inhabitants of the room fell silent, all of them peering around at one another, waiting for someone to speak, to offer up some sort of suggestion as to what any of what Mairead experienced might mean, all but the two eldest Elementals. Once more, they had locked eyes and appeared to be having a silent conversation with one another. Their facial expressions shifted just enough to communicate whatever it was that needed to be understood. Eventually, a muscle in Badru's jaw twitched and he let go of a sigh.
“As mentioned previously when we arrived this afternoon, I felt something from you, likely the same time you had this vision of yours, unhindered by the distance between us. Yes, it could be that it is because your parent element is fire, but I was more than one hundred miles away at the time, being housed by the Nagina who took me in after my fall. Never have I had such a physical and spiritual connection with another over such a distance who was not my opposite.”
“But I am not your opposite,” Mairead pointed out, sweeping a hand toward Rowan. “I am not the Water Elemental.”
“No, you most certainly are not.” Curious, Badru shifted in his chair so that his body was turned more toward Lochlainn. “You felt something as well, did you not?” The little boy nodded vigorously, eyes large with excitement at the prospect of being included in such an important meeting, lips pressed between his teeth. “Can you explain it?” Badru prompted.
Lochlainn looked at his parents who both nodded in encouragement. “Well...” He sucked in a deep breath. “I felt...” He stammered, all eyes on him. “Um...maybe...”
“Speak up, lad,” Jaryn encouraged in a quiet but firm tone. “This is nothing compared to what a king has to face on a daily basis. Think about your words, and try again.”
The little boy wiggled in his seat, tucking his legs up under himself so that he sat a little taller, then took one more breath. “I felt like Mairead was scared...like she was in trouble.” He paused, head tilting and face scrunching up. “But not really in trouble. I don't know.” His cheeks burned and Misuzu sent him a smile, the one in the room the least comfortable with everyone's tough love approach.
“You're doing great, Lochlainn.”
“I felt like she was telling me to come to her, like she was calling me to her,” he added at Misuzu's encouragement.
Mairead was stunned. “I did nothing of the sort. I would not even know how to do something like that, and if I did, why on earth would I call to a child for help, one I care for like my own?”
“Luella did the same thing when she was new to her Element,” Tasarin noted, lifting his brows in Cavalon's direction. The darker skinned man nodded in confirmation.
“That's right. Back before she had any idea what she really was or what she was doing, she called to me.”
Anger and frustration rippled across Mairead's usually calm expression. “But I am not an Elemental.”
“Then why would you dream about fyre?” Lochlainn asked, his innocent question stemming her temper only slightly. He gasped and practically jumped from his chair. “Maybe you're a secret Elemental!”
“I also felt the call for help like an order,” said Badru, calm as though nothing exciting at all was happening in the room. “I teleported back to Cieria as soon as I felt it and shifted to fly so that I could find you to protect you through simple animal instinct, as though it was the most natural thing for me to do without any question.”
“When we were riding home,” said Ashlynn with a glance at Killian, “we noticed how you and Lochlainn fell into formation as though you were her protection then as well.”
Noticing her getting worked up, Lochlainn left his seat to wrap an arm around one of hers and lean his head against her shoulder. “Then what does it all mean?” she demanded, the affection doing nothing to ease her confusion and fear.
“I think it means we need to take a trip to Horse Head island,” Cavalon suggested.
Badru nodded. “I agree. All six Elementals and Mairead should be in attendance.”
“And me,” said Ashlynn. “You're not taking my son all the way up there without me.”
“You're still one of us anyway,” Rowan told her.
Tasarin sighed, annoyance curling down the edges of his lips. “I suppose that means another fevered flight for me, given that this is one situation in which a proxy is not quite sufficient.”
“I'll be in Montania within an hour,” Misuzu promised, not at all bothered by the elf's lack of enthusiasm. “Luella and I will teleport back as soon as possible and then we can be underway right after.”
“It makes more sense to wait until tomorrow,” Cavalon injected. “The sun's already going down and the trip up is going to take a while for Lochlainn. Whatever we're going to encounter up there, if anything, it would be nice to have a full day of sunlight ahead of us to work with and I'm sure the two of you could still use some more rest.” Both Mairead and Badru looked at one another, sharing a small nod that said they could. “That will give me time to go home and fill Nuala in on everything here, too. I know she's been just as worried as I was.”
“And we won't have to fly so quickly,” Tasarin breathed.
The room opened up and some people scattered, their minds already moving onto what needed to be the next focus of their attention. Supper would soon be served, but for a time, Misuzu stayed with Kenayde, both of them bonding as they watched their little girls interact with one another. Tasarin requested some time with Badru, despite the obvious exhaustion the Gaelic man was still suffering. The elf wanted to examine him and to get some blood samples to see exactly how the monkshood was affecting him, if it was still in his system.
Elas joined those who were left over as they congregated in the main hall, catching the end of a plea for Mairead to join Lilia and Rowan for a walk in the garden. She caught his eye as he approached and shook her head, resolute. “Perhaps later. I need to speak with Ashlynn a bit more. Please understand.”
“We do,” said Rowan, tugging on Lilia's hand. Lilia looked anything but understanding as the younger girl led her away, causing Elas
to smirk. He waited for them to pass before finally adding himself to the group.
You all right? he asked without even looking at her. You're white as a sheet. What happened in there?
She stood patiently as ever as Ashlynn and Jaryn spoke with Cavalon. Lochlainn hung onto his mother's hand, his energy obvious as he waited for his chance to speak to the adults. Ask me again tomorrow if I am all right.
Elas gave her a side-eye, one brow rising. Before he could question her telepathic comment, Cavalon turned to Mairead and said, “If the rest of them head up first thing in the morning, do you want to fly up with me, Luella, and Misuzu around noon tomorrow? That will give both me and Lu time to do what we need to, and you a little more time to rest before heading out.”
Mairead nodded with an agreeable expression. “Whatever works best for everyone.”
“Then that's what we'll go with. Now, I need to get home.”
Lochlainn went boneless against Ashlynn but still held onto her hand. “You're leaving already? Why didn't you bring Lucien? Will you bring him tomorrow?”
Cavalon ruffled the little boy's hair, sympathy on his face. “Sorry, little man. This wasn't a social call. I had to move quickly which meant using fyre and it will be the same tomorrow. Besides, Lucien is helping keep some of the kids calm while all of this purge mess is going on.” A darkness clouded his expression that wasn't meant for Lochlainn, though he didn't look away fast enough for the boy to understand as much. “I still don't understand how even the knowledge of a purge reached Braemar. We were so careful in protecting our people from the rumors and we were sure, when nothing happened after the games, that we were safe. Then, almost immediately after yours, it happened by the dozens.”
Lochlainn's brows came together as though something finally made sense to him. “People in Braemar are doing what my mother did?” His eyes went wide and round, and he turned his face up toward Ashlynn, his breathing accelerating. “Mama...”
She immediately crouched, concern on her face as she took him by the shoulders. “What is it, heartling? Are you all right?”
