by Kalyn Crowe
I couldn't stop the confusion from showing.
"This country shuns Weaving now. But we've always persecuted and monitored Abyssists. Even our Abyss Attuned invokers." She paused and played with the corner of her napkin. "Think about the High Lord's mother."
She spoke of something from years before the war, but everyone knew the story. "Her exile was because she disobeyed a command from the council and previous high lord."
"Her husband, yes. Imagine having him tell you to kill your unborn daughter you wished to keep. Only because she followed in your Attunement."
Again I stayed quiet.
"Would you not disobey anything or anyone to save your daughter?"
The idea I said something to make Kat question as much sickened me. "I would. I didn't mean I wouldn't. What he asked of her was insulting on so many levels. It's strange being able to say as much."
She sighed and turned her glass on the table. "No, I know. No one can speak openly about it." Kat paused and stilled her glass. "I suppose she did choose to leave her son, now our high lord, behind."
I often felt betrayed by my mother, left alone, powerless. However, power didn't stop loss. High Lord Ercan Travere's mother abandoned him with his father, who drove the family apart. "Why did all this happen?"
Kat sipped her water. "The Theocratic Council thought the girl would bring ruin. That she would be too powerful an Abyssist since Travere is such a remarkable Apexist. I don't understand why we destroy to preserve."
Her explanation sounded familiar. "So, in school, they said the council believes a grand Abyssist will topple Zirore's Order. Did they think it was High Lord Travere's sister? They feared a fairy tale that much?"
"Fairy tail?" She sat back and squinted one eye. "The prophecy of the Abyss avatar comes from an ancient northern empire scroll. The founding of the Order comes from writings found with it."
I fiddled with my napkin.
"They make you attend history, yes?"
"They do."
"But like laws, schooling only works if you pay attention?"
I couldn't help but chuckle.
She rolled her eyes but smiled. "I'm sure you know our origin story, though?"
"Well, I'm more familiar with the contemporary version of it."
Kat licked her teeth and nodded. "We based our religion on a maternal Zirore who birthed six daughters. When she allowed them to dance and play together, the Planes didn't exist, only chaos. Zirore decided each daughter needed a task."
"That's how they became known Zirore's Anima," I said.
"Right. Each daughter possessed unique abilities. Their new duties granted them time to work and build together, but no longer frolic. This structure brought focus to our world. Shaped and empowered it, but one daughter refused. She wanted to mix and play as before."
"Abyss," I said.
"Yes, though I doubt that was her name then." Kat folded her hands on the table. "So Zirore created Phase and exiled Abyss beyond it, walled off from our world. To balance this, Apex volunteered for exile. One source of the reverence for Apex, her martyrdom. Also, you can see why we have the five Rays instead of the true six as a symbol."
"She who steals and she who gives." I even made the quotes with my fingers.
Kat smirked. "So you listened a little. Zirore put Abyss and Apex at the bottom and the top of two seven stepped realms. We called them the Rings of Abyss and the Terraces of Apex. An upside-down pyramid and a right side up one."
"But why not give the other four Anima a Plane?"
She shrugged. "They still have realms beyond Phase but are not exiled to them."
Phase — the space between Planes. A seal of sorts that encompassed our Plane and separated the Anima. Unlike a seal, it supposedly consisted of nothingness.
She lifted her finger. "Which we know Phase exists, your mother opened a small hole through it to Apex for practice. The Maw to Abyss passed through this emptiness, too. Some believe Phase to be your Attunement's source of power."
I laid my forearm on the table and turned toward her. "I wouldn't argue the existence of any of this, only how it works."
Her expression became more curious and less put off than I expected. "So then, for example, what is Phase in your mind?"
"Well." I took a moment, so I didn't offend her. "I think scripture is right; it is a space between, but not empty or still. It might connect, not separate, the Anima somehow if only through our Plane."
She looked away and ran her fingers over her napkin. Then she smiled again. "Many times, scripture is a story, an allegory. Centuries ago, religion centered around a tree and its branches before we personified. A tree is more what you describe."
The world tree predated the Order. "But we've seen the Planes. The world tree didn't account for those."
"True, but it did describe different animals. We made them the pets Zirore gave Abyss and Apex as companions. The tree's branches, trunk, and roots all touch. This shape follows your idea that Phase connects Animas."
"I suppose so."
She grinned and plucked another croissant out of the basket, then pulled it apart and gave me half. "Faith or science, I can tell the way we both think is in line with peace."
I took a big bite and covered my mouth. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. I can only hope Philomena thought this way, too." She squeezed flakes of croissant together in her fingers. "I know what I've heard about her arrest scene, but you were there. Your mother wouldn't be that reckless."
Kepi licked her plate but turned an ear toward Kat.
She said, "I know some mothers don't care or don't know how to care, but yours, Philomena, she wasn't like that. Neither was Lady Travere. It makes me wonder if Zirore did lock away her daughter Abyss."
Kepi looked right at her.
Another knock came at the door.
Conrad returned with a carafe of coffee in one hand and dishes and sugar in a small basket. He arranged three cups but set out four saucers. The last of these, he filled and scooted toward Kepi.
She cooed softly and sniffed it.
He poured the rest of us a cup.
Kat set a sugar cube in Kepi's puddle of coffee.
She cooed again and nibbled it.
He interlaced his fingers and tapped his thumbs together. "So, what did I interrupt?"
Kat and I looked at one another.
I diverted my gaze.
She said, "We spoke about Zirore."
"Oh, is that all?" He stirred his coffee.
I picked up and sniffed mine. "We didn't talk about making it through the Form ring in security."
He rotated the cup in his saucer.
"You walked through with the disk on you, didn't you?" Kat said.
He reached into his belt pouch and placed it on the table.
I sat up. "But the Form ring didn't react. How is that possible?"
Kat stared at him. "And Kepi with the charm? With the girl right there?"
He glanced at Kepi. "Meredith carried her through."
She cooed and scooped up some coffee. She ruffled her feathered shoulders before she dipped her head for another sip.
Kat deflated and leaned into the cushions. "So, it's true."
"What is?"
They looked over.
He said, "Of course, we wondered how no one might have known about the charm. How could it slip past detection all these years, how wasn't it found when we shipped you to that town? Sybil told us: Kepi."
She cooed again.
"You see, she can foil a Formist, cancel Anima traces in an aura around her."
I almost dropped my drink. "What, wait, how? Sybil traced the charm, while Kepi wore it."
"Kepi chose to let her see it." He slurped his coffee.
I looked at Kat.
"We don't know how it works," she said. "And we only had Sybil's word before." She turned sharply to Conrad. "Did you test it before you jeopardized all of us?"
He stuck his pinky out and slurped again. "Of c
ourse."
No one spoke for a long moment.
I said, "With my decoy when you took them and Kepi to the station? What if Sybil was wrong?"
"We disclosed everything properly, like Meredith's Weaving, ward, even Kepi." He sipped his drink.
Kat adjusted in her seat. "Except the charm."
"Of course," he replied, "But I also did not disclose an imbued vial of Conduction on the decoy. No one gets arrested for those, so it was safe should the theory have failed. I asked for Kepi to only hide it. Naturally, it worked. And," he lifted a finger, "I went first when the real Meredith and I left, Kat." He tapped the Abyss disk. "Because they can't arrest the esteemed Lord High Hunter for being absent-minded."
I gave Kepi another sugar. "Who knows about this?"
"No one else. Sybil only told us when the charm didn't work," said Conrad.
Kat crossed her arms and then looked at Kepi. "Apexial or not, the council will take her if they find out. Our entire system of law hinges on the accuracy and truth of Form and Spirit Anima detection."
Kepi, the Tempest. More like the eye of the storm. We called areas of no Anima perception 'null zones.' They existed only in theory. Supposedly a distortion in Anima, but no one had a solid concept which explained it.
Nothing seemed warped around Kepi. It could have been that hers didn't affect what we saw, only what we perceived.
Here, but not.
"The council won't find out." Conrad blew on his coffee and watched Kepi drink hers without issue.
"Is she why no one can prove what happened the night my mother died?"
"I doubt Kepi would hide anything to clear your mother." He studied the disk on the table. "Philomena faced a charge for conspiring with an unnamed rogue Abyssist. I can't say Kepi hid this person's trail either."
She flicked her ear.
I leaned back and watched the slight movement of dark coffee in the white porcelain cup. "There's another thing no one knows, who my father is, or was. Could it be him? This Abyssist."
He set his cup down. "If there is an Abyssist, maybe. It would help explain what I saw at your house after Philomena's arrest."
Kat reached over and squeezed my shoulder. "You're saying her father summoned a monster to kill the templar and then let it kill Philomena? Then just left Meredith behind? Kepi would have never disguised such a crime."
She cooed, but it sounded like, well, someone who had more to say.
"No," Conrad said. "Yet the presiding theory says Philomena let in an Abyssite with Weaving and lost control." He frowned.
"You seem not to agree," I said.
He looked out the dark window. "Philomena could have sealed it away. If she failed, why would the monster of spared you and disappeared if her magic stays through death?" He gestured to Kepi.
"She didn't need a monster," I said. "She could have sealed off the house." I paused. "Like the office."
Kat gulped her coffee. "She'd have trapped herself then." She leaned on the table. "But she could have attacked with a different Anima like Resistance."
Conrad rotated his cup in the saucer. "Whatever strategy she chose, she couldn't win and stay in the city. She needed to run."
"Like Lady Travere did," said Kat.
Conrad didn't take his attention from the window. "And like hers, shadows and dust obscure the truth of Philomena's story."
7 - Nieces
I startled awake to find Kat's finger on my shoulder.
She pointed out the cabin window.
Enormous orbs of light radiated from hollows set high in a massive, pearl bulwark. I caught only a glimpse before the Sleigh galloped into a tunnel through the grand barrier.
The Rays of Zirore adorned the inner walls. They flashed by over and over as we sped through the foundation.
Shadows danced around our quiet cabin.
The tunnel opened into the outer city. The same polished stone made up every tight row of buildings — each a set of small, radiant fortresses. Soft lavenders and pinks waved within their flawless surfaces.
Each block held a tower that reached so far into the sky that their tips disappeared into the clouds.
Even though the moon hung high, Pinnacle shone as if on the break of dawn.
Cold seeped into my fingertips through the window glass. I rubbed my hands together.
"We're so high up. It's always chilly here. Especially so this time of year." Kat handed me a fresh coffee and tilted her head toward the outside. "Pretty, isn't it? Like a cut flower in an ice chest."
I took the cup. "I never got a good look at it before, from the orphanage, or even the train I left on. Everything looks so, so perfect, I guess."
Her eyes darted from every shard of glow and glass and slid along the streets and gutters. "Don't worry; it isn't."
Bright clips of light ran across her face.
Thorns waited under these frozen petals.
The Sleigh engine whinnied and trotted to a stop. I gulped. "Kepi, time to get back in our bag." I held it open with a frown.
She preened at her necklace and then climbed in.
Conrad and Kat collected themselves without a sound. She fastened her coat and said, "You and our friend should stay quiet until we are out of the station." She smiled.
"We will."
Conrad said, "Button up, it's freezing, and people will want a look at you." He handed me my hat.
Kat chuckled. "Apex above, girl, don't look like that."
I tucked up my hair. Strands clung between my fingers.
"Try for a more excited than sick look." Kat brushed her sleeves. "Appear sweet and amazed. Gawk a bit."
"That feels stupid."
"Be honest. It's idiotic, but small minds won't think much of a young girl overwhelmed; they'll expect it. Use that."
Conrad huffed and shook his head. He adjusted his collar up. "Remember, we're all deceiving these people. Some I've worked with for decades." He sighed deeply. "We'll atone for ourselves later." He opened the door.
Kat led through the train corridor and out into the station. I moved the strap of my bag over my head and across my body. Harder to steal. My hand rested on Kepi through the leather.
Conrad motioned for a few larger groups to go past us. They looked like vicars in their soft colored coats. Some of them with children. Families. Real people.
Kat, Conrad, and I, in our jet black jackets, felt like a boulder in a river. As we headed for the exit, the stream of people broke around us. The flow bled out into the city and disbursed.
That's when a wall of the same black jackets appeared down the broadest street.
My heart hit my throat. We didn't talk about Nancy. Nothing about what they told other people either. How did they figure an entire group of hunters won't see through this?
"My Lord High Hunter, you've returned." A tall man bowed.
All the others followed his example.
Conrad tilted his head. As he raised it, he opened his hand toward me.
I scuttled closer to him.
He said, "This is my niece, Nancy."
All those steel eyes stayed locked on.
Not only them, but passers-by stared. A small flock of birds dotted the leafless but groomed branches of the only tree in sight. Hunters in their black feathers were everywhere.
I kept my gaze over my right shoulder, at the street corner tree.
A touch on my arm brought me back.
Kat smiled.
I said, "Oh, yes, sorry. It's overwhelming. I've never visited Pinnacle before."
The group collectively sounded pleasant enough in their muddled reply.
Conrad nodded.
I came off close enough to what they recommended. "I'm pleased to meet you all."
They bowed.
I gave them a balanced and crisp curtsy — a typical south-lander thing to do.
"At least she's more charming than her uncle." A woman's voice came from the side. The same one giggled.
Another said, "This will be your f
irst apprentice, then, Katonga?"
"Yes. It's my honor." Kat kept her hand on my shoulder, but not to restrain me. It was more like she'd catch me. It felt strange.
"It certainly is," said still another person from the dark, almost shapeless group ahead of me.
Other voices mixed in agreement, but jealousy lined their tone, the only real part of this.
These people came to impress Conrad, not welcome me.
They acted like they adored Nancy. If Meredith set foot on their pristine streets, they'd arrest her. These people rejected me from college and even from happiness. They condemned me when I gave my best.
I knocked my heel into the ground without much sound. The dirt flakes it left behind, maybe the last, made the knot in my fists and gut loosen.
Thankfully, a conversation broke out between Kat and a few others. She probably hated it too, and I liked her all the more.
Her hand slipped away from my shoulder, but she seemed to keep me in her peripheral.
Several hunters spoke with Conrad. It sounded like updates on cases and information too hushed to make out.
A dull hum of energy coursed through the city. Almost palpable. So many people, so many invocations, and of course, the Maw and its Capstone seal.
The clouds cleared toward the center of the city. They revealed a singularly tall tower that jutted out of the skyline. Buttresses cascaded off its silvered edges. The buildings along the street blocked the view of the rest. Except, two more silvered peaks edged up at angles above the skyline far to the sides. The High Hall couldn't possibly be so large.
For living in this city only ten years ago, I'd never seen it's entirety with my own eyes. Even then, I was only a child and kept inside the orphanage. The trip to the train station and out of town was my opportunity to look around, but I hadn't remembered it. My only memory was when the Order finally let me have Kepi as they sent me to the boarding school in that now far away town. Only eight then, I was surprised they let her come with me.
The birds scattered from their lone tree. The flock curved into the alleyway and flew over a man and a boy about my age. These new people watched me, too.
They looked like templars.
I took a cautious, but casual, step backward. Sure enough, the two glanced away as people often do once caught.
