by Kalyn Crowe
Her tail plopped over my neck.
I pulled a piece of her down off my lip. "You know, they didn't tell me anything about tomorrow. Aside from Conrad coming in the morning." I stroked her tail.
She stood and turned before she laid back down with the charm visible. She didn't even blink.
I whispered, "I don't even know what the charm is, let alone what I should do with it."
She twitched one ear and turned away again.
Before I fell asleep, her tail batted me in the face one last time.
9 - Within Shells
Someone tapped on the side of a bowl downstairs. Breakfast. "I should help."
I got dressed, pulled the blankets over the bed, and scooped up Kepi.
Leyla's door was open, and her bed a disheveled heap.
I smiled and went down the stairs.
Before the final step, I peeked into the kitchen.
Conrad stood by the stove and whisked something in a large bowl.
Leyla flipped a strange purple circle with a spatula. Maybe blueberry pancakes? It didn't smell like pancakes. The rich scent reminded me of roast chicken more than anything.
Eda came in the front door and shook off the cold. She held a parcel in both arms.
I hurried down the hallway. "Here, sorry, I'm late getting up." I took the packages from her.
"It's quite all right. Thank you; you can set those on the couch."
Leyla's scroll floated over. "Good morning!"
I looked at Conrad.
She smiled. "The same people share our secrets." She glanced at him, and the scroll faced me. "We wanted to let you sleep, sounds like a big day ahead for Nancy."
Hunger left.
Eda took coffee from one of the packages and put a kettle on the stove. Conrad poured his batter into a muffin tin, and Leyla opened the oven door.
They made a family of sorts.
Conrad caught my stare. "Muffins in about twenty-five minutes."
"Sounds great. Is there anything I can help with?" I said.
"There will be enough." He pulled out a chair for Eda.
She placed a mug down for him and another for herself, followed by a stack of plates and a single saucer. "He tells me Nancy is to complete her induction paperwork at the Hunter Headquarters. That is after she and her uncle enjoy a nice meal with her hostess." She sat and smiled with her eyes as she took a sip.
I pulled out a chair for myself and watched Leyla pile the purple circles on a plate. I said, "So what is Meredith doing today?"
Conrad sat across the table. "Unfortunately, we can't head straight to the office. People expect Nancy to complete that paperwork and attend an induction meeting." He gripped his mug. "We do have a plan to get you into the invoker wing of High Hall where the office is. We'll try for tomorrow. The longer we wait, the more we risk exposure."
"All right." My decoy had taken a much slower train and would jump this morning, maybe already had. I was Nancy or nothing now.
Leyla set down two mugs and the kettle with a nervous smile.
I poured us both a cup.
She then placed a platter of the weird purple things on the table. "Eggs! Oh, and let me get this."
Eggs?
She picked up a little gravy boat from the counter. "Syrup!" She slipped into the seat beside me.
Conrad served us each two.
With a shade darker than lavender whites and a deep indigo yolk, these 'eggs' were the size of a regular pancake. At least the syrup smelled like maple.
He snickered, then Eda joined him, but Leyla frowned.
She said, "Oh, no, do you not like eggs?" Her cheeks grew rosy. "Wait, they don't ship these out of the city; I didn't even think about it. I'm sorry."
"No, no, they look, really, interesting."
Conrad passed the syrup. "They also don't use them at the orphanage, don't want to risk anything Abyss related there."
I doused them and passed the syrup on. "Wait, Abyss related?"
Eda stood and pulled a bright blue egg the size of her hand from a basket. "Chimeras."
I blinked at it. "I'm sorry?"
"One of the many innovations the war brought." Eda set the egg down.
Leyla said, "Abyssist protesters burned, or dissolved, the city's food stores. The council needed a solution."
"Was that before the war?" I said.
Eda sat back down. "During it. Travere signed the Concordances for peace with the East before the Abyss War started. However, our countries completed the Sleigh several years after the Abyss war ended. Shipping up and down the mountain was impossible during the winter before then."
"My wife told me about massive clutches of eggs within the first Abyss Ring," said Conrad. "I requested we send scouts. The eggs turned out to be edible, but retrieving them in any meaningful amount cost lives."
"Yes," said Eda. "So great minds came up with the idea to tame an Abyssite through forced thought."
No wonder the Order kept the project buried. The Theocratic Council fostered the general despise of Abyss in the populace. Anything with Abyss, outside of destroying it, was irrevocably painted as taboo. Let alone mind control or eating Abyssite eggs. It seemed almost sacrilegious but undoubtedly fascinating.
Leyla smiled and chewed. "High Lord Travere handpicked my parents."
"To be fair, the Theocratic Council had the final say. My brother was a Spiritist, and Leyla's mother an Apexist." Eda tucked her monocle chain in her robes and picked up her fork.
So then Leyla had an Apex Attunement, but couldn't invoke. It took a moment before I said, "But you called it a 'Chimera' egg?"
Conrad said, "The Abyssite proved too difficult to control and wouldn't lay, even after they tried to imbue it with calm from a Spiritist."
"They can do that?" I touched the egg with my fork. "Put a crafted emotion into another thing?"
Eda tapped her napkin to her lips. "In theory, yet, as he said, it did not work. So they brought in an invoker who could combine Anima physically."
I caught my face had tightened into a quizzical confusion. "A Formist, or?"
Eda shook her head.
Conrad already finished one egg. "Your mother."
I let my expression betray my astonishment. "What?" I looked at Eda and back to Conrad. "Should I start asking what she wasn't involved in?"
She laughed. "The two major projects were these Chimeras and the Maw with its Capstone seal. We do not speak of the Chimeras nor their eggs outside the city, and rarely within it. Even though the creatures lay far less these days, they are too valuable to destroy without reason. So, the eggs are a local fair for sanctioned customers only."
Conrad grumbled. "Meaning those who won't betray what they are, and who don't fear Abyss taint. They aren't very popular now."
Eda smiled at him and took a small bite.
"During the food crisis, the public here accepted their packages of eggs blindly and didn't dare ask questions." Conrad poked one of the yolks with his fork. "When they faced the decision between starvation and religion, they chose to eat. Even the council members."
"No one questions even now for fear of judgment. People trust the council, and in turn, the council knows all too well how to manipulate the populace," added Eda. "That they suggested the Chimera project at all shows this."
We all quietly agreed, but then I asked, "You said combine Anima physically, what did my mother do?"
Eda sipped her coffee. "You know everyone has aspects of all six Anima in them. It is why a Conductist can heal by speeding up a process we already have. Our bones have Form's shape and Resistance's strength. We take and create, feel, and have shape. A Weaver harnesses all six Anima and physically manifests them as filaments." She gestured toward me.
I nodded.
"And we know an invoker uses their life force to fuel their Anima use. We understand this is why one can stave off or even treat spell sickness by drinking blood. Some component in it seems to keep us alive." She eyed me like I might complete
the thought.
I blinked and weighed the implication of blood and magic. "So, using the tie between life force, or blood, and invocations, my mother, Wove a creature?"
She nodded. "That is overly simple, but in essence, correct, or so we believe. And not all on her own, she created the physical, my brother and sister gave it life in the shape of a personality. They made it trainable."
I yearned to work on something like this. "So then, whose blood did my mother use?"
"The Abyssite's and a chicken's. The Chimeras have aspects of both. Simple-minded, for the most part, but prolific egg layers. The first group of Chimeras would lay clutches sizable enough to shame whole chicken coops. Now, all of them lay much less, but they still live at the main stable here in the city." Conrad poured Kepi some syrup. "Go on and try them."
I used the side of my fork and cut myself a mouthful.
Everyone tried not to watch but still did.
I stuck it in my mouth and chewed quick.
Even Kepi cocked her head and then lapped up her syrup.
It tasted like steak, and to my surprise, the sweet glaze of the syrup complimented the savory flavor. "These are delicious. Weird but good."
After we ate, Eda activated a Conduction imbued faucet. It pumped water into a basin all on its own.
I brought plates over.
She pushed her sleeves up.
A 'T' shaped scar started on the back of her wrist and ran along the top of her forearm.
My attention shot up to her face and met her eyes.
We said nothing.
A Spiritist sensed emotions through invocations, but our laws demanded something more concrete. A suspect caught in an outright lie, for example. For a Spiritist to discern falsehoods from the truth, a person must speak or write answers.
Flayed skin made people talk. A Conductist healer made it possible for them to talk a lot. Right up to the moment their bodies no longer possessed the energy to bind back together.
So for Eda to stand before me, meant she somehow not only passed Inquisition but lived.
She moved her scarf down from her jaw, and there the same scar loomed. The line probably ran the entire length of her arm and neck.
I set the plates beside the sink, my lips numb.
With Leyla's silence, I knew Eda's brother and sister were heretics. I hadn't given how it affected Eda another thought. Not only that, but her family worked with my mother.
I looked at my hands.
Was it my mother's fault the Voclains endured all this?
Eda said, "I barely recall anything. What I did say kept Leyla alive and in my care and apprenticeship."
I blinked away the burn in my eyes and a pang of heavy guilt in my chest. "The Inquisitor must have asked about my mother."
"I knew very little then of her or my brother and sister's work than what we spoke of before. Details of the Chimera project were of utmost secrecy always, and still."
"But, if we get caught." Air caught in my throat.
Conrad said, "Did you think they'd simply kill you?"
I looked over my shoulder and clenched my jaw.
He deflated. "The Order is dangerous."
"But you work for them," I nearly shouted.
"A dog relies on the kindness of its master." He lowered his eyes and voice.
"There's more to this than peace or finding the Counterbalance, isn't there?" I said, calmer, but still harsh.
He glanced at the empty egg platter. "You seem to think you are unique in your suffering. In your loss."
Shame and anger fought over me.
Eda said, "We are all unique in our point of view, but we share experiences. In our case, we share a past."
"Your family and my mother."
She nodded.
"What were they charged with, your sister and brother, I mean?"
Kepi climbed to the counter and sniffed.
"Abyssal sympathizing." Eda leaned on the sink. "Someone claimed they hid a wanted Abyssist. Rumor holds this person helped in their Chimera work."
"Like my mother." I took a few breaths.
Conrad never took his attention from the plate. "I admit, something strange happened under my nose. I let the known creators of the Chimera all become dead heretics under sorry claims."
Eda studied him. "It is not your fault."
He closed his eyes.
She said, "In theory, the Chimera also should have died with their makers. Something holds them here, something those creators learned in their work together." She squinted at the window above the sink. "My family's other works faded, but not those touched by Philomena."
Of course.
"This is why I have involved myself. I can not give Leyla her voice back. Not even a Conductist can heal scar tissue. Yet, should you be successful, I hope she might have a life without scorn and mistrust."
Leyla stepped forward. "And at least we'll know the truth, good or bad."
I'd never felt necessary. It was like fire, warm, but scary.
"All right, let's get this first part out of the way." I strode to the door and stepped into my boots. "Leyla can help, can't she? Nancy is clueless about paperwork."
Conrad nodded.
She looked at Eda.
She bowed her head.
The scroll flew over. "Yes, what a perfect excuse!"
I grinned.
She carried Kepi in one arm and reached for her shawl.
Conrad didn't' budge. "Ladies, you are both forgetting something."
We stopped and looked at one another.
He rubbed his nose and closed his eyes.
"Apex, my scroll is out." She pulled it from the air.
"And Kepi," I said.
She cooed, but it came out nearly a sigh.
"Right, I'll get my jacket and bag now." I ran back upstairs.
Eda's voice drifted behind. "They are both so like their parents."
"I'm worried enough as it is," said Conrad.
10 - Names
Clad in the black jacket of Nancy, I carried Kepi in her bag and walked beside Conrad.
Leyla followed. Head bowed.
Like Meredith would.
The eyes along the street expected it. So we gave them their show, and in turn, I tried to appear pleasant.
A few blocks back, Eda turned toward the High Hall. The reliquary sounded like a maze of files and storage for the Order's more esoteric items. If she stole Leyla's scroll from there, it might be incredibly old, but it looked new.
Conrad stopped as the street ended in a square.
At our feet, the Rays of Zirore fanned out before us in silver mosaic tiles set in the stone pavers. The middle Ray pointed toward a massive gray stone building, nearly a quarter of the block. It loomed five stories tall. Three pointed roof towers complete with arrow slit windows topped it. A small inset door sat in much larger solid iron gates. It stood out like a massive sore thumb.
One of the city's many spire-like towers rose from the center of the square. Impossibly thin, it was like a silver needle in the stone with a colorless glass shade around the top. So they were alarm towers.
Uniform two-story shops and eateries stood around the headquarters. They appeared almost whimsical with arched windows and white stone walls.
People in soft-colored robes meandered around the square and entered the various buildings.
Vicars made up the majority of Pinnacle and fostered its livelihood. They cooked, taught the very young children, and delivered mail from the aviaries. Vicars formed the Order's largely unappreciated lifeblood.
They bowed their heads as a group of templars who patrolled through the square in gleaming armor — the muscle.
As for the brain, I didn't see any invokers out and about. They likely studied or taught at the high-level schools. Some researched our new Anima technologies like Eda's self-pumping sink.
Of course, now and then, a dark jacket moved among the buildings and pedestrians. As the Order's eyes, hunters seemed the most my
sterious.
"Uncle?"
"Yes, Nancy?"
"The other Arms have headquarters in the High Hall, don't they?"
"They do."
"So, why is the hunter's separate?"
He smirked. "When the Order added the hunters, there wasn't room to add to the High Hall. Neither the invokers nor templars wanted to downsize within it." He looked toward those towers which loomed over the other rooftops. "And no High Hunter has ever complained."
I smiled and checked on Leyla.
"Each Arm has legal jurisdiction over the other two and its unique private records." He cleared his throat. "This is why templars arrested someone like the Weaver of the Maw and not invokers."
Interesting. "Why do the Hunter Headquarters look so different from the rest of the buildings?" I pointed toward our destination like a proper tourist.
"You see, the ancient Order quarried the city's stone from much further north. They built our HQ some two-hundred years ago. They no longer could source all this white, shimmery stone." He looked over the rough facade and frowned in approval.
"The black sheep," I said.
"Wolves hunt at night."
Perhaps they weren't the eyes, but the shadow.
We walked without another word across the square, over the Rays.
I gripped the bag's strap tight.
Kepi stirred.
"Come on, then. Leyla will assist you with your induction paperwork." Conrad pushed open the door for us.
I stopped dead in the doorway.
A broad and tall man stood in the lobby. His brown and silver hair swept back from a steep widow's peak. A jagged cheek scar sharpened an otherwise sweet face. He wore a long, tailored white gambeson with Zirore's Rays quilted on the right panel over his leg. Articulated plate armor covered his left leg. A heap of silver ropes sat buckled on either shoulder, just like on Conrad's. A claymore hung right at home on his back.
Could he be the High Templar? He was only around Sybil's age; I thought he'd be more, well, like Conrad.
He spoke to a woman, shorter but stately, in matched attire and slightly fewer ropes. From her bun of gray hair to her arrow posture, everything about her was uptight.
Beside her, a round-faced boy tried to match her stance. Even then, it only put him at a match for the woman's height and nowhere near her presence.
