by Vela Roth
The prince gave a nod and dug his knife into the piece of wood.
Lio took a deep breath. “I am following in great footsteps tonight. I will do my best.”
They all knew Lio’s magic was more than sufficient for the task, but no one reminded him of how powerful he was. Cassia was happy to see a return of his comfortable humility in place of the agony about his power that had overtaken him after Martyr’s Pass.
“If you would prefer not to have an audience,” the prince added, “I am sure Lio’s parents will understand if we go somewhere more private.”
“We can go ahead right here.” Cassia felt more and more comfortable with Komnena, and as for Apollon, she had to admit… “Lio’s father might be able to help us identify them, if he sees my memories.”
“I would value Apollon’s observations,” the prince agreed.
“Hmm,” came Apollon’s response. “There may be a few new Hesperines errant I haven’t met, but I have watched most of Orthros and Orthros Abroad grow up and welcomed every newcomer who joins our people under my Grace’s guidance. I’ll see what I can do.”
The prince met Cassia’s gaze. “Are you ready?”
Lio touched her cheek and turned her to look at him. “We will do this together, Cassia. Every step of the way.”
She put a hand over his. She had walked through these memories alone so many times. Even when she had first shared them with him, she had not yet learned to accept all the support he wanted to give her. This time would be different. “I will tread that path again—with you, this time.”
Echoes
Cassia took a deep breath. “I am ready.”
Lio’s hand slid under her hair and came to rest at the nape of her neck, his fingers cool and gentle. “Close your eyes.”
She exhaled and let her eyes slide shut. As he rubbed his thumb in the groove at the base of her head, she felt his mind enfold hers. This felt like a chaste, reassuring embrace, in contrast to the compelling intimacy of his mind-touch when they were alone.
She recalled the very first time he had wrapped his arms around her, when he had dared to cross her defenses to offer her comfort after she had first told him of the very memories they were about to confront now. As she remembered that moment, she felt his smile in her thoughts.
“Let us begin with that memory,” Lio suggested, “and work backward from there.”
Cassia reached out and found his free hand, taking it in hers.
Lio holding her for the first time. Lio cupping blood and light in their joined hands, explaining her sister was light now. Lio, grief-stricken and furious for her sake, asking how her own father could have done such a thing.
Lio, listening, understanding, as no one else had, as she told him about the three of his people who had changed her life forever.
He had said then, I cannot bear to imagine a history in which you did not survive that night to stand here with me.
He said now, “Sit here in safety at House Komnena and cast your thoughts back to the very first moment you met the Hesperine who saved your life.”
Cassia could see the arrow in the ground that had almost struck her. She could feel her cold feet swinging, feel the Hesperine’s strong arms around her. She could feel her fear. But between her and that childhood terror, she now felt a veil that seemed woven of Lio. The fear receded.
“You don’t need that,” he said quietly. “Information is all we are here for.”
“You are making this easy for me.”
“As easy as possible.”
She squeezed his hand in thanks.
She stopped struggling and let her rescuer carry her away from the threat, away from—no, she did not have to dwell on the fact that her sister’s remains were just there, slipping out of sight on the field below the walls of the fortress.
“Easy, little one. You’re safe. I’ll keep you safe now. Nothing in the world can harm you while I protect you.”
When Cassia heard the lady Hesperine’s voice for the first time in fifteen years, she gasped and jumped in her seat. She felt Knight rise from her feet, and his toes clicked restlessly on the floor. Lio pressed his hand gently against her neck in reassurance.
“Auditory projection,” he murmured. “It’s just thelemancy, making all of us think we hear her. I want to know if Rudhira and Father recognize her voice.”
“Less thelemancy, please,” the prince requested. “I can’t hear her natural tones.”
“That’s not my magic,” Lio replied. “That’s how she sounds in Cassia’s memory.”
The prince made a noise of frustration. “Then the distortions we hear are time and pain. Childhood memories are seldom crystal clear, especially difficult ones.”
“I’m sorry,” Cassia said.
“No, no,” the prince reassured her. “No need to apologize for your mind’s natural defenses coming to your aid.”
“That night is vivid in your memory,” said Komnena, “because it was painful. Parts of your memories will be missing for the same reason.”
Cassia closed her eyes tighter and focused. Her rescuers’ lives might depend on every detail she could manage to recall.
Carefully she reexamined the three Hesperines as she had first seen them. The beautiful female who had saved her life had been shrouded in a black cowl and long black robes. No way to tell what color her hair was, but her face had appeared pale. Her two companions had also worn hoods. The color of their eyes had been obscured by shadow.
She heard exclamations of surprise around her in the Ritual hall and the sound of Knight pacing. She reached out and found his ruff with her hand. He quieted, despite the tide of Lio’s magic all around them.
“Directly from Cassia’s memory,” Lio reiterated.
“Keep going.” Now the prince sounded eager. “Could we fill in more details?”
Cassia tried to concentrate on features. Their faces swam before her mind’s eye, a blur of beauty, strangeness and compassion. But she would never forget the lady Hesperine’s smile. That had been the first time Cassia had seen fangs.
“That must have been startling,” she heard Komnena say.
“Don’t be afraid, little one.” Her savior’s voice echoed about her again. “We would never hurt you.”
Cassia could not resist. She wanted to see them, hear them brought to life. She opened her eyes.
She gasped at the sight of Lio’s illusion. Three giants of light and darkness towered above the Ritual circle, one on her knees, the other two standing sentinel behind her. Their faces were auras of starlight, their robes spun of shadows.
As Cassia studied them, the images wavered. She concentrated again, holding her memory firmly in her mind, even as she gazed upon the present.
She shook her head. “This is not what I meant to show you.”
“This is what they looked like to you as a child.” Lio’s tone was patient as he explained. “Of course they would seem larger than life.”
The prince appeared about to smile. “We may not be able to recognize them, but we have learned a great deal about your first impression of our people. When I do find them, I shall award them Charge honors for representing us so well.”
“But I must do better,” Cassia said, “if you are to recognize anything about them.”
Lio rubbed her neck again. “Let us continue through the memory. Perhaps some details we missed will surface.”
Moment by moment, breath by breath, Cassia relived her memories in her mind while she watched Lio bring them to life before her. Her heart pounded and her palms sweated. She felt she held ice and fire, one in each hand, as she sat here in Selas with her heart in the worst night of her life.
But each burn of emotion was easier than the last. Placing that night here inside House Komnena, containing it within the Ritual circle, cooled the memories until she could think and analyze rather than fight the threat of tears.
“What is that bundle on her back?” Cassia wondered aloud. “I don’t remember noticing th
at. At least, not until now.”
“Sometimes,” Komnena said, “our memories hold details we are not aware of. We think we have forgotten, but our minds hold on to them for us, until we are ready to recall them.”
Lio’s eyes blazed, and the illusion sharpened. The hazy, dark burden on the lady Hesperine’s back took shape. She carried something long and narrow wrapped in black fabric.
The prince frowned at the image. “Whatever she is carrying, it must be of great value, for her not to be parted from it even while performing the Mercy.”
“A map?” Komnena wondered aloud.
“Tools,” Apollon suggested.
“Her usual travel attire, perhaps,” Lio offered, “rolled for ease of transport.”
The prince nodded. “It’s a feat that they managed to wear formals in the middle of a siege. She would need to change into fighting gear at a moment’s notice.”
“Let us go through all of it again,” Cassia insisted. “Perhaps more details I didn’t recall before will come to the surface.”
“As you wish,” Lio replied.
His only motion was to caress the back of her neck again and shift his hand slightly in hers. The illusion faded seamlessly back into the image of Cassia’s first glimpse of the Hesperines errant.
“Don’t be afraid, little one,” her savior repeated in Vulgus. “We would never hurt you.”
The lady Hesperine looked over her shoulder at her companions and exchanged words with them in Divine, which Cassia had not even attempted to understand at that age. Their conversation drifted up to the vaults of the Ritual hall in distant whispers and memorial echoes.
She would always wonder what they had said to each other. She had only known their voices were kind. She considered their concerned tones, straining to recall the sounds she had heard around her.
The whispers grew louder.
Lio sucked in a breath. “I almost understood that. Something about the cold and wool.”
They watched one of the illusions take off her mantle and reach toward Cassia.
“Your auditory memories are strong,” Komnena said.
“Try to remember more of their conversation,” the prince encouraged.
Cassia closed her eyes once more and revisited her memories yet again, this time concentrating on words, not images. She listened to their voices and watched their lips. She couldn’t understand what her memories were saying to each other. No one around the Ritual circle spoke. They must be listening carefully.
Divine rose and fell around her, the echoes tangling, until they faded into three distinct voices. A few words kept recurring every time the illusions spoke to each other.
“Alkaios!” the prince exclaimed. “Nephalea.”
“Iskhyra?” Cassia opened her eyes.
Her illusory savior looked right at her, tears flowing down her face. Cassia reached out and touched her. Lio’s illusion dissolved into bands of light, then disappeared.
“Those are not just words,” Lio smiled at her. “They are names. Cassia, you remembered the names your rescuers called each other.”
She let out a breath and looked at the prince. “Do you know them?”
He was leaning forward in his chair, his whittling abandoned on the coffee table. “By reputation, yes. They are among the Hesperines errant who take full advantage of the freedom Charge Law affords. They work alone and seldom avail themselves of my aid. But their deeds speak for them. They have been active in Tenebra for at least twenty years. Alkaios is a light mage, known to travel with his Grace, Nephalea, and their comrade Iskhyra, both warders.”
Cassia held Lio’s hand in her lap. “Then they are still alive.”
“When last I heard,” the prince answered, “yes.”
She braced herself. “When did you most recently hear news of them? Please tell me everything you know. I am accustomed to keeping my expectations realistic.”
“Only last night. A Charge scout brought word that Alkaios was sighted near Tenebra’s southern border. She is still on his trail.”
“Thank the Goddess.” Komnena gave voice to all the gratitude Cassia could not find the words to express.
“May the Goddess’s Eyes light their path,” said Apollon.
“And Her darkness keep them in Sanctuary,” Lio added.
“Many factors could cause the Charge to lose Alkaios’s trail,” the prince cautioned. “If he is unwilling to return to Orthros before his work in Tenebra is done, as seems to be the case, he may use his light magery to hide from his own. Or, if there are war mages on his trail, he may deliberately avoid contact with other Hesperines out of self-sacrifice.”
“That would not surprise me,” Cassia said, “for I have seen his heroism. But I will hold out hope his reward for it will be a safe return to Orthros.”
“I will take my leave and join the search now.” The prince got to his feet, looking at Cassia again. “You heard what Iskhyra said about her brother.”
She nodded.
“You may wish to know that Alkaios, Nephalea and Iskhyra have no family left in Orthros.”
“Now they do.”
“You will be the first to receive any news of them,” the prince promised.
He was gone before she could say more.
Cassia sank back in her chair, and Lio put an arm around her again.
She swallowed. “I hope they make it home.”
Ice and Snow
“Are you all right?” Lio asked her quietly.
Cassia nodded. “More than all right. Knowing we have done something to help them is a greater comfort than anything.”
Lio’s mother pulled her chair closer and took Cassia’s hands. “If your memories trouble you, or you simply wish to talk, you can always come to me. Not just as a mind healer, but as a friend.”
“Thank you.”
Komnena nodded and released her hands with a smile.
Cassia glanced at the now-peaceful Ritual circle, where the stunning vision of her past had come to life just moments ago. Her pulse was calmer now.
Her gaze fell to the carving the prince had left behind on the coffee table. It was an exquisite little goat.
Apollon’s hand entered her vision and picked up the carving. He chuckled. “Zoe will wake to a surprise from her Ritual father.”
His tone could be so gentle. His deep, gravelly voice reminded Cassia of granite. He wasn’t so hard to listen to when she didn’t look at him.
When Cassia felt a hand on her head, she started. She could not look up, but she knew whose broad, powerful hand it was. Apollon touched her crown as if granting reassurance. Or a blessing. A sense of safety wrapped around her, just like at the welcoming ceremony. She wanted it so much. But something inside her fought it off with all her might.
She hated how she trembled at his touch. He could feel her trembling. How could she respond to his kindness with fear?
There was a smile in Apollon’s voice and his presence above her. “This house is strong enough to weather all your worries and your fears with you. Take as much time as you need letting them run their course.”
“Thank you,” she managed, although the words were not enough.
“When you are ready for my welcome gift, it will be ready for you.”
Komnena’s voice eased into the conversation. “Well, I think we elders are past our bedtime now. If you youngbloods will excuse us.”
Apollon lifted his hand from Cassia. From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed him take Komnena’s arm. He didn’t seem offended at all.
“Good veil,” Lio told his parents.
“Good veil.” Cassia tried looking at his father.
But she was too late. All she saw were his parents’ backs as they retreated through an archway and out of sight. Their voices, relaxed and too low to make out words, drifted in their wake. Komnena gave a playful laugh.
“I thought mature Hesperines don’t Slumber during polar night.”
Lio grinned. “They don’t.”
&
nbsp; “I see. Of course.”
“Mother was away for a few nights, and I’m still not sure they had any time between the welcoming ceremony and the circle.”
“You mean they haven’t…availed themselves of the sideboard either?”
Lio chuckled at her metaphor. “As occupied as they’ve been, probably not.”
Cassia hesitated, glancing at the archway through which his parents had disappeared. “Perhaps it is unseemly of me to pry, but in the spirit of our early conversations about Hesperine life…”
“I am always open to an informative discussion about birds, bees and Hesperines.”
“I know you were the only member of the Hesperine embassy who needed the sustenance of mortal blood. You mentioned once that the others who came to Tenebra need not rely on animals or humans. Although you never specified why, I inferred it was because they are all pairs.”
“That’s correct. My aunt and uncle provide for one another, as do Javed and Kadi, as well as Basir and Kumeta. That is the nature of Grace.”
“So that’s true of your parents as well?”
“Graces’ fidelity to one another is absolute. They drink from no one but each other, and they give their blood to no one but the children they suckle together. The only exception is what we call the Ritual Drink, when any Hesperine will provide for any other if the need is dire.”
Cassia let out a breath. “Then your mother didn’t have to hesitate about becoming a Hesperine. I think it would have been much too sad if she faced the choice between remaining a mortal who could sustain your father, or having eternity with him only for him to drink from other humans. What a bittersweet eternity that would be.”
Lio leaned nearer, circling his arm closer around her. “That is not a concern for any prospective Hesperine. Hespera does not offer eternity with a catch.”
“I didn’t know two Hesperines could sustain one another. I thought you always needed mortal blood.”
“When two Hesperines are merely sharing, one must seek sustenance from humans to provide for the other. Only Graced pairs are free from that need, and so are children nurtured on their blood. It is the nature of the Grace bond and one of the most powerful magics known to our kind.”
