by Mara Powers
which casts different shades of light on thy face.
THE TWINS HUDDLED in the shadows of a low-hanging tree and watched as Pan entered the courtyard escorting two women. Their voices were hushed, though accented with hints of urgency.
D’Vinid snuck back, having heard the same approach, and watched from afar. He immediately recognized the two women as Ofira Pazit and Vinesia Shanel. He hadn’t seen Vinesia in a while. Not since she left the courts and took up residence among the Builder Sect. D’Vinid had always sympathized with her downfall. Since it was Kyliron who ruined her reputation, he always wondered about the truth of the matter. But then it dawned on him with a shiver. It was Pan who stood up for her in the courts. Pan didn’t know about Bavendrick’s presence, and yet, here was Vinesia. Or did he know? Or was this Ofira’s doing? He produced the crystal she had given him, and wondered if it had some kind of spying ability.
“My dear Vinesia, you are looking more vibrant and beautiful than I’ve ever seen you.” Pan’s high timbre bounced vibrantly through the courtyard. “I have been wishing I could see you more often. Please consider attending my revelries from time to time.”
“Thank you, Pan Aello.” Vinesia’s smile was genuine. She was dressed in simple Builder Sect clothing which failed to flatter her figure. Her dark skin was flawless, showing the upbringing of a proper Atlantean noblewoman, although she didn’t carry herself with the refined grace of her station any longer. Once, there had been a chance she would be queen.
Pan liked to make sure she never forgot it. He accepted it was most likely the reason she avoided his hospitality. He had never known anyone who had more fortitude of spirit than she. And for that, he admired her profoundly. “I have recently made a new friend,” Pan chirped as they entered the nodeyard. “She is from the dreamclans. Her name is Brigitte. And tonight she has become Queen of Atlantis.”
Vinesia shuddered, thinking of Kyliron.
“Soon she will need to appoint a maydriss in her court. I was thinking about recommending you, since you have all the courtly training of a queen.”
Vinesia stopped, stunned by the audacity of his suggestion. “Pan, why do you insist on teasing me?”
“My dear, I would never tease you where it hurts. But I would offer you a chance at revenge. Pay it no mind. It was just one of my outlandish ideas.” He waved it away. “Why don’t you take care of your business with the crystal-node, and then Ofira and I shall escort you to your guest room.”
Vinesia thanked him, then stepped to the node and sank into a meditative state, feeling the edges of the messenger-crystal between her fingers.
Pan stepped aside with Ofira, and began talking quietly as not to disturb Vinesia’s meditation. Their conversation brought them closer to where D’Vinid was hiding. He could easily overhear them.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had one of our talks,” said Pan to Ofira.
“I see you’ve acquired some excellent pieces for your game-board.” She matched his volume. Together they ambled in silence with their hands clasped behind their backs.
“Were you able to coerce D’Vinid with your insatiable magnetism?” He poked her side playfully.
She dodged his finger. “I have my reasons for wanting him around. They’re not all your reasons, Pan.”
“I understand. The two of you would make a lovely pair.”
“Don’t even imagine you know my reasons. Tonight I waited at Dafni’s Enigma after he played that show. And just as you said, they came to get him. Since they didn’t find him, they took his dabrina instead. I’m afraid the king will have his hands on it before too long.”
The twins shared a glance, shrugged and decided to reveal themselves to their father. And they did so with great panache. Their ungraceful ambush managed to inflict a sense of unwanted panic on Ofira and Pan, yet they both managed to keep their composure.
“The puppet master with twin fools for sons,” Ofira mumbled.
“Ofira Pazit,” Jensyn scowled. “You owe me a favor. I won that bet, and you disappeared like you always do, because you lost.”
“You’re still holding on to that, Kayden?”
“I’m Jensyn. He’s Kayden.”
“Fine, whatever, whoever. You’re both so far from my mind, I forgot how the Fates granted you one instance of being correct.”
“Now children, you must not quarrel. Our guest is communing with the Grid,” Pan interrupted.
“We have brought other guests, father,” Kayden leaned in to whisper in his ear. But Jensyn pushed him away. “I wanted to tell him! You didn’t want to tell him at all!”
Pan laughed. “Jensyn, you tell me the name of one guest, and Kayden you tell me the other until you are finished with the news.”
Jensyn leaned in to deliver his news in a whispered secret. Pan’s eyes widened. He looked back at Vinesia and stroked his goatee in thought. “Prince Bavendrick?” He looked at Kayden. “And how did you come about this prize?”
“It was D’Vinid who found him,” Kayden announced proudly. They began looking around in the garden, but the singer was nowhere to be seen.
“You mean D’Vinid is in this garden?” Pan squinted at Ofira. “Do you think he overheard what we said?”
“Last thing we saw of D’Vinid, he was leaving the garden. We should try Bavendrick,” said Jensyn.
“What about Bavendrick?” Vinesia interrupted them, having finished her meditation. She wiped tears from her eyes.
Pan scanned the twins, wordlessly ordering them to remain silent. “Word in the courts is that Bavendrick claims he is still betrothed to you. When Kyliron offered him to the Princess of Og, Bavendrick insisted he already had a chosen mate. You. And yet, he left on a ship bound for Og.”
“Oh, please.” She folded her arms indignantly. “Only a fool holds onto romantic memories of first love.”
“Then what you say is you don’t love Bavendrick anymore?” Pan asked.
“Of course I love him. But I am realistic. He is a fool to hold onto me. I have moved on.”
Pan gestured to the twins. “My sons will lead us to where you will be staying.” He nodded sharply to them, hoping they would get his message to bring them to Bavendrick.
They both nodded back, a bit too obvious in signaling their understanding. Pan shook his head and cracked a smile, his upper lip twitching.
“I take it you’ve accessed your mother’s message?” Ofira asked Vinesia to draw attention from the comic display.
“I have. I can’t say I like it. What do you know of the attacks on dreamclans? My mother says our entire clan has gone missing. She wants me to visit her in person.” A tear fell down her face as she struggled to maintain her composure.
“I have been investigating these attacks,” answered Ofira slowly. “But I’m afraid I have few leads. It seems as though the shadows causing the madness have been harnessed by something else. If you wish to accept your mother’s summons, I would be honored to grant you passage on the Vex Voyager.”
“Thank you, captain. May I think on it?”
“Whatever you wish.”
They arrived at the over-water bungalows and began crossing the walkway. Sentinels stood watch at one of the bungalows.
“Am I in so much danger as to have my own guardians?” Vinesia asked.
The door swung open at Pan’s order. Past the threshold, the bungalow opened into a rounded bedchamber. But the bed was not empty. “They are not for you, my dear. But for him.”
Vinesia rushed to the bed. “Bavendrick!” she cried. “What happened to him? Is he hurt?” She brushed a lock of hair from his face, examining him feverishly. The fear in her eyes betrayed her love for him.
“I see now how you’ve moved on,” Pan chided. “I will leave you two alone for a while.” He walked back outside where Ofira and the twins awaited. “Now, where is D’Vinid?” Pan searched the night.
“He was here with us.” Kayden scratched his head.
“Don’t worry,” said Ofira. “D’Vinid has a summ
oner I gave him. I just have to contact him.”
“Then do so.” Pan seemed impatient. He turned to the twins and shook his finger at them. “The next time you run into D’Vinid, you make sure he stays with you. Do you understand?”
They nodded furiously.
“He should be in here.” Ofira pushed at the door of the neighboring bungalow. It swung open. But the room stood empty except for a summoner-crystal resting by itself on the bed. She looked at Pan gravely. “I imagine he did overhear us.”
“Something tells me you’re right.” Pan cast an accusing glance at his sons, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
“I bet you didn’t see that one coming.” Ofira leaned casually against the wall. Her smile was sideways.
Pan’s look was bordering on ferocity. “Being human has its limitations, my dear.” With one more look of disdain toward the twins, he turned and stormed toward the main house.
“You’ve done it again!” Ofira laughed dismissively at Jensyn and Kayden.
“What did we do? It was you who said things D’Vinid shouldn’t overhear. That’s one of my father’s main rules. Never say anything out loud you don’t want overheard. We can find him again whenever we want, anyway.” Kayden nudged the railing of the bridge with his toe.
“Well, show me to my quarters, then,” she ordered. “I will fix this in the morning when I have rested. It’s been a very long, busy day.”
“Not until you grant me my debt.” Jensyn folded his arms. Kayden did the same, showing support for his twin.
She sighed heavily. “What is it you want from me?”
“I want you to answer a question honestly.” Jensyn demanded.
She tilted her head and gestured for him to say it quickly.
“What do you know of embodied Watchers? And is our father one of them?”
Ofira sputtered into laughter. “Which question would you like me to answer?”
Kayden hit his twin on the arm. “You are so stupid,” he complained.
Ofira decided to be generous. “Pick one.”
“Can I decide later?” Jensyn fidgeted nervously.
“Show me to my room.”
They both gestured to the neighboring bungalow with identical devilish grins.
She stepped through the entry and turned around. “There are Watchers walking among us. And rest assured you’ve met one or two in your lifetime.”
With that, she shut the door and prepared to slip into the comfort of the bed. She picked up the summoner-crystal, and squeezed it in her hand. She hadn’t told Pan, but she knew D’Vinid was right where he was supposed to be. “You will come back, D’Vinid. You cannot escape the Fates once they have been cast.” She smiled to herself and drifted off to sleep.
D’VINID WALKED SLOWLY to Dafni’s Enigma, feeling entirely horrible and exhausted. There was a nagging at the back of his mind. Sometimes the feeling was worse than other times, but mostly it had lingered like a gray haze for cycles.
Entering the main hold of the ship, he crossed straight to the stage where he had left his dabrina, hoping Ofira’s words were untrue. But it was indeed gone. He couldn’t even begin to comprehend why she wouldn’t prevent it from being taken. Then again, she worked for the Watchers, and this was exactly why he despised them.
The moment he entered, Hanonin’s cynical voice called his name. “I guess they found out about your little show. You might have been able to stop him if you had been here. Tall fellow from the Speaker Sect. Rude. Arrogant. You know, the punchy type. Not the kind throwin’ the punches, if you know what I mean. Be thankful this is the worst thing that happened.”
“Hanonin, you let him take my dabrina!” D’Vinid’s voice shook.
“I was over here! I’m old. I can’t go chasing tall men down the street. I’m no hero. You should know that.”
“They can’t just take my dabrina!”
“He did say you can get it from the Speaker Sect when you appear in formal argument. He didn’t steal it. He just confiscated it. Would you stop singing if he didn’t take it? I doubt it.”
“But I’m not spreading lies about Kyliron, and I’m definitely not involved with these crazy Followers of One. Kyliron doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.” He paused, not wanting to quarrel with Hanonin.
“Then you have nothing to worry about. Just go to argument and say you’re innocent. The crystals can tell if you’re lying.”
“I will never be innocent in Kyliron’s eyes. Never mind.” He stormed out the door, adding under his breath, “You don’t know Kyliron like I know Kyliron.”
As he walked, he wrestled with half-plans, all of which ended with terrible consequences. The thought of Kyliron’s hands on his beloved instrument filled his blood with fire. The dabrina was his only family. It was his connection to a mother he knew only in dreams and imaginings.
This is ridiculous, he thought. I’m getting my dabrina back.
A cold wind rushed through the esplanade corridor.
He felt suddenly drunk. The air turned to gel, impeding his movements, brushing across his skin like velvet. His mind flashed a momentary universe of information. The feeling was unsurpassed.
A voice rang through his head like thunder. “You have nothing to fear, for I have chosen you. We are armed with the cunning, hidden by the folding of space. The more they pursue you, the more they will fail. I am for I am thou.” D’Vinid stumbled along the path, holding his head. Everything faded into a slow-motion dancing tapestry.
Shadows swarmed as if the streets themselves were alive. He tried to steady himself and focus on something solid. They called out to him. He pushed them away with all his might, collapsing in the corner of an alcove to shield himself from the unwelcome awareness. Lightning flashed in the sky and a sudden peace descended upon him.
“. . . . Darkness is a measure of thy mind,” he thought. “If thou chooseth to walk the paths of night, then thy world shall shape itself to fit thy journey. For the nature of matter is truly fluid; and thy desire, that which shapes it . . .”
BRIGITTE SQUINTED AT the sunlit ripples of her touch as her fingers caressed crystal blue waters. A bird landed, spilling water over its ruffled feathers. The sight offered something of interest in her gloomy fog.
She lay at the edge of Kyliron’s garden pool, watching the servants set up breakfast for them. It was supposed to be a celebration of their first morning as joined mates. But as of yet, Kyliron did not emerge. She stripped naked and descended into the pool, which had been described as magical healing waters. The temperature was neither hot nor cold. It wrapped around her skin luxuriously. Her reflection in the water’s surface looked back at her.
She barely recognized it.
She tried to summon a memory of where she had been before. She thought of Lukias, her one rock. He was nowhere to be seen. A flash of panic sucked the breath from her lungs. She leaned closer to examine the strange reflection in the water. She was entranced. The woman was beautiful, with honey hair crowned in sunlight. She wanted to reach out and touch her hand, but the water enveloped her fingers, and slowly shimmered into undulating shards of color and light. Her heart pounded in her chest as if it were begging to be released.
She thought again of Lukias, and the thought of him helped her remember who she was. She was Brigitte, joined mate of King Kyliron. Seventh High Queen of Atlantis’s third dynasty. Daughter of Denikon, High Seer of the Oceanus Dreamclan. And sister of Lukias. Her brother kept her anchored to that past. She remembered he was the newly ascended high seer of their clan. That meant their father was gone. She furrowed her brow. But how?
She sank and dipped her head into the aquatic underworld. The perfect temperature encircled her into weightlessness, an elemental womb preparing to birth her anew.
Indrius was gone, too. She remembered the many details of her teachings more than anyone from the dream of before. She was so luminous and filled with knowledge. But her heart was always distant, pointing like an ever-aiming arr
ow across the sea. She radiated a point of light across Brigitte’s mind. Then she remembered D’Vinid, and her mind drifted to the light igniting inside her womb. Her heart clenched and she popped out of the water, emerging into the uncomfortable world outside the perfect containment of the healing waters. She gasped for air, coughing and sputtering. As the liquid film over her eyes cleared, she grasped at the edge of the crafted shore and caught her breath.
But how did she come to be here in the first place? The first thing she remembered clearly was overlooking Poseidia from the Vex Voyager, the face of Captain Ofira Pazit staring at her. Her next memory was appearing in the standing stones with Lukias. The rest of her life was quickly fading like the images of a dream. But from the moment they reached Atlantis, she remembered everything, as if she had been birthed again into the life of someone else.
She reached for the golden gown she had crumpled to the ground, and wrapped it around her. She wandered back to the courtyard where servants lingered, waiting to serve the feast in a lavish alcove built into a flower-framed grotto.
“Oh, look! There she is! My wayward queen.” Kyliron awaited her in the courtyard, fresh, shaved, dressed, and luminous. Brigitte’s heart sank at his bronze beauty.
A chuckle escaped his lips at the sight of her. “I’m glad to see you are enjoying my healing pool. You’re late for our joining breakfast, but I will overlook it, my love.” He watched her darkly as she approached the dining area. She didn’t bother to answer his hypocritical comment, since she had entered the waters while waiting for him all morning. She had been taught they would be equals upon their joining, so she did not bow at the sight of him.
A newfound strength consumed her actions. She brushed past him, and pushed into the dining recess to carefully arrange herself amid pillows and cushions. Hints of her curves could be seen through her transparent gown. The dining area was framed by a flimsy canopy, punctuated with golden strands. While waiting for him, she had become fascinated with the shimmering fabric as it blew in the wind. Beauty everywhere wrangled her attention. Nothing seemed real anymore.
