by S. J. Wist
“You should have a Nightmare Eater. Isn’t that what the first Eminor were?”
Sybl touched his head as if to size him up to the task.
“I can’t even tell if I have the Aeger.” Kenshe sulked and shook out his fur, before sitting back down.
“You can only have the Aeger if you have given up all hope.”
Kenshe whined like the puppy-size he had taken to. “You can see everything—past and future. Have you never looked into your own?”
“I can’t see the future, Kenshe.”
“Yes, you can. You’re just too scared to look.” Sybl frowned at him, and he quickly looked side to side to try and find a means to patch up his last words. “I mean, you have estus energy in you. Estus energy can see the future. Aragmoth is made of estus energy, and he is always a step ahead because of it.” His grizzled fur stood up all at once like a cat’s then.
Sybl didn’t feel like arguing with him, and looked at the door where Kas had silently been standing.
“Leaving you unguarded is going to get all my Custos whipped bloodless before the Atrum even gets here.” Kas leaned off of the door frame then and looked at Kenshe, before looking back at Sybl.
“It wasn’t their fault,” Sybl replied.
“That is not your decision. It is mine as they are my responsibility. But on a brighter note, Xirel has agreed to assist us with his Tribe. He found the whole ruckus you three made rather inspiring in our chances of winning against the Atrum. Particularly as it has been the dragons that held most of his concern.”
Sybl looked away from Kas.
“I am going to have a small celebration, as is customary with any new allies gained to our cause. You are going to come to it, and further show the chimeras that they can trust us.”
“And if I don’t?” Sybl asked.
“If you do not show up at the party and embarrass me further than you have already, then I can promise you that you will not like my resolve.” Kas turned his threatening glare from her then, and left her room.
25: DRESSINGS
Sybl felt like she was being fitted for an execution. The corset that Ishtar dressed her in was tight enough to squeeze out any air that she might need for running later. And the ayame was anything but gentle about it.
“Do humans not have parties on Earth?” Ishtar asked, then tightened another string to the corset.
Sybl gasped in answer, having no air left to give a reply beyond that. She looked in the mirror, as she thought about Loki. He would have found out about what happened to his brother by now, and she had to speak to him.
“Good grief ayame, stop suffocating her.”
Ishtar’s red eyes glowed dangerously at Gwa, as she looked to unleash a psi barrage of yelling at him.
Gwa winced, before opening his eyes again. “No disrespect, but I only answer to Kas and the Caelestis.” Then he continued to eat his apple as he looked at Sybl.
“He can help me with the rest,” Sybl insisted.
“A male should not be dressing a female unless they are their Bond,” Ishtar replied.
“He is of my Pack—I can do whatever I want with him.”
Ishtar straightened her own dress down, and lifted her chin higher. She brushed past Gwa and left the room.
“Help!” Sybl squeaked.
Gwa hesitated. “Anything you want with me, eh? I don’t know… Maybe it is safer to keep you in that thing….”
“Gwa!”
“Just kidding!” He gripped the apple with his front teeth and began to loosen the strings to her suffocation.
“Thank you.” Sybl breathed.
“I think it was her intention to make sure you had no air to runaway.” Gwa laughed, and finished off his apple before tossing it in her wastebasket.
“Yeah, no kidding.”
He went over to the bed and studied the blue dress. “It’s not that bad.”
“I can’t wear that.”
“Why not?”
“Sentimental reasons.”
“Fair enough,” Gwa said, and bunched it up in his arms. Then he went over to the closet and stuffed it in as if it were an old blanket. Then he looked over the other choices. “I can’t help but get the feeling your brother doesn’t want anyone looking at you at this party.”
“Oh just great. Well, I have to wear something,” Sybl said. “By choice, it would be entirely black.”
Gwa turned around as an idea came to his mind. “Well, you’re the same size as my mother. I know she has a good fashion sense.”
“I can’t wear your mother’s clothes. You’re crazy.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I was still brilliant last time I checked. I’ll be crazy when I become too brilliant for myself to handle. Slip something over you, and let this mastermind lead the way.”
Sybl gulped. She pulled over her head a casual beige dress, and then followed after him. They snuck down the halls to where she guessed Celia’s laboratory was. But on hearing a conversation inside, they both stopped outside the door and listened.
“Jru, I already made it clear that I won’t have you sacrificing what you love to do, for me.”
“I’ve served this temple since its founding days, Celia. I will take you for myself.”
Sybl looked at Gwa as he gulped. You didn’t tell me this…
“What’s there to tell?” Gwa replied, surprising Sybl with how well and clearly he could use psi, despite being a chimera. “He’s been after her since he found her running from the Fall’s forces. But they’re both as stubborn as kyrie.”
“This is about the goddess kidnapping incident, isn’t it? There isn’t a single phelan in this whole temple who would pass up the chance to kidnap her for an impression, Jru. You’re overreacting. Gwa is fine, I am fine. He’s half human, so of course he’s going to be a bit lost in his teen years. Most human teenagers are.”
“They are?” Gwa asked Sybl by psi.
Eh, I guess?
Celia went to her test tube rack, and picked one of the samples up.
“Stubborn woman,” Jru said, and took the glass from her, setting it back in the rack. Then he pulled her next to him and kissed her.
Sybl forced her head to stay on straight, as a memory of Cirrus passed through her mind. She stopped breathing when she tried to figure out how and when she had forgotten him after the nightmares.
“Sybl. Sybl!” Gwa hissed at her. “Do something!”
What you want me to do? Sybl replied, shaking her head out of the clouds so she could fall back to the present. It’s not like I can just walk in there and fire him.
“He can be ‘fired’ if you catch him in the act—Custos aren’t allowed to have a woman while they serve the Sanctus.”
I’m not going to humiliate— But before she could finish, Gwa grabbed her and shoved her into the room without a warning. Sybl stood frozen for a moment, as Jru quickly pulled away from Celia and tried to regain his composure. They looked to debate between themselves what she may or may not know about the rules, before leaving their eyes on her. “Um, hi. Sorry to intrude…but I need to speak to Celia about something.”
Jru stood up straighter, as his first fear of what she would say didn’t hit him. “I’ll be on my way then. Excuse me, my Lady,” he said with a small bow and started to leave.
“Oh, and Jru,” Sybl called after him.
The dark-skinned phelan somnus stopped in his tracks, and then turned slowly to face her again.
“You are retiring.”
Jru looked at Celia, before looking back at Sybl. “Effective when, my Lady?”
“Immediately.”
Jru nodded briefly. “Thank you, Sybl.” He turned and left then, looking more relaxed.
“You wanted to speak to me about something?” Celia asked, turning Sybl’s attention to her and away from the controversial topic of her relationship with Jru.
“Mom, you gotta help her,” Gwa said, entering the laboratory from the back door that he had snuck around to. “Kas is trying to
humiliate her by using dresses.”
“Dresses? You would think the High Priest could spend some gold on something decent for his own soultwin… No offense, Sybl,” Celia added.
“I think it’s more of a dilemma of different perspectives.” Sybl looked at Gwa.
“Well, I am in your debt now, and I don’t like to carry those around. I don’t have many, but you’re welcome to any dress you like in my closet,” Celia offered. “I don’t wear any of them anymore.”
“Thanks mom,” Gwa said and kissed her cheek. Then he quickly retreated with Sybl in tow.
26: FOG
Sybl didn’t stop shaking after she peaked out her window. The gardens and the training courts had been turned into a lavishly decorated party. She hated being around so many people at once. The whole idea of a Caelestis of War being scared of crowds was just laughable.
Sybl looked at the door as a knock came, and she quickly hid under the curtain. “Go away! I’m still dressing!”
“You are by far the worst liar,” Kas said as he opened the door to find a shaking velvet curtain. “Now let us go.”
“I want to go with Gwa.”
Kas’ boot steps came across the floor, and he pulled the curtain away. He found her dressed, not in a blue gown, but a silver one that revealed a lot more unexpected curves.
Sybl ducked and closed her eyes, fearing he would explode with no one around to save her. But the seconds went by, and he said nothing. So she opened her eyes and tried to get a read on what he was thinking.
But he wasn’t thinking as much as he was trying to understand her thoughts in turn, before finding the one he needed to say something. “I was not aware that you had a blue dress on in your nightmare. I could have had a silver one made for you.”
“I…well, you’re busy. That and this one is from Earth, so it makes me feel better.”
Kas raised one eyebrow, figuring that this topic didn’t need an argument. He took her hand, as the fear that she might yet take off and hide hadn’t left his mind, and they walked from the room and down the hall. Then he let her go.
She took his arm as they walked downstairs, and around the staircase to the exit that led to the gardens. Sybl tried to focus on nothing, as the dozens on dozens of people applauded and welcomed them. She drowned it all out, only nodding and smiling where it felt appropriate. All the while Kas tried to pull her mind to full attention, but she just retreated further into nothingness, edging the point of fainting.
“There be wraiths in the flowers. Her Lady would be safest not leaning against any.”
Sybl looked up at Xirel’s purple eyes. She looked around the garden then, and found only the both of them within it. It was as if everyone else had been blocked out by a thick, white fog. Instantly she felt better. “Are you…?”
“Yes, I have mastered a few talents with Thread over the years,” Xirel said, looking briefly around at his handy work. “While there are some chimeras who are by far more masterful Awls, making a mess of Threads to the point they disappear tends to be easier for me.”
“Thank you.” Sybl smiled as she thought his latest mess was nothing short of brilliant, right down to its timing.
“Thank you for coming, and in such a beautiful sparkle of silver. You outshine my youth a thousand times over.”
She looked at his silver hair that he likely tried to restore some luster to for the occasion. He looked like an ancient elf who carried his wrinkles with more pride, as even his ears were just a bit sharper near the tips. His long purple robe made her think about Kas’ roses. She smiled at the thought, and then looked back at his purple eyes in curiosity. “Are there any colors that chimera can’t see?”
“Most colors can’t be seen by us, except for those of us who are Awls. I must say it was strange and beautiful thing to go from seeing black, white, grey and red, to a spectrum of colors that could never be all named.”
“At this rate Earth will take over Aster, just by their Sentry alone.”
“I don’t think that’s Hino’s intention, Sybl. I think he just wants a peaceful balance, as you did once. There are millions of Sentry, and only a handful here of his finest to fill out and help where they can.”
Sybl looked across the gardens to where Loki watched her through the fog Xirel had created. “I hope you’re right.”
Soft music started into their silence, and Xirel took her hand in his. “May I have the first dance?”
She followed him to what she could only guess was the center of the garden, and tried not to look at his feet as he led her.
When the song was over, the fog slowly faded out. Then he let her go with a bow. “If you find yourself overwhelmed again, I will be nearby.”
“Thank you, Xirel,” she said in turn, and then looked as Loki stepped up to take the next dance from her. When her stomach jumped from the sight of all the people again, he quickly brought her attention back to him.
“Why are you so nervous around others?”
“I think right now I’m more nervous around you.”
“You don’t owe me an apology, so don’t even try. Lintrance tried to kill you. The sooner the world forgets that he was my brother, the better. I’m grateful that Kas was able to silence what happened as well as he did.”
Out of reflex alone, Sybl reached for her neck where her matching necklace to Cirrus’ had once been. If she forgot him again, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.
Loki brought her eyes back to his. “I was hoping that you forgot about him.”
“If it’s not you blocking him out of my memories, then who is doing it?”
“I don’t want to rat anyone out. Especially as all of this has proven that you can be happy without Cirrus.”
“No, I can’t. We go back a lot farther than anyone is seeing or understanding,” Sybl replied.
“But things change. And all he ever did was hurt you.”
“That’s not true. How much more pain have I caused him in turn? All because of what I am.”
“Sybl, listen to me,” Loki pleaded. “You took my heart before I so much as met you in person. I can protect you now. Forget about him and move on. Everyone else has already.”
Sybl looked away from him and to the grass under her. “I’m sorry, Loki, but I haven’t.” She looked around the crowd for the closest way out, and retreated from the garden. When she was far from the noise, she turned her head when another voice called out to her. One that took a moment to remember from back at the Harbor.
She lifted her dress up and walked through the tall grass, as several Custos watched her carefully from afar. Then she nearly tripped over the one who had been calling her. It was the griffin somnus from the Harbor. Her first instinct was to cry out for help, until he caught her ankle with his sharp nails.
“They took him. Gloria, Delare—our ship...everything… Help them, please!”
She kneeled down, and touched him to heal his wounds that looked to have been done by gunshot. Just as she did, his eyes rolled back and he died.
Kenshe skidded to a stop next to her in his phelan form, but before he could say anything, he saw the griffin somnus. “How did he get past our perimeter?”
“He was one of the ones to help me at the Harbor, before Loki found me,” Sybl said, and wiped a tear from her eye as she stood up straight again.
“I’ll see to it that his body is taken care of. Go back to the party before Kas—”
“I don’t give a damn about partying while people are out there dying because of me!” Sybl cried at him. She turned her tears towards the Triage Woods, where the Atrum lay beyond their Borders and beyond her power of saving.
“You can’t hold yourself responsible for saving everyone,” Kenshe shouted back. “You’ll drive yourself mad unless you stop it!”
“Someone has to take responsibility. If not me, then who?” Sybl crouched back down, and looked at the griffin somnus’ hand. He held what looked like a silver chain. She gently opened his hand, and lifted what was
her necklace, complete with the golden fairy on it. “Delare must have taken this off of me when he pulled me from the water…”
“Sybl!”
Sybl got back to her feet, and looked to where Kas walked over to her.
“What are you doing out here? And alone—?” He stopped on the sight of the dead griffin somnus, and frowned deeply. “How did this get past our Custos?”
“He helped me back at the Harbor, and now he’s likely dead because of it.”
