Vivian Amberville - The Weaver of Odds

by Louise Blackwick

  ‘What happened here?’

  Irra Lazuli opened her mouth, but princess Daimey silenced her. She pointed at Acciper instead.

  ‘Your sister’s back, Your Grace,’ he flung his eyes at the shivering Vivian behind him. ‘I advised them to wait, but Elder Seeress lost all reason. Called for an Unwiring without consulting Bastijaan, the king interim.’

  ‘Sunya’s simple existence is causing us ill. You know this, my Queen. You’re the one who suggested—’ the old woman began anew, but Daimey silenced her again.

  ’Petra, do escort the Seeress to the dungeons, where she will learn the virtues of silence,’ the princess commanded, and her handmaiden returned a curt bow. ‘Take a party of Weavers with you, for safe measure.’

  ‘I don’t understand, regent Daimey! You said—’

  ‘Take her!’

  Five Weavers detached from their numbers. Lead by a mounted Petra, they escorted Irra Lazuli out of the clearing.

  ‘Now, Acciper. Tell me what happened here.’

  Acciper told the princess everything that occurred since her absence. Daimey’s features slowly mollified, her eyes jumping between Vivian to Lucian, to the struggling Kate.

  ‘Weavers, the middlings are our guests,’ said Daimey to the Orange Cloaks. ‘You will release them at once!’

  The metal Threads disappeared off Kate and Lucian as if they were smoke. Afterwards, two Weavers helped them to their feet. Daimey’s eyes now ogled Vivian, who hadn’t lowered her knife an inch.

  ‘The Pattern preserve me, little sister. You’re the same as I remember you. A foot taller perhaps—’ she broke off, ‘of course, you wouldn’t remember—’

  ‘I remember you too, Daimey’ said Vivian, lowering the knife by her side. ‘I remember you, and Bastijaan. I remember our mother locking me in that tower on the Guild’s advice, saying I’m some kind of monster... and our father being too weak to differ.’

  ‘S’our daddy alright,’ said the princess. ‘I shouldn’t have let mother do that to you. My brother and I should have stopped her. No wonder you fled.’

  ‘You were children,’ said Vivian. ‘We were all children.’

  ‘Not anymore, we aren’t,’ said Daimey, her violet eyes rekindling with newfound verve. ‘My brother’s king interim. But now that I’m back, my will prevails over his. Garlaan is a Queendom, see, and Queendoms are ruled by queens and invested regents.’

  ‘So you’re—?

  ‘The rightful regent of Garlaan, yes,’ said Daimey. ‘You haven’t been invested little sister, but I have. Queen Alaria is off to Inkshia, which means the Queendom is mine to command in her absence. Ask anything and it shall be done.’

  Vivian turned to Kate and Lucian, who were tossing her meaningful looks.

  ‘My friends would want to go home to our— to their world.’

  Princess Daimey lowered her head, her twinkling eyes riddled with sadness.

  ‘I can’t give you that, Sunya.’

  ‘ Vivian . And I beg your pardon but keeping my friends hostage won’t help. They crossed the Shroud for me, risked their lives for me, but they don’t belong—’

  ‘You misunderstand me, Vivian,’ said the princess. ‘ Can’t , not won’t. If it would be in my power – in anyone’s power – to send them back, I’d risk it, but it cannot be attempted. No one’s ever done it, see? Not a soul. Of course, we had historic reports of middlings crossing the Shroud, but they all died before touching the ground.’

  ‘We’re here, aren’t we?’ said Kate, who looked very displeased with the news.

  ‘What’s your name, human girl?’

  ‘Kate. Patricia Kate,’ she said through crossed arms.

  Princess Daimey smiled.

  ‘Kate,’ repeated the princess. ‘A small correction, Kate. There is no person alive who jumped realities, but you three. If there is a way on and off Ælorria, we haven’t found it yet. Our Alarian records contain many legends of such extraordinary people. Our practical means, on the other hand, remain painfully blank on the matter.’

  Vivian, Kate and Lucian exchanged looks. Surprisingly, it was Lucian who spoke.

  ‘Your... your majesty, if I may be so bold—’ he begun, his head bowing so low that his glasses slipped off his nose and fell in the grass. Kate snorted, her white eyebrows merged. Lucian quickly picked them up, embarrassed and pushed them back on his face. ‘Your majesty, if this world is anything like ours, those… those legends you mentioned may hold a seed of truth. Investigating the lore might reveal clues—’

  ‘What is your name, young man?’

  ‘Lucian Blossom, my Queen— sorry, my regent —’ he said breathlessly. Beside him, Kate gave off another snort.

  ‘I’m not your regent, nor your Queen, Lucian. You are not of my world, of my people, so I cannot hold you to titles. I shall be Daimey to you,’ she said, her plait of golden hair dancing in the wind. ‘Now tell me, what can I do for you?’

  ‘Daimey... all we want is to go home. We are not at fault for being here,’ said Lucian, his blue eyes indignantly jumping between Kate and Vivian.

  ‘I cannot send you back to your world, Lucian, but I can take you under my protection. Know that no one will harm you while I rule.’

  Kate exhaled in relief. It was, perhaps for that reason, that the princess addressed her next.

  ‘Your hair gleams like the finest silverware; your eyes like jade,’ said Daimey, with slight tremor in her otherwise honeyed voice. ‘I will have them make forty outfits worthy of your beauty.’

  Under the compliment, Kate seemed to forget her original annoyance.

  ‘Lucian, you wanted to study our ancient myths and legends. I will order the Forge to smelt you a key for the Record Room.’

  ‘T-thanks Daimey’ said Lucian, blushing deeply.

  ‘Acciper, my sister and her friends will be staying at Palas Lumina. It can be a dangerous place to be. Make sure they’re safe.’

  ‘Yes, Your Grace.’

  Daimey now turned to her younger sister.

  ‘And you, Vivian,‘ her violet eyes jumped to the glowing knife by Vivian’s side. ‘Æbe’trax is a forbidden ore throughout our world but I expect we can make an exception in your case. You may keep the knife and I hope it serves you well. Now, if there is anything else you might need—’

  ‘—an Artisan,’ Vivian said quickly. ‘I’d like to become an Artisan.’

  ‘Well, I’m sure I can arrange for a room for you to conduct your studies. I am, however, curious where you heard of our Healing practices.’

  Vivian briefly told Daimey about her affairs in Kranija.

  ‘So you’re an Artisan now,’ she laughed, and Vivian felt a pang of jealousy at her sister’s perfectly even teeth. ‘But that’s a weak trade, little sister. Acciper here saw you repel a dozen Weavers with one aimed thought and a quick swish of knife. To study Artisanship will be a waste of your talents.’

  ‘But I love healing people,’ said Vivian disappointedly. ‘The look of gratitude when they are given their health back. If I could continue my studies—’

  ‘Vivian ain’t proper Artisan, Your Grace,’ Acciper interrupted. ‘Thinks she healed my hawk with Artisanship, but did it with Blood Weaving.’

  ‘Blood Weaving?’ Daimey frowned. ‘How would she come by a talent so precious?’

  ‘Said she studied under a certain Lady Saah in Kranija,’ said Acciper breathlessly. ’Owner of the Goltgoss Haijk – known healing practice in urb of Solidago.’

  ‘An Artisan who could weave, teaching my sister Blood Weaving?’

  Vivian opened her mouth to argue but Acciper cut over her.

  ‘Vivian is strong in Kaalà, Your Grace,’ he said quickly. ‘Would learn just about anything, if given the chance. Blind Irra called her a Weaver of Odds.’

  ‘Did she now? Big words, coming from a Seeress. I beli
eve Irra used that phrase one time before to refer to Karura.’

  ‘I heard that name before somewhere,’ said Vivian. ‘Wasn’t he the first Weaver?’

  ‘He was. People say Karura levitated a mountain with nothing but his thoughts,’ Daimey pointed at the floating citadel. ‘Built a school atop. A school for Weavers. He wove the Pattern of Threads next, to watch over the cosmos.’

  ‘What’s that got to do with me?’ asked Vivian.

  ‘Everything,’ said Daimey. ‘Them who speak the language of energy will rearrange matter. Them who open themselves to Change will unhinge events. Thoughts to things, little sister. The blessings of Karura had been with you since birth. Healing people is noble but I have something better for you.’

  ‘Like what?’

  Kate and Lucian looked at one another. Daimey bowed to the Pattern, her eyes tracing the outline of the hole.

  ‘The full extent of the Guild couldn’t repair that old mistake, and here you are, Vivian, shrinking that hole with your mere presence.’

  ‘They also say I caused it,’ said Vivian darkly. ‘That I am Chaos itself.’

  ‘Biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard,’ said the princess. ‘People fear what they don’t understand.’

  ‘Why is it that they fear me?’ Vivian inquired.

  ‘You have too much Kaalà for your own good, Vivian. So much, in fact, that it dribbles out at random, eating you from the inside. An excess of Kaalà will hurt you – its path will hurt the world – but what the Guild didn’t tell you is that it can also heal it, and the world very much needs your healing, little sister,’ said Daimey sympathetically. ‘You will need training, though. You’re of no use to anyone if you can’t wield it.’

  ‘What are you saying,’ Acciper frowned, before adding ‘Your Grace?’

  ’I’m saying Vivian can succeed where we have failed, Acciper,’ the princess pointed at the hole in the Pattern of Threads. ‘Draw out the puss from the flesh of reality. We will teach you the noble art of Weaving.’

  ‘But Healing is my strength,’ said Vivian, a slight note of panic in her voice. ‘I turned out to be quite good at it.’

  Daimey placed a hand on Vivian’s shoulder. ‘The very best Weavers are born from a desire to heal the world.’

  Before anyone could respond to that, princess Daimey was addressing the Orange Cloaks.

  ‘Weavers, spread word to your Guild that my sister is to compete in the Weaver Trials. You are to do everything in your power to prepare her for it.’

  Acciper’s frown returned to his face. ‘Your Grace, will you have her trained as Weaver of Threads?’

  ‘Who said anything about Threads?’ said the princess through a narrow smile.

  Mens Agitat Molem

  Vivian, Kate and Lucian quickly learned that attending the Weaver Trials was the Earth equivalent of receiving the Posthumous Arch Hero Award: you knew it to be the maximum height of honour there was, but getting it wouldn’t cure you of near-certain death. Being Unwired from the Pattern of Threads would have been quicker and less painful than what awaited Vivian in a few weeks’ time.

  ‘It’s not as bad as you might think,’ Kate kept repeating, in an attempt to cheer Vivian up. ‘They say only half of participants die a horrendous death during the Trials. Besides, Daimey wouldn’t sign you up if she didn’t think you had a fighting chance. She sees something in you.’

  ‘She sees something alright. A rival.’

  Lucian would do his part in lifting Vivian’s spirits, by pointing out random facts he had picked up from his readings.

  ‘Three trials. If you make it through the first, you get to compete in the next. Surviving all three gets you up there—,’ he pointed out of the window at the floating islet that hosted the Alarian School of Thought. ‘Imagine what it’s like to be there with all those great Weavers who manipulate matter and energy. “ Height of Service. Height of Nobility ”, that’s how they promote it.’

  Vivian pulled out her knife and ran two fingers along its glowing blade. A few feet away, the window curtains landed on the floor, shredded.

  ‘I don’t want to be a Weaver. I should never have agreed to this.’

  Kate shook her head. ‘Technically, it was forced upon you.’

  Vivian suspiciously raised an eyebrow. Kate rolled her eyes in disbelief.

  ‘You did read between Daimey’s lines, didn’t you? It was either learning to control your powers so that you stop hurting their precious loom or getting Unwired. You know it’s true, Viv.’

  ‘Right,’ said Vivian, absentmindedly spinning her Agi blade. A nearby obsidian vase shattered, littering the floor with a dozen white roses.

  ‘You must give your best shot at it,’ said Kate reassuringly. ‘Just focus on the task at hand. I heard they’re training you well for it.’

  ‘It’s going nowhere, that!’ said Vivian miserably. ‘ Put out the candle, Your Grace , and all that rubbish. All the good will that do. Is the First Trial about killing candles? They wouldn’t even tell me what to expect!’

  ‘No literature on it either,’ said Lucian knowingly, smoothening a large papyrus with his fingers. ‘I would have found it by now. Been practically living in the Record Room.’

  ‘That’s cos it’s kept under wraps, so everyone says,’ said Kate. ‘You’re not supposed to know what the tasks are. They’re already breaking the law by letting you train with a Weaver.’

  ‘They broke the law by letting Vivian keep that knife-shard,’ said Lucian. ‘Æbe’trax is forbidden within the Folde, and one of the two banned substances during the Weaver Trials. Æbe’trax and Shäängrija.’

  ‘Lucian, what’s the Folde?’ Kate frowned.

  ‘Large region around the Pattern where the Kaalà is at its strongests,’ Lucian passionately recited. ‘Since Æbe’trax is teeming with Kaalà, bringing it inside the Folde may cause unpleasantries, so they forbade it. Forbade it everywhere inside the Folde, and in many places, even outside it.’

  ‘Well, I can see why this would be cheating,’ said Vivian, giving the shard of Æbe’trax an admiring look. ‘It’s like my thoughts are coming alive every time I—’

  She gripped her knife, making several glass ornaments explode. Lucian looked so immersed in his reading he merely just dusted the glass shards off his blue velvet coat.

  ‘Would you please stop playing with that thing?’ Kate vociferated, putting her legs under her bottom. ‘Lucian and I would like to keep our limbs, thank you very much!’

  ‘Sorry…’ mumbled Vivian, returning the knife to its sheath. Its Shadowhide encasing made her think of Kaap, the Hole-in-the-Wall.

  ‘What do the scrolls say about Shadowhide? Do they allow it in the Trials?’ Vivian asked.

  ‘They do, but it sort of defeats the point, doesn’t it?’ said Lucian ‘It takes an experienced Weaver to wield it, and to become an experienced Weaver you need to pass the Trials.’

  ‘What if it wields itself?’ said Vivian through a small glimmer of hope.

  Kate shook her head. ‘We’ve been through this before, Viv. Your Hole-in-the-Wall pet is a thousand miles from here, and they won’t even let you go to the loo without supervision,’ she rolled her eyes to signal at the two armoured men standing by the door. ‘You’re going to have to rely on yourself.’

  Vivian felt her anxiety rising. ‘Right. Well, at least they made my last days in this world comfortable.’

  Comfortable was a weak word for their accommodation. Even Kate, who had become used to living at the Manor, thought Palas Lumina was the most magnificent place to be. As tall as a mountain and just as broad, the five-towered building fully deserved its nickname “palace of light”.

  Carved right out of Mount Ra’nun, Palas Lumina seemed to have been built entirely out of white marble, its polished walls reflecting the always-orange light of Ikko and Jaari. A bas-relief of gigantic ros
es covered its every surface, their great marble petals glowing like fire until very late in the evening. The optical effect might have led to Garlaan choosing a white rose as coat-of-arms.

  ‘When did they say your next lesson was?’ asked Kate.

  Vivian sank her face into her sweaty palms. ‘Later this waiting.’

  ‘What are waitings again?’ asked Kate. Once more, Lucian answered.

  ‘We’ve studied this, Kate. Ten restings to a waiting. Two and a half waitings to a long waiting. ’

  Kate cursed under her breath. Lucian shrugged. He lifted his eyes from a ten feet long rotulus that was filled to the brim with red-hot, dancing runes. ‘Vivian, is it true what Brother Haral said? Is your memory really back?’

  ‘Yeah, most of it,’ said Vivian.

  ‘Great. So you remember what it was like before you crossed the Shroud into Existence?’

  ‘Some bits are still a blur. My life wasn’t that interesting, though. I remember living in a tower because I was “dangerous”, so that pretty much concludes my experience of this world. Moreover, I have some difficulty remembering faces. The paintings in the Long Hall helped me loads in that regard. Parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles and cousins – seven generations of them, strung across the walls, staring at me through the peeling plaster. Most upsetting to see I didn’t inherit any of their good looks,’ groaned Vivian, and Lucian laughed. Kate did not.

  ‘I say looks are way too glorified these days. Clothes, on the other hand…’ Kate twiddled her thumbs. It was a known fact Kate valued style and elegance above all else. ‘Clothes make the person, just as much as they unmake them. I mean, just look at that lad Acciper – all wild, Viking-looking, and draped in animal cloths. Good looks completely wasted on him, with him wearing such rubbish. Speaking of Acciper, he sort of sprang up on me, the other day. Nearly gave me the Filth when I saw him. Good lad, though. Very social. We talked loads.’

  ‘What about?’ Vivian frowned, secretly wishing Acciper had visited her too.

  ‘He asked us a lot of questions,’ said Kate ‘If we like it here. What we do during the day. Well, it’s a blithering palace, what’s not to like? As for our day to day activities, I told him Lucian and I are making progress with learning Æurlek. We barely need to use an Orange Lens to make sense of the letters. Then he learned we’ve been separated from you and he wanted to know why. I told Acciper we’re staying in the Tower of Lords because it’s closer to the Record Room, and that you’re staying in the Tower of Knights for a bit of extra safety.’