“I ran... always ran,” Nessa said.
“And I was taken on the road to avoid as much of it as I could,” Yukiko said softly. “You aren’t alone now.”
Jenn was the next one to join them, “It was the same for me. It wasn’t as bad, but still the same. I was told to defend myself, but not start fights.”
Victoria was there a moment later. “I never had your troubles. My village didn’t have eurtiks with it being out on the fringe. I’m sorry that my friends had to endure any of that.”
Gregory was last. His voice was soft, but held a touch of anger, “It’s all rotten... Maybe we can show them what it should be like. Raise our clan up, raise it up until it’s the shining example that others should follow. If that means changing the empire… well, for my hearts and my friends, I’d try.”
His words touched the group. They all swallowed hard, then Gregory was dragged into the hug by Yukiko and Jenn, and pushed into the middle with Ling and Clover. The two hugged him, their hearts a little lighter for his words.
“Will Aether bless us? Will he help?” Clover’s whisper was clear to all of them.
“If we have faith, he will,” Yukiko said with conviction. “We’ve all seen the oldest art. Humans, elves, dwarves, and eurtiks all working together... that’s what Aether wanted. I’m sure of it.”
“We’ll follow his path, combining all three paths. We’ll show him that we’re his guard.” Jenn said, her hand tightening on Gregory’s arm.
“Is everything okay?” Dia asked as she stepped out of the hall.
They broke apart. As everyone wiped their faces, Gregory cleared his throat and spoke for them, “We’re fine, Dia. Just helping our friends deal with some unkind memories.”
Dia took a seat and lit her pipe. “The spirit path will bring good and bad memories to you. All of us with eurtik blood have dealt with the harshness the empire holds for us, even me. If you need an older ear, I will listen. My juniors are always welcome to unburden themselves to me.”
“Thank you, Dia,” Ling said, having composed herself. “Maybe in the future?”
“As you wish. It is nearly—” She was cut off as nineteenth bell chimed. When it was finished, she smiled. “It is about time when you normally retire.”
They thanked her and trooped inside.
Dia held out a hand to stop Gregory. When he paused, she pulled a scroll out of her pouch. “This came for you earlier. I’m sorry that I forgot to give it to you.”
Gregory took the scroll from her. Seeing the marks on it, he swallowed. “Thank you, Dia.”
“Of course. Have a good night.”
Scroll in hand, Gregory followed his wives up to their room, saying good night to the others when they broke off. Closing the door behind them, Gregory looked back down at the paper in his hand.
“A letter from home?” Yukiko asked.
“I believe so,” Gregory said.
“Why’re you hesitating?” Jenn asked.
“Because it’ll hurt me...” Gregory said softly. “No matter what it says, it’ll still hurt me.”
“And we’ll be here to soothe you,” Yukiko said, going to his side.
He gave them both a weak smile. “Thank you.”
Taking a seat at the table with his wives beside him, he broke the seal and opened it.
Greg,
Your father made it back. We were all surprised when he left to attend the tournament. He told us all about it, that you lost to your friend and clanmate. He said you made up, too. That’s good. Wish I’d been there to see it.
He’s still staying with my parents and hasn’t touched a drink. Whenever I see him, he just has juice or tea. He helped the Delarosa’s when their roof had trouble. Before they could even ask for help, he was there.
Your dad told us about the wedding. It sounds amazing, and I wish we’d been there with you. I hope she’s at least half as good to you as El is to me. I doubt you’d love her if she wasn’t, though.
We had a girl, and we’re already working on having another. El said she wants to have three kids, and I’ll give her anything she wants. I hope one of them is a boy. We named our daughter after your mom— we hope you’re okay with that.
Ria’s kid is a girl, too. She and Stan got into a fight over her name, but in the end, they named her Bridget, after Stan’s grandma. Seeing her, well... my hope was dashed. She has Stan’s eyes, not yours or Ria’s. Don’t know if you had secretly hoped the kid was yours, but she isn’t.
I know the admission you might never come home had to hurt you. It caused a lot of anger here. Not with me, I understand, but Ria was upset, and El sided with her when I tried to take your side. It took your dad talking to Ria for her to mellow on it.
We all hope you’ll come back, but if you never do, we understand. I’ll keep sending you letters once or twice a year, and I expect the same. If you don’t, I’ll have to come find you, magi or not.
Keep your chin up, and remember to show them what an Alturis man is all about.
Your friend forever,
Gunnar
Gregory swallowed, choking back his emotions.
“You and Ria?” Jenn asked softly.
“We were friends for all my life,” Gregory replied, his voice thick. “I saved her from the bane wolf and before I left… yeah.”
“And she promised to move on, and did,” Yukiko said, rubbing his back. “Did you wish…?” She trailed off not waiting to ask.
“No,” Gregory said as he pulled them closer to him. “It would’ve been bad for her, and it would have hurt you both. It’s a relief to me, but… I feel bad for her, too. It’s obvious that she’d hoped for it.”
“I’m sure she did,” Jenn said. “Any woman would be proud to have your child.”
“That doesn’t even include them knowing your soul,” Yukiko added. “Come, dear one.” She stood and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go to bed. After we show you our love, we can sleep.”
Gregory gave them a small smile as Jenn and Yukiko pulled him toward the bedroom. Sorry Ria, but it’s for the best, he thought before letting go of that to focus on his wives.
Chapter Ten
“How are you today?” Gregory asked Ling and Clover as they made their way downstairs.
“Much better,” Ling replied.
“I feel awake,” Clover grinned.
“That’s good,” Daciana said, coming down the hall toward the stairs. “You look better today.”
“That didn’t sound nice,” Nessa said.
Daciana lowered her head. “I didn’t mean—”
Clover hugged her, cutting off the wolf eurtik. “It’s fine. Thank you.”
“Two huggers,” Victoria chuckled.
“Clover, you should ask before hugging people,” Yukiko said with humor.
“Oh, right,” Clover said, letting Daciana go. “Sorry. Can—?”
Daciana grabbed Clover, hugging her back. “Yes.”
Jenn snorted a laugh. “Very alike.”
Clover and Daciana hugged in a wobbly circle for a moment, earning smiles from everyone.
“Novices, Apprentices,” Dia said on the stairs above them. “Are we blocking the stairs now?”
“No, Dia,” the chorus came as they all quickly moved again.
Bishop was the only one in the dining room. She looked up when they all came in. “Good morning to you all.”
They echoed back greetings to Bishop as they took their seats. Once they were settled, they greeted Velma who was in the kitchen.
“I’ll have breakfast ready shortly. Do you need your snacks again?” Velma asked.
“We don’t know what today will bring,” Gregory replied. “It might be for the best.”
“I’ll get them set up while you eat.”
“Paul told us to assemble in the main tactics room today,” Yukiko said. “Perhaps we’ll be hearing about the tournament? I doubt it’ll be before the solstice, but we could be getting information on it today.”
“That would be good,” Ling nodded.
“I believe that is correct,” Dia said. “Gin told me that we would have you all here for training today.”
“That’ll be nice,” Clover grinned.
“Agreed,” Bishop said. “We are going to work you hard to make up for the lighter day yesterday.”
“We’ll do our best,” Ling said.
“That is the attitude I want to see,” Bishop replied.
“Breakfast,” Velma said and loaded up the cart with food.
As Velma got their food passed out, she gave Yukiko a smile. “Thank you for the gifts. We all appreciated them.”
“Oh good, they arrived. I was starting to wonder if they’d been delayed.”
“We appreciate all you do for us,” Jenn added.
“Thank you,” Velma said, bowing to them. “Enjoy.”
~*~*~
“Yuki, what did you do for them?” Nessa asked as they headed to the archive.
“I had my parents pick up some things for them,” Yukiko replied. “They’ve been very good to us since our first year, even before we joined the clan. They make the blanks for Magi Squares for us now, too, giving us even more time to study in the morning.”
“Can we help next time?” Clover asked.
“Of course,” Yukiko smiled. “Anyone who wants to contribute can.”
“Aether’s Guard, welcome back to the archive,” Rafiq greeted them.
Greeting him back, a few of them asked for new study material. Rafiq promised to have the new books brought to them and wished them a good day. Moving off to the larger table, they settled in to work on Magi Squares.
As they were finishing those, someone started to approach them. The eurtiks at the table all looked up first, their superior hearing giving them advanced warning.
Master Damon came to a stop next to the table. “Pettit, can we talk?” All three Pettits gave him a smile, and he exhaled loudly. “Gregory Pettit.”
“Sir, if you wish to talk, please sit,” Gregory said. “My fellow clan members know about my foresight.”
Damon looked over the table and a small frown marred his expression. “Hmm... I see. Did they only recruit women?”
“As far as we know, they’re the only ones who have asked, sir,” Yukiko replied with a hint of coolness to her tone.
“I see. Very well, but it does touch upon your magic and notes you’ve left for me,” Damon replied as he took a seat.
“That’s fine, sir,” Gregory said.
“Very well.” Damon suddenly had ink, pen, and paper in front of him. “You mentioned seeing multiple branches. Can you expound on that?”
“The future is all branching pathways, sir,” Gregory said. “Every action that could happen is a new path, but they all have different chances of happening.”
Damon began to write quickly.
“The most likely paths are… sharper…? More clear…? I’m not sure how to explain it, but they’re easier to tell from the less likely paths.”
“Do they have more details, or is there a fog?” Damon asked intently.
“They all have the same detail,” Gregory said slowly. “I can’t think of how to explain it, but when I look, I can see what’s most likely from what is the least.”
Damon frowned as he nodded. “So there’s no indicator that you know of?”
“No, sir. I just know.”
“There was a rumor that a spirit path follower could stop your foresight. Is this true?” Damon was staring at Gregory when he asked the question.
“Not that I know of, sir,” Gregory said. “I do have trouble with foresight at times.”
“It’s not stable?” Damon asked sharply.
“I’ve noticed trouble at times,” Gregory said. “Occasionally, the sheer number of possibilities can make it harder.”
Going back to his notes, Damon looked thoughtful. “Interesting... How often have you used foresight during tactics class?”
“Not once, sir,” Gregory replied.
Damon’s head snapped up and a single eyebrow rose. “Not once?”
“No, sir. I need to improve, not use a crutch.”
Blinking slowly, Damon’s head inclined slightly. “Smart.”
Chief Archivist Sarinia came to the table. “Master Damon, are you interrupting these students from learning?”
Damon’s face went blank for a second, then he turned to face the black panther eurtik. “Of course I’m not, Sarinia. I am just getting clarification from Pettit about his magic.”
Gregory was surprised by Damon’s soft, respectful tone. “He isn’t. I understand his drive to learn and appreciate it.”
“Very well, Apprentice. Master Damon knows the rules of the archive. If you tell him that he is hindering your learning, he will leave you be inside these walls.”
“Thank you, Chief,” Yukiko said, bowing her head— she’d overheard a few of the archivists use her title before. “I doubt we’ll ever need to tell him, but I’ll remember.”
“Very well,” Sarinia said, bowing her head fractionally to the table. “Good learning.”
When she left, Damon exhaled slowly. “Yes. I appreciate you saying that, Pettit. Your magic is one of the things I truly yearn to know the more about. The need to record it for future generations burns brightly for me.”
“If I might ask,” Gregory started, “what are the other things?”
“Aether and all things connected to him,” Damon said softly. “I used to hope that Lightshield would be proven right. If Aether came back, I could just ask him... I have so many questions.” With a deep, sad, longing-filled sigh, Damon shook his head. “Sadly, that isn’t to be, it seems. Even Elder Lightshield will pass without his family’s long-held belief being seen.”
“There is still time,” Clover said.
Damon gave her a sad smile. “Elder Lightshield has less than a handful of years left. I mourn the day he does pass— he has refused to answer so many of my questions. So much knowledge will be lost with him.”
“We sidetracked you, sir,” Gregory said. “Did you have more questions for me?”
Nodding, Damon gathered himself. “Yes, thank you, Pettit. Now then…”
~*~*~
They were leaving the archive as the fifth bell began to chime.
“Greg, will you tell us more later?” Victoria asked.
Seeing the interest from the others, he gave them a nod. “Not much more I could say, but as long as you all promise to keep it between us, yes.”
All of them agreed quickly, even Jenn and Yukiko. He realized that he’d never explained how his magic worked to them.
“If we finish the Peaceful Fist before the evening hour,” Gregory added. “In return, you can all tell us about yours. Maybe you don’t think much about it,” he gave Daciana a smirk, making her blush and her tail wag a little faster, “but it’ll be a way for us to learn.”
“We should,” Yukiko said. “We’ll discuss what we do, how it feels, the things they never explained to us during class.”
“Maybe one of us will have some insights to help the others,” Ling said.
“Yes,” Yukiko said.
“I agree,” Nessa said, “but we need to get to class.”
With their goodbyes said, the two groups broke apart and went their separate ways.
“Greg,” Jenn broke the silence as they walked, “you held back, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Clover asked.
“Because anything I tell him will be copied down and placed in the archive,” Gregory said. “I won’t tell him everything.”
“Because incomplete information gives you the chance to surprise anyone who thinks they know all you can do,” Ling nodded. “But will you tell us?”
“I’ll tell you more,” Gregory replied. “I trust those in the clan.”
“Even then, there are some secrets that we keep from our families,” Yukiko said, “as we told you the first day you joined the clan. It isn’
t because we don’t trust you or them, but because the secret is worth that much.”
“That’s fine,” Clover said. “We’ll be worthy of the secret in time if we do what we need to, right?”
Yukiko and Jenn exchanged a subtle glance, and Yukiko smiled at the excitable woman. “It is possible.”
Gregory’s lips pursed, thinking back to why they’d told Jenn his secret and what Yukiko was agreeing to now. Shaking his head, he sighed to himself. No, she just means that, in time, I’ll have to declare myself as Aether reborn. Not that they’ll be like Jenn… that’s just that desire resonance influencing me.
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