A Concept of Apathy

Chapter 16

“You are always at a point of no return, as there is no redoing the past.”
– A Collection of Thoughts, author unknown

Sylin
—
I was sitting next to Minna, who was in turn sitting on the edge of the bed near Kaeo. She lightly rested a hand on her forehead, once again checking her vitals. I sat, humming a tune that was light and happy. It just felt wrong to be in perfect silence around Kaeo. Minna was tapping against her leg with her other hand in tune with my humming.
Minna looked dreamy, like she wasn’t fully here. She always looked like that, like she was looking at something else, or perhaps seeing everything differently. She had a kind face, even if she looked completely out of place in those robes.
“Who are you Sylin?” Minna asked out of nowhere.
“What do you mean by that?” I was unsure how to even start answering that question.
“How old are you?” She continued, like I had answered her question instead of asking for a specification.
“Seven. How old are you?”
“Ten, although eleven here soon.”
“How soon?”
“A little over a month, I think.”
“You think?”
“I’m not very good with time.” That did not surprise me in the slightest.
“What’s it like to be a cleric?”
“It depends on the day.”
“Could you tell me more?”
“Mmmm, I suppose. Most days I feel fairly normal. Some days I feel empty. A few days I feel like a mere shell. Very rarely do I feel my god, and then nothing else matters.”
“Do all clerics feel their god?”
“Depends. Most clerics are not empty enough to have the god be fully with them. They can only use miracles, nothing more. Those who are empty enough can feel the weight of attention, which lets them do more. Fewer still can have the god ride in their body, and then we can do quite a bit. When that happens, it can be hard to tell where you stop and the god begins.”
“I presume you can have the god be fully with you?”
“Indeed. What is it like to have the sight?”
“I hear it is different for everyone.” I said, unsure what to feel about this line of questioning.
“What is it like for you?”
“Imagine that everything is woven from different sized threads. These threads can be pulled at to rearrange what makes things up, or strengthened to stop them from breaking. You can tell what the threads mean, as they are all concepts.”
“Interesting. Does it truly change your eyes when you use it?”
“It does.”
“Can I see?” I gave a shrug and tapped into the Sight, making sure not to look at her. She made a small noise after a moment of looking at my eyes, seemingly satisfied, she turned back to Kaeo. “It is rather pretty.”
“I’m not sure that is a descriptor I’ve ever heard used for it.”
“Well, now you have.”
“I suppose that is true.” I amusedly said.
“Lend me your hand, if you would?” She extended her own hand, which I took. She more gingerly took Kaeo’s hand, and the feeling started once again. Like cold smoke welling up in my hand, which moved up my arm. I should have asked if that was okay to take a look at with the Sight, but for now I wouldn’t risk it.
It was rather uncomfortable, but once again never made its way into being painful. It was hard to tell time with the feeling, but I doubted it even took a minute. It felt like more, but rationality told me it could not have been.
“Thank you for doing this for her.” I said to Minna, dipping my head to Kaeo.
“Of course. What else would I do, if not help?” She stood up off the side of the bed with that, walking out of the room. I took a moment to look at Kaeo before following.


Madam Lie
—
The young Minna had come with… help this time. I don’t think that she asked them to come, but they were here. Three of them, which I rolled my eyes at. I supposed it was four with the young Minna, but still! It was like numbers would matter if it came to a fight.
One was a cleric of the seven, who wore plate mail of many colors and then a cloak of many more. Their hair was in intricate braids, which was once again dyed many colors. I did have to hand it to the clerics, they knew how to stick with a theme. The other two were a cleric of body and a cleric of present. I had no clue how much they could call on the gods, but I was not worried.
They had all come in plate mail, the cleric of body in bright oranges and the present being in yellows. I watched them from the window, and was amused how they all walked around Minna, like they were protecting her. The cleric of seven was in the front with Minna right behind him, and the other two being slightly behind her. It was a rather amusing sight to see the three clerics, all of which were much bigger from the plate, and then Minna who was miniscule next to them.
“Master, Mistress, it seems like we are getting a visit from the clerics.”
“Are we now.” Master Karios said, still sipping at some tea and reading reports.
“Be nice Love, they have reason to be warry.” Mistress Nomiki said, sitting next to him on the love seat reading.
He gave no response, just waving a hand my way. It filled me with joy, as that meant I got to deal with them for a bit. Oh, how I loved irrational people, or irritated ones. I wondered what I could do. I did like the Young Minna, and if my read on her was right she would help me mess with them.
The knock sounded, and I let my form look like what people expected it to. There would only be the basis of me being female, but other than that their perceptions would shape me. I would be able to get a peak at those, which might be helpful. I opened the door with a stern expression on my face.
“No solicitors.” I said, giving Minna a wink as the others were taken aback. She was a perceptive girl, and gave me a smile.
“Missus Duewoe, we are not solicitors, we are clerics.” The cleric of body said. She looked rather unamused, which was good.
“What makes you think I’m Missus Duewoe?” I let my foot tap impatiently, which the cleric of present noticed and did not seem to take well. The cleric of body stammered for a second, but the cleric of seven seemed completely unruffled.
“You would be Madam Lie, no?” I narrowed my eyes at him. Spoilsport.
“No.” I tried, watching him. Minna was smiling watching it all.
“I suppose I walked into that one.” He said with a laugh. He looked old, and had a beard that was also woven of many colors. I suspected if his hair was not dyed it would have all been white.
“Fine, I might be this supposed ‘Madam Lie’ individual you speak of.” I opened the door for them. The cleric of seven looked completely nonplused, and Minna amused. The other two walked in looking rather annoyed, which filled me with joy.
“Please take your shoes off.” I told them, watching the two younger clerics. They were wearing full plate, so they would have to remove it to take the “shoes” off. They looked out of sorts for a second, before the cleric of seven stepped in.
“Our shoes will be pristine.” He performed a miracle, all the dirt and other stuff disappearing. I pouted at him, taking away my fun, but led them to the living room.
“Master, Mistress, our guests. Minna, I believe the Young Master is in his room if you would like to start now.”
“Thank you Madam Lie.” She said with a slight curtsy. She always sounded slightly dreamy, or perhaps slightly lost. She gave me a wide smile as she walked past me to the stairs and I gave her another wink.
Karios was standing, leaning against one of the arm chairs which Nomiki had moved into. They both watched the clerics without a speck of warmth, aside from Minna who got a small smile from Nomiki.
“Sit, stand, it’s all the same to me.” My Master said with a sweep of his hands. His face was that perfectly neutral thing that I had a hard time reading, so I wished ill luck on the clerics.
“Could I get you something to drink?” I offered with a small curtsey of my own.
“Oh, we are rather fine, thank you for the offer.” The cleric of seven said, coming to sit down across from Nomiki. The other two stood behind him, arms clasped behind their backs. I knew for a fact that had to be uncomfortable with the shields on their hips. I stood on the other side of the chair behind my Mistress, copying the posture of the cleric of present in front of me. I started minorly changing my features to look more like someone related to him as well.
“We are rather sorry for this sudden visit.” The cleric of seven began. I tried to say something, but a small wave from Karios stopped me.
“I presume there is something you want?” I always forgot how cold his voice could get, it always impressed me.
“From you? Not really. I rather remember the slaughtering you gave us Ruin.”
“You were one of the ones to escape?” His tone was merely frosty now, which was rather impressive.
“Indeed. You have nothing to fear from me, nor us.” He smiled, and I knew he was speaking the truth. Well, if not that at least not a lie.
“Why?” My Master asked, studying him.
“You were young when you did it, working on someone else’s orders. If it wasn’t you, it would have been her or someone else. No, I feel no ill will towards you, you were used. I don’t think you are someone who would kill without reason or sense. I think you are rather kind when you get the chance.”
“So why tell me this?” His tone was still frosty, but even that was thinning. I gave him no signal, which meant he thought this was all the truth. Which it was as far as I could tell.
“There have been… words. More like orders. I fear my little band may have been ex-communicated.” He paused as if to give someone time to speak, but no one took it. “There were orders from Ekelek to help a small army coming this way. To help kill you.” The cleric’s face had finally lost its easy goingness, and now reflected the cold found in Karios. “I will not help the slaughter of innocents when it is to chase someone who had no want to be in this situation. When that fight comes, you will have our backing.”
I had changed my mind about the old man, I rather liked him. It was around this time that Minna and Sylin came down the stairs.


Sylin
—
I came down the stairs to find my father watching the clerics. He was perfectly calm, and looked like he was dissecting him in his head. My mother looked about the same, but it was harder for her to look intimidating while pregnant. Not that I was sure that was true. I had a feeling that if it came to a fight, the more immediate threat was my mother.
Minna came down the stairs, and I caught a wink from Madam Lie aimed towards her. She took to her rather quickly. Not that I was too surprised, Minna was a kind of strange that Madam Lie found amusing. The clerics were watching both my mother and my father, but the only one that seemed a problem to me was the cleric of seven.
“May I ask for your names then?” My father said, not even bothering to look at the people coming down the stairs. I moved to stand next to him, and Minna moved to sit on the arm of the chair next to the cleric of seven.
“Well, you know Minna,” the old man said, gesturing to her, “then we have Taryn and Apolonia,” he waved at the cleric of present, then the cleric of body, “and I’m Eusenius.”
“Well, although I suspect you know, I’m Karios, this is my wife Nomiki, my son Sylin and of course Madam Lie.”
“A pleasure to meet you all.” Eusenius said, giving us all a smile.
“Is there anything else we can help you with?” My father said, watching them.
“Yes, can I have some water?” Minna asked.
“Of course dear.” My mother said, and moved to get up until Madam Lie put a hand on her shoulder and moved to the kitchen herself.
“Thank you.” She said, watching Madam Lie move past her.
The clerics got up and moved towards the door, and Minna chugged the glass of water Madam Lie brought her. She let out a contented sight after the fact, and the clerics were moved out the door by Madam Lie and I. My father and mother stayed in the living room, and I could hear them softly talking although I could not make out the words. I waved to Minna who was waving at me, and I rolled my shoulders.
It was time to go and get my licking in from Mister Sharp.

***

This was the ninth day of Minna coming to give Kaeo treatment. I was counting to the days down till the point she would be awake again. By Minna’s estimation, it should be right before my mother gave birth. I was glad for that, as I know Kaeo wanted to meet my little siblings. It would make her happy.
“What are you doing when you’re holding both of our hands?” I asked as Minna did her normal check up on Kaeo.
“A prayer, I think.” Yeah, that wasn’t vague.
“Could you give anything more specific than that?”
“No, I don’t really understand what the god does through me, merely that they do.”
“I see.” I didn’t really like that, but I supposed there was not much I could do. I had remembered to ask if I could watch the power, which my father told me I could. “Would you like to know?”
She hummed for a moment before answering. “I suppose I would like to, although I’ve never really thought about it that deeply before.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised.
“Really. Why would I question it? It’s always been with me and it has never once failed me.”
“That would honestly make me more worried.” I answered, still surprised.
“How so?”
“Well, if I haven’t run into a limit there must eventually be one. The longer I go, the harder stuff I would be trying with it, until it eventually fails. When that happens, well, it is going to likely be something complex and important.”
“Well, I don’t really do that much work outside of helping people. I have no reason to push the limits of it.”
“To each their own I guess.” I always forgot that there were people who just did not feel any motivation to do things outside of what they were already doing.
“Indeed. It would be much more boring if it was one person guiding it all.”
“Even a god?” I asked, somewhat to poke fun.
“Even a god.” That answer took me a bit aback.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The gods are rigid, unchanging. They have a goal, a point they all strive for. If one was there and the rest not, it would be constant, without change. Boring.”
“You say that but aren’t interested in the limits of your power?”
“I think that if I ever have to deal with the limit of my power, it would be me asking Xhaen to do something he won’t, or can’t.”
“It would be outside Xhaen’s divine domain?”
“I think something like that, yes.”
“Has any cleric hit a limit that was within a divine domain?”
“I don’t know. I guess I could go ask Eusenius.” A slight pause as she shifted. “Could you give me your hand?”
I lent her my hand and tapped into my sight. The smokey feeling started shortly afterwards, which I watched with fascination. The strings of its concept kept changing, like it had no anchoring to anything. It largely seemed to be based around “connection” and “grounding” whatever that meant. I looked at the feeling moving up my arm, and found it did not stop there. It simply dispersed too much for me to feel it. It looked like a looser formation of those concepts was circling around me, making the idea more solid.
It was not strong yet, but thousands and thousands of smaller connections from the smoke were connecting me and Kaeo together. It looked like to me they were using my grounding in reality to bring her back. I thought I figured out why mages could not replicate what clerics did.
It seemed like what the gods could do that mages could not is make concepts that had no grounding. If I tried a work that was not connected to anything like that it would evaporate into thin air. It was like trying to tie a string to two points in the air. That was simply not something that happened.
The concept was also getting stronger, I was sure of it. The entire thing would be weak until the end as well, like a tapestry getting woven. If you let all the threads go before you bound them together properly, the entire working would be bunk. Minna finished, watching me as I looked around at this.
“I couldn’t do this.” I said, waving a hand at the air.
“That does not surprise me.” She looked rather amused.
“It would be impossible for any mage.”
“Why?”
“We have to make our workings grounded in something. Think of it like drawing on a paper, we have to have the paper to make the drawing. What your god did was make a drawing without the paper.”
She hummed quietly, but did not respond looking lost in thought. She stood up suddenly, shaking her head. “I shouldn’t keep people waiting, if you’ll excuse me.”
She walked out the door to the room, and I followed out in short order. As she always did, she got some water before heading out. She said that she always felt parched after working a miracle. It made me wonder if the working was actually based on nothing, or if power had to be drawn from the world. Did clerics have mana? I supposed I could ask my father.
She left, giving a small wave as she did. My father was in the kitchen eating breakfast and I walked over to sit next to him. I knew from experience that he would acknowledge me when he was ready, but for now he looked to be rereading another report. He had been reading a lot of them recently, all from his tower.
“Did you have a question?” He asked between mouthfuls of food.
“To some degree. I think I have figured out what makes miracles impossible to replicate.” He made a continue motion with his hand as he kept eating. “You know how when we make workings they have to be connected to something? Grounded on something?”
“Sure.”
“Well, I think the gods can bypass that. If I saw it correctly, they can make workings grounded on nothing.”
“You are, of course, not the first person to notice this. There have been several people saying the same thing, but the thing is we can’t run any tests on this. Not only do the gods dislike it when their ‘miracles’ are tested, but because the working is grounded in anything, we can’t even start any real test.”
I nodded. I had not really been expecting to be the first person to notice this, and to some degree it made me happy. I did not want to go and be the foremost researcher in a field. I did not particularly want to be exceptional. Not that it sounded like I had that blessing.
“Do clerics have mana?” I asked, not expecting an answer.
“Not in the same way. They channel the god, and the gods have mana, so it is more like they are pulling on the gods mana.”
“The gods have mana?”
“As I’m sure your mother has said, there is a reason we don’t believe in any gods. In theory, one of us could be a god.”
“I don’t think that really made sense until now.”
“It is one thing to hear, and another thing to understand.” He finished his food, and stood up. He put his plate in the sink, walking to the door. “Okay, I’m off. I’ll be back.”
I gave him a wave, and sighed. That meant I had no reason to procrastinate going to Mister Sharp now.
The well was almost done, and Mister Sharp was doing a wonderful job at constructing it. Like in the back yard, everything he made had sharp lines that were very straight, and everything was perfectly cut. My mother had become rather fond of his craftsmanship, and had asked him to make more pots for the gardens.
He walked to the front yard with me, using a towel that had been set out by Madam Lie to somewhat clean off. I had gotten no more real tricks since the cane being nigh indestructible, although I had gotten better at using the cane to stride around. At least that was what I was calling the ability to take multiple steps in one.
“Are you ready, Young Master?” Mister Sharp asked.
“Yep.” I said with a sigh. We took our five steps apart, and I turned to face him. What looked like a saber and a buckler, which wasn’t the worst thing ever. At least I wouldn’t have to deal with closing the distance as much.
He held the buckler out, using it to safely get close. I took a step, using it to take three and position myself to the side of him. I had figured out how to better control what direction I faced when I was striding now, and tried for a cut at his arm. He was still wicked fast, and got the bucker in the way in time, taking a swing at me.
I raised my cane in the way, slapping it out of the way. I had learned that if I tried to bind with the cane that was a very good way to get my fingers hit. I grunted with effort, taking another step that normally would have put me in a very awkward place very close to him. I appeared behind him. I got a kick to my stomach, which left me winded and stumbling, which was far too many mistakes to make against him.
It was for that reason I found the dull saber pressed against my neck, and I acknowledged he had won. That was a rather fast round, which set my resolve to do better for the rest. The best I could say was that they lasted longer.

***

My father came home to pick me up. It was once again time to work on another working. Madam Lie joined us to cloak us once more, and so we were riding out on Thanny. It was a much longer ride, but considering Thanny could run faster than cars, it did not take particularly long. It was still a good half hour of riding, but eventually we came to our destination.
It was one of the wonders of this world, called the garden. It was giant stones that had been stacked in weird ways, ways that could have not been naturally made. It was all ordered as well, with these giant pillars of stacked rocks looking to spiral inwards to a central spot. That central spot was a giant clearing, and the entire place was charged with magic. It was to the point of magical essence hanging in the air, which also spiralled like it was in a lazy tornado.
The entire place from a bird’s eye view was symmetric, although from the ground view it did not look like that. You got the sense of the spiral, but that was about it. The entire place felt solid, and my father said this place was like the forest. Instead of the concept of travel, it instead had the concept of staticness. More minor things may change, but the place as a whole did not. It was one of the few places that had been around for long enough that logically erosion should have rounded sharp edges. No, the only visible effect of erosion was the fact this place was on a very steep hill.
I walked alongside my father and Madam Lie to the center, gravel crunching beneath our feet. Thanny was staying close as well, although lagging behind us slightly. This place seemed to have him on edge, which I found rather odd. I made sure to pat him, which he seemed appreciative of.
This entire place was very hard to change, let alone destroy. The working here was threefold for what I wanted to do. The first was to let the place draw from my pool of mana to maintain itself. The second was to make whatever I hit with my cane feel like it was being hit by this garden of boulders. The third was to make it so that the cane would function like a rather small rock most of the time. Only when I wished it did I want the impact to feel like getting hit by this place, and I would also have to make it so that it felt like carrying the small rock to me all the time. I clutched the rock that I had chosen for the purpose as it was in my pocket. It was a rough geode, which had been broken open.
I had to make sure the entire piece was rough, not smooth. That would have gone against this place, and the working I wanted to do would be hard enough without the place working against what I wanted to do. It was a rather striking geode that I had chosen for the rock, the outside looking like granite or some variation of a reddish pinkish stone. The inside of the geode was a pink-white that was made of salt.
My father and Madam Lie talked as we walked, although I did not catch much of what they said. It seemed to be idle chatter, and my mind was already with the working. I had found out how to work out what would happen if you did a working wrong, which really wasn’t one thing but a probability of things. In this case the most likely thing was us being crushed under the weight of several million tons of stone.
The other likely thing was us getting “frozen” in time but it was more like our bodies would become static, unable to change. Not that anything would go wrong, I had checked over my math and ritual several times, and found no flaw, and my father had done the same. Everything would go fine, but I was a firm believer in planning for the worst while hoping for the best.
I wouldn’t be able to make too many more workings on my cane either. There was a maximum of seven enchantments that could be put on objects, although for some things there were clever ways to get around that. My cane had none of those, and was going to run into being as strong as I could make it here soon. Technically, the limit of what you could enchant was five plus e, but as that was seven point sevenish, you couldn’t have point seven of an enchantment.
The ritual tarp was still in the center of this place, all the materials perfectly where I left them. I still looked over it all with a critical eye, checking my work over once more. My father gave it a glance over as well, and he said nothing.
The cane would go in the center of the working, but as the entire thing was a spiral there were two other things to put in other circles. A triangle was formed around the working with three circles touching the larger one in the center. One I put the geode in, which had to go north facing for reasons I didn’t quite understand yet. One of them had to have a bowl of my own blood, which luckily did not have to be very large.
From my backpack I pulled a small wooden bowl and cut my palm. I grimaced as I did it, squeezing my hand to get the blood into the bowl and hopefully not on my clothes. Once that was done, I used a cloth I had brought specifically to clean my knife to clean my knife, and healed the wound. The last thing to go in was myself, standing on the last part of the triangle, my blood and the rock I had chosen on the other side of the working.
I sat down, placing my hand against one of the lines for the ritual and started to draw into it. The entire thing started to glow, this one having oranges and greens and yellows. I would have to maintain draw for a little over fourteen minutes, which was more tedious than hard.
I felt the mana leaving me, but still too little for me to feel an actual change in my total amount of mana. The minutes passed quickly, likely because I had little to do other than draw and think. Once I finished putting mana into the system, there was little to do but wait for longer. A little over six minutes was what the math said, which was not too bad at all.
I sighed, adjusting how I was sitting to get more comfortable. I could not leave the small circle I had made for myself, and I watched my cane. It was standing perfectly straight up, like it had been impaled in the ground rather than me just putting it there. For all the interesting things I had for the cane to do now, I still liked the ability to call it to my hand and put it anywhere the most. I could not explain why, but it filled me with a type of joy.
I drummed my fingers against my leg, pushing away the intrusive thoughts to pull the cane to me in the middle of the ritual. The wait after charging the ritual felt longer, even if I logically knew it was shorter. The mana was swirling inwards for the entire place now, not just near the working. It flowed towards the staff with such density it made it hard to see.
It ended suddenly, the wisps of magic stopping suddenly and going back to a much more lazy speed. The ritual lost its color, the components used up and now a dull grey. I extended my hand, and my cane appeared in it. It felt… lighter. That made me somewhat sad, as I had somewhat liked its weight beforehand. It had become comforting to some degree, but not now.
I stood, and found when I took a look around that the bowl of blood had become a second geode, a copy of the one I put in another circle. I glanced behind me to find a third, and I suspected they were somewhat fixed to those points.
It took us a long time to get my fathers tarp back, but we managed it eventually. My father looked proud, and Madam Lie looked amused, although she almost always looked like that in my experience.
We got back on Thanny, cheerful for the ride. We stopped by a part of unsettled territory beside a lone tree, and my father encouraged me to get off and hit it. I was somewhat excited too, so needed no convincing once told. I jumped off, and struck the tree.
Where I hit exploded into wooden shrapnel, and I smiled even as I covered my face. I rather liked my staff, for the loss of comfort it had become a lot more fun.
We rode back home, all of us getting off Thanny. I went in, followed somewhat loosely by my father and Madam Lie. I was surprised to see one of the elementals that worked in my fathers tower in our living room talking to my mother. They turned around to look at me, and it was not one of the ones I recognized.
My father walked in behind me, looking at him and his face went neutral. Likely not a good thing then.
“Sir, I’m glad you’re here. We have found an army approaching. They are under illusion, but it is hard to keep that many foot prints covered for long.” The elemental said with a military looking salute which involved him taking his right hand over to his left shoulder with a fist.
“Anything else? How far out?” My father said, walking over to sit next to my mother.
“Two weeks give or take a few days. They have also split into three groups, going to surround the city.”
My father let out a sigh, hands drumming on his leg. “Well, it seems like it may be time to prepare for a proper war.”My father came home to pick me up. It was once again time to work on another working. Madam Lie joined us to cloak us once more, and so we were riding out on Thanny. It was a much longer ride, but considering Thanny could run faster than cars, it did not take particularly long. It was still a good half hour of riding, but eventually we came to our destination.
It was one of the wonders of this world, called the garden. It was giant stones that had been stacked in weird ways, ways that could have not been naturally made. It was all ordered as well, with these giant pillars of stacked rocks looking to spiral inwards to a central spot. That central spot was a giant clearing, and the entire place was charged with magic. It was to the point of magical essence hanging in the air, which also spiralled like it was in a lazy tornado.
The entire place from a bird’s eye view was symmetric, although from the ground view it did not look like that. You got the sense of the spiral, but that was about it. The entire place felt solid, and my father said this place was like the forest. Instead of the concept of travel, it instead had the concept of staticness. More minor things may change, but the place as a whole did not. It was one of the few places that had been around for long enough that logically erosion should have rounded sharp edges. No, the only visible effect of erosion was the fact this place was on a very steep hill.
I walked alongside my father and Madam Lie to the center, gravel crunching beneath our feet. Thanny was staying close as well, although lagging behind us slightly. This place seemed to have him on edge, which I found rather odd. I made sure to pat him, which he seemed appreciative of.
This entire place was very hard to change, let alone destroy. The working here was threefold for what I wanted to do. The first was to let the place draw from my pool of mana to maintain itself. The second was to make whatever I hit with my cane feel like it was being hit by this garden of boulders. The third was to make it so that the cane would function like a rather small rock most of the time. Only when I wished it did I want the impact to feel like getting hit by this place, and I would also have to make it so that it felt like carrying the small rock to me all the time. I clutched the rock that I had chosen for the purpose as it was in my pocket. It was a rough geode, which had been broken open.
I had to make sure the entire piece was rough, not smooth. That would have gone against this place, and the working I wanted to do would be hard enough without the place working against what I wanted to do. It was a rather striking geode that I had chosen for the rock, the outside looking like granite or some variation of a reddish pinkish stone. The inside of the geode was a pink-white that was made of salt.
My father and Madam Lie talked as we walked, although I did not catch much of what they said. It seemed to be idle chatter, and my mind was already with the working. I had found out how to work out what would happen if you did a working wrong, which really wasn’t one thing but a probability of things. In this case the most likely thing was us being crushed under the weight of several million tons of stone.
The other likely thing was us getting “frozen” in time but it was more like our bodies would become static, unable to change. Not that anything would go wrong, I had checked over my math and ritual several times, and found no flaw, and my father had done the same. Everything would go fine, but I was a firm believer in planning for the worst while hoping for the best.
I wouldn’t be able to make too many more workings on my cane either. There was a maximum of seven enchantments that could be put on objects, although for some things there were clever ways to get around that. My cane had none of those, and was going to run into being as strong as I could make it here soon. Technically, the limit of what you could enchant was five plus e, but as that was seven point sevenish, you couldn’t have point seven of an enchantment.
The ritual tarp was still in the center of this place, all the materials perfectly where I left them. I still looked over it all with a critical eye, checking my work over once more. My father gave it a glance over as well, and he said nothing.
The cane would go in the center of the working, but as the entire thing was a spiral there were two other things to put in other circles. A triangle was formed around the working with three circles touching the larger one in the center. One I put the geode in, which had to go north facing for reasons I didn’t quite understand yet. One of them had to have a bowl of my own blood, which luckily did not have to be very large.
From my backpack I pulled a small wooden bowl and cut my palm. I grimaced as I did it, squeezing my hand to get the blood into the bowl and hopefully not on my clothes. Once that was done, I used a cloth I had brought specifically to clean my knife to clean my knife, and healed the wound. The last thing to go in was myself, standing on the last part of the triangle, my blood and the rock I had chosen on the other side of the working.
I sat down, placing my hand against one of the lines for the ritual and started to draw into it. The entire thing started to glow, this one having oranges and greens and yellows. I would have to maintain draw for a little over fourteen minutes, which was more tedious than hard.
I felt the mana leaving me, but still too little for me to feel an actual change in my total amount of mana. The minutes passed quickly, likely because I had little to do other than draw and think. Once I finished putting mana into the system, there was little to do but wait for longer. A little over six minutes was what the math said, which was not too bad at all.
I sighed, adjusting how I was sitting to get more comfortable. I could not leave the small circle I had made for myself, and I watched my cane. It was standing perfectly straight up, like it had been impaled in the ground rather than me just putting it there. For all the interesting things I had for the cane to do now, I still liked the ability to call it to my hand and put it anywhere the most. I could not explain why, but it filled me with a type of joy.
I drummed my fingers against my leg, pushing away the intrusive thoughts to pull the cane to me in the middle of the ritual. The wait after charging the ritual felt longer, even if I logically knew it was shorter. The mana was swirling inwards for the entire place now, not just near the working. It flowed towards the staff with such density it made it hard to see.
It ended suddenly, the wisps of magic stopping suddenly and going back to a much more lazy speed. The ritual lost its color, the components used up and now a dull grey. I extended my hand, and my cane appeared in it. It felt… lighter. That made me somewhat sad, as I had somewhat liked its weight beforehand. It had become comforting to some degree, but not now.
I stood, and found when I took a look around that the bowl of blood had become a second geode, a copy of the one I put in another circle. I glanced behind me to find a third, and I suspected they were somewhat fixed to those points.
It took us a long time to get my fathers tarp back, but we managed it eventually. My father looked proud, and Madam Lie looked amused, although she almost always looked like that in my experience.
We got back on Thanny, cheerful for the ride. We stopped by a part of unsettled territory beside a lone tree, and my father encouraged me to get off and hit it. I was somewhat excited too, so needed no convincing once told. I jumped off, and struck the tree.
Where I hit exploded into wooden shrapnel, and I smiled even as I covered my face. I rather liked my staff, for the loss of comfort it had become a lot more fun.
We rode back home, all of us getting off Thanny. I went in, followed somewhat loosely by my father and Madam Lie. I was surprised to see one of the elementals that worked in my fathers tower in our living room talking to my mother. They turned around to look at me, and it was not one of the ones I recognized.
My father walked in behind me, looking at him and his face went neutral. Likely not a good thing then.
“Sir, I’m glad you’re here. We have found an army approaching. They are under illusion, but it is hard to keep that many foot prints covered for long.” The elemental said with a military looking salute which involved him taking his right hand over to his left shoulder with a fist.
“Anything else? How far out?” My father said, walking over to sit next to my mother.
“Two weeks give or take a few days. They have also split into three groups, going to surround the city.”
My father let out a sigh, hands drumming on his leg. “Well, it seems like it may be time to prepare for a proper war.”

***

“Are you worried?” Minna asked me, once again checking over Kaeo. It had become routine to talk to her every day, one that I had somewhat come to look forward to. It had been a little over two weeks of Minna coming to take a look at Kaeo, and the results were much more obvious to my Sight.
“About what?”
“Your town will be under siege, for who knows how long.”
“I would be worried if my parents were. They are not.”
“High faith you have in them.”
“I have heard they earned their names of Rot and Ruin many times over. No, I have a feeling the siege will last one day.”
“We will help where we can.”
“So I’ve heard, but what does that mean?”
“Cleric’s are trained for war, you know. We are between a doctor, a consultant, and a soldier.”
“And I also hear my father wiped out a few thousand of you.” I would likely not have said that even a week ago, but Minna had made it quite obvious she didn’t care. It had happened before her life, so why should she hold a grudge over something she would only hear about?
“Indeed.” That was about what I expected. Every time I tried to press her on what clerics could do, she never quite answered. I had a feeling it was something along the lines of “whatever the god could do, staying in their divine domain” but still some confirmation would have been nice.
“If you would lend me your hand?” She held hers out, and I took it. The check ups on Kaeo’s well being were only getting faster which Minna said was because she merely needed to check if she was getting worse. If she wasn’t there was no cause for worry.
The cold feeling started, and I saw thousands and thousands of very thin lines bind Kaeo and I together. They wrapped around the both of us, so thin I felt like moving too fast might break them. I knew it could not, and I also knew that I did not have to worry about another mage messing with the connection. Neither my mother, my father, or I could interact with them in any meaningful way, and my father said it would likely take a somewhat major working to just be able to disturb the strings, let alone break them.
The process of the smoke also took longer nowadays. It was perhaps one minute longer every day, and that had led me to the most interesting difference between clerics and mages. Clerics did not need concentration to keep a miracle going. There were even cases of their miracles working past them falling asleep, although never past death.
“Are you worried?” I eventually asked Minna when I was satisfied with looking at the threads.
“Yes, I think I am.” She tilted her head to the side whenever she was asked a question, like they all took serious contemplation. She was hard to take seriously with her slight smile and voice that made it sound like she wasn’t fully here. Like she was only half paying attention.
“What are you worried about?”
“There are innocents that I do not want to get hurt. I have met some amazing people here, and for them to get hurt in a conflict they can do nothing about would make me sad I think.” She paused for a time before continuing. “And, I fear if the invasion force gets their way I will lose a friend. I am not very good at making those.”
“I’ll try my best not to die.”
“That would be rather nice, I do find the art of war a tasteless and vile thing.”
“I think my father has a solution for the innocents, if it makes you feel better.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know, all I know is that he said ‘It would be easier to make war if there was not a village full of people,’ then he paused for a long time. ‘Perhaps there is something that could be done for that,’ then he started tapping his foot and went to his study. He’s been working on something huge, that’s about all I know.”
“Hmmm, I hope it is impressive. I think I would rather like to see something flashy from one of your parents.”
“I don’t think my father deals in a flash, only in practicality.” I paused for a moment. “Although I would tend to agree with you.”
The smokey feeling slowly faded, which I was somewhat grateful for. It had been reaching into my chest at this point, and it made me feel cold in a way I couldn’t quite explain. I grunted, getting to my feet and grabbing my cane. Minna more gracefully got to her feet from the side of Kaeo’s bed, and we wandered out into the house.
“Ah, Minna, your glass of water is on the table dear.” My mother told her as we came down the stairs.
“Thank you Mrs. Duewoe.”
“Thank Madam Lie, not myself,” my mother mock glared at me, “Evidently I am not allowed to do anything.”
“You are supposed to be taking it easy.” Madam Lie called from the kitchen. “Something you are rather terrible at doing I have found!”
“I’ll be fine! You know I’m one of the most seasoned war veterans on the planet, right?”
“There is a reason you said that and not ‘midwife’ or ‘doctor,’ take it easy.” Madam Lie called. This argument was so well worn it was like they were going through the motions rather than actually fighting. Not that I could picture Madam Lie getting into a fight with my mother, or vice versa. Minna was smiling listening to all of this, and once it died down thanked Madam Lie. “Of course, do right by us and I have no reason to not do the same.”
“Thank you nevertheless.” As was her habit, she downed the entire glass instead of just sipping at it. “I will be back on the morrow, take care.” She walked out the door, giving a short wave.
“What a rather odd girl, I like her.” My mother said, watching her go through the window from the living room into the front yard.
“Odd indeed. I’m not sure if that is her or the god.”
“Can it not be both?”
I grunted in acknowledgement, and went out to go find Mister Sharp. I was rather close to getting a win on him nowadays, which made me rather happy. I eagerly went over to the well where he was putting on cosmetic decorations which he seemed to enjoy. The well was a quaint little thing, looking more like something you would find in a story rather than a little bit off my back yard.
“Good timing, I think it is done. What do you think?” He took a step back, slowly walking around it appraising his work.
“You have a better eye for these things than I do. I think it looks rather nice.”
“Good! I’ll show your mother once we get through sparing, presuming that is what you’re here for?”
“It is, yes.”
“Well, come on then.”
We walked to the front yard, and took our five paces. I had found that I could hit Mister Sharp with the full force of the cane. Evidently one of the things about his concept made it so that his body could not be changed, or maybe it would instantly fix itself? He described it as “staying sharp” whatever that meant.
I turned to find some sort of thin sword and a kite shield. He no longer dashed forwards like he once had, instead coming in carefully. He circled, forcing me to turn. I started towards him, knowing that ending things quickly was the best, as he could not get tired and I could.
I took a step in, and I had started to get a feeling of what Mister Sharp liked to do. He was a brilliant fighter, but he was not patient. He would end the fight as aggressively as he could while making sure he could win. So when the lunge came for my throat, I stepped into it to be beside him. He dropped to the ground, instantly but I was on the side of him that had a shield. He did manage to avoid the swing I took at him with my cane with the duck, and I warded away a potential sweep of my legs.
He started to back away, needing to stand up but there was no way for him to get out of this now. I swung once more with the cane, and although he got the shield up in time it shattered and hit him into the ground.
I smiled, wide as I could because I had finally won a match. Kaeo had won a few as well, but for the first time since I had met him I had won. It hadn’t even been a long match either, more like one of those matches where I was sloppy and got defeated for. I offered my hand to him to get up like he often did to me when I was on the ground and he took it. He had to dust himself off, and he had to rip the broken shield from his arm, but he was smiling as well.
“Well done!” He congratulated me, the shield and sword melting back into him.
“Thank you!” I smiled, feeling insanely proud.
“Sylin! Mister Sharp! Why is there a crater in my front lawn?!” I heard mom call from inside. I shot Mister Sharp a panicked look and his eyes widened slightly.
“It’ll be fixed!” Mister Sharp called back.
Perhaps I needed to find a better weapon to spar him with. I had not hit him to the side for fear of sending him flying, and into the ground was also a bad idea evidently. I’d figure it out, for now I celebrated.

***

My father came home, looking tired. He had been doing that more and more, and this time had called everyone to the kitchen. I took my normal seat at the table, my mother next to me and Madam Lie standing between us leaning against the table. My father stood further into the kitchen, waiting for Mister Reclamation to make it in.
He was typically the last one in as he was usually up stairs doing paper work for my parents. Evidently they had a lot, and it never stopped coming in. I had asked my father about it, and evidently for a lot of his work he needed a lot of ingredients, and had a lot of different people he had to talk to to get them.
Once Mister Reclamation entered the room, my father began, meeting each of our eyes in turn. “Some of you have been with us for a while, others more recently. I want to thank each of you for serving my family as well as you have. That being said, war is on the horizon, and I have enough to feel comfortable telling you what is coming.” He started to pace, face neutral even as his body language said tired. “There are three fronts that will be hitting us about the same time. And I do mean us, the rest of the town will be… gone for the fight. The only people that will be left are us and the clerics.”
“How many people?” My mother asked, face gone cold.
“From the supply trains – which have been cut off thanks to the Queen – and looking at the aftermath we expect around twenty thousand in each front. We can’t get more specific than that as they are under illusion which is held together by miracle, which confirms this is an attack from Ekelek. That being said, I will turn it over to my wife as to what it is like to fight their ground troops, and I’ll finish off by talking about clerics.”
My mother nodded, turning in her chair to look at us all. I had a feeling she would be on her feet if she was not in the last month of her pregnancy. “Ekelek is the only major world power to use constructs and undead as their troops. They don’t flench, and don’t fear. Towards the end of when I was fighting them, they had a new type of army specifically to fight me made up of constructs. They are able to do this because of their close ties to the dwarves and the ability to have Shapers make the constructs. Each one from what I remember is about seven feet tall and made of steel and rock. They also use massed undead, but you won’t have to worry too much about any undead or people.” She looked finished, and my father started up.
“Clerics are tricky to fight. Most of them can call on their gods, and the most common magical attack is a bolt of energy which glows very brightly. It is super heated, and will burn through most things, even solid metal. They can also heal, so unless one is dead or knocked unconscious, you can presume they will get back up. Ekelek at large is infamous for ‘smaller,’” my father looked aware of the irony of that word when talking about 60000 people, “forces that are almost all heavily armored. This is again thanks to the dwarves, but you can presume almost all of them to be in plate mail. Clerics who are further up the totem pole can also make mass floods, summon swarms of hostile animals, control the weather, and revive the dead.”
He let it sink in, and I saw the concepts chew on this. I knew that Mister Sharp was pulling his punches a lot when fighting me, and I knew Madam Lie was a terror in her own right, but I had no clue for the rest. I had heard my father talking of the two new Madam’s as if they were as strong as Madam Lie, and I had genuinely no clue for Mister Reclamation.
Mister Sharp looked hungry for the fight, but he was also nigh indestructible and could cut through almost anything along with being capable of forming anything out of the weird metal he was made of. Madam Lie was hard to read, but if anything I felt her being angry. Madam Strength looked as battle hungry as Mister Sharp and Madam Weakness looked nervous. I couldn’t read Mister Reclamation with his lack of a face, but his body language said tired to me.
Then there were my parents. They were very different people, my father having a base line of neutrality with things that he found worthwhile built on while my mother was a super prodigy who had almost everything come easy to her. One had to work for his power, the other had more than she knew what to do with. At that moment, they had the same facial expressions and I could see who must be called Rot and Ruin. Their faces were impassive, almost bored, like things needed to hurry up, and their eyes were calculating, seeing things and crunching numbers into a game plan. One called it instinct and one learned it, but the end result was the same.
“There will be three bastions of defense. The forest, the house, and my tower. The house is the safest of those, but if you need somewhere to retreat any of them should work. Sylin, I don’t want you to leave the house at all, understand?”
“Yes sir.”
“You are here to understand what is going on, so if you are forced to leave the house for some reason you know what to do. You will have the sisters,” That is what he called the twin Madam’s, “with you and Kaeo. Mister Reclamation will also be here, and now for the troubling part.”
“What?” My mother asked, face hard.
“When they plan to hit should be when you are giving birth to the twins.” My father said, and I did not like that. How did they know? Was it a coincidence?
“Once is chance.” my father said,
“two is coincidence,” my mother softly said,
“But three is enemy action.” My father finished. “And there are three. First was that, but the second is that each of the fronts is lined up to hit the tower, the house, and the forest. The third is of course that the clerics are here.”
“What does that tell us?” My mother asked.
“I don’t know yet. Tomorrow I will have a conference with the clerics to have a plan, but for now I don’t know. If any of you have questions, come to me and we’ll talk.”
I left to my room, knowing trouble was coming.

***

It was about a week until Kaeo would wake up. Minna was coming to set the concepts every day, and I was massively thankful. She would also evidently be staying here in the house with me come the day of the attack, along with the cleric of body. Minna had harshly disagreed she should be here, but the cleric of seven had told her she had to be.
That looked to be the end of the argument, but I had noticed her trying to weasel her way into the fight. I didn’t know why she thought she would be powerful enough to compete on the level of power being shown, but she genuinely thought she did.
Of course, the reason they were being kept here was to free Madam Lie up to go and deal with the front of the forest. Evidently, according to my father, that could hold down an army nigh indefinitely, which I had little doubt of. It would have been worse if they were not here, as then my mother would not have someone to deliver the baby.
I had asked Minna about that, and evidently she had delivered quite a few. Although nowadays she was also rather bored, as the clerics had dealt with just about every problem in town they could help with which left them with little to do. That was what had led to the current conversation.
“Can I come over later today?” Minna asked, giving Kaeo a cursory check over.
“I don’t see why not.” I answered with a shrug. My lessons had officially been put on hold, so the only thing I had to do today was the sparring with Mister Sharp. Well, that and helping my father set up another ward around the house, but that was more because I made an excellent battery.
“Amazing!” She said, giving me a quick smile.
“Are things really that boring with the clerics?”
“You have no clue. I’ve memorized every sermon they have to give, and can paraphrase each of the eight holy scriptures to you.”
“There are eight?” I had only heard of seven, one for each of the gods.
“Yep, it is ‘The Completion of Self’ which was written by the first High Cleric of Seven Gods, Ties.”
“I have heard of him.” I admitted. A fairly famous guy, and perhaps one of the most kind. The cleric of the seven had the ability to call forth miracles from any of the seven gods rather than just one. He had wandered the world from town to town helping in any way he could. Sometimes to literal collapse, and there was only one source of slander against him. It was from inside the church which was led by a faction who did not want there to be a high cleric over the entire church, which up until that point was led by a council of seven clerics, one for each god.
“Most people don’t read it, and most don’t consider it holy, but he was perhaps the most in tune with the God’s Cleric ever, so I consider it holy. So does Eusenius.” She tacked on after a second.
“Eusenius seems very wise.”
“He is, although I think that is mostly because he is very old.”
“How old?”
“A hundred seventy ish? He has some elf blood the way I hear it.”
“Wow. How much?” Well, I did not know about that. I mean, I understood that elves lived much longer than humans, but it was still insane.
“A thirty second if I remember correctly? His great great great great great grandfather.”
“So little?” Huh, I should check if we had any elf blood in the family.
“Yep. If you ever see his ears, they are very slightly pointed.”
“Do you know if that is the recessive or dominant gene?”
“The what?” She turned to me, face furrowed. Sometimes I forget the lack of knowledge here due to all the magic.
“Nevermind.”
“But I want to know!”
“I’ll tell you when you come back.” I said, not wanting to delve into it right now.
“I’ll hold you to it. Now, could you lend me your hand?” I found it amusing how she always asked. I extended my hand, and she took it.
“Is the physical contact necessary?” I asked, tapping into my sight.
“What? Don’t like it?” I could not really see her face, which I thought changed based on her body language. Her tone had stayed the same however.
“Not that, I was just curious.”
“I don’t think it is.” She said after a moment. “It does make it easier, I’m asked less of the god if that makes a type of sense.”
“I suppose it does, to some degree. Clerics make less sense, I have to say.”
“Not everything is made to be measured.”
“Everything is, it is just the matter of using the right ruler.”
“Agree to disagree.” She eventually said, power flowing through her into me and Kaeo.
The web of threads connecting me and Kaeo was almost so dense I could not see through it. Next week it would be a full on tapestry. Minna said that she had no clue what would happen when it was finished, only that in some way it would wake up Kaeo. She did assure me it would not hurt anyone, which was degree of solace
It ended eventually, the cold smokey feeling going through almost all my body. I still found it rather disturbing, but I was getting more used to it. There was a large gap between fine and uncomfortable, but the feeling was bearable. I wondered what it would feel like once it reached my head, which I would know soon enough I supposed.
Minna stood up, walking out of the room and I followed her. We went over to the kitchen, my mother looking up from her book as we walked by. Minna grabbed the glass of water that was always set out for her, draining it quickly as she always did. It was impressive how fast she emptied the cups of water.
I walked her to the front door, both of us talking about nothing of import. I walked out with her, closing the door behind me as I went to find Mister Sharp. I gave Minna a wave as she walked out, her saying “I’ll be back.”
Mister Sharp was currently testing the low stone wall that ran along the property, making sure it was all reasonably sturdy. He was pushing on the cobble stones somewhat hard, slowly making his way around. He looked up when he saw me, pulling a small green painted stone from a pocket and putting it where he left off.
“Are you ready?” He asked, dusting himself off real quick.
“Yep.”
I was doing better, but to say I won often would be a lie. Today was not any different, as I did not manage a win.

***

“So what were you talking about earlier today?” Minna asked as we walked through the backyard garden in a lazy circle.
“Oh, it is… you know how if someone with blonde hair marries someone with brown hair, and they have a kid the hair is more likely to be brown than blonde?”
“I have noticed it.” She said with a shrug.
“Well, that’s because the component parts of people have weaker and stronger parts, and the brown hair is typically stronger. Not that that means it will never happen, just that it is rarer.”
“So you wanted to know if the elf part of him was stronger than the human part?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“I don’t know. I could go ask him at some point.”
“Don’t worry about it, I doubt he’ll know.”
“No harm in asking.” She said, kicking a stone further ahead of her to kick again.
“No, I guess there is not.”
We talked for a while longer, until it was time for dinner which she joined us for. The food was set up, and an extra table was pulled out for Minna to use. I was guessing we were going to need a new table when the twins were born as this table was getting small.
“Would you like to bless the food Minna?” My mother asked her with a smile. My parents liked her enough to make the offer, even if they didn’t care.
“Sure. Ahem. May this food grant us strength, power, and joy. For any other blessing we need, may we be granted those as well. In the name of Xhaen I say this, so it might come to pass.”
“Thank you.” My mother said, sounding amused. We ate, and for a bit I forgot a war was coming.

***

“Are you ready?” Minna asked, holding one of my hands and one of Kaeo’s.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She gave a nod, and with that the smoke started. Today was supposedly the last day of treatments that Kaeo would need. In three days time the armies would be here, and my mother would be giving birth soon as well.
The smoke had finally reached my head, and it made me feel tired. That type of fog you have to push through when sleepy. It normally wore off after a bit of thinking, but today was different. It slowly pulled me down, into the abyss of sleep.


Kaeo
—
I was wandering down a spiral that had been carved into the ground. I had been walking it for a long time, although I could not tell you how long. I knew I had to get to the bottom, but that was so far away. Black stone surrounded me, and I was far enough down the light of the sun was lost far above.
Not that that mattered any more, I could see in the dark. I wanted to start moving down the spiral steps in a more fun way, but skipping down stairs was not the best idea. I had tried it before, and although I kept my balance it was not something I was willing to risk here.
There were after all no guard rails between me and the gaping hole which this spiral staircase led around. I kept walking, and I knew something was off. I knew that sleep and hunger and thirst and every other bodily need had been decreased as I had started to mess with my body, but this too far. I needed no breaks, and I never felt winded either. I chalked it up to magic and kept going, more bored than anything.
I was tempted to turn around and go back to the top of the staircase, but at this point I had a feeling I was closer to the bottom than the top. Or perhaps that was wishful thinking. I swore to myself that when I finished I would figure out a way out that didn’t require climbing so many stairs.
I whistled, which echoed back to as most sounds down here did. I had no reason to be quiet, and so had fun singing with my echo. Or well, perhaps not singing. I was good at whistling, but much worse at singing. I could dance decently, and-
I was wandering down a spiral that had been carved into the ground. I had been walking it for a long time, although I could not tell you how long. I knew I had to get to the bottom, but that was so far away. Black stone surrounded me, and I was far enough down the light of the sun was lost far above.
Not that that mattered any more, I could see in the dark. I wanted to start moving down the spiral steps in a more fun way, but skipping down stairs was not the best idea. I had tried it before, and although I kept my balance it was not something I was willing to risk here.
There were after all no guard rails between me and the gaping hole which this spiral staircase led around. I kept walking, and I knew som-
“Where would this be?” Sylin asked, suddenly beside me. He had his cane and leg of bone. He looked around, and slowly the world started to fall apart.
“Where am I? Are you… real?” I reached out to touch him, and he felt real. Most of my visions of him didn’t have his leg destroyed, it was not something I liked thinking about.
“I hope I am, or at least I have evidence to believe I am.”
“How do I know you’re not…” I gestured, the world falling like glass. I had seen him so many times, come to talk to me and get me out of wherever this was. Madam Lie had been there sometimes, or Mrs. Duewoe, or Mr. Duewoe. Sometimes even Mister Sharp, but he was the rarest.
Sometimes my parents came, but I knew they were dead. It was a hard fact to forget.
He walked over to me, resting a hand on my shoulder looking worried. “I’m real, and I have something to prove it. See, you don’t know a girl named Minna, who brought me here.”
Well, that was true. “You could just be saying a name.” I half said half wept.
“She’s a cleric you see. Mother nor father could bring you out, as we didn’t have the right tools. Minna weaved a miracle to bring me here.”
“What’s going on?” I felt confused, like the world was breaking more and more.
“You’ve been asleep for a while Kaeo.” Sylin gently told me. “Really had me worried, but I’m here to wake you up, I think.”
I felt a whisper against me, one that told me “in the future.”
Then the world broke and I was in bed.


Minna
—
They had been asleep for a rather long time, perhaps three hours. Not how she would have expected it to go, but then again Minna did not know the ways of the gods. She was sworn to Other, be that through hells or high water she would follow that oath. One spoken before she was born perhaps, but made all the same.
She got up from off the bed to check Sylin’s temperature, which felt fine. Nothing more than a very heavy dream she guessed. He would bring this “Kaeo” back, although Minna was unsure if he would do anything, or if he was simply stopping something by being there.Minna
They had been asleep for a rather long time, perhaps three hours. Not how she would have expected it to go, but then again Minna did not know the ways of the gods. She was sworn to Other, be that through hells or high water she would follow that oath. One spoken before she was born perhaps, but made all the same.
She got up from off the bed to check Sylin’s temperature, which felt fine. Nothing more than a very heavy dream she guessed. He would bring this “Kaeo” back, although Minna was unsure if he would do anything, or if he was simply stopping something by being there.


Sylin
—
I sat up from off the ground with a gasp, Minna still in the room. Shortly after I heard another gasp from Kaeo, who also set up. I stood up, feeling weak and using my cane for support. Minna was by my side in an instant, helping me over to Kaeo who was looking around.
“Sylin? And… Minna?” Kaeo said, blinking a lot.
“Yes, I’m Minna. I’m going to leave and get people, you two take it easy.”
I sat down next to Kaeo, short of breath for no reason. I hadn’t even done anything, the world had just broken around me, then I was up. Kaeo looked shaken, and her fists were clenched around the blankets.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can I get you anything?”
“No, no. Just, be here?”
“I can do that.”
Kaeo was finally up. The rest of what happened was a blur, but she was brought up to speed on happenings. After all, in a few days the armies would be here.
I stayed with Kaeo through all the chaos, and slowly she came back to herself. I was glad, as I wondered if something had happened to her while she was asleep. I gave her a smile, and she returned one.
Kaeo was back, and that made me feel indescribably happy despite the soon to be siege of my life.

---