In the days that passed since the kids began their detour to Larbroque, the evergreen forest had thinned until it vanished, taking the refreshing pine smell with it. In its place, the air felt heavy with dirt. The earth here was grey and cracked. Shrubs that struggled to reach waist height and had long since lost their leaves seemed to be the only vegetation around. The road, which would have been dangerously slick with ice if not for their dragonfire stone, cut deep into and around steep, featureless hills. Kylie had never seen a land so barren.

She asked Naomi if she knew what had made the earth this way. Naomi, unsurprisingly, had read about it. “Larbroque lies on the east coast, in this area known as the Broque Desert. This land was once the site of a war between dragons, in a time long before humans migrated to these lands, and some evidence suggests even before the seperation of the great continents. The scarring from the dragonfire has made it a difficult area for life to survive in, even now.”

That difficulty was evident everywhere they went. Much like the remaining plants, the handful of modest villages they walked through had also gone dormant for the winter. The few people they actually saw outdoors were bundled tight in their coats, moving as fast as they could to wherever they were going. Though there wasn’t as much snow on the ground, the weather must have been frigid. Still, even here, they found travelers’ stands and lodges open to the public, ready to give food and shelter to the needy. Kylie and Naomi took only as much as they thought they’d need to make it to the next village, and hurried away from the towns. They couldn’t stay in any place for too long.

After heading east for a few days, the road hooked south. Salt and moisture replaced the dirt in the air, and heavy fog rolled in from the east each morning. Some days, from the valleys between the stony hills, they could catch glimpses of the ocean. It looked to Kylie like flat blue nothing, defined in her view by the absence of the massive, crashing waves she’d read about in heroic stories. It seemed tranquil. She might have wanted to go swimming, but the idea of setting foot in water again filled her with dread.

One morning, as they picked themselves up from their resting place beside the road, something emerged from the fog and flew overhead. It vanished from sight just as quickly as it came.

“Was that a seagull?” Kylie had caught only a glimpse of it. She could only guess what a seagull looked like.

“Not even close.” Naomi stared over to her left, where she’d seen the flying creature go. “That was a bat.”

“Aren’t they supposed to be hibernating?”

“Yes.” Naomi grabbed the side of her coat and pulled it tighter, making motions to protect herself from the cold despite her draconic ward against the weather.

Kylie joined Naomi in looking to the sky. “Where do you think it’s going?”

“Away from here.” Naomi began walking down the road. Kylie and Asalya moved with her, keeping their connection of touch for warmth.

“Did I ever tell you about the first rule that I broke on this journey?” Naomi kept her eyes pointed down the fog-covered road.

“I don’t think so.”

“The very first thing I was ever told about being the Lightbringer was that I shouldn’t waste time. The world is very dangerous, and my duty too important, so I had to make haste. Well, that warning didn’t stick. I didn’t even make it out of town.

“Becoming the Lightbringer is a very isolating experience. I spent many nights and many days alone, studying. I had to pass every test, whatever that test was, perfectly. I don’t even know if that was strictly demanded of me, but I certainly demanded it of myself. I would often skip meals, sometimes because I was too wrapped up in practicing, sometimes because I knew I needed to prepare myself for the possibility of going hungry on the road. If I ever had any friends at the sanctuary, I certainly didn’t once I started hiding away in the library. My teachers seemed to like me, though.”

“Seemed to?” Kylie interrupted. “My teacher always tells me that she’s really proud of me.”

“Mine, I guess, are less direct? The phrasing was usually more like your effort is praiseworthy.” Naomi waved her hand, brushing the tangent they’d gone on aside. “Regardless, starting this journey was the first time I’d been outside for a while. Do you remember when I told you about the bats that live in the caves near Laryth? I left in mid-autumn, and knew they’d be hibernating by the time I returned. I didn’t want to waste time, but I only had to wait a couple hours until sunset. I figured there wouldn’t be any harm in that.”

Naomi looked down the road behind her. “The next day the Absentia caught up to me. I heard it behind me and ran. It chased me up the road until it nearly caught me. It would have if I had kept running straight - I had to flee into the woods to lose it. But I was close to the town of Cerflyn. If I hadn’t stayed to watch the bats fly, I would have been in the city alongside hundreds of people who might have been able to stop it. If I had kept moving, maybe none of this would have ever happened. It feels as though I’ve been punished for disobeying orders.”

Kylie took her hand off Asalya’s back and placed it on Naomi’s shoulder. “You don’t deserve punishment for stopping to say goodbye to your friends.”

“Is that what that was?”

“You don’t deserve punishment at all.”

“Maybe.” Naomi pulled her jacket even tighter, her eyes towards the road. Kylie understood that she didn’t want any more words of comfort right now. She’d have to save them for later.

Later that day, they moved closer to the ocean. Ships began drifting in and out of the horizon. More and more little stone houses appeared alongside the road, and more roads splintered off from theirs, leading to even more houses and buildings. It was difficult to say at what point they had entered the city of Larbroque, but they certainly found themselves there.

If Crescentia was defined by its cramped height, Larbroque was empty breadth. In many ways, it felt merely like a continuation of the hills outside its borders, only now they occasionally saw other people by the road. The homes lay low, rarely more than a single story, often with rounded roofs. Their scattershot layout reminded Kylie of home - doors positioned facing the doors of their neighbors at odd angles, placed wherever someone had decided a good home should be. Their grey stone blended into the grey earth, which blended into the grey road. As they marched deeper into the city, they found walls standing on their own, their faces painted with murals of vibrant colors. Sometimes the paintings were abstractions of flowers, or the sky, or of nothing in particular. They were just pretty. Kylie was relieved to see them.

When the road they travelled on reached a roundabout, they picked the nearest road and went down that path instead. They thought of asking a passerby for directions, but this was a covert mission. Ideally, they should draw no more attention to themselves than they naturally would by bringing a wolf into town. At least this time they had each other.

 The sun set as they moved through the city. Torches held on small pillars beside the roadway came alight all at once - a small display of magic that nevertheless made Larbroque feel old and powerful like Crescentia before it. They wandered through the dimly lit streets, twisting and turning through the roads. Neither of them knew how to find anything in this strange city. They didn’t even know how to look to the stars to find north. But as they’d entered Larbroque, they’d noticed the waxing gibbous moon ahead of them. It served as their navigational star that night, guiding them south through the branching roads to what they figured to be the other side of town. And that’s where they found the Order of Rejuvenance.

Up ahead, they could see a couple people in white gowns and blue guard masks. They sat in chairs they’d set up outside the building, loosely holding onto torches as they chatted with each other. The building behind them was one of the largest they had seen, though exclusively in width. It seemed to contain dozens of rooms despite only being a single story. Each room had a window, and even from far down the road they could see candles flickering from inside.

Kylie grabbed Naomi’s arm and pulled her behind a house next to the road. Asalya followed behind. “Guess I was wrong about them not having guards.”

“Apparently.” Naomi peeked her head out to get another look, then quickly ducked back. “It’s very strange for them to have people outside, or for the sanctuary candles to be lit this late. There must be some kind of ongoing emergency.”

“Any chance that emergency is you?”

Naomi sighed. “Potentially. Do you still think we’ll be able to sneak in?”

Kylie peered the other way. Every window she could see had lit candles in it. “Not if the whole place is lit up, and it looks like it is. I’d say we should try again tomorrow, except… you know.”

“Yeah, I know. But we didn’t come all this way to leave with nothing. At least not without trying.”

Kylie swished her tail around as she thought it over. An idea came to her, though it frankly seemed silly. But Naomi was right, they couldn’t leave without attempting something. Kylie handed her bag to Asalya, placing the strap gently around the wolf’s chest. Then she twirled her finger in the air, motioning for Asalya to go around. Asalya understood and darted from their hiding place to behind another house, moving between the scattered buildings silently until she was on the other side of the sanctuary.

“What are you two planning?” Naomi asked, a touch of worry in her voice.

“Not much. If we’re going to get spotted, we might as well just talk to the guards. It’s not like they know what’s actually going on. I’ll just tell them a bunch of lies.”

“Will I need to lie as well? I can’t say that I trust myself to be any good at it.” There was a shake in Naomi’s voice.

Kylie’s ears drooped in spite of her grin. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this. All I need you to do is run at them as fast as you can. Act really exhausted.”

“Shouldn’t be an issue.” Naomi took a step towards the sanctuary, but pulled it back. Her hand was opening and closing again. “H-have you ever…”

Kylie gently grabbed Naomi’s hand. “Never. It’s a skill, not a habit. You’re a friend, and I trust you, Naomi.”

“Right. I-I trust you too.” Naomi gripped Kylie’s hand. “I’m sorry if sometimes that’s still difficult for me.”

“No need to be sorry, I understand.” Kylie held onto her a moment more. “You ready?”

“I suppose.”

“Then run!” Kylie gave Naomi’s back a gentle shove.

Naomi rounded the corner and sprinted towards the guards. The instant the one on the left looked at her, the urge to turn and run back the way she came grabbed her by the throat. This was a bad idea. She’d be caught. She’d get in trouble. Kylie would abandon her. She didn’t even understand, logically, why she was worried about that last one. Logic rarely matters in anxiety. Regardless, there wasn’t enough distance between their hiding place and the sanctuary for Naomi’s brain to stop her feet before she arrived.

Naomi wasn’t so tired from her short sprint that she needed to take deep, gasping breaths, but she forced them anyway. The mild soreness of her lungs made exaggeration easy. A guard stood up and moved toward her, their mask making their face unreadable. She took a step towards them and moved to say something but cut herself off with her own harsh coughing. Then, channelling her arrival at Rodehills, she dramatically collapsed to the ground. Soon, both guards were standing, looking over the seemingly unconscious stranger.

That was Kylie’s cue. She closed her eyes. Her lie had already been decided on. Now she needed to inhabit it. The hair on her ears bristled as she drifted further into character. A few deep breaths, and she stepped out of the shadows.

A guard spotted her right away. They held their torch out toward her and shouted, “Hey! What’s going on?” 

Kylie stepped forward. Her eyes were wide and menacing. Torchlight glistened off her fangs. She cackled. “I suppose if I’ve been seen there’s no need for any secrecy. But do you really not recognize your own Lightbringer? How sad.”

“The Lightbringer?” The guard whispered, though loudly enough that Kylie could still hear it. “She’s actually here?”

The other guard took a step toward Kylie. “Who are you?”

“Kylie of Nighthills - thrall of the witch, the Wolf Mother Madeline, and thief of the dragon Aalrahzorox’s flame.” This was risky. If they’ve heard of either, they might call her on her bluff. But details led credibility. Kylie felt a bit guilty dragging Madeline and Aalrahzorox into her lies without asking them first, but she’d love to see these clerics try to pick a fight with either. Kylie continued, waving her hand to show off her claws. “I don’t really mind sharing that with you. Nor this - I’ve come to take the Light of Laryth for our dark rituals. Don’t bother to try and stop us. You can’t.”

Naomi, pretending to be unconscious, felt a pange of fear. She knew Kylie was making up a story, but the paranoia she’d been taught wasn’t easy to unlearn. She merely had to contain and soothe it until time proved it wrong.

The guards seemed more confused than afraid. Kylie cut them off before they could ask any questions that could interrupt her speech. 

“Your Lightbringer is a slippery one. She managed to evade us all the way to Crescentia, then escape from my grasp once I’d captured her there. But no one can run forever.” That was good. If they bought that Kylie had kidnapped her, Naomi might even be able to get back in their good graces once all this was through. “I’ve heard that you might appoint a new Lightbringer? It doesn’t matter. The wolves that roam the forests are our eyes and ears. There’s nowhere to run or hide.”

Kylie leaned back, cupped her hands over her mouth, and howled. Asalya, from the other side, still hidden, howled back. Suddenly, that fear she’d been looking for was there. The guards looked around in panic for the second wolf. They must have felt surrounded. Who knows how many wolves were hiding in the darkness? The one on the right took a step back towards the door.

A cleric in a yellow guard mask came out through the entrance. Before they had time to say anything, one guard grabbed Naomi by her shoulders and passed her over to their partner. Naomi had to remind herself to stay completely limp. The first guard yelled to the one holding Naomi, their voice trembling, “Take the Lightbringer to the Grand Cleric.”

Kylie cackled again. “Go ahead and hide her. It won’t do you any good. Our Absentia is already on its way.”

More clerics joined the yellow-masked one at the entrance as the guard dragged Naomi inside. Kylie could see their courage rise as their numbers increased. The remaining guard pointed at Kylie and shouted, “They’re hunting the Light! They’re cursed! After them!”

Kylie turned and sprinted back into the city, a dozen clerics chasing after her. She grinned. That had gone so well.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

From the way she was being dragged across the stone floor, Naomi could tell that this guard wasn’t strong enough to actually lift her up. Guard was probably an inaccurate term - judging from their blue mask, they were likely another proselyte, a rookie appointed to the unenviable task of staying up all night outside in the cold. But guard was their current job, and all that frankly mattered to Naomi. They had their arms pressed under Naomi’s armpits and each time they moved a few more inches, she could feel them dig into her shoulder blades. Their breath was getting heavier with each pull. As much as playing unconscious was easier than lying, she doubted she could keep up this ruse when the guard inevitably dropped her.

Naomi rolled her head forward and half-opened her eyes. Hazy candlelight greeted her from all directions. She mumbled some quiet nonsense. The guard stopped moving in response. She tilted her head back to look up at them and asked, “Is this the sanctuary?” 

“Yes, Lightbringer. I’m taking you to Grand Cleric Fletcher now. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to see that you’re safe.” The guard spoke with an enthusiastic lilt that caught Naomi by surprise. She’d come to expect admonishment. “Frankly, I’m happy to see that you’re still alive. We’d heard that you were chased by the beast that attacked in Crescentia, and taken away by a wolf. We’d thought there was a witch hunting you. It’s a bit scary to find out we were right.”

So Kylie’s story, surprisingly, lined up with how Grand Cleric Arket had perceived the attack. She couldn’t believe that Arket hadn’t immediately called for her banishment. He’d apparently been willing to believe that she wouldn’t disobey them. Perhaps she’d misjudged him. Guilt weighed on her chest harder than ever. Once again, here she was, letting them down.

“I can walk,” Naomi muttered, pulling back against the guard’s arms and planting her feet on the ground. The guard let out a grunt in protest, before looking back down the hallway and quickly deciding they could actually use the help. They helped Naomi upright, though she continued the act by leaning against their shoulder for stability. Together, they slunk down the long corridor.

The sanctuary interior was very similar to the sanctuary in Crescentia, unsurprisingly, as the Order of Rejuvenance didn’t often make changes in ritual or procedure. And with the sanctuary’s multiple roles of library, school, shelter, home, and hospital, decor definitely fell into the procedure category. Hundreds of candles in glass containers lined the hallway. Naomi’s half-lidded eyes blurred the candlelight into smears of yellow that only served to further obscure her vision. Every few steps, the light was interrupted by a wooden door. At the end of the hallway, she could see a much larger gap between lights. She assumed that must be the door to the Grand Cleric’s room. Step by step, the guard helped her get closer to the information contained there.

She nearly fell backwards in surprise when the door at the end of the hall flew open. On the other side stood a man in an ornate, red mask - the man she knew to be Grand Cleric Fletcher.

“Ah, you must be Young Miss Birch,” he said, holding the door open for Naomi and the guard. Though she recoiled at that title, there was a gentleness in Fletcher’s voice that Arket’s had sorely lacked. As she limped by, the Grand Cleric moved under her other shoulder and helped her into the room. Fletcher was a rather large man, with heavy musculature that was notable even under his heavy robes. He easily took Naomi from the guard and lifted her onto his bed. “I’m so glad to see you safe. Please, make yourself at home and rest up as much as possible. You must have been through quite an ordeal.”

Naomi gently nodded as she shifted further back on the bed. Fletcher picked up a glass of water from the desk across from the bed and handed it to her. “Here, have a drink.”

The glass was slick with condensation, and the water refreshingly cool. Naomi drained the entire glass without stopping. Thankfully, as she did, Fletcher turned his attention to the guard.

“Gather the Master Clerics. We need to place a ward.”

The guard took off out of the room. Naomi sat the empty glass beside her on the bed. A ward? The same kind that Kylie accidentally destroyed in Crescentia? It didn’t seem like that would do them much good. Naomi didn’t ask any questions. The less she talked, the less chance she had to slip up.

Naomi looked around the room, and immediately spotted what she had come there for. Behind Fletcher, next to a rather large window, sat an enormous bookcase overflowing with knowledge she never had access to. The knowledge of what her enemy was, and how to fight it, was mere feet away.

Fletcher stepped forward, blocking her sight of the books. Then his red, masked face turned to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Those masked weirdos were everywhere.

Kylie, of course, understood that if Naomi was ever welcomed back into the Order, she would be counted among those weirdos. But Kylie didn’t care much about extending courtesy to Order members at the moment. She ducked between houses and shadows, keeping her movements quick and her breath controlled. Dozens of mages, their hands glowing with magic to simulate torchlight, were hunting her across town. Kylie hated these clerics, and not just for everything this Order had put Naomi through. But still mostly for that.

She could have outrun them. Run all the way back outside of town, then circle around back to the sanctuary when they’d given up. She knew that’d probably be a better plan, but she couldn’t bring herself to get too far away. There was a pressing problem she needed to return to.

A wolf’s howl echoed from miles away. Kylie’s ears bristled. They were hunting Asalya, too. Kylie stretched her fingers, extending her claws. If these clerics laid a hand on her friend, there was no telling what she’d do.

A beam of light rounded the circular building Kylie hid behind. Someone was coming. She held her breath and shuffled around to the other side, and now found herself facing back towards the direction she’d come from. From between a few more homes, she spotted the guard who had been standing outside the sanctuary - distinguishable from the other blue-mask wearers by being the only one holding a torch. They seemed to have assumed authority over the rest of the hunters; four clerics were following right behind them. They pointed to their left, away from Kylie, and two of the clerics went that way. Kylie hurried to the next section of houses, knowing that the other two would be headed her way soon.

By now, a significant murmur was building in the air. The noise outside in the pre-sunrise morning hadn’t gone unnoticed by the residents of Larbroque. All around her, Kylie saw lights coming from inside houses. She peeked her head out from her latest hiding place. A couple Larbroque citizens had stepped in the path of the two clerics sent her way and seemed to be interrogating the mages. 

She had line-of-sight on the sanctuary again. No clerics looked to be in her way. This was her chance - if she could get to the other side of her pursuers, it wouldn’t be hard to run past everyone and meet back up with Asalya. Kylie hunched low and hurried toward the sanctuary wall.

The door creaked open on the next house she passed. Kylie sprang upright and killed her momentum, hoping whoever it was hadn’t seen her sneaking.

“Hey, kid!” 

It took all of Kylie’s willpower not to say screw it and sprint past the sanctuary. She turned to face the person, raising one ear and uttering, “hmm?”

“What’s all this noise about?” A person in a long, pink floral nightgown stepped outside.

Kylie readied her lying face, “well-”

 “And what are you sneaking around my house for?”

Kylie said, “screw it,” and sprinted toward the sanctuary. She made it only a couple yards before bouncing face-first off the newly-erected magical ward.

The magic force flashed with light as she hit it, searing her eyes. Her own momentum sent her tumbling to the ground. She landed on her own tail; a stinging ache shot up her spine. All of her hurt, but she growled more in frustration than in pain. She should have known better. Kylie spread her claws on the ground as she propped herself up with her hands. Her eyes stung too much to force open. Her ears twitched. Someone - several people - were running towards her.

Kylie couldn’t make it to her feet in time to run. Though she still couldn’t see, she could hear that the clerics had her surrounded. There was so much noise. The clerics were all shouting. The person who had spotted her was arguing with someone. Someone else was moving closer. She growled and slashed at the air with her claws. The approaching cleric jumped back. Another shouted to the others, “She’s cursed! I need to remove her curse!”

She managed to pry her eyes open to see the fuzzy image of many different colored masks. She swung at the air again and shouted, “Don’t you dare!”

They didn’t stop. There was chanting. A chill ran through Kylie’s heart. This wasn’t going to happen. Kylie scrambled to her feet and leapt claws-first at the spellcaster. Another cleric caught her by the arm, twisted her wrist, and threw her back to the ground. Before she could fight back, another had grabbed her other arm. Her two captors pressed their knees into her back, pinning her against the dirt. She kicked and struggled, but couldn’t move from under their weight.

A hand pressed against her forehead, its palm between her eyes and its fingers on her hair. Through her eyelids, she could see the glow of a spell. She growled. She gnashed her teeth. In her panicked instinct, she tried to lift up her head enough to bite this cleric, to force him to get away. But she couldn’t reach.

After minutes that felt like eternities of struggling, her left arm slipped from her captor’s hand, only to be caught again. The cleric on her right shouted to the spellcaster, “What’s taking so long?”

“Quiet!” came their reply, shouted far too close to Kylie’s ear. “This curse is extremely resilient.”

Kylie promised to thank the witch that made her potion, if she ever met her.

The cleric held their hand against Kylie’s head for a few minutes more. The noise of the crowd of Larbroque citizens grew around them. Kylie managed to pry open her eyes, but couldn’t see past the cleric’s glowing hand.

The cleric cried out in frustration. “This isn’t working! We’ll have to take her to the Grand Cleric. You two carry her. The rest of you get these people away, for their own safety. I’ll take down the barrier.”

Kylie quieted her struggling. Letting herself be taken would be to her advantage. Escaping from two clerics would be far easier than getting away from however many were surrounding her. 

But the cleric’s hand stayed against her head. Something felt different. The cadence of the chant had changed. Kylie’s eyelids felt impossibly heavy, her muscles felt weak. She tried to bite at the cleric one last time, but didn’t have the strength to lift her head. The spell continued.

Kylie was pulled down into sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“The Wolf Mother?” Fletcher asked, his voice neither curious nor scrutinizing. Naomi had been in the process of recounting Kylie’s story to the Grand Cleric, to the best of her ability. He seemed to be in the habit of responding to Naomi with statements phrased like questions, though his tone of voice always gave the impression that he was simply confirming that he heard correctly.

“Yes, that’s what the wolf girl claimed.” Naomi took another sip from her newly-refilled glass of water. “Is the Wolf Mother known to you?” 

“Madeline is a cohort of several witches. She’s not done much to attract attention, other than stories of her army of wolves - which up until now we’d thought to be merely protecting her little town.” Fletcher looked out the window on the other side of the room. “This is the first I’ve heard of her dabbling in practicing magic, rather than using magic potions and spells created by her circle, though considering the company she keeps it’s hardly a surprise. ”

Naomi wondered what Kylie’s teacher had done to make so many powerful friends.

“And to hear she’s allied with an Absentia! Quite dangerous, indeed. It’s no wonder you wound up so far off the path. She likely had the beast chase you directly to her Nighthills for capture, yes?”

That was a possibility Naomi had never considered. She steeled herself against the anxiety and doubt. If she was to be betrayed, she already would have been. Fletcher’s words were mere speculation, no matter how authoritative they sounded coming from the voice of a Grand Cleric. He didn’t know Kylie better than her.

Fletcher seemed a bit thrown off by Naomi’s lack of a verbal response. He continued, “To answer a further question that I’m sure a young lady such as yourself is far too polite to ask - you’ll have to excuse Grand Cleric Arket for his ignorance. I only know of Madeline through her connections to a witch that’s known to occasionally operate locally, so I’m not surprised he’d never heard of her or her village. My understanding is that he was also quite skeptical of your explanation about your delayed arrival in Crescentia? I’ll apologize on his behalf.”

The last thing Naomi had ever expected to receive here was an apology. She expected shouting, banishment, disappointment. Approval didn’t feel real. “He also mentioned that I might be replaced as the Lightbringer?”

  “Oh! I’d simply heard that plan discussed as a possibility if you never made it to Crescentia. Did he really bring that up after you arrived?” Fletcher paused, as if expecting an earnest reply to his clearly rhetorical question.

“He did.”

“How rude of him. Did you know he also claimed that you and this werewolf child ran from the Absentia together?” Fletcher had moved closer to Naomi. She felt his eyes fix on her face through his mask.

“I was not aware, no.” Naomi said, trying to sound confused. Arket hadn’t trusted her at all. Why was Fletcher bringing this up? Was this all some kind of test? She went in for another drink, hoping to conceal whatever reaction Fletcher may have been looking for behind her glass.

“Yes, but your Grand Cleric Jeiflet convinced him to consider the possibility that it was a kidnapping. And it was her idea for other branches to keep watch in case either you or your assailants arrive. She speaks very highly of you and your character. And even though we’ve just met, I have to say I’m inclined to agree with her. Thank you for all you’ve done for the Order thus far. I’m sorry my comrade in Crescentia is being so rude.” 

That was maybe the nicest thing she’d ever heard a Grand Cleric say to her. She was glad to hear Jeiflet, her own Grand Cleric, supported her. She hadn’t been able to trust that she would. Knowing that offered the possibility that she could be accepted back. Having the hope of returning home felt more odd than invigorating. Strangely draining, even. She stared at the water in her glass, and wondered for a moment if she might see herself swimming in it. Like in a dream.

Fletcher stood in front of Naomi again, looking her over. “Not to keep boring you with the internal politics of the council, I’m sure you’ll have enough of that when you succeed Jeiflet as Laryth’s Grand Cleric. But between us two, Arket is kind of a suspicious old grump.”

Naomi forced the appropriate amount of laughter at Fletcher’s joke. There was kindness and concern in Fletcher’s tone. His words reminded her of promises she’d long thought were out of reach. Promises of that bookcase of forbidden knowledge, of that prestigious red mask. Of a room that was her’s, but the Order’s, with a bed that was never fully her own. Her stomach twisted in unease. 

“Now, you’ll have to pardon me, Young Miss, but there is something I must examine.” Fletcher clasped his hands together and began chanting under his breath.

Though the sudden use of magic surprised Naomi, she instantly recognized the spell for what it was. She still didn’t find it within herself to react much, and simply asked, “Curse detection?” 

“It’s a natural concern. You’ve been in contact with someone connected to a witch, it’s very possible they’ll have placed a curse on you.” The Grand Cleric’s hands started to glow as he waved it over Naomi. “We wouldn’t want any dark magic you’ve been in contact with to corrupt the Light, would we?”
“Definitely not, sir. I’m just a bit confused, would you not be able to tell if I was cursed right away?”

“Typically, yes, I would. But the Wolf Mother seems to have grown very powerful very quickly - potentially through acquiring draconic magic, which is an entirely different worry. Regardless, I do not doubt that a witch powerful enough to tame an Absentia would also be able to conceal a curse.” 

Naomi nodded and allowed Fletcher to continue his spell. Of all the things she was hiding, curses were not among them. As she sat there, watching Fletcher scan her up and down with his glowing hand, she finally placed what felt off about this. His kindness was the practiced, clinical nicety of a professional healer. Sitting on the Grand Cleric’s bed, she felt more like a patient than a fellow healer.

She realized something about his last sentence struck her as odd. The rush of passion she’d felt while floating on the Crescentian lake came back. 

“Tame an Absentia?”

Fletcher paused. “Pardon?”

“Forgive me, I know very little of the Absentia or dark magic in general, but Grand Cleric Arket led me to believe they were summoned extra-planar beings.”

“Did he now?” There was a sudden gravel in his voice. Naomi knew she was crossing a line, but she needed this information more than she needed him to continue his string of pleasantries. His change in demeanor only meant that Fletcher must know something of the creatures.

“Maybe this is pedantry or ignorance, but I thought most summoned beings were obliged to assist their summoners. Using the word tame almost makes it sound like Absentia are wild animals native to this plane.”

“My!” Fletcher clasped his hands together. “For someone who’s recently had such horrible experiences with dark magic, you seem quite interested in the details of it.”

“With all due respect, sir, I’d very much like to know more about the nature of the being that’s been chasing me, so I can best know how to escape it.” Naomi couldn’t contain that little bit of the truth. She needed to know what he did.

“You’ve been escaping it very well thus far.”

That was not at all what Naomi wanted to hear. This level of resistance was absurd. She slammed her glass back down on the table, splashing some water onto her hand. “I’ve escaped? Only narrowly! With very little help from the Order, I might add.” 

Fletcher pointed his finger directly in Naomi’s face. “That is quite out of line, Young Miss Birch.”

Naomi pushed his hand out of her face. “All I want to know is if the Absentia is summoned or not! What is the point of concealing such basic information? What are you hiding?”

“Enough!” Fletcher screamed in her face. He grabbed her shoulder and squeezed, hard. “I am ordering you to stop this line of questioning at once!”

Naomi didn’t move. She didn’t speak. In that moment, she didn’t know how. Her shoulder hurt. Her teeth clenched. Any words of kindness he’d offered no longer mattered. He was hurting her.

When he noticed she’d stopped moving and speaking, his grip relaxed. But his hand still remained. “There. I’m willing to look past your outburst there, in light of recent events. But I refuse to tell you of forbidden knowledge, and you have no right to demand it of me. I am going to finish scanning you. After that, you should remain here until we are sure the threat has passed and you can continue to Laryth. You can fulfill your duties as Lightbringer, continue your training, and move past all this.”

Some part of Naomi’s brain knew that Fletcher was right. She could head to Laryth and end this at any time. But another part of her, the part filling with dread and rage, saw the forbidden books behind the Grand Cleric. It saw the red mask of the man holding her, just as it had stared into the red eyes of the beast she’d sworn to stop. It wanted to lift up that mask and spit in his face.

Her hand snatched Fletcher’s wrist. She started chanting - a spell she’d learned a long time ago, necessary for any cleric. A simple anesthetic. 

Fletcher didn’t have a chance to react. He collapsed, his unconscious body landing next to Naomi on his bed. She stood up and walked to the bookcase. It was time to find out what the Order knew.