“I’m tired of these things happening to you,” Korgron said with a soft, annoyed sigh. Held in her hand was a small, purple sphere of magic. Within it the spider was trapped, occasionally disappearing and reappearing.

The only reason that the spider hadn’t died was because Zorn had asked them not to kill it so he could return it to its owner. HOW it had gotten here, however, was anyone’s guess. The fact it was so attached to her was only more frustrating. At least it hadn’t tried to bite her this time.

“Trust me, so am I,” Joan said.

“I’m done having it happen,” Korgron said. “As much as I wish I could, I really can’t keep you safe all the time, now can I?”

“I mean, I could have dealt with it,” Joan said sheepishly. “I just didn’t expect it to suddenly be there. But I was wearing the amulet, so even if it had bitten me it wasn’t like it could hurt me.”

“Not what I mean,” Korgron said before sitting on the bed next to her. She then glanced towards Zorn and Bauteut. The two seemed to be asleep again, but Joan would have bet anything they were listening closely. Especially once her screaming woke them up. “I can’t always be here to protect you. I’m still hurting. So are the others. The only one of us not hurting is off dealing with some royal and can’t seem to get away from you fast enough the moment the opportunity comes. The only one of us in any shape to keep you safe is me and Searle. What happens in the future? I’ve been trusting you to keep yourself safe, but like it or not you need us.”

Joan gulped and had a bad feeling sink into her. This didn’t bode well at all. “I’ve always been okay so far, haven’t I? I’m smart, clever--”

“Lucky,” Korgron said. “It’s one disaster after another with you. While you’ve been handling them better than any human should, you’re not invincible. You just attract trouble to you and we can’t be there to keep you safe every time.”

Joan shrunk down a little and gave a nod. “I know. I’m doing better. It was just a spider--”

“Just a spider this time,” Korgron said before glancing back at the small shimmering arachnid. “What if it was a real threat? An assassin? What if I hadn’t been awake? What if one scream wasn’t enough? You need a guardian.”

“Searle is--”

“Resting,” Korgron said. “The only reason he didn’t get here is because I got here first. That’s the kind of shape he’s in right now. There are more dangerous things coming, aren’t there?”

“There are,” Joan said softly.

“Good. Give me the eye,” Korgron said.

Joan blinked a few times and tried to process that. Finally, she looked up at Korgron. “Wait, what? My eyes?”

“The eye, give it to me,” Korgron said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Joan said. “Do you mean the key? I can’t, it’s--”

“No, that big red eye thing you found,” Korgron said with a roll of her eyes.

“Wait, that?” Joan asked. “Why do you want that?”

“I’m making you a guardian elemental,” Korgron said. “Or we are. I’m going to have Searle help me with it. Between the two of us, wounded or not, we should be able to make something that can keep even you safe.”

Joan stared at her for a few moments, struggling to piece everything together. Finally, the pieces clicked together. “Wait. So you’re not going to try and lock me up or something? Keep me captive back home or anything?”

“What good would that do?” Korgron asked. “As much as I hate to say it, that only leads to two results. The first being you inevitably find a way to escape whatever spell I use to try and keep you safe or something really powerful comes and you’re unable to escape it. I can’t just trust you to stay behind, either. You’d just find some way to get yourself in danger again because that’s what you always do. You attract it and, even if you didn’t, you seek it out. It’s a lot easier to just let you do what you’re going to do and hope you’ll learn enough to not die doing it. You’re like a younger me but a thousand times more fragile. Not the best combination.”

“But what if that eye turns out to be needed for something later?” Joan asked. “When I found it, it--”

“If you’d rather I try the imprisoning thing on you, I can do that instead,” Korgron said. “You need something to keep you safe. An elemental crafted from me and Searle should be able to do it. Between that and Bauteut--” A low gasp came from across the room and Korgron gave a light hmph. “Between that and Bucket, hopefully you won’t be able to die anytime soon.”

“Wouldn’t Thalgren be better for making an elemental, though?” Joan asked.

“If he was in any shape to do it? Maybe,” Korgron said. “But he’s not. And I’m tired. We’re all tired. We need to recover and we can’t do that if you’re almost dying every few days. Get the eye.”

Joan gave a small nod before walking to her bag and beginning to rifle through it. As much as she wanted to argue, this probably was the best decision. No matter how badly she loathed the idea of having an elemental babysitter watching her every move. She wasn’t sure how strong it could possibly be, though. She’d seen elementals that Korgron could make. Even with the help of another Chosen, it wouldn’t be much stronger than one of the obsidian trolls. She had no idea how useful the eye would be as a core, either. She had managed to defeat it, after all.

Then again, it probably would be a lot more powerful than her. It was an elemental of the Chosen. Though she supposed that said more about the Chosen than it did her. It beat being locked up in some fancy cell as well.

Joan pulled the small red orb out of her bag, buried near the bottom under all of her other things. She eyed it for a few moments before glancing back to Korgron. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Korgron asked. “There’s a lot of things to be thankful for, I want to know which one.”

Joan gave a light chuckle at that before holding the orb out. “It beats being locked up. Thanks for trusting me to get in trouble enough that you don’t want to do that.”

Korgron gave a light sigh before taking the orb. “Yeah. You can thank me by keeping out of trouble for a week or two. Let us get some rest, will you?”

“Of course. I’ll be sure to get in no more trouble than an elemental of yours can handle,” Joan said with a light snicker.

“That’s not very comforting,” Korgron said with a roll of her eyes before holding up the orb.

Joan snickered a little herself. Who knew? This might allow her all kinds of new opportunities.

------

Joan stared down the long, long chamber of the Realm of the Gods. She’d been right, in some ways.

The elemental had offered her new opportunities. New chances. It helped Searle trust her enough to try new things, to take a new risk.

She stared in awe at the grand tapestry, far, far beyond anything she could have ever imagined. Around her waist the eye, now reshaped into the form of a ruby red belt, was warm and ready to activate in the event she was in danger.

But the only danger she felt like she was in now was being overwhelmed by the grandeur. The Three Sister’s had shown her a small piece of the threads of fate. The Nameless One had shown her a piece of it as well, albeit he’d allowed her to see what the Three Sister’s had hidden from her.

Now she was gazing at it alone, struggling to comprehend what it was. The way each thread wove around others, the way they all shifted and moved in strange, different directions. A grand tapestry that managed to go in all directions. Up, down, left, right, away, towards her. Each thread woven amongst others, seemingly unending… almost unending.

Except where she now stood. Where the tapestry had ended. What had started out as millions of threads, then became billions, it had grown and shrunk and then suddenly, almost instantly, it had shrunk from billions, to thousands and then hundreds before, finally, the last thread was cut. No more threads remained.

It just stopped. The threads ending in splits, as if they were cut with a crude, vicious instrument.

What happened? Where were the gods? Did they know that she was here, could they know that she was here? They had helped her when she and Penthe had come through the gate before. So why weren’t they here now?

Joan turned her gaze down the hall, the stone that seemed to go on forever. Beyond this tapestry.

If she kept going, would she finally gain the answers she so desperately craved?

She moved her hand towards the sword at her hip. “Come on, Guardian Nova. Let’s go. No going back now, right?” Joan asked.

Joan received nothing but silence. She’d finally opened another door to the Realm of the Gods. Last time she had learned some things, this time she prayed she would learn more.

The Gods had to have guided her for a reason. To show her something. She just had to figure out what.

MelodyAvant

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