“Well, now. Welcome back!”
The voice was overly cheerful even through the groggy haze that clouded AsaHi’s mind. The girl’s eyes inched open, then fluttered against the amber light filtering in from window above her head.
“Sunset already?” she murmured. “I slept that late?”
There was the sound of a warm chuckle, “You enjoy understatements, don’t you?”
What’s that supposed to mean?
AsaHi pushed herself into a sitting position. Instantly, stiffness racked her body, nearly forcing her to collapse back against the pillows again. She fought the desire until her muscles finally complied with a dull ache.
“How do you feel?”
“Like I fell off the top of the top of the Spire,” she grumbled a reply.
I could really do with a bath… I probably look as bad as I feel.
Rubbing her temples, the girl rolled her head around to loosen the tension in her neck. Then she glanced over towards the source of the kindly voice. Instantly she recognized the middle-aged woman who sat there. “Aunt SaRaYa?”
AsaHi called her that even though SaRa wasn’t really her aunt.
Though, one day, through the Bonding Ceremony with SoYa, she will be. I don’t think she minds if I call her that just a tad bit ahead of time.
Indeed, Aunt SaRa only seemed to look upon the girl with all the more fondness.
“You really are one for finding the nastiest scrapes to get into. You remind me of me when I was young. Between Zento and I, I am surprised we left Zemi with any sanity at all,” the woman gave another chuckle.
“Lord… Zemi…” AsaHi heard herself speak as if by reflex.
I… remember now! I was…
Everything suddenly came back to her. Images flickered through her mind, superimposing upon each other until they became one. The flower… the cave… the statues… the globes… the runes of light… The Dragon. An overwhelming fear and awe gripped her at the realization that such a creature really did exist. That she had seen it with her own eyes… and she was still alive.
The girl reached a hand out, grasping the older woman’s robes. Her fingers were shaking, green eyes wide, “He’s real!”
“Who is, dear?” Aunt SaRa firmly removed the girl’s fingers from the hem of her garment. Then with a silence born of grace, she strode to the other side of the room and began pouring a drink over a little tray on the table.
“Lord Zemi Dreigiau!”
“Of course he is,” she replied drolly. “Now, do you take your mastak with or without sweetening?”
“I… I… didn’t believe it!”
“You look the type to like yours sweet,” Aunt SaRa dropped a spoonful of soft white powder into the cup and began to stir gently.
“I didn’t mean to… I didn’t think I’d find anything there!”
“I see,” the sound of stirring stopped. “So that is what you were doing in the Host Gate, was it?”
AsaHi nodded meekly.
“I am certain you discovered that Zemi doesn’t much like when his existence is discounted. It must have been quite a blow to that colossal pride of his,” Aunt SaRa glanced over, her deep eyes shimmering in mirth.
“There’s nothing funny about this! He could have easily…” the girl swallowed, leaving the thought unfinished.
“Bah!” The older woman waved a hand with a girlish grin, “Zemi needs to be taken down a few notches every now and then. Either that or the old fossil will get too big for his own scales.”
AsaHi gaped.
Aunt SaRa didn’t seem to notice as she carted the tray across the room on one palm, placing it upon the girl’s lap. It was filled with an array of sliced fruit, cold-cut sweet meats and warm puffed pastries. “Here, you must be starved. Close the talk and grab a bite to eat.”
The girl stared down, eyes moving over the cuisine in wonder. At the sight of the food, she realized she was absolutely ravenous. With nothing more than her fingers, AsaHi began to tear into the dishes with great relish, stuffing bits of this and that into her mouth all at the same time.
“I’m afraid it’s not much. I didn’t have much time to prepare for you.”
AsaHi attempted to speak her thanks, but all that came out was a muffled, “Mrruph!”
“You’re welcome,” the older woman nodded before continuing. “I didn’t trust to leave you alone without someone watching.”
The words were so grave that the girl swallowed down the mouthful of food, pausing with a concerned look, “What do you mean?”
Aunt SaRa gave a sad but encouraging smile. “Finish your plate. Then we’ll talk. You’re going to need all the strength you can muster.”
Troubled thoughts drew around AsaHi as she returned to eating with a good deal less enthusiasm. The apprehensive look on the older woman’s face was not one that she had seen there often. When Aunt SaRaYa was displeased about something, then there was truly a cause to worry.
So everything that happened wasn’t a dream?
The world felt very strange.
At first she thought that it may have been the disoriented feeling one got after waking from a long sleep. But once her mind had shaken itself out, AsaHi realized that it was something different she was feeling. Something she couldn’t comprehend. Eventually, her eyes strayed away from the fruit pieces on the tray. The girl fidgeted, the uncomfortable feeling rising in her again, “I’m in serious trouble… aren’t I?”
“AsaHi… How do I explain?” the older woman paused, looking uncertain, one finger tapping her lower lip.
“Lord Dragon wants me punished, doesn’t he?”
Aunt SaRa gave her the look.
Urk… maybe I should keep things to myself…
She fell silent with a shudder, waiting for the woman to speak. When the voice came again, it was firm and direct.
“What you did was terribly thoughtless, child. The powers that you were toying with are not things to take so lightly.” Aunt SaRa’s eyes had grown hard and sharp. “It is not because of Zemi’s wrath that you were in peril. I doubt he was angered by your appearance there, despite what you or anyone else thinks. Even though your intentions were to prove against his existence… I think the one thing that would have upset him was the danger that you had placed yourself in by summoning him there.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are no Apprentice, child.”
“I… know that…” AsaHi looked down meekly.
“There are boundaries between Zemi’s plain of existence and ours. It’s like an invisible wall, if you will. One that we Earthians cannot even perceive, much less cross over. But he can. That is how he can come to speak with us. Does this make sense to you?”
The girl’s mouth was slightly ajar. She nodded.
“It takes a great amount of power to push through this wall. Though it is not meant to harm anyone, it is part of the reaction of energy that simply happens. That is why the Apprentices are trained to be able to handle the force of this power release.”
“And what if someone is not trained to?”
“Death is possible. Or worse, living with half a mind for the rest of one’s life.”
AsaHi sucked on her bottom lip, “I did not know…”
“Now you do.”
“But why am I still alive?”
“Zemi protected you.”
The girl’s mouth dropped open even wider. The concept of an Arweinydd protecting someone like herself was totally beyond grasping. Finally, she croaked out one word, “Why?”
Aunt SaRa’s face was unmoved. “Why not?”
“Because I’m just a… a… nothing… next to something like him!”
“I don’t think he’d approve of that sort of thought from you. Not after all he went through to see that you came out of this alive. If you are truly nothing, then all he did was for nothing, yes?” the woman pressed her lips together. “Besides… what would you do if you saw someone wounded and dying?”
“I’d… help them if I could, naturally!”
“Then why would you think Zemi would not do the same?”
“I… don’t know… I just didn’t think…”
“I am living testimony to his generosity,” Aunt SaRa’s face softened though her voice grew more grave. “Besides, the danger you are in now does not come from Zemi.”
The girl blinked up, questioningly, “Danger?”
“This infernal institution that’s grown up around the basic ideas of exchanging the knowledge that Zemi has shared with us… it’s all gone too far. This is nothing like what he would have wanted it to be.”
“You mean the School?”
“Yes,” Aunt SaRa answered quietly.
“The Council… is not happy with me, are they?”
“To put it lightly, no.”
“I knew they wouldn’t be one way or the other. I just thought that everything they tried to pass off on us was just a means of keeping the people quiet. I didn’t know that Lord Zemi was real…” the girl let out a long, ragged breath, winding her fingers between each other. “What are they going to do to me?”
“Do you want to wait to find out?” Aunt SaRa’s tone had shifted once again.
AsaHi’s head jerked up, “What… are you saying?”
“I promised SoYa that I’d see you to safety.”
“SoYa? He knows?” there was a sudden aching in AsaHi’s chest at the thought.
“Too many people know,” the woman nodded. “That is why you must make haste with the night.”
“You mean… leave?”
Aunt SaRa drew in a long, thoughtful breath. It looked as if she wasn’t sure of what she was about to say, “I know that you’ve become aware of the threat that the Council poses to SoYa and his position as the rightful successor as the High Guide of Nefol. This is nothing new, however. It’s something that’s always been… since my brother vanished.”
AsaHi could only look up in quiet wonder. It’s the first time her own fears of the Council of Nefol and their ambitions had been confirmed by someone else. And now that it had been said, she discovered she didn’t have a voice to reply. The thought that the Council, the people who were the leaders and protectors of the city, would be working towards something so treacherous left a lump in her throat.
“I assure you that the Council does not know the will of the very Patron they claim to serve,” the woman lowered her head in thought. “They have forgotten what it meant to be a part of Nefol and to spread the knowledge that has been gifted to us.”
The girl blinked, the concepts ringing in her mind.
Aunt SaRa head lifted again, a sadness creeping back into her eyes, “You do not have much time… It is your choice to leave or not, though I gave my word to take care of you. And I don’t believe you will be safe here.”
“This is what SoYa wants?”
“Yes. He talked with me. He understands what has happened and he thinks it’s for the best,” she nodded.
AsaHi took a deep breath, “Won’t the Council try to find me?”
“If they do, they will discover you are well protected,” Aunt SaRa answered with a somewhat mysterious look.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t think that I would send you on a journey unprotected, do you?”
“Well… I…” the girl blinked, eyes turning towards the window.
The world outside was falling into a deep blue slumber under the light of the triple moons. Her hometown lay silent under the shroud, flickering lights dotting the darkness where homes of people lay… people that she had grown up with, whom she loved. As much as the girl had enjoyed traveling and exploring, she had always done so with the knowledge that she would have a home to return to.
Suddenly it didn’t feel that way anymore. There was a spot in her heart that had grown cold and afraid. A spot where something dearly important was missing.
“What is your choice, dear?” Aunt SaRa asked, giving the girl’s hand a soft squeeze.
After a long moment, AsaHi nodded, “Tell me where I must go.”
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