* * *
Theosil
* * *
I hear a grinding noise, and realize it's my teeth. My breath comes out in a rush, and I shake my head and look up at Anavar.
"He's fighting me. I don't know how, but he's not moving."
The Chozeh strokes his beard. "He doesn't want to come back?"
I close my eyes, my fingers tracing lines across my robe. "There's something he's found..."
"Bring it back with him, then."
I shrug and do as he asks. I feel a surge, and then the world seems to tilt oddly. I open my eyes as I catch myself on Anavar's robes. He staggers, and is opening his mouth to speak when I feel more than hear a soft clap from near Arik. I turn, wincing as the sun blinds me. As I hold up a hand to shield my face, I dimly make out someone kneeling next to Jerithea.
I'm running forward before I have time to completely recognize my sister.
* * *
Arik
* * *
I manage to open my eyes long enough to see her for myself. 'Sil has her. Everything will be right now. She's ho
* * *
Jerithea
* * *
The Advo... well, the former -- no, that's not right, either. Arik's sister is hunched over his body, going over the same wounds I've been working on, and I'm rather irritated at the intrusion even though I'm pretty sure she's just being careful because she loves him and Litheosil is paying attention to her too and the Emperor and my Mitheoni are standing back looking at the scene like a pair of statues. This isn't supposed to be a slight against my abilities, but it feels like one all the same.
I feel her brushing my mind, the barest golden whisper. Never a slight. You have the touch of a Master. Did you know it from me?
I look up into her soft gold eyes, then shrug. The tiniest crease appears between her oh-so-perfect eyebrows, then she looks back down at Arik, her mind openly grasping for some way to converse. I let her struggle, but not without feeling a slight twinge for doing so. For some reason, I feel compelled to look back down at the rapidly healing form under my hands.
How did this happen? she finally asks.
This time, I manage to curb myself and be polite. It doesn't help that I feel the slight edge of Mitheoni's chastisement. Being cuffed by someone newer than me doesn't make me feel any brighter inside. I reach out and show her the fight. The memories slow down, unbidden, then pause. Her concentration sharpens on the image, drawing me into contemplating it with her. She leans in further, and I can feel her turning it over in her head, then moving forward. As she does, I feel for her on another level, and suddenly I'm seeing Arik standing waist-deep in a pond, and her laughter echoes off the rocks even though the sight of her partner standing wide-eyed and shaking in terror has silenced her long ago--
I blink, and she's staring at me, her eyes hard. I drop my eyes again, feeling my cheeks burn. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.
The silence stretches out a long moment, and I sneak a glance back at her. She's staring down at Arik, the corners of her mouth turned slightly down. I should have kept tighter control of my defenses.
It's my turn to fumble for an opening. The-- Rhia, Arik calls her Rhia-- she sighs and reaches for the memory again, watching it, then watching the part where the trident falls. There. He disappeared for the tiniest of moments. See?
It plays again, but I don't see anything except his lurch as the weapon pierces his chest.
Here, it's easier to slow it down from the outside. There. I try to ignore my stomach's protest at the constant replay and focus on what she's trying to show me. Finally, I see something --the barest of flickers. I look down at Arik, frowning, then double-take.
"Rhia? Look. He's..."
"Older," Rhia finishes. She reaches over and brushes Arik's hair off his face as Theosil leans over my back to get a better look. "What happened to you?"
One of Te-- Arik's eyes cracks open. He winces, then shields his face with one hand, grunting at the motion. "Not sure." His eye closes and his hand drops as he heaves a sigh, then winces.
My hand collides with Rhia's above his abdomen. She smiles tightly and withdraws, leaving me to work on the healing. Her fingers brush at his hairline, and I can almost feel her making the same soothing motions across the jagged surface of his mind. I approach on a different level, quietly watching. "Do you remember where you went?"
He frowns, his eyes opening and meeting Rhia's. "I went somewhere?"
The words press in on me with their truth, pointing me to where they're true. "There's a block," I whisper. I feel Rhia staring at me, and under my hands, Arik twitches. I fight the urge to defend myself against their dual protests at the intrusion. I'm the Advocate! It's my place and I have nothing to answer for. Mitheoni distracts me by leaning in to see what I see: a blank stretch across Tesy-- Arik's mind, a dark expanse where memories should be.
Lots of memories, by the size of it.
There's a faint chill in the breeze, and I glance over at the Emperor. His face is drawn in some emotion I've never seen before, but it makes me shudder. He looks angry. Very angry.
"Litheosil, with me," he says calmly, then disappears. Theosil glances at his brother once more, frowns, then vanishes as well.
Rhia and I glance at each other, then look down at Arik. He's sound asleep.
Mitheoni scratches his whiskers, looking over where the Emperor had been standing. "That was strange."
* * *
Litheosil
* * *
I drop into my chair and into a trance before I even realize we've appeared in the Emperor's study. The abruptness makes my throat tighten in some small protest, but I feel my Father's hands on my shoulders, and the sudden burst of light and the endless Song steal away any thought of balking I might have had.
The world zooms and spins around me far too fast for me to keep up with, and every glimpse I manage to snatch is immediately wiped from my memories. I feel a protest welling up inside again, but his hands leave my shoulders and I am inside my own head again, knocked off-balance by the abrupt change in viewpoint once more.
I rub my shoulder as I watch the Emperor pace. My discomfort at being used is quickly replaced by my unease at the Emperor's obvious fury. He's gesturing angrily with his hands, occasionally barking out some sort of response in a language I don't understand... and that alarms me most, for I don't recall there being a language I didn't know. He suddenly whips around, staring at a point behind me with a fierce glare, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
"Cursing isn't the most flattering way of gaining my attention," a velvet voice murmurs from behind me. I turn in my seat as the Lady Tia steps forth from the shadows, her arms crossed over her chest. "I hardly know what I've done to deserve such colorful language."
The Emperor lashes out in a way that I can feel, but cannot hear. The Lady snorts in response, turning her head away and forming some sort of reply.
All I catch of the conversation is the feeling of the very air in the room growing heavier.
I sink down in my chair, both to ease that feeling of dread weight, and to try to somehow slip out of any possible notice. I risk a glance at the Emperor, but he doesn't notice me at all. His eyes are fixed on the Lady, glittering with barely-contained rage. Suddenly, his expression goes completely stony, and I see the Lady's head tilt in surprise.
"He did?" Her voice is full of genuine surprise, and I have the sinking feeling I know who the subject of that utterance is, and the gut instinct that something is about to go not well at all. "When? I didn't take him until--"
"He passed your taint to all of them," the Emperor growls. "Every last one, Tiama'at. I shall be able to avoid purging all of them thanks to your little disease, as some of them seem to be immune, but the losses will be..." His lips flatten, and he shakes his head.
"You don't have to destroy them," the Lady says, uncrossing her arms. "There has to be some use. After all, hasn't Arik'tighesinnodai-theoni--"
The Emperor barks something at her in that strange language, and a rush of energy flies in her direction. The Lady holds up a hand, and the wave vanishes without a trace. She curls her fingers and sighs. "I was merely pointing out that there could yet be some use for them, is all."
"I can take care of my own." The Emperor draws himself up, folding his hands into his robes. If she notices the dismissal, she pays no heed to it. She simply tips her long, thin pipe at him and waggles it, like a mother censuring her errant son.
"Don't destroy them, Theos. You've seen as well as I have the potential for them to be very valuable to us in the future."
There's that twinge again. Are we merely objects for them to use? Game pieces?
"I've seen no such thing."
The Lady sighs, irritation plain in the sound. "Then take off that ridiculous Veil of yours and actually look at things for a change!"
The Emperor responds, but I'm deafened by my own thoughts. The Emperor is Veiled? Like us? Of course we've seen his eyes, and they do appear to be like ours, but I... I had simply never considered such a thing. He's so all-knowing, so in control and the world is protected under his hand...
In my mind's eye, in that place I go to when bidden to sing the Song, I see a vision of myself standing before a wide curtain. I don't want to know it for what it is, for what I suspect is behind it, but I can't stop myself from stepping closer. I reach out and feel it, how fragile it is, yet how strong. As it runs through my fingers, though, I can feel how easy it would be to just pull, just dig in and tear and find out what lies beyond--
"Litheosil?"
I startle. The Lady and the Emperor are both staring at me, the former with a strange smile on her face, the latter pale and almost alarmed. I open my mouth to assure them both that I'm just fine, but instead I hear my own pleading voice ask, "Father, why?"
Something slides through my fingers, and I look down in time to see a fine silver mist vanish just above my foot.
