| Mal'aran gathered the orb, its stand, and the cushions, taking them to the servants to be carefully packed away. She warned them of the unnatural heat, and they provided extra wrapping without question. She gave up on stargazing, her stars told her nothing in their chaotic flickering. She walked slowly to her cart, ignoring bones that still ached. She left the cool night air and sat on her blankets, struggling to will her flesh to warm up. After a moment of stillness she noticed Kelnai staring intently at her. "We have more members now," Kelnai said softly. "I can feel them." Mal'aran nodded. "You're stronger than you would have people believe." She smiled faintly. "There are three of them, all males." "They feel just like you," Kelnai shrugged. "Powerful, ruthless. Misguided." A slight grin played on her lips. Kelnai possessed extreme confidence, allowing her to subtly border on insult when speaking to her superiors. Mal'aran tilted her head to the side. "Misguided?" Her voice betrayed the insult she felt, a sharp hurt she would not have cared about just a week ago. Kelnai nodded. "I've said this before, you are being used." "How would you know?" "I Dream, the same as you, but I am not utterly blind to the messages. Things greater than the Acharya, or your stars are speaking to us as we sleep, screaming warnings to us that you have chosen to ignore. We Magi just don't see. You, the wonder child of the Acharya, completely refuse even to look. I've noticed the darkness beneath your eyes; you sleep less and less. I see the way you sway from exhaustion. You try to escape what is unpleasant, and thus you See nothing. Since I began hearing stories about your wondrous abilities I thought it ironic that you took the name Seer." Kelnai spoke honestly, dropping the facade of innocent childishness. "That isn't my name any more," Mal'aran spoke defensively. She drew her feet up to her, fidgeting. "I will leave it behind once I leave the ranks of the Cleansers." Kelnai turned her head as she rolled her eyes. "And what will you call yourself then?" "Mal'aran. What I call myself now." She glared as Kelnai burst into laughter. "Terrible being? You are so incredibly melodramatic." She chuckled. "I suppose it could fit," Kelnai mused. There was a short silence once Kelnai stopped laughing, though she broke it eagerly. "You should stop ignoring your dreams," she repeated. "That is why you dream when you're awake, because you fight it. Those things that screech in your mind while you try to hold conversations," Kelnai smiled. "I see all of them too. The stars are screaming at you, you know, but you ignore them. You have no place as a Mage." "I-" Mal'aran squinted in confusion. "You see it too? What exactly do you see?" "Blood, death, the way of this world," Kelnai laughed. "I see that we are all going to die, and it will be neither quick nor painless, and that is exactly what we deserve. I see that you are being used, and that I should stay near Jenya. In my dreams I see tears, but there is sunlight in the end. Why, isn't that what you see?" Mal'aran shook her head. "I see blood and death, but there is never sunlight. Not for me. I see black flames, great winged beasts lapping innocent blood. Once I saw an image of myself before the Rift, but there was peace. I saw myself smile. Above the darkness and pain there was a peace." Mal'aran sighed, "My dreams cannot make up their mind about whether I will survive the opening, or whether I will die, but they all agree that I owe you an apology." Kelnai blinked, caught off guard. "I thought you believed you owed me nothing," she smirked. "Kelnai, why will you not stay silent and let me apologize!" Mal'aran exclaimed in exasperation. Her pale skin flushed with frustration. "Let me say that I am sorry, for hating you so much, because for all my power I am weak and wrong. I have treated you, and many others horribly, and it is beyond time that I left this party." Kelnai grinned again. "I can forgive you," she spoke softly. "All that you have is everything that I no longer want. All that you have is killing you, and that is punishment enough without my holding a childish grudge against you." "You are over everything, then?" Mal'aran was beginning to believe that Kelnai was nothing that she had seemed to be. Kelnai heard what Mal'aran was truly asking. "I am over Dharin, and have been since a year after he left for Shanra. It was a mistake for the two of us to become involved, but I suppose I did not know any better. A few months before he left for the Bastion, I decided that I loved him, and he didn't have the sense to tell me otherwise. He has always belonged to you, even before he knew that you actually existed. He said what he thought would be his last farewell to me, and left for Shanra dreaming of a woman with long opal hair. That was the only time he spoke to me once his parents died, they had always said I did not, and never would deserve their son. They had the same fight with him the morning they died." The words Dharin's mother had screamed at Kelnai were cold, but she was neither sad nor bitter. In her black eyes, what had been was, and could not be changed. "I do not know you at all," Mal'aran marveled. The woman she stared at now was shrewd, proud, confident and certain. Kelnai laughed gently. "What you do not know could fill the Rift, but it is as I have said. I am beyond childish grudges and crushes. It would amaze you how much time I have to sit by myself, or with Sha'en and Lalreth, thinking or talking." She paused. "Those are two remarkable women. You should have spent more time with them, instead of lecturing Dharin and Jenya on what you think you know." "I do not think I-" "That is your problem," Kelnai stopped her. "You do not think, at all. For all your intelligence you understand absolutely nothing. That is why I am sorry, for what has been and what is coming." "What is coming? What do you know that I do not?" Kelnai smiled sarcastically. "I know that Jenya's favourite colour is sea green. I know that Sha'en respects and hates you. I know the names of most of the Trackers, and the Taer’shal. I know why they fight, and I’ve seen the being they fight for. I know that buried in Talrek Cerdai is a great library of books and paintings from the Old World, and I know," she smiled and leaned forward. "I know that there are more things in heaven and earth than dreamt of in your self-centered idiocy." She knew Mal'aran would not recognize the reference to the Old World. None of those statements mattered much to Mal'aran save the last. "I am not an idiot, and I am still your superior for the next few nights." "Perhaps ignorance would be the better term. You obviously do not know any better." Mal'aran began to speak, doubtlessly to begin a tirade on respect and rank, but Kelnai cut her silent. "I am becoming tired, Mal'aran. Unlike you I will not fight the pull to sleep. I accept your apology, and I offer my own for many of the harsh things I have said that you did not deserve. Now, fall into either sleep or silence, because I have things to do tomorrow." As Kelnai settled back into her blankets Mal'aran sat, stunned into silence. She lay back on her own blankets, but did not plan on sleeping. Kelnai's words had struck her, cut her as surely as a blade. When her waking dreams began she struggled to understand and interpret them. There were images of Kelnai, carrying Jenya's son across blackened earth. Clear tears streamed down Kelnai's face, and she shouted something to the Sun-Chylde in the dead tongue. She saw the sun setting, brilliant red, upon a massive home overlooking the shores of Varikelle. Dharin swung his massive sword at multi-coloured mist. She saw herself wrapping her arms around Dharin as thick opalescent tears poured from her eyes. Hours passed, and by the time Kelnai's breathing pattern changed; by the time the sun began to peek over the blighted horizon, Mal'aran was exhausted by the struggle to understand. "Kelnai," she whispered softly. Her short, ruby hair was disheveled as she sat up. "What," she squinted irritably at her superior. "There were things that I saw," she began, but shook her head. "I must make a request of you." "Ask whatever you want, there's no guarantee you'll get it." Kelnai yawned, running a hand through her mess of hair. "When we get to Shivralliah, I need you to leave. Do not tell anyone where you are going, do not tell anyone you are leaving. If you will not do as I ask, then I will make this my last actual order." Kelnai smirked slightly. "I will do as you ask." She knew enough of her own dreams not to question or overanalyze, simply to act. Mal'aran nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. The animosity between the two Magi was gone now. It was wondrous what communication and open minds could accomplish, Mal'aran thought to herself as she stepped outside to check on the rest of the convoy. "Mal'aran," Dharin called her name and trotted up to her. He squinted against the rising sun. "You look worried, what happened?" "Felanya and Corridan were on patrol around the carts approximately an hour ago, and found him," Dharin pointed to a small form lying on the ground. Mal'aran strode over to the tiny body, gasping as she recognized the blood matted golden hair. She knelt beside Shorin, and put a hand on his chest. "Does Jenya know?" She closed her eyes, searching for the warmth and heartbeat that meant there was yet life to preserve. "No one can find him," Dharin grimaced. "He disappeared last night." Mal'aran shook her head. "We can't wait for him to come back. We have to move as soon as possible." "Wait for who to come back?" Dharin jumped to his feet at the sound of his friend's voice. "Where have you been?" Dharin demanded. Jenya saw his son lying on the ground and pushed past Dharin, ignoring his question completely. "Help me move him, Jenya." Mal'aran put her hands beneath the boy's shoulders. She most likely could have moved the child herself, but that heaviness and worry in Jenya's eyes was begging to help. She directed him to her own cart, and laid Shorin atop her blankets. There was barely enough room for herself, Jenya, the boy and Kelnai. Thankfully Kelnai decided to save her questions for later, and do all she could to help Mal'aran. The two laid their hands on the laceration along the back of Shorin's head, ignoring the blood that seeped over their hands. It would go away easily enough; few things would stain a Mage's skin. As Jenya looked over their shoulders, they lifted their voices gently into a healing Rite. It took less than an entire minute for the shallow cut to heal, but there was so much blood. Once it was done, Mal'aran took Jenya by the arm, leaving Kelnai to sing softly to the boy, using Cair’leih to manipulate Shorin's heartbeat into stability. "Jenya, he will be fine. Whoever did that to him," they both had suspicions, "did not mean for him to die. He lost some blood, and he will sleep for a while, but he will only wake with a slight ache on the back of his head." Her words did nothing to ease the panic in Jenya's eyes. "Where were you?" "I cannot tell you, I'm sorry. It doesn't matter anyways. We need to move," he started walking away but Mal'aran clasped his wrist. "Jenya, please. We've never kept secrets from each other before," she pleaded. She looked into his eyes and the silence was all the answer she really needed. She nodded, closing her eyes. "Fine, I understand. Tell me when you trust me." Jenya shook his head, his blonde curls waved slightly. "That isn't it, but I will explain it once I get the chance." He shook Mal'aran's arm away and left to go find Dharin. The more quickly they could travel the blighted fields of what used to be Serfahlen, the sooner his mind could fall at ease. He wanted to be away from the City of Tears, otherwise he might have trouble resisting the urge to march back to Rheim's palace and rip his sneering face off. Mal'aran exhaled slowly, feeling very tired. She began walking around the convoy, telling the servants to begin packing. It was well past time to move. |