James Islington - The Shadow Of What Was Lost

Wirr gave a slow, reluctant nod. "And your scars? What I saw in Thrindar?"

Taeris sighed. "Since that day… I’ve been linked to Davian, somehow, and it’s as if there’s some remnant of that moment in my mind. I wake up sometimes and I’ve cut myself. Or I have the knife in my hand. I never remember any of it, but I’ve always been able to sense where Davian is, so it seems likely that there was some sort of connection still there. After Deilannis…." He grimaced. "It was like a pressure inside my head disappeared. Now Davian’s gone, I don’t think it’s going to happen any more."

Wirr processed what Taeris had told him. It made sense. Davian’s Augur powers had saved him, somehow. Taeris, believing the boy was meant for something more, had taken the blame.

"You finding us that night in the forest wasn’t a coincidence," he realised.

Taeris shook his head. "I was in the area because of Caeden, originally… but when I realised Davian was so close, I started tracking you. Trying to figure out why you’d come to Desriel," he admitted. He gestured to his face. "Honestly, I’d hoped he was there for me. I thought perhaps he was tracking me down so he could sever the connection. But when I realised he didn’t know what had happened, didn’t have control of his Augur abilities… well, he’d been through enough already. There didn’t seem any benefit to adding to the poor lad’s burden."

Wirr was silent for a long time.

"You did the right thing, Taeris," he said eventually.

Wirr had more questions, and he knew that Taeris probably had the same for him, but after the revelations of the evening they were both content to just sit, mulling over what they had learned. Wirr had been staring into the fire for so long that he started at a sudden tapping on his shoulder.

It was Aelric. “My turn,” he said with a tired smile. “Get some rest.”

Wirr tried to sleep, but for a long time all he could think of was Davian and what Taeris had said. For some reason, Wirr believed him, though there would be no way of ever proving the story.

His last thought before he finally slept was that he wished Davian could have known just how much Taeris had sacrificed for him.

Asha reclined in the armchair across from her bed, smiling as she listened to Fessi’s idle chatter.

It was late, but for once Asha didn’t mind. She’d arrived back at her rooms to find the youngest of the Augurs waiting to deliver another vision to her, but it hadn’t taken long for the slightly awkward formalities to turn into a more relaxed, friendly conversation. They had been talking for a while now; the other girl had an open, laid-back personality that had put Asha immediately at ease.

Asha hadn’t yet read the slip of paper she’d been given, but from Fessi’s demeanour it wasn’t urgent. Despite the hour, Asha hadn’t pushed for Fessi to leave so she could look at it, either. She had no desire to interrupt the first pleasant conversation she’d had in what seemed like months.

And more than that, it was helping to keep her mind from what had transpired the previous afternoon.

Between Davian’s appearance yesterday and the ever-looming threat of the Blind - which no-one in the city yet seemed to be taking seriously - she’d been distracted all day, much to the chagrin of an obviously frustrated Michal. All she had been able to think about was Davian. Whether his presence had been a dream, a vision… or real. Whether he was alive, or whether her subconscious was somehow feeding her false hope. Every time she had almost convinced herself of one, she began to vacillate.

"So you said it was through one of your visions that Elocien found Kol?" she asked, before she got caught up in her own thoughts again.

Fessi nodded. "Several of them, actually. It wasn’t until I saw him drawing Essence from a forge that I realised why I was Seeing him so often." She hesitated, a smirk and a slight blush spreading across her face. "Before that, though, a few of the visions were… interesting."

Asha gave her a quizzical look. "How so?"

Fessi coughed. "The visions didn’t always show him when he was… appropriately dressed, I suppose you would say."

Asha stared at her for a moment in surprise, then laughed.

"Don’t tell him I told you that. I was never able to bring myself to admit it to him."

Asha shook her head in amusement, then sobered a little as her thoughts turned to the big man. What he’d Seen. "How is Kol?" she asked tentatively. "I know he wasn’t happy when I showed up…."

Fessi made a dismissive gesture. "He’s fine. He knows we needed a Scribe, and he knows Erran wouldn’t have chosen you unless you were absolutely trustworthy, no matter what happened with the Shadraehin." She shrugged. "He can be a bit of a storm cloud when you don’t know him, to be honest. He doesn’t tend to open up to people until he’s known them for a while, and until then, he just comes across as big and grumbly. But once you get past that… he’s a good friend."

Asha raised a questioning eyebrow at the warmth in Fessi’s tone, and the other girl’s cheeks reddened a little. Asha didn’t say anything, though.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, then Asha gestured to the piece of paper on her desk. "So. Is this anything urgent?"

Fessi sighed. "Not unless you’re worried about me getting a scalding from Trae tomorrow."

Asha grimaced sympathetically; Trae was the head cook and from what Fessi had previously indicated, not exactly an affable sort of fellow. In a small way, Fessi’s description of him reminded her a little of Mistress Alita back at Caladel.

She pushed down a sudden wave of sadness at the thought, but the association with the school had already dragged Davian to the front of her mind again. For a few seconds, all she could think about was how he’d looked yesterday. Old. Tired. Scarred and chained.

"Are… you okay?" Fessi frowned in consternation. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No. It’s…." Asha rubbed her forehead tiredly. "It’s nothing."

Fessi’s eyes narrowed. "You may know how to shield yourself now, and I may not have Erran’s skill, but I can tell it’s not nothing." The black-haired girl hesitated, then leaned forward, her expression serious. "Look - I know what it’s like, not having anyone to talk to. Elocien was always too busy for anything more than debriefing, and I obviously couldn’t discuss my visions with Kol or Erran, either. Honestly, tonight is the first really open conversation I’ve had in a long time - and I appreciate that. So if there’s any way I can return the favour, I’m happy to listen."

Asha hesitated. She almost refused out of instinct, accustomed as she was by now to keeping things to herself… but she didn’t. She liked Fessi, knew the other girl could be trusted. And Asha hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to someone - really talk to someone - in a very long time.

She couldn’t let Fessi know about Davian of course; real or not, admitting to anyone that she’d seen him seemed like a bad idea. But everything leading up to that was another matter.

So Asha slowly, hesitantly told Fessi about Caladel. About her time in the Tol, about what had happened in the Sanctuary with Jin and Aelrith and the Shadraehin. It was hard, at times, but it also felt good to get it off her chest - to be able to share the burdens of the last couple of months with someone who actually seemed to care.

Fessi listened the entire time in attentive silence; when Asha had finished, the other girl quietly began relating her own story. How someone in her own close-knit village had betrayed her to Administration when they’d realised she was an Augur. How Fessi’s family had refused to even say goodbye to their teenage daughter, who was presumably being taken away to be executed.