First Light, page 32
“Volari girl,” Vickar called towards Teryn. “How strong is your sight? Can you see the details of an Awakened Human’s reservoirs, watch how it flows through their body?”
“No, sir, I’m of common birth and my lineage isn’t filled with many people with strong capabilities.”
“I see.” Vickar paused and stared at the group. “How would you propose I go about telling my son that when I saw him the first time after his birth the first thing I witnessed with my eyes was an empty chasm? Bottomless. Hungry. That, as a young boy, the possibility for his future terrified me. How should I go about explaining—”
Ulma placed a hand on Vickar’s arm while also monitoring her mother. Her body flinched at Vickar’s every word. She saw it too. Tayven realized it. Whatever Vickar saw truly terrified him. It terrified Ulma, too.
Vickar swallowed and took a deep breath. He placed a comforting hand on Ulma’s before continuing. “Did you know Locke came under attack a handful of years ago? It’s okay if you don’t. It was because of the attack that I could finally find an excuse to tell Rune he was Awakened, but I could not tell him everything. It would break him. Kind of like how he is now. I know my son. I can see that he’s struggling. All of us could tell that something had happened to him from his letters… How about we step inside and talk about why I couldn’t bring myself to give Rune all the answers?”
Teryn stood in place for a moment, content to watch Rune disappear into town. Everyone else was invited back into Rune’s family home, but Teryn finally declined, saying she was going to go after Rune. Vickar tried to dissuade her, but it was to no avail. Tayven watched as his friend went into town as well. Ven still seemed to have a bone to pick with Vickar, so she stayed behind, intending to follow him back into the house and give him an earful.
Teryn
Teryn walked through the roads of Locke carefully checking faces and trying to find her friend, a lone Volari in a village of humans. She did not know how, but somehow, she had lost sight of the silver-haired young man. Only he and his father had that hair color in town, how he had vanished so easily. Is he inside a building? Do I just start knocking on random doors? Unwilling to give up, she activated her eyes to look for any traces of his Aura. She had spoken the truth to Vickar. She could not see the internal wells within an Awakened, but she could differentiate between people and she had long since memorized Rune’s presence.
Suddenly, someone bumped into her hard enough to almost knock her to the ground. Teryn looked at the person who either had not seen her or was trying to pick a fight with her. She was about to yell at them when she heard shouting erupt from a few buildings down the road.
“Get out of here, you damned brat! And keep away from my family!” The voice came from a large, round man who was shouting at someone he had tossed out of the building. According to the sign hanging outside the door, the poor person had been tossed out of a general store of some kind. When the person stood up and dusted off their knees, he turned around and locked eyes with Teryn.
“Rune!” she shouted. “By Chaos’ name, what did you do to that man?”
“Oh, that…” he mumbled. “That was Tara’s father. He does not like me very much. Even less so now, I suppose.”
Teryn blinked, not sure she had heard correctly. “That was Tara’s father? What did you do to piss him off? Is that why you send Tara’s letters to your family instead of to her directly?”
“Yeah.” Rune nodded. “Say, do you want to meet her?”
“You think I can? I mean, I’ve really been wanting to, but it doesn’t seem like you will be allowed inside, let alone allowed to introduce a friend, on top of that.”
Rune dismissively waved his hand. “Oh, that won’t be a problem. Follow me.”
Rune turned to walk away from the store, and Teryn quickly followed his lead. She turned around and saw that Tara’s father was staring at them through an open window before he slammed the shutter closed. The girl shrugged and continued to follow Rune through the town. After a few minutes, they left the central area and started heading towards the outskirts of town.
Rune approached the town’s church, but instead of heading inside, he went around back through a side gate. Through the gate, she saw a beautiful tree at the top of a hill. Teryn followed him and came to a stop when she saw something that made her heart sink. Rune stopped in front of a small headstone. Laying atop it was a satchel of letters tied together with a simple string, the words To Tara written atop them in Rune’s familiar handwriting.
Chapter Thirty-One
Teryn
Teryn held Rune in her arms as he sobbed. His shoulders quaked as tears rained freely onto her lap. The girl thought back to all the times she had teased him about Tara’s existence and immediately regretted every word. The only thing she could do now was to be his emotional support.
“It was me,” Rune said after the sobbing subsided.
“That killed her? How?” Teryn’s tone was full of concern and incredulity. She could not imagine how Rune could be responsible for his best friend’s death. Not if he acted like this.
“There was a raid on the village a few years ago. We had just sent out a large shipment, which pulled several guards away from the town for a few days. A group of bandits struck while our pants were basically down.” Rune shared the story with the occasional sob interrupting his words. “They made it past the walls within moments, but it still wasn’t as easy as they expected. We are a mining town full of blacksmiths, after all. We are tough and have a lot of weapons just lying around.
“Anyway, Tara and I heard the sounding of bells. We were sitting together just under that very tree over there when we heard them. We didn’t know what was happening and raced to her father’s shop. We heard the screams before seeing the fighting. When we realized what was happening, we ran to her home even faster. They had a hidden cellar for incidents like that, so we thought we would be safe, but some bandits had already made their way into the building and were ransacking it. Tara’s family were running away screaming, so we just ran with them. We tried to run towards my house, where my father was, but we were cut off.”
Teryn rubbed Rune’s back to comfort him as another round of sobs kept him from continuing. After a minute or two, he swallowed the lump in his throat and started again. Rune’s normally strong demeanor was completely gone. Though it had disappeared frequently ever since the incident with the Wraith, it was still shocking to see how small someone like him could make himself in grief.
“There weren’t a lot of them, maybe eight or nine at the most. But we were a handful of kids and the two adults were just merchants. The leader of the group also seemed to be some kind of Volari or Wanderer. I found out later he was a Flame-Weaver. His friends had a series of torches that they used to light some carts of hay on fire. The Flame-Weaver used that to surround us in a ring of flame, trapping us within. They turned it into some sort of makeshift fighting pit. They wanted to toy with us.
“I tried to rush the people that entered the ring, just to do anything that would let Tara escape. Father taught us how to fight, but one of the bandits knocked me aside in an instant. My entire world went black for a moment, but I somehow regained consciousness when I hit the ground. Tara rushed up to me, but I heard another person shout at the same time. The assholes had captured my sister and several other villagers as well and when I saw that…I lost my sense of self; consumed by a blinding rage.
“I grabbed Tara and shoved her behind me, to protect her, but she kept hold of my hand. She was shaking so much, Teryn. That was when something weird happened. The Flame-Weaver’s fire flickered, threatening to go out. I think it caused him to panic, and he took what was left of the ring, gathered it together into a ball of fire he threw right at Tara and me. I remember the heat, the fear, the anger…then it all went black again. When I woke up, my father and several guards were there. The bandits…and Tara…were dead. Her body was unrecognizable, along with the two bandits who attempted to fight us, as well as the Flame-Weaver.”
Teryn cradled one side of Rune’s face and rubbed his cheek with her thumb. Rune leaned into her hand and cupped the outside of it with his own. “It wasn’t your fault, Rune. The fire was…”
Rune tightened his grip slightly on the girl’s wrist. “It wasn’t the fire. I know now, I used the Area Disruption ability; most likely Area Drain as well… I don’t know if you knew this Teryn, but Reavers… Professor Lylah told me we don’t regenerate Aura naturally. We can only refill our reservoirs through our Drain ability. The bodies weren’t burned beyond recognition, Teryn. They were husks. Tara was… My best friend, was unrecognizable. When we fought the Wraith, I saw the bodies…when I saw the corpses, I knew.
“Don’t get me wrong, losing Dannon and Jeruul, having to kill what was left of them hurt me. But what really broke me was realizing that my best friend, a girl that I loved… I promised her, Teryn! I said I would become strong for her. I said I would come back and we would… I promised. But it…”
Rune stopped to take several deep, shaky breaths. His body fully pressed against hers, only kept up by her own strength. Rune continued, “My father must have convinced the others not to say anything. Maybe they just didn’t see. They didn’t know. Regardless, since that day, Tara’s father has hated me, and rightfully so. He had to bury a corpse that looked nothing like his daughter, and it was all my fault. She clung to me to protect her, and I killed her.”
Teryn’s own eyes watered as well. She took Rune into her arms and cradled him against her chest, stroking his head gently. Both of them sat on the ground, wordlessly holding each other. Teryn’s heart was pounding, but it was a conflicted feeling. It was impossible for her to deny that she had developed feelings for Rune. However, she was worried about the timing. A part of her hated herself for what she was doing, but…
Tara, please forgive me. I don’t know how you felt about him, but I promise I will take care of him for you. She stood, pulling Rune with her. The two of them dusted off their knees, Rune wearing an inquisitive look in his eyes.
Teryn grabbed his hand and guided Rune through the town. Instead of heading towards Vickar and Lydia’s home, they turned towards the entrance of Locke. Near the diminutive gates to the town was an inn meant for travelers and traders. Inside was warm and comforting. The smell of food wafted from the kitchens as they prepared for dinner. The inn-keeper behind the bar top smiled and greeted the two.
Am I doing this? Really?
“What can I do for you? Oh, if it isn’t Rune! Why are you here? Surely your parents didn’t kick you out!” The man chuckled.
“One room, please,” Teryn requested simply. The innkeeper’s smile rose higher before they took on a slight blush. He seemed to mutter something like: “He’s an adult now, I suppose.” He passed a key to the two and pointed them up the stairs.
Rune maintained his confused expression from the walk, but that did not stop Teryn from guiding him here. It was not until she requested a single room in the inn that even he blushed in realization.
“Teryn, what are—” he began, interrupted by the locking of the door to the room.
“I figure you don’t want to go home right now. And there’s something that I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while,” Teryn said softly. Her voice became quiet as it took on a gentle tone that was as smooth as silk. Rune gulped in response. She stepped closer to him and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him towards the bed. She sat on the edge.
“Teryn,” Rune breathed.
His face was completely flush now, no longer able to hide his intense embarrassment. Seeing that he could actually make such an expression further increased the rapid thumping within her.
“Rune, we’ve been through a lot,” she whispered. “I’ve been in love with you for some time. Before our date in the Hilden market. Until now, I did nothing. I said nothing. I did not want you to betray the mysterious childhood friend. I kept it to myself, intending to say nothing, but I can’t anymore.”
“Teryn, I…”
“If you don’t feel the same, that’s fine. I understand. We can rest, just like we do at the academy. I can bottle these feelings up again, if I need to. But I cannot stand a moment longer letting you keep yourself from moving on because of your perceived sins of the past.
“You had no control over what happened. There was no way for anyone to have predicted it. No one could have known, least of all a young boy and girl. But what I do know, what I am sure of, is that I love you, Rune, and I want you to love me, too. Even if only for a night.”
Teryn could almost feel the heat pouring off her own cheeks. All of her existence begged her to run and hide from Rune’s calm, kind eyes. She hated and loved that about him. Those beautiful hazel eyes had captivated her well before his Awakening. Well, before they held those strange purple rings. Reaver, Volari, Wanderer, human, it did not matter to Teryn what Rune was. As long as he was hers.
“Wow.” Rune said. “I’ve always been interested in you, Teryn. I had a guess that you might have felt this way. You caught my eye. The night before the Greatwood incident, I almost joined you in the tent, but I held back. Something told me I didn’t deserve to…
“You spent so long taking care of me. Protecting me. Staying with me. You could have…should have just abandoned me while I was useless. How could I not have also developed feelings for you? But I would be over the moon if you would have me. I will do my best to match your feelings, Teryn.”
Teryn smiled gently. She slowly removed her armor, casting it onto the floor. Rune silently joined her. Once they had laid themselves bare to one another, she laid down and pulled Rune over her. Neither of them made another attempt to talk as Teryn cupped his face and pulled him in for a deep kiss that left them both breathless.
Ven
Ven stormed back to Rune’s family home. Frustration, sadness, betrayal; a hoard of painful emotions smacked her all at once. Water gathered in the corner of her eyes, quickly turning into a flood down her cheeks. After Vickar had told them what had happened between Rune and Tara, Ven had immediately figured out where her friend had gone and what made him so empty-looking. She also felt like she had to find him before Teryn did, even though she had a massive head start. Unfortunately, Ven only found her friends as they entered an inn together while holding hands.
She felt a roiling uneasiness in her chest and a pain in her heart. Ven felt as though she had lost something important to her. Why should I care? she mentally berated herself. They can do whatever they want. Besides, she was there for him when I wasn’t…but it doesn’t feel fair. I got to know him first. I fell for him first, and it’s not like I’m Mom. I can’t share. I refuse to share.
These thoughts continued to plague her for the entire walk back, and by the time she went inside, she knew her eyes were puffy and swollen. There was no way to hide her feelings from her friends. Brick was the first to notice.
“Ven!” he shouted. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Is Arkrune okay? Did you not bring him back?” Lydia asked, worried that something might have happened to her son.
“He is fine. Probably more than fine, I guess.” Ven used a monotone voice as she answered Lydia’s questions. “He and Teryn won’t be back till morning. Ulma, can I stay in your room tonight? We will just meet them at the mines in the morning.”
Ulma nodded affirmatively and took Ven to her own room while also showing Brick and Tayven to Rune’s room.
After everyone had left the room, Lydia turned to her husband. “Well, Vickar, it seems our boy has grown up more than we thought.”
“So, it seems, my love. He is almost a year into adulthood now.” Vickar sighed. “Though I don’t appreciate the drama he’s created. I hope it doesn’t endanger their party when they head to the mines in the morning. Such things can get complicated quickly.”
Lydia nodded before giggling quietly. “I will say though, both girls are very cute. I don’t mind either of them being my daughter-in-law.”
Vickar shook his head at his wife’s antics. He knew she was trying to make light of the situation, but he was not so blind as to ignore that it held a hint of truth. “I have to admit, I am impressed my son caught the attention of two beauties. I could give him some advice, but I think I’ll let him figure this one out on his own. If he wants to make adult decisions, he’s going to have to learn some of them have consequences.”
Ven stepped back into the hallway and observed their conversation, but decided not to say anything. She simply turned and followed Ulma to her room, hoping things would be better tomorrow. Rune would wake up in the arms of some other woman, but it would just be business as usual… right?
Henner
Archpriest Henner walked through the halls of the royal palace with a confident look on his face. The guards and servants he passed each took a moment from their duties to bow, which only fanned his feelings of superiority. Two weeks had passed since ownership of Guldin and Guldin Castle had been granted to the church, and by extension, him. As the head of the Crucidian Church, he already held a position of great power in the north, but land rights granted on top it legitimized the church’s strength in the eyes of the people.
Of course, the church already had control over both areas and had been taking advantage of it. The bloodlines of the residents of Guldin were important to them and presented a useful tool in future endeavors. One particular individual had emerged a handful of years ago that presented an exceptional opportunity. They were the reason Father Gelroy had conducted a cleansing of the castle near Guldin.
Even though Henner’s request to build a holy order of knights had only just been granted, it was a poorly kept secret that they had been laying the groundwork for years under the guise of training guards to protect the church’s assets. These ‘guards’ were, in truth, highly trained knights that merely waited for legitimacy. Those same guards would now simply become officers in the newly founded Holy Order.
