“Mother…?” Erika asked.
The woman on the shore smiled. “Hello, Erika,” she said in her pleasant, musical voice. “My, how you’ve grown. Three years has made such a change. And look at you, Enrique! Such a handsome boy you’ve become.”
“This…” Enrique said softly, his eyes flicking from his mother to the surrounding scenery, as if he was afraid to believe she was really here. “Then is this… home…?”
“Oh, no,” the twins’ mother said sadly. “This is just a vision, constructed from your memories by Aîrchal.”
“Then are you just part of the vision?” Erika asked, pain flickering in her eyes.
“No,” her mother said. But then she turned away, gazing out over the wide lake, glittering in artificial light. “But… perhaps partially. It is… hard to say.” She turned to look at the others, and her smile returned. “You’ve made some wonderful friends, haven’t you? I’m so glad you haven’t had to shoulder this heavy burden alone.”
“What’s going on?” Enrique asked. “Where are you, truly? What’s happened to you and father?”
“We have taken measures to evade Reunion’s attempts to capture us,” his mother said. In that moment, the entire group jumped in surprise, as the woman flickered, vanishing and reappearing like a candle’s flame sputtering in a breeze. The twins’ mother didn’t seem to notice what had happened to her. “It doesn’t surprise me that I’ve appeared to you in Aîrchal. But… I’m not entirely here.”
“What do you mean ‘not entirely’?” Tsubasa asked.
“My husband and I still reside partially in the physical world,” the twins’ mother said. She turned away, looking across the coast, as if expecting someone. “I should see if I can bring him here with me. He’d be so delighted to see you two, and meet everyone else. Speaking of which!” She turned back to Roland and the others, clasped her hands in front of her, and bowed. “My name is Isadora. Thank you very much for looking after my children.”
“Mother, you’re not leaving already, are you?” Erika asked, taking tentative steps towards Isadora. “We’ve only just found you again, and it’s been so long.”
“But you haven’t found me, darling,” Isadora said. “I’m only here in spirit, and will not remain forever. Don’t worry. We will meet again, beyond this place. I’ll actually be able to hold you again. I’m sorry we had to leave you. I know it’s been difficult for you. We tried our very best to keep Reunion chasing after us, but eventually, they discovered that you two were the key.”
“We… really are… keys?” Enrique asked.
“And my precious children,” Isadora said, smiling. “Do not let that be taken from you. You are human, you are real, you are not just objects or tools. You are loved so very much.”
“But the girl… she said that… that you made us this way,” Enrique said.
“Ah,” Isadora said, with a grim expression. “So. You’ve met Lacie, then.”
“Lacie?” Tsubasa asked.
Isadora nodded. “The leader of Zweitracht, yes,” she said. “She is so much more than she appears. But Erika, Enrique — it’s true that your father and I did make you into keys to Elysia. But there is so much more to that. Please, don’t think less of us. You two are miracles — the greatest miracles of New Elysia. Oh, I wish I could tell you more. I…” She sighed, bowing her head. “I’m so sorry. We always meant to tell you everything, at the right time, in the right way. This isn’t at all how things were supposed to go.” She closed her eyes, taking in a slow, deep breath. When she let it out and opened her eyes, she looked as if she had come to a decision. “Right. Continue through Aîrchal. Find its core, for there you will discover so much. The nature of Aîrchal, yes — which is so much more marvelous than the terrifying tales would make you believe. But also the nature of our world, the nature of your home, and the nature of yourselves. Not just you, darlings.” She turned a smile to Roland, Tsubasa, Muirrach, Maxwell, and Tock. “All of you. Aîrchal is a Land of the Lost, yes. But think on what that means, for it can mean so many different things.”
“Mother, you can’t leave!” Erika said, rushing across the sand towards her. But when she reached out to embrace her…
She walked right through her. As if her mother wasn’t there.
“I’m sorry, Erika,” Isadora said, bowing her head. “As I said. I’m… not entirely here. And I fear I won’t be able to stay for much longer. I never expected to appear in Aîrchal at all, truth be told. But I am so glad I did.” She smiled at Erika, and at Enrique, who both looked on her forlornly, desperate for more time with her. “I love you both so much. And I am so, so very proud of you. Don’t ever forget that. And trust me: we will find each other again.”
Enrique reached for her, and Isadora opened her mouth to say something more…
But then she was gone. Erika and Enrique stood staring at each other, through the space where their mother had been. There was no sign that she had ever been there — she had left no footprints in the sand. All there was, was the memory.
“She… she isn’t…” Erika started, tears shining in her eyes.
“No,” Enrique said, his voice trembling. And he smiled, just a little. “She isn’t. And neither is father.”
Erika nodded. A smile wavered on her lips, then vanished. But something resolute took its place. “Right, then,” she said, turning to Roland. “We’ll find her again. Won’t we?”
“Yes,” Roland said. And he believed it. “Your father, too. For now, we must do as she said, don’t you think?”
“Proceed further into Aîrchal,” Enrique said. “To discover the truth.”
“About so much,” Tock said. “Not just this place, but this world? Even ourselves? What mysteries is Aîrchal hiding?”
“She said to consider its name,” Muirrach said, his big, bulbous eyes gazing out across the lake thoughtfully. “Land of the Lost… it’s so easy to take it at face value. People get lost here all the time, after all. Many never find their way out. But there must be more than that. If this vision of New Elysia is constructed by Aîrchal from your own memories…”
“You lost your home,” Tsubasa said. “Aîrchal… is it calling forth things we’ve lost? But… why?” And she shuddered, a little shiver that Roland almost didn’t notice. She saw him watching her, and turned away. “Right, well! Let’s just keep on going, right? Further on and further in.” She pointed out across the beach. “Think this is a good way to start?”
“Yes,” Erika said, and she strode right up to Tsubasa, took her hand, and led her forward. “Come on. Let’s see what mysteries Aîrchal holds.”
They took a handful of steps down the beach, and then everything turned… weird.
Roland felt it before he saw any evidence of it — a shift in the world, a flip in his equilibrium. His hair drifted upwards, and he looked up, and then stopped in his tracks.
“Everyone, um… try to remain calm,” he said, doing his best to follow his own advice.
One by one they each looked up, and stopped in their tracks.
They were still on the beach. The lake still glittered off to their left. But above them was no longer the ceiling, the artificial “sky” of lights and machinery.
No. Above them… was a floor. Gravity had flipped, partially — everyone’s hair was sticking right up, as if they were hanging upside-down, and Tock had to grab hold of her hat to keep it from falling off or, well, up — but their feet still stuck to the beach, as if gravity still anchored them to this sandy ceiling. And the floor above them was a floor of a wholly different place, something completely out-of-place with the New Elysian scenery.
But Roland knew exactly what it was.
“That’s… where my story begins,” he said softly. Wooden floors, with rows of bunkbeds on either side, the floors worn and faded down the center where little feet walked and ran and slid every day. Each bed was identical, only occasionally having little personal trinkets clipped to the edge or tucked under pillows, all with white sheets and white pillows.
“An orphanage?” Tsubasa asked.
Roland nodded — which felt very, very strange with the unnatural bisection of gravity. “I was… well, it’s all I know from my childhood. I spent the first eight years of my life there.”
“Whoa, hold up,” Tock said, and a second later Roland felt it, and they all stumbled as the ground shook beneath their feet. Sand burst up, and many grains fell up to the orphanage floor.
“Uh-oh,” Tsubasa said.
“Get ready!” Roland said. Tsubasa had Erika, so Roland grasped Enrique’s hand. Just in time — they were all suddenly flung upwards, gravity fully shifting, pulling them to the orphanage. Roland flipped, and guided Enrique through the flip as well, so they landed feet-first. It was a jarring, disorienting landing, and they both stumbled to their knees. Sand poured down around them, but it was strange, because it was literally around them — sand didn’t fall on them at all, just covering the floors and beds. Roland stood, checking on everyone. Tsubasa had landed neatly, with Erika in her arms. Muirrach had also managed a very light landing. Maxwell had fallen completely upon landing, though thankfully onto a mattress, and was pushing himself to his feet, swaying as he got his bearings. Tock had landed in a heap on the floor — she’d only managed to flip right-side-up at the very last second — but shot to her feet with a grin, as if that had been a fun ride at the carnival.
“Well,” Muirrach said, looking up. “That was certainly… different.”
Roland looked up, and was surprised to find that the New Elysian lake was gone entirely. Above them was now the orphanage ceiling, with exposed wooden rafters. Tucked into the corner atop one of the wooden beams was a journal — Roland’s journal. A particularly petulant boy named Ewan had thrown it up there one time when Roland had gotten a higher score on a maths exam than him.
“So this was home, huh?” Tsubasa asked.
“Not really,” Roland said, starting down the wooden floor.
Goodness, everything looks so much smaller than I remember. Did I really fit into one of these beds? But then, I haven’t been back here since my last visit to collect my things when I was twelve.
“It tried its best to do its best for all of us,” Roland continued. For a moment, he thought he could hear the chatter and laughter of so many children in the halls. But they were empty. The beds were empty. The entire space was empty, which felt so… wrong. “There were only three adults for forty-seven orphans, aged from mere months old to thirteen. They were lovely people, but they never had the resources they needed. Or the manpower.”
“It was… kind of a home, then,” Tock said. “Right? They kept you fed, and looked after you, and raised you, until you headed off on your own.”
“I… suppose,” Roland said softly. He paused at a window, gazing out at the garden in the central courtyard. There was the apple tree he’d planted when he was six, blossoming with flowers.
“Home.” It’s such a simple word. But I… I can’t seem to…
“Home’s hard to figure out, sometimes,” Tsubasa said. Roland looked at her — she’d joined him at the window, looking out at the garden with him. “Is it where we belong? Where we were raised? Where we come from? What if it isn’t just one place? What if it’s…” She sighed, shook her head, and turned to Roland. “I get it.”
And Roland saw that she did. Somehow. It seemed absurd. He didn’t know much about her life, now that he thought about it, but the way she talked about things hinted at a stable, happy home life. She knew both her parents, her grandparents, and had several brothers. She had a home to return to, didn’t she? And yet…
And yet she knew exactly what he was dealing with. It wasn’t a detective thing, she didn’t see it in him — she saw it in herself, and understood his own pain. But how?
“That… looks out of place,” Erika said. They all turned to find her pointing at a doorway that, if this was truly the orphanage where Roland had grown up, should have housed a simple wooden door with a loose brass doorknob. But it didn’t.
There was a glass set of double-doors, leading out into a grand library of astonishing proportions.
“It can’t be…” Roland said, his heart in his throat. He blinked at sudden tears, and almost turned away from the doors. But, no.
Brave heart, Roland. You won’t get any answers by turning away.
He led the way to the doors, fighting nerves and painful reminders of an unpleasant past. He hesitated for a moment at the threshold, but then, with a surge of determination, flung the doors open, and…
Was knocked back by a sudden gust of wind. Out of the door poured papers, pages and pages fluttering through the air, a veritable whirlwind of literature. The pages were too thick to see through, and Roland batted away the papers as he fought to find his companions. He found Muirrach, standing steady, and the pair of them helped the others find them, serving as a centerpoint in the storm.
“Will it ever stop?” Erika asked, huddling against Tsubasa’s legs. Enrique stood by her, waving his hands to ward off pages that threatened to crowd her.
“There’s gotta be something here to help us figure it out, right?” Tsubasa asked, batting pages away.
Roland fought hard just to keep pages out of his face, to try and see through the storm of paper. But after a while, he started seeing some repeating patterns — and familiar handwriting. He snatched for a page, but it danced away. He tried again, and again, and on the fourth try, managed to grab hold of one of the flying pages. Even in his grip, it twisted and struggled, trying to get away from him.
Before he held it up to his eyes, he knew what it was.
“What is it?” Tsubasa asked, having to raise her voice over the rising din of rustling papers being blown about by the wild winds.
“My application,” Roland said in a small voice.
The winds died as suddenly as they had begun. The papers all vanished, save the one clutched in Roland’s hand.
“Application?” Tock asked.
“I…” Roland started. He had to stop to swallow a lump in his throat. “Just days before going to Shureen’s Cove with my Teacher… I applied for a position at the Library.”
“The Library… wait, The Library?!?” Tsubasa asked, eyes going wide. “The one that moves throughout Wonderia? The greatest repository of knowledge and stories in the entire world?”
“That’s the one,” Roland said, without enthusiasm. “After forming pacts with Kirin and Vi, I was feeling particularly confident. My Teacher… Alystair… he knew I’d always dreamed of working at the Library. In its Vault, with crystals and tuning. Not too dissimilar from my current work at the Tower, but… well. He encouraged me to apply. And I did, happily. And then I went on with my journey, and…”
“And your first visit to Shureen’s Cove went… very poorly,” Tsubasa said, understanding in her eyes. “And not long after that…”
Roland nodded. “Alystair died,” he said, the words hanging in the air, filling the space around them like an oppressive cloud. “And I… I couldn’t…” He stared at the page in his hands, at his own handwriting, the cover letter for his application. Words bursting with enthusiasm, joy, hope for a long, storied career at the Library.
“What happened?” Tock asked.
“I was accepted,” Roland said. He swallowed, hard, but the lump in his throat just wouldn’t go away. “But I just couldn’t… I couldn’t respond. There was room for an intern as a Third Level Tuning Assistant at the Tower, and I was almost finished with my studies at the Academy, so… I took the path of least resistance. Something to pay the bills.”
“But couldn’t you now —” Tsubasa started.
“Maybe,” Roland said quickly. He shrugged. “But I… I suppose I’ve lost the will, now. It’s been so long. And so much has changed from who I was… back then.” He held up the page in his hands, reading those words, taking in the hopes and dreams of a twenty-eight year-old Roland. A Roland who hadn’t lost his mentor and the closest thing he’d ever have to a father. A Roland who was almost close to feeling like he had…
“Home.”
Roland sighed, and let go of the page. A breeze snatched it up, and carried the letter away, high into the sky.
It was only then that any of them realized they were under a sky, and no longer a roof. Clouds roiled in a harsh wind, thick, black clouds that flickered with lightning, flashes that precluded a coming storm. Waves roared, and Roland turned to find himself beneath the Cliffs of the Morrow, on a rocky platform just barely above the raging tide of Wonderia’s Whispering Sea, which was doing far more than whispering at the moment. Waves bashed against the platform, shaking even the rocks of the earth. And out on those waves…
“Is there a boat out there?” Tsubasa asked, peering through the darkness, through the wild crest and swell of unpredictable waves. There, rising and then vanishing behind a wave, Roland spied it, too — a tiny, wooden vessel, with a small lamp marking it in the darkness.
“Why…?” Muirrach asked in a tiny whisper. Roland turned to look at him, startled by the mournfulness of that one syllable. Muirrach’s big eyes were staring with horror and despair, as if he were watching a terrible moment play out, a moment he already knew the outcome of, and longed to change, but knew he couldn’t.
“What is it?” Tock asked. “Shouldn’t we help them?”
“You can’t help him,” Muirrach said, his voice taut, pained. “No one can.”
The waves blasted upwards, and a salty spray washed over the entire group. Roland wiped his eyes, blinked away moisture, checked that everyone else was all right, and then looked out to sea…
To see the boat was so much closer than before. Close enough that he could see, holding tight to a single small mast, three desperate figures. Frog-kin, like Muirrach.
No… not like Muirrach. Roland peered closer. One of them… surely that was Muirrach. Wasn’t it? And then the one beside him must be Eilidh. But there was a third… so much smaller than them. A child, then, and a very young one, at that.
A wave blasted up in front of them again, and Roland lost sight of the boat. When the spray cleared…
He was standing on a boat, himself. All of them were. But this was a much calmer sea. Brighter, too — the storm clouds were gone. The waves stopped raging.
“I’m sorry,” Muirrach said in a small voice. And another voice, a voice Roland hadn’t heard before, a child’s voice, replied softly, “I know.” Roland turned to Muirrach, but Muirrach was turned away from him, looking farther down the boat. But there was no one else there.
“We’re back in New Elysia, it seems,” Maxwell said, gazing up at the sky. And indeed, it did seem to be a manmade sky — metal beams could be spied amidst clever light fixtures and panels designed to disguise the manmade nature of it all.
“No,” Tock said softly. “Or, well, maybe.” She shrugged, giving a little chuckle. “It seems like things are kind of… blending together. Doesn’t it?” She pointed, and Roland looked out at shore — the shore where they’d all started, where they’d met Isadora. And indeed, he saw the orphanage there on the shore, despite the orphanage in reality having been hundreds of miles from any body of water.
“Do you know part of this place, then, Tock?” Tsubasa asked.
Tock nodded, her clock-embedded top hat bobbing on her head. “Yup,” she said. She pointed upwards, farther out across the lake. “See there? The ‘sky’s’ like New Elysia, until there. It shifts. There, it’s like… the Bastion.”
“The Bastion?” Erika asked.
“Mmhmm,” Tock murmured, nodding. “My, um… well, it was home. A long, long time ago. Before… so many things happened. See, there? Those stars.” Roland peered where she pointed, and noticed a point where the ceiling-sky shifted from the disguised design of New Elysia to something more obviously a ceiling, painted rather than cleverly lit, like a night sky. But the stars in that night sky were all four-pointed stars, tilted so they looked like x’s. “ ‘No Dark can consume Light.’ The sign’s out there, somewhere. Where we were… born.”
And then they all stared as another girl appeared on the boat in front of Tock, a girl a little younger than Tock, but so similar to her — azure hair, azure eyes, an easy, winning smile. She wasn’t dressed so eclectically as Tock, opting for a white dress under a blue jacket. She looked at Tock, and her eyes widened in surprise. “Can you see me?” she asked.
Tock stared, and stared. Silent, for so long. The other girl waved her hand in front of Tock’s face. “Hey,” she said. “Anyone in there?”
“Y-yeah,” Tock said slowly, wide-eyed. “I… yeah. I see you.”
“Oh, good!” the other girl said, beaming. “I wasn’t sure. I knew there was a chance. But it’s all… um… well.” She shrugged. “It’s weird.”
“You’re not… really here,” Tock said. “I mean… you can’t be. You’re…”
“Really here,” the other girl said. “Really, really here. I am. Promise.” She smiled a gentle, understanding smile. “I know. ‘How?’ Right? It’s just a quirk of this space. Or so I’m told. I don’t get a lot of time, but… well. I was given the chance, so I wanted to see you. You, um…” She turned nervous, staring at her feet, fidgeting somewhat. “Do you… remember me, now?”
“I do!” Tock said quickly. “I really, really do!” She nodded three times, emphatically. “I know I… I forgot so much. Or, well, I gave my memories away. I still don’t remember everything. I never will. I’m not supposed to. But…” And she smiled a smile that would melt any heart, as tears shone in her eyes. “I finally remembered you. And I’ll never forget again, as long as I live.”
The other girl chuckled. “I have Caleb and Addie to thank, don’t I?” she asked.
“You know about them?” Tock asked.
The other girl nodded, a very Tock-like, bouncy nod. “It’s a perk of being… well, where I am,” she said. “I get to watch you. Speaking of watches… you gave Caleb the watch. And he gave it to Addie. She’s taken great care of it, hasn’t she?”
Tock nodded, wiped at her eyes, and sniffled softly. “Yeah,” she said.
“You have wonderful friends,” the other girl said. “I’m so glad. And… Tock.” She pursed her lips, and said the name again, as if she were trying it out for the first time. “It’s… different. But it suits you.”
“You think so?” Tock asked. She sniffled again, then laughed. “I, um…”
The girls stared at each other for a long time, silent. Slowly, Tock asked, “Are you… okay? Are you happy?”
The other girl smiled her gentle smile. “I am,” she said. “Where I am… it’s so peaceful, here. So freeing. So… perfect.” She giggled. “Well, almost perfect. But someday — hopefully a long, long time from now — you’ll be here, too. Then it’ll be perfect.”
Tock choked out a small chuckle, mingled with a sob. “I miss you,” she said softly.
The other girl reached out a hand. “I miss you, too,” she said. “But we’ll be together again. Count on it.”
Tock reached out, and gasped as she grasped the other girl’s hand, as if she’d expected it to be just a ghostly vision. They shook hands, once, firmly, and the other girl let go. “You’re doing great,” she said. “So keep it up… Tock.”
And then, the other girl was gone.
“I will,” Tock said in a small voice. Maxwell strode up to stand beside her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. For a while, they all just stood there, silent, taking in the rocking of the boat on the gentle lake.
After a while, Roland noticed a song. Someone was singing, softly, a song without words. It was a gentle, lilting melody — slightly playful, but also relaxing. It was a woman’s voice, a warm, clear alto. There was something almost familiar in it. But when Roland turned to the sound of the voice, and saw who was singing, he didn’t think he’d ever seen her before.
A young woman, close to Tsubasa’s age, was piloting the boat with familiar ease. Her hair, like spun gold, was done up in a simple, functional bun. Her eyes had a striking, familiar electric blue color, intense and captivating all at once.
“Wait… is she…” Tsubasa started, studying the woman’s face. Her eyes went wide. “The woman with the eagle mask?”
“Yes,” Erika said. But there was no fear as she gazed up at the woman — a smile even started to form on her lips. “But I remember her. She… she used to be so kind to me. She’d take me out on this lake — Mare Serenitas — in this very boat. I’d sit in her lap, and she’d stroke my hair, and sing to me, and tell me stories about Elysia.”
“You… knew her,” Roland said.
Erika nodded. “She’s from New Elysia,” she said. “Perhaps… perhaps all of Reunion are.”
“I think they must be,” Enrique said.
Erika nodded. She smiled up at the young woman — so different without her eagle mask and weaponized gauntlet. “And I’ve remembered her name: Lairah.”
——
Lairah removed her mask and turned it over to inspect the damage done during the battle at the Rig. The beautiful eagle façade was marred now by a great gash that exposed her left eye. Its magic was gone, severed by the damage done.
She sighed, placing the mask on the table. The floor of her simple quarters swayed gently beneath her feet, but she was more than used to the rocking of the boat. Her thoughts turned to the mask, and all it represented.
I chose Elysia’s golden eagle as my visage. The mask isn’t gold — we all agreed that we shouldn’t wear such gaudy colors — but the blue feels right. Like it fits.
But… the mask never did. And never will.
She tossed the mask into a disposal chute, and then took a seat on her bed, going over the events of the Rig in her mind.
Erika… she didn’t remember me.
I shouldn’t be surprised. She was so little, back then. I suppose I thought things would be… that those memories would be… more meaningful to her. They’re some of my very favorite memories of home.
But even if she remembered me as I was… would she recognize me from my recent actions towards her? All this violence… all this cruelty…
“It was never supposed to be this way,” Lairah muttered, staring at her hands. At the gauntlet on her right hand, with a symphonic crystal caged in the palm, ready to be primed as a weapon. At her exposed left hand, the callouses she’d once held from piloting boats across New Elysia’s Mare Serenitas nearly completely faded.
Is who I was gone? The Lairah Erika might still remember… has she been erased by the mask I’ve chosen to wear, the path I’ve chosen to walk?
A knock came at her door, and she looked up. “What is it?” she asked, weariness and irritation edging her tone.
“The Council awaits you,” came a placid, tenor voice: Joshua, of the Owl cohort.
Of course they do. “I’ll be along shortly,” Lairah said. Joshua gave a simple assent, and she heard his footsteps receding down the corridor.
Well, there’s no avoiding them. Best to get this over with.
And maybe… maybe I can try…
She sighed, rose, and departed her quarters, unmasked in the ship’s corridor. Several she passed — from the Owl cohort, and the Heron cohort — cast second glances her way. She ignored them, climbing the stairs to the second deck, and turning down the wider corridors here towards the Council Chamber. The heavy wooden doors bore golden images of the Elysia they longed for, the home for so long out of reach. Standing guard at the doors were four guards, one from each cohort, including from Lairah’s own Eagle cohort. They, too, hesitated upon seeing her unmasked face, but gave no challenge or question before opening the doors for her.
The Council Chamber itself was a domed chamber reminiscent of the Council Hall at New Elysia. But here the walls, floors, and ceilings were wooden rather than metal, the lights a mixture of the natural light of the outdoors through windows and warmer lanterns compared to the starry view through New Elysia’s windows, and the stronger, brighter lights used indoors there. In the center was a round table set for four, and three chairs were already occupied by the masked leaders of the Owl, Heron, and Sparrow cohorts. They all watched as Lairah took her seat, and though Lairah couldn’t see their eyes, couldn’t see any facial expressions, she could feel their disapproval.
“You walk openly unmasked, Eagle,” said the leader of Sparrow cohort, a tall, thin man with a soft, reedy voice.
“Your observational skills are impeccable,” Lairah said dryly. “My mask was damaged at the Rig. But you already knew that.”
“Surely you have extra masks?” asked the leader of the Heron cohort, a large, elegant woman with an operatic soprano voice.
“Of course,” said the leader of the Owl cohort, a broad-shouldered man with a strong, intimidating baritone. “To join us unmasked was a choice. Surely there is an explanation.”
“I didn’t wish to keep you waiting,” Lairah said. The Owl was watching her intently, and she returned his masked gaze unflinchingly. “And I do not think it truly necessary to hide my face among friends. Home may be lost to us for now, but that does not mean we must abandon who we are.”
“It was a shared pact, one we all agreed to,” said the Sparrow, his posture stiffening. “Until the Reunion we seek is achieved, we —”
“Forsake our names and pledge ourselves to anonymity,” Lairah said. “I am still the Eagle, even without my mask, am I not? This, then, should not count as a breach of that pact. But I sense you have more important things to lecture me on than the past.”
“Ah, youth,” said the Heron, sighing dramatically. Lairah could hear the amused smile in her voice. “We seek not to lecture you, Eagle. In fact, we feel as if we have not properly supported your efforts to take the twins into custody. In short, it isn’t your fault that you have failed thrice consecutively. We wish to extend our hands and offer our resources and wisdom in seeing this greatest of endeavors to success.” She spread her gloved hands forward in a welcoming gesture as she said this.
Lairah saw the threat beneath the invitation, but, mindful of her unmasked face, she fought back her displeasure and instead relaxed her posture and smirked. “Yes, because your offer of the Zweitracht follower was such a great help,” she said. “What was it that she sought at the Rig? Why did she have to destroy one of the Rig’s Chambers? Such wanton destruction, and the deaths it nearly caused, do not fit within our objectives. Or do they?” Her eyes swept across her three co-commanders. “Is there some secret you’ve yet to share with me? Some rhyme or reason behind your alliance with Zweitracht? They seek Discord, a complete affront to our own desires.”
“It is understandable that you would see it that way,” said the Owl. “But it was the Lady of Zweitracht who reached out to us first. While we abhor her machinations, we cannot stand against her without the full might of Songbird and Elysia. And yet she seeks not conflict, nor even cooperation — she doesn’t want our help — but solely to assist our efforts. We must avoid angering her, and so for now, shouldn’t we embrace help freely offered?”
“And I refer you back to my questions about that woman Eilidh’s actions on the Rig,” Lairah said tersely. “And just because someone offers help does not mean we should accept it. If the Summoner hadn’t been there to protect the twins, they might have been lost when the explosion rocked the catwalk.”
“Do not harbor any gratitude towards the Tuning Assistant and his allies,” Owl said. “If they had not been protecting the twins, we would have already acquired them in Ars Moran.”
“Acquired” them? So you wear your intentions plainly, do you?
…Then perhaps I need to be more cautious.
“Won’t Erika and Enrique’s abilities be useless to us if we do not have their assent?” Lairah asked. “The files we were able to retrieve from Isadora and Alfred’s ship stated as much. Speaking of which, what has become of apprehending those two? They’re the ones who forced our exile from New Elysia in the first place.”
“The twins are the key,” said Heron with a shrug. “Their parents were just trying to act as decoys to divert our efforts away from the true prize. Even more proof they wish Elysia only for themselves. We must focus all our efforts on the twins, now. Elysia is nearly in our grasp!”
Yes, so very nearly. Except that the twins have quite able protectors — and we still need their assent to gain access to the “keys.” As long as you keep looking at them as tools, we’ll never get anywhere.
“So what comes next?” Lairah asked. “You offered me assistance. I’d like to know the nature of this assistance before choosing whether or not to accept.”
“As if you have a choice,” Sparrow said loftily. “You have no idea the position you’re in, do you? You’re capable for your age, there’s no doubt, but perhaps we were foolish to let youth have such a potent seat at the table —”
“She earned her seat,” Owl said, silencing Sparrow. “You’ve seen firsthand her abilities. Don’t discount her based on personal bias — or on recent failures.” He turned his attention back to Lairah. “You clearly do need more than just your cohort to handle the twins’ guardians, though. You will still be in charge of the operation, but you may now direct half of Owl, Heron, and Sparrow cohorts alongside your own. Find the twins. Bring them to us. Everything hinges upon them.”
And what, pray tell, do you need the other half of each of your cohorts for, if all that matters is finding the twins? Secrets, always secrets with you three. I never worried about it before. But partnering with Zweitracht… that’s just the beginning, isn’t it? There’s so much more I don’t know.
Well…
And Lairah checked herself.
It’s… none of my business. Isn’t it? As long as I’m the one to retrieve Erika and Enrique, I still stand a chance of winning them over. If any of those three are in charge of trying to use their keys to reach Elysia, their methods will be… less than pleasant, I’m sure.
So it doesn’t matter what they’re up to. What I need to focus on is success. I must be the one to retrieve the twins.
I’m the only one left here who still sees them as people, and not just tools.
“I won’t fail again,” Lairah said, standing. She crossed her hands, forming interwoven wings with her fingers. “For the Songbird’s Reunion.”
Owl, Heron, and Sparrow formed the same sign. “For the Reunion!”