Fae gazed across the rocky, hand-shaped island. It wasn’t just hand-shaped, of course — it really was the giant stone hand that had fallen from the great Titan, which loomed high above them from across the water. The sky was bright and pale, shimmering with beams of yellow sunlight. The rock of Titan — and Titan’s Hand Isle — was mostly reddish-brown, occasionally fading into darker pockets that were nearly black or pale, beige-colored sections. Dust hung in the air, in places enough for Fae to be able to see quite visibly.
Titan’s Hand Isle wasn’t just a hand, but a hand holding a long, stone sword, flat side up, and hand and sword together held an entire city. A massive dock was built along the wrist of the isle, and boats and barges were constantly going back and forth between it and the two feet of Titan across glittering blue waters. Titan itself was largely vertical, and its architecture accommodated those circumstances, but here on Titan’s Hand Isle, buildings were largely oriented normally, built of white stone, and were often densely packed together, with numerous narrow roads running every which way. And people were bustling everywhere, constantly at work, constantly busy.
“It’s too loud,” Olivia said, pulling the front of her hood down a little.
“And too dusty,” Jupiter said, making a face. “Too warm, too. And it’s a wonderful snowy winter in Grimoire right now. Can’t the rest of the universe get with the program?” As if in response to her complaints about the heat, Madeline transformed her outfit in a flurry of ribbons of light, ending up in simple tee shirt, capris, and hiking boots. Her hair tied itself back in an ordinary ponytail.
“It’s beautiful in its own way, though,” Mercury said, smiling her perfect smile as she shielded her eyes, gazing up at the massive Titan. “Madeline, you had to climb all the way to the top?”
“I started at the belt,” Madeline said.
“So not quite halfway,” Mercury said. She let out a low whistle. “Still impressive.”
“This… isn’t the right place,” Fae said, speaking through the Sojourner. All eyes went to her — or rather, her body — as she spoke. “I have a drawing of Titan, looking up at it from this island. But this isn’t the spot.”
“You think that’s where the Echo of Truth is?” Sonya asked.
“I think it holds clues, regardless of what’s there,” Fae said.
“Then you’re leading,” Mercury said. “Where do we go next?”
Fae instructed the Sojourner, working off of memory. They were too far to the right, so had to head left, navigating the tight crowds and hurried traffic. No one was rude or unfriendly, but they weren’t particularly kind, either. There was a sense of apathy, Fae thought — not total, general apathy, but an apathy to the travel from place to place. If the traffic was tight, if the crowds were dense, well, that was fine. If things were clear and easy, that was fine, too. No one really paid any mind to whether they moved fast or slow, whether they were boxed in tight by others or given freedom to move easily. They just went along, making their way wherever they needed to go.
Fae knew she’d be losing her mind if she was in her body, walking normally. She despised crowds, despised the way these people ignored personal space. There was no willful, sinister invasion of personal space, but in a way, this was almost worse. No one cared where their rush to work took them, what people they bumped into or brushed against along the way, so who could tell them off? The next person would be exactly the same as the last. And she saw Olivia and Madeline in particular were not fond of this. Ciel, for his part, held onto Madeline’s hand and walked quite easily, not seeming to mind the crowds at all. If anything, he looked constantly curious, quietly gazing around, taking it all in.
“Is this the right way?” Toryu called from the front of the group. Fae took a moment to get her bearings, then sent forward an affirmative, and they continued on. As they did, Toryu, Mercury, Jupiter, and Neptune took up positions around their group so as to shield the others from the constant jostling of the crowd, and Fae found herself smiling.
They emerged from a series of narrow, choked streets into a circular plaza, and Fae knew before she checked her reference point that this was the place. Traffic largely moved around the perimeter here, so their group went to the center, where a statue replica of Titan — whole and unbroken — stood, only twice as tall as Mercury, the tallest in their group.
“My drawing shows it from here, I’m sure,” Fae said, gazing up at Titan. For a moment, she hesitated, then spoke only to the Sojourner. “In my bag, it’s the sketchbook with the blue cover. Fourth page, I think.”
She watched as her body fished carefully in her bag, soon pulling forth the blue sketchbook. And on page four, there was Fae’s sketch of Titan from the Isle, matching the view they saw now.
“So what kind of clues do you think we get from this?” Mercury asked.
“Perhaps something around the plaza,” Sonya said, looking around. “Do any of these shops stand out?”
Fae was thinking the same thing — the location was important, with the view serving as their guide to this place. So there must be something important in the plaza…
Or perhaps not. Thinking on it, most of Fae’s drawings had simply been showing her places she would eventually need to go. But the more she thought about them, the more she learned about her journey and all the things that had brought her this far, as well as where she was now trying to go…
She no longer thought it could be that simple. Why draw these specific scenes? Some Locations she’d drawn were drawn as if from some aerial view, some impossible cut-out view of an interior that she could never see normally. Cartographer’s Waystation and Eventide Archive came to mind right away.
But there were a few — only a few — like this. She could have just drawn Titan’s Hand Isle from the sky, but she hadn’t. Whatever had compelled her to this drawing, it had chosen this kind of view, an on-the-ground view that she could achieve in the real world.
There had to be a reason. There had to be a purpose.
As she was looking around, she noticed Olivia approach her and tug on the sleeve of her body’s jacket. “Fae,” she said softly. “Someone’s staring at us.”
Fae looked where Olivia subtly indicated. She was the one who could best look, after all, since no one could see her.
Olivia was right. While everyone else was constantly moving around the edges of the plaza, there was one individual who stood still, against a wall, staring straight at Fae’s group. It was an elderly woman, hunched and leaning on a gnarled cane. In her free hand she clutched a small cloth sack. And from a tanned, wrinkled face stared intense, pale green eyes.
But…
Wait… she’s… not staring at all of us.
She’s…
The old woman seemed to be staring directly at Fae. Not at her body, but at the soul that floated above. But how could that be? Madeline was the only one who’d been able to see her, and even then that had been a brief, isolated occurrence.
The old woman’s eyes occasionally moved, briefly flitting to two other spots. It didn’t take long for Fae to realize: Oliva and Sonya were also under her scrutiny.
“What do we do?” Olivia asked.
Fae wasn’t sure. This was a crowded place. Surely no one could do harm to them with so many people around? And the woman staring at them was small, her hand that stabilized herself on her cane shaking. What danger could she be?
More than that…
She doesn’t look like she’s a danger. She looks… surprised. I think she would have already come over to us, but she’s struck by something that’s stunned her. But what? What’s so surprising?
Fae had to check herself there. She’d become so accustomed to one surprising thing about her trio that she’d forgotten how it had astonished her at first. Fae, Olivia, and Sonya all looked alike, sounded alike. They each had their own speech patterns and timbres, but their voice was essentially the same. Fae and Sonya wore glasses — different styles for each of them — while Olivia did not, and they all styled their hair differently, they all dressed very differently, but there was no escaping that they essentially had the same body, same face, same hair. They could be perfect identical triplets if they didn’t differentiate themselves from each other.
But could that be all it was?
Fae’s attention was drawn to the cloth sack the woman clutched so tightly. What could be in there? The woman wasn’t dressed much differently from those around her, and she was quite clean, so Fae didn’t think she was homeless or poor, so that sack wasn’t likely the only belongings she had left in this world. No, she got a sense about that sack, as if…
The old woman started towards them. Fae spoke through the Sojourner, telling the others to wait and see what happened. Olivia stood behind Fae, while Sonya and Madeline with Ciel stood beside her. Toryu leaned against the statue, puffing on his pipe, though for his casual posture his eyes had a hard, wary glint underneath his usual bemused stare. The Star sisters seemed the only ones who took Fae at her word, simply watching and waiting.
The old woman made it through the crowd and crossed the more open section of the plaza, moving slowly, carefully. Fae’s heart went out to her, and under normal conditions, she would have helped this lady walk along. But she was nervous, and uncertain. And something about the light in those intense eyes… this woman was stronger than she seemed. Or perhaps she simply had too much pride to let anyone help her walk.
Finally, she stopped just a couple of paces from Fae. She held out the cloth sack. “I didn’t think I’d see the day,” she said. Her voice was gravelly and worn, but had a strength to it. “You three. The three desired by the Wicked Dragon. These are for you.”
Fae stared in astonishment. “How do you know who we are?” she asked through the Sojourner.
“I have waited,” the old woman said. She still held out the sack, that whole arm trembling. “Take these. They will protect you. Even now, he watches you. With these, his gaze will be warded off. Until you are prepared…” she coughed twice, her whole body shaking, and Fae almost reached to help her, but the woman didn’t fall, “prepared to face him properly.”
“But how do you —” Fae started.
“Go ahead,” Toryu said, nodding. “Take them. And ask no more questions of her.”
“But why?” Sonya asked.
“All right,” Fae said. Her body reached out, and her hand took the sack. The woman nodded once.
And then vanished.
“What the —?” Jupiter started, racing forward, standing in the spot the woman had just occupied. “Where’d she go?”
“Blinked away?” Mercury asked.
“Her task was completed,” Toryu said. “Let’s see what’s in the sack.”
“You didn’t even know?” Sonya asked.
“I had enough of a sense to know it wasn’t dangerous,” Toryu said. Fae opened the sack, and inside found three jade pins. Each had three horizontal lines slicing through three ornate, stylized letters: fos. Above and below the letters were fanciful lines that looked somewhat like musical notes, somewhat like painterly flourishes.
“Ah,” Toryu said, smiling. “Now there’s a sigil I’d nearly forgotten existed.”
“Sigil?” Madeline asked.
“F, O, S,” Jupiter said, staring. “Fae, Olivia, Sonya.”
“That’s not it,” Toryu said, “though it’s a fascinating coincidence. No, fos is an old word, old enough that I do believe only three scholars still alive would know of it — not counting Dragons, of course. It’s… ah, but that language is so hard to translate into your own tongue. It is a word of art, of music, of creativity, of imagination, of performance. It means so much in so little. This sigil is one for artists, in a time and place where artists were a secretive, secluded bunch who needed a way to identify like minds, to keep themselves safe from those who would snuff out creativity and imagination.”
Fae’s heart sang with every word that Toryu said explaining that simple word of the sigil. Fos.
“But why give them to us?” Sonya asked. “Just the three of us, too, not the whole group. And she said they would ward off the Wicked Dragon’s gaze.”
“Is it true he’s been watching us?” Olivia asked.
“It is likely,” Toryu said, smoldering anger in his voice. “Wasuryu was more powerful, his reach far wider, than I ever believed. And far more than they should have been. And knowing what you told me of his city full of followers devoted to him, even if his own eyes cannot reach everywhere, his followers can follow at his behest. But, let’s see…” Toryu turned over the pins, “ah, yes. See here?” On the back of each pin was a reptilian eye slashed through by three lines. “A warding mark. Specific to Wasuryu, at that. This is powerful magic…”
“Three lines on both sides,” Sonya said.
“Three is a sacred number,” Neptune said.
Toryu nodded. “For the front,” he said, “for the fos sigil, it is used to bind, to show unity and hope. For the warding mark, the three lines are used to repel, to protect.”
“So who was the old lady?” Jupiter asked.
“At least be polite about it,” Mercury said, poking Jupiter in the ribs.
“But come on! She totally just vanished on us! That’s not normal, right?” Jupiter hopped in the spot the old woman had been standing.
“As I said, her task was completed,” Toryu said.
“Okay, and I can say the streets are red, but that doesn’t explain why she just disappeared after giving them the goods!”
“Draconis,” Ciel murmured.
“You could tell?” Toryu asked, gazing wide-eyed at the boy. Ciel nodded. “Fascinating. Yes, to explain a little more, she was draconis. A… hmm. ‘Ally to Dragons’ would be somewhat close to its meaning.”
“How did she know they needed protection from Wasuryu, though?” Jupiter asked.
“So many questions,” Toryu said with a chuckle.
“She’s not the only one with them,” Sonya said, notebook and pen at the ready.
“Take what you’ve received and don’t worry about the rest,” Toryu said, laughing as he handed a pin each to Olivia and Sonya, while he pinned one onto Fae’s jacket for her. “Pin them on, and Wasuryu’s gaze will be warded, as will some of his power. These give you an edge against him, should he ever appear before you again. They’ll especially help if I am not present to protect you.”
“She said ‘until you are prepared to face him properly’,” Sonya said. “That implies we will have to confront him eventually.”
“And I hope to be there at your side when that day comes, my dear,” Toryu said. “Now then, let us find the Echo of Truth.”
“You are so disappointing in the explanations department,” Jupiter said with a sigh.
The Sojourner pulled out the Orphan of the Dawn amulet, and its light showed the way. It wasn’t far to the Echo of Truth — they found its door just one street over, at another circular plaza. No one else seemed to see the door, but then, everyone around here seemed completely focused on their own tasks and nothing else, so that wasn’t too surprising, considering.
“We’ll wait here,” Mercury said, taking a seat by the plaza’s central statue.
“Come on out, Raven,” Madeline said, calling forth her lavender Summon. The beautiful bird let out a joyful, musical trill, tinged with annoyance, and Madeline laughed. “I know, you’ve been restless. Go on, fly free. Stretch your wings while we wait.” Raven did just that, soaring high into the sky.
Fae, Olivia, and Sonya approached the door. One by one, they stepped through it.
Again, Fae’s body did not enter the Echo of Truth. Olivia and Sonya couldn’t see her, but they could hear her, and for this brief time, Fae could once again feel the ground beneath her feet, a reassuring sensation.
Light slowly filled the room, giving shape to the murals on the floor, ceiling, and circular perimeter. Fae was drawn to the walls, which from the door working clockwise, formed a journey. It started with a seed, a strange sort of seed. Because it looked both organic, but also metallic, a strange combination of organic life, of metallic design, and magic. It was planted, but not in normal soil. It was planted on a barren, tiny rock, suspended in the darkest corner of space. And there, despite all that should have been against it…
The seed grew. It sprouted. Its roots dug deep, and its branches rose, not in a tree, but in an enveloping, all-encompassing being. It surrounded the rock, expanded it, and blazed with marvelous golden light. Life exploded into being where first there had been none. Light shattered the darkness until none was left. The barren rock grew into a beautiful, golden world, filled with light and life.
“The Orphan of the Dawn,” Olivia said. “It’s just like the few descriptions we’ve heard.”
“But why show us this?” Sonya asked.
Fae wondered the same, but committed these images to memory. Sonya did similarly, writing all her observations in her notebook. The floor of the Echo of Truth showed dozens of silhouettes, people, walking across the golden land’s surface, eating of the fruits from the tree’s branches, bathing in the waters of springs. But the ceiling showed the golden land empty.
“Everyone who goes there… leaves?” Sonya asked.
“Toryu said that when he left after a long time there, he couldn’t find his way back,” Fae said.
“It seems… lonely,” Olivia said. “The Orphan calls out to people, because she has… something that they need, I suppose? But when they come to her, after a time, they leave. It’s like… she’s constantly meeting new people, constantly helping people in need, but they always leave.”
“It all seems so strange,” Sonya said. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Right now, we’re resting all our hopes on going to the Orphan of the Dawn for your sake, Fae. But all three of us were called there. She must have something for each of us, something we each need, something separate from getting you back into your own body. But… what? And why? That’s the key question for me. I’m starting to understand what the Orphan of the Dawn is and does, I think. But I don’t understand why. She’s like… some cosmic force that just… helps people? And then watches them leave forever?”
“The other Echoes were focused on us,” Fae said. “What could be, what was, what is. But this… it’s all about her. I wonder why.”
Sonya turned, gazing at the door. “I suppose… there’s nothing more to learn here.”
“Right.” Olivia gazed at the door too. Both of them had a hesitant air to their stance and demeanor.
“Wh—” Fae started, but then stopped herself.
Oh.
The next place… our next destination after this…
It’s Renault. The city I’ve always longed to visit, the incredible hidden city of magic, but for them…
It’s home. A home they’ve been away from for decades at least, but how long none of us know exactly. With families they left behind that might not even be there anymore.
What could Fae even say to that? How could she say anything to their hesitation, to their uncertainty? If she was in their shoes, if she’d been away from Grimoire for decades or centuries, without aging at all, would she want to go back? How much would she dread what she’d find there?
And to then be told she had to go back as part of the necessary path she now walked?
“Take all the time you need.” “If you want to just call it quits here, I won’t blame you.” “We can forget about it. Or we can just pick you up at the next place.”
All the words that came to mind died in Fae’s throat. They all sounded hollow, shallow.
I’ve never been any good at this. Comforting people… saying the right thing… but especially now, when it’s something actually big and serious, I have no idea what to say or do.
Is it… just something they have to figure out on their own?
“Is it…” Sonya started in a small voice, “…all right to admit I’m scared?”
No one said anything for several beats.
“I hope it is,” Olivia said. “Because I’m frightened, too.”
“There’s… probably nothing left for us,” Sonya said. “Nothing we remember. No one we know.”
“The Time Tower apparently still stands,” Olivia said. “The walls still stand. But how much the city has changed…”
“Right.” Sonya bowed her head. “Fae?”
“I’m here,” Fae said.
“Don’t tell us to back down,” Sonya said. “Please. Please don’t offer me a chance to skip Renault. It’s where we have to go, all three of us. And I… if you were to offer me a way out of it, I… I’d probably take it.” She lifted her head, gazing at the door. “So please. Don’t offer me that kindness.”
“Do you… mind if I do this?” Olivia asked. She stepped beside Sonya and took her free hand in hers. “I… find it comforting, sometimes.”
Sonya nodded, and Fae saw her grip Olivia’s hand tighter. “It is comforting. Thank you.” She took in a deep breath, letting out slowly. “I would never go back alone. But… together… yes. I think I can bear it. And I… a part of me does want to know. Even all the things I dread, I want to know.”
“We’re ready, Fae,” Olivia said. “Let’s go. To Renault.”