Chapter 23: Calliope

The Ysuelt Dwelling

She looked calm enough on the exterior, right?

Calliope forced a placid smile to remain on her face as she trudged down the side of the mountain with Quinn and Neva toward the dwelling she'd spent her entire life in. Internally, however, she was panicking. She hadn't exactly left her father's side on the greatest of terms and Sebastian had been displeased about the separation as well. To top it all off, she was supposed to have left to find answers and was returning, quite literally, empty handed. Her gloves were off but, still, she was unable to produce even the smallest of sparks to show for it. And she had tried. In the dead of night on the road when Neva and Quinn were sound asleep, she had laid upon her cloak on the rough, dying grass, and tried her hardest to create those sparks again. But she had failed. Her entire venture into the city of Delos with the mysterious Sahira had failed and she was returning hope with her tail tucked between her legs and an apology on her lips.

But her companions didn't need to know that. As far as she was concerned, they could go on believing she was some badass tradition-breaking monster hunter that was so skilled and so amazing she had been allowed to join an ancient order as the first woman ever allowed to live among them. That was much more exciting than the truth. So she would allow them to go on believing it until the illusion was shattered. Of course, that time seemed to be drawing nearer the closer they got to the door.

The main entry was carved into the same ancient stone that the rest of the dwelling was created from. Calliope approached it, as she had so many times before, and placed a hand upon it. She closed her eyes.

"Mere lie khulo. tum mere ghar ho."

Open for me. You are my home.

With a loud groaning, the door slid open, scraping against the stone floor loudly as it did. Quinn and Neva stared up at it in awe, their jaws dropped.

"Magic," Quinn whispered, stunned.

"The stone was imbued with it long ago," Calliope explained as she slid inside and beckoned them to follow. "Some of our older weapons and tools were as well. We only have to speak to them in the mother tongue and they respond."

"Incredible."

"This way."

She led them through the dark passages toward the common room and found a group of the Ysuelt waiting for them when they arrived. Sebastian was there and Bruin as well. They rushed toward her the moment she emerged from the darkness and wrapped her up in tight hugs, talking over one another to tell her all that she had missed and to ask her where she had been. They didn't seem to notice Quinn and Neva until she glanced over her shoulder at her two companions who were now lost in the admiration of the large, open cavern.

"These are friends I met on the road," Calliope told them. "Delos was attacked. Everyone was trying to flee. They didn't have anywhere else to go."

Bruin considered them as she spoke, crossing his arms and sizing them up.

"They are strangers then," Bruin started and Calliope's heart fell, knowing what he was going to say.

"Ham kamajoron kee raksha karate hain kyonki ham majaboot hain," Sebastian interrupted before Bruin could say anything further. Calliope recognized the words in an instant. They were some of the Ysuelt's most sacred, taken directly from the oaths they made when they became true warriors. Roughly translated, it meant something like we protect the weak because we are strong. Bruin's face fell.

"Very well," he said. "Bring them in. You must be starving."

Quinn and Neva took a step forward but stopped suddenly, their gazes fixed on something behind the Ysuelt. Calliope, Bruin, and Sebastian turned to see that Gabriel had entered the hall. Everyone had gone silent, waiting to see what the brooding father would do.

Gabriel's eyes met Calliope's and he strolled forward to meet her. She prepared herself for another scolding but her father surprised her by simply gathering her into his arms and lifting her off of her feet in a warm embrace.

"Thank the saints you're safe," he whispered into her hair before setting her back down. Calliope smiled happily back at him as he turned to her companions. "Who are you?"

"Father, this is Quinn and Neva. They helped me flee the city safely when it was under attack."

Gabriel nodded looking from Neva to Quinn. His examination halted then. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the young man standing before him.

"What's your name, boy?" he asked.

"Father, I said–" Calliope began, confused. Hadn't she just introduced them?"

"From him," Gabriel interrupted her. "What's your name?"

"Quinn, sir," Quinn replied, looking slightly nervous. Gabriel's gaze narrowed again and he frowned at the young man. Calliope looked between them, confused.

"Father, what–"

"Welcome, Quinn," Gabriel said, holding out a hand. Quinn took it a moment later, shaking it in welcome. "Come in, the both of you. Partake in some of our supper. Calliope, I'd like to speak with you alone."

Calliope nodded and followed after her father after one last shoulder squeeze from Bruin and hug from Sebastian.

Gabriel took them to the armory, the only place where no one would be this late in the evening, before finally turning to face her.

"Your gloves are gone," he said simply. Calliope looked down at her hands and nodded.

"Yes," she replied. "But it didn't matter."

She frowned. He thought for a moment.

"You had them on your entire life," he told her. "Perhaps it will simply take time for your power to return after having been stifled so long."

"Or perhaps I have no power at all," she muttered, her disappointment clear.

"But your sparks–"

"I haven't been able to summon them since the gloves came off."

Silence fell between them then and, in it, Calliope's tears surfaced for the first time that she had allowed them to in a week. Gabriel moved forward without a word and embraced her, holding her gently against him as she sobbed.

"I feel as though I've been robbed of something and I don't even know what," she cried into his chest. She had missed him, she realized. She hadn't known it until now. But his quiet comfort, his stoic presence, was more reassuring for her than he could possibly know. Only a father could offer a girl such refuge from the world.

"Power or not," Gabriel whispered once more against her hair which he stroked with one hand, "you are my daughter and I love you."

She sniffled, wiping away her tears, and pushed back from him with a weak smile.

"I should go back to the others," she told him, trying to keep her voice level as she did. "Bruin and Sebastian had about a million questions for me that they'll be waiting for answers to."

Gabriel nodded and she turned for the door.

"Calliope," her father called out when she had reached the threshold. She turned to find him watching her, gaze gone soft with what appeared to be concern. "Be careful."

Her brows furrowed in confusion about what he might mean but she nodded her agreement anyway and headed out of the armory and back to the common room where the others were waiting.

Quinn and Neva had been fed and were already locked in conversation with a few of the warriors and trainees who were questioning them about the attack on Delos. Bruin and Sebastian sat nearby, having been watching the newcomers as well until Calliope entered. Then Sebastian waved her over and pushed a full plate of freshly prepared food toward her as she sat. Bruin smiled happily as she dug in.

"Your friends are quite talkative," Bruin told her. "Well, the boy is. The girl hasn't said two words and keeps glaring at him every time he tells us something."

"She's cautious," Calliope explained with a shrug. "Doesn't trust anyone."

"Smart," Bruin remarked.

"We heard back from the Institute," Sebastian told her, rushing on as though he had been waiting to tell her the news all this time. "They're still researching the lone orc but they agree that it's weird. Apparently, they're receiving a lot of reports from all around the country of monsters and creatures popping up in places they've never been before in ways that they never would. Bruin says it's an omen."

"An omen?" Calliope asked, still chewing as she looked up at them.

"The last time orcs roamed so far south and hydras terrorized innocent villages Delos went to war with Idoria for ten years," Bruin told her.

"The Decade War? But that was centuries ago."

"Aye and there's not been a lone orc since. Until now. It's an omen, I tell you. And now this whole business with the attack you witnessed. I'm telling you, something is coming. Something evil."

Calliope frowned. Bruin had always been one to get lost in the signs, believing everything that happened was the universe trying to communicate with him, to warn him or help him and him alone. Calliope didn't believe that the universe cared so much about one person. But still. She couldn't help but consider how strange it was that something which hadn't occurred for centuries would occur again during her lifetime. And right when she had finally removed her gloves as well.