ADARA

Over the knolls, Sivaport came into view; a glimmering city built upon layers of rock which rose up into high walls with the lighthouse a beacon of its edge. Two statues sat farther down the gulf, hands outstretched. Her wanderlust tried to imagine the view from up top to spot the shining horizon set aflame with every dawn and dusk. What was left of their caravan approached the gate to the sound of arrival horns along the battlements. Fenrer held his silence beside her, giving only polite smiles to those who tried to converse with him from their retinue. Housecarls donned in chains, hooked with dragon fang's along their weapons of axes and swords. Left with the seastone dagger Garren gave her to protect herself from monsters, she pulled at Fenrer's attention while the portcullis opened for them to pass into the city proper. "Do you want to do something when we've presented ourselves to Reyn again?" Adara raised a hand when he opened his mouth. "Talking to Yuven included, even if just to assure him that we made it unscathed?"

"We talked before I left. He doesn't have any reason to feel like we would've been in any substantial danger."

"Fenrer."

'If I spot him at the castle, I will talk to him," Fenrer said with a heavy, drawn out sigh. "I have to make a report anyway, and seeing as he's one of the captains here and the one the Warden-Commander deemed in charge of this... operation — I have to deliver it into his hands." Unable to stop him when he switched on his heel to go through the open gate, she relented to follow suit. "I just don't want to take up too much of his time. He's busy with the current issue we're facing."

Secrecy held a point of no return, she knew too well though some things remained safe in the dark — their research on the cult being one of them. "I think he'd make an exception for you of all people. One of three."

"Hm," was the only response she got from Fenrer, and was the crux of their arguments on the way back.

These two are impossible. Adara matched his pace with ease. "Well, I have something we can do together then either way." Her arm found his, an effort to drag him out of his broody stature. He straightened himself out at her touch. "How about you take me to the top of one of those statues?" she questioned, a sight to behold though the ruins of Lyzetiel citadel sat behind her — a desert which stretched on forever, gold-swept and barren. A certain type of desolate beauty, a sea in its own right. Silent, still and cloudless. Agonizing heat between frigid cold. Wanderlust unsatiated ever since, she gave him a swift prod in the side, and a smile broke his crestfallen face, the sun lighting through the shadows on his face. "I never did get a proper view of Sivaport and the gulf. It'd be nice."

"I have yet to go up there myself, I wouldn't mind going with you up there," he admitted as they followed the on-foot retinue. The Hanekans of Sivaport went about their business, not giving much attention to their isolated crowd.

Shouts. Laughter. Energy Prunal failed to uphold and protect. Happy and gilded, where children played without fear, tossing around the magick the people of Tebora decried as cursed and born of mire and plague. Sat upon a ledge, an older boy juggled spheres of water and fire. Each one tore through little glyphs, much to the delight of the young crowd around him. Phoenix fire whispered in her blood when she brushed her own hand, to feel its touch, to hear its cry behind the mirror. How could anyone have thought this power evil? How could I have thought that of myself? Her own smile pushed itself into her cheeks when the older boy swung his magick upwards into a sprinkle of dew, and he bowed to the tiny cheers of happiness. It's just a tool. It is not a blight or curse. Adara followed Fenrer down the main street which wound itself into a junction. One which went down to the harbor; another up to the castle and their destination.

On the road, the same bar where they first ran into Gustul, though King Reyn's brother was nowhere to be seen underneath the sign of the Tipsy Dragon. Memories of her own work, of rowdy patrons, not all of them good recollections. Tara stumbling in during the closing hours of the tavern, clinging onto her with a plea and the Madame taking her to the back areas to clean her up. Through the gates of time and the physical ones which barred their way into the castle on the cliffs. In the foyer, several pillars held up the roof, on the shoulders of dragons and wolves. As the housecarls departed for their duties, one went to rush away.

Only to be stopped by a ghostly form of Yuven Traye — as if honed in on Fenrer's arrival — he walked through one of the pillars with a belligerent huff. "Good. You're back," he said, and Fenrer raised his hands closer to his chest. "Maybe you can convince your thick-headed family friend who deems himself a king."

"Good to see you too," Adara grumbled.

"It's not." Yuven turned his sharp nose to her. "You didn't die, the most basic things I asked of you both." He swung his arm for Fenrer, who flinched in the eyes.

"Were you not able to convince him then?"

"If I had, do you think I'd be asking you to do something about it?" Yuven pointed out, arms folded, though the faint shimmer betrayed realistic distortion. Yuven wasn't in front of them, talking to them eye to eye and incapable of any physical contact and assurance. "I can't waste my time trying to point out his ridiculous reasons and lack of self-preservation. And as we all know, I am incapable of a diplomatic hand. Hope you learn quickly, Fenrer. Use all those diplomacy skills you've picked up under... a week. You're better with people."

Fenrer pursed his lips at Yuven, whose feathers shuddered. "Do you know why he's rejecting what you're proposing?"

"Multiple reasons." Yuven waved his wrist at them. "We are within his quarters. I'm sure you know where they are." Unspoken secrets, he came closer to them with another wave of his hand, and Adara shivered when the air shifted around them. A low buzz entered her head, though Fenrer raised his hand to grab onto the magick Yuven sent through his ghostly plane. "I'd rather this particular conversation be kept quiet. I don't think I need to tell you why it's important."

"Let me guess, I can't come?" Adara asked.

"You already know too much, so come if you wish as long as you can keep your mouth shut instead of asking too many questions. Just let the Storm Wardens handle Warden business. If your opinion is required, you will be asked for it." The low buzz in the air and in her head eased out at a sluggish pace to send a shiver down her spine. The clone closed its eyes and snapped their fingers. With a breath of snow flecked wind, the ghost disappeared once more, as if it hadn't been there at all. Curt and clipped, and Fenrer let go of the magick after another second hesitation. His arm dropped to his side.

"We'll have to go to the statue after I handle this."

"He couldn't have come to us and told us that in person?" Adara mused. Though, not that I'd say it to Yuven's face, it's impressive he can stretch his magick through those... illusions of his. "He has to send copies of himself?"

"It's still him." Fenrer took the place Yuven, or the copy of him, once stood. "It's just a projection. It requires a supreme amount of focus. You've experienced his magick before, do you remember what you saw?"

Twilight seas and fallen stars. "It was strange. I saw it two other times, and that was with the crystal of Tebora, and with you, when I asked you to put me to sleep through your magick," she explained, and Fenrer frowned. "A dark, starry expanse with no end, endlessness to drown in. I never knew what that place was. I used to have dreams of it, of a black phoenix of rippling purple fumes."

Fenrer gave a slow nod. "The Twilight Sea, where all begins and all must end, the font of magick," he told her. "Yuven's is... particular. A shard of the twilight sea, which enables him to cross boundaries in an instant where it would take others far longer to traverse. A gift he shared with Evyriaz." Fenrer's gaze dropped to the floor between them. "Now I know why that is. It's because Evyriaz himself was a Traye, nothing more than a man with my Oathbound's ability. The Traveller of Worlds." He clenched his fist, then huffed. "Come, let's see if I can't convince Reyn to listen to Yuven's proposal."

His empty tone spoke of a hesitation. "You don't think he'll agree."

"I can guess why he wouldn't." Fenrer headed into the darkness of the castle, and she followed suit at his pace. "I don't think I would in his position."

"Why?"

"Because what if someone needs me? I'm not so quick to abandon others."

She half-expected Reyn's quarters to be grandiose, fit for a king. Gaudy baubles. Anything of status and pride. Except there was nothing of the sort within. Near barren of any representations of Reyn's power, a little fireplace tucked itself into the corner, sprinkled with embers. On the mantle, a thick blade with a strange hilt. Open chambers wrapped around the pommel, empty of energy from the runes on the insides. As for his bed, a thin comforter spread itself in a quilted pattern. The only grand thing within the room was the window, overseeing the entire city. Reyn sat in front of it, his desk blocking the path and shed light onto the papers. Yuven Traye stood on the other side, arms folded, feathers thinned. He twisted around at their arrival. "Good. You two are here."

"I don't know why you think I'll be able to convince him," Fenrer muttered and stood on her other side, away from Yuven. He gave Reyn an anxious expression. "Need I remind you, Your Grace, you saw for yourself the ruin of Azahama, how many people died including Sovereign Hirishi. If that were to happen here in Sivaport the damage that would be done... would be immense."

Adara considered the king who wore no crown and held himself no taller than those he reigned over. Though Reyn said nothing, it was Yuven who spoke for him instead, "Keeper Kalla believes the cult will not attack Sivaport."

Fenrer furrowed his brow, then whipped around to Yuven. "You're going to take her word for it? After what happened?" Adara shuffled out of his way at his tight tone. "Did you forget that you were tortured and imprisoned because of a Keeper of Pyon? Will you so readily—"

Yuven faced him with a low hiss from his nose. "Forget? I did not forget, Fenrer," he said. "I will never forget, but I am not so stupid to ignore the facts presented to me, and am not so foolish to let emotions dictate my next steps. I am not taking her word for it. Give me your report and we'll see the validity of her claims."

Hands out when a wolven scowl pulled back Fenrer's lips, she muttered, "Nothing happened on the way to Sungrove. We didn't even see any Derelicts on the road," she told Yuven, who switched his gaze to her and pulled himself back from the confrontation, and Fenrer followed suit.

"Odd," Reyn remarked.

"Is it?"

Fenrer took in a shaky breath and faced the king of Haneka once more.

Yuven narrowed his eyes and turned his side to Fenrer instead. "I believe it's what Hanekan's call the calm before the storm, yes? Is that the proverb I hear over and over?" Reyn gave a firm nod, and Yuven gave Fenrer a ferocious side-eye. "It tasted the same before the horde attacked the King's Summit."

"Except I'm not sensing any taint," Fenrer argued under his breath.

Adara sent her hand forward to pinch them both, earning her a whack from Yuven and a cold wince from Fenrer. "Before the attack within Azahama, I..." Bells tolled and heralded a cold, crimson dusk. Shadows tangled off a roof, but she shook her head at the image looming over Reyn, framed by the window. "I got a sinking feeling, and then..."

"They came from the ground... from inside people," Fenrer whispered.

Yuven's annoyance died into cold shock when he nudged her out of his way to confront Fenrer. "You did not mention that to me."

"Mention what?"

"That they came from within people," Yuven said. "Do you mean to tell me you didn't sense Corruptors within the crowd?"

Fenrer gazed at him. "Maybe I'm not as powerful an Aurus as you think I am. Does that answer your question?"

"No, it does not, and that is not what this is about," Yuven growled.

"Enough." Adara pushed herself between them again, then turned to Reyn. "Why won't you go under the Warden's protection?" Opinion asked for or not, she was going to share it if the two Warden's beside her couldn't focus and do their jobs even without her there. "Wouldn't it be safer in the citadel?"

"I am aware that in the entire world, Euros is the sole sanctuary against the Derelicts where all the land finds itself infested with them, but I would rather the sanctuary remain for my people, not for me alone." Reyn left his chair to sort through the cupboards beside him. "Warden Traye, I think I have something that might interest you." He pulled out a parchment, wrapped in a white ribbon to hold it out to him. "My most recent correspondence with the Naveeran monarchy — from King Laucan himself."

Yuven swiped it out of his hands to unravel it. His pupils thinned into beads as he read the contents.

"Yuven?" Fenrer asked, his cold tone dropping into concern, fear.

It rustled in her ears when he folded it again. "It's not my authority. I'll have to send it to the Warden-Commander." He headed for the door, ignoring Fenrer's questions in turn.

"From the contents of that letter, Traye, I don't think Naveera has that time. Sometimes you need to make a decision whether you have that acting authority or not. I can send a small contingent of men through the Umbral Gate. We made a connection during yours and Miss Sazaka's retrieval for the purposes of the trade agreement. It would remain if King Laucan did not have it closed and he'd have no reason to view my actions a threat."

Yuven opened the door. "Naveera has all the time in the world. We don't. You don't. Make your choice now, King Reyn, so I can act accordingly," he said in the doorframe. "Besides, Naveera wanted to handle their problems themselves? You think they'll accept help from so-called barbarians?" Venom folded his lips. "I say let them stumble their way through this. Maybe it'll make them see past their snow blindness." He stomped out into the corridor and disappeared with a flourish. The door slammed shut behind him. With Fenrer's question ignored, Adara turned to him, and he sank into his shoulders as he turned back to King Reyn.

Reyn sighed. "I suppose that is that, then."

"What was in the contents of that letter?" Fenrer questioned once more.

"A plea for help."

"Help?" Adara furrowed her brow. "Why would they want the help now of all times?"

"Why would anyone under threat of Derelicts wish for help?" Reyn asked. "Because of one simple fact. They do not want to die, because they know that in the face of their danger, only one thing removes them from this plane, this world of ours." He nodded at the crescent blade hooked onto Fenrer's hip. "We either go down one by one or together. I am not my predecessor, so willing to turn my back on the reality presented to me. I am not willing to ignore the Derelicts." Reyn straightened himself out with another breath. "I will send the letter to Euros, but I think Warden Traye is wrong."

Fenrer tightened in posture. "As if he'll ever admit that he is."