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The knights told Zelda about the letter, and Zelda listened sadly, caught somewhere between pity and surprise. She had never dreamed that Calain’s mother, after so many years of silence, would reach out to her daughter. And now Zelda had another reason to feel guilty: the slaying of Queen Ellanara had not only touched the lives of Zelda and the knights but also the lives of their families.
Neserie had hated Zelda for “ruining Selene’s life” and had told her so to her face several times, while Sune and Kare hadn’t been too pleased that their daughter was a fugitive, though they had been sweet to her regardless (Sune mostly blamed Calain), and Cassandra’s mother, while very kind to Zelda, likely worried for Cassandra daily, knowing that she was running from the law in the service of a rebel sorceress.
As Zelda and the knights dressed themselves, there was a heavy feeling on the air. Now they all knew they must leave Wolf Fortress immediately, or else be overcome by an army of Rose Guard knights. The knights donned their armor, as if in preparation of the onslaught, and packed their satchels and prepared to set out. Calain alone did not ready herself, as she had disappeared after the arrival of the letter.
“I have looked all over for her,” Cassandra said, reporting to the kitchen after a thorough search. “She is nowhere to be found.”
“Could it be that Calain has finally become somewhat clever?” joked Gweneth, who was sitting at the table and filling a wineskin from a bottle.
“Time is running out,” said Selene grimly. “We need to find her and leave the fortress at once. There is no time for brooding.”
Zelda laughed tonelessly. “Calain doesn’t brood, Selene. She barely thinks on her actions at all.”
Gweneth laughed at that. “Aye, sorceress. So you’ve come to know her after all! I wasn’t aware a word passed between you aside from heavy breathing.”
Zelda smiled at this teasing. “I shall follow Calain’s heartbeat and find her,” she said, rising from the kitchen table. She looked at Selene. “But it is Selene who will speak with her.”
Selene had been pacing with her arms folded, but she stopped to regard Zelda in surprise.
Zelda smiled. “Come, Selene. I shall take you to Calain.”
Zelda knew that, out of all of them, Selene was the one Calain would listen to most when it came to her mother. She knew because she remembered the memory she had seen in one of Edolel’s books. In the memory, Calain’s father had come to Falcon Isle and told Calain that her mother had left them. Calain had been quite young then, merely an adolescent, and had run from the fortress in misery, likely intent on not returning. It was Selene who had sought Calain out to comfort her, and whatever Selene had said must have worked, for Calain had returned to the fortress and become a knight.
It wasn’t hard to follow Calain’s heartbeat, for Calain’s heart was beating hard with anger. Zelda followed it as it grew louder and stronger, nearer and nearer, until she realized they were leaving the fortress altogether. Before long, they were walking through the gate, and Zelda suddenly had a flashback of young Calain running out of Falcon Fortress and into the grass.
Selene must’ve recalled the same image, for she said half-irritably and half-sadly, “This is just like Calain.”
When Calain’s heartbeat had grown to a pulse in Zelda’s ears, she finally spied the knight on the edge of Dark Bloom Forest, sitting upon a rock and staring at the grass. Her head was bowed, and tendrils of bright red hair hung in her face. She looked so forlorn that Zelda saw Selene’s face softened in sympathy.
“I shall speak to her as you request, sorceress,” Selene said heavily, “though I do not know what good it shall do her. In any other circumstance, I would simply grab her and tell her to move her arse.”
Zelda laughed softly. “I am sure you shall think of something kind to say. I shall call the others down and we shall ready the horses.” And with that, she walked away, the blue skirts of her gown trailing behind her, leaving Selene to approach Calain alone.