It was well after midnight before Eolisti was able to return home. She’d been fulfilling the tasks set forth by her mother and taking care of Sophie. The girl had asked for just a few small things, her clothing needed to be cleaned and she’d wanted some tea before going to bed. But Vyraeli had also left a list for her. Once Sophie had fallen asleep, Aerynis had happily presented Eolisti with it when she tried to leave.
She’d taken Sophie’s sandals and dropped them off at the cobbler’s house with a note to see if the shoemaker could use them as a guide for making some sturdier footwear. Then she was to deliver messages to each Council member at their residences to inform them of the arrival of the human, reserve horses with Ilas Balrie, the quartermaster, for when Sophie left the city, and deliver a request for supplies to Ristell Fendar, the old Anai who ran the general store.
Eolisti was met with the grumpy faces of each person she’d awoken to deliver her mother’s orders and was almost shouted at by the quartermaster, who pointed out repeatedly that it was far too late for any decent Anai to be calling on him. By the time she had finished with the list, she was thoroughly annoyed and beginning to think that humans were far more trouble than they were worth.
Eolisti yawned as she crossed the bridge leading to her house. She thought she could get in a few hours of sleep before dawn, then try to find out when the High Council meeting was scheduled.
As she approached her house, she noticed someone waiting by the door. It was difficult to make out who it was in the dark, but there weren’t many people who wandered around the city this late. She assumed it might be one of the other Council members’ assistants. When she was close enough for the person to hear her footsteps, the visitor turned, and she recognized him.
He was half a head taller than she, with straw-colored hair that fell to his shoulders and a round, kind face. When he saw her, a wide grin stretched his lips, making him look handsome and even younger than he actually was.
“Eolisti,” he said, raising a hand in welcome, “you’re back late.”
“Myrin.” She returned the gesture and the smile. “I could say the same of you. Why are you here?” She looked down. There was a letter clutched in his hand. “Council business?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager. Myrin was the assistant to Alewin Haerell, a member of the Anaiian High Council. Maybe he could tell her when they would be meeting.
His smile turned wry. “If it is, you know I can’t talk about it, especially not to you. This message is for Shaman Vyraeli, and for her eyes only, Eolisti,” he added, noticing her eyeing the letter.
“But you must know something, Myrin. Alewin trusts you, and you know he’s very hard to please, so you must do your job very well.” She batted her eyelashes and flashed him a knowing grin that promised more than her words conveyed. She leaned into him a little and looked up into his eyes. His face was heavily shadowed in the near darkness, but Eolisti thought his cheeks turned faintly pink.
Myrin looked away from her and cleared his throat. “I really can’t talk about it, Eolisti. You know how Alewin is. He’d be furious if he found out I even spoke to you tonight.”
Eolisti pushed out her lower lip in a slight pout. “I live here, too, so I don’t know what else he would expect. I promise I won’t say anything. Alewin would never know I saw you tonight.” She widened her eyes significantly and took a step closer to him. “Please,” she said, putting as much need in the word as she could manage. “She’s my mother. I just want to know what’s going on. I’m worried about her.”
That did it. Myrin closed his eyes and let out a resigned sigh. “Swear to me that you won’t tell anyone.”
“I swear it,” she replied, trying to keep the triumphant grin off her face.
“And you won’t act on anything I tell you?”
“Of course not,” she said innocently.
Myrin ran a hand through his hair and groaned. “Fine, fine.” He handed the letter to her. Her mother’s name was inscribed on it with narrow, neat writing and sealed with the image of a willow tree stamped into greenish-gold wax the color of autumn leaves.
“Don’t open that, but it says there will be a meeting of the High Council at dawn.” He leaned in closer and lowered his voice, almost whispering. “Apparently, there’s a human in town. But this one is different from the ones that usually pass through. She isn’t a slave. She’s a wizard of Zo’rahn. A Nightingale operative requested an immediate extraction from Zo’rahn through the pass. Between us, Alewin is furious that Vyraeli accepted without consulting the Council first. He thinks the wizard is a spy.”
Eolisti nodded conspiratorially, but she seriously doubted that Sophie was a spy. She was far too skittish. “Why would the Nightingales request the extraction? Is she someone important?” The Nightingales must be the organization that the Council worked with. She thought she’d heard the name before, but couldn’t be certain.
He grimaced and pulled back. “I don’t know, but she wouldn’t be here if she was a nobody. The Nightingales wouldn’t work with a Zo’rahni wizard unless it was absolutely necessary.” Eolisti opened her mouth, but Myrin cut her off. “That’s all I know, Eolisti,” he said and looked around like a nervous cat. “If I’m much longer, Alewin will wonder where I am. We can talk more tomorrow if you’d like.” He gave her a watery smile, glancing at the bridge leading away from her home.
Eolisti didn’t have to fake the yawn she gave. “Maybe. You should get going before someone sees us. I’ll give my mother the message.” She waved at Myrin as he hurried off over the bridge she had crossed minutes before.
The High Council was meeting at dawn, huh? Eolisti allowed herself a small smile as she opened the door to her home. That would give her time to get a few hours of sleep before finding a good hiding place to watch.
But when she lay down in her bed, she found that she couldn’t sleep. Her mind was racing. That human might be her chance to get out of the city. Sophie was going to be assigned a Vendarii to guide her through the mountain pass anyway, so why couldn’t it be she? Eolisti knew how to fight, and her mother had shown her how to hunt and track. The mountain pass wasn’t that far from the city, four or five days on horseback. What else was there to know?
That settled it. She would have to find a way to be assigned as Sophie’s Vendarii and guide her through the mountains. She’d only be gone for a couple of weeks. Better yet, if she proved herself, she could start being assigned other missions by the Council.
Eolisti sat up, grinning. Sleep was fleeting in the face of her excitement. Dawn was only a few hours away, and she couldn’t risk missing that High Council meeting. She leaped out of bed, dressed, and began pacing her room, thinking. It would be best to get to the Solixium before anyone else arrived. If someone were to see her there, they would surely eject her before the meeting started. High Council meetings were considered sacred. Only Council members and the Council scribe were allowed to be in attendance.
They would meet, usually for hours, and would announce whatever they had decided to the rest of the city afterward. The High Council consisted of ten of the most revered and experienced Anai in Elasariin, Eolisti’s mother included, and they made decisions on all manner of issues, from the mundane to the extraordinary. Well, Eolisti had never seen anything extraordinary come from the Council, but she supposed it was possible. Normally, they decided things like when or how often scouts would be sent out to the surrounding lands.
She had to be there. She had to make sure she was chosen. There were a few spots she thought would be good to hide in, and then when the Council was deciding whom to send with the human, she could reveal herself and make her case. Her mother wouldn’t be too happy with her, but as long as she could convince the Council to send her, Vyraeli would follow what they decided.
This will work. She thought to herself excitedly. It has to. With a spring in her step, Eolisti grabbed a piece of bära out of the kitchen and left her house for the second time that night.
The forest was quiet. The birds and animals were asleep, and few Anai were out in the hours before dawn. Even so, Eolisti took care to hide as much as possible, creeping from one building to the next and slinking across bridges when she had to. It would be just her luck for someone to spot her and report her to Vyraeli. It wouldn’t have been a long walk during the day, but under the circumstances, the trip to the Council building took her much longer than she had planned.
The Council met in a place called the Solixium. The Solixium was built on the branches of the enormous old willow tree that towered above the Council building. She liked to think of it as the oldest, tallest tree in the forest. There was no way that it was actually the oldest tree in the forest, but she had had the idea when she was a child, and it stuck with her. The Council building was where the High Council worked during the day and had individual meetings, but the Solixium was where they convened.
Like most of the city, the branches of the willow had been woven together into a net-like platform surrounded by a feathery curtain of willow leaves. It may have been several trees at one point, but whatever magic her ancestors wielded had molded them into one. Eolisti had been up there a few times before and found it to be a beautiful and surreal place. The area inside the Solixium was wide enough to hold many more Anai than just the High Council and was thought at one time to have held a council of over one hundred. Anai from all over Lanis would come to convene in Elasariin, even representatives from Drushald and Nemethy. Over the centuries, Eolisti’s people had either moved on or perished at the hands of encroaching humans. Even with all its beauty and serenity, it always felt like a lonely place to Eolisti, a reminder of what once was.
When Eolisti arrived, there were already ten chairs set in a wide circle in the middle of the Solixium. Did they leave them there after the last Council meeting, or had someone set them up before she arrived? She looked around but didn’t see anyone, so she continued to creep around the edge of the platform. There was an area at the north point of the platform where a few larger branches grew inside the curtain, creating an area that was just big enough for her to sit behind without being seen. Hopefully, she would still be within earshot of what the members were discussing.
It was surprising that, as far as she knew, no one had ever thought of spying on the Council from there before. They could know everything that was going on, and what decisions were being made, before anyone else did. Eolisti allowed herself a satisfied grin before climbing into the small pocket and settling down.
The meeting wouldn’t begin for a few more hours. How would she make her case to the Council? She was old enough, but untested. She needed to be given an assignment at some point, so why not this one? She could take one human girl into the mountains, no problem. Her mother would be against it, but she could be overruled by a majority. Maybe. Eolisti hadn’t spied on them before, and she didn’t know how the Council came to their decisions. Did they vote on it as she imagined?
Eolisti yawned and laid her head against the wood of the willow’s branches. Now that she was sitting there waiting, the lack of sleep was finally catching up to her, and her mind began to wander. It would be great to get out of this boring forest and into the world beyond it. She could meet other Anai that lived in the Anaiian courts. She could travel across the ocean to distant lands. Maybe she could even fight monsters and save a country. She would have to return after taking the girl across the mountains, of course. She knew that. But just that one journey could open up more for her. It could convince her mother that she was not just a child and that she could handle herself. She could finally start to live her own life.
Eolisti smiled sleepily. Perhaps she would close her eyes for a little while. There was plenty of time before the meeting…
“Preposterous!”
Eolisti started awake, smacking the side of her face against a knot in the branch her head was resting on. She clamped a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out. She held her breath, listening to see if someone heard her, but the conversation didn’t pause.
“Bringing one of them into the city, after everything they’ve done to us?” The voice was angry.
“The last time I checked, we have never been attacked by a child.” Vyraeli’s voice was cool and controlled.
“She knows where the city is! She could tell the other wizards!” said the same man. Eolisti recognized the voice now. Alewin. His tone boiled with anger and indignation. “Do the rest of you actually agree with Shaman Vyraeli? Why should we help her? Will you take responsibility if a Zo’rahni army shows up at our doorstep? Will you tell the others that they will have to die because of your—”
“Be very careful with your next words, Councilman.” Her mother’s voice was like ice, and it sent a chill down Eolisti’s spine. “The High Council has already made its decision. We help the girl escape Zo’rahn and turn her over to the Nightingales, as we would for any other person, human or otherwise, who seeks our aid. Your concerns have been addressed thoroughly by this Council.” There was a creak of wood, and her voice dropped to a low enough whisper that Eolisti had to strain to hear her next words. “Accept defeat gracefully.”
“Enough,” said another firm female voice. “We will not squabble among ourselves like humans. The High Council moves as one.” There was a pause before she continued. It was as if everyone there was holding their collective breath.
“The issue has been settled.” The woman went on, after allowing her words to echo throughout the chamber. “The mage will be escorted through the mountains and delivered to the checkpoint in Bardov. After that, the monks will decide the best way to get her across the Silver Sea and into Morigael. Shaman Vyraeli, I assume you have already taken care of preparations?”
“Yes, Omalonne,” her mother said, mollified.
“Very well then, I suggest that she depart the city as soon as possible to avoid any further unrest. She was seen entering, and by now, word of her arrival and”—she sniffed disdainfully—“occupation will have spread. We are already going to get complaints for the next week at least. Let’s not do any more damage than has already been done.”
The woman could only be Lethena Thestara, the Speaker for the High Council. She was considered an elder in the city, though Eolisti was sure she was no older than two hundred years. Lethena was tall and willowy, with hair the color of birch wood, and pale, luminous skin. Despite her age, her face was without wrinkle or blemish. The older Anai did not originate from Elasariin but had come here over a century ago from the Anaiian Court of Nemethy in the land to the west. She was also one of the strictest people Eolisti had ever met, and she had never liked Lethena much. One would think that since Lethena was from somewhere interesting, she would understand Eolisti’s need to entertain herself in such a boring place.
Then again, now that she thought about it, she didn’t like anyone on the Council, besides her mother, and the feeling was mutual. She didn’t cause nearly as much trouble as they said she did, she just liked to have some fun, and the High Council hated fun. Her kind of fun anyway.
“It sounds as if everything is in order,” Lethena continued. “Shaman Vyraeli, we will leave the rest up to you, unless there is anything else to add?” They were all silent. “Then, this meeting is adjourned.” Wood creaked, and a general murmur ensued between the members as they stood and began leaving the Solixium.
Wait, what about the Vendarii? Had they already assigned one while she had drifted off? Dammit! She had gone to the trouble of getting there early, only to fall asleep during the crucial part. Granted, bursting out of her hiding place and shouting “Me!” while they were discussing who was going to be Sophie’s Vendarii hadn’t been her greatest plan, but at least it had been something. Eolisti raked her fingers through her hair. That girl was her ticket out of here! What would she do now?
Eolisti waited as the footsteps died out, and the voices faded away. She sighed and pulled a few strands of her dark hair free of the entangling branches before crawling out from behind them. Morning sunlight shimmered through the great willow’s leaves, casting the meeting place in golden feathered glitter. As she stood and brushed herself off, someone cleared their throat. Eolisti whirled around.
Vyraeli stood near the entrance to the Solixium, arms folded over her chest and a stern look on her face. Eolisti winced, knowing that a scolding was coming.
Her mother just stared at her as she approached. Eolisti tried to smile at her as if she had just noticed a friend in passing. “Good morning, Mother,” she said in the sweetest tone she could manage. “Did the meeting go well?”
The Anai woman didn’t speak.
Eolisti grew increasingly uncomfortable under that gaze. She grasped for something to say, anything that wouldn’t incriminate her. “I wasn’t spying!” she finally burst out. “I just wanted to know what was going on. You always keep me in the dark and when something interesting happ—”
“When something interesting happens, I take care of it, like I’m supposed to,” Vyraeli interrupted, her voice holding little warmth. “And you, my dutiful and loving daughter, do as I say so that I may carry out my work.”
“You didn’t say I couldn’t listen to the Council meeting,” Eolisti grumbled.
Vyraeli’s eyes flashed with sudden anger. “Must I dictate your every action, every courtesy of our people? Are you telling me to control every aspect of your life lest you get yourself into more trouble?”
Eolisti flushed, and her temper rose to meet her mother’s. “You have no idea what it’s like to be stuck here! People don’t like me, Mother! Every time I turn around, another Anai is waiting for me to make a mistake so that they can say I did something wrong, so why not meet those expectations?” She groaned in frustration. “I’m useless anyway! There are Vendarii years younger than me who have already been sent out on missions, and others who have ventured out into the world. All I do is run errands for you! Am I really so untrustworthy that I can’t do anything else?”
She took a few deep breaths to calm herself as her words echoed around the Solixium. The following silence was deafening. Vyraeli stared at her with wide eyes.
“I do know what it feels like,” Vyraeli began softly, all the anger melting from her voice. She took a step toward her daughter. “Perhaps it is time for you to take on more responsibility. You’ve trained enough.”
Eolisti’s breath caught. Could her mother be saying what she thought she was saying? Could she dare to hope?
Vyraeli held up a finger, suddenly stern again. “Not this mission. This is far too dangerous for your first time out of the city. The next time we have an escort mission, you can accompany the Vendarii and learn from them on the job. Then, provided you do well, we can start sending you out on your own. How does that sound?”
The Anai frowned but nodded at her mother. Eolisti knew that she was ready to be a Vendarii now and that she could escort Sophie through the mountains. But she also knew that if she contradicted her mother, she would be in even more trouble, and she might not let her go on any mission. Ever. Eolisti nodded. “Fine,” she said grudgingly.
Vyraeli smiled and leaned forward to kiss Eolisti’s forehead. “Now, go tell Taenaran that he will be escorting our guest to Bardov. Yes, the Council chose Taenaran,” she said in amusement to Eolisti’s look of indignation. “He’s been a Vendarii many times and is one of the most experienced hunters we have.”
“But he’s just a woodcutter! Didn’t he retire a long time ago? He hasn’t been on a mission in ages!”
“Regardless, who the High Council sends is not subject to your scrutiny Eolisti. Now”—she pushed her toward the entrance to the Solixium—“go tell him to prepare. We’ll talk more about your future assignments later. You still have a few things to learn.”
Eolisti left the Solixium, a frown marring her features as she thought. Vyraeli said she would be able to go the next time a Vendarii was needed to leave the city, but who knew when that would be? It could be months from now. What could Taenaran do that she couldn’t? She knew that she was no doubt better with a sword than he was. And too dangerous? They were just going to Bardov. It was only a week’s ride away. All they had to do was make their way out of the forest and follow the road. How dangerous was that? Besides, Sophie was probably the most interesting person that had ever passed through their village. A Zo’rahni wizard had never been here before.
No, she wouldn’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers. The question was, how would she make this work?