Light of the Heavens

XXVIII. The Hidden Memory

"At least you can't fault their hospitality," Seben said with a smile as they opened the door to their rooms. It looked every bit as comfortable as a nobleman's home, well appointed furniture and rich tapestries granting a softness to the stone space. Shelves lined one wall, full of leather-bound treatises on the foundations of magic and history. She and Vassa were sharing a set of chambers, with Rhujag and Leiros right across the hall.

The trip to Zaeylael was mercifully short, courtesy of Vassa's magic. The far-step left the masked woman feeling immensely drained, but this time no ambushing specter from her past had attempted to kill or claim her. That absence of hostility did nothing to ease Vassa's paranoia, however. She wore the bracelet of mind-shielding around her wrist just in case, with no intention of taking the artifact off for any reason. "Their generosity is not wholly altruistic," Vassa reminded the young woman. "They can glean something of your nature if they agree to train you and you are heir to a powerful throne, someone they will not wish to anger without good reason."

"It's hard to remember that," Seben admitted. "It still doesn't feel real."

"You grew up with no inkling of that nature. Shifting perspectives from pauper to princess is not something that can happen overnight," Vassa said, setting her bag down on a backless couch. The air drifting in from the open window was warm and comforting, but she could not afford to feel at ease. "Besides, I would wager you consider yourself more of a scholar than anything else given your training."

"Study is where I thought I'd be spending my life," the apprentice firespeaker agreed. She hesitated for a long moment, studying her hooded and masked friend. They hadn't had a chance to discuss much privately, given they'd been met by mages as soon as they arrived. Adéla had excused herself quickly to seek an audience with her liege lord about the possibility of training Seben, but there were still plenty of apprentices and spellguards around to gawk at the strangers who had appeared out of thin air.

Vassa exhaled a wisp of essence into her cupped hand, letting it dance as a tiny flame that she used to light the rest of the lamps in the room. "I can hear your questions clamoring to be spoken," she said dryly.

"I wanted to talk to you about what I...felt when you forged the binding between us," Seben said with a hint of nerves coloring her voice. Vassa's softness had faded quickly, replaced by a quieter version of her normal brusque self.

The masked woman sighed, forcing herself to remain relaxed. She was still one step short of jumping at every shadow and the stinging of her bitten lip was only a reminder of the danger she faced. "Ask away," she said, extinguishing the little flame she'd conjured now that the room was bathed in amber lamplight.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course," Vassa said dismissively. "Why?"

Seben weighed her options carefully before speaking. Pushing too hard on Vassa was the best way to get her to shut down again, but it wouldn't have been honest to pretend she knew nothing now. "Vassa, you don't have to pretend with me," the apprentice fire-speaker said. "I saw...." There weren't really words to describe the visions that had flooded through her during the binding. For a moment she had seen herself through Vassa's eyes even as she drowned in darkness and cold, pain and anguish.

She will be ashes when you have finished with her, something had whispered to the masked woman, about the apprentice fire-speaker. So much of Vassa's essence was dominated by that voice, sweet and dark with threads of bitterness under the surface. Seben didn't know who was speaking, but the current of dread that even the thought of it sent through the masked woman spoke volumes about their evil.

Vassa took a breath, weighing her options. She could feel Seben's celestial warmth brushing against her own dark soul through the binding that joined them. Keeping things hidden would be very difficult now, but she couldn't bring herself to regret the joining. "It's been a long day," she said instead of addressing the inquiry in any meaningful way. "I think I am going to retire early."