The Land In Between

C H A P T E R 2

"How did it go?" Ate greets them once they exit the corridor, voice weirdly optimistic. Amihan didn't even need to turn his head to know Ditse was shaking her head in annoyance. Ate lets out a small "ahhh." She claps her hand before lifting herself off the chair from the main desk and walks towards Amihan. "Has he spoken?" Amihan could feel his head ache even just remembering Banawag's words. "He has",  Amihan admits with a tired sigh, "but words were of no use and he just angered me to no end." Ate leads them away to another room as she says, "Tell me everything."

"He talks in circles and is unwilling to say anything. We couldn't even confirm about any accomplice, he keeps avoiding to...talk about why he did it." He dutifully relays, walking behind his sister. Amihan replays the conversation in his head, "I always knew Banawag was more...playful and unserious. But..." He lacks the words but Ditse wastes no time to complete the thought, "He was insultingly childish." Ate nods like all their information was the most relevant of knowledge. She stops by a door made of hard narra, its front nearly plain and unassuming. This door had no warriors guarding it, for it was the most private of all areas in the fortress.

Ate opened the heavy door herself, showing her physical prowess worthy of being the head of the warrior-centric Fourth House. As soon as she opened the door, Amihan was greeted by the sight of darkness. Ate stops before she looks at Amihan, "Can you...?" He bows his head, before reaching into some parchment by his vest, a fire-summoning sigil drawn on by charcoal. Amihan thanks his past self for packing it in his vest.

He throws it forward as his Ate ducks quickly, the fireball exploding into smaller sparks and falling into the torches of the inner room, lighting up the area.

He sheepishly apologizes, "Sorry, Ate." She chuckles, "It's fine." They all walk in to see a familiar sheathed dagger and a dark whip sitting on top of a stone table. Amihan goes closer to the weapons, running his hand on the hard surface of the table before asking his Ate, "These are his belongings?"

She nods, "The rest were burned in a pyre but the others were kept for other purposes for the trial." Amihan eyes the whip beside the dagger and notes, "It's not a common whip but it's not from any of the Alliance's weapons." Ditse takes the whip and feels it's leather texture, before agreeing. "It's not. Our best guess is that it was stolen from somewhere before he modified it for personal use." She places it back down. "Whatever personal use it may be, anyway." She calls. "Amihan," he snaps in attention, "Begin the cleansing", his sister commands.

***

Before they died in war, Amihan and his sisters were taught by their parents. The former Head of the Fourth House was a fair man, if not a little brash at times while their mother was a Babaylan, who often maintained Kiling free from much darkness; there was even a time when the Fourth House was considered to be one of the "cleanest" House out of everyone in the Alliance, along with Second House who had their own Bayog as well.

Ate and Ditse were taught by their father how to govern their House properly, which left Amihan alone most of the time. So during his free period, he learned about basic protection charms and cleansing rituals to keep their stronghold safe and free from impurities. While he could, Amihan stuck by his mother most of the time, hiding behind her skirts and was taught about simple Babaylan crafts and other esoteric knowledge.

Not that he wasn't thankful, but there were some days, even as a shy child, he felt incredibly lonely. No one else in the Fourth House was interested in the things he was, nor were they willing to sit through 'boring' lectures about the various uses of herbs or what kind of sigils can be made to increase prosperity.