Bʀᴏᴋᴇɴ Hᴀʀᴍᴏɴʏ || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ: Fᴀʟʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Bᴇᴀsᴛs Bᴏᴏᴋ Oɴᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғᴏᴜʀ || ʀᴇᴜɴɪᴏɴ

Tazi

I pulled myself from the water with a soft splash, reaching for the towel that was hung over the edge of the dock. I rubbed the from my torso and tugged on the shirt I'd left there as well.

"Tazi!"

I looked up at the sound of Tyler's voice. I frowned, extending a hand to pull Ian back into passive from the water. I shuffled into my sandals and draped my towel across my shoulders before jogging toward the shout.

Streaks of grey littered Tyler's black hair, but his smile was just as warm as it had always been. "They're here." He spoke with excitement.

I couldn't hold back the sigh that escaped my lips. "Are they are in the courtyard?"

"Yes."

I turned to leave, but Tyler caught my arm. I swung back, anger rearing its ugly head in a way that made me bare my teeth.

Tyler seemed unfazed. "Be nice to them. They've all travelled from far."

I'm not a child! I wanted to spit the words in his face. But inside I settled for a scowl and a stiff nod.

Tyler released my arm and I headed off toward the courtyard.

I heard them before they saw me. They all sounded so... happy. Excited. It was sickening.

Then they came into view.

Sabien and Niko had both grown, now level at the same height. But neither was even close to Lucia, who still had a few inches on even Sasha. Zay hadn't changed much, only her hair had gotten longer. Navia looked about the same, but I saw as I got closer that she'd acquired a bit of a tan and a whole lot more freckles.

The conversation ceased and I knew they'd spotted me.

"Tazi." Zay greeted me brusquely, any evidence of her prior grin disappearing off her face.

I nodded in return. Something bubbled in my chest– something I wished I could call bitterness. "Listen–"

"Did you find her?" Lucia cut me off, her question abrupt.

I paused. "Who? Lizzie?" The name tasted sour on my tongue. "No. She's gone."

I saw a flicker of something akin to relief over most of their faces. My temper flared. They were happy that I hadn't found her?

"Well that means she's either dead or nursing her very very wounded pride." Sabien said, his eyes scanning over me. I hunched my shoulders, trying to make my posture unreadable.

"Let's hope it's the first option." Niko piped up, his grin lopsided in such a familiar way that it made my throat hurt.

Sasha chuckled at that, some of the tension dissipating.

"C'mon, let's go inside," Navia suggested, "I bet Tyler will want to talk to us."

The others all made noises of agreement, falling in a familiar formation as they followed the redhead. I clenched my jaw, regret tugging on my heart.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so horrible to them the last time we'd spoken, I thought. Then I shook my head. They were the ones who'd abandoned me. Lizzie was still out there, and I was the only one who'd done something about it.

Cowards. The flame reignited in my chest, anger burning away any scraps of regret.

Realizing that they'd all vanished into the castle, I jogged to catch up. I pulled open the wrought iron door and let it fall shut again with a loud, spiteful clang.

"There he is." Tyler greeted with a smile as I slipped into the meeting room. I stepped over the upended chair that Lizzie used to occupy– its cushion was torn, courtesy of my rage upon hearing she'd escaped from Stetriol– and sat down beside Sasha.

The Zhongese boy didn't even spare me a glance.

My throat closed over the words that I wanted so badly to spit at them all as Tyler began to speak.

"Two things," he started, "first, welcome back! I've heard that you are all helping with reparations around Erdas, and I can't wait to hear all the stories from your travels." He tactfully avoided my gaze. "And second, I want to apologize for pulling you away from your lives, but as I explained in the letter, we have another mission."

There was a laugh from Niko at that. "You didn't explain anything in that letter!" He called, very obviously teasing.

Tyler wrinkled his nose as giggles rang out following that statement. "You know I can't." He said pointedly, but clearly suppressing chuckle himself. "If the message had been intercepted–"

"Then you would've been in big trouble, blah blah," Sasha rolled his eyes. "Who would even want to intercept it, now that the Conquerors are gone?"

"We don't know for sure that they're all gone." Tyler cast an annoyed look toward the jaguar summoner. "And besides, the Greencloaks have many more enemies than just the Conquerors."

I wanted to pipe in that Lizzie was still alive, and that she would definitely want to come after us again, but decided instead to just stew in my anger. Bringing it up would just cause another argument, and I would likely not win it.

Sasha opened his mouth to continue, but Zay kicked him lightly and shook her head.

"If that will be all," Tyler nodded his thanks to Zay, "we have an actual mission to discuss."

There were no other interruptions, so Tyler took that as his cue to continue.

"As you all know, Lenori is caring for the Evertree. She recently sent me a message about a vision she'd received." He dug a scroll out of his pocket and waved it to prove a point. "I won't bore you all by reading it, but this is the gist of it. The original Chosen Eight prophecy spoke of a 'ninth'. Find the eight, but beware the ninth. It turns out, we found the ninth– Lizzie."

I felt the burn of their looks as the others glanced at me.

"But the eighth is still out there somewhere," Tyler continued, unbothered by the momentary distraction. "We have to find the last of the Eight."

3/08/21
yeah so Tazi is kinda an a-hole now but like,, sorry not sorry it's for character development :)
anyway remember to stay safe my lovelies!!