Light of the Heavens

XXI. An Unexpected Sting

Vassa took a step back from Seben, towards her Leyan guests. "I will not be gone long," she promised. She hoped that the space would give her some measure of clarity to collect her thoughts with. Sarom's oracles left conflict raging through her excuse for a soul. Sometimes it was difficult to think clearly around Seben: her fondness for the young woman made her prone to errors in judgment that were in Seben's favor whether or not it was wise. Given the vision they had seen, Vassa needed to find her own understanding of what was coming if she was going to help Seben with anything.

If she could help. After all, the vision seemed to hint that her own darkness would call to the devouring shadow they faced. Perhaps Seben would be better served by the masked woman's permanent absence. It was a thought Vassa didn't care for and one that had nipped at the corners of her mind constantly over the last few hours. Even the presentation of the phylactery to the Ashen Tower as repayment for seeking the oracle had not distracted her from her thoughts, despite the display's general ostentation.

"I know," Seben said with a reassuring smile, aware of the tension in Vassa's posture even if she didn't know why it was there or what it meant. "I'll be alright."

"Will you?" Vassa countered. "You must take care in my absence, Seben. Your world is more dangerous than the one I will be traveling to."

Seben's smile widened a little and she closed the distance between them, pulling Vassa into another tight hug. "I'll be fine," she promised. "As long as you come back."

Vassa reflected that someday, she almost might be used to such warm affection. Her hands touched Seben's back with a feather-light care. "I will return," Vassa said, almost surprised by the conviction in her own voice. That dangerous loyalty rearing its ugly head again, she supposed. Her lips curved into a slight smile behind her mask, something softer than her usual wry amusement. "You will have to release me, however."

Seben sighed. "I suppose," she said, letting go of the masked woman. Little hints of anxiety were visible in the apprentice fire-speaker's expression, but they were under control. No matter how worried Seben was, she would keep to her word to survive. "Naji and I will be waiting for you."

The djinni in the corner of the room bowed his head, his fiery form currently floating in a brazier. He was barely more than a torch's flame, but that would be remedied instantaneously if an intruder arrived to do Seben harm. His presence was immensely reassuring to Vassa. After seeing the ferocious elemental in action, she had no doubt that he would easily immolate anything that might threaten his fire-speaker.

"We should go soon," Adéla said, though she sounded reluctant to draw Vassa away from her current conversation. There was a sympathetic and slightly amused gleam in the blood mage's eyes that the masked woman ignored.

Vassa nodded and approached her fellow traveling companions. "This will be easiest if we form a ring," she said. Kamil and Zdislav joined them, hands gripping tightly. Vassa took a deep breath and drew the power from her rings in a flood, letting it flow like a whirlpool at the center of her chest.

"Where will we arrive?" Kamil asked curiously.

"The Ivory Palace might upset the guards," Vassa said tersely, devoting her focus to the far-step. "The core of the Pharos's library will be much less agitated by a display of magic." As she spoke, she visualized the grand open room in her mind, slowly parting the threads of existence. A far-step wove between spaces, but it still accounted for the size of the things passing through it and she had no one to assist. This would not be painless. "Hold tight."

Vassa pushed off from the threads that currently surrounded them like a diver off a board using the current of the whirlpool inside her for power, plunging her essence into the between and dragging Adéla and her spellguards along for the ride. The drain was immense, ripping through her stored magic and into her own vitality. Vassa carried them through gossamers with a master's expertise.