“Knight Brothers of the Order of The Golden Light have been deployed by the papal authorities from Saintsrest to locations unknown. While reports of their departure are sparse, rumors at Saintsrest indicate that the majority of the knight order was deployed, signalling a large-scale shift in the holy see’s current policy of neutrality. According to Lord Merush of the… ”

  - Unpublished Report Awaiting Church Approval, Arterian Affairs, “The Changing Times”

  Aryana kept herself in Sophia’s shadow. Staying close to her escort as the girl projected an intimidating aura that successfully kept any prying questions at bay. It also helped that Sophia was Sophie’s twin. Whatever her thoughts on the sister was, she couldn’t help but still see some comfort in the visage and presence alone.

  The group from the Academy had met up with Hanabi in the city’s markets. The newly organized team buying a few extra supplies and essentials that might be needed should the trip ahead be less than smooth. Their next meet-up was unfortunately with Galen’s posse. His group numbered a baker’s dozen, not counting the two mages that had shown up to join them. One was the girl that Ary recognized but had forgotten about. The other however, was a complete unknown and confidently older than the rest of them. Yet, he still sported a similar robe to the girl, if a bit more distinguished. Also part of the Academy? Or just part of a mage’s circle? Her name was Cassian, right?

  Both Sigrid and the mages were wary of each other. The two sides likely sensing the latent mana within each other being far greater than those around them. Their frosty mana charged exchanges leaving a sullen mood in the air. It didn’t help that Hanabi’s increasingly belligerent demeanor and Sophia’s coldness seemed to discourage the more normal humans of the clansfolk from prying too much. Not that she minded the last part.

  If there was one upside to trekking up the Highwall mountains together, it was strength in numbers. Though she loathed spending any more time than necessary in Galen’s vicinity, Their large company meant that poachers, bandits, and small goblin or monster bands wouldn’t likely be an issue.

  Secluded at the Academy and Arteria proper, she hadn’t been so isolated that she ignored what happened outside the city walls. Aside from chaos within the city, the world itself seemed to be getting more dangerous. Stray reports of caravans harassed as hers had been coming to Arteria, muggings and robberies now became more frequent in the whispering at the marketplace. A concerning development, to be sure.

  No one really spoke. Of the almost twenty member company, they all mostly kept to themselves. Galen and the clan travelled in two wagons laden with supplies at the head of the group. The two mages had their own either Academy sponsored or self funded mercenary guards. Ary and the others meanwhile, had their own little cart that they rented. It wasn’t comfortable, but it beat walking up the mountains.

  Compared to everyone else around her though, she felt strangely naked. Most of the clanfolk had on heavy leathers and coats, thick enough to withstand basic blows alongside the weather. The mercenaries and a few others had pieces of armor, clearly ready for a scrap just in case. Even the mages donned robes with some form of enchantment or ward on them. She couldn’t identify what, only felt the presence of something there.

  She sighed, allowing herself to be distracted by the rhythmic clatter of horse hooves hitting the ground. They were an hour or two out of town, though she didn’t really keep track. What she did notice was the scenery around them. Former fields, farms and meadows were now blanketed by an uneven coating of white and grey. The frosts had come for Arteria in force. Though the weather was calm right now, the grey clouds and darkening skies suggested that their hike to the Highwall would be one soon to be marred by trouble.

  Her gaze turned to the town of Brightfields in the distance. Across the snow covered meadows, the houses and small community stuck out from the white canvas around. A mournful grip creeped itself onto her face. The memories of when she had first arrived with Sophie and the frosty reception that they received. Heh, at least the weather was good back then. Then came the less flattering memories. Ones about when Sophie had been injured, leaving Ary to follow up alone and getting temporarily abducted before the church’s troopers had saved her. And I couldn’t even do a thing back then. Now? She looked around her friends, even now, still the same, she smiled sadly.

  She almost chuckled from how silly her life had gotten. From hours of quiet loneliness, to now far too much happening at almost every moment. Her life had taken quite a few unexpected turns until now. She was terrified. Terrified of losing it all. And seeing Galen and the others only cemented her fears. For they were a painful reminder of more hopeless times, a reminder of what she had finally been able to leave behind.

  Another caravan passed by on the opposite side of the road. A few wagons and carts of their own forming the traders heading to Arteria with mercantile intent. The leads of the two groups exchanged brief greetings. Nothing seemed to be amiss, which somehow worried her even more.

  “Ary, hey.” Sophia interrupted her thoughts.

  “Eh?” Ary squeaked.

  “Are you awake?” Sophia asked.

  “Eh? Yeah?”

  “Keep an eye out, alright. I didn’t get much sleep last night. Going to get some rest while I can. That's alright with you?”

  “Uhn!” Ary nodded enthusiastically. A small spart of spirit reigniting within her. A chance to be useful.

  A thin smile escaped Sophia, the half elf allowing herself to make a soft chuckle before sliding down in her seat and closing her eyes. Ary stared intently for a few moments, wondering if this would turn out to be a test or trick of sorts. But when Sophia started properly snoozing, Ary took to her duties with a resolute determination to see it done. It looked to be the start of a boring vigil, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to do either. Sitting up a little straighter, she cast a wary eye over at Galen’s company. Seeing them laugh amongst themselves, care-freely only made her own mood darken.

  Their first stop happened to be the town of Brigthfields itself. Though it wasn’t too far from Arteria proper, it was at an in between point Arteria to the next town closest to the Highwall. While the consensus was they could make it there if they pushed themselves. Given that no one seemed wholly in a rush, they had therefore elected to spend the night somewhere more comfortable.

  Naturally, they split the lodgings they got along lines of loyalty. Galen’s party managed to rent out an inn within Brightfields. Ary’s group meanwhile, were given a side room from a nearby house. Despite the wariness of the half elf in the party, being a part of such a large company eased any lingering tensions somewhat, a far cry from Ary’s first experience here with Sophie alone.

  By the time they hitched their horses and settled down for the night, the two groups had thankfully drifted away from each other. Yana had awakened from her own slumber by now and fluttered about the place, stretching her wings after the prolonged respite within Ary’s pocket.

  “Quit shifting all around, find a spot and sit.” Sophia growled at Sigrid.

  The mermaid patted her head teasingly before slinking over to what Aryana could only assume was a more moist corner of the room and planting herself on the floor. Sophia frowned but made no comment, just letting out a tired sigh as she stretched her arms over her head.

  “Damned cart. Least they could do is make it a little comfier.” She grumbled.

  “That’s why you should volunteer to either be an outrider or the driver.” Hanabi smirked.

  The outlander had settled herself on an armchair, her legs lazily dangling over the hand rest. Even now, Ary felt a little bizarre at how comfortable the former saintess had gotten. The outlander freely marched to the beat of her own drum now that she was out of the church’s shaodw. Though she also easily matched that of Sophie and the others. Noticing Ary’s attention however, prompted the girl to wink at her, making her just a tad embarrassed.

  “For what it’s worth, my purpose here is to stick as close to Aryana as possible. Besides, how did you learn to ride so well anyways? I don’t recall you ever mentioning the fact.” Sophia interrogated her.

  “What can I say? I’m a natural.” Hanabi jokingly jumped up for a bow, “I mean, I’ve also gotten some practice with the church. They want all us saints to be able to operate on our own somewhat, after all.”

  "Tch.”

  “Hey, we’ve all gotta be good at something. I just happen to be good at a lot of somethings.” She boasted.

  “Says the outlander blessed by the heavens.”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Aren’t you some kind of weird magic person?” Sophia glowered.

  “That’s awfully vague.”

  Hanabi shrugged, “I’m not judging.”

  Sophia rolled her eyes and shuffled to the side, shooting Ary a questioning glance. Without detecting any signs of disapproval, she moved to occupy a little more space on their shared couch, her shoulder brushing up against Ary. She tried to hide a small shudder. For her, despite knowing and feeling different about Sophia than Sophia. Physically, they were just a little too similar.

  Hanabi however, seemed to be on a warpath. A mischievous glint flashing across the girl’s eyes. When their eyes met again, Ary felt a sudden sense of playful danger. On one hand, it pleased her to see how comfortable the outlander was with the rest of the party. On the other hand, she very much had her own sense of sensibilities.

  “Now that we don’t have much to do tonight, has Aryana ever told you how I actually got roped into all this?” Hanabi quipped.

  Ah. Hearing that, Ary stiffened, her eyes widening as incoherent but still semi decipherable memories made cringe. Beside her, Sophia had unconsciously leaned a little in a little closer. Sigrid perked her head up and Yana wasted no time making herself known.

  “Judging by her reaction, if only taken of this fraction. Is this a tale to be told, one where embarrassment will be like gold?” Yana queried, the fae fluttering between Hanabi and Ary.

  “Something like that.”

  “A tale she hath kept hidden, of how thou hast you smitten.”

  “I have no idea what that meant, but sure!Hanabi smiled widely, “And you, Sigrid?”

  The mermaid let out a coo of agreement.

  Hanabi did not even broach the question to Sophia, merely smirking at the girl’s futile attempts to try and appear disinterested. Ary preemptively buried her face in her hands. Oh no.

  “Well, well.” Hanabi eagerly clapped her hands together, “I’m no Elaria but I’ll try my best. It all started when I first left the church…”

  “Ugh, stop.” Ary curled up on the couch, scrambling to make herself as small as possible.

  “Pfft. What the hells? No way!” Sophia guffawed, a rare sight that Ary failed to appreciate in the moment.

  “I’m not joking! I swear!” Hanabi laughed merrily.

  She then hopped off her armchair and mimed ripping off her shirt before getting down on one knee. “Half drunk, really angry with her boobs on display. Which, by the way, I can see why Sophie likes ‘em. She ran right up going, ‘Sophie, oh! I miss you!’“ The outlander intoned as if she were in a play.

  Ary sunk deeper into the pool of cheerful despair. She was glad that her suffering had brought some joy to the others. Even Yana was chuckling, the fae more amused by the tale than she had expected.

  “I reckon she really planned to just sweep Sophie off her feet at that moment. Just take her in the hallway!” The outlander mimed a few crass motions.

  Ary’s face grew increasingly scarlet. She was learning a lot more about what happened than she remembered. She was thankful though, for the moment felt different than the ones of her past. They were laughing at her, but because it was amusing. Not for any other reason. Seeing Hanabi pretend to lick between a v-shape however, had proven one embarrassment too many.

  “Enough!” Ary wailed, “Less details!”

  Her flustered cry only provoked more laughter. Yana at least, flew over her head and gave her a gentle pat. Though with the fae, Ary couldn’t tell if she was comforting her or just trying to smooth out a patch of her hair to settle down.

  “Alright, alright. Enough teasing, haha.” Hanabi giggled before standing up and stiffening her posture like a soldier, “When she realized that I was, in fact, not Sophie. It was almost like a completely different person took over. Just the most stoic ‘oh’ I have ever heard. That’s even counting the priests in the church!”

  “That’s crazy. Little Aryana, a raging drunkard.” Sophia teased.

  “It was only once!” Ary squeaked out in response.

  The room burst into fitful laughter once more.

  “Ugh.” She mumbled, “Look, after that. I wanted to make up for my mistake so I introduced Hanabi to everyone. End of story.”

  “Hah. Didn’t hit on you any more?” Sophia snickered before asking Hanabi.

  The outlander grinned, “No, no. Nothing of the sort. Ary’s a good kid after all.”

  “Mmm, true.”

  Yana hummed out her own agreement of the state.

  The sudden switch to praise embarrassing Ary all the same. Still, the mood was relatively jolly and for that, she could appreciate it.

  From the corner of the room, Sigrid let out a more serious sounding trill. Her noise prompted Yana to lift off from Ary’s head and fly over. The laughter in the room gradually died down, the others waiting in anticipation for whatever the mermaid might have said. Although she was thankful for Sigrid saving her from further embarrassment, the more serious tone in her query roused Ary’s own curiosity. What’s the matter?

  Yana returned stroking her tiny chin, the fae clearly sent off into thoughts of her own after exchanging words with Sigrid.

  “She is wondering what happens in the morning light, should we make arrangements for a fight?” Yana informed the others.

  The room’s atmosphere dimmed. They had all likely thought about this, even discussed it to some extent. But it was still something that seemed even more likely to happen given the amount of people on Galen’s side.

  “So what’s the problem? We know we’d fight if they try to start something.” Sophia spoke up.

  Hanabi nodded in agreement.

  For that, Ary was grateful. They were here to protect her, even if it came to blows. She only wished she could give back more for such support.

  Sigrid clicked her tongue, gesturing at Ary. Yana hummed, doing a little twirl of reflection before conveying the rest of Sigrid’s message.

  “We fight for Aryana, but now there are users of mana. She wants us to be wary, lest they counter our plans with a parry.”

  “True, the hope is that we don’t get in a fight, I suppose.”

  “They don’t feel like the type to fight to the death, if that makes any difference.” Hanabi added before turning to Ary, “Your people, that is.”

  “Mmhmm… but Galen’s a bit… he’s a bit much.” She whispered.

  “We’ll have to take him down first then.” Sophia suggested, “Without him, their morale will break, buy us some time to think.”

  Sigrid trilled aggressively.

  “She will handle the users of mana, so worry not of the magical fauna.”

  “Fair enough. Ary, do you know anything about them? You were the last one to talk to them after all.” Sophia asked.

  Ary frowned and searched her thoughts. She shook her head.

  “No, only that the girl is called Cassian. She specialized in researching spirits and anomalies I think. It would be reasonable to assume that the older one is her supervisor or research partner. But I don’t really know.” She answered.

  “Huh. Okay, so we can assume that they wouldn’t actively start hostilities. Being Academy members and all. So that really leaves Galen and his people. Anything you know about them?”

  “Uhhh… not really? Ah! Only that Tristan and the five closest to him know about me. The rest of them seemed more surprised.”

  “Mercenaries or just average tribespeople then. Hardy, but not dangerous.”

  “That sounds in line with our earlier predictions.” Hanabi agreed.

  “Good, good.” Yana bobbed in the air.

  Ary gingerly smiled. To her, it was still a surreal feeling that she was here with the others to perform a ritual to remove the spirit inside her. One she didn’t even know much about or had a chance to use at all. Only that her mother and the clansfolk told her that she had inherited it. Whatever that means.

  “One last problem.” Sophia interrupted.

  The others turned to the half elf, the girl glanced at Aryana before gesturing at her.

  “What if you need to die?”

  That took them all by surprise, a momentary confusion spread across the room. Only Sigrid seemed to understand, the mermaid letting out a thoughtful click.

  “What if Ary needs to die for the spirit to be removed? What’s our contingency then? Do we wait? Immediately act? It’s one aspect we haven’t discussed yet.” Sophia stated.

  “I mean… ideally we act? But how would we know?”

  “That’s the problem.”

  “We can’t just let her die.”

  “The shadow speaks true. Even I do not know what plans the mages brew.” Yana grumbled.

  “Surely there has to be something we could do…”

  The others launched into a small debate, the two sides having different ideas. Yana believed little in the mages, advocating for immediate action at the mere suspicion of foul play. Sophia was much the same, although her distrust of the clansfolk was enough that she was willing to suggest they should forgo this crackpot endeavor in its entirety. Hanabi was the opposite, respecting Ary’s determination to participate and betting that the mages, at least, were people after the same goal albeit in their own way. Therefore they should be given some leeway.

  Sophia emphasized the danger involved, the various unknown factors. An argument that Yana tacitly supported as well, the fae’s displeasure at events having been made known to Ary ever since the start. Unfortunately for her, Ary was of one mind about the ritual itself. She would rather take the slim chance of making it back alive than to condemn herself to certain death. In that, she would put the debate to a halt. There was only one way forward.

  “Let me die.” She spoke, the words hanging heavy over her, “Let them do what they need to. The chance is mine to take, that is all.” She declared.

  Hearing this, both Sophia and Yana looked disappointed. The two reluctantly acquiescing. Hanabi did not seem any more relieved, instead understanding the stakes that Ary had signed up for and the dilemma they would all face in the days ahead.

  Sigrid propped herself up and slinked over to Ary. Without a word, the mermaid squeezed onto the couch and unseated Ary, wrapping itself around her and gently patting her head. In the embrace, Ary allowed herself a quiet pray. Spirits above, give me a sign, tell me which path to take, please. For I am lost and confused. I do not wish to hurt my friends anymore than I have to. In her heart, she dreaded what the next few days would bring, or if she would even still be here.