Please Note: Offers to take a conversation offsite will be deleted. Due to the rise in spammers/scammers, no exceptions will be made. Comments do not have a word limit and I am more than happy to have a conversation here. Do not ask if I want to commission anything. Do not attempt to advertise on my works. Respect that this is a creative space, not a hunting ground for cheap marks.

NSFW

Chapter 12: Eclipses

This dance, this thing we do. This back and forth, in the beginning, you were the one to pull. Now I play that role. I pull and pull, I don't know why. I just want you closer. There is something about you that calls to me like a lullaby I've forgotten. Please, Ghost. Speak to me again. What do I need to do for you to hold my hands once more? 

Year of Wrath 1232, Season of life D.4

   Muscles tensing as she arched her back, hair stuck to the back of her neck. Breath coming in quick bursts with each new wave of sensation. The earth slowly turning below the body, the stars, the symphony to the rhythm of her moans. Her voice whispering to her to keep going, to be a good girl, and not to disappoint. Feeling the phantom touch down her legs, a new pang of pleasure overtook her senses.  

   Syn thought back, as she was given this sparse moment to be away from the prison in Azu's body. Her hands moved without passion, only the task to keep her satisfied for just a while longer. This Shadow. This disgusting creature, her fingers entangling in her hair, pulling her deeper into her legs. 

   Azu had landed on the first planet hunting for her specifically. It was a wonderfully sunny day, the warmth of the suns she had made, gliding slowly over the skies her siblings had crafted. It was business as usual. Anlyth, her son, was giving a speech to the city that day. The Faeries had just finished the construction of the first geosphere for the world. While it slowly consumed the heat of the planet, it powered the vast array of arcane engines that dotted the surface like constellations. 

   "I am proud to call you all Children of Syn. The years of work, the decades of planning, the struggles and triumphs!" He turned to smile back at his Mother, a warmth in his eyes that faded with time, before returning to the cheering crowds. "They are all yours! Every problem was solved by you, not our leaders, not the heads of state, but the people! With the system operational, all the outer worlds will begin constructing their own spheres!" 

   The roar of the crowd made Syn smile, as her black eyes stared down at her. "You are my everything," Syn told her, humming the words as her back arched in ecstasy once more. She just wanted her eyes off her. Still, she smelled the blood on her claws from that day. 

   Anlyth had planned for this day for months, as he reached the climax of his speech. He pulled Syn’s sword from its sheath as the golden light fell upon the Children. Their wings glowed from the force of it, every face splitting with gleeful grins. The world they had built still glittered in her mind, these glorious cities, their creations that played off their power. Magnifying, creating new possibilities with each passing day. 

   "Rise! My Brothers and Sisters! We will reach new heights for our own glory! For our wings to become the stars in the heavens! Our work here today will ring out in history!" His face was the picture of a King, proud of his kingdom, confident in his subjects, compassion and virtue melded together in a perfect form to follow. 

   It was good that Syn was grinning at the memory as Azu pushed her away, crawling over her to press her lips against Syn’s. Her eyes closed, enjoying the moment, hers never having left her face. Her hands wandering, doing the things Syn only told her she enjoyed. When she opened her eyes again, Syn saw her own reflected in them. Cold and hollow in contrast to the pleasured look on her face, a facsimile, a facade that she would never let fall around her. 

   Her cold hands stole her warmth as she lowered herself. Running her lips over every inch of her, her fingers slick. "Keep going, you know I love this." Wringing her fingers through her hair this time, pushing her eyes to anything except her own. Hearing her purr from the thought that this was something she thought Syn wanted. 

   It was weeks later after the first of the geospheres went online, as they beamed their energy to the other planets and systems that needed the enormous amount of energy to begin the construction of their own works. The pride in their eyes, the glory and songs that they had made for themselves, following the teachings Syn had given to them. They didn't need her; they could have overcome every obstacle put in front of them. She thought they could. 

   It wasn't long afterward. Strange noises coming from the satellites listening for the Songs of the others. They had thought they had picked up the transmission of one of the Fae home worlds, but then they found another from one of the Brownie frontier planets. While it used their call signs, it mimicked their voices, sounded almost like them. Her laughter always came through as the screams filled the stations.

   Reports of a mysterious disease had started flooding in every channel and network they had available to them. All the while, the only constant they received was the shadow of great wings flying by before these infections first began. Followed by a chilling laughter, the kind that made your bones go cold, like a voice in a room you thought you were alone in.

   Anlyth was furious, remembering her son's wrath; it was still just a spark in comparison to her own. More and more reports were coming in as Syn contacted her Siblings, all reporting much the same type of infections. Spreading rampant throughout the galaxies and systems, dozens of planets fell within the first days of the initial outbreaks. Syn's nails cut into Azu's scalp, her blood slicking her fingers. While she mistook this as pleasure, not bothering to look up to see the hate in Syn's eyes. 

   She would never let Azu see that hate, never to see the black fire burning in them, never to know until it was the right time. Syn needed Azu to be happy; she needed her to believe that this was what she wanted. Pulling her head tighter against her, refusing to let her look up at her, moving her hips to the movement. Just another act to follow. 

   She toyed with her children before killing them, deflowering, mutilating, humiliated. Her prideful children forced to kneel, her strong children broken under the wings of this vulture. When Vilorlith, Alnya, and Kyln all came to them, this wasn't something they were prepared for. The societies their children had built had no penchant for war, but they used Syn's children and their temperaments as a model to build off. 

   They, the Faeries, were fire incarnate, everything she had built them to be. Beacons to follow, their strength made them perfect soldiers. Their charisma made them easy leaders, the ash they left behind them as they burned worlds in the name of protection. Each flake of ash, a memory of those they had to leave behind. They looked to Syn for answers, how to proceed, how to survive. It was with a heavy heart that she rose to the occasion; her blazing sword became the symbol of the Legion. 

   As her wings became the fear in the Shadow's eyes, she ascended to a different plane. Her siblings followed her lead, Vilorlith rising to her side, while Alnya coordinated the armies, while Kyln oversaw the support. Syn had become a god of war, her mind altering to fit the task, the task she saw now with Azu between her legs. Her enemy.

   Arching her back in false ecstasy, letting Azu believe it. She finally let her grip go on her hips, allowing her to exist as a corporeal form for some time after each time she wanted to satisfy herself. Azu crawled from her leg shaking elation, nestling herself in Syn's arms. Planting her lips against hers, they settled into that post coital bliss. 

   Azu running her hand over Syn's chiseled features, relishing the softness of her chest. "Azu." 

   She purred in acknowledgement. As Syn watched the sun setting on all horizons in those broken skies, Azu watched the sun rise in the east. She knew the game, she knew the rules. Don't push, unless she was distracted. Don't ask, unless she was happy. Whisper what she wanted to hear, make her feel happy. 

   "All that time ago, when I asked you if you could give that Dwarf those visions." Syn began, letting her voice drop in a submissive way. 

   "Oh yes, that was a fun chase. He certainly has grown, hasn't he? Becoming a mighty King. So strong, so delectable." She answered, curling into Syn. 

   "I wanted to know where my sister ran away to. Why she abandoned me here." She paused just long enough to keep Azu's interest. "I'm glad you found me, Raven. I'm happy with you by my side." That earned her a tighter embrace from the Shadow. 

"He found what I wanted him to find. I'm sure of it." Syn thought back to those final moments. The Raven crushed her to the earth with claws that tore through her flesh. A decision to be made, she saw it now, all those years ago. 

   Vilorlith fell, and with that, her Song needed to be upheld. She remembered telling Kyln to take it, to withstand just long enough. The look of hesitation in his eyes made her wings go cold. She had to hope that he would trust her the same way she trusted him. Syn fought as she killed and killed and killed, the blood of the Children greasing her hands like an angel of death. 

   It wasn't long, Syn told Alnya to run. That she would hold the line, that she would give her the chance to escape, to wait, to hope, to fight another day. They would lose this battle, but the war was far from over; let the Shadows think they had won.

   Kyln fell, taken as a puppet, a corpse controlled by the puppeteer. Made to force the Changed to believe that they followed hope. Syn fought harder still, as the woman in her arms ripped her wings from her body. Laughing with the sense of victory, finally able to claim the only prize she had ever wanted. 

   "Go, shatter it. Take the rest of the uninfected and run. Run, my dear sister." The words, silent on her lips as her sister stared in horror, as the world recoiled at what the Shadow was doing to her body. "Go." 

   She felt Alnya take the Children, their lives erased from this world. She felt her break the sheet upon which they wrote their music. Syn closed her eyes, thinking back to Balance, taking the rest of the Songs from Alnya's hands as she disappeared. 

   "We need to do that again," Syn whispered to Azu, curling her arms around the woman in her embrace. 

   "What do you want me to show them? Whom do you have in mind?" Azu responded absently, as Syn tightened the Tether around Azu's Spark. The only time she let her guard down was like this. 

   "I want Neaves to fall in love with Ilgor. Think about it, what a beautiful sight it would be, those two powerful women." Syn purred into Azu's ear. "Just like us." 

   "Just like us." She whispered back, the stars in the heavens growing brighter as she thought about the relationship. The fog in the valley below them rolled in great waves, as Azu's wings fluttered, glowing with Syn's power. 

   "I was thrilled to see you had some entertainment when I suggested you make Gjorn fear you. I knew having our power seep into the blood of all those Gnomes would show us where that seal was." Syn ran her fingers through Azu's black hair, "He had promise, and he didn't fail to live up to our expectations. I know where my sister is now."

   "I haven't told the others about that, I hope you know." Azu's voice sounded as if she were pleading for Syn to believe her.

   "I know my sweet, I love that you have kept me hidden from them all this time," Syn said with sugar-coated sweetness. "I've watched that Dwarf, he's gone to where her Song is ringing again."

   "I thought you were joking. I thought you just wanted to get me riled up." Azu responded, looking up into Syn's eyes. 

   "No, you may not be able to hear her voice, but they are loud and clear to me. Vilorlith is alive. No one can mimic her, no one." She pressed Azu into her, not letting her see the hope in her eyes. While she writhed under Azu's touch, letting her feel wanted in this moment. 

   Azu's voice vibrated against her chest as she spoke, "So, what does that Goblin and Mistwalker have to do with the Dwarf?" 

   "He is Fae, Ilgor is Brownie, Neaves is one of my own. Bringing the Voices back together will only do more good than harm. Bhal is a fool for wanting to start another war, and I know he wishes for the valley to be the launching ground for it all." Syn slipped from Azu's embrace, the stubs where her wings were torn away, boiled in the morning sunrise. She rose, hands on her hips, as the Shadow's eyes followed her. "I do not know why he is choosing to put the last survivors of the voices at risk. But, I cannot sit idly by and watch the last of my children be slaughtered."

   Azu thought back to the conversation she had with Xelex, about the same time Syn told her that she had heard Villy's voice again. She always shivered when that beast appeared unannounced. Out of all her siblings, she detested him the most. Always skulking around the other's business, always planning in the background. Somehow, always getting the better end of every deal. 

   That day was no different, having felt his presence just quickly enough to hide Syn deep below her own darkness, where her light could not break the surface. He wasn't in the human form he liked to walk around in while he eavesdropped on every conversation within range. That slithering mass of tendrils, his darkness eating away at the dim light of the fog-filled valley. "I shouldn't be surprised you still walk around in the nude like that. Your inner thighs are still wet, you know, do you really get off to watching her children like that?" His demeaning voice filled the canyon she was perched in, not bothering with the butterfly wings the Mistwalkers expected of her.

   Stretching her wings out to their full length, they blocked out the sun. The Mother of all harpies, "You are a vile and twisted thing, for that the first thing to be noticed. Are you so depraved as to have your eyes linger on your sister's body?" But, as expected, he laughed in that condescending way of his.

   "You realize we are, essentially, the same person." It wasn't a question, simply a statement of fact that all eight of them knew. "You are but one piece of me, as I am you. This notion of siblings, this notion of family, bores me every time one of you tries to use it. We are not that." 

   "Yet, your eyes linger anyway." She answered, bored. "Did you want a show, or did you come here for something specific?"

   He was around her in the blink of an eye. His tendrils were binding her wings to her body, as her throat was threatening to be crushed under his might. He was never quick to anger like this; something had particularly disturbed him for him to be this reactive. She felt his darkness coast up and down her entire being, prodding at the defenses of her mind, her Spark, her everything. 

   "And to what," She choked out hoarsely. "Do I owe the displeasure of meeting you today, Balance?" 

   That silver mask formed in the Shadow of his mass, splitting open with the serrated teeth of a shark, his predatory nature on full display. While Bhal may have been the strongest among them all, Xelex was the one to force the god's Songs into their hands. "Do not suggest I want anything of you. I am not some base beast like you."

   The tendril around her throat tightened again, bending her neck until her vertebrae bound against each other, threatening to snap. "Yes, yes. I know if you wanted to kill me, you could." She answered slowly, forcing her windpipe open with her own darkness. "But, we both know that is a pointless gesture. I would come back, sooner rather than later." 

   In the space of a heartbeat, he was away from her. As she fell from her perch, he caught her in his arms in that human form. Still, his teeth poked out from between his lips. Making her blood run cold, as he put her down. "I am planning something, Azu." 

   She coughed, spitting up blood from his treatment. Already stitching her broken wing back together as he nearly ripped it off her with his little tantrum. She had figured as much, but she had no interest in his games. "You will be gone, Balance. I do not allow you inside my valley." 

   "You don't allow?" He laughed again, that voice like nails on a chalkboard grated against reality. She felt Syn recoil inside her. Did he mean to do that? Does he know? "My, how you all have become impetuous, first Bhal thinking he can order me around. Now, you? Haven't my plans always worked out in everyone's favor?"

   She couldn't argue that, while he always reaped the most of the benefits, there were never any downsides to his scheming for the rest of them. Rising to her feet, talons clicking under her as they dug into the hard canyon rock. She stared at him, waiting for him to get to the point.

   "As stoic as you are beautiful," A hollow compliment, his sarcasm dripped from his lips like venom from a fang. "I want to see the Song I gave you." 

   Rolling her eyes, plunging a hand into her chest, blood dripping from the wound. She pulled a small galaxy out from between her fingers, its melody filling the air around them. Heating the air like an inferno of wrath, pulling on them as its gravity increased the longer she held it. A song of fire, of push and pull, of warmth and energy. "There, are you satisfied?" 

   "No, I gave you what remained of Syn. Her Song, you should be grateful I was so considerate." He commented as he pulled the Fae Queen's power from his own body. Her mind couldn't take that song, cracks forming as her emotional states rebelled against its logic.

   That small star was only a piece of that song. Yet, it still revealed the structures, the fractals inside the web, the pieces that fit together far too well. Azu knew that he had failed in taking the entire thing from her, knowing that Syn's own scheming had told her where the rest of it was. "Put that damned thing away." Azu screeched. 

   "I want Bhal to lead a successful first strike, to attack Huron's eastern defenses. The Valley of Mists will cover their movement, how quickly they will take both Ithrica and Mistsdale before they have time to report the attack." His grin felt like it knew too much. Like he knew she wouldn't stand by and let Syn's children be killed in this plot. 

   His grin deepened as she spoke. "Do what you want. Why tell me if you know I don't care for her survivors as it is?"

   "Because you are going to push a few pieces on the board for me." His words echoed in her head as Syn waited for her to answer. Finally back in the present, she never relished doing what he wanted. 

   "Neaves will get her infatuation, but what of the rest of the Children? They will not leave the Valley, you asked me to build their history, their culture, here. It is not a task so easily won." Azu answered finally.

   Syn walked back over to her, putting her hips to good use. Kneeling in front of her, putting her arms around Azu's neck, she pressed her lips to hers. Flooding Azu with that feeling, that warmth in her chest, making her heart beat again. Breaking away from that moment, she purred in Azu's ear. "I have a plan, my sweet. No cost is too great."

Year of Wrath 1232, Season of life D.4 Pyria 

   He left through the window like he always did, kissing my hand before dampening his wings, slinking away in the calm, consuming dark. He had told me that he wanted to spend his life with me, that he didn't care about the laws of the clan. Walking over to the mirror against the wall staring at myself. 

   My wings drooping low, the fire in the false eyes that graced them burned slowly. Their tips dragged behind me as I rested a hand on my stomach. I had already started to notice, waking up with a nauseous wave most mornings. I was hungrier than usual, feeling bloated as hot and cold ceased to have much meaning. 

   I traced the paths he made, running my hand from my stomach to my chest, back into my hair. Still tangled and messy from our nightly ritual, damp from sweat and effort. I thought I could almost feel it, watching as the overwhelming feeling of fear washed over me. "They would never let me keep it." My voice echoed dully off the stucco walls of my room. The house felt empty without Neaves there. 

   Mother Afjie had taken to staying in the main entryway, watching the fog filled skies each night now. We all knew she was hoping that she would come back, but that was a pointless thought. We were Embers; we would never be given the grace and forgiveness that the regular clan would have been given. She would never have the chance to do so, exiled as she was now. Her own choice. 

   They would never let me become a mother; they would force me to miscarry. "Ha, if you were lucky, they would." My thoughts raced as I thought about taking him with me would be safer. No one knew about us, no one. My body stared back at me from the mirror, maybe my own bare thoughts, maybe it was fitting to have the conversation now. 

   I knew I was being foolish, and we both knew it. But, he cared about me, and... I let the thought pass; he would be exiled if they knew. Embers were never supposed to have children of their own, at least that's what Afjie told us girls. The broken connection to Azu, it broke the relationship between our children and her. Cursed, she called it. Though thinking back to it, she always sounded like she never believed it. 

   She always sounded like she tried to give us the best, the fairest treatment. But, for our children to be born, it needed both Mother and Father to unfurl their wings in the light of the sun. My hands trembled as the weight of that task finally hit me; that was the point where Neaves, Erlin, and Ryhs were made Embers. Could I do it? Could I keep my child from becoming one?

   Shaking my head, my curls bouncing in my eyes. "Don't think about it, it's a pipe dream. They might let it live, but they'd keep it from me. What would happen to it?" I just wish I had thought about that before letting my heart make that choice. 

   Letting my hands drop to my sides, worry filled my mind where love had been. I'm not safe here with his child. It's not safe here. It would be better if no one knew. It would be better if I left. "You damned fool, Pyria." My voice wavered as my eyes grew wet. "You can't hope, they never even look at us like people."

Year of Wrath 1232, Season of life D.12 Gjorn

   It had been a while since I was given the freedom to wander without an escort while here. That rebreather Taneth had designed for me to be here, keeping my infection inside, rather than the other way around. A price I paid every time I came to the Elsewhere. Telling Alnya I needed a moment to think for a spell, the Fledgling Lords, as I called them anyway. They let me be as they saw Alnya's face, the true Kings of the place betwixt. 

   She had stepped away from the crown long ago, the sole true goddess left in this world. Still, I had wandered my way to the Continent's edge, watching as the cables running power and energy between the Operations pulled tight. Despite the Children's best efforts, they still wanted to expand in the same way that Namix had, like the Branches of the Tree still did. 

   Thinking back to what Ilgor had told me about her former teacher, the odd silence that lingered in the air always struck me as odd while I was here. There was no bird song here, no chirping crickets, no hum of some insect nearby. They couldn't sustain native populations inside the Elsewhere, too resource intensive, they called it. 

   Setting my sitar against the trunk of the tree, with hands on my hips, watching as a gout of steam escaped one of the machines of the Operations, only for that cloud to be consumed by the arcane symbols that scrawled across the skies. She had said he always wore a silver mask, until the end, when he showed his face to her. Eyes. Control over shadow. To many eyes. 

   The chains holding the continents together snapped loudly as they were pulled tight; the slight vibration that ran through the earth reminded me of the earthquakes in the Northern Wastes. They had built these vast machines to ease Alnya's burdens; she still maintained a great deal of the ecosystems here, the greater arcane flows through her Song. But, much of her responsibilities were taken by these machines that worked night and day to maintain their safe haven. 

   Marveling at it every time I stepped foot on these holy grounds, where the Great Tree was just beginning to learn about steam and the engines that fueled their world through magic, here was just so different. Like watching the works of a master craftsman in comparison to a newborn babe. The level at which they understood the patterns behind the patterns, the sophistication behind the inner workings of the world, never ceased to amaze me. 

   That Sorcerer, as she called him, I had heard that term before. It was archaic in the modern world, but it reminded me of several legends that I had heard before. Each one has a Sorcerer in a mask, coming to impart great knowledge on a simple mortal soul. Mumit, the first Necromancer, a truly ancient Calphiti tale. Xarxes, the healer. He forestalled a plague that had taken over the young city of Huron, teaching a more refined version of medicine, roots that are still used to this day. 

   Always, he came before a disaster. Every time, this Sorcerer was instrumental in aiding the greatest legends of our age. It was concerning enough that this Sorcerer was knowledgeable in Ilgor's actual magic, something that wouldn't have been known since the Brownies' fall in the war. He was either something far older or not what he appeared to be at all.

   Eyes gazing skyward, crossing my arms mechanically as the runic structures that served a dual purpose here. Both constellations, as well as regulators, the amount of thought they put into this place. Everything is designed around maintaining a stasis, equilibrium, in a perfect logic. The soft glow of the Isly off in the distance, Isly. The word they used for "land of", they didn't have cities the way I was used to. Vast expansive things that dominated the floating continents that they called home. 

   The continent under my feet, the Cathedral. Fitting as far as everything else was concerned, it was the official home for Alnya. As technologically impressive as it was, something always felt restrictive here. Never was I allowed to visit the other continents that were not the Isly; they called them "Great Machines". When I first came here, I found myself on one place called Vyra, a breadbasket of sorts. But one with strictly controlled borders and ecosystems. 

   Having thought, the first time I was here, that I was being attacked for being an interloper. A being from another world. No, I was attacked because their sensors saw that I was a disease that was spreading incredibly quickly toward the one populated area on that continent. There was no wind here, not unless the Children needed to mix stagnant air layers together to generate storms or to move it through their filters. 

   Watching as one of their old galaxy jumping vessels glided through the tangle of cables and pipelines. Blinking lights along key points, it banked low over one of the massive chains. Its belly opening as spidery arms lowered and welded fractures in a link back together. Covering my eyes from the flashing light, even at this distance, it was a bright star briefly existing just long enough to complete its work. 

   Its rusted hull, having seen the war, functioned without any need for repair; as such, in this place, it was left alone. "What a fitting example you are," I said to nothing in particular. 

   I heard someone behind me pick up my sitar, strumming it idly as they walked toward the edge of the continent, beside me. "So, I heard Odeza, and you had words again." Alnya's voice was like music to me. She strummed a lovely melody as she walked into my view. "An odd view, don't you think?"

   With the snap of her fingers, a table and chairs were in front of us, simple. Some kind of dark metal, it wasn't iron or cast steel of any sort. Too dark to be aluminum, too shiny to be platinum or chrome. She set my instrument softly down, leaning it gently against one of the legs. Sitting down, adjusting her dress as she shifted from her Fae form to one of my species. The most beautiful Dwarf I had ever seen, no matter how many times I had seen her.

   She reached a delicate hand out for me to sit with her. A small smile crossed my face, taking her hand as she laced her fingers with mine, sitting at the table with her. "What brings you all the way out here?" I asked, her eyes were open, watching that rusted vessel continue its work on the massive chains holding the continents together. "Surely, it wasn't to come here to ask about my reprimanding a subordinate of mine."

   "No, I came here simply because you make me feel calm." She answered sweetly. 

   She always knew how to do that, tightening my grip on her hand. "She had wanted to test her boundaries with Ilgor."

   "You have been speaking about her quite a bit, as of late. Seems she's taken a liking to you, the way you speak about her. Still, I wonder why Odeza would have done something like that. Disobeying you." Alnya said, as the continent shifted closer, easing the tension in the cables. That ship was pulling one of the chains, moving the entire landmass closer as great gusts of wind billowed up against the protective spheres around the Cathedral. 

   "She has been proving to be more surprising each day. She shattered Odeza's magic." That comment made her look at me with her own surprised expression. "Oh, yes. It was odd. I think she's using all the Songs, unlike Odeza, who uses Wayfare magic. Your Song." 

   "What makes you think that?" She asked, her full attention on me. 

   "The things she does, maybe it's just because of what she is. I don't think it has anything to do with Vilorlith. She is no Brownie, just shares the same origin, similar to my situation." Her magic reeked of that same darkness, but more like a transition. Not like the magic of the Shadows, but both light and dark. A dusk, a dawn. "Her voice has such power, potential. Honestly, I don't think she is using the same Magic that I am. Hers seems, somehow, more refined."

   "Describe it to me, Darling." She rose from her seat, only to walk toward me and sit in my lap. Lying her head against my shoulder. "What makes you think that this is a magic in between?"

   Warping an arm around her waist, breathing in deeply. "She is endlessly adaptable, though the trauma of the skirmish and these rapidly changing situations bother her. She seems to take them in stride. Every lesson I give her, she completes with relative ease." 

   "But, you have only been giving her elementary lessons so far. How to calm her voice, how to control the amount of power in it, how to hide her Songs. Surely her aptitude isn't so strange compared to the God's Eye's?" She asked, playing with one of the buttons on my shirt. 

   "It's not that. Her voice is absolute, like mine. Radiant with the Song's it came from." I told her, thinking back to our conversation in that hamlet where we watched all those citizens sign up for some factory job. 

   "You are not used to her; she has three vocal cords. A Child of my sister's. She gave them rather unique features to let them use her powers beautifully." Her voice sounded far away, like reliving an old memory. 

   "I'm not sure. There is another issue as well. Her former teacher, this Sorcerer. He taught he quite a bit that I would never have introduced to her to so early. He was beginning to teach her the heights of her domain; she already understood how to control the air around her, large sections of the atmosphere, and a moderate control over the weather. Her Songs are subtle things, working quickly to have the world bend to her will." Thinking back to that description she gave me.

   "That just sounds like how all the Brownies worked, to me. Her voice seems remarkably untarnished by the infection. Perhaps that is why Villy has chosen her as a champion." Turning her head toward the horizon over the other Isly, the moon was just beginning to rise on those darkening skies. "You said this, Sorcerer, wore a mask at all times. That Ilgor mentioned that he had an odd control over shadow and the eyes." 

   "I don't think he's human at all," I responded to her while she rolled her eyes and continued her statement.

   "You never got to see them during the war. The Shadow’s minions all shared those traits. All the Shadow Touched Children in those days shared those traits. Too many eyes to count, odd voices, seemingly to blend in with the dark. If he has been teaching her to the degree you say, then he may have taught her how to access the fading voices inside the Afterglow." 

   "What do you mean?" I asked her, looking down at her far too perfect face. 

   "I think that the magic they use on the Branches is infected the same way they are. The way you describe her power, it moves with a grace I've only ever seen in the Brownies. But that Shattering of Odeza's magic is concerning. Only the Shadows were able to silence our magic like that, and even then, it wasn't as absolute as what you described." 

   I sighed; she didn't quite understand what I was trying to tell her. "No, it was a silencing spell. It wasn't the same as stopping the Song. It was the destruction of it." It was only then that I saw the light dawn behind her eyes.