Page 161 of Blood of the Stars

Velden frowned. “She never told me what the Seer said. It’s supposed to be a private affair. A bit like an Awakening in that regard. Although Sayhleen aren’t as private about their Awakenings as Vendarans. In Sayhla an Awakening is a rite of passage, celebrated with feasting and dancing. During those celebrations, Paelen’s Waters is said to be lit so brightly the Stars are drawn like moths to a flame.”

“They still commune with the Stars?” Cyrus asked, sitting straighter.

Velden shrugged. “No more than we do. But I hear they come close enough for their individual dances to be made out in the sky. One might loop here, another might zig-zag there.” He let his fingers twirl around Felk’s head until the winex’s eyes crossed.

Aeliana glanced at Orra, who managed to seem separate from the group while still being mixed in the fray of food preparation and close enough to hear Velden’s story. The woman’s gaze turned wistful, and she tipped her face to the sky, where it was still too early to catch the Stars in their dance.

“Mama.” Felk tugged on Aeliana’s sleeve. “I’m going back in the water. I’ll see if I can find more.”

She glanced down and winced at the pile of fish he’d mutilated. She supposed he should replace what he’d eaten. “Have fun, Felk.”

He pecked a fishy kiss on her cheek before taking off down the shoreline, and she resisted the urge to tell him to be careful. He was far too old for her nagging, but the brevity of his life cycle made it hard to stop mothering him.

“Your mother didn’t go mad from what she learned,” Aeliana said, steering the conversation back to the enigma of the Seer.

“No, but still…” Velden’s eyes took on a distant look, his face more somber than Aeliana was used to seeing. “My mother chose to use the starbridge again after speaking with Lady Merinnia. She chose to marry my father and have me. I can’t help wondering how much of the future she learned. How much she knew would take place. That’s the thing that drives people mad. Knowing too much and being unable to stop it. Not knowing if it was the knowing that made it happen or if that would have been their fate regardless.”

“Gaeren said Enla always sees multiple paths,” Aeliana said. “That the future isn’t set in stone.”

Velden hummed his agreement. “I’ve heard her gift is strong, but the Seer’s is the strongest. The strongest even among the Sayhleens’ history of Seers. She often sees only two.”

The thought didn’t settle well with Aeliana, the idea that the future was determined regardless of her actions. Or maybe it was because of her actions. A single choice leading one direction or another. She supposed it shouldn’t make a difference that the future might have one path the same way the past only had one, but still, it bothered her.

“You think she saw your mother’s death.” Cyrus studied Velden, his brow furrowed with empathy.

“I don’t see how she couldn’t have,” Velden said. “And yet my mother chose that path anyway.” His smile returned, but there was a sadness to it.

“Then it’s a testament to her love for you and your father,” Cyrus said. “If that was the path she chose.”

“Ever the priest,” Velden said with a laugh.

Cyrus’ face and ears took on a pink tinge, but Aeliana sensed he was pleased by the slight jab.

They made quick work of the rest of the fish as the Sun slipped past the mountains in the west. Somewhere beyond them, Gaeren was probably being held prisoner in his own home, unable to join their cause, unwilling to expose them. After they rescued her mother, what would come of the Elanesse and Wyndren families?

After dinner, Sylmar ran Aeliana through her regular drills. Now that they’d reached the coast, she’d have little opportunity to practice archery. Endless water and beach stretched north, east, and now west, offering little to no targets. To the south, a hill rested within a few hundred feet of the water, where the grass and minimal brush kept their horses from starving. A dozen feet farther, it was replaced by the Bahlric Desert—a sea of sand instead of water. Prickly trees and bushes that Aeliana couldn’t identify dotted the landscape, their frames more like skeletons than foliage. It was an eerie sight but also reassuring. Nothing would be approaching from the south, and if something miraculously did, they would see it from miles away.

“Healing came easier for you before we reached Elanesse, when Marnok was helping,” Sylmar mused, studying her over Felk’s fevered skin. Supposedly the winex liked being struck with various maladies, but Aeliana couldn’t help wondering if Velden’s noetic secondary spoke might allow him to project contentment and make the idea more amenable to Felk.

“Maybe I wasn’t weaned like you thought,” she said. “Maybe my magic gets weaker because my body still continues to normalize. Or maybe I’m not meant to heal any longer. Maybe I’m only meant to create shields.”

Sylmar grunted, then gestured toward Felk once more. She hated practicing on anyone, but especially Felk, though she had to admit it was easier adjusting his body since his blood held no magical pull. When she’d drawn the fever from his body and sensed her magic depleting, Sylmar nodded his approval.

“You can finish training with Lukai tonight. If you best him, I’ll give you tomorrow night off.”

She frowned. He never made an offer without a reason. Maybe Sylmar was testing her bond. Could she even injure Lukai? Did injuring him mean their bond wasn’t as strong? A fire swept through her chest as Lukai approached. If Sylmar was testing her bond, she wanted answers as much as he did, so she might as well play along.

When Lukai pulled out his dagger, he raised a teasing eyebrow until Aeliana gripped hers as well. Lukai always told her he hoped it never came to a dagger fight, not because she wasn’t formidable but because that meant all her other lines of defense had been exhausted. She wasn’t supposed to use magic to simulate what it would be like when her magic drained and she was left to her combat skills.

The problem was that her magic was so rarely drained, it was hard to pretend she knew what that weakness felt like.

Sylmar sat on a rock, settling with his forearms leaning on his staff to watch the show. His eyes narrowed, declaring a challenge for Aeliana. She held his gaze a moment too long.

Lukai lunged, his dagger aiming low for her legs, but she knew it was a feint to get her to swipe for his head and leave her side exposed. She dove left, taking the one-in-two chance that she could draw first blood on his arm, but he also dove left, and her dagger met air.

They danced around each other like this for several moments, their breaths growing heavy and their bodies glistening with sweat. A swim in the ocean afterward would be a nice reward for her and a treat for Felk. The distracting thought made her reaction time a hair slow, and the tip of Lukai’s dagger caught her sleeve, the tiny tear almost unnoticeable.

But Sylmar sighed heavily, leaning on his staff to stand.

---