Page 221 of Of Empires and Dust

“I would. Not Arlen Root tea, no?”

Aruni shook her head. She placed her hand on the trunk of the tree. “I’ve been drinking a lot of Tarveenan Starlet tea these past weeks. It was a favourite of a friend of mine. I think you’ll like it.” She turned back to Ella. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Ella Bryer. And please know this – to be a mother is a difficult thing. Balancing the scales of protecting the ones you love and allowing them the room to grow will always be a precarious task, so do not judge too harshly.”

Aruni gave Ella a soft smile, then left.

Ella watched the woman leave before returning to the reason she had come here in the first place. She turned to the tree and rested her hand on the trunk, closing her eyes. As soon as she did, a growl resonated beside her.

She opened her eyes to find Faenir glaring at her with hackles raised and snout crinkled.

“What?”

The wolfpine continued to growl, lowering his head.

“I need to know.” Ella closed her eyes once more. She called to the wolf within her, howling. For a moment there was silence, until the wolf howled back and the world shifted.

Unlike the previous times she had entered Níthianelle, the world was not a vast empty darkness. She stood in the Tahír un Ilyienë, the sound of the waterfalls crashing around her. The elves were gone, as was Faenir, but the three Angan who had followed her remained, their bodies wisping grey and black smoke. Two of the creatures stared at her, while the other folded itself to the ground to sit.

Ella turned away from the Angan and stared up at the Ilyienë tree. In the Sea of Spirits, the tree’s leaves glowed in a multitudeof colours: purples, reds, greens, blues, yellows. It was a rainbow of pulsating colour in a world dominated by cold ethereal light.

She lifted her hand and placed it on the trunk, white mist trailing. “Mam?”

Branches and flowers rustled overhead, Ella’s heart beating in her ears.

“Mam, please. I know you can hear me. I know you’re there.”

Silence.

Anger bubbled within her. “Please… please, just answer me.”

For a brief moment, Ella thought she heard a voice, a whisper on the wind, and the wolf in her blood snapped its jaws, growling.

“You idiot child!”

Ella’s heart stopped at the sound of Fenryr’s voice, deep and rasping.

A hulking shape shrouded in black and gold smoke marched across the stone island and grabbed her by the collar. Fenryr yanked her away from the tree, his golden eyes bright and gleaming.

“Leave this place!”

Fenryr shoved Ella backwards. The world exploded in a swirl of mist and smoke, colours spiralling. Everything collapsed inwards, and Ella hit the ground, the light of the waking world flooding back into her eyes. She sat on the ground before the Ilyienë, Faenir at her side with his hackles raised and teeth bared.

Fenryr stood over her, golden eyes glaring.

Ella’s heart raced, her stare moving from Fenryr to the three Angan, who now stood around her, and to the elves who had gathered on the island and the bridges connected to it.

“Silence.” Fenryr raised a finger to the snarling wolfpine, and Faenir whimpered.

The god stepped past Faenir and lifted Ella to her feet as he might a feather. She didn’t argue as Fenryr placed a hand on her back and guided her from the Tahír un Ilyienë, leaving the elves watching.

He spoke only once he’d led her up through a winding path to an empty plateau that overlooked a section of the city. “What did you think you were doing?”

“I needed to know… I…”

“After what you have already been through, how can you be so senseless? You know nothing of Níthianelle. When you told me you needed time, young one, I respected it. But this? Are you really so arrogant and naive both?” Fenryr turned away, shaking his head.

“I needed to know if my mother is alive. I heard her… in Níthianelle. I heard her voice. I…”

Fenryr tilted his head back and exhaled slowly. “Your mother no longer walks the mortal plane. That I can assure you. But when you call out in the Sea of Spirits, there are other things that might answer. You must be more careful, lest you betray us all.”

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