Page 148 of A Touch of Stars and Stones
The air is thick with magic, almost tangible, and every move in training feels like it’s cutting the very particles around us. As the day wears on, Aslendrix grows more visible in the dark sky, and I can feel a hum of gentle power, the well in my chest now a beating reservoir, a collection of drops from every touch and experience I’ve had over the past weeks.
There’s an abundance of… her, all around. I even spend part of the evening lying on the ground, staring up at the sky like that first time with Ten. There are so many questions, and, looking up at the night, the most pressing one is: why me? Why do I have this gift above others, and what does it mean for me?
Aslendrix, if she really is a Goddess—worshipped and thanked—should answer.
But she doesn’t.
Two days after the full moon, just as we’ve been told, we’re all woken before dawn and ushered to the food hall. It’s tense. No smiles or morning greeting. Trepidation clings to us as we rush the simple breakfast already laid out. And then Rowan’s marching us out, over the bridge to the edge of the Natural’s dwellings, which borders the grassy area before the Variscite forest.
All the members of The Chamber, the Maker, and others have gathered, waiting for us, the main attraction, by the looks of things.
I stick close to Ten despite our recent distance, my nerves overriding the doubt still hovering around him. Even he seems distracted this morning.
“Are you okay?”I ask silently, glad that this seems to still work.
“Fine. Just… worried.”His brows pull together into the familiar brooding mask.
“We’ll be fine.”
We’re steered to the front, where a makeshift platform has been constructed for Orion, Kamari, Darien, and Portia to stand.
As we wait, a quick hush washes over us all, but in the air, there’s something else—a latent energy. It sends ripples through the calm I’ve mastered in the body of water at the centre of my chest. Like the magic is calling to mine, and it is answering. I’ve never sensed that before.
I shake my head and look up at Orion. He claps his hands, signalling to everyone as the sun crests and carves golden streams of light around us.
“This trial, as all assigned this year, will be a measure of your accomplishments and a step on your journey as a Kirrian. Understanding your abilities, individually and jointly, will help to ensure the rich and peaceful life we enjoy here.”
Okay. All sounds very formal. No surprises so far.
“You will be split into two teams. The goal, simple. Survive and make it across to the other side of the Variscite Forest. You may not venture into the Ember or the Larimar Lake. One team will succeed by reaching the cliff edge. The other, the staging area we’ve erected just outside the forest bounds at the river’s edge.”
Feet shift in the dirt, and I can see the other trainees looking around, maybe to family members who’ve also gathered for the announcement.
“And what Order of Trial is this?” Ten questions his father over the rumbling voices.
“Warrior. Your choice of weapon is permitted, but we hope that you will have other skills to rely on.” He sneers as he outlines this.
“Err, yes, well, while designed as a Warrior trial, all the trials will be a test of your training. And, Perrin, along with other healers, will be stationed at strategic points throughoutthe forest,” Darien adds as if this will form some kind of reassurance.
Kamari steps forward, her face smiling and open. She reminds me of how I viewed her when I first arrived. Have I been deceived by everyone? Am I just too naive, too trusting? “And now. The teams.”
I instinctively shift closer to Ten. Factoring in the trainees around me, we’re in the same half of the group, so half and half would mean we’d stay together.
But Orion stares straight at me, a cruel curl to his lip emerging, and I know it’s not going to be that simple.
“Calix, Crimson, Aten, Ascella, and Azur, you will be one team,” Orion announces.
“That’s bull. You can’t group all the Warriors onto one team,” Ten yells, but it’s not just him who’s riled by this. Even some of the other Heads look worried.
“And the other team has a Fifth. A fair split. And one to test the Triune options, I believe.” Orion nods to someone off to his side—an intimidating Warrior, with blond hair that I’ve not seen since the dinner in the hall for the trainees.
I turn to Ten and then Calix, my heart now racing at the thought of having to beat them. Together.
My chest is tight, growing tighter by the second, and that calm I thought I’d worked on is now rising like a tide wanting to overtake me. Spilling and slipping the banks of the well, now unable to contain it, my fear besting all I’ve learned.
“How long is the trial?” I ask under my breath to Ten. “Do we get to pack? What do we need? I don’t have a weapon.” My mind whirrs, and that’s before it settles on the fact that it is going to take place in the forest. The one that Ten warned me not to stay in after dusk. The same one that he and Calix, and probably Crimson, would play in as kids to test their nerve—a Warrior’s nerve, as that’s what they all trained for, right?
Ten’s eyes are dark, and his face is marred with harsh lines that make him look fierce and every bit the warrior I know he can be. Tension runs from his shoulders, and I see the answers he’s holding back. There would be no preparation. This was it.
