Per Trixan’s commands, all vanquishers had a week of leave. But by the time three days passed, Narvari’s boredom and restlessness had grown to unprecedented levels.

She was tired of doing nothing. All she wanted to do was get back to the field. Trixan, however, had insisted they rested, and as Narvari had come to understand, Trixan’s mind couldn’t be changed especially when she was in a bad mood. Trixan usually hid her anger well, but Narvari could always sense the rage lurking. But she had to admit that Trixan did have a point. Though Narvari felt better than ever, with her wound fully healed, many vanquishers, including Yanvirrak and Pheera, still had some minor recovering to do.

To keep her boredom at bay, Narvari often went to the forest to train — it was nothing compared to the thrill of being on the field though.

After five days of boredom, she couldn’t take it anymore. So she went to see Trixan.

“I may not know everything about demons,” Narvari said as soon as she bolted into the Elder’s office, “but I’m certain demons don’t go on leave.”

Trixan smiled, looking up at her. “Well, my dear, you still need to rest.”

“But I’m well rested now. I’m so bored.” She slumped back in the chair, sighing heavily.

“Are you sure you’re alright, my dear?” Trixan asked. “Your shoulder.”

“Oh, It’s fine now.” Narvari wiggled her shoulder to prove her point. Whatever those doctors gave her must have been incredible.

Trixan gazed at her with a look Narvari couldn’t quite understand. “Hmm.”

Hmm? Narvari narrowed her eyes. Trixan often used that expression when she had more opinions about something but refused to speak about it.

“What’s wrong?” Narvari folded her arms.

“What do you mean, my dear?”

Narvari shrugged. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

They both stared at each other in silence. Finally, Trixan sighed. “I’ll tell everyone about it tomorrow. Just go and rest.”

Narvari searched Trixan’s eyes for something, anything, that would show what the Elder was thinking. No such luck. Yet the eerie calmness around the woman was enough to tell Narvari that there was something seriously wrong. Had something happened? Did this have anything to do with her meeting in Rhodine? She had heard that these meetings were usually about demons. Given how demons had easily attacked their school, it made Narvari wonder if something even worse had happened.

She bit her lips as the thought chilled her heart.

----------------------------------------

Narvari stared at the red bar blinking on her phone. Seconds later, the phone went off.

“Shit.” She dropped the phone and put her head on the table.

“Narvari.” The touch of Pheera’s skin against her skin brought her back to her senses.

Narvari raised her head, looking around the beautifully furnished room in a daze. It took her a while to realize that she was in the Junior Lounge. How long had she been going through her phone? She gazed at Pheera, who was looking at her silently.

“Is everything okay?” Pheera asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Narvari forced a smile, leaning back in her chair. “There’s nothing wrong.”

This time, however, when she saw the hurt in Pheera’s eyes, Narvari couldn’t bring herself to keep looking at her.

“Why do you keep lying to me, Narvari?” Those words cut through her heart like a knife. The profound look of worry in those gorgeous blue eyes broke her heart. “I know something is bothering you. I sensed it ever since I returned from my undercover mission.”

Narvari opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it again. She couldn’t deny it. Pheera was right.

“You always seem so distracted when we train,” said Pheera. “You hide it well but I can…” she paused, biting her lips, “I can sense it. I know that you still distrust me because of what I did to you. I’m sorry about that, okay? I truly am, but I — ”

“Pheera.” Narvari gently put a finger over Pheera’s lips. Pheera’s lips shivered against her finger. “That was a long time ago and I’ve already forgiven you. Okay? I don’t distrust you at all.”

She didn’t realize keeping this away from Pheera was making Pheera feel so guilty. That was never her intention. She just didn’t want to trouble others with her problems.

Sighing, she took her finger away from Pheera’s lips. “But you’re right. I haven’t been entirely honest with you. The truth is, I’m not okay. I didn’t tell you because I don’t want to bother you.”

“You are not a bother, Narvari. You can talk to me, and I will try my best to help if I can.”

After contemplating for a while about whether to bring this up, Narvari finally said, “I’m searching for my father. I’ve been using the Internet but found nothing so far. I mean, I knew the guy was old school, but it’s still strange he has zero online presence. No social media account. Nothing.”

She had already rejected Trixan’s offer to look for her father so she had only herself to rely on. She didn’t expect Pheera to help, but it felt great to finally tell someone other than Trixan.

Pheera smiled. “I can help.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Well, I want to.” Her voice was firm, closed for discussion. “I know a more efficient tool than social media.”

Narvari’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Of course. Come with me.” Pheera took Narvari by the hand dragging her out of the Junior Lounge.

A few minutes later, they were back in Pheera’s spacious room. Unlike Narvari’s room which had dark colors, Pheera’s was softer, with light blue and white. It fit her perfectly. Pheera took a white laptop from the table and sat on her bed. Narvari sat next to her. It wasn’t the first time she had been in Pheera’s room, nor the first time she had sat on Pheera’s bed. But it was certainly the first time she had sat so close to Pheera on her bed. Their shoulder touched, sending warm tingling sensations through her body. Okay, focus, Narvari. Jeez. Luckily for her, Pheera seemed occupied by what she was doing on the laptop and had not noticed the flames burning inside Narvari’s core.

Her long delicate fingers typed quickly on the laptop and a website with a dark green and black theme appeared. It looked like a search engine, except that Narvari had never heard of any search engine called Vizio.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“A special database for the Outer Sphere.” Pheera glanced at Narvari. “We can access all kinds of information about every country partnered with the Ancient Order of Vanquishers.”

Narvari gaped. “Partnered? I thought most people didn’t know about vanquishers?”

“Maybe not.” Pheera nodded. “But many of the governments of the Outer Sphere have known about demons and vanquishers since ancient times. Who do you think pays us to vanquish demons in the Outer Sphere?”

“The governments. Right.” How had she never thought about it? Her first mission was a private case but the majority of the missions were sought by the government or public institutions.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“We are like any other secret government agency to them,” said Pheera. “And to make our work easier, they make things like their government records accessible to us. Vizio holds all of this information.”

“Wow, how come I’ve never heard of that?”

Pheera smiled. “Because it’s only accessible to senior vanquishers.”

Trixan didn’t even once mention it. Narvari had a feeling Trixan hadn’t told her about many things. The Elder had probably only told her about things relevant to a junior vanquisher.

“Wait?’ Narvari raised her brow. “You’re not a senior vanquisher.”

Pheera chuckled. “No. But Zemeron is. He gave me clearance.”

“Oh,” said Narvari, nodding slowly. Was that even legal? She chose not to ask. “Do you think you can use it to find my dad?”

“I’m certain. We went on a mission in Sharmandi which means it’s partnered with the Order. I should be able to go through the government records. I’m sure I’ll find something.”

Narvari frowned. Sharmandi had a partnership with the Order? Anana knew demons existed and had even told Narvari about it. Did she then know about the Ancient Order of Vanquishers?

“So, I was right,” Pheera interrupted her thoughts. “Sharmandi has been partnered with the Order since 1981. That’s so recent.”

Since 1981? That long? “Does it say who signed the partnership? Maybe the name of the governor then?”

Pheera shook her head. “Nothing of that sort.”

Narvari racked her brain. If she remembered correctly from history class, in 1981, Sharmandi had its fourth governor — Governor Kobinyonga. Did he sign this partnership? She sighed. What did it matter anyway? She was here to find Yabaga.

“So how will this find my dad?”

“Once I pull out his records, I can use facial recognition to track him down wherever he is in the Outer Sphere. All I need is his name.”

This was the most realistic thing Narvari had heard ever since joining Draghein School. It made it sound almost mundane.

Suppressing an urge to grin like an idiot, Narvari said, “Yabaga.”

“What?”

“My father’s name is Yabaga.”

Pheera looked up at Narvari. “Narvari, I’m going to need his full name if the search is to be more accurate.”

“That’s it though. His full name is Yabaga.” Narvari chuckled when she saw Pheera’s puzzling expression. “We Kirriba don’t have last names.”

Pheera cocked her head to the side. “But you have a last name.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Shar was my grandfather’s last name and he was not Kirriba. But my grandmother was Kirriba. She made sure that she followed the tradition by giving my father the choice to choose the Shar last name.”

“He didn’t choose it?”

Narvari shook her head. “I think he didn’t want to be under his father’s shadow. My grandfather… he was a big deal back then.” She smiled. “He’s been dead for more than three decades and his reputation still lives on.”

“What made you choose it then? The last name, I mean.”

Narvari paused. She always said that she chose the name Shar because she liked how Narvari Shar sounded. But deep down, there was more to it.

“Using his name reminds me of who he was and what I could become.” She shook her head. “I know, it sounds ironic because that’s the main reason the Kirriba don’t even have last names in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

Narvari leaned on the headrest. “The Kirriba believe that everyone has their unique path and destiny independent of their ancestors. Family names are shackles that chain people up to the destiny of others.” Narvari sighed. “I don’t know. It’s hard to explain so the concept may sound strange to non-Kirriba.”

“Actually, I get it,” Pheera said quietly. “Just because they are our family doesn’t mean we are bound to follow in their footstep — or take the path they make for us.”

The sadness in Pheera’s eyes tightened Narvari’s chest. Pheera wasn’t talking about Narvari’s family, she was certain. As much as she wanted to ask Pheera about it, she just didn’t know how to bring it up without making Pheera even more miserable. Schooling her facial expressions, Pheera cleared her throat before going back to work on the laptop. She typed Yabaga and the faces of males of different ages appeared on the screen.

“There are only thirteen results,” she said shooting Narvari a questioning look. “That’s surprisingly small.”

“It’s a tiny country.” Narvari smiled. “Plus Yabaga isn’t exactly a common name.”

Pheera scrolled through the images slowly. “Do you recognize anyone?”

“All of them.” Narvari nodded. “But I don’t see my father.”

Pheera kept scrolling until the very end. “That’s all.” She looked up at Narvari with a strange look. “Your dad is not in your government’s records.”

Narvari’s heart sank. “You don’t think he’s d…” The weight of the last word made her lips tremble.

Pheera gently squeezed her hand. “We can’t think that yet.”

“Can you access death records?”

“Are you sure about that?”

Narvari balled her fist. No, she wasn’t sure about that. “I need to know.”

Pheera nodded. This time when she went through the list, there were thousands of them. The record spanned several decades. “There are too many of them. Can you give me something to filter the search? Like his date of birth.”

“Thirteenth of May. I don’t know his year of birth.” Her face heated in embarrassment. But this wasn’t entirely her fault. Neither her father nor Anana had told her anytime she asked.

“That’s good enough. I’ll just approximate to the last three decades.”

Soon, a new grid of images appeared, fewer than before. Narvari’s heart raced when she went through the list. The thought of finding his face here sent a knot in her throat. As much as she hated that her father left, she didn’t want him gone forever.

Soon, Narvari had gone through all the images. She sighed in both relief and disbelief. “I don’t understand. Why isn’t he here? I thought this had all public records of Sharmandi.”

“It should. Maybe your father’s information has been scraped from public records.”

Narvari gaped. “What? Why? That’s impossible.”

“Deleting public records is very possible.”

“No, I know.” Narvari couldn’t help but smile. “I mean why would my father’s records be unavailable? That sounds… criminal. My father was anything but a criminal.”

She sighed, sinking into the fluffy bed. She closed her eyes, unable to fathom what she had just learned. How was it possible that her father was not in their public records? Nothing even showed that the man had lived in Sharmandi.

“How about a photo?” Pheera asked. “Do you have any picture of him? I can still use it to find him.”

Narvari shook her head. She had no pictures of her dad. Hell, she didn’t have anything that reminded her of him. It was like he had completely torn himself out of her life. She peeled her eyes open, staring at the ceiling, “I haven’t seen him in six years.”

Pheera’s warmth enveloped Narvari as she lay beside Narvari on the bed. She gently squeezed Narvari’s hand as if to assure her that everything would be okay. And maybe that worked because that was the only thing keeping Narvari from throwing things. Thinking about what Yabaga did always made her feel this unbridled anger.

“I wanted to see him again for a long time, but eventually I just gave up.” She clenched her jaws. “I didn’t care anymore. Until recently.”

“What changed?” Pheera whispered.

“It’s a long story.”

“I like long stories.”

Narvari turned over her body so that she was gazing deeply intoPheera’s eyes. “You remember the first time we met, right? In my house?”

Pheera smiled, nodding. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

Narvari’s cheeks flushed. “Before my grandmother died, she asked me not to be angry with my father. I want to honor her wishes, but I don’t think I can do that without getting an explanation from him.” She paused. “That’s why I want to find him.” It was a weak reason, she thought. What explanation could her father possibly give her? But the strongest reason — the reason why she would do anything to find her father — was because she wanted an explanation for something far more important.

“He’s the only one who can tell me about my mother.”

“Your mother?”

Narvari nodded. Their faces were mere inches apart now. Her breath quickened as Pheera’s eyes bore deeply into hers. For a moment, Narvari almost forgot how to breathe.

“All my life,” she said, doing everything to focus, “I’d been told that my mother died when I was just a baby. But she’s still alive.” She bit her lips. “And apparently, my dad left us to go and look for my mother. I get that sometimes people lie to protect the people they love but how could they lie to me about something like this? About my own mother.”

Pheera touched Narvari’s cheek and stroked it lovingly. Her body froze to Pheera’s touch and she didn’t know how to break away from it. She didn’t want to.

“I’m still angry at him for leaving but I don’t hate him,” said Narvari. “Not yet anyway. Honestly, I don’t want to. I guess that’s why I want to find him. I need to know everything he’s been hiding from me, you know. Especially about my mother. Why couldn’t she raise me?”

“I’m sorry, Narvari.” Pheera’s voice soothed her like a balm. “I’m sorry I don’t have the answers you need.”

Narvari played with a strand of Pheera’s white hair. “You’re here with me now. That’s more than enough.”

Pheera smiled. “Maybe Trixan can help. I don’t know how she does it but she has a way of tracking down her special recruits. She can find your dad.”

“She offered to help. But I turned her down.” Narvari sighed. “I feel so stupid right now.”

“Hey, you’re not stupid.” Pheera gently pulled Narvari’s cheek. “Look, it’s not too late to tell Trixan. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind at all.”

Narvari nodded. “I will ask her then.”

“Great.” Then Pheera gave that signature smile that did strange things to Narvari’s heart.

Gosh, how could someone be so beautiful? That smooth dark skin, that shone like black gold, soft brown lips… Those lips. Narvari shuddered. More than anything in the world, Narvari wanted to taste those lips. She wanted to know what it felt like to kiss Pheera, and that made her weak in the knees. But what made her feel the weakest was the way Pheera looked at her. She could see it in Pheera’s eyes — Pheera wanted Narvari as much as Narvari wanted her. Maybe she should kiss her. But was it okay to just kiss someone when they had never asked for this? She didn’t know anything about these things and she didn’t want to do something that would make things awkward between them. But Pheera was staring at her lips. Did Pheera want to kiss her too?

“Goodness, just kiss the girl, Narvari.”

Narvari almost rolled her eyes. Ushama, shut the hell up. Why are you even here?

“What are you thinking, Narvari?”

Narvari blinked rapidly, her attention back on Pheera. Their faces were so close that Narvari could feel Pheera’s warm breath on her skin.

Narvari caressed Pheera’s cheeks. “Pheera?”

“Yes?”

“I… I want to kiss you right now.”

“What’s stopping you?”

Narvari bit her lips. Good question. Why did she always lose her nerve around Pheera? Being coy and all that nonsense wasn’t her at all but for some reason, she always felt that way whenever she looked at Pheera. For once, she would muster courage and kiss her already. Narvari leaned in. Their foreheads touched. Pheera neither pulled back nor took her eyes off Narvari. That was a good sign. Just as Narvari’s lips touched Pheera’s, a sudden knock on the door startled her out of her passionate reverie.

The door opened just as quickly, and before they could pull apart, in walked Trixan.