Fenn, Ayana, and Imtha climbed the main staircase as it spiralled around the centre of Tall Tower. They kept climbing, and climbing, until the staircase ended at a pair of large wooden doors. Torches on either side put a flickering light over two large metal symbols, one on each door. They were images of bells.
“Alright, here’s the bells,” Fenn said. “We’re at the top. Sixteen stories of stairs to sweep.”
Fenn and Ayana grabbed their brooms and started working along the edge of the doorway to pull out what they could. The edges of the doorway and the first step went fast enough and with the second step they could see dust starting to accumulate as they pushed it down.
At least the rune dust falls quickly. We’ll be choking on this by the end.
Imtha, without a broom, looked over the work her friends were doing. “So how did you two end up with this punishment again?”
Ayana started beaming. “It was amazing. This stuck up navy guy shows up and it’s the usual thing when Fenn’s mom sends a letter. But along with him is navy boy from Fenn’s adventure in Copper Bottom last month. So he’s smiling at Fenn. And she’s smiling at him. And navy guy has an oar stuck up his ass and is all business, making a big fluff out of everything.”
She’d completely stopped sweeping and was lost in the story. Fenn poked her with the broom. “You couldn’t even see if I was smiling. Just sweep or we’ll be here til tomorrow.”
Ayana made some token broom strokes along the steps before diving back into the story fully. “So stuck up navy guy says something that sets Fenn off and she starts to mess with this guy. ‘Call me Elegance’ and all that crap. Total rich bitch smug.”
It wasn’t that bad, was it?
Ayana was gesturing with the words enough to try and inflate Fenn’s vanity. “Fenn tells this guy that she’s going to run off from the tower and she wants to see if this navy boy, Naresh, is the right guy to carry her away. So she says they’re having tea together and there’s nothing he can do about it. He looked like his head was going to explode and glue his hat to the ceiling. It was amazing. Then Master Joran’Teek showed up and told Fenn to go up and down the stairs with a broom to think about it.”
Fenn poked Ayana with the broom again. “Can you please stay on task? And I didn’t say I was running off. I was just messing with him a bit.”
Imtha took a step back as they finished a step and moved to the next one down. “But you’re still having tea with the cute navy guy, Naresh, right? And you’re sure you’re not running off? Cause after the Copper Bottom thing Jaali gave you crap about how cute he was and how he looked at you. Maybe it’s the fate of the Allomir at work?”
Fenn stopped sweeping while a pair of masters passed by them. She watched as they made their way downstairs and then disappeared through one of the passageways. “The Allomir is madness. It’ll be a cruel joke before it’s fate. And it isn’t happening. I’m not leaving the Coven and pair-bonds aren’t allowed for us. So nothing is happening. I’m just making good on a prank on that commodore.”
Imtha moved down a pair of steps and then started to look around, checking the corridors leading off the staircase and looking up and down. “Fenn, we’re not talking about a pair-bond here. Every single acolyte in the Coven has crushes here and there. Literally everyone. And this guy's probably young enough that he’ll be a throwaway for a while and think nothing of it. Then he sails out with some navy ship that is sunk by a pirate and you never have to see him again. It’s that easy.”
There is truly no way of convincing you two.
Ayana pushed a giant cloud of dust in Imtha’s direction and laughed. “I got it! Fenn’s just waiting for Jaali to get settled and then they can shack up. Same village, same tower. Destiny!”
Fenn scowled and pushed a larger pile of dust towards Ayana. “I came here to get away from that village, not double down on it. And Jaali isn’t my type.”
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Ayana laughed. “I’m not sure if anyone is Jaali’s type.”
Fenn was furious. Imtha caught the look she was giving and let the joke go without a laugh. Ayana caught Fenn’s look as she finished laughing and the three went quiet. The next few steps passed in silence.
Three floors down. Thirteen to go.
Three stories worth of dust was starting to linger in the air more and more. Ayana started pushing it towards the edge of the stairwell and then into one of the corridors. “That will work for now. At least we won’t have to choke on it. And if we’re done with Fenn’s lovelife then we’re on to you, Imtha. How’s Ragan’Gasta been lately?”
Imtha frowned and crossed her arms. “Probably lonely. If Fenn came here to bail on Ascensa then I get to bail on North Finger. No chance, no way. None at all. Not even a crush. Fenn will give up her vows before I do.”
Ayana laughed again. “Fenn’s apparent confusion about her vows is how we ended up on these steps in the first place so be careful with that wager. That and me laughing my ass off.”
All three paused again as another master went by.
Mad hell, I hope they didn’t hear what she just said.
“But,” Ayana said with a poignant pause, “I’ll be sailing away before Fenn gets me in trouble again.”
Imtha hopped on the stairs and squealed with excitement.
Be happy for her Fenn. Or at least act happy.
“Amazing!” Fenn said, “When do you go? Who’s your mentor?”
Ayana was glowing and basking in their happiness for her. “I’m out in three days. I just found out this morning. I’ll be on some little frigate. Smaller than the usual training post. And they never told me about my mentor. I’m not worrying about that. It’ll barely be enough room for two but I’m too excited to care.”
Imtha gave her a hug. “Hopefully they’re tidier than you are. It’ll be cramped. And hardly any space if you get bored and need to bring a sailor back to cheer you up.”
All three laughed and lost track of their sweeping.
“I doubt I’ll need that,” Ayana replied with a broad smile. “There will be way too much work to do. Between the guidefire, healing, and other studies the masters made it sound like it will be maddeningly busy.”
Fenn looked down at her broom and gave it a token shove. “Ayana, are you okay for the rituals? You won’t have the chants to help you when you’re at sea. It’s just you reaching through that altar by yourself. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
Ayana took a deep breath. Her eyes looked down at their feet. “I think I will be. The mentor will help. I’ll get the hang of it. And I have to learn to do it on my own sometime, right? This is why I’m here. I can face it.”
“You’re braver than I am,” Imtha said, “these new spells are really messing with me.”
Imtha’s demeanour changed. Her body language closed off and she looked like she was staring through the walls of the tower into nothing. “I’m not sure how you guys are doing it. I can’t get that voice out of my head. It’s like it’s always following me around and whispering to me. It’s like I can always hear it whenever I try to stop and think.”
Fenn walked over and put her hand on Imtha’s shoulder. “I wondered how you’ve been doing. You look like you haven’t slept in days. Maybe it will settle down though. The first few were really scary but they’ve calmed down a lot. It’s not exactly easy but it can become manageable.”
Imtha’s expression didn’t change. “I nearly asked them to unstitch the air rune two days after I got it. Right after the first spell it started. I threw a whirlwind across the room and nearly hit Master Onsel. It’s this same word and I can’t quite figure it out. Torga, or Thurn, or something. Every voice says it but I can’t place it.”
Ayana wrapped her arms around Imtha. “I’m sorry it’s hitting so hard. I haven’t had that and it sounds terrible.”
The stony expression gave way to tears and Imtha was nearly sobbing. “I don’t want to be too weak to do this.”
Fenn added herself to the hug. “You’ll be fine. Maybe ask Jaali? He’s been having nightmares since before he even joined the coven. But don’t bottle up. You’ll crack your mind in half if you don’t get the masters to help you through.”
Imtha caught her breath and started to calm down. “I think I need to meditate on the balcony again and it will calm down. And if Jaali was any help at getting rid of nightmares he wouldn’t still be having them,” she said with a small smile. “I’ll be alright. You guys need to actually finish these stairs though. Have fun without me.”
Right. Eleven floors to go.