Kalie Rana

The dark grey through the window’s glass turned black as I waited the hours away. I sung my songs, and reached out to the spirits of the typhoon, but the weaving of spells was a delicate work, and it was a job made even more difficult the further from Cerith we travelled. It was as if alongside the rest of the crew, Lux, and even Valier, that even the spirits of the Sea of Thorns were ignoring me.

Although I had done my best to dress myself, even going so far as to wear one of the more impressive dresses Maria had insisted that I bring along. After looking at myself in the mirror I couldn’t help but see it for what it was. A desperate attempt to impress a man that I had no future with, regardless of whatever either of us wanted.

And yet, when the knock at my door broke my concentration, I had to quickly scramble to undo whatever futile attempt I had made at pulling my hair up into the fancy styles that Maria used to thrust upon me. I had shaken my long curls back out. I was in such a hurry to open the door, and begin the awkwardness that no doubt was about to follow, that I failed to ask who was on the other side, and it wasn’t until I was face to face with Valier that I realized the mistake I had made.

“Kalie?” Valier’s breath slightly burned my nostrils, telling me that we were standing too close, and that he had been drinking that evening.

“Valier? What are you doing here?”

“I… I was…” his words stumbled out of his mouth, whether it was the alcohol or something else, his words tripped and fumbled as he looked me over. “I wanted to speak to you after my show, but I couldn’t find you. Some of the other men told me they hadn’t seen you in days. I wanted to be sure that you were alright.”

“I’m fine, but I’m—”

“Was it something that I did?” Valier said interrupting me, “if I said something, or if something happened at the show, I apologize.” His words, quick at first slowly sputtered to a stop, before he hesitated and ran his fingers through his hair before continuing again. “I just wanted to impress you.”

“No, it’s not that. There was—” Just as I was about to explain the situation to Valier, Lux’s words entered my mind, and I realized just how bad it would be if he was seen outside of my cabin. “How about you come in for a moment, you can’t stay too long, I am expecting someone.”

“You’re expecting someone?”

“Yes, I am, now come in!” I said, grabbing him by his collar and shutting the door behind him, placing the locking bar into place.

First you invite a man into your cabin, then you lock the two of you inside. Are you looking to maintain your chastity or not?

It was clear that regardless of what my intentions were, Valier seemed to be thinking something else.

I think.

It was hard to tell honestly, his expressions were exacerbated by the alcohol, leaving his face a caricature of surprise.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’d just rather not be seen talking with you on deck right now.” Hearing that, Valier looked more offended than I intended. “I’m sorry, it’s not that I don’t want to speak with you, I just don’t want anyone getting the wrong impression.”

“It’s quite easy for one to get the wrong impression when a woman invites a man into her cabin.”

“Well throw that impression away. If you try anything, just remember that I’m not one of your dock-wives.”

“Dock-wife? Gods no! You’re not… That’s terrible! Did someone say that about you? I’ll happily throw them overboard for you, all you need do is ask.” The honesty and severity that Valier spoke in gave me some hope for myself. The idea of being able to inspire those sorts of feelings in a man was a balm for at least part of the pain I was feeling.

“Depending on how my conversation this evening goes, I may take you up on that,” I muttered to myself. Regardless of the pleasantness of his candor, allowing that conversation to continue much longer would’ve left Valier knowing—or thinking he knew—to much. “What was it that you wanted to talk about Valier?” Thankfully, he took the thread of new conversation and ran with it.

“There are a great many things that I would love to speak to you about, trust me there. But, I was hoping that this could be an introduction.” The touch-too-wide smile on his face set me uneasy, but Valier’s propensity for theatricality told me to give him a little leeway. “I told you I’d introduce you to Alito, didn’t I?” Before I could even say anything, Valier confirmed my earlier suspicion by producing his violin case seemingly out of thin air.

But the shower of golden light mana washing off the case in the immaterium told me the real truth.

“You keep your case invisible?”

“Alito does, yes. Keeps him safe.”

“Keeps him safe?” I asked, but Valier didn’t seem to notice, instead, without missing a beat, Valier placed the case on the table and opened it.

“Alright, I just need to—wait a moment,” Valier said before turning to me, “what did you think of our playing?” Valier’s demeanor was flickering between thoughts quicker than his wine soaked mind should’ve been able to.

Was it nervousness or excitement?

I’d be lying if I didn’t also feel myself flipping between the two as well.

“I thought it was beautiful. Xingfald would’ve been proud, I’d suspect.”

“Truly? Valier’s smile grew as he turned back to the case, withdrawing the simple violin and bowstring from within. “You hear that Alito? High praise from the Princess.”

Princess? Not Kalie?

Again, he acted before I could hope to correct him, Valier dragged the bow across the strings producing a deep singular note followed by a high staccato. Even through just the short burst of movement, it was obvious that Valier was exceptionally talented. With every plucking note, the gold filigree I had seen on the mess deck reached out from the simple gold band on the violin until it sat as a loose bunch of gold thread, saddled beside Valier’s cheek.

“Kalie, meet Alito. Alito, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Kalie, the Princess of the Kingdom of Cerith.”

“A sentient spirit? A sentient light spirit? By the gods Valier! He’s amazing!” I stepped closer to get a better look at the spirit, but as I approached the bundle recoiled ever so slightly.

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“I’d say as much,” Valier said looking at the spirit, “but that’s not even the most impressive thing about him! Alito, show her what you can do.” Valier stood as straight as an arrow, holding the bow against the strings, before he began to whistle slow notes as the bow rode across the strings. His whistles weren’t nearly as sure or steady as the notes that the violin produced in response. After the third note, Valier’s hand dropped away from the bow, but it continued to steadily move across the strings. Then, Valier’s other hand fell away, leaving the Violin to play itself. Or, more correctly, leaving Alito to continue playing. As Valier took a step away Alito began to play faster, and more complex notes as Valier joined me to watch the spirit skillfully play.

“Amazing, isn’t he?”

“He’s beautiful.” The words fell from my mouth as I became entranced by the spirit’s playing. “Where in the world did you find him? Who made him for you?” But as the reality of the moment fell back into place, more thoughts came to the forefront of my mind. “How in the world could you have bought him? Something like this must’ve cost thousands of gold pieces.”

“A bit too expensive for a deck-hand, that’s for certain,” Valier said sheepishly. “He was a gift from my mother.”

“Your mother? Was she a Contractor?”

“No, no, nothing of the sort. But she was quite well connected.”

“Was she a noble?” Being a Contractor itself was exceedingly rare, but being able to afford one was even more so. Especially when it came to making deals with light spirits. The biggest difficulty of which, was being able to create a light spirit in the first place, a painstaking effort to manage, pulling together all the rare motes of light mana one could find. Or worse so, transforming enough raw mana into a light spirit. Alito was a rarity, upon a rarity, upon a rarity if he was in the hands of a king, but he was a sheer impossibility in the hands of a common man.

“We were, yes.” The dour expression that Valier was suddenly wearing filled in the remaining pieces of his story.

“And that almost explains your dislike of White-Raven, did he take your titles from you or something? A part of the purge?”

“Oh no, it’s nothing as dramatic. It wasn't the White-Raven neither. Father was the lord of a small domain on the outskirts of the old Empire. The emperor decided that he’d rather have the land be his own. Father was obviously against that.” Valier’s heavy silence was replaced instead by Alito’s playing. I had barely even realized that the spirit had continued to play after we began speaking. “By the time the siege was over, Father didn’t even try to fight back. It wouldn’t have mattered regardless, one majin—even one as powerful as him—is no match for a hundred soldiers. Mother and I were let go since neither of us were dangerous. Non-majin, women, and children were free to go. It’s funny,” Valier said, straining to smile through the words, “I think I was offended by that back then too. Barely ten, and I just learned to play. I had Alito for maybe a week before the siege began, and after a few months of trying to play all I could manage was to get him to barely poke his head out.” Valier collapsed into one of the chairs, while I took a seat across from him. I wanted to say something, do something, but all I could manage was to listen.

What could I say anyway?

“But you don’t want to hear about that anyway. Where’s the fun in listening to some nobody’s sad story?”

“That’s not it!” The words were harder to say than I realized, not for my lack of trying, it was like the tip of my tongue had begun to go numb.

“I appreciate that Princess. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about this evening. There’s something much more important that I was hoping to speak with you about.”

“Whatever you’d like.” The words that came from my mouth were fuzzy, but more concerning, they came forth, begat by no real thought. Like they had formed themselves in my mouth.

“It’s about the White-Raven. It’s about your future, and the future of your people.” Valier leaned in, giving me another whiff of the strong alcohol scent on his breath. As his eyes studied mine, I found it difficult to meet his gaze. “I was really worried about coming here tonight, but this is going well.” His shoulders relaxed as he leaned back and as some veneer of comfortability overcame him a shiver crawled down my spine. A whiff of familiarity stopped the spread of panic, as I once again heard Xingfald’s 5th floating along the air. I tried to close my eyes or at least tried to focus upon the mana of the room, but I could do neither.

I was frozen in place watching Valier as he shifted positions.

“Are you comfortable?” He asked.

No! Absolutely not!

“Of course, the furnishings provided for this cabin have been wonderful.” My own voice had taken on an affectless tone as an insurrection against my own mind.

“I’d say,” he said as he ran his fingers along the fine stitching of his chair. “You know, that on the mainland, a majin like yourself could’ve been hanged for sitting on it like you’re doing not even ten years ago.” Valier glared at his own hand before turning the same violent eyes toward me. “I know you’re probably confused, but I think this is for the best. Would you allow me to be selfish for a moment? To steal just a few minutes of your time?” Although his voice had returned to the same light, airy tone he spoke with before, his eyes remained harsh and unflinching.

“Of course.” Once again, my mouth spoke the words but my mind was silenced. But as more of Xingfald’s music filled my ears, it became harder for me to even think.

“You’re too kind Princess. I knew I was right to come to you. I guess it makes sense, only another majin could begin to understand what it was like for me.”

“I’ll try to understand.”

“And that’s what I appreciate!” Valier pushed himself up from his seat. As he circled the table, my eyes followed him of their own accord. “Wonderful work Alito, I think that she’s finally ready.”

Get away from me! I tried to shout, to push him away, to do anything, but my body remained still, as all of my focus became on Valier.

“How are you feeling Princess?”

“I am well, thank you.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He leaned over me, cutting off the light of the candle as he did so, casting his face into shadows. “I need you to listen to me, because we won’t have long. Regardless, by the time I leave here tonight this won’t be anything but a faded memory. When you arrive in that man’s throne room, I only have one request of you; show him the truth. Tell him that—”

A knock at the cabin’s door broke his concentration, and for a moment, the spirit’s hold on me.

“Help!” My voice was weak, overpowered by Valier’s shout.

“Alito!”

Crash!

And just like that, the world went dark.

What followed the shade of darkness falling over the room was hard for me to keep track of. Whatever majic had been cast over me, I had found myself not only a prisoner with a mutinous mouth, but a reluctant body as well. So, when the chair I was sitting in fell over, I fell along with it. Although I could see through the open door like it was a portal to another world—a world of moonlight, and sea breeze—no light from the door dared to travel beyond the threshold.

Trapped within my useless body, all I could do was listen as the room around me crashed and exploded with the sounds of fighting.

“Alito! Now!” And, at a crescendo of the battle, Alito’s strings began to scream out new notes, at a rate faster than I could even believe. And, from an unnaturally pitched darkness, the room exploded with light. Each candle became as bright as the sun, blinding to anyone unfortunate enough to look directly at them. My motionless eyes burnt as the light seared at them. Flashes of black covered my vision before they caught hold of movement.

Valier was launched over the table. Upon seeing his face again, my eyes were compelled to follow his movement. Which allowed me to watch as someone, jumping over the table only a moment behind him, landed on him, driving knees into his arm.

“Stop that damn thing now!” In the haze of flashing black, and intense light it was difficult for me to see who the man was. But, despite Alito’s increasingly frantic playing, I did recognize his voice. “Stop it now, or else I’ll split your throat, ear to ear!” Lux bellowed, before smashing a fist into Valier’s face.

“Enough!” Valier sputtered, “stop! Enough Alito.” And, with his command, the violin’s playing ceased. As did the intense flickering light of the candles, and finally, whatever control had been cast over me. Like a hundred binds had suddenly and all at once been released from my body. The feeling was one of relief and to my absolute surprise, excruciating pain.

A split moment of consciousness was all that I had before I succumbed to the intense pain.

Lux’s voice was the last thing that I heard, as the flaming pain washed over me.

“Oh Gods no! Kalie!”