Athir’s leg vanished from sight, and her shoulders slumped.

"This is impossible," she growled, slamming the sword into its sheath.

Since she had returned, there had been a strange discord in the song of the Echo that was slowly getting stronger, worming its way into her consciousness and shattering her concentration. All of the Faelen could feel it, and although none seemed to understand what had changed, the sense of fear among them was palpable.

"A one-legged champion. I think that would make a good story, don’t you?" Yroh laughed as he stepped into the courtyard.

Athir had been back for only a few days, and this was the first time she had seen her friend up close. Faint lines had appeared on his forehead, and there were bags under his eyes. She had seen it in the other Faelen too.

The Faelen prince’s laughter died down in the face of her blank stare. "Did you leave your sense of humor in the mortal realm?"

"There’s nothing funny about what’s happening here," Athir retorted, gesturing to the decaying palace around them. "I can feel this noise trying to burrow into my head; what’s happening?"

Yroh sighed, and the weight on his shoulders seemed to press him down into the ground. "I don’t know; I’d tell you if I did."

"Then where’s Myam? Let him tell me."

Yroh drew his sword, making a show of inspecting the blade. "I’m afraid only the best fighters can be allowed to speak with Myam; I just came from there myself."

Athir’s lips flickered into a smile. He was baiting her, but she never turned down a fight. "I guess I’ll have to take your spot then."

Athir drew her sword and lunged towards him, but as she swiped at him with it, he vanished into thin air.

"Show off. You’re louder than a baby camel, you know," Athir muttered, closing her eyes and listening carefully.

Yroh’s voice floated somewhere in front of her. "What’s a camel?"

"It's a kind of desert horse; it holds water in sacks on its back."

"You’re making this up to keep me talking." Yroh’s voice came from away to her left, and she shifted her stance.

"Don’t talk then, although for you that might be a challenge."

Silence loomed over the courtyard, and with it came the new insidious undertones in the song of the Echo.

Athir strained her hearing, trying to block out the grating new sound around her. She turned as she caught the subtle movement of cloth behind her.

"You are not as aware as you think you are," Yroh said, his blade held at Athir’s neck.

"And you never believed how far I would go to win," she replied, pushing the tip of the dagger she held against his abdomen. "

"How can you win if you’re dead? This is not the Faelen way; it is not honorable," Yroh said, stepping back and becoming visible, his face wearing a troubled frown.

Athir sighed. "What do you really want, Yroh? Did you come out here just to lecture me?"

"I came because Myam has asked for you."

"I suppose you told him about my trips to the mortal realm?"

"I did."

They walked through the ruined palace together, nodding to the various Faelen that scurried around with concerned expressions.

The ceiling of the magnificent bedroom had collapsed, letting the red light bleed in. Myam sat with his back to them, gazing out to the echo; he seemed shrunken somehow.

"If you’re going to tell me not to go to the mortal realm anymore, you can save your breath; I’ll stay here," Athir began.

She shot an accusatory look at Yroh, who gazed unashamedly back at her.

"We are destined to ever be at odds, Athir. I called you here to tell you that the time has come for you to leave," Myam said.

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The words rang hollow in Athir’s ears. This was her home. She moved around to face him and saw that the skin on his face was waxy and his breathing was labored.

"Myam, what’s wrong with you?"

"You have noticed the change that has come to the Echo?"

Athir nodded.

"An unfortunate event will soon affect all who dwell here. I feel it keenly, and others will in time."

"Yroh too?" Alice asked, her gaze flicking to the young prince.

"Perhaps."

"We have to do something; use your magic; ask the Lady," Athir suggested.

"The Lady is affected also; surely you noticed this in your meetings with her?"

In truth, it had been many years since the Lady had spoken to Athir, but she had always acted like a scared and confused child. If that had something to do with this latest change, then it had been coming for a long time.

Athir took Myam’s hand, the skin feeling like dry paper. "I’m supposed to be her champion. Tell me what to do."

"I will tell you," Myam began. "About your family."

"My family died," she said, her voice hoarse. Burning tents and a boy with blond hair, wide eyes, and a red gash on his neck filled Athir’s vision.

"Those who raised you were not your real family; you must know this. Your ancestor was an arcanist. Possibly the greatest arcanist who ever lived and a great personal friend of the Faelen, He was in possession of a brilliant, singular mind, without him the flying cities of the mortal realm would not have been possible."

Athir sat down on a chair next to him, her head spinning.

"This ancestor created a gateway that led him here, to the Echo, and he fell in love, and they had a child."

"Is the Lady my mother?"

Myam’s eyes crinkled. "You are special, Athir, but not quite that exceptional. For hundreds of years, his lineage has all been Faelen, with his bloodline never showing itself clearly. Until you were born."

"You're saying my mother and father were Faelen? What happened to them?"

"You know we age differently than you, they were already very old, and you know that there have been disagreements among the Faelen, bloodshed here in the Echo against the other great houses. They were good and honest, but unremarkable. Hand me one of your swords," Myam commanded, and he gently thumbed the blade where the owl was etched on. "This is the mark of your ancestor."

"Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?"

"I was told not to, by the Lady. She knows when it is best for things to happen. Most of the time."

"Why doesn’t she speak to me any more?" Athir had not meant to ask the question, but although she knew it was foolish, she felt she had somehow upset the Faelen Queen.

"That’s a question that you may ask her yourself one day. For now, let me finish what I have to say. Your ancestor wanted to help us, and so he became the first champion of the Lady. She gave him a white sword that had been made long before the Echo was created. He took that sword and used his gateway to travel to another realm. And there, he killed a god."

The silence in the room was absolute. Yroh was clearly hearing this story for the first time, and his mouth hung open.

"Who did he kill?" Athir asked.

"The one they call the Brother."

Athir sat back. The revelation that the Brother was dead didn’t make any sense.

"But I’ve seen his temple in Tajar. He has champions."

"We believe his worshippers were taken under the control of others."

"The Mother and the Father?" Athir asked.

Myam nodded softly. "This is what we believe."

"What happened to my ancestor?" Athir asked.

Myam’s expression was the only answer she needed. "He completed only a part of the work that was needed, now you have to succeed where he failed."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Find the sword, kill the Father," Myam said, his voice suddenly stronger.

"You want me to kill a god?" Athir gave a mirthless laugh.

"It is the first step in freeing us from this place."

Athir’s laughter died in the face of Myam's revelation. "What do the gods have to do with the echo?"

"I do not know; much has been lost to us, but we know that there was a great betrayal, and we know the name of the betrayer."

The Father's crimes against her personally were enough to make her curse his name, but knowing that he had betrayed the Falen was an injustice that somehow dwarfed even the murder of her adopted family.

"Where is the sword?" Athir asked.

"I do not know."

"Where is the gateway?" Yroh asked, stepping forward.

"I do not know."

Among these revelations, another memory stirred. A moment when Athir had faced the Lady, just before she had lost everything to the Father.

"She knew," Athir said, the words a whisper. "She knew I would be here; she said so. She knew about the sword."

"The Lady can see some things, but not all."

"She knew that my family would die in the desert. Why didn’t she stop it?" Athir said, standing up and letting the chair clatter to the floor.

"I do not know," Myam repeated.

"You don’t know, you don’t know," she parroted. "Or you’re not allowed to tell me, which is it?"

Myam was silent, and there was a pain on his face that was not caused by his mysterious illness. "You cannot blame the Lady for what happened; the fates are not a book one can just pick up and read, even someone like her."

"Did you know, Myam?"

"I did not."

The old Faelen’s admission somehow just made her madder. They were all being led along so blindly. "What did she think, that I needed motivation in order to help you? I would have done anything to help."

"That was not her intention," Myam began.

"You don’t know that," Athir interrupted.

The discordant sound of the Echo was like a worm in her ears, trying to burrow it’s way into her brain.

"I didn’t choose any of this. She made me feel like I belonged here, but she’s been playing with my fate this whole time."

"It is your destiny."

Something inside Athir snapped. "I choose my destiny, no one else!"

Athir reached out, ripping open a window between the worlds and throwing herself through it. The portal closed behind her, and she found herself in a beautifully appointed bedroom in the royal palace of Tajar. The city was a sprawling jumble of humanity outside the large window.

A maid screamed and dropped a pile of crisp white sheets, and Athir made herself totally invisible. She fled the palace and into the city, raging at the irony that this was exactly what Myam had wanted her to do.