FERNAN III: THE NEOPHYTE
Saying his farewells had been anything but easy.
Fernan had made countless trips down to the pass before to scout for caravans, but a lengthy expedition like this, let alone one of such great importance, was entirely new.
Mother had jumped when he stepped in, her pillar of flame lifting into the air with a slightly orange glow. She had been calm and understanding afterwards, and with no way to see her expression, there wasn’t much else to go on, but the fact that he had startled her said a lot.
Even now, after days of travel, seeing everything only by its heat made things difficult, and no small amount of unnerving.
In Guerron Pass, life was everywhere. Little balls of fire the size of his fist scurried through what he knew to be the scraggly grass to the side of the main road. Tiny trails of specks lined the ground every so often, giving an impression of the contours of the slope but little else. Mara had said that some animals couldn’t produce their own warmth, and so were much harder to see, but practice would supposedly help with that.
Still, it rankled. He hadn’t had a real chance to come to terms with it in the wake of everything with Gézarde; the prospect of death or worse for his entire village had eclipsed thinking about his sight. But now that there was little to do but talk and think, the reality of it had set in.
He would never read a book, or see the ocean. Never again witness anyone’s smile, or the snow capped mountains shining brightly in the winter. If he’d known that his previous scouting expedition would be his last, he could have savored it, taken in all of the sights for one final time.
As it was, he felt like a helpless infant. Back in Villechart, the houses had been easy to make out against the frigid mountains behind them, but down here it was hard to even see the ground properly; tripping over errant rocks had been a constant issue for the first day of travel, with only Florette in front to judge the direction he needed to be going. Even parsing the outline of people was difficult, limbs often blurring together when they weren’t stretched out. Mara had said he would improve in time, but that was scant consolation now.
After a bit of practice, the road was easy enough to see, at least. With all of the activity through the pass, it glowed faintly against the background of the ground, lingering warmth from the people and animals traversing it. In fact, avoiding the hazards left by the horses was easier than ever, which was especially fortunate on the road, where there were no easy opportunities to bathe.
They hadn’t stopped at The First Post this time, since having Mara around would have made it difficult, and time was of the essence. Florette had figured that they were probably passing Gaspard and the others, which was only a positive for her. And obviously if Magnifico and his guards had still been there, that wouldn’t have made spending the night there any more appealing for her.
After that, Mara had stuck to the side of the pass, yards from the road. Much of that was to keep her more hidden, but she and Florette had been determined in their efforts to avoid each other even when there had been no one else around. Most of the time, it was like Mara wasn’t even traveling with them, which wasn’t what Fernan had hoped for.
But it did make it easier to live with what they were doing, getting this sun relic to prohibit geckos from entering the new village as well. He truly did want to find a better solution, but in the worst case, he also couldn’t argue that maintaining the status quo was better than complete annihilation.
The less Mara was close by, the less Fernan had to worry about betraying the plan before he could find an alternative.
“Is that it?” Florette called out, holding her orange-tinged limb of flame to her head. “I think that grey thing on the horizon is the wall.”
Fernan sighed. “I don’t know why you’re asking me.”
“Oh.” She sucked in air through her teeth, her flame dimming. “Right. Sorry.”
“If it is, we don’t need to make camp tonight. We can just find an inn there.”
Florette glowed yellow. “If I go ahead to check, can you manage? I could use a run.”
“Go ahead. I can navigate the road now.”
The bulb at the top that was her head nodded as she began jogging forward along the path.
Only once she was far ahead did Mara creep out of the underbrush to the side, her flame tinted slightly white. “Is she gone? Can we talk again?” Florette’s little absences like this were their only real chance.
Fernan nodded. After Mara failed to respond, he clarified: “Yes.”
“Oh good! I think you’re handling the sight well enough for now, so I was hoping you could tell me some more about humans.”
He nodded once again. “Sure. For a start, when you see one doing this, it means that they’re saying ‘Yes’, so they agree, or they heard what you said.”
“Oh! I thought it was just wobbling around because you have such big heads on such tiny necks! Is that what it means when they move sideways too?” Her white tinge had changed to orange.
He shook his head. “Just the opposite. It means ‘No’, or that they disagree.”
“That’s really confusing. They look so similar.”
“It’s easier when the orientation of someone’s head is more obvious.” As it was now, it was almost impossible to see whether someone was facing forwards or backwards until they moved. “Remember, humans see everything in color, with much more detail.”
“We see in color too, Fernan. Haven’t you noticed that the glow shifts in tone based on the temperature?”
He sighed. “Sure, but it’s not the same.”
Mara flashed yellow. “It’s better! That’s a huge part of how you can tell what someone’s thinking when you talk to them. Glowing brighter for passion, or shifting in color for emphasis. Without that measure of intensity, the sounds and hisses we make don’t tell you everything you need to know. My youngest siblings don’t even know how to add sounds yet, so they try to communicate just by flaring up.”
“Huh.” He scratched his chin. “I guess that means that no human could really learn your language, then. Not properly.”
“You could.” She scurried up in front of him. “Oh! I could teach you! And then you could tell Gèzarde your mission is accomplished in our own tongue. I bet he’d love that! And I can introduce you to my sister Sela! She’ll be so jealous when she finds out I’m going to the city and––”
“I would love to learn it,” Fernan interrupted with a pang of guilt. If he couldn’t find another way to relocate the village, the geckos would be none too pleased at the betrayal, and a visit like that would be out of the question. “But I think we need to focus on my vision first. It would be nice if I could avoid tripping onto the Sun sages whose help I need.”
“Oh yeah…” Her excited glow faded back to a lower, more neutral burn. “There will be more people in this city though. With hundreds of humans running around, it should be much easier for you to orient yourself.”
Fernan raised an eyebrow. “Hundreds?”
Mara bobbed her head. “Whenever the people from your village mentioned the city, they always made it sound even bigger. Did I get the wrong impression?”
“No, you were right about that.” He smiled. “But from what the traders would say, it’s got closer to a hundred thousand.”
“I don’t understand.”
“One thousand is ten hundreds. So a hundred thousand is…” He looked up at the black sky. “Let’s just say it’s a lot more than a few hundred. Many, many times more.”
“How do they even fit so many humans into one burrow?”
“With any luck, we’ll find out soon. I’ve never seen it either.” Jerome hadn’t been able to give them much of an idea what to expect, even though he had to have visited it to make his contract with Soleil. He’d said it would be better for them to find out for themselves.
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Florette was panting heavily as she ran back, shining red, far brighter than she had begun. “That’s…” She took a deep breath. “It’s definitely the wall. It looked like a few people were lined up outside the gate, but I think we can probably still manage to find a room for tonight in time.”
“Good,” Fernan said. “There must be a lot of people gathering for the Festival of the Sun. You’ll have some stiff competition in the tournament.”
“We both will.” She shrugged, her intense red glow slowly fading as she caught her breath. “But it’s even more impressive to place well in a crowded field.”
“We?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Well, come on, Fernan.” She gestured towards his face. “You’re a spirit sage now! That’s a massive leg up on everyone else. It’d be stupid not to use it.”
He sighed. “I’m getting the sundial to save my entire village. I can’t afford to waste time with anything else.”
Her aura faded slightly. “Of course. However you want to handle it.”
Mara scurried forward. “What’s a tournament?”
Florette folded her arms, her glow flaring up again. “It’s none of your concern. You should wait outside of the city until we’re done anyway. It would be too hard having to explain keeping a monster with us.”
“Florette.” Fernan gave her a stern look. “Be polite.”
“Fine.” She sighed. “It’s how humans show who’s the best, a collection of fights and contests where only the strongest rise to the top. They win a grand prize, while the weak ones have to live with the shame of their defeat.” She turned to face Mara directly. “But they don’t take kindly to maiming, so I’m sure you wouldn’t have any interest.”
“You stabbed my tail with a rock!” Mara glowed pure white, trails of smoke curling up from her mouth.
Florette stepped forward, her intensity rising to match.
“Stop it, both of you!” Fernan stepped forth between them. “I know you’re afraid, but we all want the same thing, here.”
“Afraid? I’m livid.”
“I don’t think that’s all this is. Both of you fought pretty hard, and it led to some serious damage. And yet you’ve been avoiding each other this whole trip, instead of picking fights. Until now, anyway.”
“Fear still doesn’t mean it’s safe, Fernan. The scared humans were the most dangerous ones, poking us with those sharp sticks, hurting and killing so they could steal our food.”
“They were afraid because you were attacking them with fire!” Florette’s glow was getting redder now. “Just like you attacked us.”
“I said stop!” A trail of green flew out in front of his face, dissipating quickly in the air as it left only a faintly glowing impression. Immediately, Fernan felt drained, like he’d run all the way up the mountain without stopping.
He sunk to his knees, breathing deeply.
Florette and Mara’s glows had both maintained their energy as they approached. “Are you alright?” Florette asked cautiously.
Fernan nodded. “Jerome warned me about the limited amount of spiritual energy from my contract but…” He took another deep breath. “That was awful..”
“Are you joking? That was amazing! You just spat fire in front of you!”
“I had seen seven winters by the time I managed a blast that big! You’re a fast learner, Fernan.”
He shook his head, finally recovered enough to stand back up. “It was an accident, and not one I’m eager to repeat.”
“You don’t want to do this tournament thing? I’m sure you could win! You’re the best of all the humans I know.”
Fernan brushed off his trousers. “You know two humans.”
“And you’re my favorite!”
Florette stifled a chuckle. “See, even the lizard thinks you should do it.”
“Let’s just get to the city.” Fernan rolled his eyes. “We can discuss the rest later.”
Fortunately, the rest of the walk wasn’t long. The wall made for a strange sight, not really visible to him on its own, but once Florette pointed it out, he could see blobs of fire elevated in the sky, guards on the watchtowers.
Only two groups were ahead of them: a trading caravan of a few wagons, carrying brightly glowing coal that was probably from one of the villages on the other side of the pass; and a collection of two larger and two smaller silhouettes of fire that might have been a family.
“Why did you stop?” Mara walked slightly past Fernan and Florette, then scurried back. “Are you tired? I know you humans have a lot less energy because you don’t have the same fire inside you, but we’re almost there! Can’t you rest once we get to see the city?”
“We’re keeping our distance.” Florette waved her arms near the back of head, probably doing something with her hair. “You stand out.”
Fernan furrowed his brow. “I’m hoping it’ll be less of an issue once we’re in the city itself, but the other people waiting here probably know geckos all too well.”
“Oh.”
And so they waited, watching one of the guards walk up and question people entering the city, finally ending with what Florette whispered was an exchange of coins.
“Can we cover that?” he whispered back.
Florette only shrugged silently, going back to watching them.
By the time the two groups had made their way through, the sun was close to the horizon, a bright ball of flame shining right into his eyes. Curiously, it didn’t sting the way it would have before, with no afterimages when he glanced away.
Two flames in the shape of people stood in front of the gate, unmoving. Another two pairs were assembled on the other side, each turning slightly orange as Fernan and Florette stepped closer.
“Hello?” Fernan nervously held his arm behind his back. “Is there someone I should be talking to?” For the other groups, this would have been the moment that the front guard came forward to question them.
Immediately, all of the guards shifted to red. The one on the left in the front seemed the most agitated, tensing up before he spoke. “Begging your pardon, milord. Gerry’s getting the captain to see you in. We wasn’t informed to be ready for you.”
Fernan raised an eyebrow. “Uh… Alright.” He looked to Florette, who gave the slightest of shrugs back.
After a moment, another person, less intense than the others, made his way down from atop the gate and stepped forward to Fernan.
Before he had a chance to ask a question, the man bowed at the waist. “Forgive me, my lord. Lord Valvert informed us that the scion of House Bougitte would be entering from the South Gate, not the East. Erm, we were also told to expect Lady Laura.”
To his left, Florette lit up, oscillating between yellow and red.
“Ah, well, you see.” Fernan lifted a finger to begin explaining, but Florette jumped in front of him.
“Lady Laura will still be entering through the South Gate as scheduled. That must be the source of the confusion.”
What in Soleil’s name was she doing?
“…Yes,” Fernan added hesitantly.
“My lord wished to see the majesty of Guerron Pass before entering the city. We split from the main party to circle around and see it.”
“I see…” The white faded from the captain, overtaken by the orange.
“If I may ask, Captain, how did you recognize my liege? In a smaller group, we thought it safer to disguise ourselves as common folk.”
The captain gasped. “Really? That is to say, my lady, I would think Lord…”
“Fernan,” he supplied.
“…Lord Fernan’s eyes glow bright with flame, an obvious mark of a spirit sage. At a distance, you no doubt passed unnoticed, but it caught my underlings’ eyes immediately.”
“That makes sense, I suppose.” Fernan tried to keep the uncertainty out of his voice. Why couldn’t they just tell the truth?
“We had thought to make a game of entering like this, unveiling ourselves at the palace. I suppose now that that’s at an end, my lord might as well bring forth his familiar.”
His familiar? He met Florette’s eyes, or at least he did his best to, and she nodded back. He didn’t really know what they were, but Florette had to mean Mara, so he called out her name towards the shrubbery she had hidden herself under for their conversation with the guards.
Mara scurried up eagerly, taking a place at his side, and the guards went red with fear once again.
“It’s… quite beautiful, my lord. A worthy companion for the House of Flame.”
“She,” Fernan corrected. “But I’m sure she appreciates the compliment.”
The captain began laughing nervously for some reason, accompanied by his underlings.
Florette tinged slightly red with irritation and added, “How humorous, to imagine a mere familiar understanding speech.”
“What’s humorous about it?” Mara asked innocently.
Florette banged the back of her head against the stone wall. “My liege honors you in showing that trick. A bit of spiritual power, and it is as if the beast can talk, herself.”
“I see. Most impressive!”
Florette rubbed her head softly. “Now if you will excuse us, we really must be moving on.”
“Of course, of course.” The captain held out his arm, gesturing in the gate. “Please, allow me to send a detachment with you to the palace.”
“The offer is appreciated, but I’m sure my skills are sufficient to keep my lord safe for the journey.” Florette’s flame flickered as she told the lie.
“Um. Yes.” Fernan furrowed his brow and began walking under the stone, through to the other side of the gate. Mercifully, Mara kept silent until they were out of earshot of the guards.
“What was that about?”
“I’d like to know that myself,” Fernan added. “What’s wrong with telling them why we’re entering the city? I’m sure they’d let us in; Jerome didn’t seem to think there would be any issue.”
Florette shone bright yellow. “Really? You didn’t have fun with that? We got to trick them and get out of paying the entry fee. Now we can afford a better room, or maybe a nicer drink. And apparently you look like some noble, so it’s an option if we need it later.”
Fernan wiped sweat from his forehead. “Fun? That was incredibly stressful, and for basically no reason! What would have happened if that captain had insisted on taking us to the castle full of nobles?”
“They’d probably see through the lie.” She shrugged. “He didn’t, and he was never really going to. What guard would gainsay the noble scion of House… What did he say it was? Bougie?”
“Bougitte,” Fernan supplied. “It was still a big risk for a tiny reward. And you jumped in without asking first.”
Florette sighed. “Look, I would have talked about it first if I’d had the chance. I saw the opportunity and I seized it, and it meant we didn’t have to pay the fee. If something like this comes up again, I promise to ask you first.”
“Good. I don’t like lying.” More sweat dripped down the back of his neck, sticking his tunic to him.
“Lying… This is what Gézarde warned about, the treachery of humans.”
“Well, we only did it to other humans.” Florette turned back briefly to glance at the gate, a good ways behind them. “You and your spirit don’t lose anything from it.”
Mara turned slightly paler, but didn’t respond.
“Oh come on! It’s done. Look, I’m sorry. Let’s move on. We’ve got this whole city to explore, and only about an hour before it gets dark.”
Fernan reluctantly nodded, properly taking in the city for the first time.
The magnitude of it was immense, points of light everywhere he could see, casting warmth on structures enough that he could almost make out the buildings. Lamps on posts lit up the roads, wagons, horses, and people walking all up and down them.
One of them even bumped past them as they were gawking, muttering a curse under her breath.
And up in front, even amidst all of the activity, one building stood out. The people’s lights were packed tightly, moving, jittering and dancing at a rapid pace, to a tune too far away to hear. Could it be the spot Magnifico had mentioned? It seemed likely.
“I think I know a place to start: The Singer’s Lounge.”