Rae’s resolve lasted until they brought out an infant. She was in the garden, tasting a ripe fig when a mother appeared, clutching a swaddled bundle.

“He’s only two weeks old,” the goblin woman said. There were dark sacks under her bloodshot eyes. Though her voice was young, her face was ancient in grief. “He’s so small and he doesn’t cry like the other babies.”

Rae felt the trap closing around her even as she leaned forward and touched the child’s cheek. The skin was bluish and cool despite the blankets wrapped around him. A weak heart and malformed lungs; it was a surprise he’d made it out of the womb. Mortal lives were so delicate.

“What’s his name?”

“Kei.”

“Let me remove the cloth,” Rae said, tugging at the blanket and loosening it until she could press her palm directly to his chest. “Kei, from this day forth, you shall be called Azamu, for your body is as strong as a pillar in my father’s house.”

A bit of Radient for the healing and twice as much for the blessing. Her hand glowed with divine brilliance that sufficed the child’s flesh and when it ended, color flooded his skin. His chest rose and fell in deep breaths and he gave a soft cry.

“You did it. Oh, bless you! I’ll go to the temple every day, I swear it.”

“Take him home and make sure he’s well fed. He’ll be ravenous for the next few days but he’ll grow into a strong, healthy man.” If Rae was successful here, she reminded herself. If she failed…

The young mother hurried off but she wasn’t the last. They came in drips and drops at first–an old man was carried by his grandsons, a woman who had lost an eye to beast claws, children struggling with sickness, and adults missing limbs. Word was slowly spreading to all corners of the courtyard.

Rae tried to focus on her work. An old gardener, bent over with skin as withered as the stick he used for a cane, showed her around. The water supply came from wells in the courtyard. Rae could feel the tower itself had a protective aura that kept away the supernatural threats beyond the wall. Such was the art of the Markers that they could imbue spirit into structures. A taste of the icy well water told her it was not only clean but infused with minerals, like snow run-off from a mountain peak. Any land watered by this would be enriched and remain arable from season to season with the right management.

The gardener explained to her that they rotated the crops from year to year and the yield had been bountiful since he was a little boy following his grandfather through the rows. The problem was that there wasn’t enough for those living outside the tower. Even the well’s water level had lowered and one well was dry.

“Have you tried living outside the walls?” she asked.

“The earth is sick,” the elder replied as he played with a wispy, white beard. “It’s harder to grow crops in the wastes and the fruit that survives can be poison. Though there are a few tribes that eke out an existence…” he pulled a face.

“Other communities?”

“Cannibals, demon worshipers, madmen.” He glanced behind Rae as he spoke and she turned to see a boy dressed in only a loin cloth and sandals walk towards her. A group of two other children and an older man.

When the boy was close enough, he fell on his knees among the tomato stocks, grabbed her leg, and bowed his head.

“Please help me, great star-maiden. Please bring me my mother back!” he wailed.

Yes, she had expected this. She placed a hand on his bare head; her fingers brushed against a bony ridge beginning to grow from his brow.

“Is your mother dead?” Rae asked.

“A month passed. My father and my siblings, we cry every night for her. She was the best of women. Kind and obedient to the warriors. Ever faithful to god.” He looked up at her, tears trickling from his eyes. He was too young for the worlds that spilled from his lips and had likely been given a script, but the grief was palpable.

She took the small hands clinging to her leg in her own and pulled him to his feet.

“What you ask, it is not in my power. My father is a lord of the light and I have no power over that which dwells in Night Eternal. I cannot command the dead to rise.”

“Please!” he said, not truly hearing her. “I will join the temple and spend the rest of my days in worship.”

Rae’s shoulders sagged and she looked toward the group. The father–he’d sent his son to beg for his. “Take your son,” she raised her voice in command. “Your wife is gone from you. This is not something to be undone.”

Anger flashed across the man’s face and he muttered: “I knew you were worthless.”

“Forgiveness, star-maiden Rafael,” the gardener spoke up. “Mayard loved his wife deeply and his heart is heavy with grief. He does not know what he says.”

“Piss on that,” the man responded. He grabbed his son’s hand and yanked the poor boy away. “Look at the world, old man, god left us long ago.

“This shiny, human woman claims to be from the heavens. So tell me, wench, why has heaven abandoned us? Why have you let the world turn to shit? Why do you come now and not generations ago when it all turned to fire and ash? Where were you a month ago when my wife died, when her lungs filled with fluids and she drowned in my arms?”

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Something ugly and hateful squirmed across his face and laced his every word with venom. Rae maintained her calm, not letting his anger infect her, but she was ashamed. Though his words were spoken with malice, he was not entirely wrong. Heaven had failed these people. The Celestial Hierarchy was meant to shepherd and safeguard worlds. While Rae knew she wasn’t to blame, it was still her responsibility.

“If I could save every life, I would. I was not here to help your wife but I may be able to help your children and their children.” Rae glanced at the group. “Who look distressed right now. Perhaps you should take them home.”

He departed under her steely gaze. He was not wrong to confront her–heaven should be held accountable for its misdeeds–but bringing along his children had been cruel.

“There is one more thing to show you,” the old gardener said after a long silence. “The courtyard has sacred trees. They need no tending and only the priests are allowed to touch them. They appear dormant during the day but spring to life at night.”

“I wish to return to the temple first,” she replied.

They did so and Dwin spotted them on their way. No doubt, he’d been telling everyone about the star-maiden’s healing, which is why they’d been coming to her. Once at the temple, Rae explained her plan to the priests.

“Tomorrow, at noon, I shall perform a mass healing. Gather anyone who is sick or injured and they’ll be given my blessing.”

The priest bowed and said it would be done.

“You haven’t asked for anything,” Rae remarked as the gardener led her to the sacred tree.

He shrugged. “Nine grandchildren, most of my teeth, and I don’t piss myself when I sleep. And I’ve noticed that your skin has lost a bit of its luster this last hour. What does healing these folks cost you?”

“I’m a child of the sun. My Radiant rises from dawn, peaks at noon, and lowers until nightfall. You need not be worried for my sake,” Rae replied, avoiding the question. In truth, she was at her dreges. Though her body did not need to eat, drink, or even breathe, she’d gulped down the well water earlier and craved more of the garden’s fruit. But she didn’t need it the way these people did.

He hummed in response, perhaps catching her misdirection, but said nothing else.

At last, they came to the sacred tree. It was small, no higher than five feet, with only bare thin branches that spread outwards. The bark was white and its dirt mound was surrounded by a circle of stones. The tree was plain enough that Rae wasn’t surprised she’d overlooked it coming in during the daytime. In the darkness, however, the tree glowed with pale, gentle light, and tiny wisps of blue, white, and gold flitted through its branches.

“Lovely,” Rae said. “And there’s another at the other side of this camp?”

“Ah, you’ve seen this before, I’d guess. Yes, there are sixteen in the courtyard altogether. A pair for each angle of the compass. We spread out during the day but build our houses between them as the area is protected.”

Rae nodded. The trees were part of a network that extended the tower’s aura to the wall. Now that she knew what to look for, she could see how the holes in the wall were clustered together. There were few of them between the pairs and more and larger ones between the gaps.

“Do monsters come into the courtyard?”

The gardener gave a sad sigh. “They do. They don’t flood in, only a handful of the smaller ones, but it’s enough that we lose anyone who wanders too far astray. And it feels as though more are crawling it each night.”

“Do they ever enter the tower?”

“Never,” the older man said, his face hardening.

“Dwin said you were the ‘unclean’ and there were warriors who kept you out but I haven’t seen anyone.”

“They rarely check on us out here. Only bringing us bread or supplies when they feel generous. You see, this is the southern quadrant of the tower and the main doors are at the east and west. That’s where they stand guard.”

“Is there room in the tower for more people?”

“I wouldn’t know, never been myself. Ask the prophet or the priests.”

Did he not know the prophet was missing? Come to think of it, neither did Dwin.

“I believe I’m finished here,” she said, “thank you for your time and expertise.”

“Oh, it’s nice to have someone to talk to. Amazing how many people eat from the garden but have little interest in how the food is grown. Do you have someplace to stay this evening? I would be happy to have you as a guest.”

Rae took him up on his offer. Rather than a stone building like the temple, he lived in a large, reinforced tent. It had not occurred to her that eight of the nine grandchildren lived with him and his two sons, one daughter, and their partners. They were a loud, lively group, all packed in together. Dinner was a thick porridge flavored with sour goat milk, egg, and bits of onion.

“Where do you get your salt?” she asked after taking a small bite. It was no heavenly feast.

“There is a salt lake to the north.”

She’d have to check it out at some point. “How often does it rain here?”

“We’ll get hot monsoons during the summer but otherwise it’s always dry. And the water that falls is… not good.”

Better than nothing. Rae departed after her first bowl, not wanting to deprive the family of the food or spend too much time in the cramped space. Once outside in the cool air, she jumped atop an isolated section of the wall. Settling down, she let out a long sigh. She only had a few days before Vuuthas returned and had wanted to at least empower the landing shrine.

The feathered serpent would be able to give her exact numbers on the spiritual threats in the area but there were obvious areas of interest Rae could tackle on her own.

As she sat atop the wall, Rae noticed a shadowy figure break out of the ruins and scuttle towards the wall. Its form was similar to that of a large, hunched goblin but its face and ears were like a bat’s, and its body was covered in fur. Rae summoned her weapon in the form of a poleaxe and waited patiently as it climbed up the wall to a rough hole and began to sniff around.

It pushed into the hole and as it was halfway through, Rae sprang down and forward, bisecting it at the torso. The top hit the ground with a wet, heavy thump. While she preferred to form weapons from Radient–it was a much cleaner kill–simply cutting beasts in half was as effective.

Rae cleaned the blood off her blade, leaving the lower half to plug up the hole, and returned to the top of the wall. Rather than resting, Rae started a leisurely patrol around the wall. As she’d been told, there were eight camps altogether. The southwestern one was the smallest while that at true east was twice as large, perhaps five hundred people altogether. The tower guards were tall, helmeted men–perhaps human, elves, or even orcs–in heavy armor. They gripped spears in their gauntleted hand and stood rod straight before a set of elaborate doors. The eastern set was decorated with a pale tree like the sacred ones in the courtyard while the western doors had the image of a black stallion and red lion standing on their hind legs.

Rae killed twenty-one monsters that night. More than she’d expected. None were as strong as the boar and she wondered if they hid during the day. While they might have been after goblins to eat, she suspected several of them were trash feeders. The camps, especially the larger ones, had large piles of trash they simply let build up against the wall.

When dawn came, Rae settled. Though the light was weak, she eagerly absorbed the sun’s energy, letting it fill her small core. By noon, she was completely restored and ready to face the day.