“What happened?”

As guards finally rushed in, as Broken ordered them to take Ishad to the infirmary, not the prisons, that question was all Mai could think to ask.

“What happened?” Mai said again.

As the guards began to take Ishad away, the room’s window burst open, shattering, sending pieces of glass flying to cover the floor, mixing with the water and the pieces of broken tub.

Claw-Back flew through the window, shrieking shrilly. The owl came to land on Broken’s shoulder, and quieted.

Some of the guards raised their weapons at the Great Black Owl, but Broken shook his head.

“She’s my friend,” he said. “And she’s just as frightened about what happened as you are.”

The guards stared at the owl for another moment. As Claw-Back continued to sit on Broken’s shoulder, without erupting into violence, one by one, the guards shrugged, ignored the bird, and resumed removing Ishad’s body from the room.

When Ishad was gone, the remaining guards, four of them, turned their attention to Mai and Broken.

“What happened?” asked one of them, who seemed to be their leader.

“Ishad and I had a temporary altercation,” said Broken. “We got into a fight, but it’s over now.”

The guard carefully surveyed the ruined apartment. He looked upon the destroyed tub, the water soaked floor, the broken bed. “You two did this, alone?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Broken.

“That tub was made to be reinforced,” said the leader of the guards. “For it to be crushed like that…” He trailed off, then spoke again. “Were you trying to kill each other?”

“No,” said Broken. He got to one knee, and looked down. His breath was still ragged. “Forgive me, but my…exertion has left me tired.”

The lead guard looked around the room again. “How did the fight start?” he asked. “My lady, why did you scream?”

Even in the state Mai was in at that moment, just barely holding onto sanity, she knew that Broken didn’t want to tell the guards what really happened, and Mai also knew that Broken had a reason. She thought it best to support him.

“They began to brawl while I watched,” said Mai. “I was obviously quite frightened.” She was barely able to choke out the words.

The lead guard began to take a step forward, but backpedaled, when Claw-Back, still on Broken’s shoulder, hissed at him, and flapped her massive wings.

“So you just wanted to see who was stronger?” the guard asked Broken, incredulous.

“I was,” said Broken. Mai noticed how he walked a fine line, saying the truth, while implying something else entirely.

“All right,” said the guard, taking another, smaller step back. “I and my men will…will leave you now.” And he and his three fellow guards beat a hasty retreat, closing the door behind them.

With the guards gone, Mai had no more reason to hold back her emotions. She looked down at Broken, with his one knee on the ground, with his panting.

“What just happened?” she sobbed. “The yellow eyes! He tried to kill me! Why did he try to kill me! It was my fault. All my fault…”

Broken got to his feet, as Claw-Back flew off his shoulder, to land by the tub and start pecking at the pieces.

Broken grasped Mai gently, and held her close.

She buried her face in his dark shirt, staining it with tears. “What happened?” she moaned. “What did I do wrong?”

“Nothing,” whispered Broken. “You did nothing wrong.” His strong arms wrapped around her.

“Then why did Ishad try to kill me? Why…you…” Mai looked up, her face tear stained. “You looked like you were going to kill me too. You and him. Together.” Mai could not meet Broken’s firm gaze, and buried her face in his chest, again.

“The story is a complicated one,” said Broken. “Rest.”

And he rocked her gently in his arms.

A few moments later, the door burst open, and a very angry Tur is Ashat entered, followed by a squad of guards.

Mai looked at him for a brief moment, then buried her face in Broken’s clothed chest again.

She heard yelling.

“What is going on?” shouted Tur is Ashat. “I do not believe the lie you told my guards, Broken! I have the Princess’ safety to consider, and all I know is that you and Ishad started fighting in front of the Princess’ very eyes. Her hair is soaked, her dress is covered in water! What in the cursed name of Casari happened here?”

Mai heard the sounds of pushing and shoving, and before she knew it, Tur held her against his chest. Mai cared little. As long as she had a place to burrow into, she could sob in peace.

“As you thought,” said Broken darkly, “what your other guards believe is not the truth. I did not want to tell them what truly happened, because I did not want to create a panic.”

“What happened then?” asked Tur. “Tell me quickly, Broken. My men can clap you in irons quite easily!”

Mai just held Tur tightly.

“I doubt that,” said Broken, “but right now, the truth of that statement matters little.”

“What happened!” shouted Tur.

Mai felt her feet nearly lose their footing on the wet, slick floor.

“Possession,” said Broken. “Ishad was possessed, and in that state, he tried to kill Mai. I stopped him.”

“My God,” said Tur. “Sweet Elysium, shine your radiance down upon us tonight.”

“So you believe me?” asked Broken.

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“I do,” said Tur. “I smell the scent of crushed minds.”

Mai sniffed. An odor crossed between smoke and water greeted her.

“I am glad to see that part of your education has not been neglected,” said Broken.

Tur whirled around, taking Mai with him. He barked orders. “Get spellweavers, get priests,” he told his guards. “Tell them to scan for any sign of possession in Ishad, or Broken. I’ll take the girl.”

Mai heard noises of most of the guards splitting up. Tur then lifted Mai up like a baby in his arms, and carried her, eyes still closed, into his apartments.

Mai remembered being placed down in a bed, a soft bed.

And then she lapsed into unconsciousness.

Mai dreamed empty dreams, devoid of content or thought. She was glad of that, even in her state.

When Mai woke up, she found herself not in Tur’s apartments, but in her own. Broken stood over the bed.

“It’s morning,” he told her gently. “Ishad’s elsewhere, but he’s fine. We survived this.”

Mai sat bolt upright. “He tried to kill me,” she whispered.

Broken placed himself on the side of the bed. “He did not, Mai. He was possessed, and the thing that possessed him tried to kill you.”

“But…” said Mai. “He was right. I didn’t trust him. He was right to try to kill me.”

“He didn’t try to kill you,” said Broken.

“What?” asked Mai. “I saw what I saw with my own eyes,” she whispered.

“Ishad didn’t try to kill you,” said Broken. “He was possessed.” And Broken handed her an old, brown book. There was a red bookmark placed about three quarters of the way through.

Mai read the name on the cover. Afflictions of the Dark Spiritual.

“What’s possession?” asked Mai.

“Read from the bookmark,” said Broken.

Mai opened as Broken suggested, and read.

Possession

An affliction of the mind, whereby the mind is suppressed, and a malevolent presence takes control of the motor functions of a host, replacing the mind. This practice is of magic.

Possession is most often a native ability of demons. While possession can be mimicked by other forms of magic, possession in itself is limited to demons. Only they have the foul ability latent to control a body from afar in said manner.

A primary way to notice if one is being possessed, is to look for an unholy gleam in their eyes. This gleam is most often red. The gleam can be suppressed, but when the host body undergoes stress, the eyes often gleam, or glow.

Strong minds can waver the infection of mind, and defeat the unholy powers that try to control their actions. This can be noted in the case of the year 587 Arathou, when Carli Hadbal--

But Mai stopped reading. She looked up from the book. “So Ishad wasn’t in control of his body?” she asked Broken.

Broken shook his head.

“But…” said Mai. “He said so many things that were true.”

“Possessors can read the minds of their hosts as easily as you just read from that book,” said Broken. “The thing that possessed Ishad knew everything he knew.”

“But the…thing knew things Ishad couldn’t possibly know,” said Mai. “And…” She told Broken of her third dream of the Nari.

“I suspected as much,” said Broken. “I will now answer the questions I know you will ask. “The book does not say this, but…Nari can possess as well.”

“Why does the book not say it?” asked Mai.

“Because the book’s authors did not believe Nari existed. I am trying to explain what happened,” said Broken. “I am trying to help you understand. But there is so much to know. The Nari may well not have been the ones to possess Ishad.”

“But you,” said Mai. “You had the yellow eyes as well, at least for a time.”

“Whatever tried to possess me, I defeated,” said Broken. “My will was stronger.”

“Oh,” said Mai. “This is all so complicated.”

“Indeed it is,” said Broken.

“What happened after I went back to sleep?”

“Tur dispatched some priests to make sure neither I nor Ishad was still possessed,” said Broken. “They found no sign of continued possession. Then, Tur made sure no one besides he, the priests, and us knew what happened. He did not want the events made public.”

Mai could see why.

“That, perhaps, is the most clear part of the entire puzzle,” said Broken, nodding with her.

“Broken?” said Mai.

“What?” asked Broken.

“I’m tired again.”

“Go back to sleep,” said Broken. “I’ll stay here and guard you.” Mai heard a few more words before she went back to sleep, but her mind could not make sense of them.

Sleep.

Mai woke up again, and from the window’s light, it seemed to be nearing the next dusk. Just as he had promised, Broken was still sitting on the bed beside her. To pass the time, he was reading from Afflictions of the Dark Spiritual.

When Broken saw that Mai had awoken, he looked at her.

“You didn’t need to stay,” said Mai.

“I promised I would.”

“It’s all my fault, isn’t it?” said Mai. “Ishad said so.”

“Possessed Ishad,” corrected Broken.

“But the Nari made him that way, Broken. He wouldn’t be in the infirmary if I had done what the Nari in the dreams told me to.”

“The Nari weren’t necessarily the ones…”

“Yes they were,” said Mai.

“Remember Eton?”

Mai quieted.

“It could have been him,” said Broken. “And what happened could have been a whole host of other possibilities.”

“But the dream…”

“The dream was doubtlessly connected, but the Nari could have been faked.”

“It might have been Eton pretending to be a Nari, in the dream?” asked Mai.

“Indeed.”

“But that does not matter,” said Mai, more deliberate, now. “I should have followed the dream’s instructions. I should have found a farm, and never left it. I should have hid. And Ishad…” Mai’s face was still filled with tears. “In that state, the thing that had him, Eton or Nari, told me that I failed to confide in him, and I confided in you instead, even though he gave me every reason to trust him, and you gave me little reason. I was wrong. Everything I have done is wrong. Everything!”

“What is everything?” asked Broken.

“Huh?”

“Remember the last time you thought the world was spinning out of control?” asked Broken.

“After Gansu?” Mai questioned.

“Indeed. You were so frightened, you did everything I asked. I had to work hard to give you self esteem back.”

The memory of that time flashed in Mai’s mind. “And?” she asked.

“And I will not let you go through weakness like that again.”

“You were happy to exploit my weakness the first time,” said Mai. “And there is no let involved.”

There was silence in the room.

“What happened was my fault,” said Mai.

“Let me tell you something,” said Broken. “The world is a struggle for satisfaction. The only reason anyone does anything is because they see a carrot hanging in front of them, proverbial or otherwise.”

“That can’t be true,” said Mai.

“And why not?” challenged Broken. “Every action has a motivation behind it. Motivation to be satisfied.”

“So what are you trying to say?” asked Mai. “That the only thing holding me in my depression is me, because I want to be that way?”

“Yes,” said Broken. “You want to feel like what happened was your fault, because then, you will be able to feel as if you have some control over life. But the truth is, you had no control over what happened. You are depressed because you want to feel you have that control.”

“This is so existential,” said Mai. “I don’t care about the universe…”

“Of course you do,” said Broken. “Everyone cares about something.”

“You. Are. Talking. In. Riddles.”

“Then I will be very clear,” said Broken. “Get up.”

“No,” said Mai.

“Then you will starve in bed,” said Broken. “You want your carrot. I do not have time for you to go through your whole cycle of self-hate.” Broken got off the bed, and looked down on her. “Get up,” he said.

“No,” said Mai.

Broken grabbed her, and pulled her from the bed onto her feet. Mai tripped, and almost fell. Broken steadied her, by holding onto her arms.

“Set me back down,” said Mai. “If you let go of me, I will fall.”

“Why would you fall?” asked Broken. “Your body has strength. I have seen too many good lives wasted in mourning.” Broken looked firmly at Mai.

“But,” she said.

“I have suffered much,” said Broken. “I have much more reason than most to crawl in a proverbial hole and never, ever come out. I have much more reason than most to just stop trying.”

At a different time, Mai would have been more understanding, more compassionate. But now all she wanted to do was return to that hole, and she could not think straight. “I lost my father,” she said. “What could possibly be worse than that, I ask you?”

“I lost everyone I ever loved,” said Broken. “I can do anything but reverse death, and thus, those I care about are beyond my reach. But I have not given up.” Broken let his arms slide off Mai.

She realized that she was still standing.

“Is this a miracle?” asked Broken. “Or is this merely you understanding what really matters?”

“What matters?” asked Mai.

“Life,” said Broken. “Glorious, glorious life. Depression wastes the limited time we have.”

Mai just stood there. Everything around her seemed alien. She felt like she should still be in her bed.

“Tell me,” said Broken. “When your head was underwater, when you thought you were going to die, what did you think about?”

“How I wanted to live,” said Mai.

“Then live,” said Broken. “Don’t wallow. Don’t sulk. Remember that life is only as fruitful as you make it.”

Mai’s stomach rumbled.

“Let’s get some of that fruit,” said Broken.