2.

‘Silvah, I’m glad you’re alright.’

Well. That was certainly a first step, Silvah thought as Uncle Kenichi rushed from his seat and embraced her.

Miles silently closed the door behind them and strode further into the room, seating himself at the nearby desk.

The guest room was small and cosy. There was a single table with a coffee machine on top and a large window which offered a perfect view of the training going on in the courtyard…which shouldn’t be possible because the field was on the other side of the building.

More magic. Must be.

Her uncle pulled away from her.

‘I feel like you Nightharts always try to scare me on purpose.’

‘Only sometimes,’ she said, smiling.

Her smile shrunk when she saw his clothes. She thought of the two men she had left behind.

‘Misha and Simon…how are they?’

‘Believe it or not, those imbeciles slept through the entire affair. Can you believe it. Asleep! While others were getting their innards removed.’

He shook his head. But it was in a slightly relieved manner. Losing more of his priced men after Father’s death would have been more to a blow to Uncle.

‘Don’t be too hard on them,’ Miles chimed in. ‘Nomus cannot resist sorcerers, let alone one of my grand capabilities.’

Silvah glanced at her uncle, and raised her brow when there was no confusion visible in his countenance.

‘You knew of this, Uncle?’ she whispered so Miles couldn’t overhear.

‘He did.’

The voice was that of a woman.

Silvah peered past Uncle Kenichi’s shoulders. Someone was seated behind the desk.

She was tall—taller than Silvah. Her sleeveless, brown dress grew tattered as it reached lower. A design of fashion and not wear and tear; the missing pieces were too ordered for that. Fastened at the arms, starting at the shoulder, were pieces of bandage that covered the skin and went all the way down to her knuckles. But what Silvah recognised out of her strange attire was the blindfold.

This was the woman she had seen seated at Shisui’s table before Miles saved her. The realisation brought another detail to her mind: they know of him. Did they know she had spoken to Shisui? Because something told her they weren’t exactly the best of friends.

Uncle sighed and gently pushed her forward to one of the chairs at the desk.

‘Before you ask,’ Uncle said, ‘I am not a sorcerer.’

‘He’s just connected to many influential ones,’ Miles said.

‘That I am. Meeting your father was what eventually brought me into their world.’

‘So, dad was one.’

She had suspected it. It was the only thing that made sense apart from her mother secretly passing down this ‘inherent ability’ that Shisui spoke of. There was also the method of breathing he had thought her. The one she used before getting into a fight. It made her feel cold and relaxed and generally empowered her. Based on new knowledge and awareness, she could tell that the method moved the cele energy within her.

‘Not in the formal sense,’ the other woman said.

Maybe because she was sitting closer to her, Silvah now noticed the cadence of her voice. She was well spoken. The language they were speaking in was a northern-western dialect of the major trade language on Celes—Celes Standard. Since all the nations had adopted it as a main language, most had a heavy accent. The woman did not. She was a picturesque definition of how hard r’s and slimy words were meant to be pronounced.

‘Your father was certainly not a nomu,’ Uncle said. ‘Yet he was far from a seasoned practitioner.’

‘He was what we call a free sorcerer,’ the woman added. ‘A person not linked to any known sorcerer association, who discovered their abilities by chance and without outside help.’

‘Means they can do whatever they want,’ Miles said. ‘More often than not it also means they are weak.’

True to his whimsical nature, he had conjured a banana out of nowhere.

The Qatani showed her his teeth.

‘Stole them.’

‘From Asher?’

Ah. She caught herself too late.

‘The exact one,’ he said.

An awkward silence reigned between them. The woman placed her hands under her chin and pretended to stare straight ahead despite her blindfold. Miles continued eating.

Uncle shrugged and rolled his shoulders.

‘Glad we can all stop pretending like we don’t know what happened.’

Silvah agreed. She didn’t want to keep something from the only family tie she had left. Unspoken thoughts helped no one. Her broken bond with her father had thought her that.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Miles dramatically stood from his chair as the banana peel in his hand disappeared.

‘Introductions are in order, I think.’

He spread his arms so the woman at the desk was placed between them and cleared his throat.

‘Zengin Celine.’

Silvah waited.

Miles sat back down.

‘That’s it?’ Silvah asked.

Mrs. Zengin rubbed her forehead.

‘You may call me by my first name. I’m the head of the Meteora Sorcerer Association—You’ve heard of us, I think—and the principal of the Meteora College, whose main purpose is the rearing of talented sorcerers.’

Silvah considered. Secrecy could come back to bite me.

‘He said I’d end up joining your school by the end of the week.’

‘Right he is. To the exact day,’ Miles said.

‘Exact day?’

‘You’ve been asleep for a week, Silvah,’ Uncle said.

…damn. She couldn’t say it was unexpected since her last deep sleep had happened only recently. But damn.

Uncle walked towards the coffee machine.

‘Coffee or tea, Silvah?’

‘Hot chocolate if it is an option.’

‘I’ll take some water, please,’ Miles said.

‘Get it yourself.’

‘May I get a glass of milk tea, Taoka?’ Celine said.

‘Of course.’

Miles threw his hands in the air and flew in an outrage which proclaimed Uncle a ‘whipped cookie’. Whatever that meant.

Silvah thanked her uncle when he returned with her drink and sipped. She tilted her head. That should’ve burnt her tongue.

‘A byproduct of the energies running rampant inside you,’ Celine said, drinking of her own glass. ‘Part of the reason for our current conversation.’

‘You’re speaking of foul and cele energy?’

The woman nodded.

‘You’re no doubt aware of the spirit you absorbed during the auction. Can you feel its presence?’

Silvah closed her eyes and controlled her breathing. The darkness that swallowed her sight made her heart race; she thought those vertically slit pupils may appear at any moment. Yet no matter how long she waited, they didn’t appear.

‘I can’t.’

Celine hummed.

‘While you were asleep, we had one of our physicians, Thomas Hanks, look at you. According to his statement, you have two spirits inside of you at the moment.’

‘That sounds about right,’ Silvah said. She didn’t need to guess who the other spirit was.

‘So, it’s true,’ Uncle said. ‘Asha is still alive.’

‘That depends,’ Celine said, confirming what Shisui had told Silvah.

‘What is important,’ Miles said, ‘is that the two are currently keeping each other in check. They’re cancelling each other out, so to speak.’

‘You mean how cele and foul energy cancel each other out?’ Silvah said.

Celine finished her cup.

‘Exactly. Miles, if you could.’

He placed his hand on the table. There was a shift in the stale air of the room and on top of the table appeared the shell of an egg with a long crack running down the middle. Mucus drooled down the sides.

Silvah instinctively shrunk back a little. But there was no limb coming out of it this time. It was a broken eggshell. Nothing more. Nothing less. Except for the haze of foul energy surrounding it. It was many times denser and more sinister than the foul energy she had sensed from the mirror foulbeast.

Celine turned the shell around. At the back of the egg was the smudgy depiction of a creature that resembled the one Silvah had seen.

‘What you absorbed that day,’ she said, ‘is what we call a Primordial.’

Not the friendliest sounding name.

‘A Primordial…?’

‘A Great One, an elder spirit,’ Miles said. His tone was filled with a reverence that wasn’t usual for the man. ‘The eldest of foulbeasts and cellites that have ever existed. No one knows how many there are or where they are. But we know one thing—’

‘All of them are powerful,’ Celine finished. ‘Powerful enough that the appearance or disappearance of one is enough for the association to legally call for the mobilisation of every sorcerer within the range of five nations.’

Five nations. Silvah let that sink in. She let it truly sink in. If the spirit was so powerful and Asha was apparently keeping it in check…

‘I’ll be honest,’ Celine said. ‘You would’ve been dead twice over if it wasn’t for your sister. Once, because the great spirit you absorbed is a beast of foul energy. The influx of so much negative energy should've killed you. Twice, because the association would’ve simply ordered your execution if they weren’t interested in whatever power allowed your sister to cage such a dominant being.’

Silvah knew the information should’ve scared her, but it didn’t. She had skirted too close to death these past days to really care.

‘How do you know what’s inside me is a Primordial?’ she asked instead.

Celine tapped her blindfold.

‘I have an ability related to divination. Let’s leave it at that.’

Divination…as in she can see the future? That would mean keeping things from her would be useless, no? Counterproductive, even. Unless there were limits to what she could see.

‘Is Silvah at any risk?’ Uncle said. ‘That’s all that matters to me.’

That statement warmed Silvah’s insides more than anything. To know that there was someone still out there who truly cared for her…

‘As we said, her sister’s spirit is keeping the Primordial in check,’ Miles said. ‘For now.’

‘Whatever your sister is capable of,’ Celine said, ‘it will not last forever. Primordials are endless wells of power. Your sister is not. She will run out of steam eventually. That’s why it’s important that we start your education as soon as possible.’

And thus came the reason for why she needed to join the school.

‘How long will this education take?’ Silvah said.

‘Four years give or take,’ Celine said.

‘I refuse.’

Silvah’s answer was immediate.

This talk of her sister protecting her was fine and all, but her true goal and mission would not pass her by; she was going to return Asha to her body, like Shisui had spoken of in his ‘hypothetical scenario.’ Four years was entirely too long a time frame to achieve that. Who knows what could happen during which?

‘It’s not up for debate,’ Celine said. ‘The sorcerer association will not let someone housing a Primordial, which they have no control over, run free.’

‘Then do something about it,’ Silvah spit. ‘You’re the president, aren’t you?’

The woman’s eyebrows rose above her blindfold.

‘You overestimate my capabilities. The association is not a puppy of mine who I can order around. Even if I could. What reason would I have for doing so?’

Ah. Silvah had assumed wrong. She thought because Uncle Kenichi was here and knew them, the other two would automatically have her best interest in mind. Dumb of you, Silvah. You know better than this.

‘I request you do not pick on her, Celine,’ Uncle said, crossing his arms. ‘We discussed this beforehand.’

The woman was unfazed.

‘And there was a condition attached to it if I recall correctly, Taoka.’

Uncle sighed and turned to her.

‘Silvah. If you want them to help you, you need to be forthright. No one is going to stick their limbs out for a scheming rat. Excuse my metaphor.’

Silvah paused and took in the occupants of the room again. They were patiently waiting for her. Well. Miles was picking his nose and looking out at the field but whatever.

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Shisui told me he is one of probably two people on the planet who would not only tell me where Asha is, but also help me retrieve her. Said the other one would only string me around till I served my purpose. I don’t know who that “other one” is.’

Yet an educated guess wasn’t too hard to make.

‘Most likely me,’ Celine said, then stroked her chin. ‘Your sister’s location is not known to me at the moment but given that Shisui thinks I wouldn’t help you retrieve her if I did…only a few places make sense.’

‘Which are?’ Silvah said eagerly.

‘One of the Houses,’ Miles said. ‘Major sorcerer families keeping the world as you know it intact. Here my great intellect will make a breathtaking prediction:’

‘It’s the Baelith family, isn’t it?’ Celine cut Miles off, to his chagrin.

Silvah stopped herself from exhaling excessively—that’s the name Shisui gave her.

Celine did it for her. The woman sighed so deep her blindfold sagged down. She looked at Uncle Kenichi.

‘Can I have a coffee, please? Make it black.’

That certainly bode well.