Rin Arondel

13th of August, 344

Town of Sarrata, Noctavian Empire

"They're coming soon. Probably within the hour," Pyrus Arondel said, itching at his beard as he scraped at the pan of eggs on the stovetop. "You know, Rin, it's alright to feel nervous. You are different. You always have been."

"Father," Rin said, staring numbly down at her plate. "This is not the thing you drop on someone the night before it happens. I barely got any sleep at all."

She didn't want any of this attention. She had just been having strange dreams, and if not for Percy Mandel telling her father, then none of this would even be happening.

"If your mother was still here, dear, she would be so proud of you," Pyrus carried on, ignoring her. Rin's mother Antandra had died five years before - the unimaginatively named "year of the plague" as it was known in Sarrata - many in her village had lost their lives, and many children had been orphaned. Rin counted herself lucky for having her father, but ever since she had been forced to tell him about the Dreams, he had not quite been himself. Rin hated that.

Pyrus shoveled a heap of scrambled eggs onto her plate. "I don't want to do this anymore. I can't go through with it."

"It's too late for that, Rin," Pyrus said, shaking his head as he sat down across the table from her. "The Empress herself took interest in your powers; you know. They're sending the Queen's Hand for you, as I said last night. This is a big deal. If you try to back out of it now, there's no telling what could happen. They're already on their way."

Rin had her first Dream after her mother died. She was eleven years old then. She remembered how green the grass had been, how vivid the cuts in the sky were - blue and orange for endless miles. But then, at the center of it all - a meadow full of verdant grass and vibrant marigolds - her mother's favorite flower. The first time she stumbled into the Dream, she stayed in one place the whole time, completely unaware of her lucidity and agency. The second and third time, the colors became more saturated and beautiful, and she began to feel the Dream as if it were real.

Because it was all real.

"You're going to need to eat up if you're going to have the energy for the trip back to the capital," her father said. "It's a long way from there to here. Would you like me to make some coffee?"

"No, I'll pass. Maybe they'll bring snacks," Rin said dismissively, and her father sighed.

"Siryn is not well-known for her patience, my dear. They'll probably have you travel with her the entire way."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Dear. You know that becoming a Dreamseer is a blessed thing. It is the Voice of Cybele through a common person - truly, the greatest gift anyone alive could wish for."

"But what if I'm not?"

"Well," Pyrus said, spreading butter on a hunk of bread. "We don't want to think like that, now do we?"

There was silence, and Rin stewed with swirling thoughts.

"What if I want to?"

"Rin, darling. Your mother was among the most devout women to walk this planet. You know as well as I do that souls carry on together forward through life, even after death. Seeing her in your dreams is more than just a coincidence, Rin. You told me you could speak to her, and that she spoke back. That's more than just a dream."

Silence again.

Percy, curse him. Rin had mentioned the vivid dreams in passing, and the stupid farm boy latched onto it. In order to keep him from telling everyone, she'd kissed him - a horrible, gross kiss at that - and he ended up telling her father, anyway. The black eye she gave him was well-deserved.

"But what does it all mean? Why is it so important to them that the Empress would send her girlfriend out here to us? Don't you think it's weird how quickly they decided to send her? Didn't you just tell them two days ago?"

Pyrus was caught off-guard by the question, and Rin noticed. He studied her face as if trying to open a safe.

"Rin, my dear, you have heard of the Culling of the Bold League, do you not?"

"Yeah. That was the battle that ended the war, right?"

"Yes. The Queen’s girlfriend Siryn Elland led the Noctavian Army in that battle, and she is the one coming to bring you back to Valdena. I don't know if you recall, but the Bold League were heretics who claimed to be the true branch of the Cybelian Church. So says the history records, anyway - but what I'm trying to tell you is that there are people out there that do not believe in Dreamseers. Dreamseers have a troubled history, Rin. There are some groups that hunt people who even claim to be Dreamseers - and they... well, I assume you know how apostates are treated. But for Noctavia to send the most accomplished military general this side of the Elegia River is a statement. You realize that others are probably aware of your existence, don't you?"

Rin had been desperately trying to compartmentalize it all - she loathed Percy for having ratted her out, and loathed the idea that her future, everything she'd hoped to accomplish - had been hijacked by these Dreams. How I wish I'd just kept my Cybele-damned mouth closed!

"What does that mean? People suddenly want to kill me or something now that the word is out?"

"Rin, dear, I meant no harm in telling Jenorelle, I didn't believe she would send word to the Empress, she said I had her word that she would keep it a secret, but I didn't mean for it to —-"

"Blazes of Corybas you didn't!"

"Rin! Do not speak that devil's name in my hou—"

"Why would you do this? Why would you tell them? Do you care about me at all?"

Pyrus looked humbled by his daughter's outburst and set the bread and knife on the table gently. He stood and came around to place a hand on her shoulder while she hid her face in her elbow. She was crying - something she'd done a lot since she started having the Dreams. She now knew without any hesitation that the connection was a curse, and that no matter what she did, it was too late.

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She could kill herself.

The dire thought ran through Rin's head as she looked up at her father, her auburn curls matted to her cheeks. Her father's eyes were so proud. She knew that if she did something that drastic then the Empress's people would undoubtedly blame him, and with that thought, ushered the suicidal impulse away from her mind.

"But why, then? Why did Jenorelle tell the Empress? Couldn't you just keep it to yourself if I'm that important to you?"

She had been the one who passed along the rumor to those close to the Empress. It made Rin feel deeply uneasy. Her father trusted her.

"It's the Empress' law, Rin. We talked about this yesterday."

"To blazes with the laws," Rin said, angrily shaking her head. She wanted to scream out loud and cry and wanted the entire world to go away.

"Rin. I would never do anything to put you in harm's way."

"You don't think I already know that?" Rin stood, putting some distance between them. "Well? Did they tell you where we were going?"

Her father bit his lip. "Of course, they said back to Valdena."

"But won't that take a week...? Wait. You said you told Jenorelle three days ago. How is the Hand getting here?"

"I am not sure." Her father looked uncomfortable. "Riding horses, perhaps?"

"How did you not ask them more questions? Isn't this serious?"

"You see, Rin, it's just that... well, I tried to ask them, and they said they couldn't elaborate and..."

Her father did not speak. The silence once more filled the room, and before she could say anything else, he stepped back from her with his head bowed.

"I am sorry. I don't know. I don't, it's just —" he said, and she could hear his voice sounding rougher. She hadn't seen her father cry since her mother died and seeing him so suddenly panicked gave rise to a wave of panic within herself. She stifled back nausea as breakfast decided it was no longer content to stay in her stomach - she felt light-headed and completely miserable.

"It's just what?"

"I'm so sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

Rin recentered herself and placed her hand on her father's back. She could feel him shuddering. She'd never seen him look this afraid.

"Father. What aren't you saying?"

He took a deep breath.

"I don't know how much longer we will have together, Rin. They said..." he said, his eyes rimmed with tears. "I didn't want to say it last night, but they said that you probably would not be coming back to Sarrata."

"What?"

The world froze around them.

At once, a low thrumming came from outside. Rin could feel it vibrating the stone floor beneath her feet, and her father looked at her with sadness so profound in her eyes that she could not bear to speak.

The beaches. The night of the hurricane when Mother and Father had you sit on the top shelf to stay out of the water. The big chair in the living room where you and Father read books.

The thrumming intensified. It shook the chairs and the plates on the table. One clattered to the floor and shattered. Rin held her father's arm.

The cool night breeze through my window. The sound of the waves. My mother's songs that she would sing. So many memories in this house. So much I could never bear to lose or to forget.

The windows rattled now, and it felt for a moment as if the walls of the house would collapse. She didn't realize how hard she was squeezing her father's arm until she noticed a trickle of blood running down it. He, too, had been in shock.

At once, the thrumming stopped, leaving a horrific silence in its wake.

Rin thought she could hear a hissing noise somewhere in the distance. She let go of her father's arm and stood still as stone as the sounds of footsteps ran past their kitchen window. She saw the shadows on the wall.

Then, a knock at the door.

Silence. A final, devastating silence.

"Rin Arondel!" A voice yelled from the other side of the door. "I have come by order of Empress Miranda Draconis to take you to the Imperial Palace for questioning. We suggest you step outside at once, or we will be forced to enter."

"Father? Why?"

Her father said nothing. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"This is your final warning. Open the door, or we will open it."

Her father looked at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Rin knew he didn't anticipate this - she forgave him without as much as a second thought.

"I am opening the door," her father called. As the door swung inwards, Rin saw a figure shadowed by the morning's light - Siryn Elland, tall and muscular - taller than she or her father, even. At her side was an ornate longsword, and she kept her left hand on its pommel as she surveyed the Arondels.

Behind her were several other figures wielding crossbows and swords, lined up at a distance as if to preclude her escape. Two men in armor stood just behind her.

"Olson, take the father into custody. He knows too much," Siryn said forcefully, pushing her way into their home. A squat man with beady eyes entered and drew her father's hands up with rope. Rin did not understand why her father did not resist them.

"Bring him outside. We'll take the others, too."

She looked at Rin with indifferent eyes. "How many know of this, heretic?"

Rin felt her blood chill. "I don't know who everyone told and I..."

"Silence. If we must raze this entire town, we shall. Names. I will not ask again."

"Percy." You're a rat.

"Vestal Jenorelle." A filthy, worthless rat.

"And of course, your father," Siryn said, surveying him. "Cosban, take him outside. We will deal with him in a moment. Leave me alone with this Dreamseer. Until I am ready, locate the boy Percy and take the Vestal into custody as well. All involved must face up to their crimes."

Crimes?! Rin could hardly breathe. The tall man Cosban and the short man Olson brought her father outside, leaving her with Siryn. The woman stared at her coldly.

"The Empress is quite alarmed at the prospect of a Dreamseer, you know," Siryn said, head held high. The confidence she exuded was palpable.

"I did not ask for this," Rin said, alarmed with herself at how quickly the words came. "I did not tell them to tell..."

"Silence."

Rin could hear agitated yelling outside - Percy, the neighbor boy - and then once, more, quiet.

"What did they do to him?"

Siryn said nothing and cocked her head.

"Did I tell you that you could ask questions, heretic?"

More screaming - a woman's voice. More silence.

"Please," Rin said, dropping to her knees. "Leave my father alone. He didn't do anything wrong. Just take me already."

Siryn looked her over, stone-faced. "Knowledge that a true Dreamseer may walk among us is too dangerous to allow anyone who has heard it to live."

Her cold visage melted for a moment. "I am sorry. Truly. But suffering sometimes is the only way to truth."

Her father screamed from outside.

Silence. Cold, disillusioning silence. Rin felt like she was about to faint.

Siryn stood over her as Rin slumped forward towards the floor. The tears came as the world she knew ended.

The two men came back and hoisted her under her arms. She did not resist as they dragged her outside of the Arondel home.

Outside, she saw the beheaded bodies of Percy, Jenorelle, and her father. Cold, unfeeling eyes. She could barely process what she was seeing. Shock paralyzed her from speech, and as the men loaded her onto the back of a wagon, Rin looked up.

An airship?!

She stared dumbfounded at the immensity of the ship floating above her - it seemed to stretch on infinitely upwards, its purple and black cladding making it an alien sight in the cold blueness of the morning sky. There were thick clouds of steam billowing from its back, and Rin wondered how something that vast could stay airborne.

Siryn came out of the house as other soldiers under her command cleaned up the grisly scene, throwing the bodies onto the back of another cart. She locked eyes with Rin.

Rin sat up. She felt something violent within her - something broke.

Before she could move to attack, everything froze up. The world, at once, fell quiet. Siryn and the other soldiers became smeared masses of color as trees and homes became indistinct. Then, the landscape of Sarrata unfolded, replaced by a black room, rectangular, yet seemingly infinite. After that came the sounds of rushing water and a cold, stone floor.

No. Not here. Not now.

The blue light radiated from the center of the room. Rin could feel its ambivalent cool and warm radiating in cycles as she approached it.

She reached out to touch the light.