“I am one of twelve,

Though hidden in the mire,

Six siblings sleep too deep to delve,

And two dwell near the spire,

Another lies beyond the shore,

Imprisoned for his crime,

And one rests now, eternal more,

Forever lost to time,

What once was whole is broken,

And scattered like the stars,

Each fracture forged in tokens,

Strength kept like reservoirs,

We long for one another,

To once again embrace,

To walk as sisters, brothers,

And take our rightful place,

What am I?”

This riddle puzzled me. I’d never have described myself as a clever person, that was always Petra’s specialty. Mother had always said my talent was patience. Though, in the last year, I’d demonstrated less than my usual amount. Not to mention, time was of the essence here. For some reason, I was being offered a lifeline to continue the Challenge, and I needed to ensure I wouldn’t fail.

So, perhaps a bit of patience would do in this situation.

I took a step back. I needed to think, and one thing I typically did when I was trying to resolve something, was pace. So I did.

One of twelve…

That seemed to be what leaped out at me first, so I wanted to follow that train of thought. What things came in units of twelve?

Feet? It could be inches, there were twelve of those in one foot. But that doesn't explain the rest. Could an inch be scattered? Could it be imprisoned for criminal behavior? No, I have to keep thinking.

I paced. Circling around the space in front of the door. The stone was divided into different large sections and was old. Some stones were cracked, and others were dirty and scuffed. A lot of people had passed through here over time…

Time! There were twelve bells for the day, and twelve for the evening. There was even the time at night, some called “thieves’ hour,” which referred to the dark of night after the twelfth bell. Thieves were criminals. That must be it!

Then I paused again.

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There’s no spire, unless you count the bell towers, but that would only work if you really tried to force it.

Besides, the riddle had mentioned time in its passage, and that would be very lazy of an ancient and powerful artifact like the Almagest to give someone a cheat like that. No, it had to be something that required a little more… objective thinking.

I kept pacing.

Twelve. Twelve. What else comes in twelve? Riordan’s butchery in Vuss had offered meat pies in a bulk dozen. That would be odd, and wildly specific to me personally, if that were the case.

I thought back to the other numbers mentioned in the riddle.

Twelve, one, two, another one, six…

I stopped.

There were six Nightsigns.

But if I followed that logic, that meant there were more. I had to be sure before I answered. Did I know anything about other Nightsigns?

Mother had…

It came flooding into my brain suddenly. I recalled my mother, before going to sleep each night when I was younger, telling me stories. She’d regaled me with tales of mighty heroes, ancient peoples, and songs from the days before the First Lords, from her people, the Ilfin.

What had she sung? There was a song about a ship, or the ocean...

Suddenly, it hit me. I remembered, with almost crystal clarity.

The boy in the boat,

Drifting slow,

What does he find?

Only signs know,

Twelve in the sky,

Watching with glee,

His hope and his line,

Cast out to the sea,

He rides on the waves,

And numbers their stars,

Dreaming of home,

And lands still afar,

The fish and the birds,

Guide him back to shore,

But the boy had such fun,

And wishes for more

The boy in the boat,

Rocking to sleep,

So safe in his bed,

As he dreams of the deep.

I knew it that moment that I had to be correct. The riddle had mentioned stars, and so had this song. It had mentioned signs as well. Perhaps, there were truly twelve Nightsigns? If that were true, then there were more elsewhere, scattered.

It was silly, perhaps, to base my answer on a song I hadn’t remembered until just now, but there had been many odd things to happen to me on this journey, and this was mild compared to some of them.

I stopped pacing, and looked directly at the gem in the door. It had gone dark while it waited for my answer. Then, something else struck me as odd. The door had called me Appointed. But, I hadn’t been Appointed at all, I’d been dismissed. There had to be more to this whole ceremony than met the eye. Perhaps this too, was a test of some kind?

Well, let’s get this over with.

“You are a Nightsign,” I said aloud, wincing slightly as I did.

What if I’m wrong?

The gem stayed cold for a moment, and I felt as though my heart had stopped as I waited in pregnant silence. Finally, the jewel began to slowly gain its glow, until it was as shimmering as the gemfire of a ruby.

“That is… partially correct, Hutch Carthage of the Berrywood.”

I didn’t move. What did that mean? Would that pass? I was a ball of nerves, and when no answer came, I ventured a question.

“Do I fail?”

The voice was silent again, but the glow remained, pulsating with an anxiety-inducing calmness. Finally, after a few moments had passed, it responded.

“The full answer to this test will be found, perhaps, but not now. You have supposed well on one aspect of this Trial’s question. But the larger story will be revealed in time, and it will be your job to discern its truth, Hutch Carthage of the Berrywood.”

There was another pause, and the pulsating illumination remained. I didn’t dare speak, for fear that it would cast me out of the corridor and back into the Labyrinth. So I waited.

“You have been evaluated,” it said suddenly.

The gem in the center of the door ignited in red fire, and a magnificent beam of red light struck me, enveloping my body in its warm glow. I felt myself being pushed as if through a temperate pool of water, and then, pop, I was standing in darkness.

A golden scrawl of letters appeared in the air before me, and I was too shocked by my sudden transportation to be startled. The letters fanned out, like I’d seen before, but this time, they had a different message to deliver.

THE FATES SPEAK. YOU HAVE GAINED A SKILL!

[ INDOMITABLE ]