Ember and Aylie were sitting together upstairs talking about their experiences as souls separated from their bodies at the hands of the Astar when Zalia found them. She waited a while as they spoke before eventually interrupting them.
“Hey, could you two come downstairs in… ten minutes once I’ve brought Faian over?”
Receiving two nods in return, Zalia also sent a mental message to Boreal asking the same.
She walked off to find Faian as well, knowing that the Ancient of War was still watching Hidey. They needed to talk about what would happen next, in regards to her meeting with the rebel Astar, what Hidey should or could be allowed to see and do and whether or not Aylie could enter the Astral to try and help heal Hildebrandt. The more she thought about it, the less she liked the idea of letting Aylie in there with some very dangerous Emerald rank magic.
Additionally, while they were relatively sure that Hidey was freed from the Astar’s influence, there wasn’t really any way to be certain. They would just have to trust him and hope that it didn’t backfire. That was Zalia’s feeling anyway, though she knew she too often trusted much too easily.
Faian was easy to find; she was looking after her soldiers, ensuring they were fed and organising for supplies to be gathered for the trip back to the capital. Zalia knew they wouldn’t be staying long.
Though a tiny bit annoyed at being disturbed from her organising, Faian agreed to come with Zalia and they both went back to her house where Hidey, Boreal, the Ancient of War, Aylie, Ember and Heston were waiting. Matthias was still out somewhere in the city but Zalia knew he could care for himself and would come back if he needed anything. She wasn’t worried about him causing any trouble.
With everyone in a bigger room that had constructed itself during the time it took Zalia to walk from the soldier’s housing back to her home for the purpose of the meeting, she started it off.
“Alright, I think the first thing we should discuss is how much, exactly, we can trust Hidey with.”
Hidey stared at her and she raised her hands defensively.
“Look, it’s nothing personal but you know that we aren’t entirely sure of your freedom from the Astar’s influence.”
Hidey didn’t argue, though Ember looked like she might before Faian chipped in.
“Until the council has come to a final decision on this, we should not explain too much to the Hidden. As such, if this meeting will be a sensitive conversation as I believe it will be, I would prefer if Heston and whoever you choose, Zalia, would accompany him out of the house until we are finished.”
Ember looked as if she was going to argue again but Hidey agreed.
“I shall go along, perhaps I can find Matthias and speak to him.”
Zalia gestured to the Ancient of War, who was only there to keep an eye on Hidey anyway, and he and Heston followed Hidey out of the room. She felt bad, of course, but was more than happy to leave the decision of how and when to trust Hidey to the council.
“Alright, the thing I mainly wanted to talk about was meeting the Astar rebel. I’ve got an easy way for me and anyone that comes with us to escape and Nateysta will be there with us without bounds on what he is allowed to do. All I really need is permission to do it from you, Faian.”
Well, she didn’t need permission and would probably go and meet this Astar even without Faian’s allowance but since she lived in Endarian lands and had been given a chunk of said lands as her own, it was best to get along with the countries ruling council.
Faian met Zalia’s eyes and held them for a while, evidently considering what could go wrong with Zalia’s plan.
“Alright, fine. I feel that it is a little rushed but trust that you know what you’re doing.”
“I do. From what Nateysta has told me, this Astar has willingly chosen to meet under his power. If it is a trick to gain information or even harm me, it will go very poorly for them.”
Zalia waited for anyone else to speak up but she knew that Ember, Aylie and Boreal were in agreement with her.
“Last thing then, I might have learned of a way to help Hildebrandt.”
“What? How?”
Ember, ever the healer.
“I looked into the memories of prophecy gifted to me by the collective as they died and saw Aylie alone in a blank place, kneeling before a blue sun with fiery veins extending into the distance. I do not wish the image itself to come to pass but it told me what we have to do.”
Everyone looked confused as to what it meant, except for Aylie of course.
Zalia had only told Ember about Aylie’s new ability to step into the Astral, with her permission of course, and wasn’t about to tell everyone unless Aylie agreed. Seeing that Aylie understood, Zalia gestured to her to explain.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Ember realised what the memory meant as Aylie started speaking.
“It means we have to enter the Astral to help Hildebrandt fight off the fire that continues to burn within her soul.”
Ember was already shaking her head.
“No, not happening. Those are prophecies, Zalia, if we let Aylie go in there then the image you saw will come to pass.”
“And what if it comes to pass by us not going in with her? What if she ends up trying it by herself?”
This was, in Zalia’s mind, what was wrong with prophecy and visions of the future. There were too many different ways of interpreting them.
“How do you know this will help?” Faian asked, obviously sceptical, “and how do you plan on getting into the Astral in the first place?”
It was obvious to Zalia that Aylie didn’t want to tell Faian about her ability.
“We have a way, maybe. The only reason I’ve brought it up now is to ask you to look into whether you have any healers amongst the population of the capital who are able to help with something like this. I wouldn’t want to go in there without others to help.”
Faian shrugged.
“I’ll ask around but I doubt many would want to go once I explain what it is they’ll be doing. Fight off an Emerald rank curse by going into the Astral? Oh, and someone has had a prophecy that only one person even makes it so far as the centre of this thing? Don’t forget that the vision might mean anyone that goes in with Aylie won’t make it.”
“Just have a look, we might not even go ahead with it depending. Hidey said that Hildebrandt should be fine if she makes it a week. If it’s looking like she will, then, it won’t be a problem. We’re going to have to have a talk about whether it’s a risk worth taking either way as well.”
She met Ember’s eyes at that, a promise that she wouldn’t do anything without talking about it properly first. Ember was bound to give her a stern word or two for bringing it up without doing that beforehand but she wanted to let Faian know what was going on. It was, afterall, important to Endaria’s continued existence that Hildebrandt make a full recovery as quickly as possible.
“I will make a return to the capital soon. Assuming you meet with this Astar over the next few days, you should come to the capital as soon as possible afterwards to transport any healers I might find here. If you decide not to go forward with this plan to enter the Astral in order to help Hildebrandt I would like to know as soon as possible.”
With that, Faian stood up and left.
Ember’s eyes tracked Faian out of the room, then turned to Zalia.
“I know, I know,” Zalia sighed, “should’ve talked to you about it first.”
Ember nodded.
“Yes, but we can talk about that later. You know, the first time we talked about meeting the rebel Astar you said you’d want to go alone but I couldn’t help but notice you say ‘me and anyone that comes with us’ just earlier.”
Zalia pursed her lips.
“I think you, Boreal and Aylie should come with. Not only does Aylie have an easy method of escaping if she needs now, but she is able to see things that we can't, which might be important. Plus, Ro will be there and with full use of his abilities so the chances of this being some kind of trick is very low. The more I think about it the more certain I am that you should all come along, if you want.”
Ember nodded in agreement.
“You know I’ll always come with you.”
Zalia heard the hidden meaning in the words. An offer made many years ago of escaping into the wilds, somewhere they could live free from all the politics and nonsense that happened within Endaria. It was a tempting notion to her still, though as usual the feeling of responsibility deep within her won out.
“Great, we’ll get ready to leave for the meeting tomorrow maybe then? I’ll have to ask Ro where it is first though.”
“Tomorrow is good, with the soldiers leaving in the morning I shouldn’t have much to do.”
With that, Ember left to go about the rest of her day. Boreal stayed with Zalia, obviously without anything to do.
It was strangely quiet in the house at that moment, with the guests gone. After a short pause to think, Zalia realised that it wasn’t the lack of guests that was causing the peace, but the lack of five particular kittens.
“Where are your children?”
“Completing their test.”
The two of them left the house, idly making their way towards the temple dedicated to Ro at Zalia’s lead.
“Test?’
“Mmm, they are to bring to me a kill greater than their combined weight of Bronze rank.”
Zalia cocked an eyebrow.
“Oddly specific, why?”
“They will reach Bronze rank soon,” Boreal sent proudly, “and I wish for them to work together just a bit better as a team.”
“You don’t think it’s a little dangerous for them?”
Boreal huffed a dismissive breath.
“Not at all, we took down Bronze rank animals plenty of times did we not?”
Zalia frowned.
“Yes, but I distinctly remember them being dangerous fights each time.”
“I don’t.”
Zalia rolled her eyes.
Catching the expression, Boreal bumped her shoulder into Zalia, a movement that would have knocked her off her feet had she been less dextrous.
“I’m serious, even if any of us were injured, we were often healed up before anything bad could happen. Besides, I remember you telling me about those beasts you cleared from near Juniper’s farm when you were such a low rank. If you can manage that, they can manage one Bronze between them.”
Zalia held her hands up in defeat.
“Alright, Mother Boreal, I’m sure you’re right. I’m going to go and talk with Ro, want to join me?”
Boreal said nothing, but continued to follow anyway. Both that action and the bond let Zalia know that she was in.
When they arrived at Ro’s temple, it was to a scene of slight chaos as they saw Boreal’s five kittens dragging a number of bodies through the streets, more than just the one that Boreal had expected.