Every step Vayra followed the halfling girls, she cursed herself. She should be taking them back to their camp and getting directions. It was irresponsible, and…

‘And you want to see them too, don’t you?’ Phasoné finished.

“Yeah…” Vayra muttered. That’s why she’d come all this way, wasn’t it? To see the galaxy?

That didn’t mean there wasn’t a job to do.

She consoled herself by cycling Arcara, directing it to the wounds that needed patching. At least this way, she could make sure she was healed in case she did get in a fight.

Her hands began to jitter as she followed the children through the woods. Slowly, she mended her skin. To cycle, she used mana, and it drained her reserves even lower, until her mouth felt like sandpaper and black specks began to whirl in front of her eyes. She stopped herself from pushing her mana too far—she didn’t need to eat away at her muscles, or lose contact with Phasoné.

They stopped. She had to pick up both of the halflings and hoist them over a fallen log, which took a few seconds, but the halflings were small and light. Just past the log was a trail. It was only packed mud and a few pebbles, but it was better than trying to push through undergrowth.

“Mr. Saara said the Ignimaids were down this trail!” Rono chittered, pointing ahead and jumping. She took off and began to run, and Vayra had to admit, she was thankful for the increased pace—she could now keep up with a brisk walk, instead of having to shuffle along.

Rono’s sister, Fora, looked back as she ran. For the first time, she addressed Vayra directly. “They were talking about someone like you.” The halfling’s voice sounded a little older than Rono’s, but was otherwise the same. “You are a God-heir. I know it. You can make the stars move.”

Vayra rubbed her scarf nervously.

‘You know what to do,’ Phasoné told her. The Goddess’ voice was growing softer inside her head, but wasn’t too quiet to hear.

Vayra stopped walking and knelt down, clasping Fora’s hand. It halted the halfling as well. Rono kept running on ahead, cackling and laughing.

Vayra looked Fora straight in the eyes. “I’m the Mediator. And I need to stop a God-heir. Before—”

“There are no Mediators,” Fora said. “They’re gone. If the Mediator was still here, it would have helped us.”

Vayra shut her eyes for a moment and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I’m trying to help.”

“The Mediator isn’t real. That’s what the bluecoats always say. They say we should trust the God-heirs and Karmion, now…”

Vayra patted the halfling on the head. “You’ve got a good head. Do you trust the bluecoats?”

“No…I mean, yes! Yes, I do!”

“I won’t be mad at you,” Vayra whispered. “You can tell me the truth.”

“They’re mean to Ma and Da…”

Vayra pressed her lips tight together, and she couldn’t stop her fists from tightening. “I promise, I’m here to help.” She looked further ahead. Rono was almost down the path, almost out of sight. “Now, how about we find some Ignimaids and get back to your camp?”

“Alright…”

To catch up, Vayra hoisted the little halfling up onto her shoulder, then sprinted until she could walk in step with Rono again.

Of course, the halflings demanded that she take turns carrying them along the path. While on Vayra’s shoulder, Rono pointed out directions. “To the Lavapots! That’s where the Ignimaids were!”

They climbed up onto a ridge, then down into a small valley. It had been carved out by countless lava flows, forming an enormous black riverbed that ran all the way across the land, heading northward and away from the mountains. But lava still lingered in the low patches, bubbling and popping and glowing.

The forest ended far away from the edge of the river, but the three kept walking until they reached the edge of the Lavapots—a set of pools where molten lava lingered after a large flow. When they reached the slippery, glassy stone of the riverbed, Vayra held her arms out, making sure the two halflings stayed behind her. But it had been a while since the last flow, and all but the largest pools of lava had cooled.

They approached the central pool. If it didn’t have a little island of black stone in the center of it, it would have been just large enough to fit the Harmony.

When the three of them reached the sharp edges of the pool, Vayra dropped down onto her knees and leaned over the edge. “See anything?” she asked, hoping for a response from either of the halflings or Phasoné.

Stolen novel; please report.

‘Nothing,’ Phasoné said quickly.

Both Rono and Fora stayed silent.

Vayra wanted to chalk it up as a ‘nothing’—she’d checked, she’d held up her end of the bargain, and they could head back to the camp now.

But the halflings crawled to the edge and leaned over, too. They had massive grins on their faces.

“Oh, alright…” she muttered. “We can wait a little.”

For the next five minutes, they knelt at the edge of the pool, watching the lava swirl around below. Every half-minute or so, Vayra looked south at the mountains, making sure there were no nearby eruptions that would fill the channel with lava and wipe them away. She saw nothing except a distant flash of orange, which probably wouldn’t pose a threat to them at all. If it did, it would be a while before the lava reached them.

Once, when she was looking away, she heard a pop and a sizzle. Her head whipped back. A couple specks of lava shot up from the pool. Vayra pulled both of the halflings back, but the specks didn’t get anywhere close. They fell back into the pool like rain, making the glowing amber surface ripple.

From the ripples, a shape emerged. It was a koi fish’s tail fin, but made of coal-black pebbles and held together with veins of white-hot magma. Vayra only saw it for a few seconds before it dipped back below the surface.

“Did you see that?” she whispered to the halflings. “The mermaid tail?”

“Ignimaid,” Rono complained.

For a moment, a pulse of concern ran through Vayra’s mind. These could be dangerous. But, according to Pels, mermaids and sirens were different species. Sirens were the ones to look out for; mermaids were harmless. She hoped she could say the same for the Ignimaids.

With a splash of lava, the Ignimaid Vayra had seen earlier flopped up onto the center stone of the island. She had a tail, whose scales were made entirely of black coals. Her upper body was mostly human, aside from black fish fins protruding from the side of her head where her ears would have been and a bright red gemstone in the center of her forehead.

The Ignimaid hummed a short, pleasant tune, and five more splashed out of the lava. They flopped onto the rocks like cats sunning themselves, and all began to hum a tune. It wasn’t the most melodious—and certainly not a siren’s call—but it was charming in its own way.

Once they were out of the lava, a few of them plucked the ruby gemstones out of their foreheads and held them in their hands. In each of the stones’ centers, a rigid rune glowed bright white.

When the gems were removed from their bodies, the veins in their tails didn’t glow as bright. When they socketed the gems back into the center of their head, the light faded from the rune and back into their body.

“What are they doing?” Vayra asked softly, so only Phasoné would notice.

‘Those are runestones,’ Phasoné responded. ‘They probably use the Arcara-enchantment to slip through the lava faster.’

So the stone let them use the power of the rune? Whatever the rune’s effect was?

‘In theory, yes,’ Phasoné said. ‘I’m sure it takes a lot of practice. And Ignimaids are a very arcane-attuned race, even if they might not be God-heirs. You couldn’t socket a runestone like that directly into your skin without a lot of effort.’

Vayra rubbed her chin. Maybe not into her skin, but how about the conductive starsteel bracers?

‘That would be possible.’

“They’re so cool!” Rono exclaimed, drawing Vayra’s attention back outside.

Fora nudged her sister. “No they’re not. They’re made of magma!”

“Not like that, idiot.”

Vayra leaned back, and let her mouth slip open. With the Ignimaids climbing up onto the rocks, the splashing magma, and the stars…she could almost forget about the smell of sulfur hanging in the air.

“They are beautiful,” Vayra whispered, letting a smile bend her lips.

‘Remember, Vayra,’ Phasoné said. ‘This is what you were hunting for. Views like this, without worrying about the Elderworlds and war and Karmion.’

Vayra nodded to herself, her mouth open and admiring the sight of the Ignimaids. A couple of the creatures slipped back into the lava and began to splash about, swimming in complex patterns while humming to each other in un-sonorous tunes.

‘We climb the ladder of magic so that one day we don’t have to worry, right?’

Vayra nodded again. She leaned back and shut her eyes, and a single tear slipped out from her eyes. It felt like someone was tugging on both sides of her head, pulling her in two directions.

Kill Karmion. Restore balance. Do her duty.

Or…save the crew.

The image of her hobbling along at Karmion’s side on a peg-leg, Gods bowing to her, flashed through her mind, and she blinked to make it fade away.

Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn’t she do both?

Vayra stood up, a low growl building in her throat. It wasn’t too late to save the crew either.

After a few more minutes of splashing around, the Ignimaids dipped back below the surface of the Lavapot and disappeared. They didn’t come back.

“Alright,” Vayra told the halfling girls, “we need to get you back to your camp, now.”

Both of them whined and complained, but the Ignimaids weren’t coming back, and after a few seconds of convincing—and telling them that she felt a tremor in the ground, even if she didn’t really—she convinced them to lead her back to their camp.

They scampered up the shore and to the edge of the forest, then to the trail they arrived on. As they walked, Vayra tried to steel herself as best as she could, to prepare herself for the task.

By now, most of the small injuries she’d earned in the Night Vale Chambers had been remedied. She just needed mana, water, and food. Then she’d be ready to go.

‘Whatever you do, Vayra, please just be safe. The galaxy needs you to complete your training, remember that. You can’t complete your training if you get locked up by Myrrir.’