Chapter 468: The Flower Part 2
21 years ago…
“...And that’s why I was wondering if you knew anything about selevine flowers?” Aurelia asked hopefully.
Sabina, Second Mother of the Celestial Shrine, sat across her desk and looked at Aurelia with her usual stern cold stare. Her lips abruptly cracked in a smile, “I know of selevine flowers, in fact, I know where you can find some.”
“Really!?” Aurelia jumped to her feet. “Where can I find them!? I’ll head out right now!”
“Settle down, acolyte.”
“R-Right, sorry,” Aurelia grimaced and sat back down.
Sabina looked at her sympathetically. “I know you’re excited, you’ve finally found a potential cure for your mother. You’ve worked so hard for so long, this is a moment of triumph, I do not mean to take it away from you. But the journey to the flower patch is not simple, I need you to focus.”
“Right, yes, of course,” Aurelia nodded earnestly.
“Good.” Sabina pulled out a map of the Rupture Mountains from her desk and began to chart a course. “The selevine flowers are very rare. I can understand why our visitor was unable to locate any reference to them. I’ve only ever seen any on Pale-Stone.” She pointed to a mountain, far north of Mt. Moon Fang.
Aurelia stared at the map with a deep intensity. “How far is it?”
“The journey shouldn’t be particularly dangerous, at least compared to Vulture Woods. Still, there is no clear path, even for an experienced hunter it could take nine days.” Sabina smirked, “But for a prime mage like you, I’d say seven days, six if you hurry.”
“I’ll make it in five.”
“You’ll need traveling companions.”
Aurelia shook her head. “I’ll move faster if I’m on my own.”
“True, but if you think I’m going to allow our Favored of the Moon to travel by herself deep into the mountains you are as stupid as the girl eavesdropping behind my door.”
Aurelia frowned, “What?”
“Come out, girl, before I make you,” Sabina said in a displeased tone.
The door creaked open, revealing a crouched Virella on the ground. Her green cheeks were bright with embarrassment. “He-Hello, Mother Sabina, Aurelia, fancy meeting you two here…?”
The two just stared at her as if she was an idiot.
Virella bowed her head in shame. “I’ll just go now…”
“Don’t you move a muscle,” Sabina warned. “I take it you’ve heard everything?”
Virella winced “Um, yes…?”
“Good, that makes things simple. Arrange a party of your acolyte-sisters and hunters to travel with the two of you,” Sabina ordered.
“Wait? I’m coming too?” Virella asked excitedly.
“Obviously, when it comes to horticulture, you’re the most advanced student I have,” Sabina said matter-of-factly. “Of course, you are also my most disobedient student. I heard you’ve been growing certain— herbs in your room. Herbs that when ingested give various peculiar effects, the likes of which we priestesses do not indulge in lightly.”
Virella swallowed hard. “Um, I’m gonna go and um, gather our companions, yeah, gather our companions. If you’ll excuse me—”
“When you return from this trip expect to be cleaning the chamber pots of all your sisters for two weeks, courtesy of this little stunt of yours,” Sabina noted.
Virella grimaced. “A-As you wish, Mother Sabina.”
Aurelia watched her friend leave with her head hung low. “Did you really have to make it two weeks?”
“Don’t be soft on her, she’ll never amount to anything if you do,” said Sabina. “Take this,” she pushed the map into Aurelia’s hands. “I’ve marked the trail for you. Pale-Stone is a desolate mountain, no animals or people live there. The flowers you’re looking for should be near the top. It should be easy enough to find.”
“Thank you, Mother Sabina,” Aurelia bowed gratefully.
“Try not to linger on the mountain after you’ve picked the flowers.”
“Is it dangerous? I thought you said the mountain was desolate?” she asked cautiously.
“Exactly my point. Any mountain that animals refuse to go to is not a place you wish to linger for long. I was only there once and the air itself felt unsettling. Pick your flowers and leave, do not stay the night on the mountain, do you understand me, girl?”
“I understand, thank you, for everything,” Aurelia bowed once more.
~~~
“I can’t believe Sabina actually knew where to find selevine flowers,” Ivory said cheerfully. “When do we leave?”
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“We aren’t leaving anywhere. I’m going with some expert hunters and acolytes to Pale-Stone Mountain,” Aurelia said firmly.
Virella knocked on the door and poked her head inside the common room. “Hey, Auri, we’re all ready to go.”
Ivory raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Wait, she gets to go!? But not me!? I mean, no offense, Vi.”
“Offense taken,” Virella crossed her arms.
“Vi, why don’t you and the others go wait at the front gate, I’ll meet up with you in a minute, yeah?” said Aurelia.
“Mm… fine,” Virella rolled her eyes begrudgingly and left.
Ivory laid back in his chair and looked Aurelia over, “So, you’re really gonna go without me? You do realize you can’t actually stop me from going, right?”
“I am and I do.”
“Then why don’t you want me to go? I thought you and I were finally getting closer,” Ivory said playfully, though there was a hint of genuine care in his lilac eyes.
“I need you here to begin working on the potion that will heal my mom. Once we’re back I’ll give you the flowers and you can finish the potion as soon as possible.”
“I see.” Ivory sighed, “Very well, I’ll begin gathering the materials I need for the elixir.”
Aurelia walked over to him, leaned down, and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks,” she whispered into his ear.
He turned to her and their eyes met face-to-face, their breath on each other’s lips.
Aurelia licked her lips and swallowed. “I… I should get going…” She stepped back and ran away, not daring to look at Ivory’s expression.
~~~
The party of fifteen hunters and acolytes waited outside the temple’s front gates, next to the mountain’s steps. Faint wisps of snow fell down on the quiet morning. Virella was already with them, chatting with some of her friends among the acolytes.
Aurelia spotted Sabina standing at the gate and marched over to her. “This is too much, half of them would’ve been more than enough.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t add more,” Sabina said calmly.
“They’ll slow me down.”
“I’m sure you’ll manage.”
Aurelia bit her lip and relented. “Fine. Thank you for setting this all up.”
“You’re very welcome, take care of yourself out there.” Sabina opened her arms and hugged her.
Aurelia stiffened at the uncharacteristic warmth but after a moment she relaxed, closed her eyes, and hugged her back.
“~Auri’s finally here! Off to adventure!~” Virella shouted at the top of her lungs and trotted down the mountain steps.
Aurelia laughed as she watched the rest of the party hurry to follow Virella down the slippery icy steps.
“There is something definitely wrong with that girl,” Sabina said dryly.
“She just doesn’t get out a lot,” said Aurelia. “I should get going before Vi accidentally leads them in the wrong direction.”
“Yes, you should.”
Aurelia bowed briefly and ran out the temple gates. A sudden shrill cry caught her attention. She stopped in her tracks and looked up. A pale white owl sat perched atop the gate, its orb black eyes staring at her. The owl cocked its head to the side before flying off into the clouds. Aurelia furrowed her brow for a moment, then headed back to the stone steps.
Sabina watched the owl fly away with a keen sense of discomfort. Something about that owl tickled a faint memory in her mind.
~~~
4 days later…
After finishing all his preparations for his elixir, Ivory wandered back into the temple’s archives. Skimming through several ancient texts he had yet to get around to reading. The archives were stashed away deep in the temple, where not a single window existed. Magestone lanterns hung from the ceiling, their soft blue glow the only light source in the area.
Tall stacks of scrolls lined the walls and dozens of shelves crammed the already somewhat small space. Ivory maneuvered around the cramped area with familiar ease, not even bothering to look up at his surroundings, when the faint sound of a page turning caught his attention. He stopped, backpedaled a few steps, and craned his neck past the shelf behind him.
A small figure sat at one of the few tables. Several old texts were haphazardly sprawled around her.
Ivory walked over with a curious step. “Priestess Sabina, I didn’t know you frequented the archives.”
Sabina looked up with a tired gaze. “Ivory… I heard you’ve been spending a lot of time here, boy…”
“Not as much as I’d like. You’d be amazed at the knowledge stored in this place. The old priests of Lunis really outdid themselves.”
“Is that why you’re here in Evenfall? In search of knowledge?”
“Do you find that wrong? Or is my presence disturbing? I can leave you to your reading if you’d like,” he offered.
She shook her head, “No, actually, you might be of some help.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“Just something that I learned about during my early days as an acolyte,” she began uncertainly. “It was some small text, nothing particularly important. I had forgotten about it until recently. I’ve been trying to look for any references about owls but I couldn’t find any—”
“Owls you say? Well, if it’s an owl, there are only so many species. I’m sure we can figure it out. Can you describe it to me?”
“It was white, pale white. And its eyes were black, pitch black, like glass in darkness.”
“Oh,” Ivory nodded in understanding. “You’re referring to the spirit owl. They are a very rare species of elemental bird, native to the Aurus Realm. Many Aurian cultures believe the spirit owl is a herald of death and brings misfortune to all those it visits.”
“And do you believe in such stories?” she asked quietly.
He shrugged. “Hm, who knows? Life is chaotic, people die every day. People try to search for meaning behind it, but oftentimes there isn’t.”
“I see…”
“There’s no need to look so worried. Spirit owls are native to the Aurus Realm, they rarely ever visit any of the other realms. And after the Schism three centuries ago, even if there had been some spirit owls left in the Ebon Realm they’d all be dead by now.”
“You seem very confident about that, boy.”
“I am.”
“Then tell me why I saw one four days ago?”
“You must have seen a snow owl, a simple but common mistake.”
She hardened her gaze. “I know what I saw.”
He smiled, “Ma’am, I truly mean no disrespect, but there really is no way a spirit owl befell you. You can sleep at ease tonight.”
“It didn’t befall me.”
“What?”
“The owl, it was watching Aurelia, not me.”
“Look, I know you’re worried for Aurelia, ma’am, but like I said, it’s not possi—” His smile fell. “Unless…” He narrowed his lilac eyes, “It cannot be… after all this time… you choose to interfere now… why…?”
Sabina frowned. “What are you muttering about? You know something, don’t you? Tell me, what is it? What do you know, boy?!”
Ivory glanced at her, “Relax.” He raised his hand in front of her. Sabina’s eyes glazed over and she slumped in her chair, fast asleep. “This has nothing to do with you, child.”
Ivory unceremoniously dropped the book he was reading and waved his hand across the air. The stone wall in front of him shifted like water and formed a tunnel to the outside open air. He walked into the tunnel and the wall reformed behind him without a mark.