We have to come up with a plan.

That was all Ssiina and I talked about in the morning. If Ussyri Tahaksa thought we’d be bothered by an absence of serving staff, she was very wrong. More than just wrong—my sister and I were glad not to have the attention.

It made our discussions all the easier. Ssiina hadn’t found any suspicious arrays, and while I was bereft of my powers, I still tried to help her look. Regardless, we’d need a safer place to talk about how we were going to get access to whatever vaults full of secrets the Spring had.

For now, we could use Kyrae’s mistreatment as a misdirection to hide our greater plan. Same idea with one person stealing a fruit visibly while another picked the crowd’s pockets. Folks don’t watch their own things so well when they’re watching another crook.

Unfortunately, this all meant keeping my mouth shut about what we were actually here for in favor of talking about more pertinent things, like how we were going to meet that bigoted Ussyri again today before working out just what kind of learning we’d be undergoing.

Part practicing temple, part place of rest and pilgrimage, and part center of knowledge, the Spring of All Life had options at least. Plus, it’d be fun to compare how the Spring teaches history versus Phaeliisthia. A lot less focus on the bad I’d bet.

We’d need a schedule before we could find ways to break it after all.

Rather than wait for the Ussyri in front of our ostentatious, empty house. Ssiina and I snuck out just before dawn to where Kyrae was staying and rapped on the door as the sun was rising.

“Hey Sis, it’s us! Hope you’re up!” I shouted.

Something moved in one of the upper windows, just visible through the decorative holes in the wooden shutter. A few moments later, the door opened just a little.

“Who are you?” The elf woman who answered had twigs in her hair and a decidedly unpleasant look on her face. She also answered in Elven.

“We’re Kyrae’s sisters,” Ssiina answered smoothly, also in Elven. “Our apologies if we’re too early, but we wanted to make sure our sister is well before we have to meet with Ussyri Tahaksa.”

“She’s asleep.”

The door closed, quickly.

Ssiina and I shared a look. Break in now, or wait?

“Window or door?” I asked.

Ssiina blinked. Maybe we hadn’t been thinking the same. “I doubt she’s harmed… do you not know who that was?”

“Do you?”

“Well… I don’t know her name, but if I had to guess she’s from Deepwood Province, which comprises the Greatriver’s highlands. We flew over with Phaeliisthia remember, to see the glacier?”

I was reminded that we’d never gone to where I wanted. Then again, the capital of the human empire was probably not a safe place right now.

Rather than bring that up, I nodded after a too-long pause. “So… deep elf territory. Probably hates lamia—but why’s she at the Spring then?”

Ssiina shook her head. “Any number of reasons. Some… less pleasant than others.”

“For her or the Spring?”

“For who or the Spring?”

I jumped at Ussyri Tahaksa’s voice and blurted “N-nothing!” reflexively.

“If you mean the young lady staying here with your sister, she is unfortunately quite the troublemaker.” Ussyri Tahaksa slithered uncomfortably close to us. “However, I believe she will be a model student in time, although that path is hers to walk.”

Something about the way she said it made my scales feel like an early shed and I shivered despite the sun’s warmth.

“You two are early risers. I apologize for the lack of serving staff this morning—there was a scheduling error related to the Ea’Ssyri’s visit.”

“Siilak shit.” The word came out before I could stop it, and I made a snap decision to carry on. “You know damn well the staff wasn’t here this morning as punishment for us fighting your other siilak shit last night.”

“Such an accusation is unbecoming of Hssen.” She glared down at me, and I shivered in the sheer venom her eyes held.

“I am certain this could be cleared by simply asking for the servants’ schedules, Ussyri,” Ssiina said with a forced calm. Before I could call her a traitor, she continued, “Since we are so early this morning, it might behoove us to do so promptly, as I wish to personally greet our servants during our stay.”

Ussyri Tahaksa’s eyes narrowed. “That will not be necessary.”

“Ah, I understand then.” The coy smile Ssiina wore brought a fang-filled one to my face.

“You…” The ussyri’s jaw tightened.

“I apologize if my words caused offense?”

“Your sister will attend ablution this evening, and if you are not careful, you will as well.”

I wanted so badly to tell her to “make me,” but her tensed lower body and Ssiina’s shaking arms told me that’d be a bad idea. Instead, I tried to keep the conversation going in a more pleasant direction. We needed some amount of Ussyri Tahaksa’s cooperation to get set up anyway.

More and more I felt like a not-yet-caught criminal. In a way, I supposed I was.

“Fine. Let’s just get my sister and we’ll get out of your coils.” I tried to lose the scowl, but my arms stayed crossed.

The ussyri’s mouth twitched, but she schooled her expression into an obviously forced calm. “I sincerely hope, for your sake, Hssen Issa, that you come to understand the expectations of the Spring.”

“I’ll do my best.” The words tasted gross in my mouth, but I forced them out under Ssiina’s pleading glare. Sis, if you weren’t here, there’d have been a fight.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

When the ussyri turned away from me, Ssiina deflated and threw me a shaky smile. We both watched as Ussyri Tahaksa knocked on the door, heavily.

“She’s asleep!” came a muffled shout, in Elven, from the inside.

“Then wake her. We’ve a strict schedule to attend and her sisters were more than punctual.”

Did the ussyri come here first and early out of pettiness? Did she see or hear us outside and slither over? I had no evidence but chose the first option in my mind. She would.

Thankfully, Ussyri’taan Eiss proved there were people on our side here—or at least ambivalent. Her and the white-scaled educator whose name I’d already forgotten.

Footsteps receded inside, then motion upstairs, then two sets toward the door. Kyrae threw it open first, and was followed out by the twig-haired girl. Now that I got a better look, there were leaves on the twigs, and on her green-and-brown outfit. She also didn’t wear shoes.

The girl, who was most of a head shorter than Kyrae, shot a glare at the ussyri. I don’t care if she hates lamia, I like her.

“Ussen Farula, you do not need to come with us.”

Farula rolled her eyes. “Today’s my late day!” Again, in Elven.

“I’m Issa!” I cut in in Elven, offering a polite bow. “And this is my sister Ssiina! Since we’re here at the Spring, you don’t need to address us with honorifics.”

“We’d love to get to know our sister’s housemate!” Ssiina added, also offering a bow.

Farula looked up at me, eyes wide, before a wide grin stretched its way across her face. “Pleased to meet you! I have so many questions. Think we can walk and talk? Or slither and talk, because you don’t have legs. C’mon Ussyri, it’ll build bonds and be a good lesson for me!”

“I doubt it.”

“We’re burning daylight,” Kyrae announced, speaking for the first time. “There’s much we need to do before Issa goes to ablution, and I wouldn’t mind having someone else along to give us a student perspective. Oh, and thank you for the accommodations, Ussyri Tahaksa.”

I could tell my sister’s polite voice was fake, but I wasn’t sure the Ussyri could because she wore a complex expression before sighing and muttering something under her breath. “Yes, alright. Ussen Farula, you can join us provided you do not speak when I am speaking and that you do not miss your lessons.”

The small elf girl nodded enthusiastically, and I was left wondering where the terse, cold girl we’d met at the door had disappeared to. Although she did stand a lot closer to Kyrae than me.

Until we left the residential area, we moved along the street in relative silence. Not the only early risers, but even the crowd seemed to have a hushed sort of privacy to it. In a way, it was hard to see why not: between ancient, gnarled trees wider than they were tall and the pink-red hues of early morning light filtering through, the atmosphere was magical.

Literally.

My skin burned a little, scales tingled, and I desperately hoped the ussyri wouldn’t notice my discomfort.

Thankful, Ussen Farula had me covered.

“Don’t know if I mentioned it, but just call me Farula!” she blurted. “No titles or anything!” Her Elven was fast, but I had no problem keeping up. “You look like a… ke’lania’el”—she tumbled through the unfamiliar word —“right? Oh, are you ra… the both sexes thing? You’re really big—but not in a bad way, like a tall tree, not a wide one, or a big flower, wait that doesn’t make sense…”

She trailed when we met eyes. I had what felt like half a dozen responses all eating each other inside my head and what ended up coming out was: “Yes I’m girl.”

Kyrae, who’d managed to stay stoically silent—the spitting image of obedience—broke out into a fit of giggles. When she looked at Farula, her eyes lingered and her cheeks gained a little color. Oh, is Kyrae interested in someone?

Farula’s mouth opened into an “O” and she put a hand in front of it, then spoke more slowly. “Oh, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have assumed. I mean, I’m not making an assumption right now am I? I should probably stop talking…”

“Assumption about what?” Ssiina asked while I was trying word… thought… not good so…

“Oh! Your Elven is lovely with the accent. I just.. didn’t mean to assume, but… well.”

Ssiina giggled. “She’s fluent in Elven.”

I looked between her and Ussyri Tahaksa who was pointedly ignoring us. “I… yes. Sorry, that was just a lot of questions all at once and I’m not a morning person. Could you… ask again?”

She nodded, and repeated what I assumed she’d probably just said but with less rambling.

“Yes, I’m kelaniel, and a ra’zhii woman. And if you think I’m big, you should meet our sire.”

“Can I?”

Does she dislike lamia or not? Then again, the look she fixed me with was… off-putting. Couldn’t say how, but it definitely was.

“What you do outside of the Spring will be subject to societal norms,” Ussyri Tahaksa cut in. “As for now, I suggest you thank me for taking time I do not have to guide you by maintaining at least some of the decorum expected of acolytes, even if you are not ssyri’ssen.”

“Sure!” I beamed, completely ignoring the Ussyri.

She probably didn’t have much time because instead of a tongue lashing, she simply picked up her pace, setting Farula to jogging.

“Really?” she asked between breaths.

“Yes!” Kyrae and Ssiina answered at the same time.

“Though Sire is recovering right now,” Kyrae added. “I assume you heard of the incident at the Palace.”

When Kyrae said “Sire,” my unnaturally sharp hearing caught a stifled hiss from the ussyri. Yeah, deal with it.

“I did! Ussent Sunstrike was gravely injured, and my family’s made an offer to help his. Which is great, because us elves really ought to get along more between hunters and cityfolk. Buuut, I don’t want to get into that. I’ll stay good.” She projected her voice to the ussyri. “Anyway, I’ll look forward to it, if there’s a chance.”

Kyrae nodded. “When Sire is well, we’ll send you a missive.”

“Going to take that long, huh?”

“...Yes.”

I didn’t get why Kyrae paused to think; the answer was obvious, right? And I didn’t get any more time to consider because while we’d been talking, Ussyri Tahaksa had taken us to the main building we’d seen yesterday.

“Go inside, take your first right and go up the ramp. In the room there you will meet with someone who can help decide your curriculum. Do ask them to explain the lessons and training on offer; I would have, but I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation.

“Now if you will excuse me, I’m terribly busy. Do not forget ablution tonight, Issa. I will personally oversee it.” She turned and started to slither deeper inside.

“Where is it?” I asked after her.

“This building, bottom floor.”

And with that, she was gone.

“Let’s go!” Farula chirped. Almost literally, in fact.

“Don’t you have classes?” Kyrae asked.

She got a shrug in response. “You three are way more fun. Didn’t think hssen could be so… so normal. Like actual people.”

I wanted to remind her that she was a noble too, but her outfit made me reconsider.

Ssiina slithered in front of us, blocking the ramp up. “Just in case the Ussyri’s directions are also a setup, or they are unwilling to answer questions, do you know what our options are, Farula?”

People started to move around us, and the crowd was rapidly getting thicker.

“Yeah!” Farula answered. “There’s three branches: the arts martial, the arts magical, and the arts mundane. The latter covers everything from actual art like sculpting to history, language, and numerals.”

“That’s… a surprisingly succinct summary. Thank you Farula.”

She looked at Ssiina completely innocently. “No problem! Now come on, we’re in the way!”

We really were. We’d even gotten a few dirty looks I’d returned in full.

But we got moving anyway and it wasn’t long before our new elf friend piped up again. “You should take combat training, Issa! And Kyrae! I’d bet you could throw your size around—Issa, that is. Kyrae you’re normal-sized.”

“Thanks?” Kyrae offered. “I plan to take magical… actually, it might behoove me to look into that.”

“Phaeliisthia’s training is doubtless superior to what is on offer here.” Ssiina put to words what Kyrae was probably thinking.

“Fey-ell-ee, who?”

“Dragon who tutored us for five years.”

“Whoah! You gotta tell me that. I’ll give you plant secrets if you tell me!”

“Maybe later,” Kyrae said quickly. “Thank you for the advice, though. Learning to fight physically might be nice.”

“I think I’ll stick to magic,” Ssiina said, pursing her lips. “I want to see if there’s anything I can get from what’s on offer. Competing philosophies can sometimes have insights.”

“Didn’t you just say the lessons here would be no good?” I asked.

“Well, that may have been hasty of me…”

“You just don’t want to fight.”

“Yes, and?”

“No, that’s it.”

Ssiina huffed, then slithered ahead up the ramp.

“I think I will take combat classes,” I told Farula as we watched Kyrae scamper up after my other sister. “I’m no good at sigilcraft, and I’m terrible at memorizing anything I’m not interested in so… maybe history and that’s it?”

Farula shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat. But we should probably catch up.”

I looked up just in time to see Ssiina’s tail disappearing around a corner. Stifling a curse, I pushed hard to catch up with her and Kyrae, Farula trailing behind.