Lord Dazuz never really told Rene what he needed her for. When he found her in Eyset, essentially he said she could have an actual home and some kind of comfort. With Hannah having left fairly recently and Rene still stuck on it, that idea appealed to her and she accepted. He didn’t really know she could bind things until he came into her room and tried to take some of her trinkets—she didn’t really know how it worked until he explained it, so she had a habit of accidentally binding things of sentimental value so only she could move it.
He pulled her aside, told her a story about how Dakari’s god sympathized with the people cast out of the first island and how he gave some of his people powers that could help. Lord Dazuz didn’t say much more than that—just that she needed to bind something and first island blood was required. The inspiring legend didn’t even have that much detail to it; there were a few different versions, but the vaguest was the most popular.
Lord Dazuz never quite claimed Rene was ‘special,’ just ‘important.’ Elina first described her as a kind of miracle, but she doubted she held that same view now.
Rene went to the train station just to see the entire family waiting for her. No one said anything; they were good enough at feigning normalcy in public that it seemed like they were just going out for some kind of typical family thing. Lord and Lady Dazuz had one room, the kids had another. Elina and Leo shared one seat—albeit sitting on opposite ends—while Rene laid down on the other one.
She kept the ring at the palace, partly because she didn’t want to lose it and partly to separate her time with Adelinde with what she was asked to do by the Dazuz family. She winced every time she looked down at her finger just to remember it wasn’t there, typically a short panic followed by a kind of guilt. Elina and Leo noticed, but both refused to make actual eye contact—Elina actually seemed rather determined to ignore her.
They were in one train for a few hours, a second overnight and into the next morning, then a third until the evening. Rene had a feeling they could’ve gotten there quicker—Lord Dazuz didn’t let her wander to the train schedules and railroad maps to confirm—but nonetheless they reached a small village she hadn’t been to before.
It must’ve been somewhere north, considering the influence of the first island. Most of the people seemed to be direct descendants who had very little if any Dakari blood—among them, the Dazuz family stood out as well. Rene knew she wasn’t the only one getting odd looks, but that didn’t really help much.
Lord Dazuz just led them to an older house, waiting until a man answered the door. Lord Dazuz glanced back at his children and Rene.
“We’re staying here,” Lord Dazuz said. “He’s aware of the cause.”
The man looked at Elina and Leo, then frowned at Rene before turning back towards Lord Dazuz.
“Which one’s your ‘key to greatness,’ Dazuz?” he asked.
“Rene.” He gestured to her when he said it, and the man just continued frowning.
“All I see is Dakari and Sólstaður. How do you know she has first island blood?”
“There were some records left from her parents; her last name is Horize.”
At least he didn’t say ‘was.’ That meant he didn’t really consider her a Dazuz.
The man still didn’t look entirely convinced, but nonetheless let them inside. Everyone but Rene was allowed to wander and settle down. Lord Dazuz and the man simply entertained conversation, the latter trying to talk to Rene. He stopped when she stayed silent regardless of the comment.
…
The entire family came back out again—including the other man—after the sun set. The night was clear, at least; the villagers seemed to head off to bed early, without anyone around or any lights indicating someone was still awake. The man lead them to a shrine near the back of the village, with a view of grass before it faded into a beach and then an ocean. She wondered if they thought the first island was in that direction.
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Only a small portion wasn’t blocked off by a fence and some rope; behind it was the shrine itself and a tall gravestone of sorts. Rene could tell the text on it was from the first island, at least, but couldn’t read it due to a mix of not having much light and not knowing a lot of the language itself.
Lord Dazuz barely waited, grabbing Rene’s wrist and pushing past the rope with little regard that the place could be seen as revered for the villagers. The sudden movement caught her off guard; he pulled her to the gravestone, then looked back at the watchers.
“If I had known Qrian would have gotten himself killed,” Lord Dazuz said, proud but strangely terrifying, “I would have brought him here the second I could, side effects be damned. I’m not making that same mistake again.”
Lady Dazuz stepped up to take Rene’s other wrist and force her on her knees in front of the gravestone. Lord Dazuz smiled, returning his gaze to Rene.
First came a second of silence, to the point where Rene wondered if he had more he wanted to say. She noticed a kind of glint from something out of the corner of her eye; an older instinct made her attempt to move back, but Lord Dazuz kept her in place while his wife tightened her grip.
Lord Dazuz pulled out a small knife and cut the palm of her hand, then forced her hand onto the gravestone as soon as it showed signs of blood. Rene winced, slightly glaring at him.
“The hell?”
“Bind your blood to the gravestone,” Lord Dazuz said firmly, “And be lucky we understand that your life isn’t required.”
She managed some defiance, just sitting there in relative silence. The pain didn’t bother her as much as the concept of binding blood did; she couldn’t think of a good reason, unless it was some ‘test of will’ they never bothered mentioning—although she liked to hope, if that was the case, the gods would understand she wasn’t doing it willingly.
After a few seconds, Lord Dazuz pressed her hand against the gravestone and she winced. Some blood still slipped through whatever gap there was between her hand and the gravestone.
Lord Dazuz came a little closer just to remind her, “Accidents, Rene. Remember that.”
She grimaced at both the pain and the threat. It always boiled down to risks. She hated that actually caring about someone was being used against her.
Maybe worse was the fact that he knew it would work.
It only took her a few seconds to bind her blood to the gravestone as told; all she had to do was imagine it staying there. Lord Dazuz pulled her hand away, then let go once he saw the blood filtering into the gravestone. Lady Dazuz did the same.
Rene didn’t wait for anyone to comment or give her permission, standing up and backing away while the others simply watched as the blood went into the gravestone and it shifted to a reddish color. The older three laughed while Elina and Leo looked amazed at the change.
Rene just ran. She didn’t bother going back to get her bag; she could handle that and the cut once she got away from people who thought their heritage meant binding blood to an old grave.
She went to the train station and stared at the map and schedules enough to plan out a kind of route. She must’ve looked shaken enough that the attendant just…gave her a ticket for the train currently sitting at the station. Rene boarded it well before it left, carefully weaving through those who were on their way to a larger city. She prepared a defense for if someone questioned her, but she didn’t know if it would be convincing; fortunately, the train staff member she waved down to help her get something to clean the cut with didn’t even question it.
Her thoughts didn’t clear up until the train started moving an hour later. Actually seeing her own blood brought back vague memories of the daily occurrences in the darker corners of a large port and working a few shifts at a tavern—kids arguing at the dock, adults pulling out knives. Every now and then people were led out to the piers just to be pushed off the edge; not everyone came back up.
Rene didn’t notice it as often since she met Hannah—especially not after she came to San Asari—but it terrified her; she used to be scared of both her home and of leaving it. She hated the feeling that she gave Lord Dazuz his desired reaction.
She managed to take a breath and lay down after she cleaned up her cut. If nothing else, she knew she wouldn’t let Adelinde or Matteo get dragged into this—as long as Lord Dazuz did as he agreed to, they shouldn’t even know.
Things would become a lot easier as soon as she could put this behind her. She should be able to break the binding in a few days once the Dazuz family leaves; then they wouldn’t notice, hopefully, and she could feign ignorance if they did.