Morning found Callan still awake, covered in soot and grime and generally wrung out like an old rag. Kivi wasn’t in much better shape.

“I think this fire is finally out, Avatar,” she said, setting down a bucket. She rubbed at her hands, which Callan could see sported a few new blisters. His own throbbed in sympathy.

At least the fires here were not as severe as the ones in the lud village, Xeph noted.

“Yeah, if this place had burned the way Tok had, we’d probably have to move all these yeth to the temple, too.”

Don’t even joke about that. Their duplicitousness is difficult enough to deal with here in their home territory. I do not think I could tolerate them corrupting the sanctity of my temple as well.

Callan chuckled as he surveyed the mostly intact town. “Luckily, I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that.”

Hmm, yes. Quite lucky indeed, considering everything.

It turned out that stone powers weren’t super useful for putting out fires. Callan had already learned that to some degree during the fire in Kivi’s village, but he’d thought maybe their new increase in strength might make a difference.

Nope. The best Callan managed was to build a few hasty walls to keep the fires from spreading, but even that had been the utter limit of what his powers could accomplish. Between his fight with Veritas and his slow apotheosis recovery thanks to his debt, his time had been better spent hauling water.

Which, thanks to his increased Brawn and Fortitude, far outstripped what even the lud could accomplish. Though at no small cost to his hands.

In the end, they lost only one other home besides the mayor’s and the guest houses. And that had simply been because Callan was too slow to raise walls in time rather than any intentional maliciousness.

Even better, no one had died, or even been seriously hurt by the flames. A few burns thanks to pulling furniture and what other keepsakes could be saved from the mayor’s home, most of which were now piled up in the town square. It could certainly have been worse. A fact that not only Callan, but every villager in Aos was painfully aware.

Which he guessed had been Veritas’s intent.

With the fires out, they returned to the town square. As he followed the high priestess, Callan noted with relief that the trading post still stood. Even with the temple underneath, hopefully the building itself was too valuable to the town for the cult to make such a blunt move as burning it to the ground.

Still, with Alyssa’s betrayal there was no way that Veritas wasn’t aware of the temple’s existence. Callan should have posted Sworv or Paeral as a permanent guard right after the last contest.

Right. Sworv.

It was all Callan could do not to wince. In the chaos of the fires, he hadn’t found a chance to speak with Paeral about his brother yet. That was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

But it was a concern for later. There were more immediate matters to deal with.

Belinda stood in the center of her remaining possessions, sorting a pile of books from a table to a desk, then back again. A pair of yeth boys approached, and she gestured them forward.

“Be careful not to drop my desk like you did my chair! I can stand if I have to, but if I have nowhere to write I’ll bend you both over and use your backs for my purposes.”

The two boys grunted in acknowledgment, but didn’t seem nearly as chastised as the yeth usually looked. Callan wasn’t sure if that was further evidence of rebellion, fatigue from fighting fires all night, or simply how the boys always acted.

Moving the book pile again, this time to a dresser showing a few scorch marks, the mayor nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Callan. “Thank you for the assistance last night, avatar. I know this must seem bleak, but we’ve been through worse. Why, in our third year here, a fire started in a newly built barn, and we thought for sure we were going to lose everything. My husband and I ended up hosting three families for the next season until their homes were rebuilt.”

“I’m glad you’re so optimistic.” Callan glanced around, then frowned as he saw the two yeth boys hoisting the desk up the steps of the tower. He glanced at Belinda. “You aren’t moving in with Radavan?”

“Tch, no. Can’t trust that boy to tie his own belt at the moment. And until we’re certain who else in the town can be trusted, I’ll not sleep under an unfamiliar roof. The tower will serve for the moment, and help remind everyone that I’m central to this town, burnt home or no.”

“If you say so.” Callan hesitated, gathering his thoughts. “We need to talk. The fires weren’t the only developments last night.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Before that, I had a run-in with—”

Mortal, Xeph interrupted. Might I advise you to continue this conversation somewhere a bit more private?

Callan paused, noticing the gathered yeth villagers for the first time. It seemed as if everyone lift in town was here in the square, though most were hovering near the edges, tending to small burns or passing out a cold breakfast of bread and fruit. Now, though, they started to draw closer as if by some unspoken signal.

“Mayor, we’d like to talk to you,” a middle-aged yeth man said, separating himself from the crowd.

“And who is ‘we’, Torveld? Hmm?” Belinda’s eyes roved the crowd. A few people muttered and looked at the ground, but no one backed away.

Callan suddenly had a bad feeling about what was about to happen.

“We’ve been discussing this all morning,” Torveld continued, and though his voice quivered, he stood up straighter, looking the mayor in the eye. “We want to call a vote for a new mayor. Things just ain’t playing out right with this whole avatar business. It’s time someone else looked into the matter.”

“You keep using the word ‘we’, Torveld, when everyone knows you mean ‘me’.” The mayor snorted. “You want to try for my position that badly, do you?”

“Now, hold on, Mayor. I ain’t suggesting that it be me who replaces you—”

Belinda held up a hand, and Torveld immediately went silent. Her eyes took in the entire crowd, seeming to hold them all at once. “Listen, all of you, and listen well. There’ll be no talk whatsoever about electing a new mayor—until this business with Veritas is dealt with!” she added, her voice rising to a shout, drowning out the new wave of mutters that were spreading through the crowd.

“And why not?” someone in the back asked. Belinda locked onto them.

“I’m glad you asked that, Pyle. Because there are still traitors hiding in our midst, that’s why. Until the sickness that Veritas has spread is rooted out, I won’t risk one of their priests assuming their reins over the village. I’m sure you can all see why that would be a bad idea.”

A few people nodded at this, but just as many were scowling. It felt like the crowd’s mood could shift directions at a moment’s notice.

“Once Veritas is dealt with—once Avatar Callan here has sent the cult packing—then I will happily open up consideration for an election. If anyone at that time feels that the matter with these avatars wasn’t handled to perfection, they are free to try their hand at running this town in my stead. Assuming they can get enough votes.”

“You swear it, Mayor?” Torveld asked. “You’ll hold an election, just like that?”

“Of course. I welcome open discourse—so long as it doesn’t risk tearing this town apart.” Belinda’s expression softened. “After all, I only want what’s best for all of you. That’s all I or my husband ever have. Why we worked so hard to build this town in the first place. For all of you. And your children. And their children.”

More people were nodding now. A few people drifted off, apparently considering the matter concluded. Even Torveld was smiling. Callan let himself breathe a bit easier.

That was a close one, Xeph said, echoing his own thoughts. This town is one wrong word away from open rebellion. If the mayor were to lose her calm again like she did after her daughter’s betrayal, there may be no saving it.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Yeah, well then maybe we should let someone else deliver the bad news about Veritas,” Callan muttered as the mayor turned to him.

“Avatar, let us speak up in the tower. I would have the opinions of you and your high priestess if I could.”

Nodding, Callan and Kivi followed her up the steps and into the top chamber of the tower.

Inside they found the other half of the mayor’s furniture placed haphazardly about. The two boys from before were leaning against the desk, talking and laughing over some joke or other. Belinda growled at the sight of them.

“Really? Do you find it entertaining to waste both your own time and my own?” When the boys began muttering half-hearted apologies the mayor’s glower deepened. “Just go home, then. Bother your own parents for a change. Hmmph!”

The two boys scurried past Callan and down the steps of the tower.

“Avatar, would you be so kind as to seal the entrance?” the mayor asked, collapsing into a chair. It wobbled dangerously but didn’t collapse.

“Sure.” Activating his orison, he reworked the stone over the entrance, sealing it entirely. He also melted away the first few steps outside as well, to deter anyone listening in. Couldn’t be too careful these days.

Geez, look at me. I’m getting as paranoid as a yeth. The thought immediately bothered him. He still didn’t like the whole racial profiling thing that seemed to be going on with the elevated races, but with as often as it had been proved right with the yeth lately, he couldn’t deny that it was starting to affect the way he thought about them.

The mayor clasped her hands in her lap. She stared at the hole in the ceiling for a moment before turning to them. Callan would need to seal that for her, lest she wake up to a thunderstorm in the middle of a night flooding her bed.

“As you can see, the situation is getting grim. I didn’t want to admit it, but I’m losing my grip on my people out there. We need to do something to bolster the village’s confidence in both me and yourselves, if we’re to hold things together long enough to force this last contest with Veritas.”

“Actually, Mayor, that contest probably isn’t going to be a concern anymore.” Briefly, Callan explained about his confrontation with the other avatar out near the lake. He expected Belinda to blow up on him, but she merely nodded along.

“That does complicate matters a bit,” she said once he’d finished, “However, as I see it, what doesn’t change is our immediate goal, only makes it all the more important.”

“And what is that, Mayor?” Kivi said.

“Finding those priests still hiding amongst us. Long as we’ve got a snake in the grass, it’s not safe for us to walk in any direction. We either find out who has already pledged themselves, or this fire is going to be the least of our worries.”

She turned and leveled her gaze at Callan. “Avatar, I know I’ve asked a lot from you, but I have to insist—find those priests. Once you root them out and I take them to task before the other villagers, that should go a long way to restoring order. Veritas will be out of support in the village, and we’ll have ourselves some bargaining chips.”

Unfortunately, I don’t think it will be quite as simple as the mayor thinks, Xeph said, shifting about inside Callan’s skull. Too many have already lost their confidence in her leadership. Even if we root out the priests, she is likely facing an impending rebellion, or at the least, a shift in the distribution of power amongst this community.

Callan repeated the god’s words. Belinda frowned, but didn’t disagree. “Leave me to handle my people, avatar. You just take care of what we agreed to. Find Veritas’s people, use them to force the last contest, then win. Once the god leaves, everyone will calm down, and I should be able to rebuild the pieces of what we once had here.”

Confident, isn’t she? Xeph muttered.

“Probably a little too much so,” Callan agreed. When the mayor glanced at him, he gave her his best smile. “I can’t promise I’ll figure anything out about the cultists that I haven’t already, but Xeph and I will see what we can do.”

“Good. Start by investigating Torveld. I never would have thought he’d speak up against me, but then again, I never suspected Higarth of being a priest, either. Or of—” She caught herself, gave a small cough, then continued, “Just do what you can. And do it quickly. I fear we may not have much time left.”

----------------------------------------

When Callan stopped at the temple later to pick up his lunch, he found Kivi with her arms wrapped around Paeral consolingly. The latter’s shoulders shook with sobs.

“High Priestess.” Callan paused in the doorway, unsure how to proceed. Finally, he said, “Did you tell him—”

“About his brother? Yes. I did not feel it would be polite to put it off any longer, and we need to retrieve his body before animals set upon it.”

This last comment elicited even louder sobs from Paeral. Callan’s heart went out to the older lud. He glanced at Kivi.

“How come you didn’t wait for me? Given the circumstances...”

He didn’t finish the sentence. How were you supposed to put, because I got his brother killed in any way that didn’t come out sounding horrible?

Then again, maybe that was the point. While most of the blame fell upon Veritas, Callan also knew he bore no small part himself. So many choices he could have made differently.

Not bringing the brothers to this accursed town in the first place, for starters.

“Avatar, I mean no offense when I say this, but you are not a lud.” It wasn’t a question, but Callan nodded. Kivi continued, “This is a matter best dealt with by those who know our culture best.”

Callan had no idea what that could possibly mean. It wasn’t like the differences between the elevated races really mattered when it came to getting a dagger in the throat. However, he kept his mouth shut and nodded again.

“I never told him,” Paeral mumbled. He was so quiet that Callan wasn’t sure he’d heard him correctly. “I never told him,” he repeated.

“Shh, it’s alright,” Kivi said. “Sworv is in the Cairn now. He no longer suffers from the burden of the pains and desires he carried in life. Whatever regrets you have, they can pass to him now without judgement.”

The older lud nodded and drew a shaky breath. “I have always been jealous of him. Of his confidence. The way he made friends with everyone, even the higher castes. His ease in speaking with women. I... I treated him poorly, disparaged him at every turn, because in truth I wanted what he had. He never knew. No one did, not even my wife.”

The lud does know that this was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears and half a brain, does he not? Xeph muttered.

Callan agreed with his head-mate but was smart enough not to say it out loud. Instead, he came over and sat on Paeral’s other side.

“Even as a Daisa, he was the best of us. I was older than him by three minutes, yet I felt like I was always behind him most of my life. The only real accomplishments I’ve ever been proud of were Revak and my son. And even that...”

He lapsed into silence. Then, “I never realized my brother hated his caste. I always assumed he never married or had a child because he preferred the free lifestyle. Now I find myself questioning every conversation we ever had, every argument. I find myself questioning if he wasn’t correct after all.”

Kivi shot Callan a warning glance. It took him a moment to translate it.

She’s afraid you’re going to start up again trying to dissolve the caste system, Xeph noted, once again the master of stating the obvious. While it is not an entirely bad idea, doing so at this moment would be in rather poor taste. I suggest saving such a discussion for after his brother is returned home and buried.

Callan rolled his eyes and muttered something that the god should have been grateful was unintelligible. He turned to Paeral. “You know, I’ve been where you are before. About three years ago my grandfather passed away—”

“Avatar,” Kivi said, cutting in. “I’m certain there are better uses for your time. Let me focus on my duties as High Priestess to my people as well as to our god. You should reserve your energy for what matters most.”

“She’s right, Avatar.” Paeral gave a hiccup and wiped at his face. “You should not trouble yourself over something so insignificant.”

“Insig—Paeral, your brother died.” Callan swallowed, then forced himself to continue. “He died because of me. That’s not insignificant. If I can’t at least show a little compassion and remorse, what kind of monster would I be?”

The other two stared at him, speechless. Callan sighed, then took Paeral’s hand in his own. “Listen, I know there’s nothing I can do to bring your brother back. If you me for his death, I’ll understand. But I want you to know that I’m going to make this up to you. On that, I can promise. Even if it takes the rest of my life.”

Blinking tears out of his eyes, Paeral smiled at him. “I don’t blame you, Avatar. How could I? You saved our people once before. We all would have been dead or worse if not for you. Sworv chose to go into a dangerous situation, and he paid the price.”

As the words left his mouth, a shocked expression settled on the older lud’s face. Kivi patted him on the shoulder.

“There. Those too are regrets you needed to send to the Cairn. Keep working them out of you.” She glanced at Callan. “Avatar, a word in private?”

He nodded and followed her up the stairs, then into the alley behind the trading post. Kivi moved a dozen strides away from the entrance before turning to him.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asked. “I just wanted him to know it was okay. Even if I saved you all before, that doesn’t excuse what happened last night.”

Kivi shook her head. “No, that isn’t what I wanted to talk about. I owe you an apology, Avatar.”

“You do?”

“Indeed. You see, I found myself once again forgetting that you are not a yeth. Even though your appearance is so similar, it always becomes obvious in moments like this.”

Callan frowned. Then realization hit him. “You thought I was going to be all emotionless about the situation.”

That kind of hurt. After all, like Kivi said, she had seen him in enough situations now to know that was the last thing he was likely to be. Out by the lake a few hours earlier was a prime example.

“I simply worried you might say the wrong thing. Foolish of me, I know, but I am without sleep and not at my best.” Kivi gave an apologetic shrug. “I should have known better, yes. You are not Belinda, praise the Sentinel.”

Her words left Callan feeling unsettled. They reminded him too closely of his own thoughts from earlier. Kivi had always been biased against the yeth, but for her to even be snapping at him, the situation in Aos must really be wearing on her.

Clearly this was affecting them all more than he’d thought, lack of sleep or no.

He felt as if he should have some rebuttal to her comment, but for the moment his own brain was little more than wool and fog. So rather than let the conversation go further, he simply disengaged. “Alright, good talk. I should... I should get going.”

He stepped out of the alley and began walking away. Behind him, he heard Kivi start to follow. “Avatar.”

“Go back to Paeral, High Priestess. You aren’t wrong that he needs someone to help him right now, and you also aren’t wrong that I have other tasks to focus on. Much as it pains me to admit.”

“I—very well.” A moment later her footsteps retreated back down the alley.

Is everything alright, mortal? Xeph asked.

“Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know.” Callan didn’t want to get into it, even with his head-mate.

Hmm. The god was silent a moment, then, Where are we bound now?

“Well, we still have several priests to find, so... probably that.”

He began walking again, but only made it a few steps before Xeph spoke again. Human?

“Yeah?”

You never ate your lunch.

“...Dammit.”