"Breakfast?" Azara asked. Some of her golden hair fell over the side of her face, her eyes were groggy, and saliva slowly ran down the side of her mouth. Her head ached just a tad, and she wanted more sleep. This was not the way her mornings were supposed to begin. What had happened to gorgeous sunrises after terrible nightmares? Now, she felt like she was waking up into the nightmare. A nightmare of her own making since everything about it was her fault.

The servant who had woken her up by knocking on her door, and then rudely entering her room, seemed somewhat surprised by her disheveled state. What, was she supposed to wake up looking as perfect as she did in the day?

"Yes, breakfast. The governor requests your presence for breakfast Lady Elefthera. Do take your time, however." the servant replied, recognizing the state of the woman in front of him was not one of readiness.

Taking her time is what she did too. First, she went to the manor baths. A bath would give her some time to think. A warm bath would give her even more time since she would have to wait for the water to be warmed.

To her delight and simultaneous dismay however, when the water was poured into the large bath, it was already warm - quite hot in fact. It took her a moment, but she remembered a fact about Ursulam she had read a long time ago. Notting had been built on natural hot springs. There were a number of these in Issawast. It was theorized by alchemists and scholars that these resulted out of the active volcanic mountains in the region, though no one knew for certain.

As a child, she had been taught about the volcanic mountains. She had been told in legend that they had been the last stronghold of dragons in the north, and the dragons had stoked the fires of the earth therein, causing the mountains to erupt and scar the upper reaches of the north, thousands of years ago.

When she sank into the water, she was able to confirm the legend. She could feel it, that the warmth was the earth's and the warmth that was the dragon's ancient fire, mixed and intertwined. The water reacted as she entered it, bubbling and steaming, as its latent magical energy responded to the being that it was coming into contact with it. 

Even the waters know. She thought. Her whole life, events like this had occurred. There would be tiny changes in the world, as it reacted to what she was. Nature would often acknowledge it in one way or another like this, proving that she was different from normal. Meanwhile, she had to be careful regarding what intelligent creatures - what humans - she could tell it too. She had hoped that in the future there would be a chance for Valerius or Irinia to know of her secret, even the whole group.

She had latch onto them. Perhaps, she realized, it was because she had been traveling for years now, away from home most of her adult life. Perhaps she just wanted friends again, and friends outside of the Ignis Evigan and her mother's influence.

Now though, she'd made a mistake. Would Valerius even want her to continue with them? Would Irinia want her as a teacher anymore? How deep beyond 'childhood friends' did their relationship go?

She had grown so fond of them too. They were idealistic and ambitious. They wanted to be heroes even if they weren’t cut out for it.

As for Irinia, her shocked eyes the previous night had told a story that words never could. It made Azara's gut hurt to think about it. It also made her angry too, knowing her student had just been standing on the sidelines so long, infatuated with the prince but doing nothing about it. The same anger became directed at Valerius too, that was what had made his hesitant despite being attracted to Azara - he had feelings for Irinia. Why had they been so clandestine about their feelings for one another?

Why Irinia was even a part of the whole scheme made sense now, why she had even volunteered her magic to this plan in the first place. She just didn't want Valerius running off to fight a dragon by himself. She wanted to be there with him, and maybe reign him in if she could muster the courage. Someone had to have kept him from being assassinated, executed, or worse, up to this point. That someone must have been Irinia, Azara realized.

Just thinking about the situation made her angry. With this anger, the water of the bath began to steam and bubble profusely. She wasn't going to just be sad about it. Sure, she had made a mistake, but she wasn't going to let it ruin things. Not a chance in hell of that. She could forgo her thoughts of Valerius, which was fine. His ambitions, his naiveté, the way he - she slapped herself as if to awake from a dream. No. This was the end of that. There would be no prince to woo, no kingdom to rule. There was a mission, an adventure, and she had to finish that first. Furthermore, there was an apprentice she needed to talk to. Azara decided that would be the first task of the day, talking with Irinia. The governor could wait.

So she finished her bath and exited the room, then went up to finish her preparations for the day. She almost waited to see the reaction of the servant that would go in to drain the bath after she was done. The blast of steam that would greet him upon opening the door, and his surprise at seeing an almost empty bath, would have been quite amusing.

The governor would be insulted when she missed breakfast, but she didn't care. She wasn't a dog at his beck and call. She wasn't even an ambassador to his court. She wasn't an ambassador to anyone at this point.

After going to her apprentice's room and finding it empty, she thought to herself about where on earth the woman would be at this time of day. What could she be doing that had taken her away from the manor or her room? Talking with Valerius? Perusing the gardens perhaps? Shopping?

Then it hit her. Today was the Third Point, a day that fell between the spring equinox and the solstice. There would be services in the chapel today. That is where Irinia would be.

Thus, Azara searched her small wardrobe for something white to wear, the traditional attire of the Church of Lumira's services. Of the three outfits, she had taken, however, none matched. Two were predominantly red, her mage robes, and a gown fit for diplomatic meetings. The other garments were a set of pants and a shirt to match, and while one shirt was white both pairs of pants were black and made of cotton. Neither of these latter outfits would befit a church service, and were just there for extra layers in the cold.

Azara though about the predicament for a moment, before inquiring with one of the servants where she would find the lady of the manor.

Soon, she was speaking with Gunvar's wife, Ana, asking as politely as she could to borrow a dress. This turned out to be a bad option however, as the woman was much shorter than her, and while she possessed many outfits for the occasion, none fit. After some time perusing the manor's wardrobes, they found an old dress that had belonged to Gunvar's mother; who had been quite tall, and this garmet fit well.

Equipped now as she was, Azara hurried to the town's church. Azara was surprised by the size of it, as it was more a small cathedral than the little church building she had expected. It still would have been dwarfed by the cathedrals of Aericia, but in a country with a small number of Starlit, Azara had expected a smaller building to match.

As she entered, the 2nd service of the day had already begun. There would be three services, one in the morning, another midday, and a final one at twilight. When Azara entered her shoes clicked on the stone, echoing in the building alongside the priests speaking. She tried to step quietly, but a few heads from the sparse crowd still turned. Among the crowd, she did not see Irinia. The building was not even half full, but Azara did not look forward to trying to find Irinia in the crowd of some eighty similarly dressed people. Disappointed, she decided to find a seat and sit through the sermon. Surely, Irinia was here though, where else would she be?

It was when she looked to find a seat in one of the back row pews that Azara found her apprentice. The woman had chosen to sit in one of the far back corners of the rectangular room. Therefore, when Azara had been at the entrance, Irinia had been obscured from Azara’s vision.

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Azara wondered why Irinia would choose to sit so far back, instead of with everyone else up closer to the priest, but it dawned on her before she got a chance to ask.

This church was of the same doctrine as those in Aericia. Irinia was a Veyorn and followed her people's practices in the worship of light.

Irinia, due to her heritage and religious practices, wouldn't be accepted among the rest of these Starlit. Veyorn were marked as heretics for their very personal beliefs regarding their religion, but they did not think the same of the Aerician Lumirans. Thus, here was Irinia attending a service put on by the Church of Light from Aericia, who would consider her a heretic, but she considered them her brothers and sisters just as much as any Veyorn Starlit.

When Azara walked down the pew towards Irinia, the young woman looked up. A look of embarrassment and a slight blush came to her face.

Azara then sat down beside her, and she squirmed just a little. It was obvious the other woman was just a bit uncomfortable thanks to last night’s events. Her focus remained forward though, listening to what the priest was saying. Azara decided to attempt and do the same, listening to the priest as he read from the revelations. He was preaching about the beginning of all things.

"In the beginning, light sprang forth from nothing and the darkness spoke to it. For the darkness was unyielding to the light, and the light unwavering in the dark. It spoke to the dark saying.

"What are you?"

"I am that which made you, but not you me. I am light."

"Why are you?"

The light spoke again, "I am why."

"Then I am what you are not, what you are away from, and I am without you." the darkness replied.

"So be it. Then I shall be wherever you are and yet not in all places. You shall have spaces in the heavens set apart unto you and I unto me." the light commanded. Then from the light were many lights, scattered into the great void and the darkness. They shone as bright lights, and the lights became beings that flew upon wings, but having the shape of all things within the light. They were the daughters and sons of the light. "For these shall be my messengers, my children, in all places of the heavens. From them shall come many luminous beings. They shall guide all unto me, and those that follow them shall find me. They shall find peace and justice, in the absence of these, hope. All good things shall come to those that come to me."

"So be it." said the darkness. “I shall take what you have given me.”

"So be it." The light decreed in agreement, pleased. "Then we shall part ways, you to your ways and I to mine."

But the darkness had lied. It considered the light selfish, and as the light was satisfied the darkness could never be satisfied. So all that light did, darkness would try to undo. The darkness also spread its servants and wished to snuff out the light. It would take too much and give too much in all things. So balance would never be.

In all things, there would be darkness seeded, and in all things there would be light, but never balance of the two."

The priest then paused and looked up to the crowd, and his eyes widened for a moment when he saw that someone who was not Veyorn was sitting beside Irinia. He did not pay it too much mind however and continued.

"In these readings, we see our problems from the beginning. Light wishes for all to have it as a part of their lives. Lumira, the spirit of light, only wishes that it reach all the universe, that the universe may know life and all things good. It offers the darkness its place, but the darkness is selfish, greedy, and does not wish to cede any of this to light - to accept a balanced world. Thus the light is forced to see the darkness as wrong, and to oppose it when it betrays its word to the light.

However, we also see more in these passages - not in the behavior of light, but in the behavior of darkness. The darkness cannot accept what it is, and what the light is. It cannot see the other's view and despises it. How many of us can see the same in our lives? How many of us refuse to see our station as the right one for us or the wrong one for us, simply because it would be inconvenient or hard? How many of us, out of thinking only for ourselves, either refuse to give or serve others in the capacity we should; whether that is a greater place or a lesser place, out of worry only for ourselves? Out of fear that we may be overwhelmed.

Lumira, the spirit of light, reveals truth, and as followers of Light we must let that truth be revealed within us, and face that without fear or greed. Serve others, your community, and your place am-"

Azara zoned out of it. On the one hand, she was bored with it, and on the other hand, it stung a little. She knew all too well why.

She hated churches, priests, and whatever came out of religion for this reason. Ignoring the ruse that it played upon all of society it always felt like a massive game of accusation. Places like this and sermons like these never made her feel comfortable, but just left her with a sense of guilt she couldn't fix. Guilt for something she didn't even think she was guilty of. She could handle her own problems, she didn't need strangers pointing them out for her.

Besides, she was a descendant of their gods, what would be the point in her listening to them preach about those deities?

Eventually, the sermon came to an end. There was a brief period of hymns, then prayer, and finally, the priest released them to leave with a benediction. When Azara and Irinia stood to leave, they found themselves blocked by the people streaming out of the building from the front, past their pew. Not one stopped to talk, not one gave them a glance or a word. Eyes were forward. The exception was children, a couple of them looked up. One little boy stopped and stared up at Azara for a couple of moments before he was rushed along by his mother.

Before everyone had made it out though, one of the last people in the line stopped to talk to them both. A rotund woman, old with a short crop of grey hair on the top of her head. She smiled at Irinia and Azara when she approached them and reached out her hand for Azara to shake. When Azara returned the handshake, she was surprised by how firm the elder lady's grip was. Glancing at her eyes to read the woman, she caught nothing but friendliness. This caused a wave of relief to pass over Azara, since she was afraid that the woman was only there to say something bad about Irinia.

"I hope you enjoyed the service today." the woman said, with the sweet voice of a grandmother.

"I...I very much did." Azara replied though she realized that was a lie. Azara just didn’t want to upset the woman.

"Lovely sermon, really tells you about the value of honesty and telling the truth. Especially to the well-meaning," she said. "We can never be honest enough towards those with light in their hearts."

Azara raised an eyebrow, confused. "Are you sure? That - that wasn't the message I got at all."

Not that she would know, she had only heard some of the priest's words anyway. None of what she had heard was about honesty though. It had been about accepting your place in life, hadn't it?

"Oh well, it is still true." the woman said before she abandoned the topic and addressed Irinia. She smiled. "My, my, you've come quite far. A Veyorn up here is a rare sight."

Irinia nodded. "Yes, it has been quite the journey."

"Really? Well, I'm traveling myself. I've only been here about half a month, but I've visited before. I've got a bit of family here I wanted to visit, though I always travel anyway." the old woman explained.

"Huh, why is that? Don’t you have a home anywhere?" Azara asked. She was curious, but also just attempting to make conversation. She liked that the woman was welcoming, among all of the cold Lumirans.

"Oh, I'm a bit of a wanderer myself. I've got a bit of business in trading little trinkets, telling stories, and playing instruments. I help people out now and then. I travel to one place and stay there a while, before going someplace else. Up one horizon, and then down the other." she answered. Then, as she said this, a man walked up to her. When Azara looked to his eyes as she always did when encountering a new person, she realized he was blind, as his eyes were covered by a black cloth. The elderly woman then spoke to this blind man. "Ready to go Dal?"

The man nodded in response, as if mute. She smiled and took his hand, before guiding him out of the church.

"It was nice speaking with you!" she called back to Azara. "I hope we see each other again soon! Family should see one another more often!"

"Same to -!" Azara began, before the old woman’s words registered.

Then, the woman stepped into the sunlight, and for a moment Azara saw someone else. Instead of the old woman, it was the beautiful goddess that Azara had seen before back in Midton. This time, however, in the light of the sun, she could see faint the outlines of wings that were colored like a setting sun upon the maiden's back, as if the appendages hadn't quite faded into existence. The angelic being looked back and caught Azara's gaze. She winked, before walking around the corner of a building, the cripple still in tow.

"Azara?" Irinia asked as they were the last two remaining in the building now, and Azara was fixed in place, staring off after the woman. "What is wrong?"

"I think...I thought I saw someone going down the street near that old woman that is all." Azara explained.

"Who?" Irinia asked.

"My -my....mother," Azara replied, stumbling over the words in disbelief.

"What?! She is here?! Lady Elefthera?"

Azara stumbled on her words. "Um, no...no not her. Just...never mind. Maybe I will explain it sometime. But I think that she was trying to tell me something."

"What?"

"That there is something I should tell you, Irinia," Azara said. "No, something I need to show you."