She’d gone back, discussed it with her parents and Farrar, and came to the mutual agreement that it would—probably—be the better choice. Of course that wasn’t taking into account the kid she was supposed to be the guard of now. Casper wasn’t kidding that he wandered; the first two months were just spent figuring out all of the places he ran off to. Just as she thought it couldn’t get any more annoying, she met his friends. Somehow she was surprised that such a quiet kid had so many loud friends.

“How’ve you been doing so far?” For some odd reason Kiah had yet to determine, the queen was remarkably friendly towards her. “Are you getting a hang of your life here at the castle? It must be a lot more different than what you’re used to.”

“I’m quick to adapt to my surroundings,” Kiah replied almost dismissively.

“Would you say you were getting along with everyone?”

“Of course not. I’m the one telling a bunch of kids to stop getting into trouble.”

“Casper hasn’t told you anything about them, has he?”

“Imre introduced me to them.”

Minne gestured towards the garden. “I think it’s better if you know what’s going on with each of them… it might help you approach them or at least tolerate them a bit more. It’s a lovely day, so let’s talk about it in the garden.”

They went there and sat down. Minne only waited long enough to ask a servant for tea before beginning her explanation. “I suppose I’ll start with Imre. By now I’m sure you’re well aware about how he… doesn’t seem to be ‘all there.’ It will take some getting used to but, like most things, that’s all it is. Hopefully you’ll learn to see that he’s just like the rest of us and can help make him happy.

“You aren’t familiar with Seothian nobility, but both Samone and Lydia are the daughters of nobles. Samone’s adoptive father, Kesem, is currently the overseer of the Jaden territory and a member of the court. As you can imagine, it’s quite the expectation to live up to and let’s just say her confidence as an emerging magister can make her a bit…”

“Narcissistic?” Kiah guessed.

“I wanted to find a nicer word but, at times, yes,” Minne said with a nod. “Lydia is the oldest of three and her father is considered the head of their house, the Stones. They don’t possess a lot of land but they’re a family of explorers, cartographers, and problem solvers. They often find themselves in court in one way or another, though I have a feeling she’s just here for a good time.

“Domenique’s mother is something of a family friend. In truth, I only met her after marrying Casper. A few years ago, we realized we were related to each other by my father. It brought their family into the nobility because of relation to the throne and helped them out of a tough situation. Both of them still remember what it was like to be that close to losing everything. Try not to make it awkward, but do the best you can to avoid the topic.

“Then finally there’s Dimas, although you already know who he is. I don’t know how much Qizarn residents know about what goes on behind closed doors, and it’s not my place to tell. Just know that we’ve agreed to occasionally look after him on behalf of Queen Odelle.”

…

Talks with Minne were frequent and nearly always meaningless. Kiah knew that her intention wasn’t to be a distraction, but that was often what it was. It took a little over five years to finally get an explanation as to why, after letting her guard down enough to explain her heritage and eventually the truth of her age.

Kiah just intended to be walking past before she saw her in the garden. “Minne? I thought Casper wanted you to rest more…”

“He did. But I wanted some fresh air and it’s too good of a day to be lying in bed,” Minne responded casually. She gestured to the spot beside her. “Do you have some time to spare?”

Kiah wordlessly wandered to the spot and sat down. She’d tried before to claim she was busy and move on. She always felt bad when she truly had nothing better to do.

“To be honest, there’s no real reason to, but… you remind me of an old friend of mine,” Minne remarked. “Her name was Takane. She was a goblin, too, though she was pretty soft spoken. I think the only time I ever heard her talk back to someone was my adoptive father, Haris. She was a bit like our mother figure growing up.”

Cautiously, Kiah pointed out, “You’ve never talked about your family before.”

“I figured there was no point in trudging up the past. But now that they’ve come back as spirits… you could say I’m in a reminiscent mood.”

“Coming back as spirits?”

Minne nodded. “I’m adopting their spirits right now; it’s why I was so sick earlier. It’s taxing to be a saint, born with Missa’s spirit and adopting Takane, Umber, and Zenas’s spirits.”

“Can you… tell me more about them?”

“Well, beyond Takane, I had three adoptive siblings: Ki, Zenas, and Umber. Ki and Zenas were blood siblings. Takane was Haris’s friend from before he moved to the mountains. I believe Umber’s mother couldn’t support a child, so Haris took him in. I was found outside of the village alone. I would’ve died nearly as soon as I was created if he hadn’t found me when he did.”

“You were just… left out there?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“It’s not exactly what you’re thinking. I didn’t have birth parents.”

“You didn’t..?”

“You know about the Ilethera, don’t you? Not all of them are born like normal mortals are. Some of them simply… exist. I was one of those kinds of Ilethera.”

…

She’d always gone to the border whenever Imre did. Usually it was just following him around, politely waiting with the other guards during the peace talks, and a drink or two with whatever noble was willing to share. This was different, though. At first all she had as proof was how happy Minne was; she wasn’t normally so pleased to travel so far. Then Kiah realized it for herself when she saw who’d been brought alongside the Qizarn queen.

Efse didn’t wait for her, barely even seeming to care what she’d been doing before walking up to her and hugging her.

“The queens arranged for me to join Queen Zofie, isn’t that nice of them?” Efse said in the Old Tongue once she stepped back. “I would’ve brought Zadeer and Farrar but Zadeer got a big job out of town and oddly enough Farrar wasn’t feeling well. Anyway, Queen Zofie honored me enough to properly meet me. I’d love to be introduced to Queen Minne, too, being just as responsible for why I’m here.”

“Right.” Kiah turned to the Seothian royals (and nobility, since Samone and Lydia had shown up too) and said in the modern language, “This is my mom, Efse. Mom, this is Casper, Minne, Imre, Samone, and Lydia.”

“It’s good to finally meet the people looking after Kiah.” Efse smiled. “Thank you for helping me get here.”

…

She considered herself pretty close to Casper. There was a kind of mutual trust between the two of them. They both knew that, if there was something that only the other could do, they could be trusted to do it. Better yet, if they needed someone to help them improve on something, nothing seemed to work quite as well as their competitive natures. But that didn’t make her think that she was any more important than any of his family. She never made a point to visit him before he died.

She’d been a part of the group that sent off the hawks to every corner of Seothia; the hawks that carried the news about the crowning of their new king. Honestly she didn’t want to be anywhere near Imre during all of this. She’d instead asked Dimas to make sure he took care of himself in the times to come, knowing he’d be able to say what she couldn’t.

Perhaps what felt the worst was taking the time to go with Dimas to Hyasari. Sachiel was always a curious person, telling her that she should still be in Seothia while whispering that she didn’t belong in that healing process.

“I guess there’s some kind of luck that comes out of Lydia doing what she did,” Kiah sighed. Her second glass was nearly empty. “At least everything ended a little sooner. Imre was able to spend some time with him instead of running around on her whims…”

“Enough about how he must be feeling,” Farrar remarked, taking a sip out of his drink. “What about you?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter, anyway—Dimas is my ride back to Seothia. I’m staying as long as he is.”

…

Imre made all that time worth her trouble; apparently Casper had been considering promoting her for a while, but faced too much opposition to have anything go through. Imre was able to get the final push they needed to make her the head of the army and an official member of court.

Kiah dealt with practically everything that might need manpower, given how short staffed the council was. She saw everything from missing person reports, Skiá sightings, to requests for supplies or assistance somewhere. Most of them she sent off to Samone or Imre unless it called for armed soldiers. But there was one thing she wasn’t quite so willing to believe to be true.

One report came in about a man disappearing… a man that nearly exactly matched Farrar’s description.

She’d immediately spelled a bird to try to send a letter to him and got Lydia (who was, surprisingly, rather good at these sorts of things) to look into it. The bird came back with the same message still attached just as Lydia burst into her office.

“Did you find anything?” Kiah prompted, nearly desperate to know something.

“Nope. Looks like he practically disappeared off the face of the earth,” Lydia replied casually. “I did determine it is actually the guy you thought it was, though. And why he was in Seothia and not Qizar—a ‘business partner’ wanted to meet with him. But that’s not when he disappeared because he was seen after that. Why are you so interested in him, anyway?” She sat a stack of papers about the topic on Kiah’s desk.

“Just an old friend who has a thing for biting off more than he can chew…”

…

No one in Qizar could do any better job at finding him. Farrar was ultimately claimed dead two months after disappearing. Kiah carried on with the news as if it didn’t bother her at all; the first time Imre caught on was when she sent out a lantern during the Day of the Dead. Years passed and Imre and Dimas adopted a kid, then Minne died using her powers to help her grandson-by-blood, and slowly everything came back to her being in Hyasari again.

She’d introduced Efse to Eesat one evening after coming back from Farrar’s workshop. The two proved to be exactly what the other needed to grow their faith; Efse eventually went to many, many more of the meetings Eesat’s friend held than Kiah ever had. She hadn’t really planned on going anywhere until Efse told her to come with her.

“Efse, come in, come in! Oh, and you brought Kiah with you! Good afternoon. It’s certainly been a while since we last saw each other,” Eesat said as he gestured them both inside. “How’s work been treating you? I mean, it’s not everyday that those Seothians see someone like us!”

“It’s been fine…” Kiah mumbled. “Everything going well here, I’d assume?”

“Queen Zofie has just been doing wonders for us goblins! She understands we don’t believe in all the things the children of Fleyw Bresh do. Just last week she said Orestis laid it on her heart to start a project and build the goblins their own church. Soon we’ll have our own goblin pastor and everything!”

Another goblin clapped. “I do believe that’s worthy of praise!”

There were sounds and uttering of mutual agreement from all of them.

Eesat smiled. “Alright, now let’s get started! Everyone sit down and grab your Commandments. Today we’re going to be starting in The Ode of Wind…”