Althea came to consciousness before she opened her eyes. A smile spread over her lips as she felt Jasper's arms still wrapped around her. Her mind ran with thoughts of his naked body that lie beneath the silk duvet. She tried not to wake him as she turned to face him, but failed. He groaned, stirring under the blanket then opened an eye and smirked up at her.

"Well good morning." She couldn't hide the grin that spread over her lips as she bent down to kiss him.

"Mm," he hummed into the kiss. Her body was a bit sore from the night before, but she had loved every second of it.

She opened her mouth to say something, as she pulled away, when a knock sounded at her door, causing her to jump. Both her and Jasper's eyes shot to the door before they shared a terrified glance.

"Althea! I'm here bright and early as promised!"

Zella.

"Quick, get into my bathing chamber!" Althea whispered hastily, flinging the blankets from her body.

"One moment please!" she yelled, trying to keep the fear from her voice. It wasn't that she thought Zella would judge her, but she just didn't feel like explaining this to her right now.

Jasper grabbed his undergarments and ran into the bathroom in a quick sprint, shutting the door behind him.

"Don't tell me you're using the powder room," Zella mocked and Althea'a face heated slightly.

Althea grabbed the robe off of her vanity seat and flung it over her shoulders, tying the string around her waist.

She brushed a hand through her tangled mass of hair, before swinging the door open, revealing the young Candidus girl before her.

Zella took in her appearance and grimaced slightly. "Rough night I take it?" she pondered, walking into her bed chamber before Althea could stop her. Zella breathed in deeply, crinkling her nose. "It smells funny in here," she muttered, but Althea was too busy spotting Jasper's tailcoat and vest, peeking out from the far side of the bed, to notice. She moved quickly in front of the girl, who hadn't appeared to observe them, kicking the garments to the far side of her bed.

"My, Althea!" Zella wondered, looking at her bed. Althea's heart plummeted, as she thought of what she could have been looking at. "You could have just said you started your monthly cycles and I would have just come back later."

Althea looked down at her bed, seeing the small smudges of blood on the silk blanket. She hadn't even noticed it the night before, it must have been from the certain activities she'd been contributing in.

Swallowing, she chuckled, trying to seem genuine as she said, "oh it's nothing really, I'll call the servants in here to fetch me some fresh linens once we're done."

Zella looked up at her again and said, "no wonder you look so... well... dreadful," she smiled and laughed a bit. Althea gritted her teeth. Zellas candour was one of the things she loved about her, but at the moment she wanted to slam her head into the wall.

Althea opened her mouth to reply when suddenly, a male shout of terror broke through from the bathing chamber. Zella jumped, clutching the string of obsidian beads that was normally clasped at her neck.

With a bang, the bathing room doors flew open, and Jasper ran from the room screaming, wearing only his undergarments. She was about to yell and ask him why he'd revealed himself, when, from behind him, flew out a ball of patched calico fur. Althea's eyes widened as Archie launched itself at Jasper, digging sharp claws into his leg, causing a high pitched yell to escape him.

"My word Althea! What is going on in here?" Zella cried, taking a step back from the madness.

"Althea you need to get this... this beast off of me!" Jasper yelled. Althea moved quickly, reaching down, and grabbing Archie from Jasper's leg. The cat hissed at her, but when his gleaming multi-coloured eyes met hers, he settled slightly.

Jasper hurriedly gathered all of his scattered clothes from across the room, before running towards the door. "I bid you ladies good day!" he yelled as he exited. Zellas eyes were wide with shock as she turned to Althea.

"So... Do you care to explain?" she asked, pointing a thumb to the door behind her. Althea just groaned, smacking her palm to her forehead.

…

She went on to tell Zella the events from last night leading up to this morning's embarrassing episode. Zella gawked at every word. Althea didn't go into too much detail when explaining her first time love making, only that it was better than she had expected. Zella admitted that she had actually taken someone to her bed earlier this year, which shocked Althea slightly, but it was rather normal in society for girls to lose their virginity much younger than she had, and be married with at least one child by her age. It pained Althea to hear her say that she just wanted to get it over with, as she hated that so many women made such a fuss over it. She said that the boy she'd done it with, Robert, lived near her, and was the same age as her. He'd also not made love to anyone before, but she did say he'd gotten better the more they'd been together. Outside of their occasional intimacy, Zella said she'd not really cared for him. She said he was quiet, and nice, but somewhat dull, so it wasn't hard for her to leave him when she came here, and she wasn't particularly interested in making any sort of love matches here. In fact, she admitted that she found training and reading, and making friends like Althea to be a much more enjoyable pastime than lovemaking in her opinion.

"I feel like I've lost too many friends to men," she shrugged, "it's like once they find a man to marry they all just... fall into this world where all that matters to them is a sequence of courting, getting married, trying to have a child... and that is fine, for them, I suppose, but I just want to live for me for a while, you know?" she raised a brow at Althea who nodded quickly. She knew exactly what she meant. Althea had felt the very same way for so long as her father groomed her to be an ideal wife to someone, someday. But now that she was free, now that it was her choice who she got to be with and whether or not she wanted to be married, or have children, it was empowering. All the cards lay in her hands, and it was she who got to decide how she wanted to play them.

"Oh yes, I understand..." Althea grabbed Zella’s hand, looking at her closely, "and please do not think me the type to disregard you just because I've lain with Jasper now."

Zella shook her head quickly with a chuckle, "oh no, I know you won't, I can tell you have this aura around you, like you may enjoy something or someone's company, but you would never rely on it for your own happiness." Hearing that made Althea smile… Though, as she thought about how sad it had made her when Jasper had ignored her those months ago, she wondered if her friend was correct about her. Nevertheless, Zella always knew how to put her mind at ease, Althea was lucky to have her as a friend.

"So about these books," Zella leaned back in Althea's vanity chair, brushing her contrasting hair up into a knot atop her head. Althea nodded, reaching beneath her to pull a few from under the bed.

"Yes, so these are all of the ones that I've taken from the hidden library so far, and as far as I've been able to see, these are really the only ones that pertain to anything of interest. Though there are some more journals in there, but a lot of the material is old frameworks for the building of the institutions and other things," she said, passing Zella one of the books. As the girl opened it, Althea remembered a thought that had been swirling around in her mind the night before.

"How were you able to read the books?" Althea asked honestly curious, they were almost all written in Latin. She silently wondered if perhaps Zella had been seemingly gifted as she was.

"My parents," Zella shrugged, "they taught me Latin at a very early age, so it is basically a second language to me." She spoke the entire sentence in Latin, and Althea could understand exactly what she'd said.

Swallowing, she took a deep breath, she'd never spoken Latin in her life, and it honestly terrified her to try, but once the first word left her mouth it all just flowed naturally, "I have never heard anyone speak it before," she said in the other language, not wanting to admit she'd never spoken it before, as it would only create more questions.

Zella raised her eyebrows, still speaking the ancient language as she said, "you speak well... Did your parents teach you young?"

"Yes my father did," she lied.

The girl just nodded, studying the book in her lap once more, it was a book on the flame, explaining why and when it was created.

"We should keep talking in this language when we speak of matters from the book," Zella said, "because it is not widely used anymore and I do not want the wrong ears hearing this information."

Althea nodded, agreeing completely with her. She still wondered if she should even tell Jasper or Monique. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, but it seemed they were of very high use here at the institution, and she knew they valued the board's opinions. And as much as she liked to think that this information, combined with Jaspers declaring love for her, trumped that, the thought of telling him and having him reveal her findings to the board still made her uneasy.

"Why do you think this information has been kept hidden for so long?" Zella beckoned, flipping another page. Althea shrugged, genuinely unsure.

"I haven't the slightest idea, a lot of this information could be very useful... but put it in the wrong hands and..." she and the Candidus girl shared a knowing expression as they looked at each other.

"Some of these books and memoirs depict demons and monsters that used to roam this land far prior to humans, as well as magical beings that sought out power above all. I would not be surprised if this information has been kept hidden to keep anyone hoping to reactivate that world again from doing so."

Zella nodded, picking up another book to flip through.

"I agree, perhaps you should put the ones we've read back in their place in the library before taking any more... call me paranoid, but I sometimes wonder about the people here," Zella said looking around her, as if there were someone here listening as she spoke. The thought made the hair on the back of Althea's neck stand.

"Sometimes I use my ability to listen in on what people say around here... I know I shouldn't, and by doing so, I'm going against every rule both my parents and the cadre have set for me... but I have learned a few things from doing this." Althea had nearly forgotten of her ability to turn completely invisible. Zella scooted closer to her now, leaning in to whisper in Latin, as if someone lurked just beyond the closed chamber door, "I believe that there is more at work here than meets the eye. I overheard my parents a lot before I left home too, and though they had both resigned from their active duty as cadre members, they still talked of other members and the board often. I once heard them speak of the flame, and how they had been searching for it, alongside other members but had never found it. But when they spoke of it, they made it seem as though the flame was something awful that needed to be destroyed." Zella looked down at the book in her lap once more, "but that is not what is depicted in these ancient texts... these books summarise the flame as being what separates this world from what could only be explained as the devils creations... they depict the flame as something that is in fact very good... now why would the board imply that it was the opposite?" Althea didn't know how to respond to that question. She had no idea what the cadre would have to gain from this misinformation... but she did know that it didn't give her a good feeling.

She swallowed, wondering if she had perhaps made a mistake in telling Arsalan about her first memory she had with her father... Afterall he had come here to train her per the board’s request, she knew he worked with them... what if he had already written to them, telling them of what she'd told him? Althea gritted her teeth at the thought. A small part of her had thought that maybe, just maybe he had some slight feelings for her, but after last night, she knew that was not the case. He had come to train her... he didn't care for her. As for what he'd told her about her giving him a reason to keep living, he was likely just trying to earn her trust. She hated that she could be so naive at times. But even as she mentally scolded herself, the nearly forgotten words of that old woman in the library rang through her ears... ‘follow the silver scales.’

Althea got up from her place on the bed, and walked to her vanity. Zella watched her with curious eyes as she reached behind the mirror to grab the note she'd written down that day... the words of the old librarian Dalia whom she'd still not seen since their encounter.

"Do these words mean anything to you?" She handed Zella the folded up piece of paper, with the riddle written there, hoping that she might somehow have any inkling of its meaning.

Her nimble fingers unfolded the small piece of paper, and she read the riddle aloud.

"Thou art to the west as they be to the sky, the roots shall bid thee safe passage. Follow the silver scales and thou shall find the answers thou seeketh." Zella furrowed her eyebrows, studying the paper, her eyes scanning the words Althea had written over and over again.

"Well this is clearly some sort of riddle... but I'm honestly not sure what any of it means... except, maybe..." she paused, then shook her head, "no, I don't know." Zella sighed, setting the note in her lap.

"Any ideas, new ideas, you could bring me will help, I've been pondering this piece of paper for over a month now with no idea what it means," Althea admitted.

"Who gave it to you?" she asked, raising a brow at Althea.

With a sigh, Althea said, "well I wrote it down myself, but the old librarian, Dalia had said those exact words to me the last time I'd seen her... as far as I know she hasn't been back here since." Zellas expression only grew more puzzled at Althea's words. Perhaps she shouldn't have brought this up, she was only making the poor girl more confused.

"This," Zella pointed to the first sentence, "as they be to the sky..." she looked up at Althea who stood over her reading the small paper with her. "The Board of the Ageless is stationed in the sky, in Skyworth. According to my parents, it is one of the oldest cities in the world, and most ordinary humans do not know of its existence. Apparently the board has enough combined magic to keep it afloat high above the clouds. I have also heard them imply that the five board members have purposely diluted magic their lines over the near three millennia they’ve been in power… they do not want anyone to rise above their own rank… at least that’s how I interpret it.”

The mere idea that they had lived such long, vast lifespans was near incomprehensible. Althea furrowed her eyebrows, "wait… How many board members are there?" she asked. She could have swore she’d remembered there being six original cadre members… What happened to the last one?

"There are five. My parents forced me to learn their names the moment I began speaking,” Zella laughed, then recited, “Audaxus, Cyneric, Dorius, Emilia and Rivina."

“Five? I am certain I remember reading of six.”

Zella furrowed her brows. “No, there are only five members of the board. At least that I have been told, and everyone else for that matter.”

Althea began scouring the books around her bed, trying to remember which one had contained the names of the original members… she was absolutely certain there had been six, she remembered there being three women as well as three men. When she found it at last, Althea flipped through until she saw the names there, just as Zella had spoken a moment earlier.

“Audaxus, Cyneric, Dorius, Emilia, Rivina and… Valeria.” Zella peered over her shoulder at the page and let out a hum.

“Maybe she, you know… expired… Though they were endowed with immortality, that doesn’t preclude the possibility that one of them could have died.” Althea supposed that was true.

She glanced back down at the paper in Zellas lap. "Well if I am to the west, as they are to the sky, assuming that those words are referring to the board... I did take note of something else from this riddle that may be helpful." Zella gazed up at her, awaiting any more information that could be of use.

"My trainer, Arsalan, has a tattoo of a dragon on his back... and the scales of this dragon were outlined in silver ink." Zellas eyes widened as she glanced back down at the note. "Follow the silver scales... and you shall find the answers you seek," she spoke so low her words were nearly a whisper. "That's far too great a coincidence for him not to be related to this in some way," she went on. Althea nodded in agreement. But now the question still held, what should she do with this information?

…

The two girls spent the entire day, all the way until dinner, reading through the ancient texts and trying to come up with anything that may lead them to a better understanding of that riddle. Althea didn't even know whether or not it had been genuine. But every time she started to doubt it, she felt as though it were important somehow. She didn't know why she felt this way, the woman was likely mad, and had probably been dismissed from her library duties for just that. But still, those words ran through Althea's mind, it was as if she couldn't rid herself of them.

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She’d spent an hour after dinner with Jasper, finding a small bit of peace in his presence. He'd apologised for running out on her so suddenly, saying that he'd never met a cat with such a temper before. She'd never seen Archie run after anyone and attack them like that before either, perhaps he had startled the poor feline. Jasper also recollected on the events of the night before with such fondness it lifted Althea's spirits tremendously.

…

The next morning she arrived on time to the training yard. The air was cold, much more frigid than usual as it swirled around her, sweeping through the long tendrils of grass. She took a deep steadying breath, attempting to put ease to her slightly unnerved emotions. She hadn't seen Arsalan since the ball, and a part of her almost wondered if he would even be here. It wouldn’t surprise her if he’d told the board to find a replacement… but she should have realised he was too stubborn for that.

There at the base of the blazing autumn tree, now fully turned from its summer green to the heated colours of fall, she could see his silhouette leaning against it.

"Good morning," she said, trying her best to sound confident despite being mortified by her actions.

"Good morning," he said back in an equally distant tone. He grabbed the bag of stones from her fingers and pulled out a blue stone. "Communication," his voice echoed through the open field as he bellowed the word, "and the idea that you do indeed," he tossed the precious stone, catching it in his opposite hand, "speak things into existence." His eyes glimmered with a silver light as he took a quick glance at her.

She remained quiet, unsure of what exactly to say to that. What a load of rubbish. Had that been true, she wouldn't feel quite so mortified right now. Although, she supposed she’d never actually spoken her true feelings for him aloud… not even to herself. Not that any of it mattered now, whatever she’d thought she may have felt for him had been turned to smoke after this past weekend.

"Try it."

She gazed up at him, looking for any clue as an explanation of his words. He just looked blankly at the field around them.

"What do I say?" she asked, feeling her heart begin to beat faster.

"Whatever you wish, a goal, a dream, something that you want to happen," he said, chuckling.

"Here, I'll go first," with a slight smirk, he held his hands to his mouth and yelled out, "I will eat my favourite meal, fish congee, for dinner tonight!"

He laughed looking down at her, and for the first time, she was able to see a child inside of him... his dark features weren't as prominent as his lips curved up into a joyous smile.

"I’m only jesting… but try it… something you truly want to accomplish," he crooned, watching her with those bright eyes. She sighed, trying to think of something she wished to voice into the world, with him standing beside her.

"Hmm... I will master my ability!" she yelled, quieter than him though, as she was a bit shy to the whole idea.

"Louder!" he shouted, "you want it to come true don't you?"

She breathed in deeply, and shouted as loud as she could, "I will master my ability, and I will not go mad doing it.” It had been something she’d been concerned about more and more since she’d read Julia’s memoir.

“Keep going, I know there is more you wish to say,” Arsalan prodded and she huffed, closing her eyes as she screamed, “I will not let my rage consume me. I will let my emotions pass through me, and I will learn to control them. I will never let myself be hurt by anyone ever again, I will learn to rely on myself rather than others, I will... I will learn to love myself despite my flaws," she didn't shout the last part quite as loud but she felt it just as deeply as she'd felt the rest of the words she'd screamed into the open air. When her eyes finally met Arsalan once more, he just smiled at her.

"And so you will," he looked down at the stone in his palm again, "as long as you believe you can, and practise what you preach..." he looked sidelong at her, "all that you wish will ensue."

She let out a sigh she hadn't realised she'd been holding in. Arsalan walked over to the tree and placed the blue stone back into the bag as she sat down on the grass. It wasn't as soft as it had been weeks ago, and some blades had started to turn a light, dead brown.

"For training today, we are going to do something a little different," he shot a glance back at her, almost looking smug.

"Oh yeah? And what is that?" She eyed him wearily. The last time he'd said something like that Althea had ended up fighting off an imaginary version of Sir Herbert… she really hoped he didn’t have another day of that in store.

"Because this week will be all about using your voice, we are going to be incorporating some chanting and singing into our meditation." Althea's face twisted with disgust at the singing portion of his statement. She was far from gifted in that department.

"How exactly is singing going to help me embrace my ability?" she sneered curling her upper lip slightly in disgust.

Arsalan turned, rolling his eyes at her. "It will help you for a number of reasons, but the first being, to assist you in overcoming your fear of the way you are perceived by others, as well as strengthen that lovely voice of yours," Arsalan cooed the word lovely with such satirical effect that it made Althea want to punch him.

"My voice is too lovely!" she yelled, crossing her arms over her chest. She hated that he was able to get under her skin so easily.

"I'll be the judge of that…” the smirk on his lips made her want to smack him but she refrained. “During my time with the Tibetan Monks in Beijing, I learned many powerful mantras, which are essentially chants used in meditation. The word mantra is derived from two Sanskrit words, manas, mind and tra, instrument, put them together and you have a tool for accessing deeper parts of the mind,” he said, watching as she stared at him, head in her hand. With each passing day Arsalan became more and more of a mystery to her. From what he’d taught her of meditation, to combat, and now to these… mantras… how had he learned and seen so much in such a short period of time?

“What?” he laughed and she sat up quickly, pulling herself from her thoughts.

“Just listening to you… how have you had time to learn so much despite being so young?”

“If there is one thing I’ve found over my lifetime, it’s that all time is eternally present. The future and the past are all happening simultaneously within multiple dimensions all connected to the fourth dimension of time… but that's a discussion for another day.” He gave her a wink as she stared at him, mouth parting slightly now.

“Today we are going to be exercising the ‘so’ham’ chant. This mantra means I am that, that I am, and is chanted as a way to express and find your true inner meaning. It acts as a guide to carry us closer to the spirit within us.”

Arsalan took a seat on the ground and Althea followed, sitting legs crossed.

“On an inhale we will chant so and on an exhale we will chant ham. I’ll begin.” Arsalan closed his eyes and said in a low, deep voice, “so,” as he took a deep breath in, and “ham” on his exhale. Althea let her eyes flutter closed and her own voice began to sync together with his. She had to admit, after the first moment of feeling foolish, she began to really focus on the combined sound of their voices meshed together, morphing and creating something entirely new. She focused on that sound, let it thrum and grow within her, acting as an anchor to this present moment, this universal now.

Althea took this time to peer within herself, and gaze at what she saw there. Pain, despair, sorrow and rage… but also kindness, patience, compassion, and hope. She could feel the vacant seats, waiting to be filled. Acceptance, pride, love, and trust. Not entirely empty… but not nearly full yet. She wondered if she would ever accept those which were hardest for her to grasp. It had been so easy for her to fall into the awaiting arms of pain and anger, but it would take true effort to accept herself, to love those who had hurt her. Would she ever be able to embrace them?

She kept her eyes shut, as she pushed away her lingering thoughts, shifting her full, undivided focus back onto their unified echo’s. Shapes and colours began to appear behind her closed lids. She focused on them, forming them into tangible objects with her mind. She was floating, weight no longer of any relevance to her as she soared through her mind surrounded by a movement of patterns and shapes and colours. And from within, she knew that this was what it felt like to be infinite. There was no true end or beginning… there was only now, this sacred moment.

She'd nearly forgotten she'd been chanting at all until Arsalan's voice rang through her like a hot bolt of light.

"Okay Althea, it's time to move on," he said lightly tapping her shoulder. Had she been chanting alone? She opened her eyes and the light beaming down from above burned them. Arsalan just chuckled at her squinting.

"How... How long were we chanting?" It had felt as though they'd only just started... Why was he moving on so quickly?

"Nearly an hour... did it not feel that long to you?" He raised a curious brow at her, but his face suggested he knew precisely where she had gone.

She bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head. It hadn't even felt like five minutes…

"Well then it was working," he said with a smirk.

He stood up and walked over to his pack, removing two small metal bowls and two small wooden dowels, with what appeared to be some sort of black felt fabric wrapped around one end. The bowls had a beautiful golden design imprinted into the metal. Althea had never seen anything alike to them before.

"These," Arsalan said, sitting back down in his now flattened spot on the grass, and setting the bowl down between them, "are Tibetan singing bowls. They are used to help us meditate and act as a pitch guide for our singing meditation."

He took the wooden stick and tapped the black fabric to the bowl lightly, sending a high pitched ringing into the air around them. He then slowly began spiralling the wooden dowel around the bowl. At first it sounded like the initial ring was fading away, but after a few seconds she heard it... Althea could hear a low hum coming from the bowl. She watched as Arsalan's eyes fluttered closed and he took a deep breath in through his mouth before beginning a low pitched throaty "ahhh," sound.

Althea closed her own eyes and followed his example. It took her a moment to perfectly match the pitch of the bowl and Arsalan, but once she got it, it came naturally to her.

They continued this singing, eventually synching so thoroughly that they took their breaths as one.

She didn't know why, but she quite enjoyed this form of meditation. It was somehow comforting to her, and as they meditated, she thought of all the things she wished to put out into the air around her. She thought of the things she wished to say but hadn't. It was as though she were realising that sometimes you needed to ask questions and raise your voice even when you’re scared of rejection or pain.

…

The sun felt as if it had swayed farther towards the west this afternoon as they finished Althea's training for the day, insinuating that they had meditated for longer than usual despite it not feeling that way. As Arsalan knelt before the trunk of the vast tree, putting things into his pack, he turned to look at her over one shoulder.

"So, back to your room so I can see this journal then?" Althea bit the inside of her cheek. She'd entirely forgotten he'd asked to see it on their last day of training. But now she wasn't sure she should show him... how could she be sure she could trust him? She glanced over at Arsalan and took the opportunity to take in his features as he faced away from her. He wore a heavier tunic today, but kept the sleeves cuffed a little bit above each wrist, showing the swirls of black ink that peaked through. His mop of black hair was pulled back into a loose bun atop his head, leaving a small line of ink visible at the nape of his neck, which she knew stemmed from the dragon that was etched just below it.

He turned to look at her, noticing her stare as she tried to look away quickly.

"I uh..." Althea faked a ditzy chuckle as she said, "completely forgot you'd asked to see it and returned it to the library." She swallowed, suddenly finding the grass immensely interesting as she ran her fingers through its scratchy surface.

"You returned it to the library?" he asked slowly, not glancing at her as he tightened the clasp on his pack.

"Honestly, it's really not all that important... just some ravings of a mad woman," she tried to brush it off but he was having no part of that. Arsalan finally stood, looking straight through her with that icy demeanour of his.

"Why are you lying to me Althea?" He bit out her name with such a tang that she closed her eyes at his question.

"I'm no–"

"You told me you had books you wanted to show me last week... you're telling me you've returned all of them then?" Arsalan cut her off, crossing his arms over his now puffed out chest.

She didn't answer right away so he continued, "what happened between then and now that has made you stop trusting me?" His words barreled into her more forcefully than she would have liked. He got quieter though as he asked lowly, "is this about what happened between us the night of the ball?"

And there it was, the headache she'd been trying to avoid speaking about, out in the open now.

"What, no!" she spit back, a little too defensively, "and you're a complete fool if you think that the likes of a man would ever sway my judgement so much."

"Well then what is it?" He threw his hands into the air now, letting them fall limply at his sides as he stared at her with such indignation that she blew out an audible sigh.

"Why are you here Arsalan? Why are you training me? Why do you care whether or not I succeed at mastering my ability or go completely mad? You came here by the request of the board didn't you? So what? Are you here to give them a report of my progress to further your own position amongst them?" She was rambling, just spewing the things she'd kept bottled up. She was done letting these unanswered questions fog up her mind, and even if she didn't get answers, at least the attempt might put her at ease somehow.

He stared at her blankly, but she didn't waver. She just stared back cooly. She was about to open her mouth with an annoyed shout when he said, so quietly she barely heard him as he stared at the ground in front of them, "I'm here because I care."

She almost didn't know if she'd heard him entirely correct. But as his head tilted up and his eyes met hers, a watery blue washed over them, replacing their usual cool icy hue.

"The board didn't force me to come... hell I'm likely not even the first they asked," he bit out, "but I would have come, and I would have stayed regardless of who you were because I have seen too many of our kind die due to pure ignorance. The board doesn't care about us, I've known it for a long time, as my parents did before me, and when I watched them die, I promised myself that I would never kill myself playing the puppet for them. They use us as they used my parents, doing their dirty work for them and not batting an eye when we go mad due to poor maintenance over our minds. They hide away information from most of the cadre out of their own selfishness. Information that could save people with our ability and others struggling with their power. It's unfair, and nobody knows that more than I do, so please do not ever insinuate that I am here purely to serve them because the only person I serve, is myself," he bit out the words with such vigour that it made Althea tremble slightly, her fingers beginning to tingle at the tips. It seemed he’d had some thoughts of his own taking up space within his mind. She swallowed, unsure of how to respond.

She didn't need to think very long on the words as he took a steadying breath and said, calmly now, "to your bedchamber then?"

Althea just nodded and they walked in silence up to her room.

Upon closing the door behind him, Arsalan stared in awe around the room fit for a queen, then wrinkled his nose slightly as he inhaled. She blushed, remembering Zella’s words from the day before. It smells odd in here. Though he said nothing of it, Althea hoped he couldn’t detect the activities that had taken place within this room after the ball… the last thing she needed was another reason for him to poke fun at her.

She reached under her bed, pulling out each and every book from the mound beneath it. Arsalans eyes were sharp as he stared at her in confusion.

"You said you'd found a few books of interest, not half the damned library!" he said, staring down at the piles of bound paper and leather.

"Yeah... so about that, I may or may not have stumbled across a secret chamber full of ancient books that may or may not have been hidden behind a shelf in the main library." Althea bit her lip, smiling sheepishly at Arsalan whose only expression was bewilderment.

"You what?" he started to raise his voice but then shook his head, "you know what, never mind, this actually makes perfect sense the more I think about it. I had wondered how anything of value would have made it past the raid nearly two hundred years ago, but now I know. Though how you found this mysterious chamber still remains a bit of a mystery to me, but I think it's probably best that I don't know." Arsalan let out a sigh, tangling a hand through his bound hair.

"Oh, my cat Archibald led me there," Althea cooed, looking around for the funny little creature.

"As I said, it would have just been better to live unknowingly." Althea couldn't help the smile that spread over her lips. She enjoyed seeing him so, well, unbound for once. It lightened her own spirits as well as she lifted up one of the many books scattering the wooden floor.

"So you could read all of these despite them being written in Latin?" he asked, turning through a passage about some of the groups within the cadre that had formed to attempt to change it.

"Mhm," Althea hummed, hearing the door to her bathing chamber creek. She turned, seeing Archie who strolled into the room and walked straight over to Arsalan, bobbing his head against her instructor's elbow.

Arsalan eyed the creature wearily as it rubbed against him.

"Ah, so you must be the trouble maker," he chuckled and tousled the cat's fur on his head.

He looked back up to Althea and smirked, "Archibald was it?" She grinned, closed mouthed, and nodded. He looked back down at the cat and scratched beneath his chin, staring at those bright, multi-coloured eyes.

"A very peculiar fellow indeed," he said slowly, studying the cat before putting his interest back into the text before him.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon engulfed in the ancient books. Althea told him everything, from what she'd learned of the cadre, to the small amount she'd read of the flame, and their ability. In return Arsalan gave her any information he thought might be helpful. As someone who had worked closely with the board for years now, as did his parents before him, he knew a vast amount about the flame, most of it being directly from the board themselves though. They had told him, as they had told Zellas parents and his parents as well, that the flame was an evil thing that kept their power limited and suffocated them as a magical people living within a human world. But as depicted in the text here, the flame acted as more of an anchor that kept monsters and sinister forces from entering their world in troves. So which was the truth?

Judging by the fact that someone had clearly fought very hard to keep these memoirs and findings hidden from the board, he could easily decide that for himself. Whoever had hidden these knew they would likely be taken and kept hidden by the board, if not outright destroyed. Arsalan had gained access to their personal library in Skyworth, and he'd scoured the place for texts such as these but there had been none. It made him wonder whether they had destroyed any piece of literature that had not suited their own narrative and motives.

So many questions now arose, but he was sure of one thing, he was glad to finally have a reason to doubt them, other than their lack of caring when it came to the lives of their cadre members. That alone had made him weary of the board from the moment he'd begun training, when he'd developed his ability at the age of seventeen. Over the past nine years, he had worked his way into being someone they trusted, a member they counted on... but all that he really wanted were answers. He knew they were accountable for so many deaths due to ignorance... but now he questioned whether it was ignorance or utter lack of consideration for those who were beneath them, that had been the cause of so many lives lost. Arsalan had watched his parents, his instructor, his lover... all die due to the pressure the board was constantly putting them under. And as Arsalan read through the ancient tomes, one thing became crystal clear to him, he held absolutely no ounce of loyalty for the members of that board.