Orenda blinked herself into existence and looked at the man sitting across from her with concern on his face. She had expected anger, but she supposed she shouldn’t have. Felaern would never have the strength of his convictions.
“I saw Morgani Magnus,” She said to the teacup.
“So did I,” Quiroris said, “And it was not the first time. I-”
“You told me it wasn’t Magnus,” Orenda spat, “You specifically said it wasn’t! You lied to me!”
“I said they didn’t summon Magnus!” Quiroris defended, “And they didn’t. Magnus has never been in that room, never been in this building. They… they simply scried him. And he’s such a powerful demon that his energy lingers.”
“I didn’t think it was really him,” Orenda said, “I didn’t think it was really anything. Had I known, had you not lied to me-”
“I didn’t lie to you!” Quiroris defended, “I told you not to go in there! I had it contained! Tell me what you were trying to do!”
“No one else has told you?” Orenda snarled.
“I want to hear it from you.”
“They thought we could speak to the dead,” Orenda saw no reason to hide their intentions, “They thought we could speak to Toli.”
“No mage should ever try to breach the realm of the dead, Orenda,” Quiroris said, softly, “No mage should ever reach between worlds, or into the mind of another. Magic is not meant to be used like that.”
He reached out, as if to take her hand, but thought better of it and instead hovered awkwardly, “I’m… I’m sorry, Orenda. I’m sorry I brought it up, or that I drove you to… I didn’t realize how much you loved him. You hide your emotions well.”
“I never loved him,” Orenda said, “You don’t understand. I never loved him, but perhaps I should have. He certainly… seemed to love me. I was blind to it, on purpose. I have, in the course of my life, liked to believe a great many things that were not true. Among them, I liked to believe that Tolith was never in love with me. But I suppose he was.”
“Yes,” Quiroris agreed and withdrew his hands to fiddle them together in his lap.
“It must have been horrible,” Orenda said, “to love someone, and face indifference, and then die knowing that you were unloved. To lose a father, to be neglected by a mother, and then to face that indifference before death.”
“Some people,” Quiroris choose his words carefully, decided that he had made a bad start, and began again, “It is important, for children, to have an adult who cares about them, from the time they are born. If someone does not have that, has no one to show them what love is, they cannot be faulted for… not recognizing it. Children are meant to have a loving family, Orenda. They aren’t meant to be corralled together like animals in large groups, seen only for that which they can do. That-”
“You don’t think I have the ability to love,” Orenda glared at him.
“I think you were cheated, Orenda,” he said sadly, “I think you were robbed of a great many things and that no one can blame you for that. It isn’t your fault that you didn’t love Lord Glenlen, and had you loved him, it would not have saved him. Some things are beyond our control.”
He took a deep breath and steeled himself, watching Orenda for a reply that never came.
“I think that that void may have… left you particularly vulnerable to demons,” he said at length, “How I wish you had never told him your name.”
“It does one no good to dwell on the past,” Orenda said matter-of-factly, “One more curse won’t be much, in the grand scheme of things.”
“Orenda,” Quiroris said as if he had channeled a great deal of meaning into that one word.
“The graduation ceremony is tomorrow,” Orenda said as she sat down her cup, “Does this affect it in any way?”
“No,” Quiroris replied.
“Well, judging by the lack of sun, it seems it has gotten late,” Orenda nodded toward the window, “I think I’ll go to bed.”
“Orenda, we need to talk about what you’ve just been through,” Quiroris stood and grabbed her by the upper arm, “It isn’t healthy to keep brushing everything off like this.”
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He screamed and drew back his hand as if he had touched a hot stove. He had not had time to see Orenda’s reaction, but as his glove burst into flames he ripped it off, threw it to the floor and stomped out the fire. Orenda was taller than he was now, and loomed over him in a way that he had not seen in centuries, a way that reminded him of a time so long ago when he was completely out of his element and surrounded by people bigger and stronger than him.
“Do not touch me again,” Orenda demanded. She was shaking, filled with emotions that she could not contain. She had been annoyed since she awoke, and the meeting with the demon had done nothing to calm her. The assertion that her father had died a fool had filled her with a rage because it may be true. The demands that she act in any way from a demon had fanned the flames. And a mockery of comfort from a man who had destroyed the world she should have lived in even as he mocked her for what his people had done to her made something within her snap. A fire burned behind her eyes and spilled out of her flesh.
“Felaern,” she explained, “there is nothing wrong with me. I have loved, and been loved in return. Your people took that from me like you took everything else. I do not love you, and that is not because I am broken- it is because you are broken. Do not touch me again. Do not follow me. When I leave for the outlands, I will never have to see you again. You may stay here and fear your demons, but if Morgani Magnus comes for me, I will slay him as I will slay all who stand in my way. I have reached the end of my patience. Do you know why I told the demon Magnus my true name? Because I do not fear him any more than I ever feared you.”
She turned on her heel and marched into the dining room and up the stairs, leaving a charred mark in her wake while Quiroris clutched his injured hand and thought of what Lady Glenlen had told him the night Nochdifache had killed her child’s father.
Orenda was dangerous.
“Orenda!”
She had barely made it to her room, had just slammed the door when a lamp blazed to life and Ali appeared looking even more frantic than he normally did, but radiating a joy she had not seen on him since the night she saw him drive away in the back of a cart.
“Ali?” She asked in alarm, “I have much to tell you; I have seen a demon!”
“I’ve got a lot to tell you, too,” Ali said in a frantic whisper, “Rendy, listen well! Do not go to the ceremony in the morning! Don’t go to the graduation! Get your things and leave tonight. Bubbider and I have already talked. She can’t go with you; she has to be here for the plan. But it happens tomorrow morning. You have to get out tonight.”
“What’s happening tomorrow?” Orenda asked.
“Lady Glenlen is going to be at the graduation ceremony,” Ali explained, “To give a speech and do a memorial thing- her son would have graduated, you know- and that’s when it’s going to happen. We’re going to take out most of the nobles in one swoop. Everything is happening tomorrow and we need you to have a clean name. You can’t be there.”
“Ali, I’ve seen a demon,” Orenda said again, “tonight. I saw Morgani Magnus. He said that he followed the path of order!”
“He probably does,” Ali agreed, “We helped him, Rendy. That’s where shifters come from. I don’t know that Magnus deserves the hate he gets.”
“What’s happening tomorrow?” Orenda asked, because she didn’t want to fight, and because it seemed important.
“The revolution!” Ali said, “I’ll have the djinn. I can get into her room alone while she’s away. I’m integrated enough into the household now, and I know where it is. I’ve contacted my mother and the army of Huriyat AlIinsan will march into the outlands. Do not fear the demon Magnus, Rendy. Gather all your things tonight, and leave that place. It will be dangerous and you’re a liability- plus you’re too important to lose.”
“But I can help!” Orenda argued.
“You absolutely can,” Ali agreed, “They’re going to send reinforcements, Rendy, once they lose the colony, they’re going to send the Emerald Knight. Even the djinn is afraid of him. As far as I can tell, fire beats earth- and you’re the first trained elven fire mage in two centuries. We can’t lose you this early. You have to go somewhere safe and stay alive, hone your skills, and be our secret weapon for when he gets here. We need you.”
“Magnus told me not to fight the Emerald Knight,” Orenda argued.
“Well then Magnus can come and defeat him himself!” Ali argued back, “Haven’t you learned anything, Rendy? Anything that can help us fight him?”
“Maybe,” Orenda said, “I think that there is an artifact, in the fire elf kingdom, in the temple, but I don’t know where it is or how to get there, only that it lies on the sacred mountains somewhere. But that range is huge, and none of the expedition parties have ever returned.”
“The night lord Glenlen died,” Ali began, but Orenda knew what he was going to say.
“Captain Nochdifache was there,” Orenda said, “He grew up there. He was there the night of the battle. He watched his whole world destroyed in a single night. He can tell me exactly where it is.”
“He does not seem to be a difficult man to find, if you know what you’re looking for,” Ali said, “He follows the white rabbit.”
“But… he’s often on the ocean,” Orenda said, and her stomach sank as she thought of water.
“Rendy,” Ali said with great seriousness and more light in his eyes than Orenda had seen in years, “I believe in you. Tomorrow, we’re going to take these Urillians out, and then we’re going to slaughter the Emerald Knight. We can do this. We’ve sacrificed so much.”
“I’ll pack right now,” Orenda said.
“Be discrete,” Ali warned, “And… Rendy?”
“Yes?”
“If we fail… if it all goes horribly wrong somehow, I want you to know that it was a pleasure knowing you. I will always consider you a dear friend.”
“Everything will be fine,” Orenda lied, as she had no way of knowing this and did not believe in divination, “One day, Ali, when we are alive and well in the new world we have created, with the children you wanted, they will not believe us when we tell them of the hardship you have endured. Think of the future, and all will be well.”
“You’re one of the good ones, Rendy,” he said.