Orenda clutched the staff, staring down at it, trying to make out anything she could from the way it was put together. The etchings were beautiful, but they were stylized flames, not any kind of text that would give her any information. It was odd that it seemed not to have any specific element. Yes, the fire crystals were more prominent, and yes, it had the arch of a fire staff, but there were crystals inset into it of every element she had ever known to exist.

And why on Xren would anyone made a mage staff out of sterilite? That is, undoubtedly, what it was- but why? That made it completely useless.

Perhaps Gareth was right, perhaps it was meant to be a show of wealth, of excess, and nothing else. Orenda knew that ceremonial weapons were a thing; pretty little useless things meant only to show that the wielder could afford to throw money away on frivolity.

The carriage rocked everyone inside of it as they passed through the woods of the outlands and Gareth began to speak.

“Do you remember what I told you about mixing elements?” He probably directed this question toward Orenda, but he was lying down with his mask on and it was impossible to tell.

“Yes,” Orenda said.

“This forest did not used to be here,” Gareth said, “When I was a child this was all part of the city stretching from the coast. I daresay if we explored we would find old abandoned buildings and the like, taken over. But the ash from the eruption settled here, and it made the soil fertile- plants love it. And so they grew and overtook civilization, pushed it back. It’s odd to me that those Urillians call this a wasteland. There’s nothing wasted here. There’s nothing wasted anywhere. Nature abhors a vacuum, and will fill it with life.”

“Life rises from the ashes,” Bella agreed, “Always.”

“You don’t have to hide,” Falsie said and Orenda peeked her head out of the burlap to see the town they were approaching as he continued, “The battle’s over. Folks are on clean-up.” He looked down at Orenda and continued, “Come up here, Rendy, bring the staff.”

Orenda climbed into the seat beside him and held the staff as regally as she could manage while Falsie guided them into town. There were no soldiers on guard at the gate here- only friendly things would come down off the mountain.

The city was alive again, but the make-up of the populace had certainly changed. Humans were walking around, apparently on clean-up. Some of the buildings had been terribly burned, but this architecture, like everything the fire people had built, was made to withstand flames, so the human settlers were cleaning them, making them livable again. Orenda saw people boarding up broken windows, tearing down Urillian paraphernalia, righting whatever had been overturned. Most of these people were as human as she would have expected- but she caught a flash of red in a building that had once been a grocers, and she focused on it- her eyes widened in disbelief.

A fire elf woman was inside the building, fixing it.

“Gareth!” Orenda reached behind her, grabbed him by the shoulder, and jerked him forward, “Look! Who is that?”

“I don’t know, Rendy,” he said, pretending insult, but she heard the glee in his voice, “Not all fire elves know each other. Look!”

He pointed to a rooftop, where a man with long red hair corralled into protective braids was working with a group of humans. He had a hammer in his hand and several nails in his mouth, as if he had every right to be there. There was no indication that he was a mage.

Orenda began to see them everywhere. They were sparse, less than ten in the entire town, but they were there. They existed. She sprang to her feet.

“Everyone!” She called, and the crowd did give her their full attention. “I am Orenda Nochdifache-Firefist! I have pulled the sacred staff from the sacred flame! I am the Chosen Child of Thesis upon Xren! And we are going to win this war!”

Gareth huffed, threw himself back inside the cart, and pulled the burlap taunt as the people began to crowd them. Orenda held the staff as high as she could, for the people in the back, and gazed out over them. They were not all as adoring as they had been in Henoluhur; many of them were, but there were faces in the crowd that displayed skepticism. The energy was not as high here, and for a moment Orenda felt disappointment seeping into her mood- then she saw something she had never seen before. A group of people that she now considered children, young teenagers, people she felt were far too young to be here, were gathered together in military uniforms, and they were, without exception, staring up at her with awe.

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One of them was a fire elf. He couldn’t have been older than Ali had been when Orenda had met him, couldn’t be more than half a decade younger than she was now- but he was a child, Ali had been a child then, too, Orenda knew now, and he was staring at her as if she inspired him.

Where had they all been? Elven children were more rare than human children, and fire elves were rare now, but they were here, they were alive, and Orenda smiled as she raised her staff.

“Nochdifache,” the crowd parted to allow General AlHadeen and her entourage to make their way to the cart, “I had hoped I would see your return before I set out. We were planning on leaving today, now that this city has been taken, but I suppose a celebration is in order.”

“No more celebrations, by Thesis’s glowing eyes!” Gareth stuck his head out of the cart, “I want to get back to my ship! Besides, you just said yourself you don’t have time for that. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Zena, but there’s a war on. And, I believe, my niece is keen to follow the white rabbit. In a literal sense, not in your codes or metaphors or whatever. My point is, we all have places to be. We can hold a parade after the war. Right now, we haven’t time for it.”

“You used to be much more open to fun, Nochdifache,” She said with a wry smile.

“Well, I recently shot a demon in the face, so you’ll forgive me if I’m a little terse with you,” he snarled, “And I’ve been on land far too long. We’ve stayed in one place for far too long. It makes me jumpy. The sea is calling out to me!”

“I hate the sea!” Orenda told him, “I would love to stay for your party, General AlHadeen. I… Fire elves of the Allinsanian forces I… I have never… never seen so many faces… I would like to meet all of you.”

“Why?” Gareth asked, “There’s nothing-” But he was cut off by something that made so little sense it knocked silence into the entire crowd.

The sea, far away on the other side of town, came flowing, like a river through the streets- not exactly a flood, but more as if it had a life of its own, a will to move and flow against all logic. The water was only a few inches deep, but it should not have been there at all, and the unnaturalness of it created a surreal quality that permeated everything and everyone in the vicinity. The water moved still, swirling and flowing in no container, until it took on the form of a man. Orenda recognized his face.

“Orenda!” The djinn demanded, “What the hell are you doing? Why are you still here? I told you to warn Xaxac! His life is in danger! You should be in Uril by now!” He pointed at her, his eyes widened, and when he spoke again, it was in a rage. “Where the hell did you get that staff!?”

“I withstood the trial by fire!” Orenda told the apparition, “I pulled it from the sacred flame! I am going to defeat the Emerald Knight! I am the Chosen Child of Thesis!”

“Oh my god,” The apparition clutched his head and gritted his teeth, “Why would you… now what do I… I can’t see there’s… you… No! You need to put it back but we don’t have time we… you have to get to Xac… You can’t… we’re already late… we’re running out of time!”

Lapus? The staff asked. Lapus, is that you? Are you-

“No!” Lapus cut it off, spoke over it as he proclaimed, “Orenda do not listen to that thing! Put it back as soon as you can, but for now, please, I’m begging you, warn Xaxac! I’m trapped! I’m trapped by that chalice! Please! I don’t… I don’t want to lose him! Please!”

“Who’s after Xac?” Bella shot from the back of the cart and leapt onto the ground, “What does he need to be warned of?”

“Lapus,” Lapus said, “He’s going to do something. He found his grandmother’s diary.”

“From the Kabaal?” Bella asked.

“Yes!” Lapus said, “I’d ask you to come and get me, to free me, but we don’t have time! You’ve already wasted so much time! Bella, that boy is going crazy, he’s-”

“I understand,” Bella said, “We’ll leave right away. We’ll get there. Xac saved my life.”

“And put that staff back where it came from!” Lapus said, “Do not try to fight the Emerald Knight! You’ll never kill him! Death would be good fortune- I see things that… I see a fate worse than death.”

Bella paused from where she was climbing back into the cart.

“Lapus,” she said, “One more thing! Is Morgani alive?”

The apparition stared off into space for some time, as if trying to figure something out. Then he tilted his head and began to speak.

“Is… but the draken… Morgan…” He rubbed both temples and furrowed his brow in thought before he gave a final answer.

“Yes. If you can call that life.”

“Thank you!” a smile split Bella’s face.

“Now go!” Lapus demanded, “Dawdle here no longer!”

The water lost its form, and the laws of physical world dragged it back to the street with a splash.