By the time Eyde locked the room once more, what sky that could be seen from the windows of the institute was dark. The gentle sound of rain could also be heard drumming on the roof. Of course, he thought. Why would I need an umbrella underneath a mountain? He stretched, feeling the bones and muscles of his back twang, crack, and realign after several hours being bent over a cabinet or the storage room’s small desk.
He paced through the corridors, his mind in no mood for thoughts beyond getting home to rest. Arriving in the main reception hall however, his sleepwalking mind was nudged awake by the sight of a familiar blue dress.
Miss Sorelle had walked into the reception hall and was striding directly towards him. Eyde held up a hand and managed a weak smile by way of greeting. Miss Sorelle glanced at him twice before recognition dawned and she stopped.
“If it isn’t Mr. Barethawn,” She smiled happily. “What are you doing here?”
“Please, call me Eyde, Miss Sorelle,” he couldn’t help but smile at her warm greeting. “I’m a researcher here.” To Eyde’s credit, his voice only faltered slightly as thoughts of his day challenged the truth of his statement.
“How wonderful, Eyde, and you must call me Felora,” her eyes flicked up and down his body. “You should be careful not to wear yourself out. A man with two jobs needs to take care of themself.”
Eyde responded with a quiet laugh, “I’ll be sure to take rest where I can get it.” He paused for a moment, unsure what to say. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” he offered.
“I’m here to visit a friend. One of your fellow researchers as it happens.”
“Oh,” Eyde replied. “Perhaps I could help you find them.”
Felora smiled again, “Not to worry. He’s forever working late, so I can be sure he’ll be in his office. I know the way.”
“Very well,” Eyde nodded. “At least let me take your–'' He looked around in confusion. “You don’t appear to have an umbrella.” It was only then he noticed that, despite the driving rain outside, Felora’s hair and clothes were bone-dry.
“Of course not. Mages tend not to need one,” She winked at him and he felt his face flush red.
“Oh, I didn’t know,” He stammered.
“I should think not. People treat you differently when they realise you have access to all that magical power,” she fluttered her fingers as if to illustrate her point. “But I can trust you. Can’t I, Eyde?”
Her honeyed tones slathered the finer instruments within Eyde’s mind. He nodded, “Yes, absolutely.”
“Oh, good,” the mage touched Eyde’s arm and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards once more. Looking up at him from beneath heavy lashes, she said, “I mustn’t keep my friend waiting. Perhaps we’ll run into each other again.”
Eyde, unable to find sufficient words to continue their conversation, nodded in silence as she left his side and began walking along the corridor into the heart of the institute. He watched her until she rounded a corner and disappeared from sight.
His troubles weighing lighter than they had only moments before, Eyde opened one of the large double doors and struck out into the rain.
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“There, there, Eyde,” Galatae gently patted Eyde’s back as he lay slumped over a table in the Guildhall’s common room. “I’m sure everything will work out.”
Unprepared to face another day of disappointment at the hands of Dr. Gindel, Eyde had come to the Guildhall soon after waking. He’d found Galatae taking her breakfast and relayed much of what had happened the previous day, though he chose to not speak of his encounter with Felora.
His reply was muffled by his arms encircling his head, “That’s easy for you to say.” He looked up, his eyes red from lack of sleep. “Paperwork! My only job is literally the most boring part of research.” Eyde moaned, his head making a gentle thud on the wood of the table as he resumed his moping.
“Well…” Galatae hesitated. “Maybe you can use the time to do something to impress him. Make him realise your worth,” her voice grew in confidence as she spoke. “In fact, why don’t we try and catch the lantrit you saw? The one with the glowing eyes.”
Eyde looked up and couldn’t help but burst out laughing upon seeing Galatae, grinning widely at him with her fingers around her eyes in a pantomime of spectacles.
“No time for that now,” Mina stormed into the room, her boots thudding heavily across the floorboards, breezing past them as her hair streamed behind her. “With me,” she commanded.
A brief glance was shared before Eyde and Galatae hustled after Mina through the main door of the guildhall.
The street outside was abuzz with activity. The air reverberated with cries of alarm as streams of people ran along the street in both directions. Eyde and Galate in Mina’s wake as she forced her way through the crowd, pushing people aside as much as dodging past them.
As they ran, the reason for the commotion became apparent. A column of smoke rose above the rooftops, the underside lit by gas lamps and the crackling, orange light of a blazing fire.
A house in the middle of a tenement block was ablaze. The expressions plastered across the faces of the crowd of onlookers ranged from entertained to horrified. A line of Bastion guards had already formed and was busy keeping people from getting too close.
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Mina forced her way through the crowd, making straight for the closest guard. Eyde and Galatae squeezed past the onlookers as she began to shout, “...don’t care that you think you have it under control. Waiting for your mage is going to cost people their homes.”
The guard tried to push her back, but the shove he gave Mina proved ineffective. “This is none of your business, Vanguard. Step back.”
At the front of the crowds, knots of people clustered. Eyde watched as Galatae began to move amongst them, pulling them apart to reveal those who had been wounded by the fire. She began organising people, assessing who was most badly in need of healing.
“Have you checked for anyone still inside? Even organised a bucket-chain?” Mina was nose to nose with the guard now, her voice carried over the roar of the fire.
“We are responding as per procedure!” The guard spat back.
A woman nearby broke free from a group of people trying to hold her back somewhere down the line. “My son! My Todan.” she wailed into the fire-lit darkness. “I can’t find him. I think he’s still inside.”
Eyde felt as if his heart had stopped. He looked to the woman, the anguish and terror twisting her face. He turned, looking for help. He tried to reach out to Mina, but she shrugged him off as she continued to become increasingly aggressive towards the guard. Galatae had begun tending to the burns of those who had not made it out quickly enough.
The fire blazed large and deadly in front of him, occupying the entirety of his senses. His legs felt rooted to the spot as the heat washed over him, filling his mouth as he opened it to call for help, burning away the words before they could form. His lungs heaved against the smoke and he was forced to turn away as a falling timber sent up a cloud of bright sparks. He opened his eyes to see the distraught mother, the support of those around her the only thing keeping her upright as she was wracked with heavy sobs.
He ran.
Ducking past one of the guards, his coat slipping through their grip, he was only vaguely aware of the cries that erupted behind him. As he drew closer to the building, the heat intensified. The door to the house stood open and tongues of flame licked out to greet him. Pulling his coat over the lower half of his face, Eyde entered the house.
The heat he had felt outside was nothing compared to what he was now experiencing. The roar of the fire, combined with the creaking and crackling of the wooden structure filled his ears. The smoke and glare from the flames blinded him as he coughed and staggered through the first room calling for anyone there to answer him.
A doorway to his left proved relatively unobstructed. Kicking at some burning debris with his boot, Eyde cleared his way into the next room. His coughing had become worse as he shouted and he had begun to feel dizzy.
“Eyde!” he heard the sound of Mina’s voice barely above the flames. “Eyde, you idiot, get out of there!”
“Not yet!” he called back, choking through the words. “I have to…” he abandoned the sentence, giving in to the burning in his throat.
He scrunched up his eyes as he looked around the room. There was only one other exit, and the skeletons of several bed frames stood black and smouldering where they had not completely burned away. A large, wooden tub bound with iron lay upended to one side, the thick wooden planks taking longer to burn as the flames chewed through them.
Eyde staggered to the tub. Crouching, he struggled to get his fingers between the coarse wood and the stone floor. After two painful attempts, he gained purchase and levered the obstacle upwards. Underneath, he found a small, shivering figure clad in torn, scruffy clothes curled up on itself, its face and limbs drawn tightly against its chest.
“Hey,” Eyde called, pitching his voice as loudly as he dared to be heard above the flames, but not to frighten the child. “Hey, it’s alright, Todan. I’ve come to get you out. To take you to your mum.”
The small figure raised its grubby, soot-smirched head, its brown eyes wide with fear. Todan’s cheeks glistened in the firelight as tears streamed down his face, cutting white tracks through the dirt and muck.
“Come on,” Eyde tried to be as soothing and confident as he could manage while choking on lungfuls of smoke. He held out a hand, the other supporting the tub, “Just take my hand and we’ll leave, alright? Your mum’s sent me to find you.”
The child seemed unsure. Eyde pushed his fear further down though his hands and legs fought to shake themselves free of his body and be away from this place. Slowly, Todan unfurled, his arms still close to his chest as he held onto something. A small bird fidgeted as it was pinned down by the child's grimy appendages.
“Eyde you absolute fucking fool!” Mina’s angry voice reverberated around the room. The creature held by the child let out a screech and flames burst forth from it, causing the child to scream in turn.
“It’s alright!” Eyde blurted in an attempt to console the child. “She’s a friend of mine who’s here to help us. She’s just a bit loud.” His mind raced. He needed to get that thing away from the boy.
“I like your little friend,” He managed to smile through the soot and dirt that now caked his face. “But you’re going to need your hands to get out of here.” He shifted the tub in his grip. His arms were getting tired and his dizziness was increasing.
“Eyde!” Mina had appeared in the doorway he’d used to enter the room. Around her, the fire seemed dimmer. He waved at her, indicating for her to stay where she was.
He turned back to the boy, “How about this, Todan? You give your friend to me, and I’ll hold them while we get out. You can trust me. I like animals. Looking after them is my job.”
The child looked mistrustful of Eyde, but glancing at both Mina and the fire, he came to a decision. Standing, Todan stepped out from underneath the tub. Eyde set it down as gently as he could. Keen to not startle the bird. With great care, he took it from the boy, tucking it into his coat and holding it there with his left arm and hand.
“Come on,” he placed his free hand onto the boy’s shoulder. As they began to walk towards Mina, the ceiling groaned.
“Shit.” Eyde pushed the boy hard, causing him to stumble. Catching his flailing arm, Mina pulled him toward her as rubble and burning timber fell from the ceiling. Eyde staggered backwards. The bird at his chest flared with a screech, causing a flash of searing white-hot pain.
Eyde cried out and gritted his teeth, trying to reorient himself. The way he came in was now blocked by flaming wreckage. Through gaps in the debris, he saw Mina glance through to him, her face concerned but determined before she took the boy and disappeared from sight. Clutching the bird, he staggered to the room's only other door, his feet dragging against the stone as he fought to keep going.
The smell in the room beyond was worse than the smoke. Evidently this was used as a rubbish store by the families who lived here, piled high and obscuring every surface, and all of it was now on fire. His eyes watering, his throat burning, his lungs rejecting what little foetid air he could give them, Eyde faltered.
The disappointment of the last few days crashed down on him. He just wanted to rest. To lock himself away from everything and everyone. He stood amid the burning home and slowly blinked his dirt-smeared eyes. They boy was safe. That was the important thing. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so terrible if…
A sharp pain in his hand snapped him from the malaise. The bird was fighting to be free from his grasp. Thoughts began to seep in through the carbon-crusted apathy. He still had responsibilities. If he died, so did this tiny life. He shook his head, casting off the first few layers of sluggishness. Wrapping his sleeve around his free hand, he dug through the flaming rubbish, searching for a window, a door, anything. The sound of another collapse came from behind, spurring him into more vigorous action.
His fist crunched against stone. Pain gave way to elation as Eyde scrambled to clear as much as he could. He heard voices, felt something shudder against the pile of trash. A hand broke through, covered in rings of various metals and shapes. Eyde grasped it, and was pulled out into the sweet, crisp air of the Roots.