The cellar was cramped, but cool most of the time. It had proven liveable, if not comfortable. Some days were harder than others, and perhaps the worst was when the mind-numbing boredom threatened to consume Jorvanultumn. Months of doing nothing, not being able to assist the others, only able to leave the cellar for brief periods at night to stretch his legs—these things all gnawed at his resolve, and he sometimes had to remind himself why he was there and that he would endure years of this discomfort if necessary. Nonetheless, he also could not deny he was looking forward to the end of his time here. Especially now that day looked as though it might be close.

Still, it had been nice to have company from time to time in the past month. Ses-Ihuicatl had spent her first few days and nights at Fra-Mecatl and Fra-Tepeu’s ranch living in the cellar with Jorvanultumn. Once Rudiger left, she no longer needed to spend all her time there, but she still needed to return to it whenever Fra-Mecatl or Fra-Tepeu had visitors. The young priestess and wizard-in-training had provided a pleasant distraction, someone to talk to and pass the long days with, and useful for practising the local language. Rudiger had made a point of visiting when he had still been around, but Rudiger had been kept busy enough that those visits had been short.

Jorvanultumn still disliked not having been able to tell Rudiger about Zandrue, but Fra-Mecatl and Ses-Ihuicatl had made him swear not to. Zandrue had insisted no one know. The only reason Fra-Mecatl even told Jorvanultumn was because the cellar was the only place they had to hide Ses-Ihuicatl. It was just like Zandrue to take off and insist on doing things her way, and her way only. But Ses-Ihuicatl believed her only hope for survival was to follow Zandrue’s and Fra-Mecatl’s instructions as precisely as possible, so Jorvanultumn had agreed not to tell Rudiger.

The young priest had remained at Fra-Mecatl’s a lot longer than planned, though. Fra-Mecatl had told Ses-Izel that she had someone she needed smuggled out of Ninifin, and they were going to make arrangements as soon as Ses-Izel got back from the Palace after delivering Borisin. But then the Ninifin Queen had decided to keep Ses-Izel there, and Ses-Ihuicatl was stuck for the time being.

But perhaps that would not be for much longer. Neither of them would have to continue hiding.

Three days ago, the most extraordinary thing had happened.

Jorvanultumn had been meditating in the cellar—something he had taken to doing a lot during his time here—when the trap door opened and someone came down the stairs. Several people from the sound of it. He assumed it was Ses-Ihuicatl and his hosts. They were always good about waiting for him to finish and he repaid the gesture by switching to his closing prayers as soon as he heard them.

“Hey, what’s the hold up?” an unfamiliar, gruff voice said.

“Garet, shh!” another voice said. This voice was familiar as was the name mentioned.

“What? I just want to know why everyone stopped all of a sudden.”

Jorvanultumn hurried through the closing prayers faster than was proper, but he doubted the gods would fault him much. He opened his eyes. Meleng stood at the bottom of the stairs. Behind him, still on the stairs, stood a young human woman with a sun tattoo on her cheek and snake tattoos on her arms. Behind her, a bit farther up the stairs was Quilla, someone Jorvanultumn had only met briefly in Arnor City. She had gone with Meleng and Felitïa to Scovese—as had Prince Garet, who was bending over and glaring through the trap door from the upper floor.

“Meleng!” Jorvanultumn stood up.

Meleng gave a small wave.

“How are you here?”

“I kind of wanted to ask you the same question,” Meleng said, coming forward. He and Jorvanultumn embraced.

“I did not expect to see you again for many months, if ever,” Jorvanultumn said.

“You’re speaking the language well,” Meleng said.

“Yes, I am finding it easier than Arnorgue. I am not sure why.”

“Hey!” Garet called. “Are you going to let the rest of us in or just stand there gaping all day?”

“Garet!” Quilla hissed.

Jorvanultumn looked away from Meleng. The young Ninifin woman had not moved from her place near the bottom of the stairs.

She blinked. “Sorry.” She jumped down the last couple of steps and moved out of the way to let Quilla and Garet down.

“That’s better.” Garet came down the stairs, pushed past Meleng, and clasped Jorvanultumn’s shoulders. “Jorvan, right? Good to see you again.” He let go of Jorvanultumn and began examining the rest of the cellar.

The Ninifin woman was still standing by the stairs, staring at Jorvanultumn.

“I will not harm you,” Jorvanultumn said. “Despite my people’s reputation, you are safe.”

“I apologise,” she blurted. “I’ve seen Isyar before—on Scovese—but it was always from farther away. The closest I ever got was in the Nabrinja at the start of the meeting, but even there... I’m sorry.”

“Jorvan, this is Ses-Inhuan, a friend we made on Scovese,” Meleng said. “Ses-Inhuan, this is Jorvanultumn, Jorvan for short.”

“I am pleased to meet you, Ses-Inhuan,” Jorvanultumn said.

The Ninifin took a couple steps closer. “I am pleased to meet you also.”

Jorvanultumn looked around at the four newcomers. “Where is Felitïa?”

“Off hogging all the glory to herself,” Garet said.

Ses-Inhuan’s stance stiffened and she glared at Garet. “This is not about glory, Garet, and you know it, so quit your complaining for once. I grow tired of it.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Yeah, well, tough, kid. You can be in charge, but you don’t get to dictate what I do or don’t say.”

Quilla cleared her throat. “Let’s not go through this again. Felitïa went to the Palace, Jorvan. She didn’t know you were here. None of us did until we got here. We came at Ses-Inhuan’s suggestion.”

“Maybe we should fill you in,” Meleng suggested.

Fra-Tepeu arrived early in their discussion with some refreshments. Fra-Mecatl also introduced everyone to Ses-Ihuicatl. “No one is to learn of her presence here. She is on the run from the priests and her life is on the line. I’m only telling you now because with you all here, it would be impossible to keep her hidden anyway. For that matter, it is also going to be hard to hide the presence of so many more foreigners here for long. Tepeu and I are discussing options.”

Over the next couple days, the five of them spent a lot of time talking about their experiences and making plans for when they heard from Felitïa. The others were surprised to learn Rudiger was in the Palace, but they all agreed that he and Felitïa would likely make contact with each other soon enough.

When Meleng asked about Zandrue, Jorvanultumn was unsure how to respond. Fra-Mecatl and Ses-Ihuicatl had said nothing about Zandrue, so it seemed that was still secret.

“She left,” he told them. “She would not say what she was doing. Fra-Mecatl and Rudiger have told people that she meditates in the wilderness, but it has been a long time now. That explanation is no longer believable.” It was the truth, and Jorvanultumn really did not know much more than that. However, he hated keeping secrets from people who deserved to know, even small ones.

Although Quilla and Garet were often present, Jorvanultumn spent most of the time with Meleng. They talked late into the night the first night and the following night about not just their recent experiences, but everything else they could think of as well. Ses-Inhuan was always present. She did not say much, but she rarely let Meleng out of her sight; she took her duties as bodyguard seriously. She did tend to doze off during Meleng and Jorvanultumn’s late-night conversations, however.

Yesterday, a letter had arrived from Rudiger. It was not the agreed-upon method of communication, which still had a couple more days before the next correspondence. The most unusual thing was that it was addressed to Zandrue. Did he think she had returned?

Fra-Mecatl and Fra-Tepeu, however, felt that this was a clear indication that they should open it.

“It is a letter expressing how much Rudiger misses his dear sister,” Fra-Tepeu told Jorvanultumn and the others. “His spelling is not very good, but I am glad he is finally learning how to write the language. It is otherwise a very sweet and heartfelt letter. He has many kind things to say, particularly of the Queen, whom he seems rather smitten by.”

“But Zandrue isn’t his sister,” Meleng said. “Does Rudiger even have a sister?”

Fra-Mecatl hobbled past and snatched the letter. “My brother is playing with you. It does indeed say the things he says it does, but that is just the decoy in case the letter was intercepted. Rudiger must have told the Queen and others that Zandrue is his sister, though why he did that, I have no idea. I warned him that lies work best when wrapped in truth. If there’s no reason to lie, he should tell the truth. There is no reason to lie about his relationship to Zandrue.”

“That we know of,” Fra-Tepeu said. “Things could have happened there that required the lie.”

Fra-Mecatl harrumphed.

“You said that’s just a decoy, though,” Quilla said.

Fra-Mecatl nodded. “The ink is highly smudged and contains a coded message from Ses-Izel. The code can only express basic concepts, but it says...” She held the paper closer to her eyes. “Arrival of Youth. She must mean the Youth Guard, which we knew about that, of course. Arrival of important outsider. Must be your friend. We know of that, too, although Ses-Izel would not be aware we know. Trouble between Queen and Council. Interesting. Someone expelled. Unfortunately, there is no way to indicate a specific name, but I’m sure we’ll hear who soon. Finally, she says, call for action.” Fra-Mecatl folded up the paper and sighed. “She believes it’s time for us to act.”

“Do you agree with her?” Fra-Tepeu asked.

Fra-Mecatl thought for a moment. “I agree that we should call a full meeting. Tomorrow night. Get everyone here. Absolutely everyone. We will discuss our options then.”

The coolness of the cellar—the main thing that had made it bearable for Jorvanultumn’s time here—had been absent for most of this last day as they waited for the meeting to start. Fra-Mecatl and Fra-Tepeu had a lot of visitors during the day—messengers, deliveries, and more—so everyone had to crowd into the cellar to remain unseen. Six bodies in the small space caused it to warm up fast.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Quilla asked him.

He nodded. “I will be fine. I am used to it now.”

“How will you handle it if you have to leave here to go to the City?” she said.

“I managed before. I will manage now.”

“If you need anything.”

He just nodded.

“Same here,” Ses-Inhuan said. “If you need anything at all, just ask.”

Jorvanultumn smiled. “Thank you.”

“Meleng trusts you,” Ses-Inhuan said, “and I have learned to trust Meleng. I therefore trust you.”

The others went up to the meeting before him. There were still many in the Resistance who did not know about him, and Fra-Tepeu had asked for time to get everyone ready.

He could hear the sounds of discussion above, though most of the time he couldn’t hear specific words. Every now and then, the discussion got a little more heated or excited, and he could make out individual speakers, but it never lasted for long.

After close to two hours, the trap door at the top of the stairs creaked open. One of the Resistance members he’d met last month just before Rudiger left, Ses-Patli was standing at the top with Fra-Tepeu. “Jorvanultumn, would you please join us?” Fra-Tepeu said.

Jorvanultumn took a moment to prepare himself mentally. He knew several of them might react negatively to him and he wanted to be sure he did not react in kind. He reminded himself that they had been brainwashed since birth to believe that Isyar were evil, and he did not want to hold that against them. A short prayer helped ready him. “I am coming.”

Fra-Tepeu and Ses-Patli led him down the short hall to the common room. He could already see a large number of people there and once he reached it, he could see that it was even more packed than he had thought. Nothing Rudiger or Zandrue had said about previous meetings had led him to believe there were so many people present. Perhaps previous ones were just less well-attended?

Tonight, there was barely any room to move. People were pressed up against one another, in front, behind, and to each side. It took him awhile to see Meleng, but he found him near the far side of the room, Ses-Inhuan standing behind him. Garet and Quilla stood a few people away from Meleng, Garet behind Quilla with his arms around her.

Ses-Patli helped usher people out of the way so Fra-Tepeu could lead Jorvanultumn to Fra-Mecatl, who sat in a chair in the centre of the room. She was the only person seated.

Everyone was staring at Jorvanultumn.

It was a calmer reaction than he had expected, though. Throughout his time in Arnor, Jorvanultumn had found that humans tended to react with exaggerated emotion, particularly in times of anxiety or fear. When the warriors had discovered him in those days before he, Rudiger, and Zandrue had reached Fra-Mecatl’s home, they had reacted with immediate hostility. In many of the cities before Ninifin, the humans there had swarmed around him, wanting blessings or just to gawk.

But these humans just watched him. There was fear in some of their eyes, but they remained calm. Perhaps the time Fra-Tepeu had wanted to prepare them had paid off.

Fra-Mecatl nudged his foot with her own. He looked down at her and she mouthed, “Speak.”

Jorvanultumn had no idea what he should say.

“Hello. My name is Jorvanultumn. I am an Isyar, but I am not what you think. I am here to help.”

Then the questions started. So many questions.