The Brightest Shadow, page 76
She quickly filled her plate with strips of sizzling aurochs meat, grilled cockatrice, and a kebab with mixed meats and pineapple. Celivia went back to her seat and tore into it eagerly, easing the hunger in her stomach. It had been worth every coin.
A young woman brought her a large mug of water, which Celivia drained immediately and handed back to her. Meanwhile, the old man steadily tended the other meats, with considerable variety over his grills even though there were few customers at the bar. She eyed some of the less familiar meats she saw there, still hungry and willing to experiment.
What would Tani think of all this variety? The thought made Celivia slow. She kept eating, but it no longer tasted quite so savory.
The humans couldn't keep occupying so much of her mind. As much time as she had spent with them, those years were only a small detour in her life. Now she would return to her real life, and since she'd failed to save the humans, that was probably the end. Based on the group she saw, they had probably escaped alive, so she wished them well. Once she finished giving her reports, she would set them out of her mind.
When she returned to the grills, the old man chuckled ruefully. "Well, I can see I'm going to lose money on you, Naena! I priced for hungry warriors, but you have quite the appetite... finish a rebirth or something?"
"Not quite, but close." Celivia filled her plate again while keeping an eye on him. "Do you know why there's a pool of rebirth out here, anyway?"
"Oh, it was an old campaign. Not sure what it was about - I was there, but I'm not sure what it was about!" He chuckled like it was an old joke, then used one of his knives to slide a long piece of red meat onto her plate. "Have one of these, Naena - they'll perk you right up!"
Celivia thanked him and returned to her seat. The old man's suggestion was good, bursting with juices, but she couldn't fully enjoy it. She finished her meal and headed back into the town.
Her plan had been to relax somewhere else, perhaps try a cup of neth, but she no longer thought she would enjoy it. Now that her hunger was sated, Celivia hurried back to the temple. She had written her reports there in between preparations for the rituals, but it would be wise to read them again and ensure that she'd made no mistakes.
An hour later it was nearly noon, so she kept looking over her reports while sitting beside the courtyard that held the voidlink platform. She couldn't help but look up every so often, since they could arrive at any moment. Of course, she would know when they did, but she couldn't help but keep watch.
Even so, she was looking down when they arrived. A larger than usual rush of wind swept out from the center of the courtyard, sending her hair flying. Celivia cursed, realizing that she had forgotten to tie it back. She hastily did so as she looked up to see the arrivals... and her hands faltered.
At the center of the group was a member of the Voidwalkers, of course, and he had two high-ranking officials with him. Celivia barely looked at any of them. Her eyes were on the three women who stood behind them.
Her eyes went to Reina first, even though she was far shorter than everyone else. She wore a cute blue robe embroidered in silver, and it seemed that she'd cut her hair again, leaving it in a sharp line that hung just below her ears. When she saw Celivia, her nervousness was replaced with excitement, though she struggled to keep herself in place.
Behind Reina, Ghalia was the most obvious. She had clearly gone through a Catai rebirth and chosen the standard Towd path: Ghalia had always been a muscular woman, but now she loomed over the others. Other than dark bands wrapped around her breasts, she made no concessions to gender, wearing the standard military pants with an axe hooked behind her back.
By comparison, Lurimin had hardly changed at all, almost hiding at the back of the group. If anything, she had gotten even thinner. Her dark robe had an additional red line on the hem signifying a promotion, but otherwise she looked the same as she always had. Only one eye was visible through her tangled mass of dark hair, but she seemed to be smiling.
For a time, no one said anything. The two officials looked nauseous after the trip and turned away. At that moment, Reina sprinted forward.
"Celi!" She launched herself toward her at full combat speed, so a moment later Celivia had the other woman's arms wrapped around her neck.
It wouldn't be seen as professional, but she didn't care - Celivia embraced her back. How long had it been since she had really touched another person?
"Are you finally done? I know you had to do it, but I hope your mission is finally over." Reina squeezed her tightly.
"It's over. At least once I report." Celivia sighed as she noticed the officials looking toward them. The older soldier on the left, a bit portly but carrying a sword that looked weathered, only scowled at the unprofessionalism. To the right, the lean aristocrat actively sneered. "I need to talk to them, Reina."
"Okay. We'll talk later, Celi."
Celivia set down Reina, who quickly stepped away. Ghalia and Lurimin moved to the side more gracefully, though they would definitely talk later. It seemed as though they'd come to meet her, but they couldn't have afforded a trip via the Voidwalkers, so there must be another reason. For now, she couldn't concern herself with them, she needed to give her reports.
"Nin Celivia." The old soldier spoke in a rough voice. "I am Major Bannaren. I understand that your deployment, unusual as it was, has completed successfully."
"Yes, Kaen." Celivia took out the appropriate papers and handed them to him. The younger man reached in first and grabbed them, then gave them a scornful glance.
"This is all we've accomplished? One little human group crushed?"
She knew that he hadn't even read the papers, but of course she couldn't say that. Celivia kept her face neutral. "Koreinan Aryabaus has fought in the region for several years in an attempt to take a nation. He specifically requested that specialized resources be devoted to solving this problem. I complied, in addition to completing my other duties."
"Oh, the accomplishment is worth something and you are to be commended, don't misunderstand me." But the look he cast her suggested that believing his politeness meant anything would be the real misunderstanding. He might be polite enough to noblewomen, but women like her? "The question is merely if it was worth the cost. Six rebirths, just to disguise one of our own as a human and remove a few enemies. And I cannot help but notice that if we had sent a male, it could have been done in four."
He stopped short of making his statement explicit, but of course he wouldn't. She had grown too used to the Expanse - say one thing for Corans, they were blunt about what they wanted. It had been some time since she'd tasted this poison.
Bannaren just grunted. "The time to argue about the strategy is past, Pelolin. A completed mission is a completed mission." For a moment Celivia felt more hopeful, but when his eyes turned toward her, they were far from friendly. "You're owed your back pay and promotion to warrior, second class. Is there anything else?"
"I would like to apply for the Catai program, Kaen."
"Absolutely not!" Pelolin cut in loudly. "Think of the resources we have already wasted on her! We cannot burn through rebirth after rebirth like this!"
Celivia gritted her teeth and ignored Pelolin. He could advise, but Bannaren made the decision in the end. Unfortunately, he was shaking his head. "That's a no, soldier."
"Why, Kaen?" She wasn't supposed to question the order, but to be denied after so long... unfortunately, she saw Bannaren's eyes go hard.
"Your record is good, but not exceptional. Worse than you have made Catai, true. But they'd led men into battle many times, and you have no leadership experience. And the soldiers aren't going to easily respect a woman, not unless she takes the Towd route, like Ghalia there. Were you going to pursue that form, soldier?"
"...no, Kaen. Tarantril."
And that ended her chances of rebirth. She saw Pelolin turn away, muttering something about vanity under his breath. He didn't look like he'd sweated a day in his life and she sensed no sein flow from him, but of course he felt entitled to judge her choice.
Bannaren took the papers and stuck them under his arm without looking at them. "That's it, then. We'll probably reassign you under Aryabaus."
"What?" Celivia stiffened. She'd anticipated that she might be refused rebirth, but after electing to take such a taxing mission, she'd assumed that she'd have her choice.
"Because you served most of a tour. Complete it, help finish off that human nation, maybe get a commendation. You do that, maybe you could think about warrior, first class."
Not as good as she'd hoped, but much better than the shit duty Pelolin would no doubt have sent her to. And though she disliked to admit it, she wouldn't mind staying in the Chorhan Expanse a little longer. That way she might have another chance...
"Can we leave now?" Pelolin turned around to look at the Voidwalker officer, who had moved away to lean against the wall. "I don't see why we needed to stop here at all. Couldn't she have just come to my office after I received my new station?"
"Orders." The Voidwalker officer moved away from the wall casually, not bothering to address Pelolin properly. Celivia would almost have hoped he was on her side, but it was probably just casual disrespect because he stood outside the normal chain of command.
"Orders? From who?"
"The Zeitai." As they looked at him in shock, the Voidwalker slouched past them, waving a hand vaguely. "I get the rest of the afternoon off. Which I need anyway, unless you want me to make a mistake and splatter all of you. Since you all went together like this, I need to make a lot of jumps."
Before he could leave, one of the staff from the temple approached them, smiling obsequiously. "Can I get you anything, Feinan?"
The Voidwalker stopped for a moment, glancing at him. "Whatever they want, you should get a table, two chairs, and an unbrewed pot of neth. The Zeitai will want it that way."
Pelolin finally spoke up. "This is absurd! You really expect us to believe that one of the Zeitai is coming here? Even I wouldn't dare to imagine that a Zeitai would come to congratulate me on my promotion - what could he possibly want with anyone else?"
"Not a clue." With that, the officer left, heading down toward the town as if familiar with the path. Perhaps he was, since Celivia understood that most Voidwalkers transferred personnel and supplies on consistent routes. She'd applied to the Voidwalker program herself, though she hadn't been accepted. Possibly because she was female, though in this case she suspected it was actually lack of talent.
Meanwhile, Pelolin was taking the opportunity to make demands of the local staff. Celivia wanted nothing to do with him, so she glanced upward. The sun drew near its peak, but not quite. Letting herself smile, she moved toward her friends.
They had been speaking to each other, but cut off as soon as she approached. Reina hopped forward to embrace her around the waist. "We heard everything. That's not fair at all!"
"I knew it was a risk when I took this mission." Celivia sighed and peeled Reina back a little, though she kept her hand on the other woman's shoulder. Meanwhile, Ghalia moved up behind her.
"But congrats on finishing the mission! Not everybody gets an assignment like that!" She slapped Celivia on the back, likely as hard as possible. Celivia managed to swallow her grunt and only tilted forward a little, which made Ghalia laugh loudly. "Damn, you've gotten tough!"
"I had a lot of time to train." Celivia punched Ghalia in one of her newly huge biceps, putting extra sein into it. "I see you made Catai."
"How could I not? I'm telling you all, Baelen is the tour of duty you want. Zeitai Xetsu doesn't give a shit about anything except if you're strong, and most of the army follows his lead."
"Have you met him?" Lurimin asked quietly. Ghalia scowled.
"Of course not. I'm moving my way up in the world, but not that high. Not yet, anyway! You hear stories about him showing up to fight in some random battle, but I've never had the chance."
Lurimin's visible eye flickered over to Celivia. "Is it true that you were given your assignment by Zeitai Teirsan? Did you actually meet him?"
Celivia nodded, her smile fading. As glad as she was to see her old friends, they couldn't escape the world around them. She didn't even try to say that she'd seen Zeitai Xetsu and Zeitai Sepultus - Ghalia would definitely call bullshit. Pushing aside those thoughts, Celivia answered. "It was very brief and he didn't seem to have much time for me, but yes."
Reina gave a low whistle. "Was he kind? I mean, given everything he did for us, I'd hope so, but..."
"That's hard to say." And it made her think about the upcoming encounter, which only made her nervous. Celivia turned her attention to Lurimin. "Luri, are you still freezing yourself in the north of Fareshel?"
She nodded. "It's a quiet position. I like it. They don't call a nation the 'Eternal Empire' for nothing, so we're not actively at war right now. Little chance for promotion, but I have more time for my work."
Ghalia leaned in, jabbing her with an elbow and grinning. "The real question is, are you getting laid in the Vear legions? I hear good things!"
Though Ghalia's larger size easily shook Lurimin around with her jabbing, she failed to fluster Lurimin. The smaller woman simply shrugged. "Vear are Vear. They stick to themselves."
"Dammit, and you're probably fine with that, aren't you?"
They kept chatting and Celivia was able to relax a little more. It refreshed her soul to see old friends and indulge herself in topics that had been far from her mind for so long. She learned that the three of them had pulled strings to tag along with the Voidwalker and meet with her, which was kind. Ghalia was returning to Baelen after her rebirth and Lurimin to Orphos for intensive study. Reina never said exactly why she was there.
Though the conversation was fun, Celivia wasn't able to forget about their purpose, continually glancing toward the sun. When it shone just overhead, she heard a rush of wind and turned.
Zeitai Teirsan stood in the center of the platform, unaccompanied. He wore an unpatterned robe of blue silk, every fold and belt absolutely immaculate. Exactly the way she remembered him, down to the way his short silver hair stuck up in a tangle. Strangely, he had no presence whatsoever, not even what she would have expected from a normal soldier. But it was hard to think about that because of his piercing eyes - not red, but gold.
Most experienced a moment of disorientation after voidwalking, but Teirsan glanced around the courtyard even as he emerged. His eyes flickered over her before turning to Bannaren and Pelolin. "Good, you're here. Seinan Bannaren, you may take the rest of the afternoon off. Seinan Pelolin, your promotion will stand but your position has been revoked because our policies in Nol have been reconsidered. Someone will brief you when you arrive."
"What is this?" Pelolin looked taken aback and advanced toward him. "Who are you?"
"Please excuse me." Teirsan stepped past him and faced the local staff. "I will need to conduct some business here. I would like two chairs and-" The staff emerged, carrying wicker furniture and a pot to prepare neth. They started to bow and offer praises, but Teirsan didn't skip a beat and gestured to one corner of the courtyard. "Thank you. Set them down over there, please. Everyone else may leave. Now, Seinan Celivia. We should speak."
Celivia found herself tensing every time those golden eyes turned on her, but at that moment Pelolin stepped in between them. She realized that he was actually taller than the Zeitai, and combined with his elaborate clothes he looked far more imposing.
"Do you really expect us to believe you're Zeitainan Teirsan?" Pelolin scoffed. "You have a lot of nerve, impersonating a Zeitai. I don't know what kind of trick this is, changing my promotion, but-"
Teirsan's eyes flickered up to him and he spoke quietly. "Seinan Pelolin, you are wasting my time."
The air went utterly still. Celivia couldn't explain it and didn't feel any flow of sein, yet the breeze vanished and silence cloaked the world. It happened for only a moment, then everything resumed... but Pelolin staggered several steps backward, eyes wide. A dark spot of urine grew down the side of his leg and he collapsed.
As soon as Pelolin dropped out of his path, Teirsan walked past him toward the corner where the table had been set up. "Seinan Celivia, if you would follow me, please?"
She went as fast as she could.
Though she wouldn't have said he moved particularly fast, somehow Teirsan was already sitting down in one of the chairs. She followed, uncertain if he meant her to sit, but he gestured curtly to the other chair.
"I hope that the device is undamaged?"
"Ah... yes, it's intact." Celivia struggled to sit and pull the necklace off at the same time, her body refusing to move naturally. After getting the chain tangled in her hair, she managed to set it into his waiting hand before he waited too long. In the corner of her vision, she saw that everyone else had obeyed the order to leave, Bannaren helping Pelolin up, so they were abruptly alone in the courtyard.
"Good." Teirsan took the necklace and deftly twisted something, resulting in the yellow stone falling out of the metal frame. He crushed it in one hand, the gem breaking apart to reveal a golden crystal within. All of his movements seemed too fast, like he was rushing nervously, yet no motion was wasted.
He had only examined the crystal for a moment before his eyes flickered back up to her and she froze. "This will be useful, but I had also hoped to receive your verbal report."
"I... yes." Celivia swallowed, trying to remember what she had prepared in case this happened. "I can confirm reports that the Hero is more than a rumor. I never saw more than one at once, but when one dies, another appears." She cursed herself for saying what he probably already knew, but moved on. "I was able to interact closely with three Heroes and briefly with two more. They seem to have a substantial effect on humans around them, though I do not know the mechanism. They also have a negative effect on mansthein in their presence, which I experienced personally but was able to resist with practice."
