Chapter 165

I stepped into the demesne to check on Naevira.

We hadn’t seen much of each other over the past few days. Between the trips to Earth, the sentencing of Sszarik and the others, and my own travels across half the continent, everything had become a blur of urgency and exhaustion.

I wanted to make sure she was still comfortable here. Still safe. Still happy.

When I arrived, Morien and Briva were playing in the courtyard beneath Elise’s watchful eye.

Briva spotted me first. She let out a tiny, ferocious roar and charged across the courtyard with all the reckless confidence only a four year old could possess. I scooped her up as she reached me and tossed her into the air.

She shrieked with delight. Each time she reached the apex of her flight she laughed louder, tiny arms spread wide like she thought she might actually fly.

Morien approached more slowly. Deliberately. Even as a child she moved with intention.

I caught Briva, shifted her to one arm, and swept Morien up with the other before blowing raspberries against her neck.

She squirmed immediately, soft breathy almost-laughs escaping her as she tried - and failed - to maintain her dignity.

Like her mother, Morien was naturally reserved. Quiet. Observant. It seemed to be common among void mages. And there was little doubt what she was becoming.

Her skin was pale as moonlight, framed by a mane of soft white hair and pale gray eyes that already seemed slightly too thoughtful for a child her age. She was still too young to wield magic, but the signs were already there.

I danced around the courtyard with both girls in my arms while Briva squealed openly and Morien hid her joy behind embarrassed little sounds.

When I reached Elise, I leaned down and kissed her.

The girls immediately wrapped themselves around us, turning it into an awkward four-way embrace.

“Hello, beautiful,” I murmured, meeting Elise’s eyes.

She blushed demurely beneath the attention.

“Is Naevira around?”

Elise nodded and glanced toward the rolling hills of golden grass beyond the castle grounds. “She’s with Issa.”

I followed her gaze.

The naga and gallowborn sat together atop one of the hillsides, weaving flower crowns in the shimmering grass.

“How is Issa doing?” I asked quietly, concern slipping into my voice before I could stop it.

“Better,” Elise said softly. “Though she is still heartbroken. I assume she will remain so for some time.”

I nodded solemnly and lowered the girls back to the ground. “I should go check on them.”

“Yes.” Elise’s eyes lingered on the two distant figures for a moment before she reached into her dress pocket. “Oh - two missives arrived for you.”

She handed them to me.

The first was a small tightly wound scroll bearing Crowhurst’s seal.

Inside was a terse report - increased shipments of low-grade spellstones into Caldris. Tons of them. Individually worthless. Barely useful. But in those quantities…

The Covenant was building enormous mana reserves. It was Crude. Immobile. Inefficient. But devastatingly effective if properly assembled.

The second was a neatly folded letter sealed with the royal crest of Arvellia.

Amberleigh.

The message inside was brief - a request for a discreet meeting outside official channels. No details. No explanations. Which usually meant the information was serious.

“Thank you,” I told Elise.

I ruffled Briva and Morien’s hair as they clung to my legs, then started up the hillside toward Issa and Naevira while ribbons of color drifted lazily through the blue sky above me.

* * *

“Hey, you two,” I called as I approached.

Issa and Naevira sat together in the golden grass, flowers scattered around them in little colorful piles while half-finished crowns rested in their laps.

I knelt behind Issa, wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and kissed the top of her head.

She leaned back against me automatically for a moment before I released her and settled into the grass beside them.

“Everything going okay?”

Naevira smiled softly. “Yes. Issa and I were speaking about… family.”

“Family, huh?” I asked. “Is that a good thing?”

Issa and Naevira exchanged a quiet glance.

“Yes,” Naevira said at last. “Family is a good thing.” Her fingers continued weaving flowers together carefully. “They care for you. Support you. They remain beside you when you need them.”

Her eyes drifted toward Issa. “No matter what happens.”

I chuckled softly. “You sound like me.”

That earned the faintest smile from Issa - the first real one I’d seen from her in days.

I reached over and rubbed her shoulder gently before turning my attention back to Naevira.

“Are you doing alright?” I asked. “I haven’t had much chance to check in lately. Do you need anything?”

“I am well,” Naevira replied. “Everyone here has been very kind.” Her expression softened as she looked around the demesne. “You have a wonderful family.”

“I do, don’t I?” My gaze flicked toward Issa as I smiled.

“Serah was kind enough to make me a new dress,” Naevira added, lifting her arms slightly to show it off.

It was true, the dress wasn’t one I’d made, nor one Elarion had acquired for her.

A sleeveless gown of rich royal blue laced up the front from waist to bust, worn over an off-white chemise that covered her shoulders and arms before continuing beneath the parted skirt. The fabric moved softly in the breeze, elegant without being ostentatious.

“I noticed,” I told her honestly. “It’s lovely.”

A faint blush touched her cheeks at the compliment.

“I wanted to ask,” I continued, “if you’d like to take a walk with me tonight. There’s something I’d like to show you.”

Naevira nodded immediately. “I would like that.”

“Great.” I smiled at her. “I’ll come find you after dark.”

I pushed myself back to my feet and brushed the grass from my pants. “For now, I’ll let you two get back to your girl talk. Or family talk. Or whatever this was.”

Issa shook her head with another small smile.

Naevira, meanwhile, positively beamed.

* * *

That night I returned to the demesne to collect Naevira.

The air was chilly beneath scattered clouds drifting across the endless sky. Above them, soft auroras rolled lazily through the darkness in ribbons of impossible color. Bioluminescent moths still floated through the night in glowing clusters while bats darted erratically overhead.

It seemed nothing here feared the cold enough to hide from it.

Naevira was easy enough to find - she was once again absolutely covered in moths and bats.

The creatures clung to her dress, her hair, her arms, her hands - tiny bats hanging upside down from her sleeves while glowing moths occupied every remaining inch of space. Somehow neither species seemed bothered by the other.

The only part of her left uncovered was her face. Which meant I could see her smile and hear her laughter long before I reached her.

“They really seem to like you,” I observed as I approached.

“I like them as well,” she replied, her voice light with genuine joy.

“Would you rather stay here with your friends a little longer, or would you like to go for our walk?”

She laughed softly. “They are not my friends.”

“No?” I asked lightly.

“They are simply pretty.” Her smile widened. “We do not speak or play games.”

“Ah. Is that the requirement for friendship?”

“That is what I have been told.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Issa visits me to speak, so she is my friend. Briva and Morien come to play, so they are my friends.”

Then she turned fully toward me. The moths and bats immediately scattered into the night all at once, as though some silent signal had told them their time upon her was over.

“Does that make me your friend?” I asked.

She nodded without hesitation. “Yes. You come to speak with me as well. You care for me and ensure I have what I need. You share your family with me.” Her eyes met mine softly. “You are very kind.”

“Good,” I said with a smile. “Because I consider you my friend too.”

I held out my hand. She took it immediately.

“So where are we going?” she asked.

“I wanted to show you someplace special.” I glanced upward thoughtfully. “Assuming I can still find it.”

Her expression brightened with curiosity.

“But first,” I continued, “you’re going to need something warmer. From what I understand, cold won’t kill your kind, but it can slow you down or freeze you solid, and I’d rather avoid that.”

I channeled my Will.

Faith rippled softly through the air as a thick winter coat and sturdy boots formed in my hands.

Naevira blinked in surprise as I draped the coat over her shoulders.

“It is heavy,” she observed.

“It’s supposed to keep you warm.”

She looked down at the boots thoughtfully for a moment before slipping out of her shoes.

Her feet unraveled immediately into twisting smooth vines, curling and threading effortlessly into the boots before reforming themselves into proper feet again.

I snorted softly. “Still having trouble putting shoes on?”

“I can do it normally now,” she said with a smile. “This is simply easier.”

“If I could turn my feet into vines,” I told her, “I’d probably do it all the time too.”

That earned another laugh.

“Ready?” I asked.

She nodded enthusiastically.

I tightened my grip on her hand and stepped.

* * *

We appeared at the base of a mountain.

The air here was far colder than the demesne.

To one side sat the remains of an old campsite - a rotting log beside a ring of stones that had once held a fire. Both had long since been swallowed by moss and drifting snow. No one had been here in years.

On the other side, an old trail wound deeper into the mountains.

The wind came in sharp gusts that clawed warmth from anything they touched.

Luckily, natural cold no longer bothered me much.

Naevira seemed resistant to it as well.

Thin clouds raced overhead, glowing pale green beneath the moonlight. The moon itself hung low in the sky, the last of its children barely cresting the horizon. Far beyond the peaks, faint bands of blue and red light bled softly across the night.

I took Naevira’s hand. “I haven’t been here in a long time,” I admitted. “And the way I used to reach this place doesn’t exist anymore. We’ll have to walk and see if I can find the other route.”

She nodded, and together we started along the mountain pass.

The wind strengthened as we climbed, whipping at our clothes and lifting snow from the drifts in spiraling sheets. Ice crackled beneath our boots while the mountains groaned softly around us.

“If you could have one thing,” I asked as we slipped through a narrow crack in the stone that shielded us from the worst of the wind, “what would it be?”

Naevira glanced toward me.

“Anything at all,” I clarified. “Something you want to see. Or do. Or experience.”

“I do not know,” she admitted after a moment. “There is still so much I do not understand. My memories only go back a few weeks.”

Her eyes wandered across the snow-covered slopes. “The world feels both familiar and strange to me. The forest where you found me felt… comfortable. The plains did not seem unknown.”

“But I have never seen a place like your keep. The mountains are beautiful. And the trees… They have no leaves. Only hard grass upon their branches.”

I smiled faintly.

“This place… I have never seen its like,” she continued softly. “At first glance it seems cold and lifeless. But there are hardy plants beneath the snow. Rabbits. Deer. Bears.” Wonder entered her voice. “It amazes me that life survives in a place like this.”

“We’re actually not far from the keep,” I told her. “It’s about a days travel southwest of here.”

“Truly?” she breathed. “It feels so different.”

“Wait until winter settles fully.” I chuckled softly. “The keep gets buried in snow and turns into something out of a storybook. It’s beautiful.”

“I cannot wait to see it.” Her smile lingered as she studied the path ahead.

“It was in these mountains that we found Lilae,” I said quietly.

My smile faded slightly. “She’d been kidnapped by trolls. They saw her grief over losing her parents and brought her here to join them.” I exhaled slowly. “Trolls are people who’ve been forgotten. People who surrendered completely to sorrow.”

I stopped beside a cliff face. “Here.” I brushed snow and frost away from the stone.

Beneath the ice were names. Hundreds of them, carved into the rock in half a dozen languages.

“These are the names of those who became trolls,” I told her. “We copied them onto standing stones outside the villages. Any others who fall to grief are added there too.” I rested a hand against the cold stone. “The walls around the villages carry the names of those who died during the Second Silent War.”

Naevira’s expression became unbearably sad as her fingers traced the carved letters. “Faelwyn,” she whispered. Her hand moved lower. “Thyrael.” Her breath fogged softly in the cold air. “There were elves here.”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “Elves. Humans. Dwarves. Orcs. Goblins. Naga. Probably others.” I looked across the mountains. “There had once been hundreds of trolls here, led by a troll king. He’d been trapped in his grief so long he no longer remembered its origin.”

“What became of him?”

“He met his end at the end of the war. Ashlara had rallied the trolls to come save us from the Myrddin.” I paused. “But in the end, he died a hero.”

I kept my words solemn. I left out the violence. I didn’t mention how the Myrddin had torn him apart. Nor how many were killed by the bloodlust of Urzan-Brak. I didn’t speak of how Lilae’s parents were killed or the troll attacks on the villages.

I knew how deeply Naevira recoiled from violence. How I had inadvertently instilled in her a pacifism so intense it had reshaped her very nature. Even mock fighting unsettled her now.

“Come,” I said softly. “We’re close.”

We rounded another bend.

The sight of the mountains beyond hit me like a physical blow. For a moment I could almost hear Yveth’s voice again. I’d stood here several times before while speaking with the goddess of sorrow that did not fade.

I hadn’t realized I’d stopped breathing until the air escaped my lungs.

Then I looked upward. Far above us, hidden within the ice-covered cliffside, a narrow slit of darkness marked the entrance to her lair.

I wrapped an arm around Naevira’s waist. “Hold on tight.” Then I began to sing.

Mana flowed through me with the melody, lifting us slowly into the air.

Naevira’s arms tightened around me, but she didn’t panic.

The wind rose immediately in protest. Sharp ice lashed against my face while snow spiraled wildly around us as we climbed higher and higher into the night. We rose into the night sky, over a hundred feet, before we reached the cave entrance.

The moment we crossed inside, the wind vanished. Darkness swallowed us whole.

The pale blue glow that had once illuminated these halls was gone. So was the quiet warmth of Yveth’s presence.

I lowered Naevira gently to the ground and conjured three floating globes of light. Their glow revealed the old chamber.

Nearby sat the table and chairs carved from ice, partially melted and frosted over by years of abandonment. Beyond them stretched the winding halls where Yveth and I had once walked together in silence and quiet conversation.

“This was Yveth’s lair,” I said softly. My voice echoed through the frozen cavern despite barely being above a whisper. “At one time it connected directly to her demesne.” I swallowed. “This is where I learned I was a god. Where I learned to sense Faith. To step.”

Naevira’s whisper carried clearly through the stillness. “You miss her.”

I nodded slowly. “I haven’t been back here since…” My throat tightened slightly. “Since I lost her.”

“What happened?”

“There was another goddess.” My eyes drifted toward the dark halls beyond. “She began stealing the aspects of other gods. Taking their Faith for herself. She wanted to become the only god left in the world.”

Naevira listened silently.

“To do that, she murdered them.” The cave felt colder suddenly. “Yveth was one of her victims. One of many.”

Naevira’s voice became fragile. “What happened to this other goddess?”

“I imprisoned her,” I said flatly. The words echoed harshly in the frozen chamber. “As much as I wanted to kill her, doing so would have destroyed the world. Releasing that much uncontrolled Faith at once would have torn reality apart.”

I looked down at my hands. “So I chained her instead.” I sighed softly. “And now I try to figure out how to undo the damage she caused.”

Silence lingered between us.

“I know I can’t bring back the ones she killed,” I admitted quietly. “But perhaps one day…” My gaze drifted deeper into the frozen halls. “…there can be another goddess of winter’s beauty.”