Ashes and Memories

4th of Camince, 1485

I spoke to the others when they returned… I told them about my visit to Alcarin to meet with the prince, the burning of Egig Ero Fa, and Oberon wanting me to replace Filandrel. Grimaldus seems to think that it was a good thing, that Filandrel is marked for execution and I was offered his position. But does he not understand? I’ve been trying to avoid politics for so long… I’ve been striving to keep myself out of the intrigues at court… this would be putting me right into the thick of it. And… it makes me wonder what his plans are… does he want me to return to Alcarin?
 
I explained to Grimaldus that I’m not even positive that I was speaking with Prince Oberon, and not another of Filandrel’s disguises. I told them that I am worried for my parents, and needed to return to check on them… but I didn’t want to go alone. It was Grimaldus and Damian who first saw through Filandrel’s deception and brought it all to light.
 
It was finally decided that Rowan and Secilia would stay and watch Inira’s body, and Grimaldus and Hasim would accompany me to Alcarin. I must admit that my reason for wanting Hasim was multifaceted… not only would having Hasim be invaluable if there was something deceptive going on that required the use of stealth and violence, but… and perhaps this was more the reason… I wanted to give him a brief glimpse into Elven society… so maybe, just maybe, he will be a little less ignorant in the future…
 
Grimaldus, Hasim and I teleported to the gardens in Alcarin, it is the closest teleportation circle to my parents’ house. Immediately, my senses were assailed by the smell of burnt wood, and the ash still floating, carried on the wind. Egig Ero Fa is burned to the ground… the fires are out now, but the echo of them still lingers in the air… smoke is choking the air, and polluting the sky above. I fought down the bile I could feel rising in my throat, that flames have come for my home, made even worse by the fact that it was by the order of our own prince.
 
Pushing that aside, I led Grimaldus and Hasim to my parents’ house. The streets were empty, disconcertingly so. The door was locked. I knocked and my mother’s voice answered, asking who I was… a disturbing level of trepidation in her voice.
 
“It’s me.” I said.
“I didn’t know you’d be coming home.” She replied.
“What is going on?” I asked.
I could hear her heavy sigh through the door. “Some sort of treason, I think… are you okay?”
“Are you?” I still hadn’t heard my father’s voice…
“Yes.” She replied with another sigh. “Yes, we’re fine. Come in. One of your friends is here.”
 
Grimaldus stopped me as I moved to enter the house. “How do you know that is actually your mother?” he whispered.
“This is my parents’ house.” I told him.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” He retorted.
Hasim snuck around the back of the house, ready in case it was a ruse for something sinister… but then, my mother opened the door. I could see my father sitting at the table behind her, having tea and talking to Ravlor.
 
Ravlor’s eyes immediately met my own, before his gaze darted to Grimaldus standing behind me. Grimaldus greeted him with an uncommon edge in his voice.
“You should come in and grab a seat. The smoke is bad for your lungs.” Ravlor responded with frosty politeness. “You’re aging, after all, you should take care of yourself.”
“Like a fine wine, brother.” Grimaldus grinned.
“Vinegar, more like.” Ravlor retorted, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
 
Oh gods… please stop… I’ve never felt more awkward in my entire life… not when I first met Ravlor, or the first time he took me out into the woods during the war… not even in Runestone when I asked Grimaldus why he invited me to go east with him…
 
But, even the awkward tension amid the already tense situation caused by Alcarin’s current political climate, couldn’t dampen the joy that I felt at seeing Ravlor in person again. It only got better when Doodles came padding out of the kitchen, carrying a gigantic pot of some boiling substance.
 
Doodles immediately dropped the pot, which spilt boiling refuse all over the floor, and ran over to hug my leg, shrieking in surprised delight. I hugged him back, then embraced both my parents and Ravlor. Doodles then walked up to Grimaldus. “What up??” he said happily.
 
“Kobold, you live!” Grimaldus said, still calling him a kobold, no matter how many times we’ve told him that Doodles is actually a goblin… “It seems you’ve earned your stripes…” he continued proudly, referring to the nasty scar that was partially visible running across Doodles’ small body.
 
“Umm… there was a shark.” Doodles explained.
“Did you kill it?” Grimaldus asked. At Doodles’ nod, Grimaldus said “Good…” (apparently not noticing the terror still evident in the goblin’s wide eyes).
 
“Are you okay?” I asked.
 
“Oh, I’m good.” Doodles’ voice was uncharacteristically high-pitched, even for him.
 
I called Hasim to come inside and meet my family. He seemed rather shocked at Doodles, apparently he’d never seen a goblin before either… come to think of it, I haven’t seen a single goblin since I’ve been in the east. Odd… I never would have thought that there were no goblins there…
 
I introduced everyone, and Grimaldus made a valiant attempt to introduce himself in Elvish.

Adar turned to me. “His Elvish is terrible…”
“He tries.” I shrugged helplessly.
“Yes… I see that… he tries…”
 
We sat down for dinner, the lentil stew that Amillë makes when she is anxious. It was just as delicious as I remember it.
 
Doodles and Hasim seemed to hit it off very well… they spent the entire meal discussing poison concoctions, particularly for use against rats. I don’t know why I was surprised, looking at the two of them, I realize that in many ways, the man and the goblin are like two peas in a pod, as the human saying goes. Doodles squealed excitedly and the two of them left to go outside, chatting animatedly the entire time.
 
When they left and the table quieted, I asked my parents and Ravlor about what was happening in Alcarin.
 
Apparently there had been a plot against the infant princess, and Filandrel was found guilty of the plot under mountains of evidence. Much of Egig Ero Fa was questioned, and then displaced. Everyone associated with Egig Ero Fa has been spread out across other schools, other areas of Alcarin. Prince Oberon had then ordered Egig Ero Fa burned to the ground.
 
Ravlor told me that there was conflict brewing at the border, and he felt like he needed to come home. Especially with the dragon reappearing, and everything that he witnessed while he was sailing with Doodles.
 
Ravlor looked over at me. “Do you have a moment?” He asked.
“Yes.” I answered. “Of course.” Does he really think that I wouldn’t spare him a moment when he asks? Or even a great many moments?
He sighed and asked to walk outside for a moment. I turned to the rest of the table, “give me a moment” and I followed him outside.
 
“Have you seen Damian recently?” Ravlor asked heavily. “At all? Have you spoken to him, perhaps?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not since… what I talked to you about…”
“Neither have I.” He admitted. “We thought to pass and see him on the way here… we weren’t even able to get close, before we were turned away.”
“Why?” I asked, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of my stomach.
“He was not in the mood to see anyone, it seems.”
“Are you saying I should…” I began.
“No.” Ravlor shook his head, cutting me off. “I’m saying you should give him space. I worry about his mental state…”
 
I sat there, looking at Ravlor for a moment, and then because I didn’t know how else to say it, I just said. “Dekar’s dead.”
 
Shock came over his face and he asked “what do you mean?”
 
“Dekar’s dead.” I said, my voice sounding flat even to myself.
“Don’t tell Doodles.” Ravlor said softly.
 
“We went to Ysgard.” I began. “I still don’t know why anyone thought it was a good idea, but we did… Dekar fought the Blood Lord…”
 
“And died.” Ravlor finished for me.
 
“Grimaldus tried to bring him back,” I continued, numb. “But apparently, he refused the call. Inira…” I began, not even knowing how to say it.
 
“What is it that you seek out there, in the desert?” Ravlor asked quietly.
“I don’t know…” I replied. “What do you mean “what do I seek”?”
“Come home.” He said, an odd catch to his voice. “They need you. Your parents need you…”
“You told me to stay as far away as…”
Ravlor sighed in exasperation and shook his head. “Yeah… until the world turned upside down… oh gods… I sound like them right now…”
“Yeah,” I smiled sadly. “You do.”
“You actually do.” I responded to his rueful laugh.
“Shit… pretty soon you’re going to be seeing me eat steak. It’s actually not that bad…” He caught my skeptical glance. “What? If you kill the cow humanely, it’s not terrible. Yes, you make them live in pens… Pig, I don’t know… I could never quite get behind pig…”
 
Ravlor was obviously deflecting the conversation, rambling about food… he only ever does that when he’s extremely uncomfortable and doesn’t know what to say.
 
“What do you think about all this?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation back to the situation at hand.
 
“I think the ground is shifting underneath us, and there’s nothing we can do about it…” he said bitterly.
 
“There is apparently a throne somewhere in the desert…” I began.
 
Ravlor shook his head. “The less I know, the better, I think.”
 
“Yeah… I guess you’re right.”
 
“I don’t want to delay your matters here. I’ll watch over your parents while you’re gone.”
“Thank you.”
“Doodles and I want to check a few things out, we have questions.”
“Be careful.” I admonished. “I don’t want to lose you guys too…”
“Oh we’ll be careful.” Ravlor assured me, his words interrupted by an explosion coming from behind the house – where Doodles and Hasim were experimenting.
“Do you still have that scroll?” I asked, referring to the scroll of sending I gave him back in Runestone.
“I do.” Ravlor quirked an eyebrow. “Do you still have that bow?”
“Of course.” I paused, looking at him for a moment. “Take care of yourself.”
Ravlor reached out and grabbed my shoulder, about to say something, but then he glanced at the window and dropped his hand, leaving me with “We’ll catch up another time.”
 
I don’t really know what to think… what was he going to say but then stopped himself? Why was he acting so weird? Is it because Grimaldus was there? Probably, but Ravlor never acted like that around him before… I don’t know, but it is something that I can’t afford to devote much mental energy to at the moment. There will be plenty of time for that later…
 
We made our way back inside, to find that the others had finished their meal. I bade them all farewell and set off towards the royal library.
 
We were greeted at the door of the library by an oddly familiar face. Latriana Abelle…
 
Her blue gaze looked me up and down. “Well, you look different… in a good way.” She added almost as an afterthought. “Are you well?”
“As well as can be expected. Yourself?”
“I’ve been tasked with overseeing the library… yeah… I know… and it’s a little overwhelming and I feel very pressured.” She paused for a moment, exasperation seeping from her every pore. “So, before I hang myself from that tree, would you mind telling me what it is that you need?”
“I am looking for the Princess’ personal collection.”
“Upstairs… there is another man too, he seems to be looking for the same thing. Old texts or some-such… histories. Say hello, he’s friendly.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s an old patron of the library… actually helped found it.”
“Who is he?” I asked again.
“Go and see for yourself. I was confused too…”
“Okay. Thank you.” I paused, studying her face… Latriana is so much different now… the twinkle in her blue eyes is faded, as if her fervor for life has left her, leaving only worries behind. “Don’t be afraid to take a break if you need to… get away for a while… I know it’s done me a world of good…”
 
She nodded, saying that she was going to take a break right now, and headed back toward her desk. As we walked by, I couldn’t help but notice the several empty wine bottles hidden behind her stacks of books and papers.
 
Seeing Latriana now, in this state… it’s like looking into a mirror of an alternative reality. For, she was one of the more promising students who was at Twin Rivers, she also survived. But, she didn’t have Ravlor, to take her out into the woods for weeks on end when the memories became too much. She didn’t even have Filandrel who, for all of his betrayals, did drive me to pursue other things in the war’s aftermath. And, it makes me wonder… if not for Ravlor, and even Filandrel… would I find myself in her same position now? Drowning myself in bottles of wine while I stay in the same library where I spent my youth, never leaving Alcarin?
 
My melancholic thoughts were quickly swept away amid the stacks of books and shelves as we entered the library proper. My spirits climbed with each step as I ascended the familiar spiral staircases.
“Where are the library ghosts?” Hasim’s question pulled me out of my reverie.
“We don’t have ghosts here!” I exclaimed. “Have you never been to a library before?” I know he was at the one in Wei Jang, but I mean an actual library where you can peruse the shelves and read (almost) any book that strikes your fancy. Not one where you show up and everything is under a silence spell, and you have to inform the eerie ghosts exactly what you’re looking for and then they bring it to you…”
Hasim was surprised. “Then how do you ever find anything?”
I explained that there is an organizational system… everything is shelved in categories and then alphabetized by author and title. It is incredibly effective, as soon as you understand the system.
 
Hasim didn’t seem convinced, but we were soon distracted by the man who started walking over towards us. He was tall and oddly pretty for a human male… his face was incredibly pale, his waist length white-blond hair was worn down, and he wore a flowing black cloak. Something was off, but I wasn’t able to place it. He introduced himself as Alucard, and said that the Feathered Woman had told him to meet me here. I didn’t trust anything he was saying at that point, so after Hasim spoke with him, Grimaldus set up a zone of truth and he answered our questions.
 
He is a dhampir… the child of a vampire and a human, in his case… Apparently he is searching for some sign of his father. Alucard claims to have been one of the first students at Egig Ero Fa… and he was killed at some point but came back recently. If I hadn’t spent the past two years in such unusual circumstances, I wouldn’t have been able to believe it, even with the zone of truth. But, he is convinced that his goals put him along the same path as us… so we’re bringing him along… for now.
 
I teleported us back to the others, and found Inira awake when we returned. She is so different… to be expected of course, because she is now an undead vampire… but still… gone are her bright, clear blue eyes, and in their place are yellow eyes with slitted pupils, almost like a cat’s. She moves differently too… and feels different. She is cold, colder than she was as a human… and I don’t mean cold in the temperature of her body – which is likely true as well… she is detached. Even from the loss of Dekar, she seems detached… like it either hasn’t fully registered that he’s gone, or her turning into an undead removed the part of her that cared… either way it is a tragedy.
 
We’re going to set off across the desert in the morning… hunting for the tombs of primeval kings that reputedly hold the djinn that Hasim is so insistent on finding…