‘So, how is living together treating you?’ Luna asked.

‘It was awkward at first, but we’re getting to know each other,’ Sarah explained. ‘Even though, Linea can be stuck up, she is fun to be with.’

‘I’m not stuck up, you’re just vulgar!’ Linea countered but wasn’t overly indignant. ‘I fear the day, when I let you talk to my mother. She will have a stroke…’

‘You can complain all you want, I’m still not going to let you marry someone of whom I don’t know if he’s any good in bed.’

‘Sarah! Not in front of our goddess! Have you no shame?’

‘Apparently not, we have established that already.’

Luna chuckled in amusement.

‘I’m happy to see you two getting along so well,’ she said with a soft voice. ‘It would have been a pain in the ass to separate you again.’

‘No need for that,’ Sarah confirmed.

‘Good. By the way, it’s a good timing for you to come to me. I’ve struck a deal with Sariel of which I wanted to inform you.’

‘Who’s Sariel?’ Linea asked confused.

‘Oh, Tavariel didn’t mention her?’ Luna asked surprised. ‘Sariel is the Archangel of Mercy, Tavariel’s boss. I talked to her and asked if she will aid you further than she has already done.’

‘It was Sariel, who ordered Tavariel to get me and bring me to Linea?’ Sarah asked following her intuition. ‘But why would she?’

‘She and I are friends, and as the Archangel of Mercy she tends to help people in need.’

‘So, you didn’t order her to do it?’ Sarah probed.

‘Me ordering her?’ Luna answered with a laugh. ‘I don’t think so. She is more powerful than me and hasn’t any obligation towards me. The only reason, she even talks to me, is that she was a Moon Elf under my tutelage before she ascended to become a Cherub in the order of Mercy. Now she is the Sentinel of a Domain which is governed by only one goddess. She would laugh at me if I would try forcing her to do anything.’

‘What’s a Sentinel of a Domain?’ Sarah asked, because it was the only thing she didn’t get from Luna’s explanation.

‘The strongest deity of a Domain can appoint an immortal as the sentinel of the respective Domain. If the Domain is associated with heaven, then the Sentinel's title is that of an archangel. In hell he or she would be a devil,’ Luna explained further. ‘And those that are appointed by neutral gods are called Sentinel.’

‘Okay, that means the Archangel of Mercy wants to help us and wants nothing in return?’ Sarah asked conspicuously.

‘Well, to be honest, she has an ulterior motive,’ Luna admitted, ‘but it doesn’t collide with your goals. She will get something out of it, eventually. If you trust me, you can trust her.’

Sarah didn’t seem to like the idea, but she didn’t object.

Linea picked up the conversation in Sarah’s place.

‘What’s the deal about?’

‘Right, right, the deal!’ Luna said and put on a wide smile.

‘I thought about the summoning problem. How do you explain someone you want to learn forbidden magic?’ Luna asked but answered it herself, ‘You get an exception!’

‘I don’t get it…’ Linea and Sarah both said and looked at each other.

‘The idea comes from the fact that summoning magic is forbidden on Kavaris, because a few thousand years ago a Sun Elven Emperor tried to summon the Sentinel of Life. Which ended terribly. Mortals are not great at summoning specific immortals because they don’t know the person they want to summon.’

‘Sounds like an integral part of a summoning,’ Sarah commented.

‘Because it is,’ Luna confirmed her suspicion. ‘If you have no preset connection, the summoning can get rather random. Kavaris learned that the hard way after the Sun Elven Emperor summoned the Devil of War instead. Don’t ask me how he missed his target so much, but let me tell you, the result was nasty.’

‘Okay, so we get a ‘preset connection’ with Sariel, or what?’

‘No, nothing as drastic as that,’ Luna said. ‘But I think Tavariel would be helpful as well?’

Sarah and Linea both smiled at each other as both remembered the quirky Seraph.

‘I thought as much,’ Luna said with a smile. ‘I have already connected you. If someone asks you about it, you can force the symbol of the Order of Mercy to shine on your right hand. It is an open rose in a circle.’

‘Isn’t that the same symbol, the Sisterhood of Saria wears as their coat of arms?’ Linea asked surprised.

‘Yes, that’s the symbol I meant,’ Luna confirmed.

‘So, we can show that symbol to someone, who can teach us summoning magic, and he will help us?’ Sarah asked.

‘Not necessarily, but it should at least help to assure someone, who will train you, that you won’t bring another demon to the world.’

‘But isn’t that the goal behind the whole thing?’ Linea asked with a frown.

‘Yeah, but that’s nothing they need to know,’ Sarah answered for Luna, who smiled triumphantly.

‘Hm, I get the idea, but it’ll take a while for me to learn enough about magic to try summoning magic. Especially, because I want to learn healing magic first.’

‘You want to do what?’ Luna asked irritated. ‘I thought you would go straight to the Academy to learn magic.’

‘We discussed that, but it won’t go well with literally everybody, if I force myself into it. We thought it would be more helpful to get started with healing magic and take the basics from there to learn magic afterwards.’

Luna was silent for a few moments.

‘Fine, I don’t like it that my children are so narrow-minded about you, but your idea seems solid enough. Just don’t get stuck only healing magic because you’ll need more offensive abilities in the future.’

‘I agree with you,’ Sarah said. ‘But at the moment, she has me for the offensive. I think in a few weeks I’ll be able to use at least my telekinesis even if she is in control of our body.’

‘Well, I won’t force you, but I still think the other way would be better,’ Luna said brooding.

Sensing that the discussion would lead nowhere if pursued further, Sarah switched the topic.

‘It came to me a few days back, when we were studying in the library. Why am I able to understand, speak and read Linea’s language?’ she asked.

‘I didn’t think about that…’ Linea said and pondered about the fact as well.

‘That’s a little gift from Sariel,’ Luna admitted. ‘It would have been taken ages for both of you to understand each other otherwise, which would have been detrimental to your goals.’

‘So, she implemented the language in my mind?’ Sarah asked and sounded disturbed.

‘No, she connected Linea’s knowledge about the languages of Kavaris with your mind,’ Luna tried to explain. ‘I don’t really know how she did it, but it works, so I won’t complain.’

She went silent for a second but focused back on the girls.

‘My attention is needed elsewhere, so we need to wrap this up,’ she said and sounded annoyed suddenly. ‘Linea, make sure to not underestimate the dark mage who is in fact roaming in Luna’sindra right now. You should be able to handle him with Sarah’s help, if he crosses your path. I don’t know what his plan is, so watch out.’

‘I will,’ Linea said, but added a quick question, she needed to get answered. ‘How far can I invoke your authority? I don’t want to overstep my bounds.’

‘Invoke my authority?’ Luna asked absent-minded. ‘As far as you need to, I guess? It doesn’t matter to me as long as you abide by the law. Don’t run around and kill people.’

Linea chuckled.

‘If that satisfies your need for knowledge, you might go now. Fare well!’

And with that, Luna’s mind vanished.

When Linea returned to the palace, her mother was already waiting for her. Linea could tell by her mother’s thin lips and crossed arms that she was in trouble. Before Linea could even ask about what had made her so angry, her mother dragged her into her private chambers.

Arania’s lack of talking confused Linea as her mother gripped her at her arm and pushed through the palace. King Thrandodir expected them and sat in front of a desk and wrote something on parchment.

“Ah, our missing child has returned, I see,” he commented with a smile. “Your mother and I were worried.”

Looking into her mother’s face, which was now red with fury, Linea snorted.

“Do you think this is funny?” Arania asked and pushed her daughter into a chair. “For days I’m trying to appease the nobles and convince them that nothing is going on and that your blessing is not a bad omen.”

She walked up and down in front of Linea while gesturing wildly with her hands.

“And now I get told by Senia that my youngest daughter - who is the source of all these problems - runs off to the temple again. Without asking!”

For the last words, she stopped walking and spat them directly at Linea.

“I’m sorry, but under which reasoning do you expect me to not visit the temple? It’s in the city, I was escorted by the Royal Guard and I only went there for praying to our goddess. Are you implying that you want to prevent me from showing my respect to our goddess?”

Taken aback by Linea’s sudden aggressiveness, Arania was lost for words. Thrandodir tried to mediate.

“Linea, darling,” he said with a calm voice. “We don’t want to discourage you from praying. This is about politics and not about religion.”

“That may be the case for you, but if you haven’t noticed, the goddess blessed me. Religion and politics are the same for me at the moment,” Linea countered and starred right back at her mother.

“It doesn’t matter what you think you’re representing in this country, but as long as I am the queen, you will follow my orders. And I forbid you to leave the palace without my permission until further notice!” Arania said and her voice was trembling.

“I think you are overestimating your influence on me,” Linea stated with a cool voice. “As Luna’s Chosen, you don't have the right anymore to order me around. The goddess asked me to keep myself from breaking any laws, but apart from that I’m free to go wherever and to do whatever I want as long as it doesn’t contradict the mission she gave me.”

“And what might this mission be?” Thrandodir asked before his wife could go ballistic on their daughter.

“Coincidentally, I was going to tell you today or tomorrow,” Linea admitted. “I wanted to clarify a few things beforehand, but as you failed to understand that, I’m inclined to not telling you anything.”

‘Don’t do that…’ Sarah suddenly warned. ‘I understand that you’re angry but withholding critical information could cost innocent people their lives. Don’t go down that road out of anger.’

Linea wanted to answer back, but after giving Sarah’s words a thought, she had to admit that her soul-sister was right.

‘You’re making too much sense sometimes…’

‘Thank you,’ Sarah said with a chuckle.

Linea refocused back on her parents.

“But you’re lucky that my mission kind of forbids me to withhold that information from you,” Linea said and decided not to look at her mother for the time being because she didn’t trust herself to keep her calm otherwise.

“And what, pray tell, is this damned mission of yours?” Arania asked nearly boiling over with anger.

“I am to protect our people from extinction,” Linea said and looked at her father, who blenched.

“Extinction?” she asked dumbfounded.

“Yes. The God of Fate warned our goddess about something that would endanger us so that we could face extinction,” Linea answered. “You can perhaps guess now, why I wanted to try figuring things out before telling you.”

The last sentence was addressed at her mother.

“But this is why I needed to know it. We wasted valuable time guessing about you, your blessing and what happens in the south and east,” Arania explained and rubbed her nose bridge. “If this backfires and we can’t prevent whatever happens, you will have blood on your hands!”

“Oh, stop being so overdramatic!” Linea cried out. “I don’t even know, if one of those things is related to the warning! You wanted to know because you’re impatient and egoistic!”

“I am egoistic?” Arania yelled at Linea. “I can’t believe you even dare speaking to me like this!”

“Yeah, surprise!” Linea shouted back. “How can it be that your daughter, who you try to keep under control ever since she can remember, doesn’t take your shit anymore?”

Slap!

Linea’s hand wandered to her cheek. Staggered, she realized that her mother had hit her.

“Arania, that’s enough!” Thrandodir said vigorously and rose from his desk.

“Yes, it is,” Arania said and looked with a blank face at her daughter. “You’re forbidden to leave the palace. You’re unstable and too young to even try to fight something like a war or a dark mage. This is my last word.”

‘Linea?’ Sarah carefully asked. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes,’ Linea answered flatly.

She rose from her chair and moved towards the office door.

“And where do you think you are going, young lady?” her mother asked.

“I will go to my chambers,” Linea answered. “Then I will inform my servants to pack my most important things and then I will depart for Taldira. I have a mission to fulfill, and I will not be stopped by someone, who dares to call herself a mother.”

“How dare you?” Arania yelled and followed Linea in an attempt to detain her daughter.

But right before she could reach out for Linea, a sudden force stopped her from doing so.

“You will never touch me again,” Linea said full of disdain. “Mother.”

She spat out the last word as if it was an insult and left the room.

‘Well, that could have gone better…’ Sarah commented trying to converse with Linea.

‘Thank you for helping me with your telekinesis there,’ Linea said to distract herself from the pain in her cheek. ‘How did you do it?’

‘I’m not sure, but I was a bit flooded by your anger, which made me angry as well. I think we connected at a deeper level. We should keep on training this.’

Linea nodded mentally and steered towards her chambers.

Only to run into her sister Senia.

“I guess, you’re getting what you deserve?” she said with a wicked grin on her face.

“Fuck off!” Linea said and pushed her to the side. “I don’t know what I’ve ever done to you, but you don’t have to worry about me anymore. If you want to, you don't have to see me ever again.”

Without giving her sister a chance to answer, she walked into her rooms.

“Tenasia!” she yelled louder than she wanted, but her anger hadn’t subdued yet.

“Yes, My Lady?” Tenasia answered after entering the bedroom.

“I need you to pack my things. Everything I need for staying in Taldira for a while. Also, I need my dress armor, my Fulchar and Minu’s barding,” Linea listed. “And inform Nora about our departure. I’ll give you one night to put everything together. We’ll travel together with a priestess, some guards, if I can coax a few from General Suvira, and one of my maids. Ask them, which one of them wants to come. And send a courier to Countess Lalana that I will arrive in…”

Linea calculated the distance between Luna’sindranar and Taldira.

“I would say three weeks at most.”

Tenasia seemed surprised, but in a professional manner she kept her calm and did as ordered.

‘Do you think Aruna will agree to this?’ Sarah asked skeptically.

‘I hope so,’ Linea said, ‘but if she doesn’t, there is a temple in Taldira. Someone willing to train me in the art of healing shouldn’t be too hard to find.’

It took Tenasia the rest of the night and half of the following day to collect everything they may need on their travel. Nora wasn't thrilled to hear about their sudden departure, but since her mother’s barony was near Taldira, she wasn’t sad about their destination. After a long discussion with Tenasia, she even gave in when she was told that she wouldn’t be able to bring her painting equipment along.

While Tenasia was down in the stables to make sure that their horses would be ready, Linea lay on her bed and had a rather heated discussion with Sarah.

‘I thought you would calm down after some time and then back off from this,’ Sarah said angrily. ‘I didn’t think, you would go through with it!’

‘I stand by my word! Always!’ Linea replied irritated. ‘Why would I back off? She hit me!’

‘Yeah, I noticed,’ Sarah retorted. ‘But what do you think happens in Taldira? Do you think you can fight the dark mage on your own?’

‘Well, no,’ Linea admitted. ‘But that’s what I have you for, haven’t I?’

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake,’ Sarah cried out. ‘I have no idea, if I can beat him. At least, you could have asked me beforehand! You can’t decide this stuff and hope I see it the same way as you!’

Linea didn’t answer. She was mad at Sarah because she had expected more support from her soul-sister. That Sarah was against her plan to go to Taldira took her off-guard.

‘I understand that you’re angry with your mother, but this whole situation smells like trouble,’ Sarah tried to explain in a more collected manner. ‘I promised Luna to protect you, and I will do so. But you need to let me help you. Impulsive decisions rarely lead to success.’

Linea wanted to talk back in frustration, but Sarah supported her argument with emotions like concern and fear. It made Linea realize how selfish she had acted.

‘I’m sorry, Sarah,’ she said. ‘But I can’t change it now. I have to stand by my words, or else my mother will never respect me.’

‘Yes, I thought as much,’ Sarah conceded. ‘And I will help you. I wanted to make a point that you shouldn’t rush your decisions like that again. At least ask me beforehand.’

‘I promise!’

Linea felt better after their quarrel came to an end because she had come to rely on Sarah’s opinion. And getting told that her decision was short-sighted and emotional had put a damper on her victorious thoughts.

‘We should go now,’ Sarah noted, while Linea was still deep in thought. ‘The sun is going down and Tenasia said she would be ready by then.’

Linea stood up and with a last glance at her bedroom, which she had inhabited the last fourteen years, she left her private chambers.

Down at the stables, Minu was already saddled with her travel saddle. The mare huffed and pulled at her reins when she saw Linea coming.

“Whoa! Easy, girl!” Linea said and with a hand sign, she stopped Minu from moving further. She walked closer and rubbed Minu’s neck. The mare relaxed and huffed again.

“We’re ready to go, if you are,” Nora said and got closer on her gelding Turanas.

Linea nodded and looked at Tenasia, who was coordinating the servants packing the horses.

“Tenasia, do we have everything?”

“Yes, My Lady,” Tenasia answered. “Minara is still with her family to say goodbye to them. We will meet her at south-eastern gate.”

“What about the guards?”

“Captain Evira said she would talk to General Suvira about it,” Tenasia explained. “But I’m not sure about the outcome. Either way, she also said an escort would be ready by the time we want to depart.”

“If she says so,” Linea said unconvinced.

‘I hope, mother doesn’t deny me an escort,’ she added to Sarah. ‘The travel can get dangerous the farther you are from a city.’

“Oh, by the way,” Nora suddenly added. “High Priestess Nasinia sends her regards. She wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the prospect of you leaving the city and taking one of her priestess with you.”

“She declined my request?”

“No, Aruna will meet us at the gate. After I heard Minara would do that, I thought it would be simpler for Aruna. Doesn’t make much sense for her to ride all the way from the temple to the palace, just to ride the same way back.”

“All right, we’re ready to go,” Linea said with vigor.

“Not so fast!” a voice suddenly interrupted. Linea swirled around to find Tarina standing before her with a rather large group of guards on horseback surrounding her.

“Tarina, please…” Linea said and feared another discussion. Arguing with Sarah was easy, because of their shared emotions they often came to an understanding, and the altercation with her mother was rather simple as well due to her anger. But Linea had always been closer to Tarina than anyone also from their family although Tarina spend most of her time either with their mother or studying.

Tarina raised her hand to keep Linea from talking. She pulled her aside to talk to her in private.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“No,” Linea answered truthfully. “But mother forced my hand. You know I can’t go back on my word. And besides, I really think that my help is needed in Taldira.”

“I heard about it from mother,” Tarina said with a frown. “I can’t understand how the goddess can expect something so dangerous from someone so young, but her ways are mysterious.”

She brushed gently over Linea’s cheek and gave her a soft look.

“Mother is sorry about what happened. We both know she would never admit it, but she isn’t perfect. Neither of us are. But I know she is sorry.”

Linea’s watery eyes avoided Tarina’s gaze, but she suppressed her tears.

“I talked to her and Suvira, and we decided that Evira will escort you with twenty of her men. This time they will be under your command and I hope, you remember what mother told us about the responsibility of leading people.”

“Never assume, always ask!” Linea and Tarina said in a rehearsed manner. They both giggled.

“Remember to take care of them, just how they protect you.”

“I will,” Linea promised and Tarina pulled her into a hug.

“Please come back alive,” Tarina said and her voice quivered slightly. “I don’t want to lose you like aunty and uncle. Being the hero is all fine as long as you can live to see the fruit of your effort.”