Book 2 Chapter 11

Tirr frowned as he looked at her smiling face, his fist clenched, and he felt his blessings roar through him. Gentle flames started to flicker wildly in his black hair as he stared at her. “Who are you?” He asked again.

“There’s no need to be so startled my lord.” She answered happily as she waved a hand towards the mural. “I painted this for you myself, I thought you might enjoy the view of your old home.”

Seeing the young woman’s pleasant demeanor in the face of his anger brought a surge of confusion. “How did you paint this?”

“Does it displease you?” Nerida asked, pouting. “If you dislike it, I can have you moved to another room and I’ll have this one destroyed.

“I…” Tirr stopped, looking over the mural again. The painting itself was magnificent, with beautiful colors and well-defined details. Even scarier was the strong sense of familiarity those ivory towers gave him as he looked back at them.

“How do you know about this?” He asked her again, less irritated but still guarded.

“It’s all thanks to the Water Spirit…” Nerida answered with another beaming smile. “Through her guidance, I was able to learn about you and the country you built.”

“The Water Spirit?” Tirr asked suspiciously.

“Yes, thanks to her memories, I’ve known about you for some time now and have been waiting for the day you arrived to free her.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, what Water Spirit?” Tirr asked growing irritated again.

“Ah, what pain it would cause her to hear you ask such a question, my lord. First, you went to free the Spirit of Fire before her, now you act like you do not even remember her. Her heart would surely break… Nerida answered tears in her eye…

Spirit of Fire… Are you talking about the shards…? Do you mean the Water Spirit was my Apostle?”

"Oh, is that how my lord refers to them? The memories passed down to me by the Water Spirit were unclear."

“How did you get her memories?” Tirr asked frowning. Nothing like this happened in Rasor, the most Torn said was he could feel some of Bren’s feeling from before he died.

“I’m not sure? Maybe because I was the first to find her? Perhaps I should start from the beginning….”

“You were the first to find the shard?” Tirr questioned, pensive as he absorbed the new information.

“Yes, I spent a good amount of time with it even before it awakened.”

“Before?”

“When I was a child, I had a love for exploring some of the seaside caves around the coastline here. One day I found one that had a beautiful crystalline formation in it. I enjoyed it so much that I used to sneak out to go there quite often. It was only a few years ago, when it finally awoke, that I realized it was a shard of the Water Spirit.”

“Maybe because I had spent so much time with her, or because I was the first, she was able to share her power with. When I first touched her grace, I was gifted with parts of her memories along with her power. At first, it was muddled, there was so much to sort through. But in the end, almost all of them were focused on you…”

“Me?” Tirr asked, shocked.

“Yes, even then I could tell how important you were to her. Ever since then I have been waiting for you to come free her and retrieve what belongs to you.”

Tirr felt a pain in his chest as she spoke, “And I don’t even remember her…” He muttered to himself angrily.

“My Lord?”

“What did you see? Do you know what happened back then?”

Nerida sighed “No, the memories the water spirit gave me were only a fragment. Even that left me delirious with fever for weeks. But since then I have found some other things you may be interested in."

“Can you take me to them?” Tirr asked, interested.

“Of course! But does this mean you don’t know what happened back then either?”

“No, I can’t remember…”

Nerida’s eye’s softened, “I’m sorry my lord, that must be awful for you. I was planning on helping you once you appeared which is why I went looking for such things in the first place. I’ll do everything I can to help you recover your memories.”

Tirr nodded not wanting to dwell on his missing memories. “Good, so at least getting the water Shard should be easy then…”

“Ah,” Nerida started looking somewhat embarrassed, “Unfortunately once it was discovered, the Shard of the water spirit was taken over by the Water conclave. Even I must go through quite the process If I want to visit it.”

“Then how do I convince them to let me take it back?” Tirr asked frowning.

“You don’t have to worry my lord. Though it won’t be easy, I have a plan to help you free the water spirit.”

“A plan?”

“Yes!” The young priestess answered proudly, “My faction within the Conclave is already quite large. I believe if you show the powers of the other spirits and your name becomes well known among the people of Lutel, it shouldn’t be hard for my faction to gain full control. Especially once we reveal that we are connected. At that point, I would be able to put the entire Conclave at your feet.”

“So, I just have to spread my name like I was doing already in Rasor?”

“Yes, with my help it shouldn’t be too hard to let the people accept you. The people of Lutel are already religious and once you show the miracles you can perform with the powers of the other Spirits; they’ll be quick to follow you."

“Good!” Tirr nodded, “We should tell Maria and Claire about the plan and get started as soon as possible… Ah since you're friends with the King you should be able to keep helping Claire with the peace talks right?”

“That…” Nerida said slowly, “That will be more difficult, while I was able to progress things more today mostly due to shock and awe, I doubt I will be able to make much more progress.

“Why?” Tirr asked, frowning

Nerida looked at him, carefully gauging his expression, “I find I must ask… How much do you trust them?”