Late spring

12 years before the fall

The line of horses plodded along, weaving down the narrow road leading north out of Drenwell City.

Takio yawned, stretching. It was an involved process, with every joint uncurling one after another. His arms lifted, straightening out at his elbows, until finally his fingers uncurled. Every one of them cracked, popping ominously.

“That is absolutely disgusting,” Antiel muttered from alongside him. “You know, if you continue that, someone will-”

“I kept it in...all the way through the whole...godsdamned...meet-and-greet,” Takio said, the words a groan as he continued stretching. “Get off my back.”

Kassien chuckled. The dark-haired Narai rode close in at Takio’s side, his eyes on the trees.

Takio grinned, reaching over to slap his bodyguard’s arm. “See? Kass agrees with me. Lighten up, Antiel.”

“Yes, because Kassien is the pinnacle of good judgement,” Antiel retorted, but only shook his head tolerantly.

Takio glanced to the side, watching as his retinue settled into quiet murmurs again. A black-haired woman rode alongside Kassien, her eyes on the trees that pressed in close on either side. Takio chuckled, not at all fooled. He had no doubt whatesoever that Tikeya had caught every word and exchange.

And then his eyes flicked back over his shoulder, turning his head the barest amount needed. A figure sat behind him on his mount, her legs hanging down the horse’s withers and kicking idly. The beast didn’t seem to mind - assuming it felt anything.

A smile tugged at his lips. Something on your mind?

Shiina glanced over, as though the goddess was startled into wakefulness by his words. And then she smiled. “I was merely thinking about the last time I visited Aramoor. Nothing more.”

Oh? But didn’t you-

“The Sanctuary doesn’t count,” she said, rolling her eyes. And then she twisted, bringing her left leg up and around to straddle the horse more properly.

Her arms snaked under his a moment later, wrapping around his midsection. Takio’s smile grew, no matter how he tried to hide it from his companions. Kassien would never notice, he knew - the man was about as sensitive as a rock. Tikeya might notice something. The woman was no stranger to Shiina’s flitting in and out of their midst, after all, but Takio was decently sure she’d hold her tongue.

A twinge of embarrassment churned in the pit of his stomach as Antiel glanced at him sidelong, a knowing chuckle rippling from his throat. He was a shaman, after all. As the guardians of Shiina’s mountain, Hearthfire had the best clergy among the Narai, and they weren’t about to send a novice to babysit him.

His hands tightened on the reins, curling down at the thought. Not that he needed a nursemaid. Sooner or later, they’d have to-

“None of that,” Shiina said, leaning forward to rest her chin on his shoulder even as she admonished him. “His presence serves a purpose, child.

I know that. It’s still stupid. He doesn’t need to hang around every last godsdamned moment.

Her frame shook in a low, rumbling laugh. “Oh, Takio. I do believe you will manage.”

He rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue further. She was stubborn, he knew. Even if it was right for him to argue with the goddess, it wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“How long will it take us?” he said instead, turning back to Antiel.

Shiina giggle, the sound bright in his ears. And then she leapt from her perch behind him. Sparks cascaded from her hair, wiping out her form. When they cleared, she was gone.

The shaman was still watching him. His pulse accelerated, pounding lightly in his ears. He tried not to let it show.

Somehow, he was pretty sure Antiel knew what was running through his mind no matter how hard he tried. “The same as the way down,” Antiel said.

Takio frowned. “We were going to Ondria.”

“And Ondria is past Drenwell, isn’t it?” Antiel said, arching one eyebrow.

Takio fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Well, I didn’t exactly-”

“Two weeks.”

Both of them flinched as the cool, steady voice cut between them. Takio glanced over, following the noise.

Tikeya didn’t so much as look at him. Her eyes were on the trees, scanning back and forth.

Her behavior made sense, Takio had to admit. The woman had always been quiet, the very picture of duty - and normally, she’d be among the pairs tasked with riding sweep around the party. The risk of someone sneaking up on them was too great to go without such basic defenses as that.

“Two weeks, eh?” he said instead, tearing his eyes off her at last. The woman was only a year or two older than him, and yet she always seemed so composed. So prepared. The notion that she was somehow beating him itched, however ridiculous. He settled for making a face, leaning back in the saddle.

“Worried?” Kassien said from alongside him.

Takio shook his head. “No.”

“Then why ask?” Antiel said, glancing back to him. There was too much amusement in the expression.

“Flameweaver’s tits, it was just a question,” Takio muttered.

An elbow jabbed into his side. He winced, smiling despite himself.

They were still watching, he saw when he looked up. Straightening and trying to hold himself with a bit more composure, he shrugged. “I just...we wasted too much time in Drenwell,” he said, a more serious note entering his voice.

For a long moment, the only sound was the steady clop of the horses’ hooves under them. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Antiel said, breaking the quiet at last. “It wasn’t a waste. The Presentation is important.”

“I know it’s important. But if there’s trouble back home, then we should be there.”

“You’re letting yourself worry without knowing any of the details,” Antiel admonished. “For all we know, this is nothing more than a passing worry.”

“And maybe it’s not, Antiel,” Takio snapped, his eyes flaring.

Silence fell over the party again. The horses tromped on, oblivious to the awkwardness filling the air. Tikeya and Kassien stared straight ahead, expressionless. Neither would dare to comment, Takio knew.

“Ash and flame, you lot are tense.”

Takio twisted, flinching at the sound of a woman’s voice cutting across the clearing. Two figures slipped back into their midst, both on foot but entirely at ease.

“Elintel,” Takio said, letting the lungful of air he’d been holding in blow out. “Juro.”

The pair nodded towards him, offering the tiniest of bows. “Charred,” said the first, a man with strawberry blond hair cut to his ears and crimson ribbons draped from his belt. Takio sighed inwardly, eyeing the shaman. He already knew that Elintel’s return would just mean he’d get to argue with two people, instead of just his advisor.

“We leave for a few hours, and you’re like this when we get back?” the shaman’s companion said. Juro’s brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, with a bandanna of coarse-knit black fabric tied over her scalp. But unlike Elintel, the smile she offered him was warm and entirely genuine. “Lighten up.”

Takio rolled his eyes, turning his horse back down the path. Antiel looked to them in his stead. “And the sweep? I trust-”

“There’s not a soul for a mile in any direction,” Juro said, flapping her hand at the shaman. “Well. There’s a village just past a river that way, but they’re minding their own.”

Kassien made an irritated noise in the back of his throat. “If there are people nearby, don’t say-”

“It’s Drenwell, Antiel,” Takio said, leaning back and letting his reins fall limp. One hand stretched out to the side, gesturing to the world around them. “What exactly are you thinking will happen?”

“Bandits can thrive anywhere, Charred,” Antiel said, shooting him a dirty look. “I thought you understood that much.”

Takio’s eye twitched. He glanced to the side. Drenwell stretched out around them. The path they followed was paved, but barely. The farther they went, the more rustic it got, and the forest was beginning to take over. What wasn’t forest was river, and what wasn’t river was farm field.

His lip curled in the start of a sneer. A place like this? Compared to the mountains, filled with frigid cold and bitter winds in equal measure and teeming with occasionally-opportunistic thugs, he just couldn’t bring himself to find even the slightest bit of a threat in the landscape around him.

“We’ve been safe thus far,” he said instead, biting back what he was really thinking. “I’m not saying don’t be careful, Antiel. But I think we can handle it.”

His hand settled onto the hilt of his sword, strapped in front of his saddle.

Kass didn’t react at all - but he heard Juro snort.

“Do you disagree?” he said, raising one eyebrow and glancing towards the woman. She served as his bodyguard, together with Kassien, and on any other day that might have earned a bit of silence from him. But, hell. It wasn’t like he had anything to lose, he decided.

Juro smiled sweetly back at him, her eyes razor-sharp. “I think you’ve let all that attention go to your head, that’s all. You perked right up when I mentioned the village.”

It was his turn to scoff. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

She drew closer, walking alongside his horse. Her arms were folded across her chest. “Oh? So you weren’t glowing like a damned coal, letting all the priests and seers fawn over you?”

“You think it’s fun, having them all sticking their nose in my business?” he shot back, lifting his chin. From off to the side, he heard Antiel groan. The shaman didn’t intervene, though, and both Kassien and Elintel were keeping themselves well out of it. Juro was just being nosy like usual, he knew - she never knew when to stop. But after two months of traveling and putting on a pretty face for their rivals, he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

Juro snickered. “Don’t think I didn’t see you, sitting up there at the head table during the banquet. It felt good to have the eyes of all of Drenwell on you, didn’t it?”

He groaned. “Don’t mention that godsdamned banquet.” There was no mistaking it - the calculating look in Juro’s eyes had turned to pure glee. She knew damned well he hadn’t wanted to be there, hadn’t wanted to take part in the stupid thing in the first place. “That whole thing was...ridiculous.”

“It’s just the presentation,” Antiel said, his tone scathing. He slipped closer, glaring at Takio. “It’s tradition. A tradition that all of the Charred before you have taken part in. So stop crying.”

“Ondria’s party was better, though,” Takio heard Elintel muse. The shaman walked between him and his advisor, lips pursed and eyes down.

Kassian sniffed. “Dunno about that.”

“Have to agree with the cleric, Kass,” Takio said, shooting his bodyguard a sidelong look. The dark-haired man wrinkled his nose, but only turned away. Takio chuckled. “At least I could talk to a damned soul at the Waterbinder’s event.”

The memory of the banquet was too fresh in his mind, just a few nights before. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the grand white stone of the Cathedral proper over his head, worked with brass inlays and enough statues to push the decor over the boundary into tacky. The damned light-workers had seen fit to ‘honor’ him with a seat at the head table.

Which, of course, had left him sitting at the front of the room, without another soul to hold a decent conversation with.

“It was fun to watch you, at least,” Elintel added, grinning at him.

Takio’s scowl deepened. “I’m sure. I’m sure you all really enjoyed yourselves.”

“You had the goddess, though,” Tikeya said. Takio jumped - and saw the motion repeated by his companions. Truth be told, he’d forgotten the black-haired woman was even riding beside them. She didn’t even look their way, watching the trees instead. “And the Everbright. And you could converse with the Chosen girl, couldn’t you?”

“In Drenwellian, he said, unable to contain his disdain any longer. “Gods, I’m so tired of that damned language. And the girl’s barely out of diapers. What do you think she had to say?”

“Stop whining,” Takio heard Antiel say. “And be more respectful of another Ascended.”

“I’m just saying. You lot abandoned me,” he fired back, letting mock affront fill his expression.

“What did you think of her?” his advisor said instead, his tone contemplative.

The question brought Takio up short. “Of the Chosen?” he said, furrowing his brow.

“Her name is Katell,” Antiel said, amusement and disappointment warring for control of his voice. “Please tell me you remember that much.”

Kassien chuckled, soft and low. Takio ignored the noise, letting his eyes fall to the saddle before him.

What had he thought of her?

Takio cast his thoughts back, running the events of the last few days over and over in his mind.

Drenwell had been every bit as pleased to see them as Ondria - although they’d been disappointed to hear that the Narai would be cutting the stay short. Solune and Rellan both had welcomed their party.

It was too soon for the Nightsworn, he’d been told. Solune had smiled at him, with that oily, too-perfect set to the expression. Shiina had warned him, told him that her cousins could be overbearing. She really didn’t have to - she’d never exactly been subtle herself, and from the way Efren acted, he’d quickly realized it was just a common trait among the Divines.

But even if there had been no Nightsworn waiting to greet him, he’d seen the girl standing half-hidden behind Rellan’s robes. She’d peered out at him from around his arm, staring up with giant, ice-blue eyes. Her hair had shown only the faintest hint of gold against the pure white of her god’s silks.

He’d smiled, and bowed and scraped like was expected of him.

“She’s young,” he said at last, glancing back to Antiel. “But even allowing that…” He made a face. “I think we’re going to be busy looking after three godsdamned countries.”

“The Tideborn will be ready in two years’ time,” Elintel said, pulling closer to his superior. Takio didn’t miss the respectful look the shaman flashed Hearthfire’s representative - or the way Antiel’s expression got just a little more smug. “We won’t be alone.”

Takio snorted, looking away. “We’ll see about that,” he muttered at last. “Something tells me the vanguard’ll still be kept busy.”

It wasn’t a surprise, exactly. As the Charred, he’d known for years that he’d spend more time traveling than lodged in a city. There were always things that needed tending to, and seeing after them was his job. Everyone who had joined his escort knew that much - them and their clans both.

He’d just hoped to have a little more help while he was doing it.

Takio jumped, fighting to keep from jumping as a hand landed on his shoulder. Antiel smiled back at him when he looked over, a too-knowing smile stretching from ear to ear.

“Well, if we’ve got so much work to do, we should get to it, shouldn’t we?” he said, jerking his head towards the road. “I do believe we’re expected back in the crags. So stop fidgeting and complaining and filling the air with your questions, and let’s be on our way.”

Takio opened his mouth, ready to protest, but Antiel had already nudged his mount ahead. The other shaman and his bodyguards followed fast on his heels, leaving only Tikeya to bring up the rear.

Antiel glanced back over his shoulder, raising one eyebrow as the distance between them steadily grew.

“What a load of godsdamned nonsense,” Takio muttered under his breath. But at Antiel’s words, the anxiety grew again. They were needed elsewhere.

And so he kicked his mount to a trot, urging it after his fellows, and let the air around them go quiet.