Cinder Iara sat in front of the fire pit, mindlessly poking at the smoldering embers that lay inside. Her attention was focused entirely on the mess that was the past 24 hours. She had summoned a demon. That demon was suffering, so she treater her. Apparently, this wasn’t just anyone, but the heir to an entire clan. Who was being tortured? She looked over to the sleeping form wrapped in blankets. Better not wake her up. A few minutes later her thoughts drifted back to the story Master Phineas had told. Something about it bothered her, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

There. A single line spoken with such ease that she hadn’t quite registered it at the time. Cinder’s heart thumped in her chest. That can’t be right. She dropped the fire poker and rushed to the bookshelves, running her finger along the spines until she reached the one she needed.

‘An Account of The First Holy Crusade.’ The book was old, with a well worn spine from being opened many times. The words written inside were slightly faded, but still easy enough to read. She scanned the page, checking each line for the date she needed. Halfway down the first page, buried between praise for the Gods and praise for the High Priest, was the line she was looking for.

“The date as I write this is the 22nd day into the Fourth Lunar Cycle of the year 482 by the standardized calendar.” She gently closed the book and returned it to its place on the shelf. That book was written two months after the end of the war. The war which lasted 5 years. And the story Phineas told was set 3 years before the start of the war. So in the year 474. Thats… Over 200 years ago. That couldn’t have been him. Cinder walked to her bed and sat down. She’d known Phineas her whole life. He’d definitely aged like a normal human. And it certainly wasn’t an illusion he had to constantly maintain. Was it a story passed down by his ancestors?

As Cinder’s brain ran through a hundred possibilities her eyes glazed over. She was suddenly jolted back to reality by something poking her cheek. It took a moment for her vision to refocus on the worried face of Quill leaning down in front of her.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, just a bit shaken up. There hasn’t been this much excitement since you decided to swim in a frozen river.”

“You make it sound like that was by choice.”

“Says the one who willingly slammed a stone down onto a creature’s head. Which then broke the ice. Your choice.”

“I’m choosing to ignore that. What did you find in that book?”

Cinder collected her thoughts for a moment as Quill sat down beside her. Her shoulders slumped and she rested her head on his shoulder. “Either Phineas lied to us about it being him in the story, or he’s over 200 years old. But we just celebrated his 64th birthday last month.”

Quill stayed silent. He must be just as confused as she was. The heavy silence remained until Master Phineas returned. Cinder’s eyes were drawn to the bracelet he now wore on his arm. That was odd. He didn’t normally wear jewelry. Her eyes refocused on his as he started to speak.

“We can start preparing tomorrow. For now, I’ll keep watch and let you two rest. I’ll wake you if anything’s the matter.”

The tone of his voice was firm, leaving no room for the argument that died on Cinder’s lips. She frowned. Quill looked like he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent as well. He moved to one of the more comfortable chairs and settled in for the night, practicing molding the small band of Bloodiron Master Phineas had gifted to him. The shapes were slightly unstable but still looked solid. Taking one last look at the girl fast asleep on Master Phineas’s bed, Cinder tried to settle down for the night. Dreams of cold stone and iron chains chased her into unconsciousness.

It was eight days later when Master Phineas finally deemed the girl, Sezzle, fit enough to go outside. To her credit she only complained for half of that time. Cinder finished tying the strings of the cloak together and ran a hand down the thick cloth to straighten it. She nodded in satisfaction and stepped back to admire her handiwork. Sezzle was outfitted with a thick blue travelling cloak with a hood large enough to cover her horns. She’d changed out of the rags she arrived in and now wore loose fitting brown pants with a long-sleeved white shirt.

“Good. Now you look like a traveler. There shouldn’t be anyone close enough to the cabin to see you, but it’s better to be safe about these things. Master Phineas also asked me to remind you not to go out without me or Quill with you, just in case you run into someone. And don’t forget to keep your hood up! And-”

Sezzle waved her hand in front of Cinder’s face and shook her head. “Thank you for reminding me the sixth time. Would you like to repeat that again? I don’t know if I can say it back word for word yet.”

Cinder stuck her tongue out. “There’s no need to get smart about it. This could save your life.”

“I get it, now let me go outside already.”

Together they walked out into the spring sunshine. The forest was a deep green, with newly sprouting buds dragging spring from its yearlong slumber. Birds rejoiced as they flew between trees, gathering twigs to build nests. Squirrels darted between the trees as a butterfly landed on the flowers arranged in the small garden just off the small porch.

Sezzle stepped onto the hard packed dirt road that lead out into the forest. Cinder grinned as Sezzle crouched down in front of the butterfly. She stretched out a hand towards the insect, but jerked back in surprise as it took off from its perch on a light blue flower. Cinder chuckled for a moment before gently guiding Sezzle back to a standing position.

“Come on, there’s still so much more to see!”

Sezzle nodded. “There’s so much more green than I remember. In the Home, everything’s stained blue due to the Glowmoss.”

The two toured through the valley, exploring every nook and cranny even as the sun began to lay its head down to rest. They ended up in a small forest clearing, sitting in the tall grass as the first of the stars began to twinkle far above. Sezzle absentmindedly ran her hands through the grass around her, twisting the stalks between her fingers as she stared at the sky.

“I never thought I’d see the stars again. Glowmoss doesn’t even compare to the real thing.”

Cinder looked over at the other girl. She scooted closer and rested her hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, you’re out here now. And it doesn’t sound like Master Phineas is going to let you go back any time soon, so just try and enjoy everything. And Quill can be a bit of a think headed idiot, but he’ll do anything I tell him to, so don’t hesitate to ask for help from us, okay?”

Sezzle put her own hand over Cinders and smiled sadly. They continued stargazing for quite some time with Cinder pointing out the more common constellations.

Cinder felt her eyes start to slide shut so she stood up and stretched while letting out a yawn.

“Lets head back and get some sleep. We can come back-”

Her words were cut off when a large reddish-brown bird landed in the grass in front of them. It shuffled it’s feathers and spoke clearly in Master Phineas’ voice.

“The two of you must hurry back to the house at once. Run as fast as you can. My calculations were off, or they rode harder than usual this time. Either way, I was wrong. A Witchhunter and his apprentice just rode into town. The Inquisition is here.”

As soon as the message was played in full, the bird crumbled into earth in front of them.