Chapter 400: Sabina, The Mother Elect

The walk back from the throne room was a solemn affair. Stryg had always wanted to visit the throne room, to see the Lunar Elect face-to-face. Now he thought he would be quite happy to never return.

The tall castle walls and looming pillars no longer seemed majestic and only made him feel as if he was in a cage, unable to escape the judgment of the Lunar Elect.

Virella broke the silence with a sigh of relief. “Overall, I think it went well.”

“Really? That’s what you call us almost dying?” Jahn asked with a frown.

“I wouldn’t have let them kill my friends,” Virella said resolutely.

“There wasn’t much you could have done to stop Arden,” Jahn smiled wryly. “Once he sets his mind to something, not even the Shaman-Elect can stop the Guardian of the Sylvan.”

The strongest of the Sylvan, Stryg ruminated. He had only clashed against Arden briefly, but he had been completely overwhelmed.

Stryg thought he had grown strong after all the hardships he had endured the last few years. He had fought against several powerful mages in the Great Cities Tourney and had come out victorious. And yet all those experiences and training meant very little against Arden’s overwhelming power.

The heights of true power were taller than he had ever realized.

“Why don’t we all go back to the Celestial Shrine? My acolytes will prepare warm food and rooms for you,” Virella said.

“That sounds nice, thank you,” Jahn smiled.

“It’s the least I can do,” Virella said. “You should all get some rest while you can. I have a feeling you’ll need your strength for your journey to Grimstone. Even at the best of times, frost trolls are difficult to deal with.”

Jahn groaned, “Sometimes I wish the frost giants and frost trolls just killed each other off. It would make our lives much easier.”

“Simpler perhaps, but not easier,” Virella said.

“Why don’t you three go on without me,” Aurelia suddenly spoke up.

“First Mother?” Stryg looked back at her worriedly.

“I have something to take care of, I’ll meet you all back at the Celestial Shrine.” Aurelia left without waiting for a response.

“Should I go with her?” Stryg muttered.

“She’ll be fine, Auri has always been like this,” Virella patted his shoulder. “Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Giants and trolls…”

~~~

Aurelia wandered through the long empty halls of the keep, occasionally hiding from a guard on patrol. After a few minutes, she came upon a familiar door, tucked away at the end of a dark hallway.

She rasped her knuckles on the door thrice, paused, then knocked once more. A muffled could be heard from the other side and then suddenly a couple of brown sigils flared to life on the door’s locks and the hinges slowly swung open.

“Come in,” came the familiar voice.

Aurelia stepped through the doorway and the door silently closed behind her. The room was small for one such as powerful as its owner, yet it was the way the Mother-Elect liked it. Simple and efficient.

The room was sparse. Save for a desk and a chair on each side, there was only a flower pot sitting on the windowsill, looking out towards the mountain below. It seemed fitting for a member of the Elder Bloom Tribe to carry some token of ‘life’ with them, wherever they went. Aurelia wondered uneasily if she was similar in that regard. What did it mean to be the First Mother of the Blood Fang?

“You seem uneasy,” noted Sabina. The old goblin was sitting at her desk, a cup of wine in her hand.

Aurelia cursed silently. Sabina always had a penchant for deciphering how she felt, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. “I’m just a little surprised you were actually here.”

“Really? I was quite certain you’d come.”

Aurelia shrugged and walked around the small room, glancing at what little was there. “This place hasn’t changed.”

She sat down across from Sabina and settled into her chair, and for a moment it felt as if they were back 20 years ago, a young gifted acolyte and her wise mentor.

Sabina smirked and raised her cup, “Welcome home, Aurelia.”

Aurelia didn’t meet her gaze and instead stared at the desk between them. “I never thought I’d be back here…”

“Strange then that you’d find yourself here now. I suppose it is only fitting, you’ve arrived when the hour of danger is near. Though it seems you’re not here to atone for your past, at least the others don’t think so. I suppose that may be why Lumi and Lykos are angry with you.”

“Yet you don’t seem angry with me, why?”

Sabina slammed her cup on the table, “I am angry with you, child. I am angry that you just stood there like a fool during your trial. You did not even protest the tribunal’s verdict.”

“What was I supposed to do? They are the Lunar Elect, as are you. Isn’t that why you called the trial in the first place?”

Sabina shook her head in disgust, “Ugh, you are still too ‘honorable,’ so stubborn and eager to follow tradition and dogma.”

“You think it’s wrong to follow the traditions of our ancestors?”

“I think it’s wrong to act like a fool, especially when you’re not. Today I saw you walk into that throne room with such a meek disposition I hardly recognized you. You let Lumi and Lykos trample all over you. Why? Do you believe that by enduring their anger that you are somehow atoning for your past mistakes? For abandoning the Celestial Shrine?”

Aurelia’s calm and collected expression cracked, if only for a moment. “No…” she whispered.

“Really? Because I just watched you stand by and do nothing as my peers ordered your execution. They were going to have you killed and you just stood there!”

Aurelia glared at her. “I fought back in the end, didn’t I?”

“Only after your shaman intervened,” Sabina clicked her tongue. “And that was only because you were trying to protect your son.”

Aurelia stiffened in shock.

Sabina sipped her wine, “Judging by your silence I take it I am right.”

“How did you know…?” she muttered.

“You may have dyed your hair but the boy hasn’t. The others might simply assume he’s just some drow hybrid, but I figured you were pregnant a long time ago. Why else would you have chosen to throw away everything you had worked so hard to build?”

Aurelia sank in her chair downheartedly. She had worked hard for years to keep her son a secret and on the first day back in this city the Mother-Elect had already figured it out.

“The father is the Scarletian outsider, yes?” Sabina mused aloud. “The one who spared Arden after beating him to an inch of his life? You know, I don’t think Arden ever got over that humiliation. And yet Arden came to accept that man, even admire him.”

Aurelia clenched her jaw in frustration. She really hated how this woman could always see through her.

Sabina smiled begrudgingly, “He was charming that man of yours, but I never trusted him. I told you not to trust that Scarletian either, but you obviously ignored my advice. Our ancestors trusted the people of the Scarlet Realm too and look at the tragedies that befell them.”

“…Yes, I’m keenly aware of my mistake,” Aurelia muttered bitterly.

“Are you? Because my sources tell me another Scarletian is in our city right now. I hear it is an orc. And to make matters worse, the orc is staying at the Celestial Shrine, our most sacred temple.”

“Tauri will not be a problem.”

“You know her name? So you really did bring her into our city,” Sabina said disapprovingly.

“I told you, she will not be a problem.”

“Can you be certain of that?”

“Yes. If anything happens I’ll take care of it.”

Sabina smiled at the cold edge in Aurelia’s voice. “I’ve always admired your ability to do what is necessary, regardless of the circumstances. It was, and continues to be, one of your greatest strengths.”

“...But?” Aurelia asked, sensing there was more.

Sabina sighed, “But you let your emotions get the better of you. A common enough flaw, really. Some of us fall for the trap that is ‘fleeting romance’ thinly veiled as love. While others take in a young girl and treat them as if they were their own flesh and blood, give them everything, only for them to waste it all in the end.”

Aurelia narrowed her eyes, “Is that why you think I did? Threw away everything?”

“You gave up on your dreams, if that isn’t throwing away everything then I don’t know what is. I really don't…” Sabina swished the wine in her cup around, but instead of drinking it she stood up and poured it out the window.

The old woman stood there at the windowsill for a moment, staring out at the mountains. Her shoulders slumped and her head sank down, like a flower wilting at the end.

A pang of pain struck Aurelia as she realized the woman she considered to be a second mother to her had truly grown old.

Slowly, Sabina looked up at her, there was no anger left, only a tired and resigned expression. “Aurelia, you once told me you didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of your mom, you didn’t want to be a chieftain of a small tribe. You wanted to break free from your grandmother’s legacy as the Bane of Lunis, because what you really wanted was so much greater than anything the Blood Fang Tribe had ever dreamed of; the restoration of the Sylvan people in all their glory. That’s why despite your honor and stringent beliefs, you bucked tradition and became a priestess Mother at the Celestial Shrine.”

Sabina smiled softly, “And that’s why I chose to help you. I believed in you. I believed in our dream.”

Aurelia bowed her head in shame. “...I regret how I left things between us.”

“Heh,” Sabina chuckled tiredly. “Sylvan Mothers are not supposed to have favorites, but you have always been mine. I groomed you for leadership, true leadership, and yet here you are, reduced to a mere midwife of a small tribe. I suppose this is Lunae’s way of punishing me.”

“I am not a mere midwife,” Aurelia growled.

Sabina’s expression brightened, “Yes. You are so much more. The years may have gone by, but I never gave up on you. It’s why I arranged to have your friend ascend as the next Silver Mother.”

“You?” Aurelia’s eyes widened in surprise. “You made Virella the Silver Mother?”

“I had to pull many strings and eliminate many obstacles, but I think it was worth it in the end. Having your best friend as the high priestess will serve us well for our plans.”

“...Does she know?” Aurelia asked with a dark expression.

“Does who know what?”

“Does Virella know you made her the Silver Mother, that she did not earn her position?!”

Sabina smiled wryly, “I’m not a monster. I have no interest in destroying the woman’s self-esteem.”

“But someday, if it benefits you, you will tell Vi. Just so that you can have one more tool in your plans,” she growled.

“My plans? This is our dream, and someday not far from now, when I’m gone and you’re Mother-Elect, it will be yours and yours alone.” Sabina shook her head, “This isn’t even about you or me. This is about the Sylvan people who are in imminent danger, Lunae warned me herself. The people need you, just like how they need the Silver Mother and Guardian. We all have a part to play.”

“Need me? I don’t think the rest of the Lunar Elect agrees,” Aurelia laughed in contempt. “They tried to execute me, remember?”

“My peers were just trying to show strength. Lykos has always admired you, he is simply angry and disappointed right now. We can change that, we’ll remind him of who you are.”

Aurelia bit her lip in indecision. “Even if that’s the case, what of the Shaman-Elect? Lumi hates me.”

“No, Lumi is envious of you. For all her magic, Lumi will never command your respect, admiration, and abilities. You will always be the Favored of the Moon and she will always only be the Eyes of the Moon and that bothers her to no end, like a wound festering in the heart. However, despite her faults, if we manage to sway Lykos to our cause, Lumi will follow.”

“You really believe that?”

“I do. Though, Arden may be a different story. I must admit I was annoyed with how Lumi and he wrapped you and your family into this journey with the frost trolls. Still, in the end, I think this will be a good thing. With you and Jahn there, the matter at Grimstone Mountain should be resolved fairly quick. And if we play this right we’ll win over Lykos with your achievement.”

“You thought this through,” Aurelia said. She shouldn’t have been surprised, Sabina never did anything without a plan.

“You focus on dealing with trolls, I’ll take care of everything else.”

Aurelia nodded reluctantly, “I will ensure success at Grimstone, but I did not return to Evenfall for you or power… or even for the Sylvan people. Once this is all over, I will leave.”

Sabina stared at her with an annoyed expression. “What are you saying? I have kept your child a secret and I have given you enough time to raise him. Now it is time to come home. With you by my side, we could lead the Sylvan to a new era. Isn’t that what you want? What you’ve always wanted?”

Aurelia shrugged, “My dreams have changed.”

“This is about the boy, isn’t it? This— Stryg,” Sabina spat the name as if it was poison on her lips. “He’s old enough to fend for himself, you need not coddle him.”

“I have never coddled him,” Aurelia glared at her. “Stryg is a true Sylvan. He is strong, he always has been… but I’m not quite ready to leave him be, he still needs me.”

“That’s just your pride speaking. Or perhaps you’re the one who needs him.”

“Maybe. Either way, I’m not leaving him, not yet.”

Sabina sighed, “You really have changed. You may go. I will see you when you return from your journey. We may discuss your plans and your tribe’s petition then.”

The threat was laid bare, but Aurelia thought it best to not comment on it. “Thank you for your time, Mother-Elect. Goodbye.”

Sabina did not respond, she turned her back to Aurelia, and stared out the window. Aurelia took it as a sign the conversation was over. She bowed her head and left.