Hierarchy (Book Four of the Torrent Skies Saga)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Breath of Change on the Winds of Chance

Throughout the course of the next several days, the manor was quiet. Zino and Pilard had refused Katerin's offer to cease working and find another place, even after she told them she would bring Rykir back to them, safe. She offered them enough coin to go anywhere they liked, and the opportunity to curse her all the way to the hells, but they refused. They wanted to stay. She knew not why, but they did. They believed she would bring Rykir back, too, although she was still unsure of how to accomplish it.

However, time had given her a little clarity. If Kryrial had come for Kieneltra, he had succeeded. He would not hurt her, Katerin knew. He had wanted her back for other reasons. Maybe he wanted a legacy, or a tool. But he would not harm her. And, if all he wanted was to harm Rykir, then he would have killed him in the manor. Taking him did not play into that. So, he had taken Rykir for another reason. To push Katerin into acting. And she wanted to. She wanted to go straight to the castle, and demand he return Rykir home.

But she knew better. Without Lodyne, without a plan, and without the book of Ralore, she would die. So she waited.

A week passed.

Graiden returned from Rastridge, many a soldier in tow. They had successfully held off Kryrial's army. And they were even making peace with about three thousand or more soldiers, who had laid down their arms when the Reclaimer had been destroyed. He had been up to his chin in politics and paperwork, and so was quite exhausted on his return.

Everyone had been eating together again, the injuries were healing, and very rarely, a laugh could be heard on the grounds. Corbin was awake, and Olivia helped him walk around every evening. He looked pale, and weaker, but he had not lost the sense of arrogance, or spirit. It had taken a few days for him to stop apologizing to Katerin, for something that he was not to blame for.

Katerin had scarcely heard from Lodyne, since her last dream of the goddess. She had not touched the book of Ralore, again. She wanted to. Oh, it was like an itch she could not reach. She wanted to know all it could teach her. She knew she needed it again. But she had been taking time. Fulfilling a promise to her mother. Fixing the state of her head.

Maybe Lodyne thought meddling was too risky. Maybe she believed Katerin would decide the goddess's version of best on her own. She did not know and did not care to ponder it.

This night, Katerin stood perched on the railing of manor balcony, and exhaled, her breath misting in the cold air. Looking out, a ship was just coming into the harbor, and she was glad to see it. She was glad to watch the carts and wagons move down the widened main road of her little town, to see the smoke coming from their chimneys. Her days when not spent at the manor were spent in council, with Graiden and some of Hearth-Home's former soldiers.

Many yearned to return home. They asked after their prince and princess, and though Katerin could not answer, she did her best to reassure them all, that they would have a home to return to. That despite the scope of the problems they faced, that there was a solution. A simple one, even. That she could hardly comprehend.

When she was not in council and not working on other matters, she was plotting.

Kryrial needed to die. He needed to be dragged from his throne in Hearth-Home and buried. So all his actions might be buried and forgotten with him. She knew she would need her friends. And she knew she would need the book, too. So, she would use it only once more. She needed it, to face Kryrial. She might need Lodyne, too. Even if she had weakened him in that temple in Uhm'bantha, there was no telling if he had recovered, or what he was plotting now.

So, she would use the book and Lodyne, one more time. Carefully, with a plan, a purpose, and people around to keep her from loosing herself to either. But after that, fanciful thoughts of renouncing them both played across her mind. Lodyne's words from their last conversation chilled her. That no matter what she choose, the goddess would have what she wanted. But Lodyne had also believed Katerin would take the Reclaimer. She had admitted that she was not all knowing. That she could be wrong.