War of the Heart

Emilee

Everything was falling apart. Emilee remembered thinking that when she found out about Lavia. The same thought crossed her mind when the Chèr was revealed to be Detruienn. The disappearance of the Leere had made that worse. The discovery that Kaya had vanished in the night, as well as one of the guards strengthened this conviction. The bloodshot eyes that greeted her in the morning were supporting arguments. Everything was falling apart and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She'd trusted him, her, them. The real Chèr had said Detruienn didn't care for gender. Detruienn didn't care for much. They were a ticking time bomb that wouldn't rest until everything they viewed as wrong came crashing down.

Did they view us as wrong? Is that why they broke us?

The kettle whistled in agreement. Officially, Emilee and Sabrina weren't meant to be in the kitchen, but Sabrina had begged the kitchen staff to let her make crêpes. Now she was beating the mix, with a steady thrum of the whisk hitting the bowl. Beside her, the pan was beginning to sizzle as it heated. Warmth began to spread through the kitchen.

'My brother never helped with baking, unless I was making pancakes. He'd always insist on flipping them. We'd take it in turns, scoring and making a contest out of it,' the Rindea reminisced as she poured a ladle of mix into the frying pan.

Emilee got up to take the kettle off the heat. She hesitated for a moment, trying to remember the components of tea. Hot water, milk and maybe sugar. Biscuits too, normally, usually shaped like a heart or flower. The problem was that Emilee had no idea where to find them. She stood up and stayed perfectly still except for her eyes, that darted around uncertainly.

Thank the spirits, Nancy entered and helped make the tea. Emilee realised she would have forgotten the tea itself. Evidently boiled water didn't magically flavour itself. If it did, it would probably be forbidden.

'The servant should arrive at the palace in two days. If we're lucky, the news won't have reached them yet,' Nancy said while pouring the tea.

'What do you mean, if we're lucky?' asked Sabrina.

'Tiresias is concerned that the palace will have experienced the aftershocks of the spirit's reveal.'

'You mean Detruienn?'

'Names have power, Sabrina,' said Nancy. 'It would be best not to use them unless necessary.'

'But people throw around the spirits' names.'

'It's different when you want to avoid their attention. Either way, there is a chance that she's set fire to the palace or started some sort of civil war in the meantime.'

'How comforting...' said Sabrina. In a slick motion, she tossed the pancake. 'Can you heat the oven a bit? I want to keep them warm so that we can all eat together.'

Around half an hour later, Sabrina carried a plate of crêpes upstairs and Nancy followed with a tray of jams and toppings. The Chèr, Arcane and Merari were sat at the dining table. All of them looked worse for wear. The Chèr's nose hadn't fully heal and his eyebags had managed to get worse. Arcane's paleness resembled that of a ghost. Merari was the least impacted, but her hair wasn't as tidy as usual, some of the ends standing away from her head.

They sat down. Nancy whispered something to Arcane about having saved some pancakes for the kids, which confused Emilee. Had Arcane expressed concerns over the youngest pilgrims?

'We're late getting started,' stated the Chèr. 'It might not be possible to ascend to the top of the mountain before sunset.'

'Excuse me, you're still planning to finish the pilgrimage? After all that happened?' Arcane glared at him.