Runesight

18.5 - The Hero

--- Hivren ---

He was becoming more and more sure of it by the day, but when Eliax bought an illusion from Aymiae, it all sort of clicked for him.

Hivren had tried to ignore the signs at first, Eliax was his friend! She had a lot of flaws but none of them were nefarious enough to be worrisome. He didn't know why she hated Foralen so much, he didn't know why she seemed convinced she'd had a past life that needed to be uncovered.

What Hivren did know was that she went about at weird times, disappeared often for several days at a time, wasn't really good at treating people like people, and she was a dimensionalist. He knew she was a dimensionalist, even though she hadn't really done much in front of him. It was just the same vibe as some of the people his uncle Harrel brought over for dinner sometimes, a bit of a careless attitude, and the way she often acted as if nothing could hurt her.

All this together convinced Hivren that Eliax was doing something, and that something was probably highly illegal. So, like any good friend, Hivren resolved to talk to Eliax about this alone at the soonest possible time.

And he would have.

He sat at Nightwind early in the day, Raendus's brother across from him, Jiuhen next to him, Givei on the empath's other side. He'd been wondering how best to break the stark silence at the table when someone burst through the doors with a great clatter, and took a moment to catch his breath just inside.

He wore the uniform of the wall guard, which seemed a bit odd until he began to speak.

"The Captain...Larien, of the Wall guard-" He stopped for air for a second. "-has requested that everyone stay seated, we have a very important person coming this way and she-she's not in a great mood I think! Do not engage her! Stay seated!"

The man sat there and breathed for a second before running out the door, presumably to either spread the word or run back to his duties.

A moment later another wall guard burst through, also panting, "She's back! She's back! No one panic, stay here everyone and don't insult her!"

By now the owner of the tavern was peeking out from the kitchens with a frown, "What's all this fuss?"

The soldier glanced at him, breathless, "Sir! We have reason to believe that the Hero herself is approaching this building at this very moment! We're clearing the streets!"

The man balked, "What!? Fari? She's alive?"

Hivren stood up, staring at the soldier with eyes wide, "Do you have this confirmed by someone who knew her?"

The soldier blinked at Hivren and bolted out the door, presumably to get that checked. The tavern owner rushed back into his kitchen, muttering something about drunks dancing on tables. There was a great clattering from within as he hastily prepared something.

Hivren sat down in a daze, his mind racing and his mouth dry. He patted his pockets but he didn't have any paper on him. He glanced at his companions who seemed to expect the question. "Jiuhen...can I borrow that notebook?"

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Two chapters today, don't forget to read the second one ^^