OathBlade (Wattys2015)

78. Sunrise*

Elery woke from what felt like an age-long sleep and expected to feel the firmness of rock beneath her. Instead she rested upon a large bed in a room she did not recognize.

She sat up and slid the thick white quilt off of herself. The cold bit into her skin—skin protected only by thin servants clothes—and she grimaced as she curled her arms around herself. Shivers raced up her bare arms.

Where am I? she wondered as she examined the room.

The room was well-kept despite the webs in the corners that hung like ragged veils. It looked much like her parents' room, and if the portrait hanging on the wall near the dark fireplace was any indication it was once a king's bedchambers. A dark-haired man stood behind a lovely blonde woman. Their hands were rested on her swollen stomach. They smiled from within the frozen moment captured on the crushed velvet canvas, an expression of eternally-kept hope and love on their faces.

A shudder rushed up her spine and she pulled the covers back over herself to lie back again.

The presence of another caught her attention and she turned her head.

Cylphi slept peacefully. Her eyes moved slowly under her closed lids.

Elery put a hand over her mouth to hold back the sob she feared would rouse the sleeping girl. She'd thought Cylphi's revival to be part of a dream, yet there they were, together. She moved her hand from her mouth to Cylphi's cheek and laid her trembling fingers against her skin.

The warmth of her flesh radiated up her fingers in a way she'd never felt before. It was beyond that of simple body heat.

"She's really..." Elery whispered.

"Celestine's aura is forever within her." Misani manifested beside the bed. "They are now one and the same, forever interlocked much deeper than even I am to you."

Elery rose again to sit on the edge of the bed. "This can never become public knowledge." She lifted her gaze to Misani. "I can never thank you enough."

"I feel the same," she replied. "We could not have defeated her without each other." She looked past Elery to Cylphi. "And you have nothing to fear, all that resides now within Cylphi is Celestine's aura. She will live long, no doubt longer than most casters of even exceptional power, but she cannot become what Celestine was. She is herself."

"And for that, I couldn't be happier." Elery wiped her eyes as she stood and walked to the large mirror standing against the western wall. A thick, beige bandage wound around her head and covered her broken horn. "I would like to know what happened between then and now, however."

"That is a question best left to Isandel," Misani said.

Elery reached up to unwind the bandages. Each layer possessed ever-growing bloodstains. Then, with the last layer pulled away, she inspected the rough, black area left behind.

Her chipped horn was the one that remained, giving her the strange sensation of being unbalanced. Long ago the loss of a horn would have devastated her. The seryn's horns were a large point of pride. Most would have had such damage repaired, either with an artificial horn or an emergency reattachment.

She smiled and touched the reddened skin around the base of the broken horn. If the cost of Cylphi's freedom was a horn, it was the least she could pay. It was a price she was happy to pay.

Misani's arms curled around Elery's waist and squeezed tight. Her horn knocked against Elery's remaining one. "We should check with the others, should we not?"

Elery looked over her shoulder at Cylphi.

"Let her sleep. Don't you think she deserves it?"

"She deserves many things. Most of which I could never give her." She slipped away from Misani and crossed the room to the thick door ahead. Its hinges whined as she pulled it open and as she stepped into the hall. Several lycar and seryn milling around turned to look at her.