Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 260: A Note in the Symphony

Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Toren Daen

I watched in a mix of guarded fear and surprise as Aurora embraced the stranger, weeping from the depths of her soul. The splash of her tears on his cream-colored robes sizzled slightly, contrasting the sounds of her soul-deep emotions that radiated over our bond like fire.

Very, very rarely did I feel such overwhelming emotion from my bond. I felt panic and fear for a moment at how fast this person had managed to get close to me without triggering any of my senses.

Sonar Pulse didn't even register him until he was right next to me, I thought, keeping a ways away from my bond as she bled her sorrow and loneliness. I'd gotten in the habit of keeping my echolocation spell always active, binding the pulses of sound magic to my heartbeat so that I'd always have a perception of the people around me. And his heartfire and intent...

I could sense none of them. They were utterly blank to my perception.

Yet even as I acknowledged all of these things, my panic and fear began to settle as I recognized the person embracing my mother.

I'd only met one asura before this, but Mordain Asclepius was nothing like Agrona. He didn't make my head throb and my body tremble from fear. Though I could sense no distinct mana or heartfire from him, there was a sort of... resonating warmth that seemed to flow from him into the very air.

My bond and her brother seemed entirely lost in their reunion for a time. I thought I saw a tear blurring at the edge of the Lost Prince's eye, but when he blinked, it was gone.

I worried so much about what would happen when I reached the Hearth, I realized, feeling slightly guilty, that I didn't consider how my mother would feel. What it would be like for her.

A slight smile stretched over my face as the shade of my mother was comforted. I didn't know how Mordain could see her, nor how he could even hold her. But that didn't worry me.

Too long had I been the only one to see my bond, to hold her and give her support.

Finally, Aurora let her arms slacken around her brother's back. He gently pushed her away, his breath shuddering. For an instant, I thought I felt a mote of his intent, before he leashed it back underneath hidden wings.

"You never were one to cry, Aurora," he said softly, firmly holding her shoulders as he looked down at her shade appraisingly. "I'm sorry that you need to."

Aurora laughed, a raspy sound that was beautifully ragged from her happy tears. "I have known more joy and sorrow in the past year than we saw in an age, brother," she pressed out. "I worry that I might not be who you once knew."

Mordain chuckled lightly, before embracing his sister once more. His hands clenched around her body protectively, and it was his turn to hug her tight. "We are phoenix. Change is in our nature. No matter who you are, I won't stop loving you."

Aurora turned slightly, her tear-streaked face, lighting up with a smile fit to raise the sun once more from its slumber. She looked at me, her phantom eyes flashing. "Brother, there's someone I need you to meet," she sniffled.

Mordain turned to me, tilting his head in the exact same way Aurora did as his burning orange eyes roamed over me. He still bore a slight smile on his face, and though his eyes were welcoming, I got a sense of hesitance from him.

I shifted uncertainly, before raising my hands together in a standard martial salute. Aurora had grilled me on a lot of Asclepius traditions on our bare moments of downtime as we approached the Hearth, and this was the traditional bow of respect of an asura to a clan patriarch.