The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 25

XXV

URIEL

Day Four. Nine Days Remain.

Eli's Room, Morningstar Keep

Uriel spent the night in a room haunted by his father. In what was doubtlessly intended to be a kind gesture, Vigilant had given Uriel the room that Fisher Eli would stay in when he came to the Keep to conduct Brigade business. There was indeed a kind of comfortable warmth that hung in the room. It had been decorated and left dishelved in the exact same ways that Eli's study had been. Countless books studying the arcane intricacies of Earth lay strewn around the wood-paneled room and intricately annotated scraps of paper arranged around the bed formed some strange, intellectual nest. Uriel had barely been able to sleep, instead hunkering over the weary desk in the corner by the light of its equally tired candle as he voraciously read each note he could find. It was alien, seeing this side of his father. When Eli had gone to the Keep in the past, it simply felt like he had vanished from the face of Eden altogether. But here, in these documents, the Fisher became something else entirely. He was commanding, inquisitive, energized, respected, and strong. He debated the other Fishers, petitioned Vigilant for structural changes, and constantly advocated for greater resources for the lesser cities. Especially the small town of Asylum. With each page Uriel read, that inner fire burned hotter. Eli would return. Uriel needed him. Eden needed him.

The next day, Uriel awoke to a sharp rap on his door. His head jerked up from the pile of correspondences that he had fallen asleep reading and his arms shot out to throw off the covers he had haphazardly tossed over himself. He quickly rolled out of bed, patted down his hair and threw on his Brigade fatigues. "Coming, coming," he called, wiping at his eye as he sprinted over to the entryway. He reached for the handle and threw open the door. Standing just outside was Jonathan, his broad shoulders clad in a Brigade overcoat, with his back to Uriel.

"Sleep well?" Jonathan said with a laugh, reaching forward and pulling a small paper from the waistband of Uriel's pants. The document had apparently gotten shoved into the uniform in the aspiring Shepherd's hurry. "Lady Vigilant would like to speak with you."

Uriel glanced outside his room, looking left and right down the hallways. "Where's Kat and Isaac? Shouldn't they be here for this?"

Jonathan shook his head and ushered Uriel out of his room. "Trust me, you're going to have all the time in the world with them later today. But for this? For this, it's just going to be you and Lady Vigilant." He looked Uriel up and down as they began their march through the winding corridors of the Keep. As if he were everyone's caring older sibling, he couldn't resist brushing at Uriel's shoulders and adjusting his coat so it hung evenly. "How are you feeling, Uriel? I heard about yesterday, in the training session. Do you feel-"

"Normal?" Uriel offered lightheartedly. "No, not really."

"That's fair," Jonathan replied with an understanding nod. "Let's not go for normal then. How about calm? I can imagine that it isn't exactly easy on the mind to pull a sword made of fire from thin air and not understand where it came from or where it went."

Uriel glanced down reflexively at the hand that had wielded the blazing weapon, half expecting it to still be lingering in his palm. "It's hard to describe," he admitted. "It didn't feel natural, but it did feel like... like part of me. An extension. But a part that I didn't control, couldn't control." He sighed and looked over at Jonathan as they began to near the mighty doors that enclosed Lady Vigilant's room. "I'm sorry, I know that doesn't make any sense."