Elven Legacy

Chapter 69

Day 12

Kili

A silent atmosphere shrouded the harbor as Kili sat on the front porch of a tavern. The only one she'd found open at this early hour. As she nursed a mug of coffee, the aroma of bread baking in the ovens tickled her nose.

Kili wasn't hungry though, the bitter aftertaste of taless still clung to her tongue, still troubled her digestive system. It would pass eventually, but for now, she rode the first wave of its high.

Eyes closed, she tasted the salt and brine on the wind, she listened to sailors enjoying their breakfast at a table inside, she felt the rustling touch of the sea breeze in her hair, goose bumps rising across her increasingly sensitive skin. 

But even more than that, she could feel the harbor district around her, like something alive, something that pulsed and resonated.

People kneeling in their small gardens fenced in dry-stone walls, performing their ayanta. The cacti and slim trees in those gardens, the little lizards that scurried about here and there in the streets and alleyways. Delicate wind chimes tinkling from home to home. The ship captain who'd spoken to her just a half hour ago – he was on his way to Chyulin and would take her aboard. The kindly merchant, at the other edge of town, who'd been up early and had gladly bought her dromedary for a meagre sum. Kili could feel their presence still, and the myriad souls in between.

Kili let her essence meander, and wander farther, much farther still. She reached out . . . miles and miles away, like they meant nothing. Like distance no longer mattered. She reached out for the Imperial Palace of Chyulin.

The truth was, Kili did not absolutely require to be high on taless to transcend, and to appear somewhere faraway.

However, it helped. It helped quite a lot.

She sometimes wondered whether Indrian – no, whether Seraph – had also taken some such substance to assist with his trances, whenever he would appear to Jaden, or to others, at the time. If he had not, if he'd done it only through arduous meditation, Kili would've been impressed. But, it was possible.

Empress Imxi Chadonia was still asleep.

She lay sprawled on her vast bed of silk sheets, lush blankets and pillows. A short night gown – or, it might've been a long shirt – of thin black fabric loosely clung to the taut, comely shapes of her body. She was thirty-two, Kili knew, and yet the signs of age had yet to catch up. Except for some slight, barely seen creases around the eyes.

Long, pale brown hair fanned out around her. A thick strand of it shadowed her face. Dawn's first rays shyly lit up her sun-kissed skin, put blonde ribbons in her hair. Around the bed, the lavish, elegantly furnished chamber was somewhat blurred, as if shrouded in fog.

It was better for Kili to focus only on the empress. Save her energy and concentration. She hadn't ingested a very large dose of taless, and besides, her ship would soon depart from Vustormi's harbor.

Kili didn't have much time.

"Empress," Kili said softly, as she stepped closer on a floor she couldn't truly feel.

As expected, Imxi stirred at the sound of her voice. Kili knew about Imxi's fragile sleep, the empress had told her. The truth was, she'd told Kili many things, during her brief visits. Oddly enough, Kili had become a confidante for the empress.

Perhaps not so odd, she mused. Because, after all, Imxi's confessions and revelations – the fears that kept the young empress awake at night and fed her nightmares – those weren't things she could discuss with just anybody.