Nightspun (#ONC_2020)

Chapter 8 - Witness

Amira didn't know how to help her friend anymore. 

Her mind was whirring while full of problems, the only solution was to head out into the night and find her. Gathering her inhibitions, she stumbled down the same path and lit her way with an Allsee rune. The burnt traces of Sunspell footprints were embedded into the very core of the stone and while she walked she thought of the times she had continued to follow the same path as Sybil.

She had been there when Dewdrop first emerged, sprouting only little nubs of antlers and a downy coat of sundew. She had stayed by Sybil's side while Garrett moved onto bigger things, finding solace in the Ironwood forest despite its wicked rumours. She had even stayed when Sybil fretted about the Nightspun audition going through countless renditions of the same story over and over again until her head was spinning. But she never lost faith in her. Not once.

Even after the events of her losing her arm and her job, Amira stayed with Sybi through everything: suffering alongside her when her parents disowned her, taking her in when her own family were against it, even going to Bridge's Keep still sick with Sunfever once she heard what had happened. 

It was callous of her to feign ignorance about her Nightspun debut. She had heard her parents gushing over Garrett's proposal while sick at home and even though the risk of Feversun was great, the risk of not being there for her friend was even greater. She had entered through the secret gap in the wall only to hear Garrett tell the tale of the Nightspun who shamefully altered the Astral Three for her own purposes. 

"What am I doing?" Amira muttered, running her hands through her hair. 

Turning back on her heel, the Nightspell elf cancelled the Allsee rune under her breath and headed back towards the Outcrop district, the effects of the spell dimming just as two types of Casting caught her eye. One was the slight grey tinge of a Stormspell elf, unsurprising considering who's territory they had moved to. The other was a strangely familiar mix of blue heading back towards the jetty she had just left. 

"Must've left my Nightspell on too long."

But a yelp and a loud swear interrupted her musings and forced her to run towards the sound of the voice. Amira fought the need to use her Nightspell and conserved it for later, knowing full well her sharp senses and training in the Combat Mage Corps would do well enough.

What she didn't expect was her aunt tangled knee deep in jackanape bushes.

"Aunt Naisi! I-I mean High Lawmaker! What are you doing here?" Amira asked incredulously, trying to fight down the urge to chuckle at her unfortunate situation.

The jackanape plant was a sour, purple fruit that grew rapidly into crawler vines of any shape and size and although they were easy to grow, they were harder to weed out from any garden no matter how much you trimmed them back. It seemed the Stormspell elves had been using them for more than just target practice and now a high ranking official was currently surrounded by them.

"What do you think I'm doing here? Do something about these awful weeds already!"

Amira stared at her reluctantly, her aunt's choice of attire not exactly recommended for a trip to the overgrown fields and mucky walkways of the Outcrop. Her cloak imbued with the seven colours of the High Casters shimmered as she struggled despite the darkness looming over her. It reminded her of the rainbow koi within the royal gardens of Waterdown and it was there Naisi was supposed to be stationed. 

"Alright, hang on. You need something to hold your balance first."

Offering her hand, Amira wordlessly gestured to her to take it as Naisi hesitated over choosing the writhing jackanapes instead of having to touch a fake arm made from the deadly Ironwood. Reluctantly, the High Lawmaker chose the latter just as Amira dropped a stone rune into the pit below. 

"Ringent!"

The jackanapes screamed as the holy light erupted from the burrow, the rune blaring a golden halo of Sunspell not unlike the one Sybil had conjured herself many a time. A fleeting image of a Sunspell elf knocking out two of her own kin brought a smile to her face as she headed back toward the Stone Bouy and around the front entrance. Sybil needed some space tonight and so did she. A few hours wouldn't hurt.

"This is truly a wonderful harvest you have here, Anira dear." Niasi said, pointing towards the plot far beyond the general direction of the jetty.

"That's not ours."

Naisi's face widened into an 'o' and Amira fought the urge to laugh. Her auntie was many things but an avid agriculturalist was not one of them. Undeterred, the High Lawmaker straightened her already perfectly positioned cloak and tried again.

"Oh. I see. So where's-"

"Why are you here, auntie?" Amira interrupted, fed up of the game she was playing.

No elf be it the commonest of Nightspell or the rarest of Earthspell elf would believe for a second that the High Lawmaker would attempt small talk with anyone without having something to gain. With a single word, Naisi's accent changed from a familiar, motherly tone to one of venomous disdain eerily similar to her husband. Uncle Rayner.

"Honestly, I don't know why you insist on staying here with that..that troublemaker when you have all the things you need in Waterdown!"

Of course she had waited to announce this revelation once they actually arrived at her meager plot of land. Deciding against the strong smelling back entrance was a good thing for the vulgar insipidness of her aunt was more than enough of a stench for one day.

"I like it here with Sybil." Amira said evenly, attempting to commit the jackanape incident to memory.

"Didn't you know she was in the Gavelhouse for a week before Rayner kindly let her go despite the assault on him and two other elven nobles! There hasn't been anyone in Sundrain cuffs for so long since-"

"Unless you are going to tell me why you are here then I will not listen to anything you have to say. Not about my work, not about my lifestyle and certainly not about Syb." Amira demanded, turning to face her peacocking aunt.

Naisi suddenly backed down, seeing no need to continue such bickering. It was a strange turn of events but Amira was grateful for it only for her aunt to turn her back just as the crop of mandraroot floated into view. She guessed the High Lawmaker wasn't a fan of sheds but the faint wisps of artificial Casting told more than her pointed expressions ever did. There was a Stormspell nearby and Amira was doing her absolute best not to draw attention to it.

"So be it. You can explain my absence at the Sunspire, then. Unless you somehow haven't heard the news?" Naisi announced, marching away and instinctively expecting her to follow.

But Amira stopped in her tracks, frozen at the thought of the belltower on the Sunspire ringing to announce another flash flood. The Stone Bouy had barely lasted the previous one and the mandraroot would be waterlogged if they didn't but...the Floodbound warning bells hadn't rang in moons. It wasn't until the High Lawmaker's sharp gaze softened for a fraction did she regester the magnitude of the visit.

"She's dying, Amira. The High Sunstress is dying."