The Mother of Monsters

It turned out that the lake that Teyva had spotted on the northern horizon was closer than she thought. As the golden hills rolled forward ahead of them they managed to spot hints of it drawing closer and closer to their right. It was only after they crested one particularly difficult hill that they looked down into an even wider expanse than the one that Teyva had taken in before. She stood at the crest for a few moments, marveling at the glittering blue water before making her way down the hill with her companions. Azrael was quick to go into detail about the area and what to expect.

“The lake goes by several names depending on who you ask, though most agree on Lake Baltha, as it feeds into a river that crosses through the Balthin Sea. That’s much further to the north though,” Azrael pointed out, “You could argue that Lake Baltha is less a lake and more an inland sea of its own. There are several settlements on the northern shore that belong to various human groups.”

“You all are okay with Humans in your territory?” Teyva asked.

“Not all humans are like the Katali,” Azrael pointed out, “Katal is the biggest human kingdom and so they have an ego to match. Most human settlers in the Wildlands trade with us openly and even come to live and work in some of our larger towns,” Azrael went on, “To that point, The Wildlands isn’t really our territory.”

“I had always assumed that the Azar had laid claim to it,” Elat cut in, equally curious.

“We certainly dominate the area, but the Azar do not believe that land should be cordoned off by one race or another. What matters most to us is how you contribute,” She said, “If it is a negative contribution, we will most certainly have the first say.”

“I’m surprised your people and the orcish clans haven’t come to better terms,” Elat pointed out, “Sounds like we’d get along.”

“Lack of understanding I’m afraid, and a sore history on the southern border of the Wilds, our peoples have been at one another’s throats so long that it’s hard to forget past slights.”

Elat frowned but nodded; “It’s why our people moved to the forests. We were tired of fighting among the clans and just wanted to live in peace.”

“I had wondered why you all had moved so far away from the badlands. It seemed like a big change,” Azrael said, rubbing her arms a little. The wind had picked up and a chill was coming with it. She sniffed once at the air and then squinted at the clouds, “We’re going to have to camp soon, let’s set up around the Lake, rilks avoid it. Their main predator tends to hunt in that area.”

“Wouldn’t we have the predator to worry about?” Teyva asked.

“Hardly, Bosin are cowardly and terrified of fire. We set up a good blaze and keep your walls up and we won’t have any problems,” Azrael said.

Elat squinted at the sky; “There’s still some daylight, are you sure about stopping?”

“I’m sure, Teyva?”

“Hmm?” Teyva turned to her friend, she had been lost between her own thoughts and the conversation and had begun to drift off. Azrael frowned and Teyva had to clear her throat; “Why are you asking me?”

Azrael’s eyes narrowed, “I swore an oath to you, Teyva, please take it seriously. I want your decision about whether we should risk going forward or not.”

Teyva shrank a little and blinked. She looked up at the sky and then at the lake. She still hadn’t seen the creepy crawlies that Azrael insisted existed out here but wasn’t about to disbelieve her. Besides, Azrael knew the route better and it seemed generally unwise to discount her opinion on things. She wondered if it would impede their trip at all. She glanced at Nephral who shrugged and she finally nodded; “Let’s stop up ahead. There’s some trees over there we can get some wood for a fire from,” Teyva said, pointing at a small cluster of yellow-leaved trees not far from the edge of the water.

It didn’t take them long to set up for camp and after some prodding from Azrael, Teyva set up a set of walls around their campsite including a roof this time. They made sure to place the camp just beneath one of the larger trees in the cluster and leave a hole open for smoke to come out. The Marble took his place as the door to their impromptu shelter just in time for the first rumblings of an oncoming storm. Soon the sound of rain pelting against the surface of the walls was enough to drown out most conversation, the wind doing the rest. Teyva had to send calming thoughts to her mockeries more than once as they trembled inside of her satchel; they clearly didn’t like the rain very much.

The storm lingered for several hours, only easing after night had already fallen. Teyva spent the time between helping cook the evening’s meal and setting her own space up on reading her skill book. She still had just about half of the book to get through before she was done and it was already wearing her out. When was any of it going to start making sense to her? It was like the book was fighting her throughout the process, pushing back in some unknowable way. Frustrated she shut the book as Azrael and Elat retired to sleep. She lay there for a while, surrounded by her mockeries with Nephral on her chest until restlessness took over.

She checked to make sure her companions were asleep and got to her feet, slipping over to The Marble, ordering him aside and slipping out into the humid post-rain air. She urged her Mockeries to spread out to keep an eye on her surroundings and trudged her way down to the beach of the lake. The sand felt strange beneath her walking boots and she slipped them off, pressing her toes into the sand and wondering if this is what it felt like back where she’d come from. She’d never been to the coast let alone to one of the great lakes, so she could only imagine.

She sat down, pulling her legs up to her chest and stared out over the water, the reflection of the moon rippling on the surface. She took a deep breath and let out a groan, scratching at her head and snatching up a handful of sand. She hurled it at the water in frustration before falling back onto her back. A flicker of light approaching caught her eye and she turned to sit up, spotting Azrael approaching with a torch in one hand. She sighed, turning back to the water and wrapping her arms around her legs as Azrael stabbed the torch into the ground just a few feet ahead before sitting down next to her.

“Copper for your thoughts?” The warden asked, flicking a coin into the air and catching it.

“Heads,” Teyva grunted.

Azrael paused in the midst of uncovering the coin and raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

“Heads for the face of the coin, what do you call it?”

Azrael chuckled; “I suppose that makes sense, but the sides of a coin are called the Heart and the Soul,” Azrael explained, twirling the coin she’d flipped between her fingers and holding it up. She showed Teyva each side, one side showing a twelve-pointed star. “The Soul, half of a being, the other half being the heart,” She murmured, turning the coin around to reveal a stylized depiction of a lamb, “On a copper coin, the heart is a lamb. On the silver, it is a hound. On the gold coin, it is a lion.”

Teyva squinted at them, “Who mints these?”

Azrael shrugged, “We do, the Katali do, everyone does. No one really knows why the coins are minted this way, but that’s how it is. It’s never changed.”

Teyva stared at the coin, two halves of a whole, more bitterly she recognized that even coins were something she could barely understand in this world. Just another example of how lost she felt. She closed her eyes and took a breath as Azrael set the coin back on her thumb.

“Heart.”

“Soul,” Azrael shot back, catching it and flipping it over. She held it out for Teyva to look at and the Labyrinthian let out a sigh, she snatched it up and twirled it between her fingers before handing it back to Azrael. “Talk to me Teyva.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Teyva said.

“What do you mean?”

“When we get to Osan, and I get whatever answers I’m going to get, and if I get a cure for queen bitchface,” She snatched up a bit more sand and hurled it at the water to punctuate her hatred for Rani, “When everything’s said and done, what then? What do I do with myself Az?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something. There’s plenty of opportunity in Osan,” Azrael pointed out.

“Will I? Where I came from, the life I had before, I was nothing, nobody. I sold knicknacks and was belittled by the people who bought them and the people I worked for. I worked, I went home, I slept, I barely had a moment for myself Azrael. I didn’t have a life. I existed. I don’t know what it even means to have this kind of freedom. You’ve known this place your whole life but for me, its huge, daunting, scary. It’s beautiful in ways I can’t even put into words,” Teyva said, “It was easy in the forest, there was a wall of trees making everything narrow and smaller. I could go from one thing to the next without thinking too hard about the horizon,” She pointed to the vast Lake, she couldn’t even see the other side, “There it is and I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Your memories?” Azrael asked.

Teyva shook her head; “I haven’t been very honest with you about those, and I’m sorry Az. I remember a lot more than I’ve let on but it’s very hard to explain, let alone talk about. I don’t know if I ever want to really explain it or if I just want to leave it all behind me,” She said, pulling her legs tighter to her chest; she buried her face in her knees and let out a heaving sigh. “I’m really sorry.”

There was a long silence, Azrael didn’t move and Teyva could only hold her breath for the inevitable. She’d promised Azrael not to keep secrets but it was just too much to explain that she came from another world. Levels and skill sheets and all that, it was still something magical that Azrael could apply some logic to. But where Teyva had come from?

A hand rested on Teyva’s back and she jumped a little, looking up to see Azrael smiling at her; “Thank you for telling me.”

Teyva sniffed, feeling a warmth behind her eyes again as wetness began to roll down. She shuddered and let out a sob, rolling her shoulder into her friend’s chest and just laying there for a while. An arm wrapped around her and squeezed tightly. Teyva let it all out, she cried until she couldn’t cry anymore and her chest had begun to hurt.

Finally, Azrael spoke; “I don’t know what’s ahead of you Teyva, I think if there’s anyone in the world with a free pass to the future it’s you. Circumstances are going to come and go and they’re going to force you to make decisions. My father says that people with power cannot avoid potential. Eventually, you’re going to do something with all this power you’ve got and whatever it is, it’s going to be amazing.”

Teyva sat up, wiping her eyes and turning to her friend; “Nephral said the same thing.”

“He keeps saying that he’s wiser beyond our years,” Azrael joked.

Teyva laughed, feeling the tension ease from her chest, “Yes he does, he’s such a sweet boy though.”

“He is.”

“Thank you Azrael,” Teyva said, “I don’t think I can do this without you.”

“I am your knight, my Lady,” Azrael said, standing up and giving a sweeping bow, dropping to one knee.

Teyva burst into laughter and held up her hands; “Okay, okay! Enough with the theatrics!”

Azrael reached out and wiped a few more tears off of Teyva’s face; “Then you need to quit with the waterworks and come back inside, it’s going to rain again and you need your rest. We’ll be double-timing it tomorrow.”

“Alright.”