Chapter 18
Daya’s Homestead, Hannelore Mountain, Realm of Eldridge
Nervous energy hungered in Daya’s body, looking for an outlet. Eleven people, along with all their horses and one adventurous osa, had overtaken her mountain home.
It was a good thing she’d warned Neka to vanish for a few days when they’d first arrived looking for Connor. A secretive species, owlcats didn’t do well with commotion of this scale.
She told herself that the influx of people was definitely to blame for the low simmer of agitation coursing through her veins.
Not Connor.
Not the painful, betrayed look in his eyes when she’d told him the truth—that given the choice, she’d choose to remain guardian.
Not the fact that he hadn’t kissed her or touched her since.
Or the realization that knowing Raiden didn’t translate fully to understanding the fully healed warrior who was with her now.
Raiden would have given her a sad smile and then taken every opportunity to caress her braid or kiss her neck as they traveled home and tended to the children.
Stolen every tiny moment and assured her it was worth the impending hurt.
Not looked at her with veiled green eyes as she’d passed him and said that their borrowed time was at an end.
Nope. None of those things.
Approaching the long stretch of clear ground she used as an archery yard, Daya stifled the wayward thoughts and emotions plaguing her and focused on the golden-brown head of her young charge.
Veda stood with Rodric’s soul-daughter Brenna, a dark-haired girl with a spitfire attitude that seemed to bolster the other children, and a teenager named Maren who was still looking fragile and wary.
They took turns aiming and throwing knives under Cass’s supervision.
The warrior gave her a nod as she moved past.
“Daya.”
“Cass.”
A small smirk touched the woman’s serious face.
She’d regarded Daya easily from the beginning, looking at her without the curiosity the others had, instead with immediate respect and a nonchalance that made her feel less like an outsider.
Now that she’d spent some time with the other woman, she decided they were cut from similar cloth.
It was why she’d sought the other woman out. She needed to talk to someone, and Connor was currently avoiding her, working through his own problems. Standing out of the way, she settled into a comfortable stance to watch the lessons.
Brenna stepped forward for her turn, brimming with a confidence the others lacked. She threw the knife straight, but it bounced off the target. Frustration flashed as she went to retrieve the blade.
Cass motioned her back into place. “Rodric taught you using one of his heavier blades, right?” The girl nodded. “Your new knife is a little lighter and balanced differently. It fits in your hand better, but it’s going to throw a little differently. Try again.”
The second try sunk the blade into the target, but just barely. Brenna grinned anyway, an extra bounce in her step. The other two girls continued in turn with much less success. Veda was visibly uncomfortable with the weapon. After a few more rounds, Cass stopped them.
“You know, Daya here is pretty good with a bow.”
“Better than you?” Brenna’s allegiance had clearly been won over already.
“Yes.” Cass chuckled, not at all offended. “Because it’s her primary weapon. Remember that. If you ever challenge someone, don’t pick their primary weapon for the competition unless you’re comfortable with it. Who wants to try archery?”
Veda’s eyes lit with an excitement the others lacked, though they all agreed.
Taking the opportunity Cass had just given her to bond with Veda, Daya gamely went to fetch her practice equipment out of the nearby container.
It was large for the younger girls but would be fine for an introductory session.
Cass took one of the bows and herded Maren and Brenna a few feet away, nodding meaningfully at Veda.
“Have you ever used a bow?” Daya asked as she offered Veda the bow.
The girl nodded. “Da was a hunter. He took me with him a lot, after ma died.”
“And your da? Is he gone now too?”
“Last winter. That’s how I ended up at the orphanage and met Opal. Then…” She trailed off and clutched at a pendant around her neck.
Daya just bet the orphanage had been eager to get rid of mouths to feed. Probably happily accepted the reward and handed the girls directly over to the mercenaries.
Though her muscles were still weak, Veda took the string Daya offered her and connected it to the bow, pulling the string taut and securing it with less effort than Daya had expected.
“You remember how to aim?” she asked the girl.
Veda showed her that she did, notching the arrow properly on the first try. Her arm shook when she pulled the string back, barely making it past her nose. The arrow flew well for the short distance her release allowed.
“Keep working at it. Your strength will come back.” Daya handed her another arrow. “Connor’s did.”
“Really?”
“He worked every day with my bow once his arm healed enough.”
Brown eyes firming with resolve, Veda took a third arrow and sent it further than the others. A smile filled her face at the small victory.
They continued working until the girls started to flag with exhaustion. After putting away the various weapons and targets, they all began the walk back to the house.
The girls led the way, chatting amongst themselves as they went and pausing to pick up the dazzling lenthomar rocks that littered the ground.
Named for the golden sparkles that ran through them, the rocks only existed in areas with a heavy amount of velentha foliage.
They gave the nearby ground an ambient sparkling quality during certain times of year when the trees were most abundant with nectar.
She was so used to seeing them, she’d forgotten how unique the rocks appeared.
Listening to the girls exclaim and giggle over the rocks reinforced that they retained some of their childhood wonder, which was a relief after all they’d been through.
As a nature mage, it was especially important that Veda kept a thread of that joy alive. Living for centuries could easily make one bitter if the wonders of the earth ceased to be a joy and instead became a burden.
Daya eyed Cass with suspicion as they walked, puzzling over her intrusive help, until the light dawned in her mind. “Connor told you.”
Cass glanced at the girls and slowed her pace a few steps to give them a bit of privacy.
“Just that Veda might be staying with you, and he might need my help handling Celina’s reaction.
She can be… obstinate when it comes to the refugee kids.
He wouldn’t say more, but… after your revelation that you were a guardian during the raid… I can guess the why of it.”
Daya settled the nerves in her stomach. Telling the group about who she was had been nerve-wracking. She trusted the four of them, but it was still a big step for her, confiding in so many people about who and what she was.
Since Veda was the reason she’d wanted to talk with Cass privately in the first place, she let Connor’s overstep in sharing the information go. Time wasn’t on her side.
“Yes. Veda might stay to accept a role as my apprentice… as a guardian of Hannelore Mountain.”
“You know, I thought this place felt different, but I never guessed it was a sacred site. The den—where my warrior clan lives—feels similar, like there’s magic in the rocks and water. But it’s much more vibrant here. It’s incredible.”
“It is,” Daya agreed.
“I don’t know much, but I didn’t think there were very many of you guardians left. Like maybe a few others in the world, period.”
“This whole situation has been surprising. Multiple guardians at a site haven’t been normal for a long time.
And Veda is so young.” Daya shook her head, bypassing the query about other sacred sites to focus on her would-be apprentice.
“I thought you might have some experience with that. Wolflumen join the clan young, don’t they? ”
“Yes. I was a similar age when I made the decision to join the Wolflumen.”
“So, you understand the choice. The commitment.” Forfeiting her life for a something greater than her. No wonder Cass felt so much like a kindred spirit.
They paused as the girls stepped off the path to inspect the woodland home of some small creature.
“Can I ask you something personal?” The words escaped before Daya could rein them in, her mind veering elsewhere.
“Sure.”
“Do you ever regret it?”
Cass was quiet for a moment as she leaned down to pick up a small, gold veined lenthomar rock from the ground. She rubbed the dirt off the rock and gave Daya a somber smile.
“Life as a Wolflumen is… restricting. Solitary. Our clan doesn’t encourage outside connections of any kind and remains fairly isolated from society. It can make for a lonely existence. My relationship with Celina and others… let’s just say I’m a bit unusual, even for a wolf.”
Cass looked down as she enclosed the rock in her palm. “But no. I’ve never regretted it. The choice changed the course of my life in a lot of ways, as I’m sure it did yours. Ways I didn’t anticipate or even comprehend as a child. That I still wrestle with sometimes.”
“Connor asked if I would make a different choice, if I could.”
“You said no.”
Daya pressed her lips together and nodded, not surprised that Cass knew what her response had been. “He doesn’t see that it wasn’t a fair question.”
“That type of commitment is different in ways that are hard to fathom, let alone appreciate,” Cass said, shaking her head. “Strangely, I’ve found military warriors struggle with that more than others. You’d think they’d understand it easily, because of their loyalty and service, but they don’t.”
Something in her tone indicated a very personal experience. Similar to the fight she’d had with Connor, if she had to guess.
“I’ve been a guardian a long time. I knew I couldn’t keep him going into this. But it still hurts.”