Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
They went home after supper, to their little house on the rise and settled on the sofa to cuddle.
Autumn fell asleep in moments, exhausted from whatever she had been doing that day.
Auster still wasn’t entirely convinced that he knew what it was, but he knew she wasn’t going to be able to do what she’d done that day for too many more days.
He looked over her head at Boreus and gave his love a hesitant smile. “I want to help her,” he whispered. “I just don’t know how.”
“We’re doing all we can for the moment.” Boreus replied in that same whisper. “The only thing that fixes it entirely is getting Skirion back and them loving each other.”
Auster nodded. “Couldn’t we go and get him?”
Boreus shook his head. “We couldn’t get into Charan. She believes in us too hard and has already bargained with the Weavers.”
Auster nodded slowly, mind spinning. “I guess we’ll just have to help her rest then? The Highest might not notice, but we will and we have to stop them when she gets tired.”
Boreus cuddled Autumn and nodded. She let out a tiny cooing sound that almost made Auster’s heart pop out of his chest and cuddled further down into their arms. “That’s all we can do, and there aren’t so many residents of the Mountain.”
They sat on the couch for a little longer before they lifted their love and took her to their bed. Auster was still marveling that he had a place in their bed, that he’d been forgiven for his deeds.
Sleep and wake and back to the summit, then the throne room at the Bastion where Compassion sat to the side of Light and assessed each resident that came forward with her bright eyes.
The second day was much like the first, minor gods of the Mountain, frightened of the scrutiny and of the Highest. But there were no more remnants found that day.
Or the next.
Or the one after that.
And that was the end of the minor gods. Light smiled and told them to take the next two days to rest and recover.
They spent their days trying to plan for Skirion’s rescue, picking up a conversation from the bad days when Auster was still bent to killing Autumn in a perverse bid to save Eleni.
Autumn kept the conversation to the facts, asking Auster for his opinion and staying as far away from those days as possible.
Auster still felt odd about it, as though he hadn’t truly apologized for what he’d done, or perhaps that he hadn’t atoned properly. Autumn loved him, had forgiven him, and he didn’t need anything else.
On the third day, they went back to the Bastion, back to watching Autumn become Compassion.
Watching her stand beside the Gods of the Mountain as they were called forward.
Auster watched for every tick in her as she did whatever she was doing that allowed her to find the parasites infecting her fellows.
She found three that day, all of them with that thick thread around their throats and that awful greasy miasma in their minds. They didn’t even seem to know it until Autumn pointed it out to the Highest.
And the Highest couldn’t seem to tell either, which meant that somehow, Autumn was operating at a different frequency than even the Highest. Auster wasn’t certain how she was doing that, but it didn’t matter because the unseen were closing the doors and Autumn was wavering and collapsing hard to the floor.
She wasn’t breathing right, Auster hurried to her side and lifted her from the floor, holding her out to Light, who had a worried look on her face.
“We may need to pause this,” Light pressed a hand to Autumn’s brow. “She cannot continue to rise as she is.” Light looked up at Boreus and Auster. “We will discuss this, but expect to return to Charan as soon as she is recovered. He will be required to finish this thing.”
“Skirion,” Love added, giving Autumn a concerned look before looking back at Light. “My Highest, there is something here that I almost recognize, but the color of it is strange.”
“What do you mean, Love?”
Love looked back to Autumn. “We should heal her first and then I will be able to process it more fully without the shades of Compassion muddling things.”
“Bring her,” Light looked to Auster. “I will ease her breathing and see about healing the rest.”
“The rest?” Boreus gave Autumn a concerned look.
“The miasma is after her, North Wind.” Light said bluntly. “We are destroying it as we locate it, but there are fragments hanging on to her that must be removed.”
Auster looked down, right into Autumn’s eyes as she tried to smile up at him. The expression was crooked and tired and he just cuddled her to his chest and stroked her hair back.
“Rest, love.” He murmured. “It’s all going to be fine.”
She nodded, total trust in her eyes as she faded back out into an uneasy sleep.
“Bring her,” Light led the way through the Bastion, into the back hallways and back to the little villa that was their home. He brought Autumn through the villa into a small bedroom, laying her in the bed and stepping back at Light’s direction.
Light settled on the side of the bed, laying her hands on Autumn’s head and chest and loosing a torrent of light into her body. The light filled Auster’s love, until there were iridescent tears running from her eyes.
Autumn’s body arched, mouth opening as more light spilled from between her lips. And borne on that light, were several tiny fragments of filmy grease.
Light nodded, allowing the torrent to fade and incinerated the fragments before rising. “Come for supper, East Wind. She will sleep and I will have her watched over until she wakes.”
Auster looked up at the light, knowing that there was another Solace in it and nodded. “Alright.”
They spent the night there, since Autumn hadn’t woken yet. Light had the unseen take them to a larger bedroom within the villa, where there was a bed big enough for them all, and they could curl up with Autumn and rest..