Chapter 47 Visaria
Visaria
The quiet holds for a time, and then the world begins again. Saurin moves quietly beside the bed, her hands already working as she begins to change the bandages. There is no hesitation in her movements, even after everything she has already given.
Colsar rises with the children, one settled on each shoulder, balanced and calm against him in a way that looks effortless, their small bodies finding him as easily as they found each other.
I try not to move too much as she works. Even the smallest shift sends a pull through my abdomen that reminds me exactly how close I came to not being here for any of this. She replaces the cloth with fresh bandaging, her fingers certain and unhurried.
"It will take several weeks," she says quietly. "Once a healer sees you it should close properly. You may not scar."
"That would be fortunate."
She nods. “Moving from standing to sitting will hurt the most. Once you are upright and walking the pain will ease." She glances at me. "You must be careful."
"How do you know all of this?"
She is quiet for a moment, and then she smiles, something soft and sad moving through it. "I once had a son. He was five months old when the undead came." Her hands continue working. "I had gone to the well. When I returned the village was gone. Blood everywhere. Nothing left to save."
I stare at her for a moment, overwhelmed. “I am sorry.”
She inclines her head slightly. "When I gave birth to him he refused to come the natural way. Stubborn, even then." A faint breath of something like memory passes through her. "My husband had to deliver him himself. He used the same magic I used on you."
"You depleted yourself."
"My power will return," she answers calmly. “In a few days I will be as I was."
Colsar steps closer as she finishes, the last bandage set in place, and I look at him. Not a long look. Just enough. His eyes meet mine and something passes between us that does not need words, a question asked and answered in the span of an instant, and I turn back to Saurin.
"How would you feel about staying with us?
" I begin carefully. "As their nursemaid.
I would say Matron but you seem far too young for it.
" I pause. "You are good with them. You risked your life to bring them into this world.
" Colsar watches her now, quiet and attentive.
"We would pay you well and treat you well.
The only thing is," I hesitate, "there is war coming.
We do not yet know where we will end up. We may not remain in Shalvar forever."
Silence follows, long enough that I feel it begin to press in.
"If you would rather not, I understand—"
"I would be honored."
Her voice cuts through mine and I stop.
She looks at me with something bright in her eyes that she is not quite holding back. “You do not know how it feels,” she says, “to be around life again. To be around children.” A small breath. "I enjoy their company. And yours." Then, more quietly, "And I think my power may be of use."
Colsar's attention sharpens. "What is your power? Your origins?"
I shoot him a look. He softens slightly, though the interest does not leave him.
Saurin does not seem offended. "My parents were miners from Yorali. Commoners. Their magic was simple and much of it passed to me." She draws in a breath. "But I was born with something else. Visaria."
Colsar exhales. "I was told Yorali's king exterminated them."
"He tried," she says. "When the hunts began my parents fled and we settled in one of the border villages.”
"What is a Visaria?" I ask.
"We see what lies beneath." She considers the question further before continuing. "I can see the truth of power. What something is. What it pretends to be. How strong it truly is. I can see when someone is hiding something, a power, an identity, something they should not be."
My mind pulls back to Hurstinal, to the way he had been at the end, to whatever had been looking out through his mangled eyes our last night in Alarna, wearing his face and moving through his body.
I come back to the room.
"That made Yorali paranoid," Saurin continues, her voice unchanged.
"They are known for deception and Visaria could expose it.
Other kingdoms would claim to offer safety and in truth would enslave us for their courts.
" Her eyes move briefly to the children.
"I will not use my gift to help kings gain power over other kings. But I will use it to protect them."
I look at her for a long moment and then meet her eyes fully. "Before you agree you should know there will be danger. A great deal of it."
She does not hesitate. "I do not care," she says simply. "There is danger everywhere. At least here, the company is pleasant."
We laugh lightly, then the room falls into a comfortable quiet. Colsar shifts slightly, the children still against him, the fire burning low in the corner, and something new begins to form between the three of us that has nothing to do with survival and everything to do with what comes after it.