Chapter Thirty Five
A World Unseen
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Nevatis.
Kano.
There had only been one time since Kano had known the merking, that his regard for him had taken an unfortunate, resentful turn.
It was the first time he’d been introduced to the nymphs.
Kano hadn’t known who he was, couldn’t understand the power within him, nor the fact he lived under the water like the rest of them quite easily (even without gills or a tail), and yet he’d felt very much like the merking had given him the job no one else wanted to do.
Keeping an eye on his young, capricious spies.
He hadn’t wanted to do it. Not at all. But even that bitterness had been nothing compared to how he felt now.
Gods. Goddesses. Wars. Wardens.
An explanation, finally, of what his magic was. Where it came from.
Cyraneous told him everything. After years of badgering the merking about his past (within reason, of course… Kano was not stupid enough to pester him too much), he knew the truth.
And that man, that crestfallen man, really had been his brother.
It was difficult to feel any sort of way about any of it when he simply couldn’t remember his life before Nevatis. The only emotion that he could feel with any real clarity was anger.
He didn’t know himself. He thought he had… but everything he’d known to be true these last three years was nothing but a blanket of rough sand over him, concealing the real him that lay dormant beneath.
Pacing his cave, his home, deep in the heart of Nevatis, Cyraneous watched him silently from the pool in the centre. Kano struggled to keep his anger at bay. ‘So… I am the Water Warden. Which means-?’
‘The Water Mother chose you as her protegee. Corla’s magic is one with your soul. You are the bridge between the mortal world and the divine,’ the merking told him.
He’d heard of Corla, naturally. The merking lived his entire life by Her. Though he’d never explained that it was Her magic he himself possessed. It made so much sense that Kano berated himself for never coming to the conclusion.
‘And there are other Wardens?’ Kano asked him. ‘Of Earth and Air and…’
‘Fire,’ Cyraneous finished for him. Kano merely blinked at him, waiting for more information.
Almost begrudgingly, the merking continued, ‘The Earth is ground. It is the rock our world is built upon. The Air rests unseen above us. You breathe it. It keeps you alive. Fire is destruction, but also vitality. It cleans and purges so new life might thrive. Each Element cannot exist without the others, and it is the Wardens’ duty to keep the balance the Four Mothers founded. ’
‘Duty,’ Kano repeated, then demanded accusingly, ‘If it is my duty, why would you keep this from me?’
The merking’s tone was matter-of-fact as he said, ‘For the same reason your brother stole you away from the landking. To protect you, Kano. To save you from the misery that comes with being a Warden.’
‘But it was all a lie.’ Kano stopped pacing. ‘Everything was a lie. This life I have built, my relationship with you, with the twins… it’s all based on a lie.’
Cyraneous was quiet for a moment, but his black eyes did not move from Kano’s. ‘Do you truly believe that?’
He didn’t. Not really. But the bitterness within him was too thick to swallow. He ripped his gaze from the merking’s and stared at the ground instead.
‘Kano,’ Cyraneous said in a level voice.
‘I do not want you to leave. I rather feel you belong here, not up there. But I will not get in your way should you choose to join the other Wardens. Know this, though… you do not owe the world anything. If you do choose to leave, let it be because you want to, and not because that is what you think you must do.’
The sentiment had some of that bitterness fading.
‘If I choose to stay…’ Kano began, ‘I will never be able to forget what I know now. I will always wonder if I have made the right decision. I don’t remember who I was before…
but I’ve always known there was more. If I can learn who I am again… then I have to take the chance.’
‘The King of Loros will want you back in his service,’ Cyraneous warned. ‘I cannot protect you once you leave Nevatis. You know now of the hold he had over you. Is that a risk you are willing to take?’
‘But I won’t be alone, will I? I’ll be with the other Wardens,’ Kano quietly argued. He thought of the waterling man. ‘And… and my brother. I’ll be safe with them, won’t I?’
The merking heaved a great sigh. ‘I hope so. I really do.’ He wasn’t a male who showed emotion.
His expression was usually one of complete impassiveness.
Now it was no different, except Kano could sense his sombre disappointment in the quiet moment that followed, and even in the parting words he gave: ‘Then, this is goodbye, Kano Astaveron. Know that you will always be welcome here in Nevatis. And more importantly… know that the true realm of Mother Corla will always be your home.’
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‘You’re leaving?’ Akeria asked, eyebrows raised with surprise. At his confirming nod, she shook her blue head darkly. ‘Lucky you.’
Kano said sharply. ‘What do you mean?’
He’d sought out the twins shortly after his conversation with the merking, and it had been harder, much harder to tell the twins he was leaving Nevatis, than it had been to tell Cyraneous.
Especially as Akraia had yet to say anything at all.
The entire time he’d been talking, she’d avoided his gaze.
Her long legs were pulled tight to her chest as the three of them sat in the shallow turquoise waters of their favourite spot, far away enough from the heart of Nevatis yet close enough that they wouldn’t be bothered by banished mer looking for a meal.
‘I mean what I said,’ said Akeria, a slight bite in her voice. ‘You’re lucky to get out of Nevatis. But then again, you’ve always been treated like a little prince here. It’ll probably be a downgrade for you.’
‘Akeria,’ Akraia hissed, glaring at her.
‘What?’ her sister demanded. ‘Am I lying? Kano supposedly escaped the landking’s servitude by coming here. Would we not be doing the same thing if we left Nevatis?’
Kano blinked. Akeria had never had a problem saying exactly how she felt, but she had never been so bold as to speak out against the merking. ‘You’re not bound to Cyraneous,’ he said. ‘He gives you protection here-’
Akeria laughed. ‘At what price? We spy for him, we do his bidding, we sell ourselves to him and we still get treated with disrespect. Just because we are not mer.’
‘It’s better than being alone out there,’ Akraia said in a small voice, nodding to the Birlissus Ocean to their left.
‘Is it? Because I am sick of the mer looking down at us. The lowly orphan nymph twins, never really belonging anywhere,’ said Akeria with acute bitterness.
‘Well, maybe it’s time we did find somewhere to belong.
To be respected for once in our lives. Maybe the Lorish king will treat us how we deserve to be treated-’
‘I just told you that I was used by the landking for my Warden powers, and you want to go off and join him?’ Kano said incredulously.
‘You don’t remember anything anyway,’ Akeria snapped. ‘How do you know that everything those landwalkers told you is true?’
Gritting his teeth, Kano tightly replied, ‘I just know.’
‘You just know,’ Akeria mimicked him with a roll of her eyes. ‘That’s convincing.’
‘Stop it!’ Akraia cried, suddenly standing as she glowered down at both of them. ‘I am sick of your bickering. Kano is leaving, Ria. You may not care about that but… but I do,’ she finished, her cheeks blushing. For the first time ever, her gaze did not waver from Kano’s.
There had always been a spark of something between them, but up until this point, Kano was sure it was just the spellbound effect that both twins occasionally had on him… if they willed it.
Akraia was different to her sister though. The effect she had on him had nothing to do with any nymph spell.
Suddenly, he found himself not wanting to leave.
Or rather, not wanting to part with her at all.
‘Come with me,’ he blurted. Her face softened at the prospect, but those dark eyes instantly flickered to her sister, and because he knew she would never leave without her, Kano begrudgingly added, ‘Both of you.’
‘And go where?’ Akeria sneered. ‘To play hero with you and the other Wardens? Raia and I don’t have the luxury to just leave-’
‘You said you wanted to leave,’ Kano retorted. ‘So, leave. I’m sure Cyraneous will understand if you-’
‘Because you know him so well.’
Kano ignored her, turning to Akraia. ‘What do you want to do?’
To his surprise, Akeria didn’t interrupt again. Instead, she quietly waited for her sister to reply, her gaze piercing the face that was so like her own, yet softer. Kinder.
Akraia didn’t respond right away. She stared down as the gentle tide pulled in and out around them, her sapphire feet half buried in the sand.
Finally, she lifted her head. ‘I want to come with you, Kano,’ she said quietly, and he sensed the ‘but’ before she even continued, ‘but Ria is right. We can’t just leave.
The merking protects us here. There’s no other place in the world for creatures like us…
not really.’ Tears welled in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry. ’
She was right, of course. From what Kano understood, nymphs were abundant in the oceanic realm, but they were nomads. A wandering people who had no home, no roots. At least here in Nevatis they had purpose.
So this was to be it, then. The only friends he had known (or could remember for that matter), were about to become another memory.
Somehow, knowing he wouldn’t forget this one, it hurt far more than he cared to admit. ‘Right,’ he mumbled, now not able to look at Akraia at all. ‘I guess I’ll see you, then.’
He began wading back into the water to tell Cyraneous he was ready to leave, but Akraia caught his hand in hers. Her fingers were soft. So soft.
Her hand squeezed his, but still he couldn’t look at her. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to tell her…
But it didn’t matter anymore. He would probably never see her again.
That softness disappeared from his hand. And without another word, he moved into the waves, letting them submerge him, to take him away from all he’d known, or remembered, into all that was unknown. Into all he had forgotten.