50. Ocean Jasper
The music of the feast swells around the hall. It’s been decorated almost as elaborately as it was during my wedding on the Festival of Endu. A second wall was opened to look out at the Ardorflame Temple, and there is a group of singers sitting at the other end of the space.
Ulla and Thorne have joined Velen to create waves of music that would please the gods themselves, while several elves have brought instruments. I think of the ogres at Rholker’s coronation, and all the great many things that I have passed through since I was taken from the cave a handful of months ago.
It strikes me that I never realized instruments weren’t used under the mountain as I watch the musicians play. It spikes my curiosity.
That is, until a cry comes from the basket next to me. Mikal and the new baby were placed on either side of our table.
Mikal holds a dagger in his hands, and he practices twirling around his fingers and wrists.
“Be careful,” I chide as I adjust the small babe’s blanket, and my brother looks up at me.
He grins.
“Svanna said I have excellent blade instincts,” he counters, and I snort a laugh.
Just as I’m about to snatch the blade away, Teo stills my hand. “She’s right. Have you spoken to Vann? He’s always happy for a sparring partner. I would be, too.”
Mikal’s whole face lights up. “Really? Would you like to practice tonight? War on the horizon means that you can never have too much practice.”
I suck in a sharp breath.
He’s young, so he’s always been so full of energy, but I don’t luxuriate in the idea of my husband taking my brother off to be a soldier. Teo has made promises to me and our family.
Knowing how to use a blade is wise, mi amor?1, he says through our bond.
I want to make a comment about his invading my thoughts. “Tomorrow, perhaps. Tonight, you should enjoy yourself. Go, there are others your age over near the roasting bear.” Teo raises his hand to gesture where the other younglings play and run. I see mostly small children, but there are a few teenagers swaying about. One or two looks like they could go perform the dual’moraan tomorrow.
Mikal stiffens. I look at him, leaning forward as he watches. After a few moments, his eyes find mine. I see his life spent cutting wood among men twice his age. He looks unsure, tugging on his tunic.
I worry that he won’t find what he searches for with them. Rejection is more painful than self-imposed isolation, but the fear of success can’t hold him back forever. Especially when most of that fear is mine.
They accepted you, they will accept him in time,Teo says calmly.
I purse my lips.
“Yes, Miki. Go and make friends.”
He gives me a lopsided smile, and then stands, still twirling his blade before he walks over to join them.
I watch him with a heart two sizes too big. For a second, I can’t help but marvel over the life the stones have sung for me.
We escaped death, and though I feared the worst, we both survived. Teo gave up some of what he was before to get us back, and I worry about how that will play out in the years to come.
Liana had once told me in our training that a wise woman’s burden was the ability to see the future, and yet still be bound by the fears of the present. It’s an imprecise magic, to be sure, but there’s something about knowing that Teo and I have a future that is enough for the moment.
I pull the giant babe out of his basket and sit back, bouncing him on my leg. He nestles into me, and I look around the room. It surprises me just how many pairings there are, and the room is filled with laughter, kisses, drinking, and dancing.
Niht twirls one of the elves around the room, and I am pleased that they have stayed. It only takes a few to change the course of a relationship between two peoples.
The mood is ambient and joyful, and I let the crystals amplify the peacefulness that is harbored inside of me.
It isn’t until a loud crash sounds through the room that I bolt upright.
There’s a flurry in the crowd, and a few hurry off, leaving a clear view of the altercation.
In the middle of the room is Vann, shaking his hand.
On the ground in front of him is Joso.
Teo moves to the side of me, standing up and charging over to see exactly what had happened. I scan behind the two men to see Arlet with her hands pressed to her face.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Vann roars.
Something wasn’t right.
Joso was gentle and kind. He wouldn’t have done something on purpose.
Just as I stand up to inspect what was happening, the sound of heavy footfalls crowds behind me.
I turn to the forms emerging from the tunnel to the outside. My breath catches, and I fear a horde of red eyes.
Except… they aren’t the vaimpír.
It’s Melisa holding Ra’Sa’s arm while he carries twin girls.
Though they head the group, dozens continue to swarm inside behind them, clad in brown and grey slave rags. My hand flies to my mouth as I start moving.
We hadn’t heard anything from them since their speaking stones had run out. A team was going after them, but I just hadn’t expected that they’d show up like this. How had neither Liana or I seen this?
It’s a miracle.
Teo is next to me in a second as they try to come across the cavern. When we meet at the bridge, I look over to still see hundreds pouring in. Old, young, men, and women. I let out the longest breath, and then, embrace Melisa the best I can manage with a baby still in my arms.
“My friend. You made it home,” I say, grinning.
“We escaped,” she says breathless. Her face is haggard, and her hair is a mess. I can’t resist reaching up and tucking a lock behind her ear. She offers a weak smile. “We took as many as could walk. There are more on the road. We were just the fastest.”
“How long were you walking for?” I ask. It took us four days to get to the mines, and we’ve been back at least four more.
“For over a week,” she says.
Teo inquires, “How many all together?¨
But before she can answer, Ra’Sa’s eyes trail behind, to where the Enduares congregate.
His mouth drops open, and he gasps.
“Pater,” he breathes, using the Enduar word for father.
An older Enduar, one brought out of the ocean, comes forward, pushing through the crowd with a woman on his arm. And then he hugs Ra’Sa.
My eyes track the movement, but it’s not just us who take in the joyful reunion. Instead of stopping the festivities, Velen’s song starts up once again.
I look at Teo, and then back at the humans. Liana has already joined us, as has a furious-looking Vann. Soon Svanna comes up, gazing at all the faces.
“Well, shit,” Vann murmurs.
Svanna hits his arm.
“Be useful for once in your life.” Then she raises her hand and points at a group of hunters hanging nearby. “Get another bear from storage!”
People begin to move around us, and a list unfolds in my mind. Clothing, homes, food, baths, everything.
The only calm in the storm is my mate.
I look at him, enjoying his tight jaw. My lips quirk up when I see the spectacles perched on his nose.
Without speaking, he reaches out for the baby. I give him to his arms, then straighten my dress.
“Are you ready?” he asks, finally looking down at me with those brilliant, blue eyes.
As the humans move past us, I take in the extent of some of their wounds and roll up my sleeves. This would be hard, but it is a good kind of hard.
If something like this had happened to me a year ago, I would’ve run from such a challenge.
But the cruel voices in my head are gone, banished by the light of the Enduares and my husband’s kind words.
It’s not the time to mourn what is lost; it’s time to thrive.
“More than ready.”
It’s time to get to work.