Dragon Aster Trilogy

26: FOG



Sybl didn’t stop shaking after she peaked out her window. The gardens and the training courts had been turned into a lavishly decorated party. She hated being around so many people at once. The whole idea of a Caelestis of War being scared of crowds was just laughable.

Sybl looked at the door as a knock came, and she quickly hid under the curtain. “Go away! I’m still dressing!”

“You are by far the worst liar,” Kas said as he opened the door to find a shaking velvet curtain. “Now let us go.”

“I want to go with Gwa.”

Kas’ boot steps came across the floor, and he pulled the curtain away. He found her dressed, not in a blue gown, but a silver one that revealed a lot more unexpected curves.

Sybl ducked and closed her eyes, fearing he would explode with no one around to save her. But the seconds went by, and he said nothing. So she opened her eyes and tried to get a read on what he was thinking.

But he wasn’t thinking as much as he was trying to understand her thoughts in turn, before finding the one he needed to say something. “I was not aware that you had a blue dress on in your nightmare. I could have had a silver one made for you.”

“I…well, you’re busy. That and this one is from Earth, so it makes me feel better.”

Kas raised one eyebrow, figuring that this topic didn’t need an argument. He took her hand, as the fear that she might yet take off and hide hadn’t left his mind, and they walked from the room and down the hall. Then he let her go.

She took his arm as they walked downstairs, and around the staircase to the exit that led to the gardens. Sybl tried to focus on nothing, as the dozens on dozens of people applauded and welcomed them. She drowned it all out, only nodding and smiling where it felt appropriate. All the while Kas tried to pull her mind to full attention, but she just retreated further into nothingness, edging the point of fainting.

“There be wraiths in the flowers. Her Lady would be safest not leaning against any.”

Sybl looked up at Xirel’s purple eyes. She looked around the garden then, and found only the both of them within it. It was as if everyone else had been blocked out by a thick, white fog. Instantly she felt better. “Are you…?”

“Yes, I have mastered a few talents with Thread over the years,” Xirel said, looking briefly around at his handy work. “While there are some chimeras who are by far more masterful Awls, making a mess of Threads to the point they disappear tends to be easier for me.”

“Thank you.” Sybl smiled as she thought his latest mess was nothing short of brilliant, right down to its timing.

“Thank you for coming, and in such a beautiful sparkle of silver. You outshine my youth a thousand times over.”

She looked at his silver hair that he likely tried to restore some luster to for the occasion. He looked like an ancient elf who carried his wrinkles with more pride, as even his ears were just a bit sharper near the tips. His long purple robe made her think about Kas’ roses. She smiled at the thought, and then looked back at his purple eyes in curiosity. “Are there any colors that chimera can’t see?”

“Most colors can’t be seen by us, except for those of us who are Awls. I must say it was strange and beautiful thing to go from seeing black, white, grey and red, to a spectrum of colors that could never be all named.”

“At this rate Earth will take over Aster, just by their Sentry alone.”

“I don’t think that’s Hino’s intention, Sybl. I think he just wants a peaceful balance, as you did once. There are millions of Sentry, and only a handful here of his finest to fill out and help where they can.”

Sybl looked across the gardens to where Loki watched her through the fog Xirel had created. “I hope you’re right.”

Soft music started into their silence, and Xirel took her hand in his. “May I have the first dance?”

She followed him to what she could only guess was the center of the garden, and tried not to look at his feet as he led her.

When the song was over, the fog slowly faded out. Then he let her go with a bow. “If you find yourself overwhelmed again, I will be nearby.”

“Thank you, Xirel,” she said in turn, and then looked as Loki stepped up to take the next dance from her. When her stomach jumped from the sight of all the people again, he quickly brought her attention back to him.

“Why are you so nervous around others?”

“I think right now I’m more nervous around you.”

“You don’t owe me an apology, so don’t even try. Lintrance tried to kill you. The sooner the world forgets that he was my brother, the better. I’m grateful that Kas was able to silence what happened as well as he did.”

Out of reflex alone, Sybl reached for her neck where her matching necklace to Cirrus’ had once been. If she forgot him again, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.

Loki brought her eyes back to his. “I was hoping that you forgot about him.”

“If it’s not you blocking him out of my memories, then who is doing it?”

“I don’t want to rat anyone out. Especially as all of this has proven that you can be happy without Cirrus.”

“No, I can’t. We go back a lot farther than anyone is seeing or understanding,” Sybl replied.

“But things change. And all he ever did was hurt you.”

“That’s not true. How much more pain have I caused him in turn? All because of what I am.”

“Sybl, listen to me,” Loki pleaded. “You took my heart before I so much as met you in person. I can protect you now. Forget about him and move on. Everyone else has already.”

Sybl looked away from him and to the grass under her. “I’m sorry, Loki, but I haven’t.” She looked around the crowd for the closest way out, and retreated from the garden. When she was far from the noise, she turned her head when another voice called out to her. One that took a moment to remember from back at the Harbor.

She lifted her dress up and walked through the tall grass, as several Custos watched her carefully from afar. Then she nearly tripped over the one who had been calling her. It was the griffin somnus from the Harbor. Her first instinct was to cry out for help, until he caught her ankle with his sharp nails.

“They took him. Gloria, Delare—our ship...everything… Help them, please!”

She kneeled down, and touched him to heal his wounds that looked to have been done by gunshot. Just as she did, his eyes rolled back and he died.

Kenshe skidded to a stop next to her in his phelan form, but before he could say anything, he saw the griffin somnus. “How did he get past our perimeter?”

“He was one of the ones to help me at the Harbor, before Loki found me,” Sybl said, and wiped a tear from her eye as she stood up straight again.

“I’ll see to it that his body is taken care of. Go back to the party before Kas—”

“I don’t give a damn about partying while people are out there dying because of me!” Sybl cried at him. She turned her tears towards the Triage Woods, where the Atrum lay beyond their Borders and beyond her power of saving.

“You can’t hold yourself responsible for saving everyone,” Kenshe shouted back. “You’ll drive yourself mad unless you stop it!”

“Someone has to take responsibility. If not me, then who?” Sybl crouched back down, and looked at the griffin somnus’ hand. He held what looked like a silver chain. She gently opened his hand, and lifted what was her necklace, complete with the golden fairy on it. “Delare must have taken this off of me when he pulled me from the water…”

“Sybl!”

Sybl got back to her feet, and looked to where Kas walked over to her.

“What are you doing out here? And alone—?” He stopped on the sight of the dead griffin somnus, and frowned deeply. “How did this get past our Custos?”

“He helped me back at the Harbor, and now he’s likely dead because of it.”

Kas looked at Sybl, and then back at the corpse. “Our Custos do not use guns. Whatever he did to bring this Fate on himself has nothing to do with us. Go back inside.”

With nothing more that she could do, she turned and left Kas in the field. In her hand she gripped the blood-covered fairy pendant.