The Eternal Blade Saga Book 2, Chapter 23: Familial Connection

I poured myself over the documents again and again, doing my best to follow the network of information but unable to fully absorb this new revelation. Shuffling the pieces of parchment and tomes around, I began to go over them yet again, but the words and numbers started to blur all together. In a fit of frustration, I pushed the materials aside and braced myself against the table, eliciting a few gasps from the others in the room.

“Can you all excuse us please?” Quint asked everyone in the room.

Everyone left silently, aside from Alena who paused next to me on her way out. For a moment, I thought she might protest, but instead, the asura offered an unsure “okay” and followed the others out of the room. My gaze still focused on the table, I waited until everyone was gone before letting my rigid body relax a little.

“Six months,” I uttered, shaking my head, “they were around for six months after they left me with my aunt and uncle.”

“It seems they had their reasons,” Quint said. He bent over and started straightening the scattered materials.

“A baby.”

“Your sister.”

I frowned as I straightened myself. “Why would they keep her from me? Why wouldn’t they tell me about her?” Why wouldn’t Grenth just tell me who she was?

Leaving the materials on the table, Quint put a hand on my shoulder, the physical contact drawing me out of my internal thoughts. His warm smile reached his pale eyes and put me at ease a little. I always appreciated his calm demeanor, and if I was honest with myself, a little envious. “Whatever their reasons, she’s here now.” He glanced over at doorway then back at me. “You should go talk to her.”

Nodding, I started to pull away but stopped. “No, wait. I’m sorry. For your arm. I didn’t mean-.”

“It’s alright,” Quint said, cutting me off. “It was surprising, I admit, but it was gone almost as soon as it happened. See?” He showed me his arm and flexed his hand. “All okay.”

“No, it’s not okay,” I insisted as I pulled back from him. “None of this is okay.”

My former adviser knit his brow in concern. “What do you mean?”

Immediately, I tensed and my guard went back up. I wanted to tell him everything. I wanted to tell him there was something wrong with me, that I was on the Reaper’s radar, that I was afraid of losing more people I cared about. But I just wasn’t ready. Instead, I glanced past Quint at the doorway. Seren was on the other side somewhere, probably as confused as I was. Quint was right; I needed to talk to her. “We’ll talk about it later,” I said, looking up at him and managing a smile. “I promise.”

His smile fell from his eyes, but still clung to his lips. “Okay.”

***

I took one step out onto the bow and was immediately met with a gusting of fresh air. It blew my hair back from my face, startling me and I froze, my fingers gripping the door frame. I had never been up in an airship before, especially not one that was in flight. Despite having something solid under my feet, the feeling of being rushed through the air was slightly jarring at first. I swallowed hard and grabbed hold of my determination. Loosening my grip on the frame, I took a step outside, then another, adjusting to the momentum as I went. After all I had faced, I wasn’t about to let a flying ship cripple me.

Near the front of the bow, Seren stood leaning against the railing and staring out at the passing landscape. The snowy peaks of the Shiverpeak mountains had now given way to the lush greenery of the foothills. In the distance, I spied a flock of birds flying in formation in the same direction we were heading. We were catching up to them and at the rate we were going, would likely pass them in a few minutes.

Seren had already seen or heard me coming. I wasn’t surprised if my fumbling in the doorway gave me away. Glaring at me from the corner of her eye, she frowned. Her whole body grew rigid and I thought she was just going to ignore me, but instead she turned to face me. Letting go of the railing, she leaned against it. I can’t say I would have been that bold. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said with such finality that I might have just given up right there, but my stubbornness settled in.

“Seren, I-.”

She abruptly turned back around to watch the landscape. “I said I don’t want to talk about it!”

Clenching my jaw, I scurried over to the rail and latched on. I leaned over and watched the ground, amazed at how quickly it was all rushing by. I could understand why traveling by airship would be ideal. You definitely covered more ground than on foot, or even by cart and beast.

“Do you remember our last conversation?” I asked, ignoring Seren’s remarks.

“I’m not reminiscing with you,” she replied curtly.

I ignored her and kept talking. “I told you I saw Grenth looking over you during the siege of Lion’s Arch. He never revealed why and I’ve spent all this time since that day wondering why. At the time, I figured it was to help save the children. But now….” I glanced back over my shoulder at the doorway. “Now I’m not so sure it was because of them.”

I looked back over at Seren to find her staring at me with her eyes narrowed sharply. There was real anger in those eyes, but also something else. “Those documents don’t mean anything. They could’ve brought in any baby. Doesn’t mean it was me. My parents never told me I was adopted.”

“They could have been lying,” I offered, turning myself to face her while still making sure to hold tight to the rail. I may have started to adapt to the feeling of sailing through the air on a large mechanical airship, but I still feared a strong gust of wind knocking me over the rail. Or if the ship listed to the side and I fell over the rail. I preferred staying on the ship.

“Don’t you dare-.”

“What?” I asked sternly. “Claim they lied to you?”

“They wouldn’t do that.”

“No?” I tensed. “I thought my parents always told me the truth too.”

“You have no idea-,” Seren began with a scoff.

My grip tightened on the rail and words began tumbling out of my mouth. “Do you think this has been easy for me? I barely had a childhood and then my parents disappear, my aunt and uncle are killed, their farm burned to the ground, and in the ashes, I found proof my parents had been keeping secrets from me. Secrets that became my whole life. Secrets I still carry. And just when I thought I knew them all, I find out there was still one more secret I didn’t know.”

The young guardian’s eyes went wide and she recoiled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay”, I conceded, softening my tone. “You have every right to be angry. I lied to you, to everyone, and it got people killed.”

She looked me square in the eye. “You did. That’s why I can’t be a part of this. I’m not just going to stand by and watch more people die for something they don’t fully know about.”

“That’s why I’m going to end it,” I said. “I’m going to destroy the secrets so no one else has to die. But I need everyone’s help to do that. Please Seren, will you stay and help me?”

“Why, Nienna?” she demanded. “Why do you need me?”

I clenched my quivering jaw, trying to still it, but it persisted. “Because I can’t do this alone. I don’t want to do this alone. I want my friends with me—and my family.”

She shook her head, her eyes welling with tears, and suddenly she looked so much younger. “I just don’t want to lose more people I care about,” she said softly.

“I don’t either,” I confessed. “I know I’ve made a disaster of this whole thing. There’s nothing I can do that will bring back the dead. I just want to set things right.”

We stood facing each other for a moment in silence while Seren processed everything I had said. As I waited patiently for the young guardian to say something, the airship turned slightly south. I held on through the turn, but she must have been so lost in thought that she didn’t think to grab the rail and she started listing to the side. With my free hand, I reached out and grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back towards me. We collided in a partial embrace, but when I moved to back away from her, Seren didn’t let go.

“Seren?” I said softly. Her body trembled as the young guardian started to sob. It was easy to forget how young she was and the tragic losses she had to deal with in a just a short period of time. Oh gods, and now I’d thrust her right back into it. I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t say anything at all. I tried to imagine what an older sister would do. Letting go of the rail, I wrapped my arms around her and held her while she cried.