Page 23 of Daughter of No Worlds

“Yes. Very well.”

I traced their faces. Araich’s tilted down, his eyes looking straight at the viewer, while Rosira’s gazed out over the sea through those great glass windows. I wondered if she had dreamed of my world the way that I dreamed of hers. If she had, she may never have gotten to see it. Five hundred years ago, the world had been without magic, and its resurgence was so chaotic and unpredictable that it threatened to destroy everything. As the stories were told, she and Araich had given pieces of their very souls to mold magic into something sustainable. And then, they had founded the Orders to be a beacon of stability in a new world of dangerous power and great possibility.

I swallowed a sudden swell of emotion.

That was, at least, what they had always been to me. A beckoning promise.

I was so entranced that I almost didn’t notice when Nura began striding away. “Come,” she said, and waved me along

I followed her into a smaller room lined with desks and bookcases that smelled strongly of the comforting scent of paper. Willa sat behind one of the desks in the corner. On the other side of the room, a woman and a man shuffled through papers. They wore gold sun insignias on their lapels — Solarie.

“You’re moving well!” Willa said, giving me a grin I could not help but return.

“Willa. We need to find a teacher for Tisaanah.” The moment Nura opened her mouth, Willa closed hers, giving her undivided attention.

Yes. Nura had to be important. Probably not the Arch Commandant — the leader of the Orders — but certainly highly-ranked.

Willa frowned, shuffling through a few pieces of paper on the desk. “I’m afraid that no one who is open to taking an apprentice is free now, since the assignments happened months ago—” She squinted at me. “How old are you, dear?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Twenty-one?” Willa arched her eyebrows, looking to Nura. “She’s three years older than apprentices are when theycompletetheir—”

“Age has nothing to do with it. If she wants to join the Orders, she must complete at least some training. The laws are clear about that.” Nura crossed her arms, tapping impatiently with her index finger. “I know we have to be unconventional.”

A wrinkle formed on Willa’s forehead. She pulled out a scribbled stack of bound parchment and began flipping through it.

“Look up where Maxantarius Farlione is living these days,” Nura said.

Willa stopped mid-movement. “Really?”

“I told you we were going to have to be unconventional.”

“But are you sure that he’s the right—”

“Look it up, please.”

A pause. Willa looked like she might retort. But instead, she flipped through her books, produced a small piece of paper, and handed it to Nura.

“Thank you.” Nura glanced down at the parchment. “And how much longer do you think Tisaanah needs to recover before she can begin?”

Recover? I didn’t need to recover any more. I wouldn’t let them force me to train forsix years,that I knew for sure. And that meant I had no time to waste. If I could drag myself thousands of miles while on the cusp of death, I could certainly put up with whatever this Maxa-whoever could throw at me. “I want to begin now.”

Willa looked startled. “Tisaanah, dear, you’re still—”

“I have waited eight years to come here. I am recovered. And I want to begin.”

“But—”

“We can’t fault her impatience.” A tiny smile curled at the edges of Nura’s mouth. “She likes to get things done. I can respect that.”

Respect wasn’t quite what I saw in the amused gleam of Nura’s pale eyes. But that was fine. I’d been given my chance to earn it, and a chance was all I needed.

“Let’s go, then.” Nura looked down at the paper Willa gave her, then flipped it over. She took a pen from the desk.

“Hold onto my arm.” I obeyed as I watched her draw a circle. Then add lines and shapes winding through its center—

And then, suddenly, I was no longer standing in the Tower of Midnight, but blinking into a blinding midday sun.

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