Page 28 of A Conduit of Light
“I’dlike to know your name.Sothat if we meet again,Ican properly greet you.”AgainAshstayed polite, though annoyed at the creature’s suggestion she meet a monster.
“Youcouldn’t pronounce my name even if you had a thousand years to try.”Shethen let out a deafening screech full of harsh guttural sounds and high-pitched notes that lasted twenty seconds or more.
Thelittle creature looked pleased atAsh’sdiscomfort when she held her hands to her ears.
“See?”Shelaughed and her sharp teeth glinted in the afternoon sun.
“Yes,Isee.Icould never say your name.Notin a thousand years.Butmaybe you have oneIcouldsay?Namesare important.”
“Iheard the name ‘Moira’ once and liked it.So, humans call me that.Iguess you can, too.”Shejumped to the next branch up on the tree, then another and another, almost out of sight.
“Wait!Canyou help me find the lumen den?I’mstill lost!”Ashshouted up to the tree, but the creature was gone, or at least was done with her.
Shelooked around, hoping her confusion would leave, since the creature who had surely caused it in the first place had gone.Butstill nothing was familiar, so she turned, and did her best to follow the direction from which she came, hoping to once again see the towers of theFortress.
Asshe walked, her hands brushed the rough bark of the trees and the fronds of the ferns littering the sides of the dirt path, her magic flowing from her fingers to greet them.Herthoughts returned to theBlight.
Shefelt so young, so small.Barelyinto her twentieth year, she was given the task to save the forest which produced all magic inArcaynen.Shehad only just accepted her training here and now she was to not only stay, but heal what was breaking.Thepressure of her task and role inBaronHeimlen’seyes weighed on her each night as she lay in her bed, watching the moonlit sky outside of her angled window.
Attimes her thoughts wandered toBaronRevich.Shehad seen little of him since being shown theBlight, and yet she couldn’t stop thinking about whatBaronHeimlenhad said.
BaronRevichhad doubted her.
Shecouldn’t blame him, really.Shehad held back at all of the trainings until now, until she understood the importance of what she was brought toFelgrento do.Herown sense of pride longed to show him the truth.Shewanted to shake him into acceptance of what she knew she was capable of—what she knew she could wield.
Thesound of splashing nearby took her out of her thoughts and she turned down a smaller dirt path.Thinkingof the bog monster, she hesitated a moment before pushing on through the tall grasses.Ifit was real, she hoped it didn’t eat channelers in training.
Thepath ended alongside a small lake, shallow and full of silt, its water a light brown, swirling ripples meeting the edge of the muddy shore, likely due to the ruckus before her.
BaronRevich’sback was facing her across the lake, knee deep in the water and bent, black gloves running all the way up to his elbows.Shegrinned, recognizing his easily identifiable black hair, the color glistening almost blue in the sun, tied back into a knot with a white ribbon.
“Oh,I’vegot younow,” he spoke through what sounded like gritted teeth as he yanked on whatever he was holding under the water. “Whoa, easy,easy.”
Ashhadn’t really noticed his muscular frame before, but she certainly did now.Hisshirt clung to him, wet and thin, the ripple of muscle down his back impossible to miss as he yelled in triumph, finally pulling a massive fish out of the muck and holding it high above him.Thefish writhed in protest, causing him to lose his balance and fall back into the water.
Sheran forward without thinking, her boots skimming the edge of the lake just as his head emerged from it, his grip somehow still on the powerful beast.
Hefaced her pushing his muddy black hair from his eyes in one quick motion, before wiping them clean.
Sheneeded to leave.
Quickly.
Sheturned in a flurry of green skirts.
“Ash?” he called and she stopped, turning back around, a flush of blood creeping up her cheeks.
“Oh, hello,” she said hesitantly with a little wave, her breath suddenly short.
Sheunderstood exactly why as her eyes flitted across his body, the cotton material of his tunic clinging to him in a pathetic attempt to stay on his toned chest.
Hehad his hand inside of the coppery fish’s mouth, pulling it along as it thrashed in determined resistance to the result of the fight.
“Whatare you doing out here?Areyou lost?”Hethrew the massive fish onto the muddy shore, some of the sludge splashing onto her skirts.Hepulled off his gloves and tossed them to the shore as well, taking a moment to wipe more silt from his face and flick it into the water.
Sheshoved her hands into her pockets. “I—”Shecleared her throat in an attempt to sound normal. “Iwas looking for the lumen den, actually.Ifinished my time withBaronHeimlenthis morning and was going to meetClairanniaandFiguerah, butIgot turned around.”
Helistened while he worked, pulling the top half of his hair back and curling it around in a spiral to stay out of his face, his white ribbon long gone.
