Page 32 of The Garnet Daughter
“We have been so worried.” She sniffles and holds me so tightly.
My arms still hang loosely next to me, stunned by my confusion. I expected grief and anger from her, not joy. I finally hug her back, still bracing for other emotions to spill forth.
“99 said you folded to Frith and back. How?” She grips my arms and looks up at me, her watery eyes searching.
“We did. I didn’t intend to . . . either time.”
“What was it like?” She wipes the remaining moisture from her face.
“Folding that distance? It’s impossible to explain, but truthfully not much different.”
“You weren’t trying to fold?” She furrows her brow.
“No, it just happened.” I shake my head slowly. “But I felt strange right before.”
She processes for a moment, shaking her head, and then smiles flatly. “I am just so glad you are back.”
“I’m sorry, Ferren, about the temple.” I almost choke on the knot in my throat.
“We knew placing that ward would be difficult. We . . . tried,” she says, defeated by the memory.
“I should not have.”
She takes my hand in hers, like she always has when we speak of serious things, needing the extra bit of affectionate support. “We all made mistakes that day.”
Something about the way she phrases it makes me more alert. Ferren is kind, but there are limits. Her friend died because of my doing and she is happy to see me? Yes, she killed the highest priestess, and it was deserved, not a mistake, but Thea was innocent.
A strange feeling descends across my nerves that perhaps she does not know I read from another prayer when the first one did not work and thinks Thea’s death was a tragic accident just as August does. Which is far from the truth and makes telling them much more difficult.
“The order has a temporary ward in place.” She sniffles and straightens her dress.
“How?” I ask, surprised.
“It won’t hold long, just until they can appoint a new highest. The eldest priestess alive can maintain one in the absence of a highest, but I imagine maintaining it will eventually kill her.”
“A temporary ward.” My voice is more somber than I intend.
“I did not know of such a rule, and the elder priestess came from another city to place it. We can’t change what happened,” Ferren adds, perhaps sensing my racing thoughts.
I nod. It should bring relief but it doesn’t. “Are you still able to get close to the order?”
“Not entirely. Selene has been keeping us updated. She has sway with them now, ever since the Temple of Divine Mother’s evidence was submitted to the council.”
“I am surprised she is speaking with the order,” I try to clarify because it makes little sense.
“Well, hardly. She is helping some of the high priestesses, honing their gifts for when we are attacked again.”
“Oh.”
“There are not many left who can fight. I keep my distance,” she clarifies.
“No, that is good.” I smile, hoping it conveys that I am not judging her speaking neutrally of the order. I imagine many order members died in the attack, a great loss for the Estate if those women were even half as powerful as the elders we fought in the Temple of Divine Mothers.
We walk through the ship together, and she asks me more questions about folding to Frith: where we stayed, and how we survived not knowing how to return.
She smiles when I mention August’s reaction to being in the forest and then gets a distant look. Frith is a frightening world to those who don’t reside on it. The mountain has known me since my afterbirth was buried in its soil. I speak of its facets fondly with the knowledge that I am protected. It is not the same for all. Ferren enjoyed parts of my home, but she also suffered there. Her way of life was torn apart and put together differently.
We turn down the narrow passage before the mess hall, where the others wait. I can hear their voices and my stomach drops to the cold metal floor when I pick up Selene’s.
