Calm Before the Storm

Calm Before the Storm

Kaelen chose rooms, checked the water supply, and discovered that the kitchen cupboards contained twelve identical serving platters and no cups.

He was still considering this when a voice spoke behind him.

“Kaelen?”

Kaelen recognised the purple sash first. Then the bandage showing beneath the man's cuff and the care with which he lowered his travelling bag.

“Rahkhan?”

“Yes.”

Kaelen set down the platter. He had read the short message often enough to remember every word. I am in Kefar. I have something I need to share with you. It had given him no explanation for the silence since Alfadin.

“You found the place.”

“Your directions were clear enough.”

Rahkhan remained beside the doorway, as though he might yet be asked to leave.

“Your message said you had something to share,” Kaelen said. “You gave me very little to go on.”

“I wasn't certain how much I could safely put into it.”

“How did you reach a carrier?”

“My friend Neral found one of the Riders who still used the harbour route. I asked for Drue. The man knew where to forward a message for you.” Rahkhan rested a hand on his bag. “Your answer came back while I was hiding in Neral's room. A coastal cargo boat brought me out of Kefar. I changed boats at the island landing and came here with the village supplies.”

Kaelen drew out a chair. Rahkhan glanced at it before sitting, lowering himself carefully.

“Are you hurt?”

“Less than I was.”

“I got your message from when you were on assignment in Alfadin,” Kaelen said. “Then nothing. What happened?”

Rahkhan looked towards the open doorway before answering.

“Delrona found out I had sent reports. She ordered a Guardian to remove me. There was a ring in the chamber. It had opened during the experiment.”

“You went through it?”

“With these.”

Rahkhan unfastened his bag. From inside he lifted a flat bundle wrapped in clean cloth, with a few scorched strips folded around it. He laid it on the table but kept his hand upon it.

“This is what I wanted to share with you,” Rahkhan said.

He opened the wrapping far enough to expose a leaf covered in fine writing and the edge of a diagram. Kaelen leaned closer without touching it.

“The Astryx scholars called it the Book of Lyt. They recognised writing that continued beyond their surviving copy. Delrona said it would remain in her custody.”

“And you took it.”

“She had already decided which accounts of the dead could leave Alfadin. I wasn't leaving her to decide which parts of this anyone else would see.”

His fingers tightened against the cloth.

“Where did the ring send you?”

“Under the Heartwell.”

Kaelen looked up.

“I saw it through a crack in a wall,” Rahkhan said. “The lower facets. The inspection bridge. I heard the Keeper calling for the charging draw to be held. He said there had been huge fluctuations.”

“Below the charging gallery?”

“Below a stair someone had sealed. There are chambers down there, Kaelen. Two that I could see. Wheels taller than houses. A black cradle with bronze rings around it. Lava running through channels far beneath the walkway.”

Kaelen pulled the chair closer and sat.

“Were the wheels turning?”

“No. Mineral deposits had grown across the teeth. I saw no movement in any of the machinery.” Rahkhan looked down at the exposed page. “The ring brought me there. I cannot tell you what powered it.”

Kaelen had spent so long trying to reach distant towers that for a moment he could only picture all that unknown stone beneath the streets of Kefar.

“Can you find it again?”

“Perhaps. From above, I don't know. I got out through broken masonry into the bath drains.”

He shifted in the chair and caught his breath. Kaelen pushed the water flask towards him. Rahkhan drank before continuing.

“I came out in a service lane. Neral didn't recognise me until I spoke to him. He got me inside.”

“And these came through with you?”

“Wrapped in most of what I had been wearing.”

Kaelen looked at the scorched cloth. He had questions about every part of the journey. Rahkhan was watching his hands instead, waiting for him to reach for the leaves.

“We'll keep them safe,” Kaelen said. “When the others arrive, you can show them yourself.”

Rahkhan covered the page. His shoulders eased a little.

“I've read your account of Alfadin,” Kaelen added. “The eleven monks. The twenty Guardians.”

Rahkhan's hand stopped upon the wrapping.

“I arrived too late to stop it.”

“You made sure we heard.”

“I was still standing at her door afterwards.”

Kaelen could hear the accusation Rahkhan had brought with him, ready to deliver it before anyone else could.

“You were trying to get the evidence out.”

“Yes. And every morning I put the sash back on.”

Kaelen looked at the worn purple cloth. He could not make those mornings easier by pretending to know what they had been like.

“I asked you here because I trust the care you took with the truth. Including the parts you couldn't prove.”

Rahkhan met his eyes.

“She asked what I had sent. That was when she ordered them to remove me.”

“And you had nowhere left to go except the ring.”

“I had no idea whether it went anywhere.”

For a while the open doorway carried only the sound of the sea.

“What would you like to know?” Rahkhan asked at last.

There were several answers. Kaelen could feel them crowding forward.

“Whether you'll tell me when you think I'm wrong.”

Rahkhan studied him. This time the pause was long enough for Kaelen to understand that he was being measured too.

“And if you don't want to hear it?”

“I'll need you to tell me then as well.”

Rahkhan glanced at the wrapped pages, then back at him.

“Is that likely to be a difficult duty?”

“People seem to manage.”

“Then yes.”

Kaelen rose and came around the table.

“Welcome, Rahkhan.”

Rahkhan stood carefully to take his hand. His grip was firm despite the bandage.

Before they moved away, Kaelen helped him settle the leaves between two smooth boards from an empty packing case. Rahkhan bound them, carried the bundle upstairs, and returned with the small key to his room tucked into his belt.

Rahkhan glanced at the cupboards.

“Have I interrupted something?”

“I’m trying to work out how a resort acquires twelve serving platters and no cups.”

“Perhaps that was why it failed.”

“The debts were considerable.”

“Cups can be expensive.”

Kaelen laughed.

“There’s a village along the coast. I was going to look for supplies.”

“I’ll come with you.”

They left the platters where they were and set off for the village outside of the resort beach.

On the path, Rahkhan asked, “How long do we have here?”

“Until the others arrive, and a few days after. Parnaf has arranged passage on a trading vessel bound for Kefar.”

“Why wait for a trader?”

“It already calls at these islands. It can collect passengers without anyone wondering why it came.”

Rahkhan nodded.

“When?”

“Towards the end of next week. We’ll have confirmation before then.”

“And until it arrives?”

Kaelen stepped aside to let a woman carrying a basket pass them on the narrow path.

“Everyone gets a bed. Regular meals. Enough sleep to finish a conversation.”

Rahkhan glanced at him.

“You sound as though you’ve been considering this.”

“I’ve been considering how often I’ve asked exhausted people to keep going.”

They walked a little farther.

“There are things we need to discuss,” Kaelen added. “But I’d like everyone to have finished eating before I ask them to save Kefar.”

“That seems reasonable.”

“I’m hoping they agree.”

• • •

By evening, they had cups, fresh bread, a basket of vegetables, and enough fish for considerably more than two people.

“The woman selling them said they were small,” Rahkhan said as they unpacked the basket.

“They are on the smaller side as far as a meal is concerned.”

“Yes. Apparently we were expected to buy accordingly. Two per person? Which seems like a lot at a quarter gold piece for the lot.”

“You could have told her we didn’t want every fish she had in the basket.”

“You were agreeing with her about the size of her fish which was just encouraging her.”

“I was hungry and I thought we wanted all thirty, enough for 15 meals?”

Rahkhan looked at him.

They both laughed, more readily this time.

“Its more gold than that fishmonger has ever seen. I think we have just ruined the market here!” Kaelen continued when he stopped laughing.

They ate on the terrace while the sun lowered towards the sea. The fish cooked quickly over coals, their skins blistering beneath honey and pepper. Rahkhan tore bread with his hands. Kaelen found himself reaching for a third helping before remembering he had barely noticed the first two.

“This is possibly the most expensive fish we’ve ever eaten.” Kaelen joked as he picked up the still steaming fish and picked at its crispy skin.

Below them, the tide crept up the beach.

“Tell me about the others,” Rahkhan said.

Kaelen began with their names. Blena. Tajan. Anderix. Drue. Alster.

Then, gradually, he found himself telling Rahkhan the things no report would have ever included.

Blena and Tajan arrived the following afternoon.

Kaelen saw them from the terrace and came down the steps so quickly that he missed the last one.

Blena stopped.

“Careful. We’ve only just got you back, from what I hear.”

He caught her in an embrace before she could say anything else.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Blena patted his back.

“Yes. Still here.”

He released her reluctantly and caught Tajan by the shoulders.

“You made it.”

Tajan smiled.

“You gave us a map and I grew up in Solaryn so.....”

“If she grew up in Astryx Arcanum she would have never made it. Well not without me, anyway.” Blena said.

Kaelen looked past them towards the path.

“Anderix?”

“Still at the landing,” Tajan said. “He sent us ahead.”

“I think it was to avoid all the emotional hugs and uncomfortable touching. You know he is still Mech on the inside right?” Blena chimed in.

“Actually, it was with the warning that we weren’t to let anyone start carrying things without him,” Tajan added.

“What things?”

“Our supplies.”

“How much did you bring?”

Blena looked at Tajan.

“He’s going to ask that several times.”

“The Ascendancy provided transport,” Tajan explained. “Food, medical supplies, equipment. Anderix stayed to check the cargo and arrange for it to be brought round.”

Kaelen stared at him.

“The Ascendancy?”

“They’ve listened,” Blena said. “They understand how far this reaches now.”

“And they’re supporting us?”

“Anderix and his friends,” Tajan said, smiling. “Apparently that includes us.”

Blena shifted her bag on her shoulder.

“It was quite pleasant, leaving with people wishing us well. I could get used to it.”

Kaelen looked at her again. There were questions he had rehearsed, things he wanted to know about the ring, about Mechanum, about everything that had happened since they had last stood together.

She seemed to recognise the effort it took him to leave them unasked.

“We’ll tell you,” she said quietly. “There’s quite a lot.”

He nodded.

Rahkhan waited at the foot of the steps with a jug of jallo.

Blena stopped so suddenly that Tajan nearly walked into her.

The jug tilted in Rahkhan's hand. He steadied it against his hip.

“You,” Blena said.

Rahkhan looked behind himself, then back at her.

“At Alfadin. You took the papers off the table.”

His expression changed.

Tajan set her bag down without taking her eyes from him.

“Rahkhan,” she said. “They called you Rahkhan.”

“Yes. How do you...”

“We saw you jump,” Blena said.

Rahkhan put the jug on the step. He did it slowly, watching her all the while.

“You were there?”

“In Mechanum,” Tajan answered. “The ring showed us the chamber. We could see Delrona and the scholars. We heard you.”

“From Mechanum?”

Blena nodded.

“That is across an ocean.”

“We know.”

He looked at Kaelen, seeking some sign that he had misunderstood. Kaelen shook his head.

“Let them tell you,” Kaelen said quietly.

Rahkhan turned back to them.

“You heard what I said to her?”

“About the monks,” Tajan said. “And the Guardians. About your reports.”

For a moment Rahkhan could not answer. He had carried the memory of that room as though its only other witnesses were still inside it, guarded by Delrona's men.

“There was a Guardian behind me,” he said. “When I pulled away...”

“He drew his weapon,” Blena said. “You backed towards the ring with the pages against your chest. She came around the table.”

Rahkhan's hand closed against his tunic, in the place where the bundle had been.

Blena stepped closer.

“You jumped towards us. I thought you were going to come out into the laboratory.”

“But I didn't.”

“No.” Her voice caught on the word. “The contact broke. We looked for you. There was nothing.”

Tajan reached for his hand. He let her take it.

“We sent word to Kaelen,” she said. “It was all we could do.”

“I couldn't see you,” Rahkhan said. “There was only light. I thought no one would know what had happened.”

“We knew you tried to get away,” Blena said. “We didn't know whether you had.”

She gripped his uninjured arm, briefly but hard, then released it when she noticed the bandage at his wrist.

“Where did you land?”

“Beneath the Heartwell. In an old chamber no one seems to know is there.”

Tajan looked towards Kaelen. He nodded.

“And the papers?” she asked.

“Upstairs. Safe.”

She breathed out, and only then seemed to notice that she was still holding his hand.

“You kept them.”

“I had used up a considerable amount of clothing to do it. I wasn't going to lose them afterwards.”

Blena gave a startled laugh.

“Good. You can explain the clothing later.”

Rahkhan looked between them once more, still struggling to fit their presence into the memory of that bright chamber.

“You really saw all of it?”

“Enough to be very glad you're standing here,” Tajan said.

Kaelen lifted the jug from the step and poured three cups. He passed one to Rahkhan first.

“He's joining us,” he said.

Blena accepted hers.

“I should think so.”

Blena took a sip, then looked towards the building.

“Do we have beds?”

“Yes,” Kaelen said.

“Food?”

“Yes.”

“Then Anderix can explain the inventory after lunch.”

Anderix arrived before they had finished eating.

Two supply carts followed him.

Blena watched from beneath the terrace awning.

“You said a few crates.”

“I said the first few crates.” She turned to Tajan, “didn’t I say he would do this?”

Kaelen rose to meet him, but Anderix had already come up the steps. Their greeting left several things unsaid for a moment.

Then Kaelen stepped back, keeping a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s good to see you.”

“And you.”

Anderix looked around the terrace, taking in the open doors, the sea beyond them, and the people at the table.

“Yes,” he said. “This will do.”

Anderix's gaze reached Rahkhan and stopped. The cargo list remained folded in his hand.

“The Guardian.”

Rahkhan rose. Blena had told him Anderix was bringing the supplies; he had been trying to decide how to ask him about the ring ever since.

“Rahkhan,” he said.

“I know.” Anderix came closer, looking at him with such concentration that Rahkhan glanced down at himself. “We recorded your name.”

“Blena and Tajan told me what you saw.”

“We thought you might arrive where Blena had. When the field collapsed, there was no receiving position we could identify.”

His eyes moved to the bandage, then back to Rahkhan's face.

“Where did you emerge?”

“Under the Heartwell. There was another ring.”

Anderix laid the cargo list on the table.

“In Kefar?”

“Yes.”

“An intact receiving ring?”

“It was standing. It went dark behind me. I couldn't make it do anything, and I didn't stay to try.”

“Was anyone operating it?”

“No one. The doors were sealed. There were enormous wheels covered in mineral deposits. Nothing was moving.”

Anderix drew out a chair but did not sit.

Rahkhan leaned towards him.

“Were you holding the other end open? Did something you did send me there?”

Anderix shook his head.

“Our supply had been disconnected. The image returned with power arriving from elsewhere. We could observe you. We couldn't direct your crossing.”

“But you tried to speak to us?”

“Repeatedly. No one answered.”

Rahkhan looked down at the table. The thought seemed to trouble him more than the distance.

“All that time, someone was calling into that room.”

“Yes,” Anderix said.

“And none of us heard.”

“We heard you.”

Anderix held out his hand. Rahkhan took it, and for a moment neither let go.

“I am very pleased,” Anderix said carefully, “that our last observation was incomplete.”

Rahkhan gave a small, unsteady smile.

“So am I.”

Anderix sat at last. His hand moved towards the pocket where he kept his writing materials, then stopped.

“I will need to ask you about the chamber.”

“I'll tell you what I remember.”

“And the pages you carried?”

“Safe,” Kaelen said. “Rahkhan will bring them out when we sit down together. Drue and Alster may have found something that helps us understand them.”

“May have,” Rahkhan repeated. “I can tell you what the scholars said. I can't yet tell you whether they were right.”

Anderix nodded.

“Then we should record both.”

Blena pushed a plate towards him.

“After lunch.”

This time Anderix accepted it. He took a cup of jallo and unfolded the cargo list beside his plate.

“The rest is coming round by boat. We have provisions, medical stores, spare tools, bedding...”

“There are beds,” Kaelen said.

“Now there are blankets.”

“There were blankets.”

“Better blankets and sheets. Mechanum cotton is a superior weave with over 500 threads.”

Tajan reached for the list.

“The Ascendancy was thorough.”

“They understand what Delrona could do,” Anderix said. His voice was steady, and there was a confidence in it Kaelen had not heard for some time. “We have their backing. Supplies, transport, and a way to request what we need.”

Kaelen glanced towards the carts. “It is great but now I hope we won’t be seen as an invading force!”

For days he had been preparing an empty building and hoping it would be enough. Now his friends were here, and behind them stood people willing to help.

“These supplies and real support from a government changes things,” he said.

Anderix folded the list. “It does, but the Mechanum Ascendancy is still not willing to get openly involved in non-Ascendancy situations.” Then he added, “That said, I believe my transport can take us a little farther should we need it.”

“We don’t. Parnaf has arranged the next crossing,” Kaelen replied. “A trading vessel. Something the Kefarian harbours are accustomed to seeing.”

Anderix considered that, then nodded.

“I’ll arrange for our supplies to be ready.”

“Once you’ve eaten.”

“Some of the equipment needs checking.”

“After you’ve eaten.”

Blena passed him the bread. “I think he’s developing authority. It’s unsettling.”

“Good. You can stop politicking and working long enough to eat.” Kaelen said as he gestured towards the kitchen. “There’s plenty up there. Help yourself whenever you like.”

Blena turned towards Anderix after she heard Kaelen’s invitation.

“But no need to add anything to it.”

Anderix paused with his hand above the bread.

“I haven’t done anything.”

“Yet! I remember your stew.”

“It was a hearty and nutritious meal.”

“It remained nutritious for a very long time,” Tajan said. “No one could finish it.”

Rahkhan looked interested.

“What was wrong with it?”

“Texture,” Blena said.

“Flavour,” Tajan added.

Anderix took the bread.

“Foreign expectations.”

• • •

Drue’s arrival was announced by a shadow moving across the breakfast table two days later.

Kaelen looked up.

Dasher swept over the roof, circled the bay, and landed on the beach in a flurry of sand.

Drue slid down and waved.

Alster, still seated behind him, was attempting to disentangle a strap from something beneath his coat.

“Don’t pull,” Drue called back to Alster who was relieved to be on terra firma again.

“I’m not pulling,” Alster said.

“You are moving and it's making the strap tighter.”

“We’ve landed and I really want to get off. No offence Dasher!”

“I get it but you need to unwrap the leather from that pommel first and then you can dismount.”

Blena was already halfway down the path.

By the time Kaelen reached the beach, Drue had been embraced, thumped on the shoulder, and accused of taking his time. Alster finally freed himself and climbed down with a small wrapped bundle held protectively against his chest.

Blena pointed at it.

“Plant?”

“Several. Some of which are completely undocumented in Virielian Bloomlands”

“Of course.”

Alster looked past her and saw Kaelen.

His expression changed.

“Oh,” he said.

Kaelen crossed the last few steps between them.

The bundle was carefully transferred to Tajan before Alster returned the embrace.

For a little while, the beach was full of voices speaking over one another.

Then Dasher pushed her head between Drue and Kaelen and knocked them apart.

“Yes,” Drue told her, rubbing the griffon’s neck. “You too.”

Rahkhan stood beside Tajan, holding the bundle of plants now, although Kaelen had not seen the exchange.

Drue noticed him.

“Have we met?”

“Rahkhan,” Kaelen said. “He’s with us now.”

Drue offered his hand.

“Drue. That’s Dasher. She’ll want to inspect whatever you’re carrying.”

Rahkhan glanced down at the bundle.

“I believe the plants arrived with you?”

“Right, but they didn’t smell like fish at that time.”

Dasher investigated, snorted, and turned away.

Alster looked offended.

“They’re rather unusual specimens.”

“She appreciates that,” Drue said. “She was hoping for unusual fish.”

They intended to have lunch.

By the time everyone had found their rooms, washed, returned, gone back for something, and been called down again, lunch had become a meal with no particular name.

There was fresh bread and seaweed cheese, wrapped fish with greens and nongnut oil, roasted roots, and a tray of sweetroot cakes. Rahkhan had found someone in the village willing to make fish pies, and two arrived still warm beneath a cloth.

Alster lifted the corner reverently.

“Oh.”

“That,” Blena said, “is the correct response.”

For the first few minutes, conversation consisted mainly of passing things.

Then Drue reached for the fish.

Anderix caught his wrist.

“Save some for the family dinner, sveetheart.”

Drue shut his eyes.

“No.”

Tajan began laughing.

Rahkhan looked around the table.

“What have I missed?”

“Nothing,” Drue said.

“A most beautiful budding relationship,” Anderix replied.

“It was a misunderstanding.”

“You held hands?”

“He took my hand.”

“Drue had already attempted several accents,” Anderix explained. “The situation needed rescuing.”

“I was negotiating.”

“With what language?” Blena asked.

“Words.”

“Were they in order?”

Kaelen put down his cup before he spilled it.

Drue pointed at him.

“You weren’t even there.”

“I’m enjoying the account.”

“The fishmonger thought they were concealing a romance,” Tajan told Rahkhan.

Rahkhan considered Drue.

“Were the fish cheaper?”

Drue opened his mouth.

Anderix smiled.

“They were.”

Rahkhan helped himself to another piece of bread.

“Successful negotiation, then.”

Drue pointed across the table.

“I like him.”

By the end of the meal, Alster was struggling to keep his eyes open.

Drue had asked him a question twice before noticing.

“Go to bed,” Blena told him.

“I’m listening.”

“What did he ask?”

Alster looked at Drue.

Drue smiled.

“Go to bed.”

Kaelen watched Alster gather his things. Now that the excitement of their arrival had eased, he could see the tiredness in the others too. Tajan sat back with her eyes closed. Drue had scarcely moved since finishing his food.

“The ship won’t be here for several days,” Kaelen said. “We’ll keep the supplies ready and check for messages. The rest can wait.”

Blena looked at him.

“Including the long conversation you’ve been preparing?”

“For a few days.”

“Good,” she said. “I’d hate to fall asleep during an important speech.”

Later, Rahkhan helped him carry the dishes inside.

“If there’s something you need me to do while we’re here, you can ask.”

“There will be.”

Rahkhan stacked two plates, waiting.

Kaelen glanced towards the terrace, where Drue was attempting to persuade Alster to leave his plants downstairs.

“They know how you got here,” he said. “They should have a chance to know you too.”

“I can answer their questions.”

“I know. But you should have a chance to ask a few yourself.”

Rahkhan looked through the doorway.

Outside, Blena asked whether Alster’s specimens required their own room.

“I’m not sure where to start.”

“Neither was I,” Kaelen said. “The cups helped.”

The days settled into an unfamiliar rhythm.

Someone woke early. Someone else did not. Food appeared when enough people became hungry to do something about it.

Blena discovered a chair beneath the terrace awning and defended possession of it without ever appearing to move. Tajan explored the paths through the trees. Anderix examined the unfinished bathing pool and announced that he could probably improve it.

“Can you fill it?” Drue asked.

“Yes.”

“With water?” Tajan added.

Anderix looked at her.

“That is the usual liquid with the required viscosity for swimming.”

“What is the usual viscosity for Mechanum stew?”

Alster returned from a walk carrying a branch.

Blena opened one eye.

“Did you find any exotic plants?”

“No.”

"No cliff scaling, cave spelunking search for a purple lichen?”

“If purple lichen were a thing I believe I would scale and spelunk and then sell it to the Sylvan Watch. You know how they love purple.”

“So long as we don’t have to swing off a rope to get you back again it is considered a good walk, then.”

He set the branch carefully beside his chair.

“Very.”

Rahkhan learned who preferred tea, who forgot where they had left their cup, and who would claim the last round of cake while insisting they were only moving the plate.

By the third evening, he had stopped asking where things belonged. And soon enough Drue was borrowing his cup.

Kaelen found Blena on the beach one afternoon, sitting where the sand was still warm but the tide could reach her feet.

He sat beside her.

For a while, they watched the water.

Up at the resort, someone dropped something metal. Drue shouted that it had already been broken. Anderix said something they could not hear.

Blena smiled.

“That sounds promising.”

“Should we go back?”

“No.”

A small wave washed around their heels.

Kaelen dug his fingers into the sand.

“I kept imagining this.”

“The beach?”

“Everyone together.”

Blena brushed grains of sand from her wrist.

“Was Drue quieter when you imagined him?”

“A little.”

“Very unrealistic imagination you have there.”

He laughed.

She leaned back on her hands.

“You can stop counting us for a while.”

He looked at her.

“You keep doing it,” she said. “Whenever someone leaves the table.”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

“I know.”

Above them, Drue protested again.

Blena tipped her head towards the sound.

“Still there.”

Kaelen let his shoulders loosen.

They stayed until the shade reached them.

The granteer appeared after supper on their fifth night together.

Drue carried it down to the beach wrapped in a cloth.

Alster looked up from the fire.

“What’s that?”

“A granteer.”

“I can see that.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“You play?”

Drue settled onto a piece of driftwood and uncovered the instrument.

Its six strings caught the firelight.

Blena stared at him.

“How long have you been keeping that to yourself?”

“It hasn’t come up.”

“We’ve crossed half of Aethoria.”

“Usually while occupied, escaping or under duress.”

“And that was a reason not to entertain your duressing comrades?" Anderix asked.

Drue gave him a look.

Anderix nodded and smiled.

“Fair enough.”

Rahkhan passed around the last of the honey cakes. Tajan shifted closer to the fire. Kaelen sat with his feet buried in the sand wiggling his toes, watching Drue turn a peg and tune a string.

Dasher lay beyond the circle, her head resting on her forelegs.

Drue played a few quiet notes.

The conversation faded.

He began to sing.

Lay down your pack by the evening sea,

There’s room at the fire, there’s a place by me.

Let the road run on where the far hills roam,

For tonight, my friend, you have found your home.

Kaelen looked around the fire.

Alster had stopped with a piece of cake halfway to his mouth. Blena’s expression had softened. Anderix watched Drue’s hands.

The next verse was quieter.

Bring all the miles that have worn your shoes,

The names you keep and the things you lose.

We’ll mend what we can when the daylight’s come,

But tonight there is bread, and the journey is done.

For several breaths after the verse, there was only the granteer and the sea.

Then Blena said, “There should be something about the soup.”

Drue’s fingers hesitated.

“What soup?”

“The mountain inn.”

Kaelen began to smile.

Drue looked down at the strings, found the rhythm again, and sang:

We climbed through the snow to an inn on the height,

Where the soup had been waiting since late yesterday night...

“Longer,” Blena said.

Since the founding of Kefar...

Tajan laughed.

...and perhaps well before,

But the fried things were bland, so we asked for some more.

“We did not,” Alster said.

“It needs to rhyme.”

“Accuracy would be nice.”

“Write your own verse.”

Alster thought for a moment.

Blena pointed at him.

“No flowers.”

Drue brightened.

There grew a small blossom above a great drop....

“Drue.”

And Alster said, ‘Friends, we must certainly stop.’

“I did not say it like that.”

He went for the flower; his feet chose the sky....

Blena was laughing now.

And Blena caught hold of his belt passing by.

“Botanically successful,” Tajan contributed.

Drue repeated the phrase experimentally over the melody.

“Too many syllables.”

“Botanically speaking,” Kaelen offered.

“That’s worse.”

Alster sighed.

“You could simply leave out the incident.”

Everyone looked at him.

“Yes,” he said. “I heard it.”

Anderix leaned forward.

“Do the fishmonger.”

“No,” Drue said immediately.

The refusal broke his rhythm. He recovered it with two emphatic chords.

Anderix supplied the first line.

My sveetheart and I went to market one day...

Tajan folded forward.

Drue stared into the fire, visibly considering his options.

Then he sang:

He seized on my hand and he led me astray.

I asked him for fish, but he offered his heart....

“I secured a discount,” Anderix said.

And a bag full of spines, which was quite a good start.

Rahkhan laughed so abruptly that he had to put down his cup.

“Your turn,” Drue told him.

“I wasn’t there.”

“Neither was Kaelen. He’s been very helpful.”

Rahkhan studied the fire.

“What about the tea?”

Blena turned towards him.

“What tea?”

“Kaelen told me about your father’s tea.”

“Oh, yes,” Kaelen said.

Drue struck a solemn chord.

The chief poured a cup of his finest black brew...

“Careful,” Blena warned, smiling.

It stood in the cup as roofing tar should do.

Alster made a small choking noise.

We thanked him politely and drank it with pride...

“Speak for yourself,” Kaelen said.

Then patched up a leak with the portion we’d dried.

Blena bent until her forehead nearly touched her knees.

Drue tried to continue, but his own laughter got into the melody.

“Wait. Wait, I have another.”

“No,” Tajan said, holding up a hand. “Give me a moment.”

Drue gave her a few chords and waited for her....

An ancient bright lady explained us a thing,

With a lattice, a crystal, a resonance ring...

Kaelen groaned.

I knew every word, as a learned man should,

But assembled together they did me no good.

Rahkhan tipped backwards onto the sand.

Anderix was laughing with and couldn’t resist a clap of hands.

Blena attempted to say “primitive,” failed, and collapsed sideways against Kaelen.

That was when Dasher stood up.

She approached with her head lowered and nudged Rahkhan’s shoulder.

Rahkhan tried to sit up. Another helpless laugh escaped him.

Dasher chirruped anxiously.

Drue saw her and lost the next chord.

“She thinks....”

Dasher pushed her beak beneath Tajan’s elbow and attempted to lift her.

That finished Alster.

He rolled onto his side, clutching his stomach.

“They’re all right,” Drue told the griffon, although his voice did very little to support the claim.

Dasher hurried to Blena.

She held out a hand, laughing too hard to reassure her. She pressed her head beneath it, then looked sharply at Drue and the granteer.

Drue hugged the instrument closer.

“No. This is not the cause.”

Dasher chirped.

“It is slightly the cause,” Anderix managed.

Drue found three wavering notes.

Our griffon came down to discover our plight...

Kaelen buried his face in his hands.

Seven fools on the beach, all in pain on one night...

Dasher nudged Drue’s knee.

Drue surrendered the tune entirely and leaned over the granteer, laughing.

For a long time, every attempt to recover set someone else off again.

Later, when the fire had settled and Dasher had been persuaded that no rescue was required, Drue played the opening melody once more.

This time, no one added a verse.

Rahkhan sat beside Kaelen, turning an empty cup between his hands.

“Is it always like this?”

“No.”

Rahkhan looked around the fire.

“Pity.”

Kaelen smiled.

On his other side, Blena had closed her eyes. Tajan was feeding small pieces of driftwood into the coals. Alster had finally finished his cake.

Drue sang the first verse again, softly enough that the sea almost carried it away.

When he reached there’s a place by me, Rahkhan set down his cup and moved closer to make room for Anderix.

The confirmation of their passage had arrived that afternoon. The trader would collect them in two days.

Kaelen had read the message, shown it to Anderix, and left it upstairs. There would be time tomorrow to bring out the maps.

Beside him, Rahkhan was listening to Alster explain something about the branch he had brought back from his walk. Blena interrupted to correct a detail. Rahkhan asked a question, and Alster began again.

Kaelen listened without joining in.

They stayed until the fire was low.

Alster and Tajan carried the empty dishes up together. Anderix helped Drue wrap the granteer while Dasher inspected the cloth. Rahkhan scattered sand over the last bright embers.

Kaelen lingered at the water’s edge.

Beyond the dark headland lay the passage to Kefar.

Blena came to stand beside him.

“Tomorrow?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Tomorrow we talk about Delrona.”

Behind them, the others had grown quiet.

Drue lifted the wrapped granteer over his shoulder.

“All of us,” he said.

Kaelen looked back at their faces, still warm from the fire.

“All of us.”

They walked up to the resort together.

Thy Quest: Growing as a Leader

What evidence in this chapter shows that Kaelen has grown as a leader? Choose at least two specific details from his words or actions and explain how they reveal his growth. Consider how he responds to his crew’s needs and welcomes Rahkhan.