Post by lauratolton on Apr 14, 2023 19:11:40 GMT
There's a rather urgent knocking on Sorrel and Silvia's front door at the asscrack of dawn
It won't let up so Sorrel has no choice but to open it, unfortunately. On the other side of it is Vega, looking fairly worried but mostly long-suffering.
"Lyra’s run off."
--------
Seraphina wakes up because there is someone in her room. In a chair by the door is a slight, young elven woman - a girl, even - with silver white hair. She's pulled her feet up under her and curled into herself under a dark grey cloak, her messy hair spilling in front of her face. She's reading a book of fables Seraphina recognizes from the temple library and humming very softly to herself.
Seraphina awoke, her dreams urging her to open her eyes and as she did she saw the figure, humming the pretty tune. Sometimes the sick or needy would seek shelter at the temple but she’d not found one in her room before.
“Oh, hello, who might you be?” She asked gently.
The girl doesn’t reply. Seraphina gets the impression she might not have heard her, that she's so engrossed with what she’s reading, or what she’s thinking about that, it passed her completely by. Instead, Seraphina gets up and reaches for her warm dressing gown draped over the end of her bed.
“Would you like some tea? It’s a little chilly.” She asked, raising her voice so she might hear her better. “I’ve some jam tarts too if you’re hungry - made then myself. Though we mustn’t wake everyone up as they’ll all want one.” She chuckled.
The humming stops.
“Tea,” the girl says distractedly.
“Yes, I have lots of herbal teas as well as the more common leaf kind. Hibiscus is my favourite, would you like some?” Seraphina looks at the young woman, wondering what her story is.
“Hibiscus?”
Seraphina isn’t sure if it’s a question or a statement. With a delicate hand the girl pushes some of the brilliant hair out of her face, revealing a pair of equally pale eyes. She blinks owlishly in the dim light, still not looking directly at anything.
“Tea,” she says, ever so slightly more firmly, “And then the book.”
“Yes, I’ll make some tea,” Seraphina said and paused, “the book, are you enjoying it? That one was one of my favourites.”
“Your book. Seraphina’s book.”
“My book?” Seraphina pauses by the doorway as she makes to leave, “What do you mean?” She can feel a slight tingle on the back of her neck, a thought forming in her mind despite her best efforts to stop it. Her blood runs cold. How does she know about the book?
“Tea. Then Seraphina’s lost book.”
With that, she bends down over the collection of fables and begins humming again. She pauses only briefly to say, “Vega. Sorrel.”
Sorrel pours a second cup of coffee, offers it to Vega with a brief "It's very strong," and pushes a stool in her direction. "When did you last see her?"
Vega takes the cup gratefully and only winces a little at the brutal bitterness.
“When we went to bed. She doesn’t sleep much but usually she knows to wait for me or Aries to wake up. Everything’s changed now - all her routines are gone. I should’ve seen this coming.” She looks tired. So tired.
Sorrel relaxes slightly. "So if you last saw her in the temple... then she's in the temple. There will be guards and wards around you - especially Lyra - and if she'd passed through them we would know. Finish your coffee and we'll head over. Based on Lyra's... conversation I have an idea where we might find her. What has she said about Seraphina apart from her name?"
Vega nods, taking a couple of slow, deliberate breaths.
"Okay. Yes. That's true." She swigs the last of the coffee. "Nothing, just 'the book'. I don't know if she hasn't seen anything else or if she's just not telling us. It can go either way with her."
"I don't know Seraphina's room but Velania or Nessa will tell us. It'll be fine, Vega. I haven't seen Seraphina in a while but there's something about her that - well, it's like they both have the same frequency. Whenever you're ready..."
It's early enough that most of the faithful are still asleep (dawn being the domain of an entirely different god) and it seems Velania has left already, heading for the Angelbark with some urgency, but they find Nessa. She directs them to Seraphina's room without issue and advises them to ask for a jam tart - apparently hers are second only to the ones from Nerry's.
Sorrel knocks quietly, not wanting to disturb those still sleeping in the adjacent cells, while Vega channels the unholy strength of Darkfire coffee into a muttered "Please be in there, please be in there, please be in there, please..."
The knocking breaks Seraphina out of her trance. Turning towards her chamber door she opens it, but only a gap so she can spy who is outside.
"Seraphina," Sorrel bows low, her voice catching. "Please forgive me. I could never hope to pay my debt to you for welcoming me into the Moonmaiden's church but I could at least have bought you dinner at least once."
Seraphina looks down at her friend whom she’s not seen in a long time. There is something more about her, a presence she can sense like a glow. The moon maiden, she muses.
“I would not, and will never ask for payment, Sorrel.” Seraphina says kindly.
“I didn’t mean money,” she says softly. “I mean I am in debt to you forever.”
Seraphina looks at the person standing beside Sorrel, who looks remarkably like the girl in her room. She opens the door a little wider.
“How may I be of assistance? I was just fetching some tea for…” she looks back at the stranger sitting on the chair.
“She is here,” Sorrel. Then she raises her free arm. “Lyra. I have our sister. She’s been worried about you.”
Vega sags with relief against the doorframe and Sorrel lifts her weight just slightly with an arm around her waist.
"Yes. That one." Vega points to Lyra. "She's mine. I'm sorry about that. I hope she hasn't been difficult?"
“Not difficult at all…but who might you be?” Seraphina asked, now feeling protective over the stranger. “Are they in trouble?”
Vega winces.
"Apologies. I'm Vega Darkfire. I'm-"
She stops suddenly, looking at Sorrel awkwardly, clearly not sure how to proceed.
Seraphina didn’t quite understand what’s going on but clearly there’s something larger afoot that needs to be examined. She opens the door fully.
“I don’t have much space in here but we can move to the rooms downstairs. It’ll be quiet there too.” She offered.
"That sounds great," Vega says. "That way we can talk properly and not be in the bedroom of a stranger that we invaded."
Lyra clutches her book of fables sullenly, suddenly very reminiscent of Aries, Sorrel notes.
"Seraphina's book. It's lost and important."
"So are manners, Lyra."
Lyra doesn’t respond, only reluctantly gets out of the chair and slinks past Seraphina to hold onto Sorrel’s sleeve, hanging on to the sister not currently angry with her.
“Tea,” she whispers. “And then book.”
Sorrel finds herself with a sister in each arm, an entirely novel, awkward and unexpected experience that is for some reason not as unpleasant as she might have expected. And, with an almost physical shock, she realised she was, albeit briefly, in charge of this situation which could end incredibly badly if she wasn't diplomatic, tactful, caring and at least a little adult. She hoped Selûne knew what she was doing.
"So, Vega, this is Seraphina," she figured she had to start somewhere. "She met me on my first day in Kantas at a difficult moment and since then helped me enter the church, conducting my official baptism. She is incredibly wise and kind. I was going to introduce you to her anyway, but if Lyra was to ask me where she could run to in the temple, this is pretty much who I would have suggested she meet.
"Seraphina, this is Vega and Lyra, two of my three sisters, long story, talk later, but Lyra is... well you've met her. She sees and feels things in a unique way that I don't understand but has mentioned your name like a lot.
"Lyra, bless you, this is a safe space but you do have to tell someone if you're going to go off on your own. I think I might have to move into the temple just to make this easier.
"Vega, don't be mad. I don't have a good argument for that one right now, but things worked out. And these two needed to meet. And my coffee does have a bad effect on people so it's probably my fault."
Seraphina listened and looked at each of them in turn as she spoke, all of them carrying an aura around them she could feel, practically touch.
“Come with me.”
She leads them all down the spiral steps that run around the outside of the temple garden, a large circle under the oculus above where moonlight would bathe the garden in silver.
Eventually they reach where Sorrell and her friends had partaken in the ceremony to welcome her into the church and then across to an adjoining room where it's quiet and comfortable. A small fireplace is lit with a magical fire and a tea set already laid out in preparation for company sat upon a low table surrounded by comfortable chairs.
Seraphina ushers everyone into the room and closes the door behind them.
“You mentioned a book?” She asks them all as she begins pouring the hibiscus leaves and flowers into the pot. A pleasant curl of steam wraps around her fingers.
Vega opens her mouth to reply but is interrupted by a rather terse knock on the door.
“Aries,” Lyra says.
“Aries?” Seraphina asked and looked at everyone. “Forgive me, I’m not quite following.”
“One more sister,” Vega smiles tiredly. “Last one, I promise.”
Aries bears the same striking features as the other two newcomers - silver white hair, pale eyes, the pointed ears of high elves - but the scowl and careful, distrustful scanning of the room could’ve been Sorrel in a wig. There’s no doubt in Seraphina’s mind that the four of them are sisters but she does wonder where on earth Sorrel’s been hiding them all this time.
She sits down and lets the tea brew for a few minutes before she would pour it.
“Tell me, why are you here and what do you want with the book?”
“Kinda curious about that myself,” Sorrel stroked Lyra’s hair and dropped a swift kiss on top of her head. The reptilian part of her brain started screaming in outrage. “What’s the story Lyra?”
Aries meets Sorrel's eyes briefly. The reptilian part of her brain seems to be screaming in harmony. Lyra cocks her head, eyes a comfortable million miles away.
"The first task. Seraphina is looking for a book."
"And we're meant to help her?" Vega asks.
Lyra nods.
"Well," Vega says, "The long and short of it, Seraphina, is that we were sent here - Lyra, Aries and I - by the goddess we all serve. The Moonmaiden wills us to help you. I assure you we wish you no ill intent, nor do we wish to use the book for our own means. At least I don't think we're meant to...?" She looks over at Lyra who shakes her head.
"No. Don't use the book. The book is bad."
"The book is bad, got it. We won't use it. What exactly is the book, Seraphina? If I may ask?"
“The book….” Seraphina begins, and gets up to start pouring the tea for everyone, wondering how best to explain it. “The book was something we guarded, kept the world safe from. I never saw it but certainly felt its presence when I’d get anywhere near it. It was kept inside a locked box deep in the vaults of the temple back home.”
Seraphina finishes pouring the tea and sits down. “The legend was, at least what we were always told, that it contains ancient and powerful magic. To even look upon the cover could induce one to madness; we’d all heard the tale of the sister who first saw it when it was discovered. It took a year for her to recover.”
Seraphina picks up her cup of tea. “And so, roughly a year ago it went missing and I set out to find it. My path leading me here, to Kantas.”
Vega nods thoughtfully.
“And surely it was meant to cross ours. Selûne willed it. You have our help in this, Seraphina, though exactly what form it will take I cannot-“
“Alatar’s Cobalt Codex,” Lyra cuts in.
There’s a moment of silence. Aries tries not to look smug.
“Would that perhaps be the name of the book?” Vega asks Seraphina, in dazed bemusement.
Seraphina looked at Vega.
“I’m not sure, I’ve never been able to look at it but if you think it is then I suppose it must be.”
She takes another sip of her tea, though the warmth does little to assuage the chill she feels in her bones.
“She doesn’t think it,” Aries says, “she sees it. And she’s very rarely wrong.”
Lyra pulls out a slightly crumpled piece of parchment and puts it on the table. At a glance it looks like a very odd shopping list. There are at least four kinds of herbs on there, not to mention all the other odds and ends.
“And a map,” she adds. “For tracking. Vega. Lyra. Aries. Seraphina. Book. Sorrel. Beetle.”
She curls into Sorrel a little. “Cloak.”
Aries frowns. “What, the four of us? But the Specialist hangs back?”
“Vega, Lyra, Aries, Seraphina. Book. Sorrel. Beetle.”
This time Lyra’s insistent and Aries raises her hands in defeat.
Vega looks apologetically at Sorrel and Seraphina. “Looks like we’re splitting the party. But first…” She picks up the strange list and scans it. “I think we’re meant to commune.”
Seraphina holds her tea cup with both hands, disguising her worries about the loss of the book. No one had known but her and her sisters so here with the others she felt a comfort.
“That can be arranged, though I promised raspberry tarts before we proceed, one should not perform magic upon an empty stomach,” she says and looks at Lyra with a kind expression upon her face.
Sorrel clears her throat softly. “I’m not comfortable with leaving the four of you. Is it absolutely necessary? Can we ask? If that’s how communing works…?”
“You’ll get answers,” Lyra says softly. “But you might not like them.”
“You may stay with us while we commune, I have no problem with it, and…as you are also involved in this it seems only right.” Seraphina added. “Now, I shall just be a moment.”
She gets up and leaves the room, heading to the kitchen where she arranges some jam tarts onto a plate, nearly dropping one as her hand shakes.
She rarely showed fear or worry but in this moment, to herself it appeared.
Clutching the table lip she steadies herself and takes a few deep breaths. For the first time, she is not alone in this.
---------
Lyra’s abilities - and the fact that all the Darkfire sisters are in the Dawnlands - is something that needs to be hidden. Aries insists upon secrecy, so the ritual is to be conducted in that very same room. Lyra reads her book of fables and demolishes raspberry tarts at an impressive speed under Vega and Seraphina’s watchful eyes while Sorrel takes Aries shopping. Together they make quick work of the Dawnmarket, stopping only for Sorrel to question what Lyra actually needs epazote, sage, valerian and thyme for, to which Aries simply gives an indifferent shrug.
“She’s the one with the visions, not me.”
When they return, Lyra inspects the supplies and nods. Without any further explanation she selects a piece of chalk and begins tracing a large circle on the floor. In the circle she outlines an eye and around the whole thing, nine stars. She lights five candles, lining them up in a way that seems very particular to her but doesn’t make any sense to the other four watching. She mixes herbs, humming softly, traces symbols on the floor in ash, occasionally stopping and cocking her head as if listening to instructions no one else can hear before nodding and continuing with the next steps. At one point she gets up from the floor and quietly walks over to Seraphina and Sorrel, holding out her hand.
“Token.”
At their confused looks, Vega translates.
“She needs something of yours, something personal. Something important to you. She always gives it back afterwards though.”
Sorrel looks down at her daggers, longbow, shortswords, rapiers, arrows, battered armour, ration packs and dented buckler hanging loosely from her belt. Technically these are personal and important. But she thinks maybe not really what’s needed. She unclips the Goddess-given Guardian Emblem of Selune from her steel strengthened chest guard and looks at it in the candle light. A simple silver disk with a waxing moon picked out in mother of pearl. Twice this has poured forth magic and shielded her from death by the good grace of the Moonmaiden. Perhaps her luck has run out, but she knows the goddess has used this to keep her safe. It feels like their strongest bond.
Seraphina went to her dresser in her sleeping quarters and took out the little statue of a rabbit she’d carved as a child. It had been with her all this time and served as a token of comfort and hope for her. Made of sun bleached driftwood it was as light as a leaf and she passed it to Lyra.
Tokens in hand she walks back to the middle of the circle and places them carefully according to specifications only she is aware of. She looks everything over once more before nodding and holding her hand out to Aries who, seemingly knowing this was coming, hands over a map of the continent. Lyra spreads it out on the floor and kneels in front of it, taking a deep breath.
“We begin.”
The room dims, the fire suddenly nothing but hot coals, and the only light available is coming from the five flickering candles and spilling bright silver from Lyra’s eyes. She turns her face up, seeking the stars only she can see, her breathing quickening. When she opens her mouth to speak once more, her voice is not her own. They feel it, rather than hear it. It is the sound of crashing waves, of crumbling mountains, of rolling thunder and of great bells tolling for those who would oppose Selûne’s chosen.
“You have questions. Ask them.”
Seraphina shares a look with the others before she answers, her voice clear and steady.
“I seek a book - ancient, cold and powerful. ‘Alatar’s Cobalt Codex’. I seek to know who took it and where it has gone, please.”
Lyra screams, not with one voice but with many. Sorrel and Seraphina are horrified to hear that amongst them all her own can still be heard. The light in her eyes glows brighter and brighter until she suddenly shuts them tight, slapping the palms of her hands down on the map. She pushes until the light seeps from her fingers instead, leaking over the continent like the rivers they all know to be there yet never have been able to pin down.
The light crept across the map, coalescing in the north, far above the edge of the Angelbark. There, right by the ocean, it forms a small, faintly glowing X.
Lyra manages to close her mouth but not to entirely contain her own pained sounds. She takes her hands off of the map and reaches, trembling, for a piece of charcoal. Crudely and clumsily she draws a symbol on the palm of her left hand, holding it out to Seraphina like a strange offering. Then she sits back on her knees, swaying slightly, before opening her eerie eyes once more.
“One more.”
Sorrel rubs her hands a little cleaner along her thighs and coughs nervously as she steps forward, feeling like a kid in a school play.
“Um… almighty Selûne? I who am clearly unworthy - I mean what I’m doing here I have no idea - but it appears to me that there is this beetle character who is chasing my sisters and clearly not for good reasons or…well, obviously… and Lyra seems to think that I, in a manner of speaking, am paired off with the beetle while my sisters and Seraphina are involved in the book so I suppose the question is where is the beetle if that’s its real name and do I have to leave my sisters?”
She steps back, thinks again, steps forward.
“Thank you very much.”
She steps back blushing.
Lyra sways a little, tipping forward and looking at Sorrel from behind a curtain of silver hair. The light from her eyes seems bright enough to scorch the world.
“You need not seek the Beetle. The Beetle already seeks the Wolf.”
There’s a low clicking on the stone by Sorrel’s boot. A golden green beetle, large enough to make noise as it scurried across the floor, makes its way to the map. It stops at the very edge of the parchment, and more beetles - smaller, duller - springs from its body. They come to Kantas from the east, following the ship route before turning suddenly north, almost docking at Clansky Port, deliberating briefly and then making landfall by Breaker’s Point. They step onto the green of the Angelbark marked on the map, and vanish.
“The wolf and the weasel,” Sorrel mutters. “I should’ve worked that one out by now.”
The lights blink out in her eyes. Lyra gasps, and collapses onto the floor.
Seraphina rushes forwards to catch her, holding her so her head will not hit the stone. She looks up at Sorrel as she picks up Lyra easily in her arms, a renewed strength and purpose in her.
“I shall take her to a healing room. Stay with her, don’t let her lay upon her back, I shall fetch some things to help her.”
Seraphina carries her to a small chamber holding a bed and a chair beside it with a small dresser. A single candle sits atop it in a tall candlestick which she lights with a flick of her finger. She sets Lyra down gently and makes sure her head is supported.
Exhausted from the ordeal, Lyra manages only to grasp Sorrel’s hand weakly and mumble a few more words before she slips deep into the welcoming dark.
“The Jackal says he’s sorry.”
--------
Co written with stephena Lykksie
It won't let up so Sorrel has no choice but to open it, unfortunately. On the other side of it is Vega, looking fairly worried but mostly long-suffering.
"Lyra’s run off."
--------
Seraphina wakes up because there is someone in her room. In a chair by the door is a slight, young elven woman - a girl, even - with silver white hair. She's pulled her feet up under her and curled into herself under a dark grey cloak, her messy hair spilling in front of her face. She's reading a book of fables Seraphina recognizes from the temple library and humming very softly to herself.
Seraphina awoke, her dreams urging her to open her eyes and as she did she saw the figure, humming the pretty tune. Sometimes the sick or needy would seek shelter at the temple but she’d not found one in her room before.
“Oh, hello, who might you be?” She asked gently.
The girl doesn’t reply. Seraphina gets the impression she might not have heard her, that she's so engrossed with what she’s reading, or what she’s thinking about that, it passed her completely by. Instead, Seraphina gets up and reaches for her warm dressing gown draped over the end of her bed.
“Would you like some tea? It’s a little chilly.” She asked, raising her voice so she might hear her better. “I’ve some jam tarts too if you’re hungry - made then myself. Though we mustn’t wake everyone up as they’ll all want one.” She chuckled.
The humming stops.
“Tea,” the girl says distractedly.
“Yes, I have lots of herbal teas as well as the more common leaf kind. Hibiscus is my favourite, would you like some?” Seraphina looks at the young woman, wondering what her story is.
“Hibiscus?”
Seraphina isn’t sure if it’s a question or a statement. With a delicate hand the girl pushes some of the brilliant hair out of her face, revealing a pair of equally pale eyes. She blinks owlishly in the dim light, still not looking directly at anything.
“Tea,” she says, ever so slightly more firmly, “And then the book.”
“Yes, I’ll make some tea,” Seraphina said and paused, “the book, are you enjoying it? That one was one of my favourites.”
“Your book. Seraphina’s book.”
“My book?” Seraphina pauses by the doorway as she makes to leave, “What do you mean?” She can feel a slight tingle on the back of her neck, a thought forming in her mind despite her best efforts to stop it. Her blood runs cold. How does she know about the book?
“Tea. Then Seraphina’s lost book.”
With that, she bends down over the collection of fables and begins humming again. She pauses only briefly to say, “Vega. Sorrel.”
Sorrel pours a second cup of coffee, offers it to Vega with a brief "It's very strong," and pushes a stool in her direction. "When did you last see her?"
Vega takes the cup gratefully and only winces a little at the brutal bitterness.
“When we went to bed. She doesn’t sleep much but usually she knows to wait for me or Aries to wake up. Everything’s changed now - all her routines are gone. I should’ve seen this coming.” She looks tired. So tired.
Sorrel relaxes slightly. "So if you last saw her in the temple... then she's in the temple. There will be guards and wards around you - especially Lyra - and if she'd passed through them we would know. Finish your coffee and we'll head over. Based on Lyra's... conversation I have an idea where we might find her. What has she said about Seraphina apart from her name?"
Vega nods, taking a couple of slow, deliberate breaths.
"Okay. Yes. That's true." She swigs the last of the coffee. "Nothing, just 'the book'. I don't know if she hasn't seen anything else or if she's just not telling us. It can go either way with her."
"I don't know Seraphina's room but Velania or Nessa will tell us. It'll be fine, Vega. I haven't seen Seraphina in a while but there's something about her that - well, it's like they both have the same frequency. Whenever you're ready..."
It's early enough that most of the faithful are still asleep (dawn being the domain of an entirely different god) and it seems Velania has left already, heading for the Angelbark with some urgency, but they find Nessa. She directs them to Seraphina's room without issue and advises them to ask for a jam tart - apparently hers are second only to the ones from Nerry's.
Sorrel knocks quietly, not wanting to disturb those still sleeping in the adjacent cells, while Vega channels the unholy strength of Darkfire coffee into a muttered "Please be in there, please be in there, please be in there, please..."
The knocking breaks Seraphina out of her trance. Turning towards her chamber door she opens it, but only a gap so she can spy who is outside.
"Seraphina," Sorrel bows low, her voice catching. "Please forgive me. I could never hope to pay my debt to you for welcoming me into the Moonmaiden's church but I could at least have bought you dinner at least once."
Seraphina looks down at her friend whom she’s not seen in a long time. There is something more about her, a presence she can sense like a glow. The moon maiden, she muses.
“I would not, and will never ask for payment, Sorrel.” Seraphina says kindly.
“I didn’t mean money,” she says softly. “I mean I am in debt to you forever.”
Seraphina looks at the person standing beside Sorrel, who looks remarkably like the girl in her room. She opens the door a little wider.
“How may I be of assistance? I was just fetching some tea for…” she looks back at the stranger sitting on the chair.
“She is here,” Sorrel. Then she raises her free arm. “Lyra. I have our sister. She’s been worried about you.”
Vega sags with relief against the doorframe and Sorrel lifts her weight just slightly with an arm around her waist.
"Yes. That one." Vega points to Lyra. "She's mine. I'm sorry about that. I hope she hasn't been difficult?"
“Not difficult at all…but who might you be?” Seraphina asked, now feeling protective over the stranger. “Are they in trouble?”
Vega winces.
"Apologies. I'm Vega Darkfire. I'm-"
She stops suddenly, looking at Sorrel awkwardly, clearly not sure how to proceed.
Seraphina didn’t quite understand what’s going on but clearly there’s something larger afoot that needs to be examined. She opens the door fully.
“I don’t have much space in here but we can move to the rooms downstairs. It’ll be quiet there too.” She offered.
"That sounds great," Vega says. "That way we can talk properly and not be in the bedroom of a stranger that we invaded."
Lyra clutches her book of fables sullenly, suddenly very reminiscent of Aries, Sorrel notes.
"Seraphina's book. It's lost and important."
"So are manners, Lyra."
Lyra doesn’t respond, only reluctantly gets out of the chair and slinks past Seraphina to hold onto Sorrel’s sleeve, hanging on to the sister not currently angry with her.
“Tea,” she whispers. “And then book.”
Sorrel finds herself with a sister in each arm, an entirely novel, awkward and unexpected experience that is for some reason not as unpleasant as she might have expected. And, with an almost physical shock, she realised she was, albeit briefly, in charge of this situation which could end incredibly badly if she wasn't diplomatic, tactful, caring and at least a little adult. She hoped Selûne knew what she was doing.
"So, Vega, this is Seraphina," she figured she had to start somewhere. "She met me on my first day in Kantas at a difficult moment and since then helped me enter the church, conducting my official baptism. She is incredibly wise and kind. I was going to introduce you to her anyway, but if Lyra was to ask me where she could run to in the temple, this is pretty much who I would have suggested she meet.
"Seraphina, this is Vega and Lyra, two of my three sisters, long story, talk later, but Lyra is... well you've met her. She sees and feels things in a unique way that I don't understand but has mentioned your name like a lot.
"Lyra, bless you, this is a safe space but you do have to tell someone if you're going to go off on your own. I think I might have to move into the temple just to make this easier.
"Vega, don't be mad. I don't have a good argument for that one right now, but things worked out. And these two needed to meet. And my coffee does have a bad effect on people so it's probably my fault."
Seraphina listened and looked at each of them in turn as she spoke, all of them carrying an aura around them she could feel, practically touch.
“Come with me.”
She leads them all down the spiral steps that run around the outside of the temple garden, a large circle under the oculus above where moonlight would bathe the garden in silver.
Eventually they reach where Sorrell and her friends had partaken in the ceremony to welcome her into the church and then across to an adjoining room where it's quiet and comfortable. A small fireplace is lit with a magical fire and a tea set already laid out in preparation for company sat upon a low table surrounded by comfortable chairs.
Seraphina ushers everyone into the room and closes the door behind them.
“You mentioned a book?” She asks them all as she begins pouring the hibiscus leaves and flowers into the pot. A pleasant curl of steam wraps around her fingers.
Vega opens her mouth to reply but is interrupted by a rather terse knock on the door.
“Aries,” Lyra says.
“Aries?” Seraphina asked and looked at everyone. “Forgive me, I’m not quite following.”
“One more sister,” Vega smiles tiredly. “Last one, I promise.”
Aries bears the same striking features as the other two newcomers - silver white hair, pale eyes, the pointed ears of high elves - but the scowl and careful, distrustful scanning of the room could’ve been Sorrel in a wig. There’s no doubt in Seraphina’s mind that the four of them are sisters but she does wonder where on earth Sorrel’s been hiding them all this time.
She sits down and lets the tea brew for a few minutes before she would pour it.
“Tell me, why are you here and what do you want with the book?”
“Kinda curious about that myself,” Sorrel stroked Lyra’s hair and dropped a swift kiss on top of her head. The reptilian part of her brain started screaming in outrage. “What’s the story Lyra?”
Aries meets Sorrel's eyes briefly. The reptilian part of her brain seems to be screaming in harmony. Lyra cocks her head, eyes a comfortable million miles away.
"The first task. Seraphina is looking for a book."
"And we're meant to help her?" Vega asks.
Lyra nods.
"Well," Vega says, "The long and short of it, Seraphina, is that we were sent here - Lyra, Aries and I - by the goddess we all serve. The Moonmaiden wills us to help you. I assure you we wish you no ill intent, nor do we wish to use the book for our own means. At least I don't think we're meant to...?" She looks over at Lyra who shakes her head.
"No. Don't use the book. The book is bad."
"The book is bad, got it. We won't use it. What exactly is the book, Seraphina? If I may ask?"
“The book….” Seraphina begins, and gets up to start pouring the tea for everyone, wondering how best to explain it. “The book was something we guarded, kept the world safe from. I never saw it but certainly felt its presence when I’d get anywhere near it. It was kept inside a locked box deep in the vaults of the temple back home.”
Seraphina finishes pouring the tea and sits down. “The legend was, at least what we were always told, that it contains ancient and powerful magic. To even look upon the cover could induce one to madness; we’d all heard the tale of the sister who first saw it when it was discovered. It took a year for her to recover.”
Seraphina picks up her cup of tea. “And so, roughly a year ago it went missing and I set out to find it. My path leading me here, to Kantas.”
Vega nods thoughtfully.
“And surely it was meant to cross ours. Selûne willed it. You have our help in this, Seraphina, though exactly what form it will take I cannot-“
“Alatar’s Cobalt Codex,” Lyra cuts in.
There’s a moment of silence. Aries tries not to look smug.
“Would that perhaps be the name of the book?” Vega asks Seraphina, in dazed bemusement.
Seraphina looked at Vega.
“I’m not sure, I’ve never been able to look at it but if you think it is then I suppose it must be.”
She takes another sip of her tea, though the warmth does little to assuage the chill she feels in her bones.
“She doesn’t think it,” Aries says, “she sees it. And she’s very rarely wrong.”
Lyra pulls out a slightly crumpled piece of parchment and puts it on the table. At a glance it looks like a very odd shopping list. There are at least four kinds of herbs on there, not to mention all the other odds and ends.
“And a map,” she adds. “For tracking. Vega. Lyra. Aries. Seraphina. Book. Sorrel. Beetle.”
She curls into Sorrel a little. “Cloak.”
Aries frowns. “What, the four of us? But the Specialist hangs back?”
“Vega, Lyra, Aries, Seraphina. Book. Sorrel. Beetle.”
This time Lyra’s insistent and Aries raises her hands in defeat.
Vega looks apologetically at Sorrel and Seraphina. “Looks like we’re splitting the party. But first…” She picks up the strange list and scans it. “I think we’re meant to commune.”
Seraphina holds her tea cup with both hands, disguising her worries about the loss of the book. No one had known but her and her sisters so here with the others she felt a comfort.
“That can be arranged, though I promised raspberry tarts before we proceed, one should not perform magic upon an empty stomach,” she says and looks at Lyra with a kind expression upon her face.
Sorrel clears her throat softly. “I’m not comfortable with leaving the four of you. Is it absolutely necessary? Can we ask? If that’s how communing works…?”
“You’ll get answers,” Lyra says softly. “But you might not like them.”
“You may stay with us while we commune, I have no problem with it, and…as you are also involved in this it seems only right.” Seraphina added. “Now, I shall just be a moment.”
She gets up and leaves the room, heading to the kitchen where she arranges some jam tarts onto a plate, nearly dropping one as her hand shakes.
She rarely showed fear or worry but in this moment, to herself it appeared.
Clutching the table lip she steadies herself and takes a few deep breaths. For the first time, she is not alone in this.
---------
Lyra’s abilities - and the fact that all the Darkfire sisters are in the Dawnlands - is something that needs to be hidden. Aries insists upon secrecy, so the ritual is to be conducted in that very same room. Lyra reads her book of fables and demolishes raspberry tarts at an impressive speed under Vega and Seraphina’s watchful eyes while Sorrel takes Aries shopping. Together they make quick work of the Dawnmarket, stopping only for Sorrel to question what Lyra actually needs epazote, sage, valerian and thyme for, to which Aries simply gives an indifferent shrug.
“She’s the one with the visions, not me.”
When they return, Lyra inspects the supplies and nods. Without any further explanation she selects a piece of chalk and begins tracing a large circle on the floor. In the circle she outlines an eye and around the whole thing, nine stars. She lights five candles, lining them up in a way that seems very particular to her but doesn’t make any sense to the other four watching. She mixes herbs, humming softly, traces symbols on the floor in ash, occasionally stopping and cocking her head as if listening to instructions no one else can hear before nodding and continuing with the next steps. At one point she gets up from the floor and quietly walks over to Seraphina and Sorrel, holding out her hand.
“Token.”
At their confused looks, Vega translates.
“She needs something of yours, something personal. Something important to you. She always gives it back afterwards though.”
Sorrel looks down at her daggers, longbow, shortswords, rapiers, arrows, battered armour, ration packs and dented buckler hanging loosely from her belt. Technically these are personal and important. But she thinks maybe not really what’s needed. She unclips the Goddess-given Guardian Emblem of Selune from her steel strengthened chest guard and looks at it in the candle light. A simple silver disk with a waxing moon picked out in mother of pearl. Twice this has poured forth magic and shielded her from death by the good grace of the Moonmaiden. Perhaps her luck has run out, but she knows the goddess has used this to keep her safe. It feels like their strongest bond.
Seraphina went to her dresser in her sleeping quarters and took out the little statue of a rabbit she’d carved as a child. It had been with her all this time and served as a token of comfort and hope for her. Made of sun bleached driftwood it was as light as a leaf and she passed it to Lyra.
Tokens in hand she walks back to the middle of the circle and places them carefully according to specifications only she is aware of. She looks everything over once more before nodding and holding her hand out to Aries who, seemingly knowing this was coming, hands over a map of the continent. Lyra spreads it out on the floor and kneels in front of it, taking a deep breath.
“We begin.”
The room dims, the fire suddenly nothing but hot coals, and the only light available is coming from the five flickering candles and spilling bright silver from Lyra’s eyes. She turns her face up, seeking the stars only she can see, her breathing quickening. When she opens her mouth to speak once more, her voice is not her own. They feel it, rather than hear it. It is the sound of crashing waves, of crumbling mountains, of rolling thunder and of great bells tolling for those who would oppose Selûne’s chosen.
“You have questions. Ask them.”
Seraphina shares a look with the others before she answers, her voice clear and steady.
“I seek a book - ancient, cold and powerful. ‘Alatar’s Cobalt Codex’. I seek to know who took it and where it has gone, please.”
Lyra screams, not with one voice but with many. Sorrel and Seraphina are horrified to hear that amongst them all her own can still be heard. The light in her eyes glows brighter and brighter until she suddenly shuts them tight, slapping the palms of her hands down on the map. She pushes until the light seeps from her fingers instead, leaking over the continent like the rivers they all know to be there yet never have been able to pin down.
The light crept across the map, coalescing in the north, far above the edge of the Angelbark. There, right by the ocean, it forms a small, faintly glowing X.
Lyra manages to close her mouth but not to entirely contain her own pained sounds. She takes her hands off of the map and reaches, trembling, for a piece of charcoal. Crudely and clumsily she draws a symbol on the palm of her left hand, holding it out to Seraphina like a strange offering. Then she sits back on her knees, swaying slightly, before opening her eerie eyes once more.
“One more.”
Sorrel rubs her hands a little cleaner along her thighs and coughs nervously as she steps forward, feeling like a kid in a school play.
“Um… almighty Selûne? I who am clearly unworthy - I mean what I’m doing here I have no idea - but it appears to me that there is this beetle character who is chasing my sisters and clearly not for good reasons or…well, obviously… and Lyra seems to think that I, in a manner of speaking, am paired off with the beetle while my sisters and Seraphina are involved in the book so I suppose the question is where is the beetle if that’s its real name and do I have to leave my sisters?”
She steps back, thinks again, steps forward.
“Thank you very much.”
She steps back blushing.
Lyra sways a little, tipping forward and looking at Sorrel from behind a curtain of silver hair. The light from her eyes seems bright enough to scorch the world.
“You need not seek the Beetle. The Beetle already seeks the Wolf.”
There’s a low clicking on the stone by Sorrel’s boot. A golden green beetle, large enough to make noise as it scurried across the floor, makes its way to the map. It stops at the very edge of the parchment, and more beetles - smaller, duller - springs from its body. They come to Kantas from the east, following the ship route before turning suddenly north, almost docking at Clansky Port, deliberating briefly and then making landfall by Breaker’s Point. They step onto the green of the Angelbark marked on the map, and vanish.
“The wolf and the weasel,” Sorrel mutters. “I should’ve worked that one out by now.”
The lights blink out in her eyes. Lyra gasps, and collapses onto the floor.
Seraphina rushes forwards to catch her, holding her so her head will not hit the stone. She looks up at Sorrel as she picks up Lyra easily in her arms, a renewed strength and purpose in her.
“I shall take her to a healing room. Stay with her, don’t let her lay upon her back, I shall fetch some things to help her.”
Seraphina carries her to a small chamber holding a bed and a chair beside it with a small dresser. A single candle sits atop it in a tall candlestick which she lights with a flick of her finger. She sets Lyra down gently and makes sure her head is supported.
Exhausted from the ordeal, Lyra manages only to grasp Sorrel’s hand weakly and mumble a few more words before she slips deep into the welcoming dark.
“The Jackal says he’s sorry.”
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Co written with stephena Lykksie
