Chapter 526: Purpose
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GAHRYE
The trail went due north to the Tree City and the market, but Gahrye set his eyes on the northwest fork. His bare feet made barely a sound on the hard packed dirt. It was so early the birds hadn't even started to sing yet, though they would start soon.
And he would welcome it when they did.
As he trudged along the trail that curled around the edge of the City, towards the side of the small mountain that loomed, a lonely peak, on this side of the City. As the ground began to climb, he wondered if he would find other disformed already in the cave.
They hadn't really furnished it, but there were a few mats and bags spread around for people to sit or lie on. And most of the disformed he knew had slept there more than once—usually when there was conflict within their families or home over their disformed state. There was a small, branching tunnel at the back of the cave where Gahrye had bedded down in the past. But in the months before he left with Elia, there'd been no need. He was the Queen's Advisor.? A Cohort. Though it hadn't necessarily changed the minds of the Anima, there was no doubt that they felt less free to hold him in contempt. And some had stopped sneering at him altogether.
His family had never rejected him outright. He'd always felt his parents were just… sad about the state of him.
For a moment he envisioned telling them—not only was he a Cohort now. He was a Protector! The disformed weren't useless. Their human state had a purpose and their blood could save lives!
Then he was reminded of what the Creator had shown him…
He was a Protector, that much was true. But when he read the winds it came through vividly. The disformed could be Protectors. Many were capable of it. But right now, they were weak and untried, and not all had the strength of character.
He couldn't tell anyone. The Creator had made that clear. Elia could know. Had to know. Kalle, too. But no one else. They couldn't speak of it—not directly—to anyone else. The disformed were still to weak. If others were to learn the power they could wield, the battles they would win… their enemies would descend them now, while they remained in this state, unprepared and weak. They wouldn't have what was needed to overcome the attack.
So everyone else had to continue to believe the disformed were useless. Otherwise they would be revealed too soon, and that would be catastrophic.
When the time came, the Creator would bring the right Anima to know and understand. And that person would know not only how to protect the Protectors, but how to bring them to their greatest strength.
That was not Gahrye's job. His job was to hold their secrets, and to prepare them for the day they were called into their true destiny.
He and Elia and Kalle.
The disformed were going to save the Anima from an enemy so vile that, if it succeeded, it would end their people and destroy their world.
Elia is in Anima now, just as she needed to be. She was the bloodline. It was Gahrye's job to help her. But he also had to start identifying other Protectors and training them. Preparing and equipping them for the day they were needed.
And all in secret.
He reached the cave and for a moment as he walked up the path to the cave mouth, he was overcome with a sense of walking back in time—had it really only been a year ago? The days he had trudged up this path, beaten down and discouraged. Convinced his life was useless and would never amount to anything of value to his people.
Look how far he had come already!
Then he stepped inside the cave mouth, found the cavern empty and dusty and… depressing.
He scanned the floor and walls and sighed. There were a few pillows and bags on the floor, and a dresser with a broken leg against the wall that he and a few of the other males had carried up two summers ago in case there was ever anything that needed to be stored here. There was a small pile of plates and cutlery inside an enamel bowl, though he caught a nice layer of dust and a dead spider inside it as well. It looked like no one had been in here for a while. The pillows weren't dusty, but everything else looked… forgotten.
This wasn't the place that would make the disformed feel like they had a place to belong. They needed to do better. He needed to make this a cave to welcome and hold the disformed in safety. A place to retreat when they struggled, or needed each other.
They needed sleeping platforms, chairs, tables, and a few rugs.
They needed to make this a home.
The home that the disformed would use to shield themselves from the contempt of the rest of the world. A place to just be themselves, but together.
He dropped his bag against the wall, near the dresser and made a mental note to get what was needed to fix the splintered leg on it. Then looked around.
There was a broom here somewhere. He'd sweep it out. Fluff the pillows, and maybe ask Elia or Reth for some furniture—or at least a few more bags for people to sit on.
They wouldn't be able to fix everything today, but apparently the Tree City had just walked away from war. What better time to create a place of congregation for the disformed than now?
In his mind he could see Kalle's smile, her sheer delight at what he envisioned. She would make comments about needing flowers and throw rugs. Things to make the room soft and inviting. And maybe he would do that one day. But for now… for now he needed the place functional. And clean.
It wasn't like he had anything else to do.
Gahrye dusted his hands off and got to work.
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