“—And that is how I eventually made it back here,” Scarlett said, taking her time with the stew she had been served, savouring the heat of it and the soft, surprisingly buttery bite of the potatoes inside.
In that pseudo-Memory, she’d gone days without eating. Even without hunger taking hold, she had still missed the simple comfort a meal could provide.
“Now that’s a tale worth turning into a tavern ballad.” Rosa laughed, a broad smile spreading across her face. She twirled a hazel lock around one finger as she looked at Scarlett. “Sounds like something out of The Wayward Mariner of Selvar’s Reach. Tell me, did you also stumble into a kingdom of quarrelsome carrot-folk who marched you down a cobbled kale road and declared you their long-promised queen?”
Scarlett looked at the woman. “I take it that is what happens in that story?”
“What, you’ve never heard any of Selvar’s fables?”
“I have not.”
“Wow. Never took you for a member of the uncultured masses.”
“…My apologies for disappointing you.” Scarlett shook her head. “And no, there were no ‘quarrelsome carrots’. The closest equivalent would have been the masks I was unfortunate enough to step on.”
“The ones that Juham fellow brought about?”
“Precisely.”
“Can I ask?” Allyssa lifted a hand from where she had been sorting through several differently coloured draughts arranged in neat rows of glass vials and flasks in front of her.
The group sat together in one of the chambers Yamina had ‘refurbished’ within the Forgotten Tower, with a long wooden table currently set between them.
“What exactly is Juham?” Allyssa asked. She pointed towards the [Bag of Juham] resting in the corner, a strange face stitched onto it in turquoise and red. “That’s the same Juham as the satchel is named after, right? So they’re connected somehow?”
“They are,” Scarlett answered. “While I do not know how it landed in the interstitial space where we originally found it, I do know that it once belonged to Juham.”
“But Juham itself is…dangerous, then? Because it’s not often anything manages to scare you, Scarlett.”
Scarlett’s jaw tightened slightly. “I would not say that I was scared…” She was silent for a moment. “Though it is true that I was wary. Juham is an Idol that is particularly troublesome to contend with. One that is better avoided altogether.”
“I have read accounts that describe Juham as the Idol of Borrowed Faces,” Yamina said with a thoughtful expression. “But beyond that, there is very little reliable knowledge concerning it. Even if the being the Baroness encountered might not have been the true Juham’s form, I myself would have hesitated to confront it within its own domain.”
“It is always prudent to exercise caution where Idols and the entities of the Wandering Realm are concerned,” Scarlett added. “They operate according to principles that can be exceedingly obscure. Brute force by itself is not guaranteed to be sufficient against them.”
Even in the game, very few Idols could be fought directly, and her brief encounter with Juham had only reinforced her impression that it wasn’t something she ever wanted to face head-on. Even if the Anomalous power had worked, there was little she would gain by defeating Juham.
“How mysterious,” Rosa hummed. “Like the big eye thing.”
“Like the ‘big eye thing’, yes,” Scarlett said.
“Do we have any idea why that guy suddenly decided to pop up again? It’s been a good while since we last saw him.”
“I am no better informed than you are on that front, Rosa.”
“You say that, but…” Rosa’s gaze drifted towards the far corner of the table. “I’d wager you still have a sharper guess about that little fellow than I do.”
Scarlett followed the look, her eyes settling on the two short figures seated there.
Nol’viz and Slate sat perfectly still, both staring at the tiny humanoid figure hovering above the tabletop before them, its pale blue-white wings beating in a faint blur as it stared curiously back.
“…I wish that were so,” Scarlett muttered.
The [Sprite of the Fey] that had somehow returned with Scarlett from the Memory was nearly as much of a mystery to her as the eye Idol itself and whatever purpose lay behind its actions. It was supposedly a token of ‘a debt owed and a debt due’, but that meant very little when one was dealing with an Idol.
To start with, Scarlett had never thought she owed any debt, nor that any debt was owed to her. That had been a notion the Idol itself had constructed, and whether that boded well, ill, or neither was entirely up in the air.
The only thing she had managed to confirm was that, according to both Slate and Yamina, a ‘sprite’ was a kind of being from the Wandering Realm that came as close as anything could to pure intent given form, not too unlike the phantom dragon guarding Olgolzkreh’s heart.
Which meant that, somehow, this sprite embodied the will of that eye Idol.
Unfortunately, it couldn’t speak. Or maybe it just didn’t want to. From what Scarlett had seen, it possessed something very like a child’s mind. One of the first things it had done afterwards was to fly circles around Scarlett and inspect every part of her like she was some strange new artifact, before going on to do more or less the same to Kat, Fynn, and every other unfamiliar face it came across. The only person it had avoided was Carnwedain. Nol’viz and Slate, on the other hand, had caught its interest almost immediately, and it had barely taken its attention off either of them since.
The two girls, in turn, seemed to have developed a particular interest in the sprite as well, although it was hard to say for certain. They hadn’t tried to touch it or speak to it, and instead looked perfectly content just sitting there and watching it, like they were now.
For the time being, Scarlett intended to keep an eye on the sprite and see what it did before deciding how to handle it. The eye Idol had helped her, after all, and she hadn’t come away with the impression that it meant to harm her. It even appeared to be playing nice, and if that was the case, staying on good terms with it could easily work to her advantage.
If possible, she wanted to meet it again, preferably with Slate at her side. The girl had said she couldn’t decipher the Idol’s identity from only Scarlett’s account or the sprite alone, but seeing the entity in person would probably change that. Scarlett was fairly sure the Idol hadn’t literally just been an eye, which meant there had probably been more to it that she simply hadn’t been able to perceive.
“I don’t really care that much whether the eye’s a big mystery or not,” Kat said from beside Rosa, lifting a spoonful of stew and gesturing at Scarlett with it. “Just glad you’re back and alright. It was a fright seeing you out cold like that for two straight days.”
“That’s because you don’t have faith, Kat, my tragically wayward sister,” Rosa declared, leaning both hands on the Shielder’s shoulders. “How are you ever truly meant to become one of us if you insist on clinging to sense and reason instead of trusting that Scarlett will march through literal flames both divine and Vile and come out the other side glaring?”
“You mean if I don’t start worshipping her as some flawless war goddess and swear myself to the cult?”
Rosa nodded solemnly. “Precisely.”
“Believe it or not, I’m still not convinced that’s a healthy approach to the whole thing.”
“What could possibly be unhealthy about it? I’ve been offering prayers to Scarlett’s divine splendour every morning for the continued health of my body, the glow of my skin, and the vitality of my spirit, and look at me. I’m right as ruin and fit as a riddle. What are the odds those are all coincidences?”
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“Very high,” Shin started to say, then paused. He glanced up at Rosa before lowering his gaze back to his meal with a slight frown. “Never mind. I misheard you.”
Rosa beamed. “Oh? What did you think I said?”
He didn’t bother answering.
“It is heartening to know that my being unconscious for two days and having a near-fatal encounter with an undecipherable entity from the Wandering Realm has inspired not even a passing flicker of concern in you, Rosa,” Scarlett said.
The woman narrowed her eyes at her. “…Could it be that you’re trying to subtly imply something?”
Scarlett arched both eyebrows. “I do not believe I was being subtle. You are still the only person here who has yet to express any relief that I returned unharmed.”
“Bah.” Rosa waved a hand. “That’s because what we have runs deeper than ordinary fretting, Red. My lack of worry is simply proof of how deeply I understand you.”
“If you say so.”
Scarlett left it there and turned her attention back to her meal while the others drifted into lighter conversation, picking over the stranger parts of what she had shared.
Rosa was obviously joking. Scarlett could tell that much just by the expression she’d seen on the woman’s face after Scarlett first woke. At the same time, she didn’t doubt that Rosa had genuinely believed, from start to finish, that Scarlett would come back in one piece.
A little while passed with food and idle talk that carried on around the table. Yamina had prepared the meal as both a welcome-back gesture and an apology for the trouble Scarlett had been through, and Scarlett appreciated that the wizard seemed at least somewhat ashamed of how things had turned out. It was enough for her to let go of most of the irritation she had been shouldering in the Memory.
As Scarlett finished her meal, her gaze met Yamina’s across the table for a brief moment, and a quiet understanding passed between them.
Rosa seemed to catch it as well. The bard fell silent for a beat before turning to the others with a small smile. “How about we let Scarlett get some proper rest before we bother her any further with our sparkling conversation? As much as I’m sure she’s missed the sound of our voices, even honey cloys when taken by the spoonful.”
Fynn, who was seated farther down the table and had been watching Nol’viz and Slate’s motionless staring contest with the sprite, turned to look at Rosa. “I’ve had honey by the spoonful. It was fine.”
Rosa squinted at him.
Allyssa let out a quiet laugh as she started tucking her flasks into the bandolier at her side. “She’s trying to be polite and say that we should leave Scarlett and Yamina alone to talk business. They’ve got important stuff to discuss.”
Fynn blinked, then looked between Scarlett and Yamina.
“I see.”
Then he turned back to watching Nol’viz and Slate as if that explanation had been enough to settle things for him.
“I swear,” Rosa muttered, eyeing Fynn, “he learned how to sound normal ages ago and only refuses to do it now to spite me.”
“It’s possible,” Kat said casually, setting down her spoon. “Pretty sure Allyssa’s been schooling him to do exactly that.”
Rosa gasped, head snapping around to glare accusingly at the girl.
Allyssa only smiled to herself as she turned away. “I’ve been trying to school him. Who knows whether any of it stuck?”
“Baroness,” Yamina said, rising from her seat. “I imagine it will be simpler if we speak in the next chamber. If that is alright with you?”
Scarlett glanced at Rosa before she stood as well. “Very well.”
She was a little surprised that Rosa was apparently willing to sit this one out. Scarlett had intended to let her join them. Probably the others as well, if they had insisted. But all of them seemed content to let her and Yamina talk by themselves.
She followed Yamina from the room, passing Carnwedain by the exit, still as ever as he watched Nol’viz. Then she continued with Yamina down a plain stone corridor until they reached another chamber, slightly smaller than the last and fitted with shelves and shallow recesses carved into the walls. Yamina drew out her spellbook and conjured two simple chairs for them, and Scarlett settled into one.
“Would you be terribly upset if I asked how much time passed for you while you were gone?” Yamina asked.
“Upset?” Scarlett gave her a brief look.
Yamina offered a weak smile. “I couldn’t help but notice that you looked rather miffed earlier.”
Scarlett chuckled. “Perhaps I did. Fortunately for you, it was not so long that I am unwilling to let it pass. A week, at most.”
“I’m glad. I would have felt guilty if it had been much longer.”
“But you do not feel too guilty now?”
“I did warn you beforehand.”
Scarlett studied her, then gave a small nod. “That you did.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other, letting the levity slip from her expression. “Of the conditions The Other imposed on you, there is only one you have yet to fulfil. Am I wrong in assuming that you do not possess another of his books?”
A flicker of surprise crossed the wizard’s face, but she soon inclined her head. “No, you’re right.”
“I thought so.”
From how Yamina had approached the matter, Scarlett had figured the wizard expected her to have one.
She reached into her [Pouch of Holding], drew out Arlene’s journal, and set it across her lap.
“With this, that condition should be satisfied.”
Yamina’s eyes widened slightly. Then a sharper note of interest entered them as she adjusted her glasses and studied the journal.
“Can I ask where you got that from?”
“It belonged to someone close to me,” Scarlett said. “My teacher.”
Yamina’s gaze shifted to her. “Your teacher?”
“Her name was Arlene Hartford.”
The wizard fell silent for a few moments. “Intriguing. I take it she is not a current member of your house?”
Scarlett shook her head. “She lived many years ago.”
“Was she in any way related to the ancestor of yours I heard appeared during the events in the Hall of Echoes? Delmont Hartford, I believe.”
“They were siblings.”
“I see.” Yamina looked openly intrigued by the admission. “That sounds like a story worth hearing.”
“Another time.” Scarlett ran a thumb over the journal’s leather cover, lingering on it before lifting her eyes back to Yamina. “Let us focus on the matter at hand. First, tell me this. Have you had any interactions with The Other since that day?”
Yamina held her gaze, then some of the curiosity left her face as she straightened, her manner turning more reserved. “I haven’t, no. In truth, I wasn’t entirely certain what—or who—I had met until you helped me confirm it before your encounter with Fate.”
“Good.” Scarlett tipped her head towards the spellbook Yamina still held on her lap. “Then tell me about that book. What is it?”
Yamina glanced down at it, resting a hand over the dark binding etched with silver lines. “I’m afraid it is probably not quite as interesting as you may have imagined after all this time. Compared to you, I suspect most things about me are now disappointingly mundane.” A soft smile touched her mouth. “With that said—”
She opened the spellbook before Scarlett’s eyes and turned it so she could see the pages within, dense with arcane script and diagrams.
“It is, in large part, simply a very thorough compendium,” Yamina said. She turned a few pages, and the sigils and diagrams gave way to cleaner handwriting set down in neat columns. “A compendium, and at times a journal. A collection of knowledge gathered by what may have been one of the finest wizardly minds of the past millennium, along with some record of her own thoughts.”
Scarlett watched as Yamina continued turning the pages. Here and there, she caught scattered Zuverian symbols woven among the rest.
“And the knowledge of a divinarch, no?” she asked, remembering what The Other had said to the younger Yamina.
The wizard eyed her, then gave a small nod. “Possibly. Only indirectly, though. As far as I am aware, Meneth did not write any of this herself. The author, Lorchen, was supposedly only her student.”
“Even so, the teachings of a divinarch must have been invaluable. Is that how you knew how to enter the Forgotten Tower, despite it not having been entered in generations?”
“It is.”
Scarlett considered the spellbook for another few seconds. “I believe I have met Meneth.”
Yamina’s hand stilled on the page. “…Truly?”
“Yes. In the Hall of Echoes. She was a friend of my teacher, and while she did not explicitly confirm that she was the same Meneth, I am reasonably certain that she was.”
The wizard’s gaze lowered slightly, one hand lifting to her chin. “I had considered the possibility that she still lived, given that she somehow survived long enough to teach Lorchen, but I was never able to confirm it. She is much like The Gentleman in that Fate never truly saw her.”
“It would not surprise me if she diverged from it,” Scarlett said. “From what I have observed, that seems to be a far more common trait than I first assumed.”
Yamina glanced back up at her with mild amusement. “Is that a note of grievance I hear, Baroness? Are you unhappy that you cannot claim sole distinction in defying Fate?”
“Hardly.” Scarlett huffed a faint breath. “It is simply frustrating. It means I know far less about certain groups than I would like.”
Yamina settled her spellbook back onto her lap. “That, I can understand. Brief as it was, you once inspired much the same feeling in me.”
“…Is that so?”
Scarlett let that sit for a moment, then gestured towards the book again. “Does it contain any insight into the future?”
“It doesn’t,” Yamina said. “Or, again, only indirectly. My suspicion is that Aurelian—or The Other—gave it to me knowing I already possessed most of what I needed. What it offered instead was material that only someone with my foreknowledge could properly make use of.”
“Are you certain it was authored by this Lorchen, then?” Scarlett asked. “Otherwise, that sounds remarkably convenient. Perhaps The Other wrote it himself.”
“No, I do believe she was the true author. I would be surprised if any of the words The Other spoke to me that day were outright falsehoods. Even so, it is somewhat unsettling to think that the circumstances of Lorchen’s life appeared to have aligned in such a way that she ended up recording so much that would, in the end, prove useful to someone in my exact circumstances.”
“The Other is a being of considerable power. If there were any being beyond Fate and Time that could guide a person’s life towards precisely that sort of outcome, it would be him.”
“You have become very familiar with him, it appears.”
“I have.”
Yamina studied her quietly for a few moments.
Scarlett met her gaze.
She had been contemplating where she wanted to go with this conversation for a while now. Where she wanted to have Yamina, in relation to her own side.
Here and now, she had finally decided.
“There is something important I would like to ask you today, Yamina. But before we come to that, I believe it would be best for us to set aside a few matters that we never truly got to discuss in detail before.”
“Such as?” the wizard asked.
“To begin with,” Scarlett said, pausing only briefly as she watched Yamina’s expression, “you were aware that I am an otherworlder.”
