Jallina sat at our usual spot in the coffee shop.
She jerked her head up when I sat down and gave me the biggest grin I had seen from her in months. “Kimber? That’s really you?”
“Certainly is, Jallina.”
She reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “I’ve missed you these past few weeks.”
Nodding, I squeezed her hand back. “I have missed you, too. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to do…anything.”
A small, proud smile danced across her lips. “You are quite the celebrity around here.”
Laughing, I sat back in the chair and shook my head. “I don’t mean to be.”
Once I ordered my coffee, Jallina sat forward and wrapped her hands around her mug. “Are you still teaching?”
I shook my head. “No. They took me off that duty a while ago. I train with magic most of the time now. I don’t even know why. And you? What are you doing?”
“Same thing I’ve always done. Organize the shelves and books in the library. Though they have me checking the returns now as well, for damage, so life got a little more exciting.”
“Baby steps, Jallina. You’ll get to director eventually.”
Her eyes were fixed on the coffee foam in her cup, and she grunted. The mood at our little table changed immediately.
“Is something wrong?”
“No…”
My head tilted in curiosity and I waited.
A deep sigh preceded Jallina’s explanation. “Everything has changed now, Kimber. You and Elex are not around because you’re off being important at the temple, but the rest of us have splintered apart. And not for the reasons you think. Not because you and Elex were the glue of the group—”
I laughed. We weren’t. We so very much were not.
“But we have changed. Our group has…morphed.”
“Morphed?”
She swirled the coffee this time and nodded slowly. “Morphed. Like rock under pressure. I guess none of us ever saw it because we were young and used to each other. Once you and Elex disappeared up to the temple, we all came to odds.” A little chuckle escaped her. “Drez and Milgran came to more than odds. I think they are both still sporting black eyes.”
“What on S’Kir happened?”
“The temple, if, she looked through the coffee shop before looking back at me. “Let’s talk elsewhere. There are ears here.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t reassured. There were ears everywhere. I didn’t understand why she was so worried about being overheard, either.
Passing a dozen other little shops after paying for our drinks, Jallina stopped in front of a door that had nothing more than a mark in the corner.
I knew the mark well. It was the mark of the temple.
Jallina gave a furtive glance up and down the street before she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
It was as though I had stepped back into the temple I had walked away from angrily just an hour ago. The smells, the sights, the lighting. Everything was familiar. “What is this place?”
My friend didn’t answer right away. She swept her coat off her shoulders and hung it up before motioning for me to do the same.
She led me, still quiet, into the depth of the room and sat at a table. I sat down across from her, the question still hovering between us, unanswered.
A young man, dressed as an acolyte in the main temple, hurried over.
He gasped when he saw me and dropped into a deep bow.
“How may I serve you, Lady Raven, Mistress Topir?”
“Two coffees,” Jallina answered, and the acolyte disappeared.
When had I started thinking of acolytes as separate from myself?
Jallina finally answered my question. “This place is an outlier temple. It is a safe house, a place where people come if the temple is too far for them to walk or they fear something between here and there.”
My face must have given me away.
“You didn’t know about these, did you?”
“No. Not at all.”
Tracing a pattern in the wood of the table, Jallina took a moment to gather her thoughts. “When they call us infants, Kimber, they are right. We may be closing in on our first century, but we do not know the ins and outs of this world. There are still a lot of things we won’t know for a long time.”
I put a hand to my head. “I just had this conversation.”
“What?”
“With Mistress Danai. It’s why I walked away from the temple for a while. I needed to clear my head.”
“She’s right if that’s what she told you.”
The acolyte placed the mugs of hot, rich coffee on the tabletop between us and left a plate of sugars and creamers.
In companionable silence, Jallina and I made our coffees the way we liked, the way we had left them at the coffee shop.
I took in the room around us a little bit more.
It looked a lot like the temple but was clearly not meant for dedications and prayers alone. The room was more functional, more welcoming.
Certainly, much more versatile, as evidenced by the delicious coffee.
“What happened?” My quiet words didn’t seem to break our pleasant silence too uncomfortably.
“There were arguments. When Milgran realized you were the one at the temple and spreading the news of the Breaking Times, he was… angry.” Jallina snorted in the coffee impolitely. “Well. Perhaps angry was an understatement. He was furious. He was at a loss for words, and he wanted to…”
She cleared her throat, trying to put off what she was about to say.
I waited.
“He wanted to go there and…kill you. At first. He calmed enough within a few moments to amend that to take you away from the temple, but Drez and I heard the words leave his lips.”
A week before, a day before, I would never have believed that Milgran would say such a thing. Either sentiment, killing or kidnapping.
I was now a day older and wiser.
What a difference a day made.
I stalled, then took a sip of the coffee, enjoying the warm, delicious drink as it spread through me. I savored it for just one moment longer, relishing everything that was innocent and pure just one more time as I got ready to admit that my own innocence and purity were ending.
“None of that surprises me.”
Jallina’s head snapped up, then hung a moment later.
“So they did try to take you last night.”
This time, my head snapped up. “What do you mean? How do you—”
“Mil wasn’t quiet about his plans and where his ideals were aligning. And they weren’t with you and the temple, for sure.”
I was aghast. “You knew he was going to try to kidnap me?”
Was one of my oldest friends lying to me?
Was she baiting me?
Why had she not come and told me they were going to try that?
Disgusted, I stared at the coffee.
It lost its taste suddenly.
My taste for my company was also lost.
Jallina’s head shook in the negative. “Not him. The group he has been showing more than a passing interest in. He was…enthusiastic about the idea that they were going to take you from the temple and teach you how the temple is wrong.”
“Why would I ever be convinced the temple is wrong? I am…was an acolyte. I serve the Lost God. I have since we were children, and he’s known me since I was a child!”
Another pregnant pause filled the air. This one was not uncomfortable, merely long and laden with things Jallina wanted to say.
“Remember I said we were children and really didn’t have a clue? It all comes down to that. We don’t know this world as well as others do, and we certainly never knew about Antithesis.”
My hand flew up to a hold position.
“Who?”
“Antithesis. They are the ones who tried to take you last night. The one Milgran has joined.”
Working my jaw, I puzzled out the name as I stared into the coffee. Finally, I looked up. “That’s a stupid name.”
Jallina burst out laughing. “Right?!”
“They also missed.”
Still chuckling, she gestured to me sitting there. “Clearly. What did they do? How did you get away?”
From that question alone, I knew that she had not had enough prior knowledge of the attempt. My stomach settled quickly. “They danced me out the door.”
Her face froze in a blank expression for just a moment, and then her whole countenance exploded in laughter.
“They did what?”
“Danced me off the floor.” I smirked. “Honest. They cut in on Elex and me, and I was slowly danced over to the opposite doors and then dragged from the room.”
I relayed the night’s excitement to my friend, the new knowledge of who they were shedding new light on the whole incident.
One of my own friends associated with these people.
“Are you all right now, though?” Jallina asked.
“I am. I was fine just moments after Elex and Master Dorian had me away from the carriage. I wasn’t really frightened, just confused. I mean, one minute I’m dancing and the next…”
A sigh left her lips. “You and Elex?”
My cheeks flamed red when I realized how obvious I’d made it to her that Elex and I weren’t merely friends. “Me and Elex.”
“I’ve heard he’s an animal in bed.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
She smiled. “I’m jealous, really. I’ve always had a soft spot for him… and I had hoped.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
She shook off her reverie. “So, let me continue. After Milgran lost his mind about you and joined up with Antithesis, Drez and I wanted to get away from him without actually losing contact in case he did have a big mouth. I do wish I had realized he was quite serious when he told us they were going to try to steal you.
“In any case, Drez and I found that, after some introspection, we preferred to trust that which we know well. The temple.
“Someone in the coffee shop we were just in overheard us and introduced us to this place and others like it around the city.”
“That’s why you wanted to get out of the shop.”
Jallina nodded. “Yes, because as he, Seforin, explained, both the Outlier Temples and Antithesis use the shop to recruit.”
“And if they knew I was there—”
“They might come after you. Here, they won’t. And if they do, there’s a door at the back where we can get you out.”
“This is too much intrigue for me.”
“And we are just at the tip of the iceberg. Infants.”
I inclined my head, realizing that the word was not so much an insult as a warning that we didn’t have enough experience to understand everything yet.
Her hand rested on mine a moment before she spoke again. “We trust the temple. Milgran has no idea that we’ve chosen a side different from his.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. “You want to be a spy?”
She tipped her hand. “Maybe a little. Maybe not go out on difficult missions, but I would not be opposed to slipping you and the temple a note to let you know we’ve heard something.”
“Having a note from my friend show up at the door wouldn’t be suspicious.”
A grin spread on Jallina’s face. “Exactly.”
I tapped a finger on the tabletop. “This could be dangerous.”
“Did you ever even suspect such an underground in S’Kir? It’s no more dangerous than the Breaker clearly aligning with the temple immediately, and seemingly, without thought.”
My lip twitched. “The Breaker?”
“The Breaker of the Spine.” Her eyebrow went up severely. “You teach the stories, Kimber. You must know about the Breaker of the Spine.”
I had never heard the phrase. I didn’t want to tell her that. It was a terrible omission in my education if I hadn’t, and it was this important. “Oh, yes. Of course. Sorry. I was focused on Antithesis.”
“So you won’t make it publicly known to Milgran that you’re aligned with the temple.”
“Not at all.”
Wrapping her hands around her mug of coffee once more, Jallina took a deep draught, and I could see the warmth comforted her.
I took on all the chill of the room at that moment.
A sigh escaped before I gave her my firm answer.
“Yes, then. Yes. Please send me information on them. And Milgran. But never at personal risk to you.”
“We must be seen together occasionally. Coffee, shopping, even visiting one another.”
My eyebrow went up this time. “You’ve thought about this.”
Trying not to smirk, she couldn’t quite school her expression. “S’Kir isn’t exactly the most exciting place. We’re happy, we’re content, but even a calm soul like mine needs an adventure once in a while.”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “This is probably more adventure than you really want to experience, Jalli.”
She waved me off with a flick of her wrist. “Feh. I’ll grow old and stale like my books if I don’t do something to help you and the temple.”
I let the words hang there a moment. In the next, I gave her a warning. “Just remember, we don’t know the game, never mind all the players. This is for keeps now.”