Six
Unsurprisingly, both Zain and Kyia did think Alex was crazy. The only thing in her favour was the fact that their memories of the past weren’t wiped entirely—they just remembered a blurred, forgotten face. That was how Lady Mystique’s memory modification had worked—keeping Alex there but also… not. To Kyia and Zain, she was an unidentifiable Meyarin of no importance, with not even the golden shimmer of her vaeliana bond present in their minds.
What finally convinced them was her knowledge of them personally. The memories Alex shared—there was no way she could have known such things without experiencing them for herself. And that was ultimately what persuaded Zain and Kyia that she was telling the truth.
“This is unbelievable,” Kyia whispered, rubbing her temples. “I mean, I remember there was someone with us—I remember standing on that waterfall with Aven, Niyx, Roka and someone else… but no matter how much I try to visualise the memory, I can’t picture who it was.”
Alex offered an apologetic shrug. “Lady Mystique—Aes Daega—made it so you wouldn’t remember me. If you had, I might never have found my way back to the past, and our current timeline would have been all stuffed up.” She scrunched up her face. “It’s one of those weird time paradoxes. Cause and effect, and all that.”
Zain was just staring at her in shocked bewilderment. “That’s how you knew my name.”
Alex blinked at him. “Sorry?”
“I haven’t forgotten that storm and what happened at Narsae de Trigon with that foul beast, Skraegon,” he said, his tone sour at the name of the Meyarin brute. “I’ve never been able to remember your face, but it always bothered me that someone knew who I was when, at the time, I was careful with whom I shared my identity.”
Alex laughed as she recalled the promise she’d made him that night. “You made me swear by the stars that one day I’d tell you how I knew your name.”
Zain grinned wolfishly at her, humour replacing his shock. “That I remember, too. I just had no idea you would make me wait thousands of years.”
Alex returned his grin. “I didn’t specify the timeframe.”
“I’ll have to make note of that for next time, you devious little human.” His amusement faded and his face turned pensive. “But I guess we’ll call it even, since I have a feeling you’re the reason Roka never stopped badgering me to join the Zeltora.”
“I couldn’t have my favourite elite guard-slash-babysitter stay a criminal forever,” Alex said lightly. “I just gave Roka a little… nudge of encouragement.”
Zain chuckled, and both he and Alex turned back to Kyia who was still rubbing her temples.
“What a mess,” Kyia said, sighing. “If what you’re saying is true and you really are the human who led to Aven’s desire for vengeance against mortals, then I can see why Aes Daega made us forget you.”
“If we’d recognised you, there’s no doubt someone would have stopped you from travelling back through time,” Zain agreed. “You would have been killed the moment you first stepped foot in Meya.”
Kyia was shaking her head. “No. If I’d known who you were and what you’d done, I likely would have put an arrow through your heart when I first discovered you in Raelia.”
Alex couldn’t keep her face from flashing with shock—and hurt.
“I’m sorry,” Kyia said quietly, placing her hand on Alex’s uninjured leg and offering a squeeze of comfort. “Of course I mean you no harm now. You are as much a victim in all this as the rest of us. I merely wanted to point out that if knowledge of your past identity was to be made public, we might have trouble rallying the remaining Meyarins to our cause. There’s no way we can tell anyone else about this.”
“I can’t think of a reason why anyone but you two and Roka would have to know,” Alex said. “I wasn’t even going to tell you both, but I couldn’t stand the idea of lying to you.”
“You would have also had a hard time explaining how you managed to free Jordan,” Zain said. “I still have trouble believing that part of your recount.”
Thinking about her friend who was trying so hard to act like nothing had happened to him, Alex only said, “I don’t blame you.”
After a weighty pause, Kyia clapped her hands together once and announced, “Very well. Let’s choose to see this as a good thing.”
Raising one eyebrow, Zain said, “How so?”
“For starters,” Kyia said, “Alex won’t need anywhere near as much training if Roka spent time teaching her how to fight in the past.”
It took a great deal of effort for Alex to keep her face blank, and she only managed to do so for Niyx’s continued safety. Her Meyarin friends had to believe as her human friends did—that Roka was solely responsible for her current level of competence.
“By her account, Alex only spent a few weeks with us in the past,” Zain argued to Kyia. “She’ll still have much to learn if she wants to have a chance of surviving Aven—not to mention, his Claimed Zeltora.”
“We’re focusing on the positives here, Zain,” Kyia ground out.
Alex bit her cheek to keep from laughing at the female Meyarin’s lethal glare.
Zain raised his hands in apology, the corner of his lip twitching. “Positives. Very well. She’s partly trained and has fully embraced the Meyarin blood in her veins. What else?”
“She can speak fluent Meyarin,” Kyia said.
Zain nodded and added, “She’s seen a vision of the future so she knows what to watch for and the kinds of preparations we need to carry out.”
“She’s also spent time with Aven—intimate time—and had the chance to get inside his head,” Kyia said, causing Alex to wince at her word choice, since ‘intimate’ wasn’t quite how she would have described their relationship, at least from her end. “That could benefit her in their future confrontations.”
“But he doesn’t remember her,” Zain pointed out. “Not as Aeylia.”
Sick of them talking about her as if she were no longer present, Alex said, “Guys, I’m right here. Quit with the ‘she’ business.”
“We’re brainstorming,” Zain said. “No offence is intended, but when discussing strategy, it helps to keep it impersonal.”
“Just… don’t leave me out of the conversation.”
“You’re welcome to jump in at any time,” Kyia said.
“Let’s talk about where we go from here,” Zain suggested, redirecting their conversation.
“I know we were all somewhat… out of it… the last time you were here,” Kyia said to Alex, her eyes flicking sorrowfully towards the curtains hiding Roka, “but we did hear the plan you proposed. I trust that you’re still intending to warn the other races as well as strengthen your gift?”
Alex nodded. “I met with the human leaders this morning—the king and queen and their closest military and royal advisors. It didn’t go very well, but it wasn’t awful, either. They’re going to take extra precautions and wait to see if Aven will act. While they’re doing that, I’ll be off sharing what I know with the other races, and hopefully they’ll be willing to consider forming an allied defence.” She didn’t mention that she hadn’t exactly been given permission to do that. “And as for my gift, I’m hoping to learn more about how I can develop it sometime later today.”
Kyia made a sound of approval but thankfully didn’t press Alex for any details.
“Then we won’t keep you much longer,” Kyia said, “since that’s one of your highest priorities right now. When the time comes to act, you must be ready.”
No pressure, Alex thought, her shoulders slumping.
“For our part,” Zain jumped in, “unless Roka was a miracle worker in the past, you’ll still need more training. Kyia and I will work out a schedule for when and where we can meet.”
Knowing that Niyx intended to continue working with Alex once he figured out how to sneak away from Meya, she was about to decline the offer, especially since neither Kyia nor Zain should be leaving Roka unattended for long periods of time. But she snapped her mouth shut at the last second, remembering they couldn’t know about her spying friend.
“That, um, sounds good,” Alex said, hoping her hesitation came off as apprehension rather than reluctance.
Zain grinned at her. “Don’t worry, little human. We won’t go easy on you, but we won’t kill you, either.”
Alex pulled a face. “What a relief.”
Even Kyia managed a quiet laugh, a heartening sound given how devastated Alex knew she was.
“How’s your leg?” Kyia asked. “Do you think you can put weight on it and return through your Library doorway?”
“The laendra helped a lot,” Alex said, rising to her feet with only a slight wince as the throbbing in her wound reawakened. “I won’t be running any marathons today, but I’ll survive until I get back to see Fletcher.”
“I only wish I had enough to help you heal completely,” Kyia said, standing as well.
Alex almost said, ‘Next time’, but she didn’t want Kyia to start demanding more promises from her, so she remained silent.
“I’ll escort her,” Kyia said to Zain. “Just to make sure none of the others try anything like Gaiel did.”
Eugh. The last thing Alex wanted or needed was to get in another fight on her way back to the academy. As it was, Fletcher was not going to be pleased that she’d been stabbed.
… Again.
After bidding Zain farewell, Alex limped out of the tent. She expected to hobble to the doorway, but she’d forgotten that she was amongst Meyarins again, and Kyia saved her the additional hurt by sweeping her up in the Valispath, quietly asking for directions to where the doorway was located.
As they moved rather slowly through the settlement—but much faster and less painfully than walking would have been—Alex noted the curious and sometimes furious eyes watching her. Seeing them, she asked Kyia how the Meyarins were adapting to their new conditions, but the answer wasn’t positive. Not at all.
When the Valispath finally came to a stop at Alex’s earlier entry point, she didn’t hesitate to recall the doorway. Just as she was about to step through, Kyia reached for her arm.
“I don’t know how you’re managing to keep it together, Alex,” the Meyarin said, her voice hushed enough that no other immortal ears would be able to hear. “The burden on your shoulders—I can’t imagine what that must feel like. And I know it must seem as if we expect a lot from you, as if we expect that you alone will have to face Aven. But that’s not true.”
Kyia’s brilliant emerald eyes flared with an inner light as she continued, “You’re not alone in this, Alex. Whatever the future brings, whatever you have to face to see this through, we will be with you every step of the way. I swear by the stars that we will not leave you to fight this war on your own.”
Alex had to blink back tears at Kyia’s steadfast declaration. To keep from curling into a ball and sobbing from the unyielding burden that she did indeed feel weighing heavily on her, Alex instead leaned in and wrapped her arms around her Meyarin friend.
“Thank you, Kyia,” she whispered. “That means more than you can know.”
Kyia held her tightly for a moment before pulling back, quickly swiping under her own eyes as she did so. “You’d better go, especially if you’re still supposed to learn something about your gift.”
“I don’t even know how that’s going to happen,” Alex said carefully, her tone revealing her frustration. “I feel as unbalanced as when I’m dealing with Lady Mystique who pops up out of the blue, leaving me to navigate her riddles and ‘sage advice’—none of which I understand until after the fact.” Scratching her chin, she went on to ask, “Speaking of, have you seen her much this week? Has she come by to check on Roka?”
Kyia shook her head. “Aven has his best trackers hunting her, so Aes Daega has been forced into hiding. It’s unlikely we’ll see her again until she is confident she can avoid capture. And there is nothing she can do for Roka right now, anyway.”
The thought of Lady Mystique being on the run from Aven distressed Alex, but she knew the ancient Tia Auran was capable of looking after herself—and in doing so, keeping Aven from exploiting her ability to open the abrassa through time. Alex felt certain she would resurface again—but only when she was ready.
“Next time you visit, we’ll have that training plan for you,” Kyia said. “And hopefully a better idea of what more we can do from up here to help with everything happening on the ground.”
“Take care of Roka,” Alex said in return, and when Kyia offered a smile and a nod of agreement, Alex limped through the open doorway and back to the Library’s corridor of doors.
Only… that’s not where she ended up. Because with a dizzying swirl of colour mid-journey, Alex was transported somewhere else entirely.