Chapters 37-39

Darkest Forest

A restless night and gloomy morning later, Rienna found herself standing in front of a tall dark tree and its equally creepy brethren.

She thought back to her encounter with the witch and what Måren had said about how she practiced necromancy. She imagined how Trusten must prefer capturing children due to their youthfulness.

She swallowed hard as she peered into the darkness.

The caravan had disappeared into the woods not half an hour earlier. And while there did seem to be a recognizable road, that could change farther on. Going off road while in a witch's forest was the last thing they wanted, so they wouldhave to quicken their pace to catch up and remain close enough to see the fairyeld.

Everything was going to get so much more dangerous.

With a tired sigh, Rienna began walking after her group.

Xia, perched in a nook between Dabon's arm and a bag he was carrying, worked her magic on the entire group. Everyone and everything was made just a bit lighter. Not a lot, but enough to make a difference. They may have looked to be gliding across the ground if it weren't for their tired bodies, the fallen twigs, and the roots snaking their way onto the path to create an obstacle course for any creature foolish enough to look up from the ground.

Even so, they made good time on their target. A couple of horses pulling a caravan could only go so fast while navigating a narrow road in an untamed forest.

Despite the gloom caused by an overcast sky, Rienna couldn't help but look at the trees around her with awe. They weren't as grand as the ones in the jungle, but they were still impressive. Unlike the jungle, their branches confined themselves to the highest peaks of the trees and there was actual space between plants and pines that a person could walk through without running into said plants and pines. The trees were skinny, with hardly any canopy, making the forest floor not nearly as dark as it had been in the jungle.

There also weren't any bugs trying to eat her. Or wyverns hunting her.

Granted, a child-eating witch was much, much worse.

They slowed as the steady sound of hooves came from ahead. It was muffled by the damp, dirt ground, but easily noticed in the strange silence of the trees.

It was so silent, Rienna was worried that they had entered a trap of Trusten's. Fortunately, the occasional chirping of a bird assured her otherwise, and she hadn’t seen any noticeable landmarks more than once.

The caravan appeared beyond a bend in the road and the group stopped and hid behind a cluster of pine saplings.

Quietly, they watched the fairyeld roll across the uneven ground. Two guided the caravan and two stood at the sides, walking with it. They knew that two others waited inside the caravan.

They seemed at ease and somewhat bored. Hopefully that would mean they would be less alert and not notice their tag-a-longs.

The group from Westrikov slowly began creeping after the caravan. They stayed off the path, for the most part, and made sure there was always something between them and the caravan. Luckily, the pine needles were noiseless under their feet and other shrubbery in the way was sparse near the path.

As far as hikes went, the trail wasn't that bad. However, Rienna could see that a while off the path, the ground grew uneven and sloped to the point of being downright dangerous in some spots. She was glad to be able to stay near the road.

It was certainly easier to follow the fairyeld under the shelter of the forest, even if it meant greater risk. The caravan was forced to go slower because of the narrow road, at a pace so slow that Rienna had to stop multiple times to avoid getting too close. Also, there was shade. The sun was so hot but the temperature was perfect in the shadows of the trees.

It was almost relaxing. Except she was tired and sweaty and was constantly worried about being noticed by the fairyeld. Or the witch. Her heart jumped every time she saw a small squirrel-like mammal.

When the fairyeld stopped for lunch, Luke, who had been carrying the bag Xia had stolen, set down his stuff on a fallen log and unpacked some food.

Rienna gladly dropped her backpack and plopped onto the log. Relieved, she accepted a thin slice of bread with a chunk of unidentified red meat. The cats were given their own chunk of meat, which they easily devoured.

She took out her canteen and drained the last of her water. Hopefully they would make it to Vieryen before she needed more.

The fairyeld finished their lunch long after Rienna had hers. They switched posts, those who had been walking now sitting in the caravan. They seemed completely unaware that they were being followed.

Moments later, they were on the move again.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the pines that seemed to be growing taller and taller as they progressed through the forest. Slowly, Rienna became more at ease and started to even enjoy herself. She liked nature and the many colors it created.

Inside The Suppression, there was purple and pink from the shield if you got close enough, but otherwise everything was kind of greyish. Buildings, roads, the sky: it was all rather monochrome. Except for the plants. The plants added a spark of beauty to the otherwise boring landscapes.

She had never really thought of her kingdom as boring before…

They continued forward, and soon The Suppression rose over the tops of the trees. It was still a while off, but it was big; peeking into view above any cluster of trees that was short enough to let it. It could easily be called beautiful, but despite her awe, Rienna couldn't help a spark of hatred towards the monstrosity.

Luke and Dabon said nothing, but she saw them stare at the giant bubble with fascination. They craned their necks to see above the trees and leaned side to side to try and see through the forest.

Eventually, the fairyeld ahead of them stopped to switch posts again and take a break for necessities. They too, looked up at the Suppression from time to time. They did so nervously, though, and not out of awe. Rienna had a feeling that they wanted to get there as soon as possible.

Rienna tried to stifle her returning anxiety as they continued. Was the path the fairyeld followed not as safe as she'd thought? Surely, they wouldn't keep using it if it was too dangerous. But the way they constantly looked up at the shield suggested that something terrible could find them at any moment.

As afternoon passed, they were left in shadows. They knew the sun hadn't set yet, but it was blocked entirely by the trees and The Suppression which now spanned across most of their horizon.

The fairyeld continued despite the dark. Torches were lit that flickered between the trees. No longer able to see the caravan itself, the group of travelers had to follow the orange light.

They couldn't risk lighting a torch of their own, but after a few minutes of dangerously loud stumbling, Rienna brought out her sky-blue crystal. It glowed much softer than a torch, but granted them the ability to avoid most roaming roots and fallen branches.

Eventually, though Rienna didn't know when, the dark shadows turned into black night. Nothing could be seen outside of the glow of the crystal and the light of fires up ahead. Except The Suppression, which glowed fiercely above them.

They were almost there, but not quite close enough for the glow to be seen from between the trees. Especially with the glow of torches ahead.

But then the torches disappeared. Not just behind a batch of trees, but gone. Put out.

Quickly, Rienna scrambled to hide the glow from her crystal and shove it into her backpack.

Ahead, Luke tripped and a twig snapped loudly. Silence followed.

Rienna's heart beat wildly as she froze, staring wide eyed into the night. But she could see nothing, blind without the light.

What happened? she thought in the dark, unsure of her companions whereabouts except for her cats, who were brushed up against her ankle. Did the witch get them? Why didn't they make any noise? What could she have done to wipe them out in just seconds? She is a necromancer, so maybe she turned them all into zombies that are now searching for us. Or maybe-

A cold hand grabbed her shoulder and she started to scream before another hand clamped over her mouth.

"Shh!" a voice said behind her. "It's just me," Dabon said quietly. He slowly took his hand away from Rienna's mouth. "Where's Luke?"

"I'm here," Luke whispered from somewhere to the right.

"Good. Let's get closer to the caravan." Dabon quietly stalked forward, almost as quiet as a cat.

Rienna hesitantly followed the barely audible sound of rustling leaves ahead of her. She didn't like this idea, but didn’t want to be left behind in the dark.

They moved onto the edge of the road, no longer needing to conceal themselves in the undergrowth thanks to the absolute darkness. They were able to remain even more quiet on the pounded dirt path as they advanced toward the caravan.

A faint pink and purple glow shone through the trees as they got closer. Soon it was just enough light to outline an unmoving caravan. It was still upright, but absolutely still. No horses were in sight.

They stalked closer to the wooden wagon. Dabon's silhouette gently put a hand on the edge of the wood and walked towards the front. He stepped towards the spot where the horses should have been.

Snap.

Quietly, barely able to be heard, a pulled string broke a carefully placed twig and set off a quiet alarm.

All of a sudden, four men jumped out of the forest and surrounded Dabon, who shouted angrily as they advanced with a rope and tried to tie him up. Their dark figures danced as they tried to blindly fight each other. A clang sounded as a fairyeld accidentally hit the metal helmet of his fellow soldier.

Rienna finally mustered her courage and summoned the world of magicka into her view. She was almost blinded by the sudden glow from The Suppression, which lit the landscape as well as the sun. Despite it, she was able to make out a similar colored glow coating the path and each fairyeld.

She took a deep breath and shot a bolt of force at one glowing figure. They stumbled backwards and violently hit their head on a tree, crumpling to the ground as their helmet rang. A moment later, she cast a shield over Dabon which repelled the fairyeld for a precious few seconds.

She winced from the effort and grabbed the back of the caravan for balance. She watched as Dabon stole one of the remaining three guards' swords and the other two brought out their own. She realized with horror that the swords themselves were enchanted.

Clumsily, Rienna brought out her crystal from the backpack and absorbed more magicka.

Relief didn't last long as she yanked a sword out of one of the fairyeld's grips from a distance. He yelled angrily as his sword shot into the forest.

Luke rushed forward and tackled one of the swordless guards while Dabon faced off with the other one. Picking up a stone, the boy bashed the helmet of the guard.

The third guard paused a moment before charging after Luke while the other fighting the boy tripped on a root. He had no sword but was still decked out in armor and was much bigger than the boy.

Meanwhile, Dabon fought with his stolen sword, trying in vain to hit his opponent. Rienna could see through the magicka that Dabon didn't stand a chance. The fairyeld's sword flowed through the air and left a trail of magic. Dabon's just glowed heavily, not letting him use its magic, as if it knew that he wasn’t who it was meant to work for.

Rienna looked frantically between her companions and debated what to do. Too much was happening. Dabon was hit on the arm. Two fairyeld gained up on Luke who was barely managing to dodge their hits. The guard on the ground stirred and groggily stood up.

Desperately, Rienna absorbed the rest of the crystal's magicka almost to the point of overload. She looked down at Xia. "Make the fairyeld as light as possible." Then, giving Xia just enough time to work her magic, watching the magicka surround the fairyeld, she shot force at every one of them, using up almost all of her magicka.

They shot back, yelling in surprise. Depleted, Rienna painfully stumbled into a run. "Quick!" she yelled. "Let's get out of here."

Without wasting a moment, Dabon and Luke followed her in a dash towards The Suppression.

Suddenly, the two horses and the other two fairyeld materialized out of the darkness. Rienna veered to the right as the fairyeld saw them and let out a shout. She heard running water ahead.

A meadow opened up ahead of them and they trudged clumsily through the grass to a river's edge. The Suppression loomed to the left and cast everything in a pinkish hue. The river was at least two meters wide and moving quickly. They couldn't jump it. At least, not naturally, but they had Xia.

"Xia!" Rienna yelled. "Help me as I jump!"

She stepped back and burst into a run, feeling herself get lighter as she leapt over the water and landing ungraciously on the other side. Xia picked up her son and followed.

As Luke prepared to jump, the two fairyeld burst into the meadow. He jumped across with Xia's help and turned back to the river as Dabon attempted to do the same.

As the Lofun town councilor got to the edge of the water and began to leap, one of the fairyeld reached the river and, with a leap of his own, grabbed Dabon's ankle. He almost managed to yank him back onto the grass because of how light Dabon had become, but his hand slipped and Dabon crashed into the water.

Rienna screamed.

Immediately, Dabon was too far downstream for the fairyeld to reach. He shouted and tried to swim to the bank but was pushed to the middle of the river when the grass slipped between his fingers. He was barely able to be seen in the dim light and any shouts were drowned out by the rushing water.

Moments later, he was no longer in sight.

Rienna was shaken out of her shock once Luke grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the grass. "We have to keep moving."

They rushed through the tall grass, away from the river. Rienna barely managed to move forward through the exhaustion. The only thing really keeping her from falling flat on her face was the height and sheer density of the grass she was pushing through.

A fallen tree cut through their path and Luke pulled himself over it and climbed to the other side. Rienna tried to do the same but fell off the top and landed roughly on her arm.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked quietly.

Rienna almost wanted to laugh at the question. "No! …Yes. I'm fine. Just… fine." A wave of nausea came over her and she turned and puked into the grass.

Luke grimaced. "Alright. I don't think the fairyeld will follow us across the river. We can stop here for the night." He paused and glanced at the thankfully obscured pile of vomit weighing down a clump of grass. "Let's move a little this way. We should still wait behind this tree but… not here."

Rienna nodded. "Okay," she said hoarsely. She forced her stiff limbs to stand and limped after Luke.

They sat down and leaned against the wood. They both had their own packs, but the food was somewhere on the other side of the river. Dabon's supplies were either in a similar spot or… Rienna swallowed. It didn't matter; it was inaccessible either way.

After a moment, she spoke up in a choked voice. "Will he be alright?"

"I don't know."

Rienna didn't say anything.

Luke sighed. "He's a good swimmer, being from a lake town. We all learn basic skills for similar situations," he said quietly. "The terrain here is also pretty flat. The river will probably slow down further downstream. I doubt there is any waterfall nearby."

"The water was moving really fast."

"That doesn't mean there's a waterfall."

"And his arm was hit by a sword," Rienna sniffled.

Luke was silent for a moment. "Maybe it wasn't that bad."

"Yeah," Rienna said halfheartedly.

"In fact, maybe the water will wash out the wound and make it easier for him when he gets out."

"Yeah," Rienna said again. She focused on the idea until she believed it more than any alternative. He'll be fine, she assured herself. Just a little hurt. Nothing worse.

She stared up at the sky. The glow from The Suppression overwhelmed the stars. All she could see was pinkish, purplish, darkness. She hated it. She wanted to cry, but refused, only letting a few tears leak out.

She realized she was still gripping her empty crystal. No light came from it. It was empty, and the magic within her almost was too. A few more tears leaked out and she scrunched her face and sniffed.

More tears came at the thought of the uncomfortable, painful pressure from magicka loss. And even more came when she saw the underwhelming crescent of the moon.

Then she thought of the river and began sobbing. She buried her face in her hands and closed her eyes. Why? she thought quietly, rocking back and forth. Why?

They sat there all night, leaning against the tree. Rienna sobbed and Luke just stared at the trees beyond. The two cats shivered at their feet and cuddled next to them for warmth.

Neither Luke or Rienna slept. Rienna would sometimes close her eyes, but that was usually followed by tears rather than sleep, so eventually she sat up and glared at The Suppression and remained that way for the rest of the night.

When dawn did come, she climbed back on top of the fallen tree and looked to face the sunrise, reminiscing on her first sunrise she had seen when just outside of The Suppression. Luke stood and sat beside her and watched the sun as well.

The water glittered prettily in the morning light, sparkling and flowing merrily. Rienna tried not to look at it.

Before she knew it, it was mid morning and Luke was preparing to leave.

"Do you still have your crystal?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, but it's empty now," Rienna responded sadly. She sighed as she looked down at the clear, colorless crystal.

"Sorry," Luke said. "I mean the other one."

"Oh. Yeah, right." She swapped crystals in her backpack. "Here it is," she tried to announce enthusiastically as she brought out the purple-pink crystal.

Luke nodded. "Great. Let's go." He began walking towards the giant magic sphere.

Rienna quickly ran after him, almost falling multiple times on the thick grass.

In what Rienna felt was entirely too short a walk, they reached The Suppression. It towered over them and gave off heat that made Rienna's skin crawl. She couldn't believe she had found that same warmth comforting when she had first left.

She sighed and lifted the crystal to the shiny surface, watching the process in the realm of magicka. The crystal sliced through a woven lattice of magicka and when she finished her entryway, the magic within slowly began to fade. This was it. Her journey was almost over.

Reunions

As Rienna entered Vieryen, she nearly choked. She felt like she could hardly breathe. Everything felt so wrong. She stumbled forward the rest of the way into Vieryen, barely managing to keep herself upright. What little magicka she’d recovered after last night was gone.

She started to panic. 

Her magic was gone. She couldn’t access it. It had disappeared.

No.

Not gone, she realized, taking deep breaths to stabilize herself while the rest of the group came through The Suppression. Just… really, really hard to use, like someone had chained up her magic and thrown it in a cage.

She put her hands on her knees and bent over, trying to compose herself. She should've realized this would happen, but she'd forgotten the purpose of The Suppression besides just a barrier.

She felt dizzy and nauseous. It was all she could do not to barf up what little remained in her stomach after last night.

Was this how Xio and Xia had lived their whole lives? She glanced at the cats as they jumped through the opening in the shield.

Well, if they could do it, so could she.

Rienna forced herself upright and stared at the realm in front of her. Empty fields of dead grass and dirt stretched as far as the eye could see, which really wasn’t that far because of the familiar haze that covered the landscape. Besides the glow of The Suppression directly behind her, Rienna could see no trace of the pink and purple shield above; the sky was just a solid grey, the city invisible from where she knew it sat in the distance.

She coughed as she surveyed what she knew as the Dirt. The relatively uninhabited portion of Vieryen was where the poorest people lived. These were people who had wronged the Kingdom in some way and were stripped of every ounce of coin they had. They were so poor they couldn't farm. Hence all the dry dirt.

Actually, farming was somewhat expensive in Vieryen, and only families with a little more wealth could make a living off of it. Crops didn’t grow easily in Vieryen, and Rienna now knew that was because of the lack of good sunlight.

Those in the Dirt were only able to survive through the free rations from 'the magic crop fields' that were given out daily in the town.

People here could be dangerous. Desperate for food or coin, they were known to be violent. Rienna had never been in the Dirt herself. She'd only observed it from the tall rock wall that separated her family's orchard from the barren landscape. Her parents had made it very clear to never come out here.

"What happened?" Luke asked quietly.

Rienna glanced up at him, distracted by the scene and the effect The Suppression had on her. "Hmm? No, it's always this smokey. Our only light comes from fires."

Luke frowned. "Is it all like this?” he asked, gesturing around them.

"No," Rienna said, shaking her head. "We call this place the Dirt. It takes up a quarter of the Kingdom, but less than ten percent of the population live here."

Luke looked around. "So… Where do we go?"

Rienna opened her mouth and paused, closing it again. "Well," she said after a moment. "I guess we go find my parents."

"And where is that?"

"Is that way!" Xio burst in, pawing the air to their left. "Not very far. Those houses be seen by wall."

"There is a wall?" Luke asked.

"It protects our orchard," Rienna supplied.

"Wait. Your family are farmers?"

"Um… Yes," Rienna said somewhat sharply, glancing over at him. Why'd he sound so surprised?

"Huh."

Rienna frowned. Whatever. She sighed and turned. "Okay. Let's go."

As they walked, they stayed close to The Suppression. Rienna found that she  unconsciously stayed as close as she could risk and she noticed that the cats did as well. She could feel more of her magic the closer she was, going farther away just felt terribly uncomfortable.

The houses Xio had used for reference remained far from them as they walked. Rienna was glad; she didn't want to meet anyone who lived here. A couple other buildings appeared as well, but they too, were far off. Everyone avoided building as close as they were to The Suppression.

As they walked, their footprints remained untouched in the stillness behind them. The dirt they kicked up fizzled as it hit The Suppression. There was no wind. There was never any wind in Vieryen, not really. Some occasional light breezes, but otherwise nothing. And the weather never changed in Vieryen.

They reached the stone wall within half an hour. It stood a good distance above their heads, but was only about a quarter of the height of the great hedge around Rufdand. Barbed wire lined the top, deterring any potential climbers.

Fortunately, Rienna knew a secret entrance that her parents had shown her in the off chance she got into the Dirt. There was a portion of the wall, near The Suppression, where the stone was lighter and attached to a strong wooden door. As far as Rienna knew, it had never been used.

She touched the stone wall and began looking for the symbol her parents had shown her. "On the line of stones fourth from the bottom, look for a stone with three short lines etched into it," she told Luke. "They'll be small and hard to see, but they mark a secret doorway."

Luke nodded and began inspecting the wall as well.

After a few minutes Rienna found it. It was on a stone a few meters away from The Suppression with three horizontal lines etched into the upper left corner. They were so small, she wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been looking for it. "Here it is!" she said, calling Luke over. "If we push the wall here it should swing open like a door."

It didn't take much effort. With a solid push from Luke, the door slowly began to open, scraping past a row of stones then swinging away easily. Old, dry moss crumbled away as the door opened and it no longer could bridge between the lighter stones and the wall.

The party quickly stepped over into the orchard and shut the secret door solidly behind them. Rienna took extra care to make sure the wood pressed as tightly to the stone wall as possible to give no clues to any one living in the Dirt.

Rienna smiled slightly at the sight of the familiar trees and lush grass. But now that she'd been outside The Suppression, she realized that the trees' leaves were dull and the grass was thin.

Even so, she took pride in her family's orchard. It was one of the few places in Vieryen where nature was still prominent and the haze wasn’t as thick. Most of the orchard, especially where they were now, was grown by the trees themselves. There were no rows and columns of trees, rather it was set up like a little forest. She often wondered how it had looked before the shrubbery deemed useless had been removed by past generations of farmers.

She reached up and picked a ripe apple, noting that the last harvest must be nearing its end for there to be so few in the trees. She bit into it and savored the taste of home. It was comforting. At least our fruits are still delicious, even without the sun.

As they walked through the orchard, Rienna chewing her apple, she pondered what time of day it must be. Were her parents preparing lunch yet? She was very hungry. How would her parents react? She'd been gone for… was it three weeks now? Three weeks! And she had originally planned on an hour or so with the cats… 

She found she didn’t regret it anymore, though.

But she knew her parents might.

Ahead, Rienna's house came into view. Joyfully, but still getting used to the lack of magicka, she ran up to the wood door. She froze when she reached it and stared at the entrance. What should she do? It seemed a bit weird to just walk right in. She held her arms tightly. She hoped her parents wouldn't be mad at her. I should probably knock, she thought worriedly. Yes, that sounds good.

She composed herself and knocked firmly five times on the wood. She hoped it was loud enough.

Hardly a moment later, her mother opened the door. She had long brown hair that was pulled into an unusually messy bun. As she spotted Rienna, her fair skin became even paler. With the deep shadows under her eyes, she looked almost ghoulish.

"Rienna?" she breathed.

Rienna smiled nervously. "Yup. I'm so, so sorry, I couldn't get back sooner and-"

Her mother interrupted her and pulled her into a tight hug. "Shh! Stop talking. We can talk about it later, just let me hug you right now."

The hug lasted longer than any hug Rienna had experienced before. It felt warm and safe, more comforting than anything else she had known. When her mother finally pulled away she patted Rienna's shoulders and sides. "Where have you been!? It's been three weeks! Why do you look so dark? And you're so skinny! You must be starving. Oh my God! Your hair! What happened to your hair!? It looks like a rats' nest!" She looked at the cats and then at Luke. "And who is that? Why is he here?" She glared at Luke like everything was all his fault.

Rienna noticed and hastily explained, "No, no! He's fine! His name is Luke, he's from outside The Suppression."

"Um… Hi," Luke said awkwardly.

"Oh, so you're from the Alyene, are you?" Rienna's mother said sarcastically. "Sure. And how old are you?"

"I'm seventeen," Luke said, almost phrasing it like a question.

Rienna's mother scoffed. "Right. A seventeen year old living out in the Alyene, what? Alone?"

"Er, no," Luke said, confused.

"Mom!" Rienna said sternly. "There are entire societies out there! Luke is from an area called Westrikov Kontravi."

Her mom fixed her with a look. "Did he tell you this?"

"What? No! Mom-"

Her mother shook her head. "No. Stop. We can talk about this once your Dad gets back. Just come inside so I can give you some food." She sighed. "Luke, was it? I'm Evie. Rienna clearly trusts you, so you can come in too, if you must. You don’t really seem like a bad kid."

"Thank you?" Luke said hesitantly.

Evie rolled her eyes as she turned around and led them inside.

They passed the window where Rienna had seen a couple of fairyeld and had decided to follow them, resulting in the cats leading her to The Suppression. A glass of water remained untouched by the sink. Had they really left it there this entire time?

She tried to imagine how her parents felt when she had disappeared without her shoes and leaving a full glass of water behind. They must have thought she'd been kidnapped.

They entered the living room and Evie sat Rienna and the cats down on the couch. She left towards the kitchen, leaving Luke standing and unsure where to sit. After a moment, he sat in one of the two armchairs.

A few silent moments later, Evie came back with a bowl of processed meats for the cats and two plates with sandwiches that were likely originally meant for herself and Rienna’s father. She handed both Rienna and Luke glasses of apple juice. "Eat. You're both way too thin for growing peoples, even if I don't trust you," she added, looking pointedly at Luke.

"Understood," Luke said.

"Hmm," Evie said, giving him a curious look. "You do have a strange accent."

It's 'cause this isn't his first language. No one speaks our language out there," Rienna said, trying again to convince her mother.

She just gave her a stern look. "Let's wait for Dad before you start spinning tales. Now, eat already!" she said amicably, gesturing at the sandwiches.

Rienna smiled slightly and picked up the food and began to eat. Xio and Xia were already devouring their food, greedily eating every last bit. Rienna did the same. She hadn't eaten since noon the previous day.

After draining three cups of apple juice, her mother brought out the whole pitcher and a plate of cookies. They were oatmeal raisin, Rienna's favorite.

As they finished their food, Evie sat in the other armchair and explained what things had been like since Rienna had disappeared. "We hadn't been worried when we couldn't find you at first," she said. "You often would disappear with the cats into the orchard for hours at a time. We got a little worried when you didn't show up for dinner, but we didn't fret too much then either. When we got up the next morning and you were still gone, without your shoes even, and the cats were also, we started searching the entire orchard thinking you'd fallen and broken a leg. After that, we asked around the other farms and then in town. 

“After a week, we entertained the idea that you may have been kidnapped by someone in the Dirt. Then, after another week of confronting those terrible people, we didn't know what else to do. But then we found a group of people just last week who said they can track down anyone in the Kingdom. But they never found you. And now you've come back! Completely fine besides your weight, and with some random seventeen year old who you claim is from the Alyene." She shook her head disbelievingly. "Your father was just meeting with that group just now. He should be back any time now. I can't imagine what he'll think of this."

As if taking a cue, they heard the front door open and someone step inside. "Evie! I'm back. There's still nothing," Rienna's dad called out from the other room. "Where are you?"

"I'm here! And you won't believe who else is!" Evie called back.

"What?!" There were scuffling sounds as a bag was dropped and he came rushing into the room. "Rienna?! You're-You're back! When? What?" Rienna stood up and rushed into his arms. "Where have you been?" He looked at her mother. "Where has she been? Who's that?!"

"Oh, she has quite the story for you. Sit down and have a cookie," Evie said sweetly.

Rienna's father frowned. "Alright, then," he said, following Rienna to sit on the couch. "So what happened?"

"Well," Rienna said. "It started when I went out to follow a couple of fairyeld guards to The Suppression. Then the cats led me to a spot where some crazy spy guy came out of The Suppression using this crystal and storing it in one of our trees," she explained, pulling out the purple pink crystal. "And then he left so we took the crystal but he came back and tried to attack us! So we used the crystal to escape into the Alyene and then-"

"Wait," her father said, cutting her off. "Sorry, but that crystal. Some of the Order of the Jevitan have crystals like that."

"Wait? You know about them?" Rienna asked. "That's what the guy said. 'That belongs to the Order of the Jevitan.'"

"So they knew about this?" Evie said angrily. "The bastards!"

"We'll deal with them later," Rienna's father said. "Let’s continue. How did you survive?" he asked Rienna.

Rienna did her best to explain what had happened. She told her parents about witches, Rufdand and the children being forced to tend to the crops that fed Vieryen. She did her best to reasonably explain her magic and the truth about the crystals, but without her full magicka supply, she couldn't comfortably give a demonstration.

When she finished, her parents were frowning and looking rather skeptical.

"Rienna…" Evie started.

"It's true, Mom!"

Her mother sighed. "I just don't think-" A knocking came from the front door and she looked up, confused.

The knocking continued impatiently and someone was yelling excitedly outside. Rienna's father stood. "I'll see who it is."

Rienna also stood and followed him to the door. She remained at the back of the hallway, still in sight of the door but definitively out of any conversation with whoever was outside.

"Yes?" her father said, opening the door to reveal an older man with short grey hair and the finer clothes of nobility. "Albert?"

Albert beamed. "Yes! I came here to tell you myself! Dave, one of our explorers came back with great news! Your daughter and her cats were seen, um, er…" He looked over at Rienna. "And, and, um… that's her, isn't it?" Her father nodded, glaring at the man. "Hmm. That's somewhat embarrassing. She's back, though! This is great news!" He looked past Dave's shoulder. "Any chance I can come in? I'd love to ask Rienna some questions about where she went."

"Sure," Dave said flatly. "We have some questions for you, too." He stood to the side to let him in.

Albert furrowed his brow. "Oh? Alright, then." He stepped inside and they went back to the living room where Evie brought out a wooden chair from the dining room and sat in it, leaving the armchair for the stranger.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Albert spoke up. "So, Rienna, have your parents told you yet of the Order of the Jevitan?"

"Yes," Rienna said shortly.

Albert smiled, "Great! Well, thanks to one of our explorers, we know you've been out in the Alyene. Am I right?"

Rienna narrowed her eyes. The man said Alyene like 'Alien-yay,' like a noble would. She didn't trust him. "Yes," she said again.

Albert looked a little confused for a moment, but kept smiling. "You see, Rienna, that shouldn’t be possible" She frowned, but he continued. "The only way to get into the Alyene is either with a fairyeld medallion or a special kind of magic crystal that only my Order has access to. So how did you get out there?"

Before she could respond, her father answered for her. "She used one of your crystals after one of your 'explorers' attacked her!" Alber frowned and opened his mouth, but her father kept going before he could respond. "And what's this all about going into the Alyene? People can't survive out there!"

"Dad! I told you! There are people out there. Luke is proof of that!" Rienna said exasperatedly, gesturing towards the boy from Westrikov.

Luke's eyes widened as everyone looked towards him. He swallowed a bite of cookie. "Hi." He looked very confused and Rienna felt kind of bad for putting him on the spot.

Albert nodded. "Yes. I was told there were two natives traveling with her. Where's the other one?" For the moment, it seemed, he was ignoring the accusations being thrown at him.

Rienna glared at him. "We were attacked by fairyeld. He- We aren't sure what happened to him. He fell in a river…" She shook herself and returned to the point. "Never mind that! Why did one of your people attack me and my cats!?"

Once again, Albert frowned and Rienna could tell that it wasn’t an action he was accustomed to. "That, I cannot say. I was unaware of that." He seemed vexed by his lack of an answer. "Where was this?"

"Out in our orchard," Evie said. "She says that’s why she was forced to leave."

"Hmm," Albert said thoughtfully. "I believe that exit is Ghaten's station." He shook his head. "I shall have a word with him, see if he knows anything about the matter." He sighed. "I assume that was what you were wishing to question me about?"

Dave pressed his lips together, annoyed. "Well– yes, but, also apparently there's people out there?! And you know this?! Why haven't you told everyone?"

Albert rubbed the back of his neck, somewhat embarrassed. "Yes, well, the Sovereign would probably exile the entire order or worse, and most people don't believe us when we tell them. No one can enter the Order until we think they can handle the news." He shrugged. "You know… we could use some correspondents in the farming district," he said hopefully.

"Seriously? Help you? Absolutely n-"

"Honey," Evie interrupted. "This… could be a good idea." She gave him what was clearly a meaningful look before turning to Albert. "What would joining entail?"

Albert grinned excitedly while Dave frowned deeply. "Well, you would be expected to come to the biweekly meetings. We'd put you through a training program for what part of the order you'll be in. Then maybe you could join the rewards club, we play cards every Friday night. There is an initial deposit to join the club, but it goes entirely to founding the Order's needs. Ooh! And there's cheese night too! How could I forget that! And-er," He saw everyone's annoyed expressions and cleared his throat. "Anyway, that’s not really what the Order is about, I suppose. You two would be most useful as messengers, slowly planting seeds of doubt of the Sovereign in your fellow farmers. Oops. Um, no pun intended."

Evie sighed heavily. "Okay... So when is the next meeting? And where?"

"Oh! Here let me write it down for you." Albert brought out a pen and a pad of paper from a pocket inside his coat. "We meet this next Sunday at three o'clock at my manor. If you can come earlier that day, we can fill you in on some important details." He handed the paper to Dave. "Go around to the back entrance, though. We don't want any of my neighbors getting suspicious. Well, Jerry is fine; he's part of the Order. But the rest of them are a bit closed-minded to my ideas. Oh! And have Rienna come, too. And... you..." he looked over at Luke. "I don't know your name. That's fine. You should come too, an Alyene native would be incredibly useful."

"Okay," Luke said. "And my name’s Luke."

"Nice to meet you, Luke! This is perfect. Rienna's back home with her parents and I have a load of new recruits for my order, everyone wins!"

"Yes, that's nice," Evie said with impatient politeness. "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"No, I think that will be all," Albert said.

"Great. Let me show you out." Evie stood and led the man to the door, nodding as the old man continued to ramble.

A few minutes later, she returned with a sigh and gave Dave a look of shared annoyance. "That man loves to talk."

Dave grimaced. "Yes, well, it didn't help that you agreed to his offer."

Evie crossed her arms. "Look. I don't like him, but the Order of the Jevitan has a good purpose. If everything we just learned was true, then we can’t just sit and do nothing. Anyway, we didn't officially agree to anything.”

"He wants Rienna to come."

"She doesn't have to. She can stay here while we go see what the meetings are like."

Rienna frowned. "If you guys are going, I'm going."

"Rienna…"

"I know more about this than you two!" she protested.

Evie brought her hand to her forehead. "You must be tired after everything, Rienna. You probably want to sleep. Why don't you go take a nap. By the time you wake up, it'll probably be dinnertime."

Rienna glared at her mother for a moment and stood up, crossing her arms. "Fine. I'll be in my room." She stomped off to her bedroom and, not even bothering to look around the room she hadn’t been in for weeks, jumped into bed and flung herself under the covers. She stared angrily at the pillows, trying to comprehend why her parents didn’t understand.

Home

Rienna slept through dinner and woke up early in the morning at around three o’clock. A candle burned on her nightstand, barely a stub. She had forgotten to put it out before falling asleep.

She leaned over and blew it out, sending the room into darkness.

Hesitantly, she tapped into the realm of magicka. It was difficult at first, with The Suppression and all, but eventually she managed it. The pink-purple crystal shone through the bag on the floor, but otherwise, there was no magic whatsoever.

In the Alyene, magic was everywhere. Magicka traveled with the wind and was washed down streams of water. Wood retained magicka long after it appeared to have died, and sunlight itself was made of tiny particles of golden energy.

But the wooden walls in her room had no magic. There was no sun, or wind, or rivers. It was like looking at a world without color.

Rienna had hardly recovered from the experience with the fairyeld. She suspected that without The Suppression, her magicka would have been over halfway replenished. As it was, her stores were barely a third full, and most of that had been recovered from the night directly after the attack.

She sighed and breathed in the familiar scent of her room. It felt warm and safe. No matter what, she was glad to finally be home.

She stayed in bed a while longer before the sweet smell of baked apples called her out of her room. As she got closer to the kitchen, the smell of cooking eggs and meat joined the mix.

She turned the corner to see her mother was cooking breakfast, carefully dancing from one dish to the next. Rienna watched from the shadows in awe. She had never seen her mother cook so much at once, and had certainly not seen more food in one place since the feast in Rufdand.

Evie noticed her and gestured for her to come closer. "Come, tell me what you think," she said. "I have apple strudel baking in the oven, scrambled eggs and some bacon that I bought from Jim, I'm toasting some bread, and I figured we might as well have some sausages, too." She stirred the eggs and bacon with a spatula using one hand and flipped a piece of bread with another. "I figure if anyone wants cheese with their eggs, they can add it themselves."

"Wow," Rienna said. "This is a lot of food. I don't know how I'll choose what to eat."

Her mother smiled. "Take a bit of everything. It's here for you. We can't have you wandering around looking malnourished. Also, grab your hairbrush after breakfast. We're going to see if we can untangle that nest of yours."

Rienna smiled, a little embarrassed. "Yeah, it could use some work."

"Hon, you'll be lucky if we don't have to shave it all off," Evie said with a laugh. "Now go get your father, food's almost ready."

From the moment her mother slid the first pieces of food onto her plate, Rienna was in constant motion. She couldn’t help herself, in the face of so much food she truly realized how hungry she was. Hardly even bothering to chew, she all but inhaled the food in front of her.

It was all delicious. Rienna wasn't sure what she liked best. The sweet strudels were wonderful, but the bacon infused eggs were also something she got seconds of. She felt like she was about to burst by the end. It was amazing. She hadn’t even felt this full after the feast celebrating the returned children.

She was also glad to see that her parents were no longer suspicious of Luke, who had spent the night on the couch. They discussed having him stay at the orchard and help work since he had nowhere to stay in the unfamiliar kingdom and no money to use.

Afterwards, almost waddling as she moved around the house, Rienna grabbed her hairbrush and sat on a stool in front of her mother. Evie started tentatively with the tips of the hair and attempted to move upwards. Rienna winced and clenched her teeth to prevent herself from crying out as her hair was pulled by the brush. She almost growled at one particularly hard yank, but she knew it was her own fault for not even attempting to brush her hair in the past weeks.

In the end, her hair was too much of a mess, even for her mother. "I'm sorry, Rienna. I think we're going to leave to cut it," Evie said.

"How much?" Rienna asked, holding her breath. 

"I'll try to keep it to a few inches, but it'll probably be a bit less than shoulder length." Evie stood and walked over to the kitchen. "I'll grab scissors, you meet me outside."

Anxiously, Rienna walked out the door and waited on the front steps. As she waited she tried to run her fingers through her hair to loosen the knots.

Her mother arrived and got to work. Locks of dirty brown hair fell to the ground around Rienna as her hair was viciously brushed and cut. She felt strands of hair loosening that she hadn't realized were tight before.

When Evie finished, Rienna's hair hung at the base of her neck. Despite her previous worries, she felt fantastic. Her head felt lighter and less stressed than before and she had almost forgotten the feeling of her hair bouncing when she moved her head. She also realized that she really, really needed to wash it.

Evie sat back with a relieved breath. "There we go. All brushed." She wiped her hand across her brow. "Let's not let that happen ever again, yeah?"

"Yes, please," Rienna agreed. "And, could I take a bath? I haven't since… I don't remember actually."

"Absolutely, dear. Please do. You know how to set one up, I trust you to heat the water responsibly."

Rienna beamed. "Thanks!"

She set off to prepare her bath. She got water and began heating portions she could carry, one at a time. She didn't always take hot baths, but when she was extra grimy, her parents always made sure she did. It was a slow process, which is why she usually avoided it, especially since her parents usually required their supervision when using fire.

When she finished preparing it, though, it was very pleasant. She had never realized before leaving The Suppression how much she took being clean for granted. 

How much she took a lot of things for granted.

After some thorough scrubbing and lots of soap, she declared herself clean enough and dried herself off with a cold towel. She crinkled her nose at the sight of brown water being drained and got dressed, glad to be rid of so much dirt.

She returned to the front door and sat on the steps, staring out at the apple orchard and the grey sky. The air was cooler than it was in the Alyene, but nicer in that respect. Not a lot of things seemed very nice in Vieryen to Rienna anymore.

She felt like something was missing. And not just magic. She had gone on a strange and wonderful and kind of scary adventure, and now she was back home, not sure what she was going to do next.

Whether Mom and Dad want me to or not, I'm going to that secret meeting, she decided. She had to do something, and she knew she could be helpful.

She smiled, a little bit excited. She hadn't been rebellious before. It was kind of fun.

She stood with a cough and headed inside to the living room. She just needed to find the paper with Albert’s address. She looked at the small table and the couch where she and her father had sat. She found nothing more than crumbs. Her stomach wheezed at the thought of eating more food, especially cookies.

She headed towards the kitchen and dining room. There was still nothing. Which probably meant that Albert's paper was in her parents' room. Not exactly the most optimal location. She'd have to make sure both her parents were elsewhere and busy before checking.

She already knew her dad was out trimming trees with Luke, so she went in search of her mother. She walked by their room and glanced inside just in case. Evie wasn't there, so she continued to the back of the house. She was surprised not to find anyone anywhere inside. Wherever her mother was, she’d have to open the front door before she’d reach Rienna, and that door was one of the loudest in the house.

Rienna quietly sneaked back to her parents’ room and began looking for the small piece of paper. From what she remembered, it had been about the size of a playing card and the script had looked all fancy.

She looked on top of the nightstands, under candle stands and around the bed, trying to find the paper. She looked inside her mother’s nightstand, but all she found was a small journal.

Already somewhat frustrated, she looked to a small table in the corner of the room that served as her mother's dressing table. It had a small mirror, some combs and hair clips, and a relatively unused perfume bottle. When Rienna was younger, she used to play with the stuff on the table, pretending to be a princess. 

There was still no paper.

She sat in the chair angrily, wondering where the card could be.

She heard the front door open and shut. Quickly, she jumped up and made sure everything was in the right place and all the drawers were closed. She scanned over the top of the cabinet, the one place she hadn't looked, as she left the room.

Of course, the paper was innocently lying there in plain sight.

Desperately, she grabbed it and did her best to commit the address to memory. She carefully placed it where it had been before and peeked down the hall before exiting the room and bolting to her bed.

Relieved, she collapsed onto her chair and grabbed a paper at her desk. She jotted down the unfamiliar address and folded the paper. She looked around her room and tucked it under one of the desk's legs. It was off balanced anyway.

"What?" a high pitched voice said from behind her.

Startled, Rienna jumped out of the chair and spun to face Xio. "What do you mean 'what?'"

Xio's grey tabby fur bristled slightly. "What that?"

"The paper?"

"Yesssss." The word descended into a hiss.

Rienna looked down at him, confused. Then it dawned on her: his magic didn't work well within Vieryen. "Wait. You're speaking in The Suppression! You couldn't do that before," she said excitedly.

Xio growled. "Old more. Bad."

"What? How is that bad?"

"No! Talk me bad."

"Oh… Xio, it's still spectacular," Rienna said, sitting down on the bed. "We can still communicate."

"Yep." Xio nodded and sprang up onto the bed beside Rienna. "Paper?" he asked after a moment.

"Paper? Oh, right." Rienna shook her head to restore her focus. "Right. That has the address for the Order of the Jevitan. I wrote it down in case Mom and Dad don't let me go."

"I goes? Mom and?" Xio said with a mewl.

Rienna took a moment to decipher what he had said, "Um... well, I don't think that," she said, pausing. If I can go? Why shouldn't they? They were with me the entire time. "Yeah. Yes. You can totally come."

Xio purred happily. "Yay!"

A couple hours later, Rienna was called back to the dining room for lunch. They had chicken and cheese sandwiches with cut apples from the trees. Evie yet again insisted they eat as much food as they wanted so they would 'build back their strength.' Rienna was still recovering from breakfast.

Afterwards, while Dave was gathering the dishes, Evie brought out a small box and set it in front of Rienna. It was painted white and blue and had a twine string forming a bow over it. "Happy birthday, Rienna! This is what we were going to give you on your eleventh birthday."

Rienna looked up at her parents with wonder. "It looks so pretty! Thank you!" She gently pulled the string on the string and let it fall next to the box. Carefully, she pulled the lid off and stared inside.

A thick oval with a dark metal frame sat inside a bed of wool. A dark metal chain trailed off from the oval and into the cushion. Inside the frame was a glazed painting of a fluffy grey cat staring at the viewer from a light blue background. Forest flora hung around the cat like a frame within the picture. It reminded her of Xia.

"It's a locket," Evie said excitedly. "You can put anything you like within it."

"Thank you, it's beautiful," Rienna said, pulling the necklace out of the box. "Can you help me put it on?"

"Of course," Evie said, taking the necklace from Rienna's hands. "Turn around." Gently, she clasped the locket around Rienna's neck. "There we go. It looks very nice."

"Thank you," Rienna said again. "It's amazing." The oval lay heavily against her chest.

Her mother smiled. "Not as amazing as magic," she said with a wink. It was clear she still didn’t believe Rienna had magic.

Rienna just smiled back. Someday she would convince her parents that she had told the whole truth. For now, she knew what she wanted to put in the locket.