2407 Rab 7, Briss

"You meant to say that Cailen is being detained against our agreement, Crown General?" Elder Tarmis's voice didn't sound like he was in the mood for ill-timed jokes. His gray eyes sparked in anger. "Do you know what we are prepared to do to defend one of our own? Hasn't the Army betrayed him enough?"

Canelis massaged the bridge of her nose. Going back and forth between Yin-Alora and Ok-Sa had surely taken a toll on her. Why couldn't they just talk via the light streams? Why must she play messenger between two forces who clearly couldn't bring themselves to care about each other?

Ludio and Fioren, the only two dagrinis in this sunken city, had their new companion today after Canelis stormed through the stables and jumped on the first kraejen she could find. Her new addition might look punier compared to the sheer height of the dagrinis but it did carry her across miles without much complaint the fastest she dared push it to.

Then, it's only a matter of time between signaling the renegade camp of her presence and being hauled to the Elder's temporary office. It was a wise call to not let Canelis anywhere near their official strongholds in case she accidentally ignitied Yin-Alora's ire against the renegades. It was for her own safety as much as it was theirs. Perhaps, she had Elder Tarmis to thank.

Now, they sat on crudely-hammered wooden chairs opposite each other with hands propped on a fungi-infested table. Canelis had to stop her leg from bouncing several times. She had lost count already. The Elder grilled her over the past few hours about their journey which Canelis had described in detail. She omitted the talk she had with Cailen in the forests of Xai-Ren. It was way too private and she would need the renegade's consent in sharing it, even if it's from his elder.

As soon as the Elder heard the Riogener had detained Cailen until Canelis could present a proof, he slammed his hand on the table, the sound reverberating in the room's walls and up Canelis's arms. "How dare they provoke us like this!" the Elder yelled at no one. It was almost like how the Commanders and Marshals yelled at the ranks lower than them to prove a point. Some old habits die hard, Canelis guessed. "Why didn't you stop them?"

Canelis clicked her tongue. "As much as I wanted to, Elder," she explained as properly as she could without snapping. "The Riogener still has the final say over everything. He has given us a leeway in presenting him proof on how the renegades are able to use quilderfen bones to stop the plague. I aim to study its properties tonight to see if we have a...more endemic substitute abundant in Yin-Alora. You will have Cailen back in your stronghold sooner than you know it."

She placed a hand to her chest. "I swear in Daexis's name," she said. "No harm will come to him until I send him back here."

The Elder's eyes narrowed. His warm beige skin had never looked so contrasting against Canelis's pale complexion. She had been making a lot of promises lately. It's going to be a challenge keeping all of them. But...she has to, if she wanted to keep her rank and make everyone happy. It's the right thing to do.

Finally, the Elder stood up and straightened the sleeves of his tunic. "Follow me," he said nefore moving towards the door without waiting to check if Canelis had obeyed. She had to job for a few paces to catch up to him. Together, they walked the eerily similar corridors with nothing but their eyes and the guided direction of Elder Tarmis.

Now that she knew what and where this was, she couldn't miss the details pointing to it. There was a trench tearing out from their current corridor which could only have been some ancient form of a sewage system or a way to get flowing water everywhere in the city. The ceiling was composed of roof shingles knocked together with some soil hardening in between, holding them in place. Everything was so obvious it annoyed Canelis she didn't notice it sooner.

Blame it on the darkness, then.

The Elder stopped in front of another dark corridor before gesturing for Canelis to go first. Of course, there might be a plague point there and he didn't want to get infected first. Way to go, mister.

She ducked inside, keeping her knees slightly folded in case the ceiling's height changed at any point. Sunken cities tend to do that. Or at least that's how it registered in her mind. As her eyes adjusted to the different kind of light in this area, she glimpsed of racks upon racks of sword-like lines in the dark. Could it be the bones?

"What exactly is a quilderfen?" Canelis turned to the Elder who shuffled in after her. He approached the nearest rack to her right.

The Elder picked up a random bone and struck it with his knuckle. It elicited a hollow and dry knocking sound. "It's a huge bird native to Dwanzeig," he said. "The locals in the small patch of town use these bones to keep the plague from reaching their area."

Canelis bent down to study the bones closer. She chose her own rack. "Do you have any idea how and why these bones specifically?" she picked one up. It's lighter than what she expected. Were they being laid out here to dry? "Also, how in Umagi's name are you able to secure these after so many years?"

Behind her, the bone thunked against the wooden prongs holding the bones up. The Elder must have set his down. "We have regular dealings with the locals in Opreah," he said. "They have been sharing the bones with us whenever a quilderfen dies somewhere in Komery."

She bobbed her head along, not having a clue about those places he just spat out. "So...you just plant these on the ground and it will do its magic?" she asked. "Where's the logic in that? There must be something more. Something...better to explain all of this. What did you say the plague does to the form?"

A hand closed around the bone she was holding. From the shape and curve of it, she could only guess it to be from a rib cage. She let the Elder take it from her hand and set it back down again. "These haven't finished drying," he said in an apologetic tone. "As for the plague, we realized it has the ability to alter one's form in the guise of physical lacerations, muscle pain, and vein rupture."

He moved away from the rack and moved to the next, going deeper into the room. The darkness had started eating away at the door. "It can also alter some parts of the soul, like the shadow or the synnavaim, itself," he turned to her then. "You know how it is to have one's synnavaim altered. It's not a pleasant way to go. Now, imagine if it was altered in a way that it's random, with an affinity towards chaos."

"It will be a disaster," Canelis finished the Elder's thought, her own gut swirling. That's how serious this was? "How many did you lose?"

The Elder's expression turned solemn. "Since it began?" he said. "Many. So, so many."

A small chuckle escaped his lips. "They came here in search of freedom. It looks like I just gave them another prison," he said.

Canelis shook her head. "We'll fix this," she said. "Somehow."

She turned back to the bones and thought about the numerous times she used light to study all the internal mechanisms of her succulents. A plant healer, she liked ot call herself. It has something to do with manipulating the visible light and peering deeper into it, almost like in another layer of reality. Something unseen yet present. She's connecting her synnavaim to that energy and somehow, she was able to see through objects in layers. Maybe if she dissected this bone that way, she could gain more insight.

With excitement eating away at her worry, she turned to the Elder. "I need light," she said. "Lots of it."

The Elder grinned and spread his hands. "My dear," he said. "Look around you. There's plenty."

Canelis knitted her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"This place has ancient magic, one we don't know too much of," he said. "I'm sure it will respond to you if you call for it."

Canelis didn't bother saying she wasn't able to do it in the dark cell they stashed her into for days. Still, she decided to follow the old man and try. She closed her eyes and felt the waves stirring around her. Heat flowed into her veins as her magic flared into the surface. Then, with her senses, she gripped the waves around her and exerted her magic. It flared hotter and brighter.

When she opened her eyes, a huge ball of light floated between her and the Elder. "Oh," she blurted. "This is amazing. I've never felt currents like that before."

The Elder hummed. "What can I say? We renegades have tricks up our sleeves."

Canelis smiled right back before her soldier instincts tell her it's stupid to be goofing around with the enemy. Focus. She's not here to talk and meander around. Using her ball of light, she wrapped her magic deeper into the layers of reality, drawing it to the one she was most familiar with. She glanced down at the bone in her hand and directed her magic at it, stringing along the currents she tied into it.

Her vision flickered as the light in the room changed. To the Elder, nothing would have changed, but to Canelis, the world went awash with neon colors of green and gray. She looked down at the bone to see straight through it in layers. Then, she got to work.

How was it able to stop something that would alter a living person's soul?

The blobs, stripes, and other shapes without names floated in and out of Canelis's periphery. She was no healer and the tomes she had read over the past few years wasn't enough to prepare her for this. There's too many lines, too many figures. She couldn't—

Something flashed from her left. She glanced at it to find a specific structure in the bone's system. It seemed familiar, from the way concentric blobs of matter surrounded a circular tube leading to somewhere. This....where had she seen this?

The memory of the tomes she left open during the day of the most recent assembly joined her thoughts. Her eyes widened. Of course.

Zenrel succulents. Of course.

A triumphant laugh echoed from her lips and into the darkness beyond her. The world returned to its normal colors as soon as she recalled her magic. After all, the layers she accessed with her magic didn't like to be perceived for long. "I knew it," she brushed the stray strands of hair off her face. "The stratified calcic system. I can't believe it's present in succulents too."

The Elder's face represented confusion. "Sorry?"

Canelis regarded him. "I know the answer, Elder," she said. "Now, I must go back to Yin-Alora to relay this information. Thank you!"

Before the Elder could say anything more, Canelis grasped him by the shoulder. "You will have Cailen the first thing tomorrow. Your children and their children will be welcomed in Yin-Alora and be given a choice to choose their future," she said. "We will be able to choose the fate we wanted starting now."

Then, she was running. The corridors blurred in her periphery. She was vaguely aware of the Elder shouting behind her. She didn't care. She's so close to the answer now.

The sky had never looked so blue as she emerged to the surface, right into a wall of gray and black.

Rudik's breeches. A plague point.

Was she too late?