ADARA

"Is the training proceeding apace?" Ineha's voice tore Fenrer and Yuven away from their staredown. Adara stepped back to allow the senior Storm Warden to approach the other two.

"It could be going faster," Yuven grunted as he sat back down on his small post.

"I see." Ineha tipped her head forward to her before shaking it, her dark curls speckled with gray bouncing with the movement. "You are not going to enjoy what I have to say. The Conclave has sent a...." She drew her hand upwards into a slow uncurl, as if trying to chase away her news. "A representative of their interests. They are currently making their way here as we speak. I daresay they should be here any moment."

"Representative...?" Yuven mused.

Fenrer switched his frown from Yuven to Ineha. "Who is it, Captain?"

"It's a Keeper of Pyon," Ineha explained.

A what. Heat washed up into her cheeks when Fenrer glanced at her. I said— thought that out loud, didn't I? Is that a thing people can do? Ugh... Adara held her temples as Ineha clasped her hands together. "What is a Keeper of Pyon?"

"Bookkeepers," Yuven said.

Adara stifled a laugh and switched to him. "Sounds like something you should've been."

Yuven glared down at her. "Black isn't my color." He brushed his hand through his snow white hair with a huff. "Well, I suppose there's not much to do but wait for this 'Keeper' to grace us with their presence, though this changes nothing, Ineha."

"You don't have to tell me," she said. "I'm giving you fair warning. If this is how the Conclave is responding, I'd take care with what comes next. I shall go and see them and guide them here." Without another word, she whisked away into the back door of the hall.

Yuven lowered himself from the post to head to her. Adara jumped away from him, but he rolled his eyes and went past her to peek through the window. "Thoughts, Fenrer?"

"What is a Keeper of Pyon?" she repeated.

"I just told you. Do you not use your ears as well as your common sense?" Yuven asked as he stepped back from the window, sending a pulsing, clear barrier against it.

"Bookkeepers," Adara echoed. "Is that it?"

"No," Fenrer answered. "They're the Keepers of Obscura history, named after Pyon... or, if you're from Haneka, Pyvansomiir — the leviathan of the star's knowledge. Their library holds all the world's known Obscura texts. Only Keepers trained in that field are capable of reading them — for better or for worse." He glanced around the forest, then raised his hand to reflect Yuven's clear barrier, who smirked at the motion. "This could simply be a cursory visit from the Keepers. They also study Anima level magick. Things that are taboo and not accessible to everyone else," he explained. "Documentation on all types of magick. If you need to know something, going to a Keeper is your best bet if you can't find it anywhere else."

Yuven grunted, "If they'd tell you."

"Yes... if they'd say," Fenrer said with a tired sigh.

Adara listened to the quiet hum of the unseen barrier, where the forest sounds behind it muted down. "So... why would the Elder Conclave send a Keeper of Pyon?"

She half expected Yuven to sneer and point out the stupidity of her question. He leaned against the brick of the hall with a soft hiss through his lips. "Why indeed... I think we'll find out when they get here. I suppose you can ask them. Rare is the chance to needle a Keeper, as I said, they are bookkeepers. I would not be surprised if they sleep among stacks." Adara folded her arms and eyed Yuven, who met her stare. "What?"

"Coming from the Avaerilian who expected me to read a five hundred page goliath of a tome with a time limit of the Summit," Adara pointed out.

"They're far worse than I."

A shudder ran through her spine at his flat tone. Fenrer lifted his head up from the grass, confusion dripping through his face. "What is that... aura?" His gaze flicked from side to side, searching the air in front of him. "Strange..." Fenrer dropped his hand from his nose to nod at Yuven. "I can sense a new presence on the other side of the door... coming through the great hall." Green light spun the spirals against his pupils. "So many twirling thoughts with different colors..." His eyelids fluttered as he began to slump forward.

Yuven pushed past her to grab Fenrer. "Snap out of it, Molvisaliz."

Adara took another step closer. "That's not good?"

"It's okay," Fenrer said after a moment of silence, shaking out his head, where his little braid clinked with the motion. "Sorry, I still need some sleep, I suppose." He smiled at her, and the green spirals stopped tearing against his irides. "Though... to have such a powerful aura that I can sense even with our barrier. I must see who this is."

It took one long minute for Ineha to come back, but not alone.

The man beside Ineha met her at a head's length. Gray flecks tipped his pitch black hair as Yuven's 'black isn't my color' made sense. With a loose cloak of the darkest nights hanging off his shoulders, hiding the truth of his physical frame, as if there was nothing to his body but a void. Adara frowned at his affable expression as he considered all three of them. Fenrer blinked a couple times, but relaxed with a bow. "Keeper."

"Wardens," the man said, his voice as crisp as paper. "Allow me to introduce myself." He stepped into the field and brought a hand against his stomach, bowing himself. "Keeper Blackwall, as you were probably told, the Elder Conclave sent me to ascertain... certain things." He smiled, but it sent ice through her soul. "As a Keeper of Pyon, it is my solemn duty to investigate such powerful levels of magick, if not for the protection and betterment of our worlds." He tucked his hands into his cloak. "Is... the usual spiel. In fact, I offered when it was brought up out of my own curiosity. It has been hundreds of turns since an Anima walked the world." He tipped his head to her. "I am assuming that this is you? Are you the aforementioned Adara Sazaka?"

Adara jumped at the acknowledgement. "I-I guess... though I don't know what that means." Unable to flee from the smell of ancient parchment, she continued, "Yes... that is me. I'm Adara." Awkwardness choked her throat as she tried to run into her shadows.

"You don't need to be afraid," Keeper Blackwall said with a placating tone.

"Is that so?" Yuven growled, on the offensive. "I've noticed you haven't actually described why they sent a Keeper of Pyon, as if that would change the Storm Wardens minds."

Blackwall switched his gaze to Yuven. "Ah, you must be Warden Traye. Does my presence make you uneasy?"

Yuven scoffed. "I just don't see what the Elder Conclave hopes to learn here."

"There is a lot to learn," Blackwall pointed out and turned back to her. "Adara, yes? You mentioned you don't know what it is or what it means to be an Anima."

Adara opened her mouth to respond, but jumped when Yuven held out his hand. "Which is to say, Keeper Blackwall, is that the Storm Wardens are in charge of her. Not the Keepers. The Keepers shouldn't have taken so long to investigate the disturbance."

Blackwall shrugged his spindly shoulders. "Maybe, but we did not claim omniscience, Warden Traye. Even as an Aurus myself, the fleeting glimpse afforded to me was not enough to drive others into action. Besides, like the Storm Wardens, we work not on the Conclave's agenda, but our own. I daresay our Orders aren't so different, moreso how we approach the threat on our star." He smiled at her, and Adara relaxed. "But, that is neither here nor there."

Yuven grumbled something under his breath, but Fenrer came closer. "Keeper Blackwall, pray forgive our uncertainty. The Conclave put forward their thoughts on this matter," he said with a more diplomatic tone. "It does mean much to have an Anima appear once again, but I do not think this has to mean it's the Hundred Turn War again."

Blackwall brought a hand up to his nose. "Such a wasteless tragedy that was," he said. "Born too late, or born too soon. Many lives were lost in that time, and not solely to the Derelicts," he said.

"So... it's true?" Adara asked. "The Conclave ordered the Storm Wardens to murder all the Anima?"

"Up until now," Blackwall explained. "Thankfully, or... I'd hope that the Storm Wardens have sought a better path since that time. I suppose it is good that Warden Commander Faehariel took control when she did. It isn't too off the table that maybe some Anima escaped, leading to you."

Adara released the tension in her jaw. "But why?"

"Did Warden Traye and Warden Pyren not explain it?"

"I mean, I know that the Anima have access to powerful magick," she began, but Blackwall tutted.

"Only the surface, I see. Do you wish for me to tell you?"

Yuven snapped forward. "We were going to get to that when she was ready. To unload everything on her would cause, in no uncertain terms, humongous damage if she can't control it."

Adara twisted to him, and he ducked out of her wild swing. "How about you let me decide for myself?"

Fenrer pulled Yuven back with a shake of his head, and she ignored the two. "Tell me."

"Yes, it is true that the Anima are able to touch the flow in ways most magickae cannot," Blackwall admitted. "But it is so much more than that. They have the ability to memorise the magick of the star. To reach into its river and touch it with their fingertips. Something, I might add, not even the most powerful Aurus can do. We can only see it, but never truly bring it to bear. All that the world remembers, their magick does too. It is both internal energy and external focus at its most powerful. Once upon a time, all magickae was capable of this, but then the Derelicts came through the rip of the world. Our magick is not what it once was, Miss Adara. And that is what makes people nervous."

Adara stared at the bookkeeper. "So my magick is simply a version that wasn't affected by whatever happened back then."

"Precisely, you pick up on this quick, I'm almost curious to see what you'd be capable of with the proper guidance," Blackwall said with a little bow. "I will not impose on the Wardens further. They have much they could teach you, but asking questions is a good first step." He waved his hand, where the click of a beaded snake eye hung off his clasp. "That is all I want. I'll return to the Elder Conclave to give my opinion on this matter, which is to say, I think their fears are unfounded. No doubt." He smiled at Yuven and Fenrer both. "Magickae who arguably don't have the same amount of power have certainly caused the same amount of destruction. It makes one wonder what the real difference between us regular magickae and the Anima are. Good day." Another bow, and his black cloak followed his whisked movement as he turned back to the hall, entering it with Ineha, who sent a knowing glance at Yuven and Fenrer.

Adara sighed. Full of relief, but at the same time dread when Yuven stomped into her space.

"How naive can you get?" he bit as Fenrer rushed forward to keep space between them.

"Naive? At least someone was willing to answer my questions without making me chase them when a simple answer would clear so much stuff up. You're the one that makes things needlessly complicated!" Adara argued back. "Ever since I got here, you've treated me like I can't know anything, like I'm not as smart as you." Adara pushed him, and he responded back with a huff. "You're the asshole who couldn't be bothered to treat me like a person! You're the one who's been treating me like I'm a ticking magick bomb just waiting to be set off at any slight provocation!" Embers turned into painful coals against her skin. The cries and tormented screams of Rosa, Tara, and Jisa intermingled in her mind. Lost their lives to the crimson beasts, where they came toward her magick, and eviscerated everything she knew.

Silver flames rippled out from the torchlamps.

Yuven never reacted, never flinched at the prospect of being swallowed by her hellish inferno. Hands tightened into fists, he stomped away from the two, and the door slammed behind him.

Adara released the flames between her fingers back to the air. "What an ass. What is his problem?"

Don't leave any more questions unanswered.

Fenrer brushed his band. "He comes from a place of pain, Adara," he admitted. "Though he could have approached it more gently. Please believe me when I say he wants nothing more than to protect you. There are people in this world who would seek to use the magick you have. If the Elder Conclave didn't have you killed, that is certainly what they would've gone for instead." Fenrer smiled at her, though the fiery moon bore into the greens and left nothing but silver smoke. "Yuven may not be the most comforting of people, but he is a Storm Warden tasked to protect you — and if nothing else, he is going to take that more seriously than most. You couldn't have asked for someone better to be your shield against those people."

Adara frowned at Fenrer's expression of minute pain. "Are you well?"

"I'm fine," Fenrer said with an unwavering smile. "It's your aura. It is bright."

Adara jolted at his words, then tried to focus on her heartbeat, to control the wild flames. Here I am yelling at Yuven for treating me like a magick bomb... when Fenrer can see it. Adara drew away from him, causing Fenrer's smile to falter. "I'm sorry, this is still a lot... though I probably can't keep using that excuse." Her hand flopped to her side, where all her fiery strength left her with the slightest gust of the wind. "Damned..." Tongue between her teeth, she tried not to snap out more flames. "Was Blackwall one of those people?"

"Hard to say, but if the Conclave sent him, I'd be cautious if nothing else." He nodded to her. "I am going to go talk to Yuven. May I suggest you practice your magick some more? You can do that safely here."

"How?"

Fenrer brought his finger up to his chin, then smiled at her. "Breathing exercises and listening to the flow around you." Without elaboration, he followed Yuven's path back into the hall.

Left alone, standing amongst the golden tinted grass, she held out her hands and embraced the embers.