Aurelia didn't know how long she was out, but when she finally came to, she was disoriented and lying on a soft embrace of down that cradled her body. The bed's embrace, warm and inviting, was a comfort she might have enjoyed in any other circumstance, had it not been for the relentless throbbing at the base of her skull. Gently probing the source of her discomfort, she attempted to recall the events that led her here, wherever here was. Before she could get very far in unravelling the details that eluded her like shadows in the night, a voice called out across the room breaking her concentration.

"Sister Naomi...," it whispered.

Aurelia turned to find she was not alone. Next to her sat an elderly satyr, her face etched with genuine concern. Tenderly, the woman reached out and rubbed Aurelia's forehead with the back of her hand. There was kindness in the woman's clouded eyes, but still Aurelia could feel unease. Yet still, even though the presence of the woman in such circumstances might have evoked discomfort, amidst her vulnerability, Aurelia instinctively sensed that the satyr harbored no ill intentions.

"Staukire?" Aurelia recalled allowing the name of the satyr to roll off the tip of her tongue.

Staukire turned away in embarrassment, her cheeks reddening at the tips. "Manners, please Matriarch. They are the rules by which we live by."

Aurelia thought to argue, but Bidant's voice echoed through her head further aggravating the throbbing inside. "Heed the call of the Matriarchy," it said with a ring, further distorting her. Both were enough to make her feel sick. Instead, she mumbled an apology to the woman she barely knew.

"I'm sorry Matron Staukire, please forgive me. It seems I've taken quite a blow to the head."

Staukire smiled, and Aurelia could tell she found the apology satisfying. She waited a moment for the satyr to say more, but when she didn't, she took the opportunity to look around the room marveling in its simplicity.

"Can you tell me where I am or how I got here?" she asked. She wasn't expecting much of an answer given the quietness of the room, but at the very least she assumed it wouldn't hurt. To her surprise, Staukire nodded enthusiastically.

"The Council of Sisters."

Aurelia started to say something but stopped completely drawing a blank. Several times she found herself silently repeating the phrase as she made short motions with the tips of her lips. At some point she realized she must have looked like a fish out of water and decided it would be better to use her injury to hide her ignorance.

"Matron Staukire, I ask you to forgive me yet again. I must have got hit harder than I thought, because I can't recall a council."

"I will fetch the healer for you Matriarch. We can't have our leader forgetting her cohort. Imagine the scandal." Staukire started to move, but Aurelia grabbed her frail hand forcing her to stay. She worried the older woman might have taken it as some sort of slight, or at the very least resisted, but the moment their hands touched, Staukire completely submitted to her and sat back down pursing her lips.

"Perhaps, for now, it would be best for me to see the council," she said easing her own tension with a squeeze of her hand. The elder satyr gave a weak squeeze of her own that reminded her of the way her mother would sometimes comfort her. As she did, she called out across the room.

"Sister Zita, Sister Naomi wishes to see you."

Naomi?

"Wait a minute, I think you have me confused with..." Aurelia trailed. She didn't get a chance to finish her thought as the three female satyrs that had flanked her on the dance floor entered the room looking like they had just left a battle. Sweat and grime caked to each of their bodies and each one carried a look of exhaustion mixed with genuine concern.

"Sister Au–Matriarch," Krery started to say before being corrected with a smack and a stern look by the one she thought was Devi. "How is your head?"

"My head is–" she started to say, but was again interrupted as Devi addressed the room.

"Sister Krery, perhaps it's better for us to hold a formal council. Matron Staukire, thank you for serving the Matriarch in her time of need. For now, we will attend to her. Why don't you retire for the night?"

"As you wish, Sister Zita," Staukire said making it to her feet. "I need to check on my little Devi anyway. She'll be needing some supper before bed."

Devi smiled, but Aurelia could see something more. There was hurt behind Devi's brown eyes that was well familiar to her, even if in the moment she couldn't quite place it. "One of the matrons already provided supper for her and sent her off. We serve the sisterhood..."

"...we live and die." Staukire said, bowing low with outstretched hands. When she was done, she left the room softly closing the door, allowing each of the three satyrs to direct their attention fully on Aurelia. Though there was no maliciousness in their mannerisms, Aurelia felt small under the weight of their gaze and sat up to compensate.

"Sister Zita," she began, but was once more interrupted.

"Ah, Matriarch, please forgive us. With everything that's been going on, we did not properly introduce ourselves. I see my mother has only added to the confusion. My name is Devi, not Zita. My mother has the mind sickness and gets confused. My companions, I mean your companions here are Sister Dinia and Krery."

Krery and Dinia bowed to her with outstretched hands as Aurelia nodded in frustration at what should have been obvious to her. The signs were all there: Staukire's clouded eyes, Devi's hurt, her being called Naomi. They were daily occurrences with her own mother and she was surprised she didn't connect the dots sooner. "I can relate," she said.

Krery frowned, shifting uneasily in her hooves. "A lot of us can relate Matriarch."

The response left Aurelia feeling awkward, while adding an uneasiness to the air. She could tell there was something more, but whatever it was, each of the three satyrs seem hesitant to voice it.

"A lot?"

The three nodded. When neither one of them said anything else, she pressed them further.

"How many?" she asked.

As soon as the the question left her lips, she knew it was the right question to ask. Once more the three awkwardly shifted until Dinia spoke with trepidation. "Maybe half of those above fifty completions. Three quarters for those above sixty. For the few that live to be seventy, they all have it."

What? Aurelia thought as her eyes widened in disbelief, her features frozen stunned. She felt her mouth open slightly as every muscle in her face tensed in a mixture of astonishment and incredulity. Hoping it was some kind of joke, she looked towards Krery and Devi for confirmation, but their silent nods only confirmed what was already said. Wondering how she could have possibly missed such a travesty plaguing the Beachwick she tried to compel them for more information.

"Everyone?"

"No," said Krery shaking her head. For a brief moment, relief crossed Aurelia's heart long enough for Krery to finish her statement. "Just female and satyr."

Aurelia felt as if someone had ripped the ground out from underneath her hooves, then punched her in the gut. Again, she thought of her mother as the memories of the sickness resurfaced with painful clarity. She could recall the sickness manifesting itself in her mother when she was ten completions old. At the time her mother had only been thirty completions, well below the average of what the Council of Sisters was telling her. Each passing day was a different torment where all she could do was helplessly watched as her mother succumbed to the relentless grasp of the disease. 

Now, as the implications of the revelation sank in, Aurelia's heart raced in a new fear. It wasn't hard to do the math. If what the three said was true, it could and would strike her own mind at any time.

"Why?" she asked.

Once more the group hesitated. Krery and Dinia looked towards Devi and it was then Aurelia realized the two regarded her as the de facto leader of the trio. Something inside of Aurelia made her respect her for it.

"Because of you..." Devi trailed.

Me?

"Because of us," Dinia interjected in a softened tone in an obvious attempt to temper the blame. Aurelia glanced back towards Devi who responded with a shrugged of her shoulders as if to say, 'maybe,' but she found the response far from convincing.

"Truthfully, we don't know." Krery responded. "Our families started to notice the sickness a few generations ago. What we do know is mostly speculation and what Mr. Bidant has told us.

"Alright," Aurelia said rising to her hooves. The information the three were providing was becoming too much to process and the pounding in the back of her head wasn't helping. Still, she needed to hear it even if the truth scared her. She knew the truth could be a soothing balm to the soul, but she also knew the truth could be a double-edged sword that could cut a satyr to pieces. However, if she was going to be the leader they were determined to make her, she was going to meet them face to face as equals and not lying down at their feet.

"Tell me everything."

By the time Aurelia left Devi's home, the moon had reached its peak. A soft glow cast itself upon the ground. Shadows danced in the moonlight creating an eerie yet mesmerizing atmosphere that enveloped her in its mysterious embrace. Between the conversation that had taken place and the moonlight shadows, she was a little unnerved. Still, she persisted along the path. The rustling wind through the trees were the only sounds she heard upon the quiet night, guiding her back to her ancestral home.

Devi insisted she stay, concerned evident in her voice. Dinia suggested an escort back, despite her own protest. When Krery offered to scout her home for any Goldendale personnel, Aurelia exercised her authority for the first time; each of the three sisters snapping to attention. They might not have been happy with her choice to go home alone, but they obeyed. For that she was grateful. It was a strange feeling having authority as the Matriarch, even though it was one she was sure she was ready for. However, the three of them had given her a lot to ponder, and she thought it best to do so in silence and without their overbearing glares. Therefore, when they had finished their conversation, she chose to leave.

"Iniquity." Devi had called it. That was what was hurting Aurelia's people. It was a transgression that not only the whole of the Beachwick had committed, but one which she and her family line were personally responsible. Confusion must have been evident on her face, because they explained, with unwavering patience, an agreement had been breached and they were all suffering as a result.

Eagerly, Aurelia listened, desperate to understand. Iniquity was not a foreign concept to her nor any other Saintian for that matter. It was iniquitous to have bad manners. It was a transgression to take something that was not yours. It was a sin to disrespect someone you loved. Aurelia had experienced all of these and more as both the giver and the receiver of iniquity. That was the thing about iniquity. It touched everyone equally, tainting all in its path. It grasped a Saintian with its claws, hooking them with its most powerful weapons of pride, selfishness, greed, envy, anger, and lust until they gave into its desires, becoming a slightly worse off Saintian because of them.

We owe it to each other to be better, Aurelia thought as she listened. Most of the non-satyr residents cared little for manners, but they were simple things to do that showed signs of respect. A Saintian was still a Saintian whether they were elf, human, halfling, Gayak, or satyr and each one deserved to be treated with dignity. Laws and rules existed across the land to enforce respect among the races, but there was also a social obligation that should have pushed each one of them to be better. However, the longer the Council of Sisters spoke to her, Aurelia came to realize their iniquity was more than a breach of societal laws and social norms.

"Esha has turned his back on us," Krery explained.

"Esha?" she asked recalling the name the satyr in her vision had used. Unlike iniquity, Esha was a foreign concept to her.

Krery smiled, but it was a weary smile, almost as if she was embarrassed by it. "Proof of our iniquity. It was as Mr. Bidant said in his speech, only the long remain to know the truth. The rest of us pass its message down bit by bit, if we do it at all. Over time parts get lost or distorted. Iniquity has made us forget who he is."

"He?" she asked, but the shame making its way down her spine spoke as if she should have known him all along.

"The mountain we mine," responded Devi with conviction.

"The island that sustains us," Dinia said in awe.

"The giver of life," Krery spoke with bated breath.

After Krery's words, there was a moment of profound silence, but in the silence, the truth freed itself from the shackles of Aurelia's mind. It was then she knew. She knew because though she had spent her whole life ignoring him, he was there, hidden in plain sight. She saw him in the way the wind blew off the trees swaying the palms. She saw him in the creatures that scattered in the jungles eager to provide for their own. She saw him in both the extraordinary and simplistic acts of compassion, kindness, and service Saintians would sometimes treat each other when there was no call to manners of benefit. He had showed himself to her, to all of them through his invisible attributes, his eternal power, and his divine nature, and she in turn had spent a lifetime choosing to ignore him.

"Asha." Aurelia responded, but the minute she said his name, she knew it was wrong. Embarrassed and reddened in the face, she quickly corrected herself, but the three grinned happily as if they too had gone through the same mistake before.

"Iniquity distorts, but his power restores," said Dinia has she grabbed Aurelia's hand. The two others joined in and as they did, they sang a verse of a song she did not know, but it pushed the shame out of her, and stirred a much deeper feeling inside of her.

Esha includes,

Esha provides,

We serve the Sisterhood,

We live and die.

It was the song of her people. A small part she would later come to learn, but for the moment it provided a foundation of everything they had forgotten. Over the course of the evening the three explained the Beachwick was supposed to be a Sisterhood. A female civilization led by a matriarch divinely appointed by Esha hundreds of completions ago. Upon the mountain, the very same mountain she mined, Aurelia's ancestor made a promise to Esha to protect all the Sisterhood from a devastating threat. In turn, they would serve him. However, somewhere along the way she and everyone else had forgotten him, or more likely ignored him. Now, everyone was paying dearly for it.

"So, Esha is punishing us? Punishing me?" she asked. Part of her felt like it wasn't fair and it wasn't, at least not in the way she thought.

"No. It's easy to think that's the case, when you don't understand iniquity nor Esha." Dinia explained. "By not holding our part of the promise, we create iniquity. It's what fills the void left in the absence of our unfulfilled potential. Our choice to disobey is what causes it stain. So really, we punish ourselves. The problem is we are too weak to save ourselves from iniquity. Your grandma tried. She led a rebellion against the Syndicate a few generations ago that failed. That's when the sickness started to spread."

"But she tried," Aurelia interjected fear rising in her voice. She didn't know if she wanted to be a leader and the prospect of failure terrified her. What if she somehow made the whole thing worse?

"I'm sorry Sister Aurelia." Devi said. "That's where we failed. The Call of the Beachwick isn't a call to take up arms against our oppressors. So caught up in our desire for freedom from the Syndicate, we forgot the true purpose of our freedom. That is why your grandmother failed. She didn't know who she was, and we enabled her to move forward without learning. The Call of the Beachwick is to listen..."

"...and obey," she said absentmindedly.

Krery nodded. "Listen to the promise your ancestors made on the mountain and obey its teachings to follow him. Your grandmother failed, because you can't have one without the other. Either one done on their own is a meaningless gesture."

"Love requires action," said Dinia. 

It was a huge weight on Aurelia's shoulders. She could feel the anxiety creeping up her spine. Never had she felt so isolated, but the gravity of the situation was making it impossible for her to walk away. Now, that she knew the truth, she could feel its blade stabbing her in the heart. There were too many people relying on her. If something wasn't done soon, it was likely the disease would overtake them all.

But then again, maybe ignorance is bliss, she thought as she stared back at the faces of Dinia, Devi, and Krery each waiting eagerly for her to respond. Instead of voicing her insecurities, she stood tall, asking them her last question of the night.

"What's your role in all of this? If I'm the protector of the Beachwick, do you protect me?"

"We serve you Matriarch," said Devi. "We as the Council of Sisters advise, but all of the Sisterhood serves you."

Again, they sang.

"Our loving Mother,

The Matriarch of all,

We the Sisterhood serve your call,

If we fail, to the mountain it be

It's the way of the satyr for you, for me."

Now, back on the path to her home Aurelia pondered where to go from there. She didn't really want to go home. She was exhausted and needed to sleep, but her mind was as awake as a toddling with a belly full of sweets. If she was being true to herself, she might have realized she was doing everything in her power to talk herself into grabbing a late-night boat to the mainland and fleeing from any responsibility the Council of Sisters and Mr. Bidant had tried to impress upon her. Subconsciously, she even found herself counting out the coin that would be needed for the journey, finding her thoughts drifting towards the bag hidden in her desk. However, a slight abrasion on the ground caused her to trip over her own hooves, she went to catch herself, she saw the black and white flower growing upon the path.

"Kesi," she said quietly taking in the flower. Her heart stopped. Aurelia knew Kesi saw them differently than she could. There was something about black to white shade that made them special to Kesi. Ever since that day she first brought them to Aurelia's attention, she too regarded them as special. It was as if the flower and Kesi were the same. She couldn't explain it, but something on the inside, something she couldn't see, made Kesi the special satyr she was, much like the flower.

Only the special can see the special, she thought.

In the silence, her heart broke.

"Oh, Kesi," she said finally accepting the truth that continued its attack with its double-edged sword. She could not run away. She couldn't hide. She couldn't abandon her people. Most of all, she couldn't abandon Kesi. What was happening to her, wasn't just about her. It was about her family: Kesi included. Even if she chose to run away, even if she accepted the fact the disease would someday cause her to forget, she knew there was no way she could lay any of those burdens at Kesi's hooves.

A mother makes sacrifices for their youngling.

With a firm resolve, Aurelia fixed her heart. In the words of Mr. Bidant, she was going to be the Warbol she knew she had to be. Not for herself. Aurelia cared little about what happened to her. It was never in her nature to do anything for herself. Instead, she would do it for Kesi. She would give up everything she had, everything she was, everything she could be for Kesi. Nothing else mattered but Kesi. But before she could accept the call to listen and obey, she first had to find Kesi. She had to tell her daughter she loved her. Abandoning the path home, she set out to find Darby at the orphanage for word on Kesi's whereabouts allowing the flower to fall from her hand.

"Mom's coming Badger."