Moirai

The sound of birds gently twittering in time with the wind woke me, but that was all they accomplished for a long time; I was numb, as though I had been dosed with heavy pain medication. I couldn’t open my eyes or even make a finger twitch...because I couldn’t feel my fingers.

But...that was impossible, wasn’t it? Medicine of that kind only existed in the outer world.

Unless I wasn’t waking up and the numbness meant that...I was dead.

That didn’t seem very likely either. If I was in some kind of afterlife and I could hear birds, I wouldn’t be numb.

So that meant that I was alive. But where was I? I was certain that there were no birds for several miles around Indina’s castle. We hadn’t seen any flying around Druge since leaving the forest.

I tried to expand my senses, hoping to work out more clues about my whereabouts until I could feel and move again. The birds were distant and I couldn’t feel any wind on my face, so I didn’t think I was in the open air.

I could hear my own breathing, slow and steady, and my heartbeat. Nothing abnormal about either one of those, which was definitely a comfort. But there was also another set of breaths. Another two.

So I was not alone.

“She is showing signs of waking, so why won’t she?”

“I don’t know.”

Both voices sounded concerned and anxious, and both were instantly recognisable.

I felt my breathing and heart rate increase in tempo as relief flooded through me. They were alive. They had both made it out.

Not that I was exactly sure how. My memories of those final minutes in Indina’s tower were like those of a dream had long ago.

I remembered a voice, a warm, calming voice. There was a presence that accompanied that voice. I remembered it combining its aura with mine, until we were one being. I remember the moment that Indina crumbled to dust and mentally shivered at the thought of the dark magic that must have been keeping her alive.

Then...did I...did whatever that being was heal Mayran?

It seemed so.

“Alnya? Alnya, can you hear us?”

My flurry of emotions and memories must not have gone unnoticed, as I felt hands on my own, one large and one small. That’s when I realised that I could feel again.

I struggled through the last of the fog and forced my eyes open, greeted with the faces of Mayran and Loni. Both wore the exact same expression of overwhelming relief.

“How do you feel?”

“Are you alright?”

They both asked their questions at the same time and I smiled tiredly.

“Exhausted, but otherwise fine.” I answered, my voice croaky and my throat feeling like it had been rubbed with sandpaper. “How-what happened?”

“Just a minute, let me go and get you some water.” Loni said, realising, as always, my distress.

“Can I sit up?” I asked as she left my field of vision. Mayran nodded and helped me lean against the bedpost. And then I noticed where I was. “Flowerage? Mayran, how long has it been?”

“A week.” He murmured quietly, refusing to meet my eyes. “Kasanda called it a multi-aura-induced coma, but wouldn’t explain what that meant.”

I had a feeling I did, but I wanted to wait until I could talk to Kasanda before bringing it up.

I opened my mouth to ask if she was around when I noticed that, as well as the relief on Mayran’s face, I noticed that his downcast eyes held a touch of darkness, his posture lax and a couple of lines on his face that certainly weren’t there the last time I saw him.

“Mayran, are you alright? Were you healed properly?” I asked, hoping that there wasn’t any lasting damage. The image of the knife flying handle over blade and sinking into Mayran’s chest flashed through my mind, and I cringed, fighting the urge to reach out and touch him...just to make sure his recovery was real.

He seemed somewhat surprised at my comment. “What? Yes, I’m fine. Thanks to you, according to Loni.” He sighed and when he next opened his mouth and told me the truth, I felt a rush of gratitude that the trust and understanding we had built had not faded. “When...when I woke up we were still in the tower. Loni was next to you and you weren’t...moving.”

Just then Loni herself walked back in, holding a cup full of water. “Sorry,” She apologised quickly, “Everyone wanted to know if you were awake and then had about a bazillion questions once I told them you were.” She handed me the cup, which I drank eagerly as it soothed my aching throat.

Mayran looked over at her. “I was just telling Alnya about what happened after she...after she collapsed.”

Loni instantly sobered, “Yes, you had us so worried. You were completely unresponsive. We got you out of the tower and as far away as we could without our horses, who had vanished, but you still wouldn’t even stir. So we scried Kasanda, who was still here in Flowerage, and she got the Praesul to combine their auras and transport the three of us here. As I presume Mayran told you, that was a week ago.”

The ghost of a smile crossed Mayran’s lips. “We were both stubborn. Even though every day Kasanda assured us that you would be fine, we continued to work ourselves into the ground with worry.”

“You shouldn’t have done.” I told him, but he shook his head.

“Alnya, after what you did...you deserve everything.”

I flushed, looking down. “It wasn’t entirely me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Is Kasanda around? I would prefer her to be here when I explain...because I still don’t fully understand myself.” I confessed.

*~*~*

An hour later, I had been left alone to absorb everything that Kasanda had told me.

She had sounded very confidant when informing me that the presence who had helped me defeat Indina...was the Great Aura herself. I hadn’t believed her at first, but Kasanda brought me up short by asking, “Who do you think gave me the vision and chose you in the first place?”

Once I accepted the truth of her words, I was extremely shell-shocked for several seconds, before the awe and humbleness replaced it. I again went over the exactly what the Aura had told me, especially about us having met before. Kasanda didn’t know what that had meant, and I believed her.

I refrained from enquiring as to what it was the King of the Naiads and Loni thought she was hiding from me, mostly because by that stage I was feeling a bit light-headed again.

Despite the fact that I had been unconscious for a week, I found myself drifting into a doze not long after Loni, Mayran and Kasanda had left. I didn’t fight it. When I woke again, I was taken to the Praesul and congratulated. I didn’t really feel deserving of the praise, as I would not have succeeded if it wasn’t for the Great Aura. I said so, but all four Praesul reassured me that the Aura would not have helped anyone else, had they gone up against Indina. That, they said, was what the prophecy had been about. I had been brave enough to get there, they said, and that was an achievement enough.

We remained in Flowerage for several more days, letting us all recover fully. Mayran, Loni and I all stayed together almost constantly during those days. I knew that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t want the others out of my sight for too long; we had been through too much.

Mayran claimed not to remember much between being taken by the Erkings and waking up after Indina’s death, but I didn’t fully believe that. In those few days, I could see that he was slightly more fragile than before. There was an almost imperceptible flinch whenever Indina’s name was mentioned, and he avoided the topic completely if he could help it.

I didn’t blame him. I was the same.

The morning eventually came where we all met up outside the house of the Praesul, for it was them who were going to save us the long journey back and teleport us.

“We wish you a safe journey home and, finally, some peace.” Aurora said to us all. Her gaze settled on me. “We know you have heard this many times, but what you have done for Renenta can never be repaid.”

The other three nodded in agreement.

Then, between blinks, we were suddenly standing in the familiar setting of Kasanda’s living room.

Loni, understandably, wanted to head home immediately and I decided to follow her.

Roald and Amber, upon opening the door and seeing us both standing there, instantly shrieked with glee and relief. Amber grabbed Loni and started crying, while Roald ushered us inside and clapped me on the back, grinning broadly.

“You’re safe! You’re both safe!” Amber gasped, releasing Loni and pulling me in for a hug as well.

“And Indina is dead.” Roald added. Then, to my surprise, he did a happy little jump. “Oh, Alnya, you are incredible!”

I couldn’t stop grinning either...but the smile fell off my face to be replaced with shock when, down the stairs, walked my own mother.

“Wh...what are you doing here?!” I cried, completely confused.

Mum smiled down at me, but she also had a slightly guilty look. “Is that how you greet me after over a month?”

I blinked, before remembering myself. I was in her arms in a second, tears falling from my own eyes in seconds. She was crying too, and we held each other close for several minutes. I noticed Loni and her parents retreat upstairs to give us our time.

We went and sat down at the kitchen table.

“How did you get here?” I asked.

The guilty look returned to her face and she looked down. “There are...things I haven’t told you, Alnya. Things that Kasanda instructed me not to tell you.” She paused for a moment. “How far back can you remember?”

“Until I was about five, why?” I had no idea what she was getting at.

She nodded. “That’s right, because when you were six years old, Indina finally heard that you were the one and used her aura against you, trapping you in a coma. Kasanda told us that she couldn’t bring you out of it. Apparently it would have last forever, or until Indina could risk coming here and killing you herself. We knew we had to save you. The only way to do that, was to send you out.”

“What do you mean, ‘coming here’?” I could tell what she was getting at...but that was impossible!

“You were born here, Alnya, in the book-world.”