Elegy for a Star

Tess was the last one to arrive at the meeting. She’d been running late, having lost time practicing her new knife talents on one of the training dummies outside. Now, damp from the melting snow and flush from the quick dash to the meeting room, she looked rather disheveled as she slipped through the door.

She must have been just in time. Captain Maupoissant was standing by but, from the look of things, had not yet begun her explanation for the meeting. Gwendolyn was looking at Tess with a face that said, “What are you doing?!” Joyona was straightfaced as always, even nodding her acknowledgement of Tess’ arrival. Mairaela and Miren were both covering their mouths and trying not to laugh. Tess wondered if they realized how similar the two of them really are.

Tess shuffled into her seat, trying not to make too much noise. Kofi was staring at her the entire time, but began as though nothing had ever happened.

“If you hadn’t heard yet, Miren’s extra efforts to earn points have gotten us to the level where we can collect assignments. From here, successful missions will only lead to more and more assignments. We are over the largest hurdle, then,” the Captain explained with a soft smile, “And as promised, we have an assignment already.”

Tess looked about to see the rest of her teammates grinning a little. That gave Tess some confidence to dissuade her initial concerns. Maybe this was a chance for her to demonstrate her new skills, but would they still work in the Void? Tess wasn’t sure, but she was hopeful.

“Who’s the target?” Miren asked, confident as always.

Maupoissant nodded, looking through some parchment that she had in front of her, “Wydwen, looks like.”

Mairaela spoke with excitement, “What’s it the Old God of?”

“Cats,” Maupoissant replied, looking at the following page, “He’s the Old God of cats.”

Joyona frowned, “I love cats.”

Gwen threw her hands up, “That’s our target?”

“We have to start small,” Kofi explained, “Then we’ll get to the serious fights.”

Miren nodded and said to the others encouragingly, “As much as we may appreciate its domain, it isn’t in charge of it anymore. Cenerine is the mother of animals now, not Wydwen. Wydwen deserted his creations.”

Joyona cracked her knuckles. She looked ready to fight.

Mairaela nodded her head, “Let’s just go along with this one. Should be simple. We go, we fight,” Her eyes glanced to Joyona as she smiled, “And we’re back in time for the Ball.”

Tess’ eyes flicked back and forth between Mairaela and Joyona. What was that?! She knew she’d been in her own world with Gwen for some time, but what happened in her absence? She was desperate for the gossip and had to struggle to refocus.

“When do we leave?” Miren asked.

“We have a window open tonight and another one in three days.”

“Tonight,” Mairaela blurted, “We want to get back soon, right? Isn’t the Ball in five days?”

The Captain did some mental math and then nodded her head.

Tess and Gwen shared a look at the mention of the Ball. Tess had entirely forgotten about it until it was brought up during this meeting. Did Gwen want to go with her? Is that why she looked? Was Gwen even going to go? Too many questions.

“Tess.”

Her attention was grabbed immediately by the Captain, and Tess looked dead ahead, “Yes, ma’am?”

“We’ll need to do some checks. It’s possible that despite Pava’s experiments, the echoshaper unlocked something in you. Since you’ve had time to heal, if you’re feeling up to it, we’d like to examine you with another ritual,” Kofi explained.

Tess smiled and nodded her head. She was excited by the possibility! Had she gained a gift in knife fighting?

Kofi added, “How has your Heroic Divine class been going?”

Tess’ lips parted, trying to form the words Admittedly, it’d been going great while Miri was here to help her with any questions, but now she was only going off of what she remembered of Miri’s teachings and what she’d been able to read from the library. Since Miri’s disappearance, the class has certainly taken a dive, but it was close enough to the end of the quarter that Tess was hopeful she could slide by.

“Oh, it’s-...” Tess paused, trying to find the right words, knowing that the longer she paused, the worse it’d look, “...Been going well. I’ll need to look for an alternate while I’m in the Void.”

Kofi replied, “If needed, you can remain and teach. We could find an alternate for this assignment.”

Tess’ expression soured. Was Kofi trying to get rid of her again? She shook her head, “No, Captain, I’d like to be with my squad. I can probably get Scirocca to cover the class.” Like the winged woman hadn’t done enough for her already?

Kofi nodded, then asked, “When would you all like to leave? My preference is our later opening, since that would give us more time to prepare. Less than 24 hours of prep is usually dangerous.” She smirked and shrugged, “But I’m usually outvoted in these situations, and it isn’t my life on the line, so I’ll leave it to all of you.”

“Tonight,” Mairaela repeated, looking around the room, “We agree that tonight would be best, right?”

Joyona nodded her head.

Miren looked dubious, “I think that we should prepare ourselves first. We haven’t done any team training. Only individuals or duos.”

Gwendolyn looked torn. Tess could see the logic in both options, too. Her usual stance—to choose what Gwen chose—wouldn’t work here.

Mairaela grunted at Miren, “You haven’t done team training. We’ve all worked together before.”

“And I am a part of the team, like it or not,” Miren replied smoothly, “This isn’t a weakened piece of the Void. This is a real pocket, still attached, still strengthened by its connection to the Black Sun. It’s healthy. I’m a fifth of your team.” She glanced at Tess sympathetically before adding, “And perhaps a fourth of those with a gift. My contribution here cannot be neglected.”

Mairaela looked like her head was about to explode. Miren really managed to dig her claws into the Summer Fey at every opportunity, but Tess found it hard to dislike her. She was always so practical and reasonable. She was like a more vocal Joyona.

Finally, Gwendolyn spoke up, “Practicing out here, without our gifts and only for a few days, won’t benefit us in any significant way. We’ll learn to fight as a team in the Void.” She threw her hat in with Joyona and Mairaela. Miren looked at Tess and Tess looked around at the others, “I don’t think my vote sways anything.”

“We still want to know,” Mairaela said softly.

Tess looked around the room, at each of her companions. Eventually she said, “I think we should wait, then.” She needed to practice her magic! She needed to practice her knives. She needed to try on those gloves, too.

“Three to two,” Kofi said with a nod, “You’ll be leaving tonight. Come back here after you finish your evening meals. We’ll get everything ready in the meantime.”

The five of them rose to their feet, looking around at each other. Their faces were a mix of excitement and nervousness, confidence and uncertainty.

Gwendolyn spoke up like a leader should, “Two hours, then we all meet for dinner. All of us.” She was particularly looking between Mairaela and Miren.

One by one, the party dismissed themselves and returned to their rooms. Along the way, Tess’ mind was a constant slurry of feelings. “Miri,” she whispered to herself, “Miri, we’re going back into the Void.”

There was no response—as usual nowadays—and Tess wondered what their Void experience would be like if the demoness wasn’t there to protect her. Would Miren try to kill her like the others did, if Tess successfully managed to cast a spell? She hoped that the others would come to her aid like Gwen did, but even then she would be causing more problems than anything else.

Tess shook out her hands, letting her nerves flick away from her fingertips. Tonight, she was going back into the Void.