The Burning Flowers

Chapter XI

Abigail Reiner’s eyes snapped open, her body jolting forward before she even processed that she had awoken, and though she could not immediately recall why, she felt intense fear. Her body was slick with sweat, her hands trembling and cold as she took frantic breaths that made it feel like she was hyperventilating. She could tell that she was in bed given that her legs were covered in blankets, but it didn’t look like her bed back in her quarters. Abi wasn’t given more than a few seconds to even try and figure out what was going on before she heard her name called out, felt the presence of three people beside her, and turned to see Fayela Rio, Jessi Yuahl, and Iris Mackia crouching beside her, their faces full of concern. They were right next to her, but for some reason, their words were muffled and distant, forcing Abi to grit her teeth and focus. Eventually, she was able to make out what was said just as Faye almost shouted,

“Abi, please! Are you okay?! Talk to me!”

Abigail meekly extended her hand towards the rock mage, who took it gently in hers and smiled as comfortingly as she could. “Faye? Jessi? Iris? What happened? Where am I? What time is it? I don’t…?”

“It’s around six o’clock and you’re in the healing quarters,” Faye told her. “As for what happened…well, we aren’t really sure. How are you feeling?”

“T-terrible…” she breathed, scanning her surroundings and recognizing it as one of the small personal bedrooms set aside for patients of the castle healer. “I’m really cold, and I’m scared. I don’t know what I’m scared of, but…I feel such a horrible dread… Please, what happened to me, Faye? Why am I in the healing quarters? Were we attacked?”

Fayela’s lips tightened with hesitation. Once again, she refrained from answering and instead spoke to Jessi. “Go get Princess Ilirianna. Mackia and I will stay with her.”

“Right!”

Giving her affirmation, Jessi jumped to her feet and bolted from the room, leaving Abi almost frustrated at how unwilling they were to tell her anything. A part of her was about to let that irritation loose, but she had to remind herself that Faye wouldn’t act like she was without a good reason, and she was given that reason by Iris moments later.

“I’m sorry, Abi, but Princess Ilirianna wanted to be present when you woke up,” she said with a guilty expression. “Unfortunately, she and Caeli are just about to depart for their negotiations with Keskivaara, so it’s possible they’ve already left. If they have, we’ll fill you in when Yuahl comes back. For now…let me help…”

Iris motioned for Abi to take her hands, so she did as requested, knowing what her pupil was about to do. The moment their hands made contact, Iris began chanting a nature spell that sent a comforting warmth through her body and into her brain—one intended to ease negative emotions like fear to give the person a clearer state of mind. Gradually, Abi felt her dread start to weaken before it vanished altogether, enabling her to calm down and slow her breathing. Even the deathly chill that had stabbed all the way to her bones was chased away by Iris’s warmth, so Abi smiled her gratitude, giving the Kotonorish girl a hug the second the spell had ended.

“Better?”

“Yeah, much better,” Abigail confirmed, then released Iris and glanced between the two women. “So if it’s already six then Faye, you and the others should be leaving for Omorossa’s, right? Why are you still here?”

Faye smiled bashfully and chuckled. “Yeah, Rennigan’s gonna give us shit for it, but Jessi and I were trying to wait as long as possible. I wasn’t sure I could properly focus without knowing you were okay. I’ve gotta leave pretty much right now, unfortunately, so when Jessi gets back, I’ll have to go.”

“Yes, of course! Please don’t miss that meeting on my account,” Abi insisted. “But thank you anyway.”

From there, Abi took Faye and Iris’s hands as they quietly waited for Jessi’s return. Luckily, the fire mage was rushing through the door with Ilirianna and Ryokumo right behind her after only ten more minutes, both appearing quite anxious as they caught sight of Abi. Faye and Iris vacated their spots right away, making room for the two royal team members as Ilirianna quickly took a kneel beside the bed.

“Abi, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to bombard you so soon after you woke up, but since Kumo and I have to be out of here in the next few minutes, I’m just gonna have to be quick, okay? How much do you remember?”

Understanding the position Ilirianna was in, Abi didn’t blame her at all for getting right to the point, and since Iris’s magic had more than calmed her down, she was prepared to answer whatever questions Ilirianna had for her.

“W-well, I remember going to the city to talk with Omorossa, and then we ran into the two of you after getting off the gondola,” she recounted. “We walked back to Saientia together, and then when we arrived, there were guards waiting for us that—”

Putting it to words made it easier for her memories to clear up, but the second she reached the moment when they walked into Castle Saientia, everything else came crashing down on her skull with a vengeance. The cold returned and she finally realized why she had been so terrified upon waking up. The five mages listening to her story all tensed at the same moment she did, but before they could press her to continue, Abi sputtered out the rest.

“Lunara… We went up to see Lunara and the second I looked at her, my sense flipped out more than it ever had, but it wasn’t a mere negative reading. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. In fact, it wasn't neutral either…rather…it was like my sense was confused? I sensed good and bad at the same time. In its inability to understand, my sense practically shut down and my body couldn’t handle all the contradicting information. I just—”

“Abi,” Ilirianna cut her off, placing her hands on her shoulder to offer her some comfort. “Take deep breaths and slow down… Good and bad, but not neutral? Explain.”

Grateful for Ilirianna stopping her and getting her to elaborate, Abi nodded then did her best to re-explain. “When I feel a neutral reading, it is like a mixture of good and bad. I’ve said before that my interpretation is that the individual could go either way depending on the circumstances. This time, though, I wouldn’t call that neutral. Instead, it felt like I was getting two separate readings, one of which was bad and the other good. I felt like my life was in danger, but that I could trust them, and that just didn’t make sense. That’s never happened before, and I don’t know why it would happen now…”

What the heck is wrong with my sense?! First Sartella and Firrik, now this?

“And you only felt this with Luna?” Ryokumo muttered. “Nobody else in the room?”

“Y-yeah… Just Luna…”

“But given that you’ve been interacting with her for the last half a year and this has never happened, I assume she was either neutral or good before, right? Has your sense ever changed its opinion of somebody?”

As Ryokumo asked his follow-up question, Abi gave it a moment’s thought, trying to recall if a person’s reading had ever shifted. “Luna’s always been registered as pure, and never once has my sense even gone from good to neutral or neutral to bad…let alone good to this. I don’t know what happened…but I can only make two guesses…” Abigail slowly raised her head and gazed at those listening expectantly. “Either my sense is malfunctioning, or that’s not Lunara Noctis.”

“You think it’s the changeling then?” Iris prompted, but Ilirianna was quick to shake her head.

“It can’t be,” she told them. “Naturally, since Luna wasn’t supposed to be in Stellareid, Lord Cartigan and his soldiers were suspicious when she showed up on the doorstep. To make sure Sartella wasn’t plotting something, they scanned thoroughly for biological magic and nothing came up. Unless Sartella has managed to find a way around that, there isn’t a question that Lunara is who she claims to be.”

Ryokumo voiced his agreement. “Yes, and we double checked that with Cartigan and Master Viiro after the meeting. When Abi collapsed, I had a bad feeling it might have been related to her sense, so we wanted to be sure.”

“But then…” Faye cut in, her confusion obvious on her face. “Does that mean Abi’s sense is malfunctioning? Is it providing inaccurate readings now?”

“Can something like that malfunction?” Jessi added.

Ilirianna let out an exhausted sigh as she spared a glance over her shoulder and towards the window, as if to check the time. “It’s hard to say, really. Abi’s sense is almost certainly a mutated ability that she inherited from her parents. Without being able to speak to them, we can’t say whether that’s ever happened since its formation in their bloodline. Abi, has your sense been behaving strangely before tonight?”

As the princess asked that question, Faye shot Abigail a surprised look, indicating she had assumed Ilirianna already knew about the pure readings of Leiolai Sartella and Tali Firrik. The sole reason Abi kept that between her and Faye was out of a fear of being judged, but given this new anomaly in her ability, she supposed it would be stupid to hide it any longer. Taking a deep breath, Abi recounted the battle in Soladnay Park, explaining that pure reading and how she had been doubting her sense ever since. She refused to accept that any Kosah-Rei cultists could be pure, and she wanted Ilirianna and Ryokumo especially to know that.

“I’m sorry for not telling you guys sooner,” she finished meekly. “I was just scared of taking that reading seriously at all. It felt like if I brought it up, I’d be giving it credibility, and I just didn’t want that. I mean, they’re Kosah-Rei. They can’t be pure.”

Ryokumo was the first one to offer his thoughts on the matter, and though his brow was drawn tight in conflict, he did not sound as if he were judging her. “You know, I would absolutely love to dismiss this incident as a malfunction of your sense, but the one thing that gives me pause is your pure reading of Lady Yoral back in Hiriech. It didn’t seem odd at the time, but finding out this Firrik girl was posing as her really threw things off. My issue here is that if Firrik and Sartella’s readings are malfunctions, then that means your sense has been malfunctioning since Hiriech, and that doesn’t sit right with me. Abi, aside from those two and Luna, has there been any time in the past two and half years where a reading proved to be wrong?”

“Er…?” She hadn’t thought about that, and once again trying to recall every usage of her sense since the Kosah-Rei made their debut, she could only come to the same conclusion she had given when Faye asked that same question. “No. If there were any negative readings then I have yet to find out.”

“And the other Kosah-Rei?” Jessi asked. “You’ve gotten readings on the others, right?”

But Abi could only shake her head. “Just Vesh and Mallicent. I’ve still never used my sense on Miyon or Kristoff since I’ve never met them.”

“Then maybe you should,” Faye suggested. “We have Uma Miyon in our captivity, so perhaps we should experiment a bit? We could send Abi down there and see what reading she gets out of him.”

“What would that solve though?” Ilirianna pointed out. “She got a bad reading on Omorossa, right? I guess if she registered Miyon as pure, I’d have no choice but to conclude the sense is broken, but…”

Ryokumo clicked his tongue. “This is a problem either way. I highly doubt the reading of Sartella and Firrik is correct, and I’m almost certain this strange reaction to Luna is a mistake as well. I mean, you just saw Lunara a week ago. What the hell could have changed between now and then?”

“I don’t know,” Abi whispered, a feeling of powerlessness combining with her fear. “I don’t know what to make of any of this, and I wish it could have happened at a more convenient time. You guys need to get going, don’t you?”

Faye, Jessi, Ryokumo, and Ilirianna all had an edge of impatience about them, for all four had appointments that were very important to the current mission. They didn’t have time to ponder this new piece of information, and Abi knew this, so she decided to grit her teeth, move past her growing anxiety, and make a declaration.

“Get moving. You handle Keskivaara and Omorossa, and I’ll investigate Lunara. I swear I won’t do anything risky. For now, just leave this matter to me and I’ll tell you what I learn when you get back.”

As Abigail spoke, she made eye contact with Ilirianna specifically, trying to wordlessly communicate that a plan had already formed in her head but that it was one she could not put to words in front of Faye, Jessi, and Iris. For a second, the princess seemed unsure before a flicker of realization appeared in her eyes and a trusting grin turned her lip—an expression only meant for the two of them.

“Very well,” Ilirianna said. “I trust you to handle it, but be careful with your sense. If merely being in Lunara’s presence is what causes this, then you could wind up leaving yourself vulnerable should something go wrong.”

Abi forced her own reassuring smile. “It took me off guard before, but if I’m prepared for it, I should be okay.”

“Then good luck, Abi, and take care.”

With those words, Ilirianna bid her goodbye and departed the room with Ryokumo at her side, though the wind mage couldn’t refrain from sparing one last look back at Abi. With them gone, Abigail then turned to face Faye and Jessi, both of which were clearly apprehensive to leave her despite desperately needing to hurry down the Fourth Ring.

“Faye, Jessi,” Abigail began. “Thank you for worrying about me, but I’ll be fine. I’m a member of the royal team, after all! A subtle investigation is nothing compared to what you guys have to do, right? Be careful with that clown and leave Lunara to me.”

Faye clenched her teeth then gave a huff of resignation. “Alright, fine then. But I don’t like this at all, and it’s giving me a really bad feeling after what your sense did to you.”

“And you know, I could always stay behind and give you some backup,” Jessi suggested, but Abi declined the offer.

“No, your team needs you, Jess. Omorossa could be dangerous, so it’s best for the four of you to stick together. Thank you though, and Faye, I swear I’ll be cautious. Besides, I’ve got Iris here for help, so we’ll be fine.”

Abi and Iris exchanged confident grins as Faye and Jessi gave one last look of worry before finally conceding.

“Good luck, Abi. Stay safe,” Faye told her, turning and making her way to the door with Jessi adding, “Yeah, good luck!” before the two of them left the healing quarters behind.

Alright then, as much as I said I’d rely on Iris for help, I actually can’t have her around for what I plan to do. Liri said that Lunara had been checked for biological magic and that they were certain that she is Lunara Noctis, but having witnessed the talent Leiolai Sartella has for changeling magic, I don’t want to ignore the possibility that she figured out a way to conceal the mana residue. Therefore, the only way to be certain is to rely on something that has senses more powerful than most.

I will only accept that this person is Lunara Noctis if The Angel can assure me she is.

***

A part of Ilirianna was grateful that Abi woke up before she left the castle, but at the same time, her revelations couldn’t have come at a worse time. It was imperative that she was fully prepared mentally to face Rickori Keskivaara, for she was already walking a dangerous path by meeting with him at all. If she screwed up these negotiations or couldn’t convince Keskivaara to agree to their terms then she would have destroyed her relationship with Cartigan and the Noctalus Masters, as well as her own father, for absolutely nothing. Her actions were more than worth it if she could prevent a Keskivaara/Kosah-Rei alliance but would be a humiliating misstep if she failed.

Lunara showing up the way she did was bad enough, but for Abi’s sense to have such a bizarre reading of her just makes me wish I could have stayed behind and spoken to the girl myself. Leaving it to Abi after she collapsed feels like a bad idea. As it was, the only reason Ilirianna agreed to do so was because she picked up on Abi’s silent attempt to assure her she would be relying on The Angel for help. Not that I like The Angel, but if it can be in the same room as Lunara, perhaps it will pick up on something we couldn’t, and that’s comforting enough. For now, I have to bite my tongue and push this problem aside. My attention is on Keskivaara and nothing else.

According to Nigreos, the place that the People’s Mind wished to meet was a private lounge at a rather popular nightclub there in the Fifth Ring of Stellareid. She was somewhat surprised that he suggested a location in their territory rather than his own down in the Third Ring, but she supposed that was probably due to Ilirianna’s status. This club, known as “The Jester’s Nirvana”, was a four-story building located just under a mile away from Castle Saientia, so the trip was rather short for Ilirianna and Ryokumo, and was had mostly in silence as the two of them continued to ponder what happened with Abi.

In order to comfort herself, Ilirianna shifted her right hand down to the pommel of one of her swords, allowing herself to feel the weight of both weapons resting in their sheaths at her hips. Just like her, Ryokumo was also armed, though he only carried a singular blade, that being the Sukonese sword he was gifted by Album for the solstice. They had heavily debated whether to attend the negotiations armed or not before deciding it wouldn’t matter either way, for mages of their talent were dangerous with or without weaponry. Of course, Ilirianna was far more skilled when she was armed, and given the overwhelming power she sensed from Keskivaara, she wasn’t about to speak with him unless she were fully prepared for things to go south.

Soon enough, they arrived at the front entrance of the Jester’s Nirvana, and though the doors were blocked by two rather large men serving as the bouncers, one glance at the color of Ilirianna’s hair was enough to convince them to permit them entry. She could hear the chatter and laughter of people just down the hall and could smell the alluring scent of dinner being cooked and served, but rather than make her way towards those sensations, Ilirianna turned the opposite direction and went down the corridor to the lifts. The private lounge Keskivaara had reserved was on the top floor, so once she and her friend were on the large disks, she motioned for Ryokumo to raise them.

“Remember, leave the talking to me,” Ilirianna reminded him softly. “Just remain vigilant, and if you sense anything out of the ordinary, signal me and I’ll confront him. Don’t hesitate to let me know, even if you aren’t fully certain. Understood, Kumo?”

Ryokumo flashed her a sly grin, and though such a flippant expression should have annoyed her under such important circumstances, she couldn’t help but find comfort in his casual demeanor.

“Now Liri, you say that like you think I’m going to mess things up! I’m almost offended!”

The princess laughed and shook her head. “Just watch my back. Today, you’re my official knight.”

“As if you need a bodyguard,” he teased, resting his free hand on her shoulder as he winked. “But I’ve got your back.”

Ilirianna reached up and placed her hand over top of his for the few seconds before they came to the fourth floor, and since she didn’t actually know which room they were supposed to be going towards, a part of her was unsurprised when the disk slowed to a stop and they found Rickori Keskivaara waiting just a few feet away, his hands folded behind his back and a neutral, unreadable expression upon his face. Instantly, his eyes flickered suspiciously towards Ryokumo before he cocked a curious brow.

“I wasn’t aware you were bringing anybody along,” he commented, his tone not accusatory, rather he merely seemed to be stating his feelings. “To whom do I owe the pleasure?”

Stepping onto the carpeted floor, Ilirianna subtly glanced around, failing to sense the presence of anybody but the three of them before she turned back towards Keskivaara and introduced her friend. “This is Ryokumo Caeli, member of my royal team and the person who will be serving as my knight for these negotiations. His opinion holds great weight with me, so I decided his presence was important.”

“Ah, I see,” Keskivaara muttered with a shrug. “I’ve heard plenty about the royal team, so of course word of your talents, Mr. Caeli, has not failed to reach my ears. It is nice to meet you, and I am more than happy to have you present. I’m sure you know this, but for the sake of etiquette, I am Rickori Keskivaara.”

Ryokumo grinned, nodding his head towards the People’s Mind, though Ilirianna certainly didn’t miss the distrusting glint in his eyes. “Yes, I do know you, for I was actually present at that little protest this morning. I hope the three of us can come to an agreement here tonight.”

“As do I.” Keskivaara then straightened up and motioned for them to follow him. “Right this way, please. Our reserved room is not far.”

Ilirianna and Ryokumo did as requested and walked behind the man as he led them through the torch-lit hallway, and as they moved, the princess’s eyes shifted down towards the shortsword at Keskivaara’s hip, indicating that he had been thinking along the same lines as her. Both parties were prepared for the worst, and while a part of her was unnerved by the fact that the People’s Mind sought to be armed, she also couldn’t deny that his pessimism was justified. He had no reason to trust the word of the Empire’s Heir, and there was no way a man as intelligent as him hadn’t at least considered the possibility that Lord Cartigan sought to have him eliminated. If Ilirianna was here to lure him somewhere he could be safely and quietly executed, then it was no surprise he sought to defend himself.

Arriving at one of many doors in that hallway, Keskivaara reached forward, pulled it open, and held it for them to enter. Ilirianna walked inside with Ryokumo right beside her, only for her to come to an abrupt stop a mere three steps within, her eyes going wide and her mana instinctually drawing to her hands.

“Now, now, Princess! This is a negotiation, is it not? It’s not polite to so violently draw one’s magic at a time like this, now is it?”

She hardly processed the details of the surrounding lounge, her attention centered solely on the circular table a few yards away from the entrance where two individuals were already sitting. The woman she couldn’t immediately identify, but the man who had just spoken was somebody who had been dominating her thoughts for years now—someone who hadn’t made a single public appearance since the destruction of House Malloway and who they had been intending to lure out with their capture of Uma Miyon. Ilirianna’s teeth clenched with rage, her jaw throbbing with the pressure as she glared at Rotana Vesh, who merely raised his glass of wine towards her as he smiled.

What the hell…is he doing here?

Frantically trying to take stock of the situation, Ilirianna glanced at the unfamiliar woman on Vesh’s left. She appeared shockingly young, maybe even younger than Ryokumo, and had a far more pleasant expression than her companion. Her long hazel hair framed her cute features and her blue eyes were almost glowing with excitement, her lips turned in a sweet and innocent smile. Ilirianna did not know her, for she had never met her, but given the circumstances, as well as the report Abigail had given on the attack at Soladnay Park, she had a strong feeling she knew exactly who she was: Tali Firrik.

“So, are you going to take a seat? Or would you prefer to keep standing there glaring at me?” Vesh went on, his bearded features turning even more smug, as if he considered himself to have already won whatever game she and Ryokumo had just walked into.

“I’m sorry, Princess,” Keskivaara muttered behind her, and though she could not see his face, she could clearly hear the touch of regret and guilt that had entered his tone. “They requested I keep their attendance a secret, but I promise that the desire to sit down and talk was real. There need not be violence between the five of us.”

What do I do? Ilirianna asked herself that question as she only half-listened to Keskivaara’s apology. I’m sure I could take the two cultists with Kumo here to back me up, but the power I sense in Keskivaara… He might tip the scales in their favor. I highly doubt talking is all they want to do. Something else is going on here—

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal scraping wood as Ryokumo pulled his sword from its sheath and gripped the handle as he pointed the blade towards the Kosah-Rei.

“So you’ve finally decided to show yourself, you damn coward,” Ryokumo hissed. “A little bold, don't you think? Or are you stupid enough to believe the two of you could beat Ilirianna when Abigail made your little friend there run with her tail between her legs a mere week ago?!”

Vesh laughed pleasantly, as if Ryokumo told some sort of joke, before he slowly raised his left hand, revealing a small ruby ring wrapped around his third finger. “Fifty percent.”

“Excuse me?” Ryokumo snarled.

“Fifty percent.” Vesh repeated himself in the same calm tone as the first time. “That is how many citizens of the Fifth Ring have been cursed by the Goddess, Rei. If I give the word, the magic will activate and you’ll bear witness to death and destruction that will put dear Aeyir’s celebration to shame.”

Ilirianna’s body went cold as she stared at that ring, for even if Vesh was bluffing about it being the means of activating the combustions, she had a feeling that his threat was very real. The slight lowering of Ryokumo’s blade told her he had come to the same conclusion.

“Now, if you don’t want such a tragedy to occur,” Vesh went on, “then take your seats, and let’s chat for a bit.”