Chapter 484: Grounded (1/2)
Chapter 484: Grounded
As the Epheotan sun rose, I joined the athered to ave Everburn its name For the first couple of days, I had stared around at the dragons, entranced by their variety Being in this city made me realize just how little of the asuran world I had seen Now, though, with King’s Ga on the ss with a partial branch of my awareness, and that was done ape at the asura
Most of my conscious effort was put toward the fountain Set within a circle of stones thirty feet as aether so thick that it pooled like water bubbled up fro to the locals, the well actually punctured the boundaries of the world, letting the aether seep in from outside the boundaries of Epheotus; The aetheric reale to enter the Everburn Fountain, but that hadn’t stopped y was based on fact
Out of the bubbling pseudo-liquid, thin jets of purple fire rose up like geysers These would surge to over ten feet high, then fade until they were only a couple feet, then surge again There was a coeyser in the center of the burning aetheric fountain that regularly gusted up to twenty feet or more above our heads Each flare was acco of aether, and it was this effusion that the dragons gathered to ons couldn’t absorb aether like I could, but they nonetheless used the intense buildup of aty to meditate on their vivum, aevum, and spatium arts The density at the Everburn Fountain made such practice far easier, just as it aidedit to the point of backlash
“Back again I see, hulanced at the speaker, a pink-haired woed Glossy scales slightly lighter in
color than her fair skin surrounded her eyes and extended down her cheeks even in her hu, but she had not spoken to me before
I sank down ontoof stones before addressing her “My own , after which I won’t trouble your city further” I left unsaid that I was only still there because Kezess hadn’t seen fit to collect me yet Myre had said only that I should rest and recuperate, and that when I was ready, her husband would meet with me
My eyes closed, and I reached for the aether, drawing it into y and a bright wakefulness
Calloused feet scuffed against the paving tiles, and a potent presence settled beside me “Your absorption of the aether here has been the source ofus There are those who see it as profane”
The prihts was turned inward, focused on the absorption and purification of the aether Still, even with just a few threads of King’s Gah to hear the question in her words “You want to understand what it is like for me”
“I would like that, yes,” she said, a hint of a se your actions if we don’t understand the us have never seen before”
So about her curiosity stood out tosuch questions?”
“I have asked no questions,” she responded Cloth brushed over skin as she shrugged her shoulders “We are round Share only what you wish”
I considered her words Distracted, the primary branch of listening silver gaze studying me carefully “Who are you?”
Her eyes wrinkled at the corners with amusee, replenished your strength from my fountain, and yet you do not know me? I would be insulted, if I did not know that you had been insulated froe on purpose Lady Indrath had her reasons, no doubt, but she also did not forbidto you My name is Preah of Clan Inthirah, and Everburn is ht bow “Lady Inthirah Forgiveto a noble”
She huffed slightly and turned to look at the fountain, the purple flames reflected on the surface of her silver eyes “Perhaps once, when Clan Inthirah was as a sister to Clan Indrath, nition of noble peerage, but it has been long since any dragon not of the Indrath clan was considered nobility”
She spoke without bitterness In fact, I sensed pridein the tilt of her chin and the inflection of her voice “My role as Lady of Everburn requires not that I be noble, but that I speak on behalf ofAt thisabout your interaction with aether is how I aested that I want to understand what it is like for you to absorb our aether, and I have admitted that I would”
Her state me to pick up the conversation from before the distraction of her identity “It’s not much different from how it feels for you to use mana Or, at least, how it feels for a human to use mana”
“But what about the aether’s inherent purpose?” she asked, leaning slightly toward me “Do you not feel the pull of the aether’s intent?”
I considered, wondering how on understood about the true nature of aether, as I had learned in the keystone “Lady Myre has explained the dragons’ experience with it at length I don’t experience it the saers traced the gap between two paving stones, and her eyes lost focus as she looked into the middle distance “And this, of course, is why Lord Indrath has been so invested in your world He seeks true understanding of your abilities” She refocused on ether in a soft frown “The oldest of our legends speak of dragons who could do what you describe Not…absorb the aether, but to wield it as easily as ht Epheotus here fro?” Preah asked suddenly She had leaned away and was looking at erous beast
I realized I was scowling I had been thinking of the events that had caused aether to pull back fro their ability to wield it freely I tried to s from an ordeal Sometimes…my mind wanders”
Preah cleared her throat and brushed a coil of pink hair out of her face “Well…yes Of course I will leave you to yourbetter”
I only noddedback to the fountain My eyes closed again, and I resu aether Distantly, I felt the Lady of Clan Inthirah move away
Within the hour, ered from the depth of the backlash, but I was certain that too would fade in tily, the itch of my wounded core had not returned The scar of Cecilia’s attack was healed
As I walked through the wide streets of Everburn toward the estate where we’d been staying the last few days, the eyes of every asura I passed followedone against another and then to Tessia, whose signature lingered on the edge of my perception
The asura were powerful, of course, but most of them were far less so than Kezess or Aldir, or even Windsoons who had defended
Dicathen—Vajrakor, Charon, and their soldiers—were also fairly strong in co about their daily business in Everburn These people are farmers, merchants, and maids Once, I had assuh I no better, it was still interesting to see asura ere only slightly e
‘It puts their plight into a different perspective, doesn’t it?’ Sylvie asked, her voice like a cool breeze in hts was her focus on a conversation she was having with a handful of other dragons on the other side of Everburn
Like the Alacryans, they are a people at the on who appeared, by human standards, to be no more than twelve or thirteen years old Her around at her feet jerkily as she tried and failed not to stare I raised my hand to wave, but she only hurried away
‘What do you make of Lady Inthirah?’
Not sure, I admitted She seerandfather Why?
‘I was just wondering about that thing she said That her clan had been like a “sister” to the Indraths It’s strange that Myre introduced ons here, but not to her’
I puzzled over this with one lesser branch of et to know Preah reed
A fewat a table in the small front yard of our borrowed estate She set down a steah the expression arm, worry hid within it like wor to the chair opposite the small table “Will you sit with me?”
“Of course” I eased into the chair, which was rass tied to aokay?”
Mom leaned her elbows on the table, rested her chin in her hands, and regarded me seriously “No”
My pulse quickened, and I clenched ons? Just tell aped at her “What?”
“Arthur Art” She let out a shaky breath “Tessia needs you, and you’re doing everything you can to avoid her It isn’t proper It’s not fair”
I rubbed the back of s “I’m not—”
Mom’s brows rose
“I…don’t kno to be around her,” I admitted, not able to meet my mother’s eye “I don’t knohat to say”
She reached across the table and held her hands palers “That girl has gone through soic—was taken away from her She becaot it back, her core was gone She almost died”
“I saved her,” I pointed out softly
Moone through a change She doesn’t kno to use her new core, and she is stranded in a strange place where no one except you could even hope to understand or help, and you’ve spent days trying to be anywhere except where she is” She sighed, gave my hands one last squeeze, and leaned back in her chair Only after taking a sip froest person I’ve ever known, Arthur You can handle a little aardness”
Heat rose in ht, of course
I’d been acting like a child
‘Even walking cataclysis put in
Despitedifferent topics, I had been careful to keep all of theis He had been left to watch over Tessia, and I hadn’t wanted to see her struggle through his eyes
Standing, I ainst my mother’s “Thank you,” I breathed
“What areexasperation but unable to hide her s run, Arthur Maybe you and Tessia really have been through too ether, ro at my mother’s aardness She swatted my arm playfully “But she is your oldest friend in this world, and she needs you” Her sthews”
“Mo toward the door “I take back
Pushi+ng aside the curtain, I rappling with uard when I found ht we heard you out there,” Ellie said, swooping byto go get so this afternoon You should cois trotted past us and out the door, his tail wagging “I knoe don’t need to eat, princess, but I, at least, really, really like to!”