Page 28 of Memory of Ashes

The faceless figure was a bitter reminder that she couldn’t remember her own mother’s face.

“I never knew mine. It was just me and my father… until he disappeared. He never spoke about her. Perhaps that’s why I became an archaeologist. That, and my father was one too. I was always looking for answers, but he never seemed willing to give me any.”

She realised she was rambling. What would he care?

His thumb traced the repair seam in the figurine.

“Then you understand why I keep them.”

He tilted his head. “Fathers often decide which truths we’re permitted to know.”

She flinched as he held the fragment out to her. She took it from him cautiously. Her fingers brushed his palm as she took it. His own curled into his palm and remained there.

Returning her attention to the stone fragment, she ran her thumb across the lines as the blue light glowed from within them.

“Is this… chrysonium? Lifesource?” she corrected herself.

He nodded.

Her head began to ache. She winced at the sharp pain that pierced her skull as if something inside her recoiled from the Lifesource. She returned the relic to the shelf.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Just a headache.”

“May I?” He gestured towards her head.

The question startled her. He had never asked permission before touching her.

She nodded cautiously, unsure of what he was about to do.

She held still as he placed his fingers on her temples.

The pain faded, and blood began to trickle from his nose as his brow tightened.

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I took back some of the pain I caused you.”

Without thinking, she lifted her sleeve and wiped the blood from beneath his nose. His breath caught so faintly she could have imagined it.

*

Sleep evaded her. The waves crashed against the fortress more violently than usual.

She left her room and went to the library. She’d read some pages of the tome and was beginning to understand their language, noting the similarities. The syllables no longer sounded entirely random. They stirred something dormant within her, as though she’d always known them.

She crept around the fortress. No one had forbidden it, but she was cautious of being alone, especially after the guard attack.

The hall before the library was still. She suddenly missed the bustle of the initiates back at the guild headquarters.

The door to the Viewpoint made her pause. The moon was full tonight. It would look beautiful from there.

She entered and crossed to the large windows framing the night sky. Most of the room lay beyond reach of the moonlight.

Moonlight shimmered across the waves, forming a path over the sea. She’d never seen the moon appear so close. She extended her fingers towards it; she could imagine touching it.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice from the shadows said.