Chapter 22: A Final Truth
In Secrets
I knew it was a dream. There wasn't anything else it could be. For one, Jasmin wasn't there. For another, I was suddenly far afield, meditating atop a great mountain. Or something like a mountain. I should've been in Violet's Repose, but it was a distant vision of prophecy, or maybe memory.
Never mind the flowers around my feet. Voidstem, silverthorn, goldroot, bloodleaf, and my own snowpetal.
Mine? No. My Lady's snowpetal. She grew it for me. Or she made it for me, and she grew the one I bore in my hand. Why was I in the mountains? Afina had begged me to come here, to rest and wait. To bring all our Ladies' weapons and hold them for safety. Why had I listened?
I had little choice, sure, but I wanted to stand with her. She and Salora were at last going to stop —
We were the last, Afina and me. All our sisters fallen in battle. Linna had fallen, far too young, when her bow failed. Lynae was lost defending Draethis, a place she was never meant to be. But what was she to do when Aurelin sent her there? Aeluin vanished with her Lady.
So I brought them here. The flowers.
The Crucible, Hallow, Thicket, and Shroud would fall, but none knew the Aerie. None could take this place, destroy its purpose. Without my Lady, the task would be monumental. Without her, it was a fool's errand.
But Afina said we had to defend the flowers. She said I had to defend them. She entrusted me with something blessed, a box. She told me to never peek, only to give it to one who reminded me of her. That was an age past, when she came. Her hair was different, but I'd never forget those eyes.
The Aerie would live on, Afina's mystery would find its home. And we would fix this. Tomorrow, the world would be ours.
I clung tightly to Jasmin's arms when I awoke, her breath steady on my neck. The hummed lullaby that never ceased while she slept threatened to lull me back to my own dreams. I had to remember it. I had to remember every single detail.
Who was she? The woman on the mountain? Who was her lady?
Jasmin's intoxicating silverthorn scent kept me grounded as I worked through it all. It wasn't the first time I'd seen through that woman's eyes, I remembered. Her hands were rugged, like one who knew her way around a hammer like no other. The snowpetal in her hands seemed almost comical by comparison.
But she was a gentle soul. Gormlaith.
That place was the Aerie. Togha's garden for her longsuffering blossom, and apparently her longsuffering Mavi. Togha. The forgotten goddess.
"Jasmin," I whispered. I didn't want to wake her.
"Roisin," she groaned back. Perhaps I already had.
"Why doesn't anyone remember the fifth goddess?" She was too recently awake to expect much, so I went with a straightforward question.
Jasmin rolled me clean over like it was nothing. "What do you know?"
"We've heard names. Draethis, Aurelin, Vaelis, Salora." It could easily become a chant if I let it. "But there is another. Salora told me so. And the poem counts five. We know voidstem brings sweet dreams. It's Draethis's flower, Nihil's Embrace.
"And silverthorn," I said as Jasmin blinked herself awake, "well, you know that one. Gideon was Aurelin. Nara was Vaelis. But who was Togha? Why doesn't anyone remember her?"
"Like blown snow," Jasmin muttered, "she's gone."
I growled at her. "That isn't helpful," I said, "you're almost as bad as the real Salora."
"Go back to sleep, love," she smiled. "you're hallucinating."
She was right, of course, that dreams weren't real, but it was just like the dreams I'd had in Thornwood Hallow right before we found the temple. Just as vivid. It wasn't a dream as much as a memory.
And another one haunted me when I managed to get back to sleep.
Salora and I stood side-by-side. We'd resolved to face the Fiend together. Each of our respective sisters – with the exception of Aurelin – had already faced the beast alone. We hoped there was strength in unity. We prayed to any who could hear us, but no voices answered.
We wordlessly stepped into the Fiend's trap. What else could we do? If we didn't stop this now, the Fiend would grow stronger, taking everything from everyone.
My neck was bare, a fact not lost on Salora. Rather than ask, she simply looked where the amulet should've rested, then met my gaze. She wasn't pleased, but I think she knew. Somewhere deep inside her, Salora knew, like I did, that we would fail. But even so, we had to try.
The great hall was empty. Why would the Fiend need guards? A shadow given form had no need of protection. Hunger could not be killed.
"Fiend. Usurper. Blasphemous traitor." My words didn't echo, despite the room's size. "You will pay for every soul you've stolen, every life you've taken, every light you've snuffed."
It hissed something at me. Not words. Something darker. In its hands, it grasped the bloodleaf, voidstem, and snowpetal flowers it had stolen from the goddesses it devoured. Each shifted into a weapon as the beast stepped toward me.
Seven breaths between me and victory.
First breath, the silverthorn shifts to become my sabre. Second breath, my feet launch in to an attack. Third breath, the sabre meets Aeluin's obsidian dagger, repelling me. Fourth breath, I'm back in the fiend's space, knocked back by Gormlaith's hammer. Fifth breath, I knock down an arrow fired from Linna's bow. Sixth breath, my sabre finds its mark. Seventh, and she falls.
That's not what happened.
The dagger came before I could react. It was too fast. With every strike, I was pushed back. Further and more until I was against the wall. We had expected some resistance. And that's why Salora was there.
Her own blade caught the Fiend off guard. It allowed me to catch my breath.
"Alright," I growled against defeat, "here we go again."
Five steps. Quick. Decisive. Take in the room. Breathe. Plan. Position. Strike.
But I didn't make it to 'Strike'. The Fiend was too fast. The dagger was lightning in its hands.
and Emeralds
My focus flashed from the Fiend's blade, and I was in the temple at Thornwood Hallow, restored to its glory, surrounded by trees. This wasn't a dream anymore, but a vision. I didn't have to look for her. She was at my side. I knew it like I knew my cave haven back in the second district.
"Salora," I said, for once controlling the moment as my own. "Or should I call you Jasmin?"
Her light and rain voice was heavy. "How long have you known?"
"How long have you?" Our eyes met. I knew. She knew. For once, we were on even footing.
"Since the bus." I didn't know the word, but it didn't really matter. At my confused expression, she clarified. "The glass hallway, where Rose sat alone."
She hadn't been alone. Rose had never been alone. Not with Salora looking over her shoulder. But I recalled the place. Walls that changed. A slate that wrote itself.
Salora's words broke my reverie. "So it's time now, is it?"
"You know the answer to that," I said gently, "so ask me what you really want."
"Will you please let me protect you this time?"
"Absolutely not."
Her thunderous laugh echoed around the temple, joyful despite the knowledge we shared. "I suppose you wouldn't, would you dearest?"
"Are you her, or is she you?" I held up a hand. "Or rather, do you remember her life?"
"Not exactly. I watched it all through Rose's eyes, as you saw." She frowned. "I can't tell you how frustrating it was, living this cycle so long, having nothing I could do."
"Now that I know everything I do," my hesitation was a fog between us, "can you at last tell me one thing."
Her emerald eyes flared, cold-flame engulfed her hands and feet, causing silverthorn flowers to blossom where they touched. "And risk your life again? You almost died, Lesser Rose. I have a duty."
I was done with her talking around me, saving her truths for a time they'd do me no good. "You are a fool, Arian Indra, and you will tell me."
Salora's cold-flame burst once more before weakly conceding. She fought helplessly against her body kneeling before me. "Where did you hear that name?" So she really wasn't Jasmin yet. Still the goddess who couldn't protect anyone from the darkness.
I decided to twist the knife of the true name she would soon give me. The name Jasmin already had. "That isn't how this works. I ask. You answer."
Salora nodded in deference.
"Why don't you and your sisters remember the fifth goddess? Who was she? What happened to her?"
"I don't know." Her stammering was paired with tears that fell, crashing against the stone floor where she knelt. "I know she was there. I know she was taken. I know she's gone."
Pulling Salora close to me, I stroked her long silver hair. "It's not your fault. But you certainly understand now why Jasmin and I must do what about to do, yes?"
"You know," she spoke around sobs, "I could just keep you here. I have on other cycles."
"And how did that work out?"
"How do you think?"
I gently kissed her forehead and gave her one last hug. "I'll see you at the end, darling. Please. For once. Trust me."
Breakfast was situated on a table next to me when I awoke. Jasmin was gone, but she'd left the box from Blue Stone. And beside it, a note.
Dearest,
You know what this is about. And I hope the food is satisfactory. The queen has summoned us. Or rather, she's summoned 'Crown Princess Jasmin Liatris and Consort'.
I've gone ahead. Please don't follow.
When you do anyway, bring the box.
Jas.
For a woman as bright as she was, Jasmin was a fool.