Chapter 26: Fleeting Fear of Failure
Not the ferocity of a warrior. Not the rage of a mother scorned. The world is being saved by a family. And at the heart of it is her: Linna, my hostess. Teaching and preaching to Asha how not to be consumed. Delia was correct.
An Unquestioned March
I held Asha in my arms as I leapt from the tower. There wasn't much she could do from the ground, but she was right to want to be involved. Perhaps that's why Linna couldn't let herself be loved. Perhaps that's why Lysandra couldn't break through.
She was a glass showpiece. A flower to be protected by Vaelis, her Lady. And so she fought from on high, not with her sisters or alongside them. It was a different thing to watch a fight than to be on the ground fighting with them.
The moment my feet touched the soft earth in front of Jasmin's wall of thorns, Asha jumped from my arms and took aim. Fifty brilliant sapphire flames spread out before us and wiped out the nearest rank of Devourers. Gone in a flash. Not dead. Removed.
She began walking toward the fight. I couldn't let her go alone. Jasmin seemed to have had the same idea, jumping down from her barrier and standing beside me as the next volley of brilliant blue light spread out before us.
Our march was slow and steady, Asha's bow clearing a path not just for us but for Roisin, who stopped fighting and ran to the girl's side. As the battlefield emptied, we moved faster, closing the distance while Asha kept up her work.
Row by row, rank by rank, darkness and fear fled before whatever it was Asha was doing, and no one was ready to question it.
When at last we reached Em, Tal, and Mrs. Reed, they were only a few creatures away from Vaelis, who rode atop one like some manner of horrifying knight queen. No. She was Vaelis no longer. They were something else entirely. A new Fiend? Possibly. But a goddess? certainly not.
The others ran back and joined us about the time Nyx and Tenebra appeared behind me.
Nine divine souls marched between Powell's Square and the despair of a scorned creature who had once been the goddess of Balance. No longer human or even human-like, she was beginning to look like one of the Devourers, reptilian features invading what once had been a beautiful, if chaotic, form.
It was funny, really. For a thousand years, Lafleur had been at war. That was the propaganda put out by the capital. But no one really ever saw the war. The closest anyone came was being conscripted. But so far as I could make sense of it, there was no war. Just a queen keeping the people in check. Protecting them from a threat that didn't exist by sacrificing them to keep her in power.
Now, standing just outside my hometown, I was face-to-face with something that would destroy everything if allowed to keep moving forward. This was war, not what the queens for generation after generation were selling. Or stealing.
And at the forefront of this battle weren't some bold warriors or conscripts or queen's guard. Nine ordinary women, rising to the challenge to become extraordinary. Well, seven women, one soul, and a girl.
The whole field lit up in sapphire flame at Asha's next volley. Only the nine of us and the creature that was Vaelis remained. The shrieking stopped. The howls subsided. And at once, I was refreshed.
"I don't know if you're in there Vaelis," Tenebra stepped forward. "I don't know if Va or Ayuna or Vanara or any other person you've been is in there." She covered half the distance. "Surely, you can see your task is finished. Look before you. All your daughters and sisters are gathered to take you home. Even your Huntress."
The thing spoke in a language I'd never heard, yet I understood the words clearly. "And what of it. She's not the Huntress. She's a fraud. Lynae masquerading as Linna."
"Count us. The Twins are here. My sister and I are here." She gestured to Jasmin, then Nyx, then me, then herself. "And then there are five Mavi. You can see there are five, can you not?"
It had followed Tenebra's movements, then it traced its gaze to the four sapphire-haired warriors and Em. "I count four Mavi and something wrong. That thing isn't Linna."
"Of course I'm not Linna, you idiot." Em stepped forward. "I was supposed to be the Scion. Instead, I became myself."
Roisin stood beside Em. "I was chosen to replace my ancestor Afina, but I became something new."
Talia appeared in Em's shadow and stepped forward. "I'm still me. Saved by the shadows, but no longer a Shade."
Mrs. Reed let her labrys drop to the ground, shaking the whole area as she set a hand on Roisin's shoulder. "I'm this girl's guardian, but I suppose I'm one of your missing souls, whomever you are."
"Miss Scarlet-Hair," Asha stepped forward, the youngest, just as Linna had been, "is that you?"
Humanity leaked back into the thing's eyes. "Ashen Girl?"
"I was worried about you, Miss Scarlet-Hair," Asha kept moving forward, not bothering to stop at the line formed by the others. "You went missing after the fight with the lizards. You are her, aren't you?"
"That bow," the monster was disappearing, but she was still not Vaelis, "where did you get it, Ashen Girl?"
Asha turned her weapon into a flower. "I made it, Miss Scarlet-Hair. I wanted to show you." It turned back into a bow. "Did I do good?"
"It looks just like —"
"Linna told me how to do it, Miss Scarlet-Hair. She said you'd be proud of me." A second passed, and Asha slapped her forehead. "Not the dolly Linna. A different one."
"You met her?"
"Of course not, Miss Scarlet-Hair," Asha said with a brightness that almost blinded. "She talks to me in my head. I bet she's really pretty though." She looked back at us. "Aunt Rosie says you wore your hair like her. And I liked your hair. Did you see I did mine like yours?"
"Tell me, Ashen Girl," Vaelis was starting to be visible under her terror, "what is your name?"
"Silly, you know my name. It's Asha." She giggled. "What's your name Miss Scarlet-Hair?"
"Ayuna Nara, Balance of Elder Valley," Vaelis was slowly breaking though, and it was doing something to the world. "Or at least that's what the voice inside tells me. I think I used to be someone else."
"Well, Miss Nara, Momma says you should always be yourself. Who do you want to be?"
"I want to be a normal woman. The person I was before Vanara. I want to watch you grow up and one sun, maybe, be your friend." Whomever she was becoming, it wasn't Vaelis or anything we could be prepared for.
"Silly. That's not an answer." Asha shook her head. "You are my friend. That's why I wanted to show you the bow."
"Of course," the woman said. "Tell me, what would be a good name for your friend to have, then?"
An Unburdened Victory
Lafleur was forever changed by everything that happened, though I suppose that would be true no matter the things that happened. You pick a flower, it's changed indelibly. You move a rock, it won't return to its comfortable seat. You heal the soul of a broken woman whose body was stolen by a goddess attempting penance, the world will notice.
Vaelis was gone, and so were all her alter egos. She hadn't been the owner of that body ever. She'd just invaded it, kept it alive with her divine spark. Similar to what Aurelin tried to do with me. But Vaelis hadn't been whole, and that poor soul hadn't been very fortunate.
Once Powell's Square was rebuilt, we returned as a family to the capital. The final palace fell. Not under the weight of bloodleaf flowers, but under the weight of a Sapphire light created by a Huntress who stood between her family and her friend, saving both.
The capital was renamed. Linna's Repose. She was just a woman whose heart was broken, a woman who couldn't understand the love that was given freely. And for all she'd done wrong, Linna still deserved to be remembered for the work she put in to make up for it.
With the groundwork laid by Kovar and Iron over fifty or more years of resistance, the lesser nobles gave in. The Honoured Pecorin served to ensure none of them stood against us. Good soul, if a bit scary for their information network.
Each of the nine districts, plus a new district, would be involved in creating a new government. Our family would have nothing to do with it outside of advisement.
Asha grew up in Blue Stone. Not only did it guarantee she was safe under Roisin's watch, but her two closest friends always there with her, supporting her growth. When one of them eventually asked her to marry him, she of course said yes. Where else would she get the best stories available anywhere in Lafleur.
"We're going to be late, Mum," she said to me as I put care into every detail of her hair and makeup.
I smiled at her in the mirror. Her sapphire hair and scarlet eyes were stunning in the light of Jasmin's study. "Do you think Aidan will mind if his bride is a few minutes late?"
"No, but that doesn't mean I can take advantage of him."
"Good girl," I said. "We're almost finished, and you can get going. Your honoured woman is already there taking care of everything."
"Do you think she'll ever get better, Mum? Return to being Vaelis?"
"I think there'll be a new Vaelis when Lafleur needs her most."
Asha squinted slightly. "Like with Jasmin and Aunt Nyx?" I nodded. "Well in any case, I'm glad she's my friend. Never had to worry about anything with her around."
"Why wouldn't she be your friend? You saved her, just like you did for everyone, sweet girl."
The wedding was being held at Thornleaf Manor. The whole of Blue Stone was invited, even if they barely fit in the foyer and dining hall combined. Worse, we also invited all of Powell's Square. But it was worth it to have all our loved ones there.
Standing at the front of the room, Aster was going to serve as officiant. Aidan had grown into a proper gentleman and the best bookseller in all Lafleur. Davian was standing as his honoured man. Across from them were an empty spot for Asha to stand in her silver and scarlet dress, and her oldest friend in more ways than one.
As she took her place, Asha smiled. "Thank you for waiting everyone." She turned to her friend. "Do you have the wedding gift, Aya?"