“No, it’s fine.” Aloisia glanced to the building on the right of the square, and not for the first time.
“What’s wrong?” Tristan linked an arm with hers, leading her to the Lower Temple Gardens.
Waiting until they were out of earshot of any priests, Aloisia leant closer to him. “Mother Lusana called upon me whilst I was waiting.”
Tristan’s eyes widened. “What?”
“She had Mikkel bring me to her.”
“What for?”
“Checking on us, I think. She knows we’re searching for answers, I’m sure of it. And she doesn’t want any surprises. She asked for anything we find, or wish to be brought forth at a future trial, to be taken to them first.”
“I suppose that’s reasonable.”
“Is it? Or is it a way to control what the townsfolk know, to influence the trial in their view. Just because we bring something to them doesn’t mean it will be said at the trial. They held our own testimonies back. They did not even mention us.”
“Lis…”
“She was threatening me, Tristan. Alone, so there were no witnesses. ‘I will not be undermined by you again.’ That’s what she said to me.” She puffed out a sigh. “The damn shaman was right.”
“Right about what?” Tristan paused, plucking a few blackberries from a nearby bush and passing some to her.
Aloisia rolled her eyes. “I told Kaja about him, so of course she wanted to head into the Dead Woods—”
“You went back?
“Yes. We took him some food, and I asked more questions.”
“Did you not think that might be, I don’t know, dangerous?” Tristan raised a brow at her. “He held a knife to my throat.”
“You were more than happy to help him last night. You were the one who wanted to make the deal with him, not me.” She folded her arms across her chest. “You were the one who invoked our pact.”
“Perhaps. However, I’m not the one who ran back into the Divines-forsaken forest. And you were the one who went in there to begin with.”
Aloisia pinched her nose. “Not the point. We could argue around this all day, but none of this is helping Fynn.”
“And running back to the shaman is?”
“Yes, actually.”
Tristan blinked in surprise. “He told you more?”
“He did. I had more questions after last night, and I figured since Kaja wanted to see him for herself, I might as well get something out of it.”
“Of course.” Tristan breathed a laugh. “Anything of use?” He perched on one of the many stone benches, munching on the berries.
Aloisia took to pacing. “Not exactly. Magic is a skill – learnable by anyone. Which doesn’t narrow it down. He said books on such things may have been destroyed or secured somewhere. Which makes sense. Magic isn’t something well known here, not anymore. That would limit access to such information, which narrows down the search. But how do we know who would have access?”
“There wasn’t much in our library, so I imagine it is the case. What information may be available certainly isn’t publicly accessible.”
Aloisia sank down on the bench beside him. “No luck then?”
“A few texts confirmed the folk lore Inari spoke of, though there is definitely more on the wisps than the Forgotten Gods.”
“What did it say?”
“The same as him. Wisps are benevolent spirits, and the Forgotten Gods are viewed as their equivalent – one light, one dark. Any mention of the Forgotten Gods was in relation to them and basically reiterated what he said about balance and such. Nothing new, unfortunately.”
