I smile in response, shaking my head. “Nothing.”
Alanna rolls her eyes and closes the door behind her, “will we come back to change before the Palisades?”
“That’s your decision,” I shrug, leading her to my room, “the weather isn’t cool enough to need a change, but we can get out of our dresses before heading up if you’d like.”
“I’ll be fine,” she replies as I push on my door.
Alanna walks into my room without any hesitation, pausing only to take in the small reading room with a single glance. She then walks through the arch and into my bedroom without ask, her eyes darting to the green of my bed and the Knowledge symbol painted in gold on the wall above. Her glance moves to the balcony, to where Golem stands greeting her in the shadows with a nod. She returns the gesture with a small bow and then turns her gaze to Stormfall, the Bird of Ash waiting patiently for the two of us as he sits on the ledge.
“This is you,” she turns back to me, eyes narrowed and conflicted as she looks around the room, “but it’s also not, Alexis.”
“I know,” I nod in agreement, tilting my head so that she follows me into the reading room. I move to the mantle above the small fire and pour two glasses of whiskey.
“I’ve spoken to Prince Keane,” I turn and extend her a glass, “but I want you to know that the decision to talk to you right now is and has always been my desire, not his.”
“You’re about to tell me everything, aren’t you?” she narrows her eyes knowingly.
“Yes,” I nod slowly.
Alanna tips her drink, clanking it against mine before finishing it whole. I do the same and let her take my empty glass with hers, refilling for the both of us before settling into one of the chairs by the fire.
“I want to begin at the beginning…” I sigh and sit down with her.
Alanna leans forward as I tell her everything from the past two years and my travels for the King. I tell her how I thought nothing of them at first besides simple employment, and how the King gifted me Golem before we left Bardot. I recount my time in Gaumond and my experience with the Court and city there, how everything I thought I knew about Discerni and human relations started to unravel around me the moment I stepped foot in the Black Capitol. I watch as she smirks at my realization but doesn’t say a word, then continue to tell her of our path through Fumagalli and the Bulwark Plains. I tell her of my time spent in the Red Falls library with the help of Golem and Morose, feeling my body tense up when I speak of the thirty-second height. I tell her everything surrounding the birth of Stormfall and how I finally found out why the King has been sending me out on my travels…
“Have you ever heard of a Kingdoms Council, Alanna?”
“Loosely,” she shrugs, nearly done with her second drink.
“I had never heard of the term until we reached Red Falls, but what I came to find out, whatwecame to find out, the Princes and I, was that everything that had taken place over the past two years was born out of an agreement between the leaders of the Four Kingdoms.”
I then go on to tell her about the Council and King Zander’s request. Of the votes between the leaders and the terms that were set out, all but one…
“But how do Holis and Mana come into all this?” she asks.
“They are followers of one of the Ancient Ten, the Ancient Hirovale,” I tell her quietly, “Stormfall is Hirovale’s right hand and Bird of Ash.”
“Ancients,” her eyes widen.
“I know,” I nod, grimacing myself, “but there’s more…”
“The words that I found in the book,” I peer into my new friend’s grey eyes as she leans forward again, “they were a prophecy, Alanna. A prophecy about the Old World and me.”
“Tell me,” she demands.
I tell her the exact words of the text and watch as a slow, sly grin starts to form on her face. She’s excited about the words from the book and ready to hear them, far more ready than I ever was.
“Have you experienced anything? Any connection to the mystics?” she inquires.
“Small things,” I nod and take a sip of whiskey, “mostly I’ve been seeing the magic within people and feeling it. The Pyrenese have fire and flames under their skin that move. It’s absolutely breathtaking. And the Leviathans… their hair isn’t actually hair. The braids that rest on the backs of the two Princes are snakes.”
“Snakes?” she scoffs.
“Snakes,” I affirm, “Prince Isham introduced me to one last night. The experience was not…” I shake my head, not having the proper words.
“They are not good people, Alexis,” she says coldly.
“No, they are not,” I reply solemnly, “but unfortunately my travels will eventually take me into Livyatan. There is a second portion of the prophecy that we just learned about today. I will need to search for the text in their lands.”
