Vi crossed to the table, sitting heavily. She tilted her head back, eyes wandering the maps lazily. They landed on the blueprint her brother had sent her of the rose garden.
“How about you, Father?” she asked the parchment. “Did you ever see the future?”
How nice it would be if she could actually ask her parents. It was a fantasy Vi pushed away as she shifted back toward the desk.
Her hand moved slowly, reaching for a quill and parchment. Every move was drawn out, intentional, no unnecessary energy expended so no magic would spark from her fingers again. A blank sheet in front of her, Vi drew the first line of ink across its surface.
She’d intended to write down her vision. But her hand seemed to move of its own accord, darting across the page while her mind lingered on nothing.
Swirling circles, connected by symbols Vi didn’t understand. Dots, lines, smaller circles, they all wrapped together. As Vi drew, the sensation of rightness swelled in her, just as it had in her vision.
Why did something that seemed like it made so much sense also terrify her in equal measure?
Her quill stopped, and Vi looked down at the drawing. It was the same symbol she’d seen hovering over the watch around her neck, drawn with what Vi was certain was uncanny precision. Her heart began to race, staring at it. If she looked at it long enough then she may just—
The door opened behind her and Vi jumped, startled.
The paper in her hand incinerated in a brightpopof fire. The room filled with the scent of smoke and ash covered her fingertips yet again. She stared at the servant from earlier who stared back with equally wide eyes and an unsettling skepticism Vi had never seen before.
“Forgive my interruption.” She gave a small bow, saying nothing of the magic she’d witnessed. “A courier has arrived.”
“Jayme,” Vi breathed in relief. Perhaps this birthday wouldn’t be a complete waste. “Thank you, please excuse me.” She pushed past the woman, starting out the door, only to be stopped again by a man who was heading into her classroom.
“Princess, where do you think you’re going?” Martis questioned.
“Jayme has arrived.”
“And you still have your lesson as normal, even when your courier arrives,” he said hastily, trying to stop her with words alone. “You’re about to have three days off, now is not the time to be skipping.”
“We’re about to get a whole fresh batch of news from Jayme’s delivery to debate during our lessons. Don’t you think it’s worth postponing things a little?” Vi braced herself for another rejection. But it seemed Martis would be softer on her than Jax had been.
“Very well, go on.” He shook his head and started into her study. “But hurry back. I expect at least a half lesson from you, princess. You’re not to get out of this entirely.”
“Understood,” Vi called over her shoulder and was off before he even had time to set down his folio on one of the two desks they used in her classroom.
Out the main door was a serpentine walkway, wrapping around the tree, tunneling back into the trunk as it spiraled down. Two different rope bridges connected across to other structures, and walkways that were really massive limbs with railings or twisting stone bridges. High above her, the buildings stretched into the leafy embrace of the most ancient trees in the world. Far below her, the buildings grew up from the ground to make a living fortress that looked like more of a magical treehouse than the strict definitions of castles and fortresses she’d seen in the architectural books she’d studied.
The rope bridge leading away from her room creaked loudly, swaying under her feet as she darted across it. From the platform on the far side, Vi could get a much better look of the main entry of the fortress. Sure enough, if she squinted, she could make out golden embellishments glinting off the standard saddle for an Imperial courier. Two people stood by the mount; one had dark hair like Vi’s, the other brown—like her mother’s.
But unusually, there was a second mount, and a man with bright blond hair.
Vi gripped the railing beside her so tightly the rough edges of the weather-worn rope splintered into her palms. She leaned over, bending at the waist, trying to get a better look without falling.
She couldn’t breathe.
From here, the man looked like he could be… might be…was it Romulin?Her heart nearly exploded from her chest with hope.
“Ellene!” Vi called upward. She took the curving steps that wound around the large tree trunk two, even three at a time, her long legs making quick work of the stairs. “Ellene! Jayme’s here and someone’s with her!”
“Princess.” A green-eyed maid gave a small nod, her hands laden with fresh linens. “The chieftain’s daughter has gone down to the stables.”
“Of course she has,” Vi muttered. Ellene and Vi had an unspoken race for who would be the first to greet their friend, and she was currently in second place. “Thank you!” she called as she began running back down the stairs.
Vi spiraled down, in and out of hollowed tree trunks that held the living quarters of the fortress of Soricium. She dashed across bridges of rope and stone, through sitting areas, gaming parlors, libraries, and more. She knew every shortcut, every back-door that led to a tree-limb that ran parallel with another where nimble, confident feet could jump.
In mere minutes, she was breathlessly emerging into the sunlight on the ground below, catching deep inhales of the dust cloud that perpetually lingered in the stretch of dirt that ran the length of the stables. At her left were smaller stables where horses were kept. At her right was a massive pen that contained five large noru cats, lounging about. Vi ignored both feline and equine alike, focusing on the small group collected around the courier she’d seen from above.
“Jayme!” Vi called over as she quickly approached.
