The final aspect were the Larks of Light. These were men and women who had pledged themselves to Yargen. But where the Swords where the militaristic strong-arm of the Faithful, the Larks were the teachers, theorists, theologians, scholars, and preachers.
They were quiet, calm, and kind.
Three things Vi hadn’t experienced in a long time.
“This way, young one.” The elderly man’s demeanor reminded her instantly of King Noct. “Let’s take you to a bathing chamber.”
“What’s your name?” Vi asked. She rubbed her wrists, gently inspecting the clotted blood and torn flesh left behind from the irons.
“They call me Kindred Allan.” He spoke without turning. Likely because every movement seemed stiff and painful for him. “And your name, young one?”
“Vi Solaris.”
“Not the same Vi Solaris as the Crown Princess of the Solaris Empire?”
“You know of it?” Vi asked cautiously.
“It is the Lark’s job to know of it,” he said thoughtfully. “We record all Yargen’s light touches, and even the places where it cannot, to keep record of all her designs and the ways mortalkind seeks to change them.”
It was a pleasant surprise not to have someone immediately telling her how terrible her home was. Allan seemed emotionally detached, but genuinely interested. Vi counted it a victory.
Allan lead her down a spiral stair in a different building from the one Ulvarth had occupied. It was the northernmost point of the triangular buildings surrounding and connected to the Archives. Every flight of stairs opened to either a long hall or a warm room. There were crackling fires, and men and women working quietly at desks or talking, while sinking further into plush cushions wrapped in warm-hued fabrics.
“This way, your highness.”
“Just Vi is fine.”
“Is it not your custom to always use some kind of honorific or title in Solaris for royalty and nobility?”
“Usually, yes… But we’re not in Solaris. And it’s not common for those who are close to royalty.” Besides, Vi had enough of being the crown princess for one day. She’d invoked her royal persona for Ulvarth and her walk through the city. Now, she felt too tired to deal with it.
“Are we close?” he asked.
“That depends on your actions, I suppose.”
“Spoken like a true princess.” He gave her a weathered smile as he opened a door, allowing steam to billow out. The room was tiled from floor to ceiling. A faucet continually poured hot water into a large copper tub, the overflow draining underneath the vessel. There was a small wooden stool with a soap bar and a few other scouring agents in jars.
Another shelf at her left had a variety of brushes, combs, razors, and other barbering tools. Over which was a mirror.A mirror. Vi hadn’t seen herself in a mirror since the small one in the bathroom of the Twilight Kingdom.
She stalled before it, slowly bringing a hand to her cheek.
“I shall leave you to soak. Please enjoy at your leisure. While you are soaking, do pull the screen before the door. I shall send one of our female Larks to come with clothing for you and she will drape it over for your convenience and modesty.”
“Thank you,” Vi murmured, too distracted by her reflection to say more than that.
The woman she saw didn’t reflect the woman Vi thought she knew. Her fingers trailed over cheekbones that were sharper than she recalled. As sharp as her father’s—she could recognize now that she had seen him again so recently. The harsh sun of the seas had further darkened her skin, as Vi suspected from her arms, but her hair was still as black as midnight and as fine as spider’s silk.
She slowly undid the braids she and her father had coiffed for their arrival to Risen. Vi turned her head this way and that, looking at how it fell just beyond her shoulders. There wasn’t the slightest bit of wild body to it, not even with the kink of braids—nothing like her mother’s and brother’s.
She was, indeed, her father’s daughter.
Stripping, Vi balled and burned her clothes. Once more, she incinerated everything of her last incarnation in life. What version of Vi would walk the Archives of Yargen when she emerged from the tub?
Pulling the screen mostly shut, Vi sank into the water, spilling it over all sides. It completely engulfed her and for a few moments she let the warmth soak off the filth that covered her. With the constantly running tap, the water was perpetually hot and the grime flowed over and away as she began to scrub.
Vi had just started rubbing her legs raw when the door opened.
“Princess?”
