“One person cannot replace the workload of thousands,” Aegir cut in, offering his brother a death-stare. “The new pumps can be built in Sijar; we can create new waterways.”
“You didn’t answer Amani’s question,” Leannon kindly pointed out.
“That’s because I cannot say.”
“So what, we’re supposed to just blindly believe and trust you? All the while you clearly have no interest in doing so yourself,” Leannon countered.
“I cannot tell you without revealing the source of our powers.” My mother had told me that only a few people knew its source and that I should never tell anyone about it.
Amani did say that this meeting would entail life-altering decisions. My brows knitted and my head turned right. Aegir lifted his arms. Amani scoffed.
“How. Rude. Setting a sound barrier right in our faces. Wh—” Aegir pointed his palm towards his sister and her lips moved voicelessly. He grabbed the seat of my chair and pulled me closer to him.
“I cannot make this decision for you. But what I can tell you is that everyone in this room is here for your people. If there is a way that their powers can be restored, we’ll do whatever it takes to see it done.”
I nodded, shifting my gaze from Aegir to Semuel to Marshen.
Amani tore through Aegir’s sound barrier. I spoke over her complaints. “During these past months, I’ve come to realise that keeping secrets is not always the best decision.” Marshen’s lips pursed, whereas Aegir’s lifted. “I trust that all of you will keep this confidential and use this information for the sole advantage of my suffering people.”
They all nodded in agreement.
Then I looked towards the one person I trusted the least and said, “Swear it.”
“Oh, just me, or does everyone have to do it?”
“Swear it.”
The king gave me a grand eye roll and gestured his arms forward before replying, “I swear it. How’s that sound to you?” I only replied with a small nod.
“There was a reason why Naar entered through Crystal Bay—shrouded, might I point out. They did so because they wanted to destroy Thalassa’s stone temple first. The temple is the place where we worship her, yes, but it is also where the moonstone sits, or rather sat. I carry a tiny fragment of the stone with me. I believe it is the source of my powers.”
“And Naar stole the moonstone? Or did they destroy it, you said?” Leannon asked. “Will they ever get their powers back?”
“No one knows what they did exactly, other than the thousands who died trying to protect it. But just so you know, the stone is wider than the table before us and twice as high. Stealing it seems impossible, but with the Naaris, one cannot say. They seem to have a solution for everything.”
Marshen added, “The temple still stands, but it felt empty. Surely it lacked power.”
I nodded at Marshen and continued, “We believe they had or perhaps still have a masked ally, some external help that either veils them or provides them with intel, likely both.”
“We suspect that already,” Ryvar said. “I still think it’s Rih.”
“Stop living in the past, will you. Why would Rih attack Ilma?” Eldric asked.
“Well, the people of Ilma are Hydrans, just as the Silchans are. And it disrupted the chain of our symbiosis, didn’t it? Everyone suffers from just destroying Ilma,” Ryvar added.
“I do not think they allied with Rih.” All heads looked my way. “I think that their allies are witches from Brimholden. And Naar didn’tjustattack Ilma. They attacked Ramel, too. Before, I think.” Everyone’s brows did some sort of movement. Amani’s and her brothers’ furrowed; Semuel’s reached his forehead.
Ryvar gestured ago onwith his right palm.
“I believe that they are the reason why there hasn’t been a single record of a newly blessed Sand Wielder in over fifteen years.”
“How?” the king demanded.
My gaze shifted towards Semuel. “Answering comes with potentially revealing the source of Amfir’s blessings.”
“Don’t hold back. If there’s even the slightest possibility of fixing it.”
“Well, I’m not entirely sure about the specifics, but Marshen and I…we went through the Unnar Caves and—”
