Final Night Under the Stars

Messages went back and forth over the next several days over Dora’s summons stone.

The Lord-Prince Vallois had agreed to Hazel’s condition. Everything after that was details and assuaging egos. Hazel found the limitations of the stone frustrating. A single message back and forth a day? She’d seen courier messages in Westeron, both slips of folded and birds carrying scrolls flying above the streets. Dozens in a day!

Add in the seeming limitations on how long the messages could be, and Hazel found herself thinking too much on what each message had said and was going to say.

That cycle of messaging and waiting finally came to a close when a slip of paper flittered into Balerifon’s keep. It had been folded into the shape of a bid and resuming its natural shape in Hazel’s hands.

We will arrive tomorrow, the message said. No further messages will come from your summons stone.

That relief from the messaging back and forth was replaced with a more general dread. Two days. This all came to a head in one more day.

Everyone’s reaction to the news varied. Robert was openly relieved and had grown tired of waiting around. Dora rolled her eyes and said something to the effect of ‘let’s get this over with’. Balerifon’s eyebrows quivered but otherwise he did not betray a single emotion.

Lavender was the only one who shared Hazel’s anxiety. If anything, she was far more so.

It took Hazel half the day to get Lavender to admit to why. Her sister had clammed up about it at breakfast. Lavender tried to get around to teaching Robert more, only to find Balerifon had assumed that responsibility for the day. Which meant Lavender was out of excuses when Hazel cornered her at last in her old bedroom.

Lavender opened and closed her mouth over and over as she hugged her legs to her chest. Hazel had learned to give her sister time to get these things out. But she’d put up an arcane denial spell on the window to make sure Lavender didn’t try to jump out and duck her again.

Something she was thankful for when Lavender went face first into the spell and collapsed back onto the bed.

“Lavender, it’s me.” Hazel sat back down on the dresser’s top. “You were chattering a mile a minute when we were in Westeron. Now I can’t get two words out of you. What’s wrong?”

“…I didn’t think our adventure would go like this.” Lavender looked around at the piles of books lying around and sighed. “I thought we’d do quests with the Adventurers’ Guild and we’d start bringing people together.”

Hazel’s legs dangled off the dresser. “Did you think it’d be easy? Reuniting the Empire?”

“Not easy! It’s more I couldn’t imagine all these obstacles in the way.” Lavender scowled. “Every hero faces setbacks. But they always were fighting for the right thing.” She looked to her sister and asked, “What if you’re right? What if the Unspeakable Truth is something really bad, like you said?” Lavender scowled. “What if we were adventuring for the wrong reason?

It was strange being on the other side of this conversation. Hazel remembered Lavender being the one gung-ho to reunite the Dezerin Empire. Now it was her motivation that was flagging.

“I can’t tell you what the right reason is,” Hazel acknowledged. “But you were the one who wanted to be a hero. You were the one who talked about not giving them a day’s peace if they wouldn’t let us live. You’re the only one who can tell us why you’re doing it.” She slid off the dresser and joined Lavender on the bed, putting an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.

Lavender squeaked at the contact. How touch-starved had she been?

“Whatever you decide, I’m with you. To the end.”

Hazel felt her sister’s head rest gently into her arm.

----

That night, everyone elected to have a small campfire outside. In the area outside the entrance to Balerifon’s lair, everyone contributed to building the perfect fire. Balerifon summoned firewood with a nature yearning spell before setting it ablaze. Robert brought Dora and Hazel game and vegetables to cook over the roaring fire. Lavender put up a little wind desire to ensure a cool and pleasant breeze washed over them and took the smoke away in a favorable direction.

There wasn’t a cloud, letting Lavender stare at the stars and the moon in the night sky. She never got tired of seeing them like this. Free for all to see, free from the smoke of a volcano or the roof of a building. Something Balerifon was loath to let her see while she was under his care.

The taste of freshly cooked skewers roasting over the fire weren’t enough to take Lavender’s mind off of what was coming.

She rose from her place around the fire and walked towards the edge of the cliffside they were on. Off in the distance she could see a small fire by the road. The one she’d ridden down on that magic horse the day she finally escaped this forsaken place.

The future seemed bright and endless. Now? Now she was unsure what lingered beyond tomorrow.

“You doin’ ok?” Robert had wandered over to Lavender. He offered her a slice of bread that Balerifon had baked the other day. “Yer actin’ like a cow that knows it is ‘bout to be put to slaughter.”

It was a good way to put things. “I’m worried about how tomorrow’s going to go. I know Hazel says she’s gotten his word not to hurt us.” She took the offered bread and chomped out a big bite. “I don’t trust it.”

Robert tapped a foot over and over as he mulled what Lavender said. “Yer gut’s been pretty on the ball. But there’s nothin’ you can do now ‘bout it. ‘Sides, I’ve seen you rebuild a village in the blink of an eye. Even if they did try somethin’ I know you’d kick them to kingdom come.”

Lavender blushed.

“Now come on.” Robert bumped into her with his shoulder. “We got a nice stew cookin’ over the fire.”

“I’ll join you in a minute.” Lavender heard him trudge back to the others. Her eyes remained on that small fire.

He was there. The Lord-Prince Vallois. One of the men, perhaps the man, who’d led the revolution against her father.

She took a halting breath and finally turned around to go back. For better or worse, tomorrow would change everything.