(Interlude) Ysolde

It was my sixteenth birthday.

Today was my little sister Jenna's birthday too. We were both born on the same day, just six years apart. There had been a brother between us once, but he passed young, taken by disease before either of us could remember him properly.

"Ysolde, come on, let's go play! You have to find me in the forest today, and I'm going to hide!" Jenna jumped on top of me and shook me awake, her weight pressing me into the mattress.

"Happy birthday, Jenna. Did you forget your own birthday?" I blinked up at her through sleepy eyes.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I forgot." She paused and slid off me, sitting at my side with her legs crossed. "And happy birthday to you too."

"And today we're not going to play. There's too much work." I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. "I have to help Mother. She's cooking for your friends too."

"No, you're coming. I told you my friends aren't coming today." She grabbed my hand and tugged.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not coming."

"Okay." She got up and left the room.

The door clicked shut behind her, and I sat there in the quiet.

It had happened many times now. I had stopped being shocked by it.

She had been listening to what I said. She wasn't throwing a tantrum. Before, she would have screamed the whole house down if I refused her. She would have pulled at my sleeves and stomped her feet until I gave in just to make the noise stop.

But lately, this didn't happen anymore. I only had to tell her once to stop, and she stopped.

I had thought about this so much. It had to be vowcraft. But I couldn't be a simple user. Simple users had to petition the Chorus. They had to ask, and the Chorus only sometimes listened. I had never petitioned. Not once. Which meant only one thing remained.

I was a Fatebinder.

I had been observing this for the past year. Watching the way people around me agreed to things they meant to refuse. The way my words landed with a weight they shouldn't carry. The way Jenna, my own sister, couldn't argue with me even when she wanted to.

And today, on my sixteenth birthday, I had decided to tell my family.

"Mom, Dad... I think I'm a Fatebinder."

Both of them were shocked. Their eyes widened, and the breakfast on the table between us suddenly seemed very far away. My mother spoke first. "What are you saying?"

"I'm telling the truth. I've observed it." I paused, gathering myself. "Just look at Jenna. She used to throw tantrums over everything. Now she listens the moment I tell her to stop."

"That's because she's growing up. She's not a child anymore."

I didn't have any response for that. It was true too. Jenna was growing up. But I knew what I had seen. It wasn't natural.

"I'll ask the elders. They'll determine if there's something to this. Until then, don't tell anyone." My father was the one who understood what to do. He had always been the steady one, the one who found a path forward.

Our town of Aldervale had produced only one Fatebinder before me. And he had been taken by the Crown. His parents were so proud. Their lives changed overnight. Their son, serving the kingdom. But he never came back to visit them, which I didn't understand at the time. I worried about it, but I made myself believe it was because he had a lot of work. That he was busy doing important things for the realm.

The people of our town never knew about the toll. Including me.

Five days passed since I had told them. And today, the Crown was coming to pick me up.

The whole town was happy and proud. My family was proud. Even I was happy. But deep down, I had an uneasy feeling. I didn't know what it was. It could have been the thought of leaving home, of being far from everything I knew. Or it could have been something else entirely.

Jenna came from behind me and hugged me. "I'm so happy. My sister is going to be a Fatebinder. She's going to work for the kingdom." She paused, and I could hear the pride in her voice. "Now I can feel proud in front of my friends."

I took her hands and pulled her around in front of me, wrapping her in my arms. The feeling of unease faded, replaced by something warmer. "Yes, you can feel proud. But don't look down on them."

"Yeah, I won't. I still have to play with them in the future. I can't afford to make them leave me."

We both laughed. And then the laughter turned to silence, and the silence stretched between us like the road ahead. Until I spoke.

"Jenna, aren't you sad that I'm leaving? We don't know when we'll see each other again?"

She looked me in the eye. "So what? You'll earn money, and we'll all move to the capital. Mom, Dad, everyone. I've heard the capital is so beautiful."

"Then what about your friends?"

She paused for a while, clearly thinking. "Then we'll bring them with us too."

"Okay, okay." I smiled, but I could clearly see the sadness in her eyes. She was trying to be brave for me. "When I come back, do you want me to bring you something?"

"I don't want anything." She paused.

"I want you to be a hero. That's the only thing I want. I want you to save the world."

That was the line that stuck with me. That was the line that kept me going, even after everything.

The carriages came, and I left for the capital, leaving behind the town and everything I had ever known. Some tears fell down my eyes as the familiar houses faded into the distance.

The official sitting across from me leaned forward and extended his hand. "Myself Richard Ashgrave. I've been assigned as your handler."

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand. "I'm Ysolde Vane."

He was a good man. He consoled me, assured me that I would be fine, that the capital was a place of opportunity. And I believed him.

I was taken to the capital.

It was my first time going to the capital. And it was just as Jenna had told me. Beautiful. The buildings rose high, their windows gleaming in the sun. Fountains threw water into the air, and the whole city seemed to shine. But behind the beauty, behind the grand buildings and the cheerful crowds, there was something at its center. Something everyone seemed to overlook.

My registration went smoothly. I was happy. I received money, and I sent it back home along with some gifts for Jenna. A new ribbon for her hair. A small book with pictures of the capital. I imagined her face when she opened them, and the thought made the distance feel smaller.

But one day, everything changed.

I saw Reinar. The other Fatebinder from Aldervale.

I didn't recognize him at first. He was being led through a corridor, his steps slow and shuffling. But when I looked closer, I knew it was him. His hair had turned white. His face had cracks running through it. His eyes were white, empty, with nothing in them.

I remembered his eyes being blue. Deep, like the ocean. But now they were gone.

I rushed toward him, but Richard pulled me back. His hand closed around my arm, firm and urgent.

"Someone you know?"

"Yes. He's from my town. I know him. Let me go."

Richard's grip tightened. "If you know him, then don't go. Please."

I saw the softness in his eyes, and it made me stop. There was something there beyond the words. Something he wasn't telling me.

"What happened to him?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words didn't come out. He stared at me for a long moment, and then his voice came out quieter than before. "Don't concern yourself with him. Go to your room."

The words were harsh, but I could see it in his eyes. The sympathy. The weight of something he carried and couldn't put down.

I walked back to my room, but Reinar's face stayed with me. Those white eyes. The way he moved like a man who had already gone somewhere else.

That night, I stayed in the library, looking for answers.

And I found them.

I learned about the toll. How my power would always take something from me in return. That the Chorus did not give freely. And I finally understood why Reinar never came back to visit.

I thought of leaving. Of going back home. Of running from this place before it could do to me what it had done to him. But then the faces of the townspeople came to mind. My family. Jenna. The money I was already sending back, the gifts, the promise of something better. These things stopped me from going back.

That night, I didn't sleep.

I only thought about the toll. The higher the thing you asked for, the higher the toll you paid. And so I made a decision. I would only take small jobs. Small vows. Small tolls. I would be careful. I would survive.

But fate had different plans.

Around ten months later, the droughts hit the northern parts of the kingdom.

The whole region north of the capital went dry. No rain. No crops. The rivers shrank to dust, and the fields cracked under the sun. People were starving. My people. My town.

I was the most intact Wholevoice in the whole kingdom. And the Vow-Marshal came to me. His name was Gerson, and he sat across from me with the weight of the Crown behind him.

"Ysolde Vane. You have to make the vow for the droughts. It's for the kingdom. Your own town is suffering. It's in the northern regions."

"I'm sorry. But I will not do it."

I refused the Crown. For as long as I could, I refused. But they reached my town. They reached my family.

I had never told my family about the toll. I had never told them what this power would cost. I didn't want them to worry about me.

The letters started coming. Asking what had happened. Why I wasn't helping the Crown. Why I wasn't doing my duty. I held my response. I held it until my hands shook reading the words. I received letters from my family, and I tried to hold my response. But then I received the letter from Jenna.

It was in her handwriting. It was hard to make out what was written, the letters shaky and uneven. But I had gotten used to it over the years. I could read her words like my own heartbeat.

She said it was my time to be a hero. To be the Fatebinder who ended the droughts that were plaguing the whole kingdom. She said she believed in me. That I was going to save the world.

And I gave in.

I was taken to the northern regions. Only Richard was sent with me. He didn't speak the whole way, but his eyes were heavy with something I now understood.

And then, standing at the edge of the dry fields, with the cracked earth stretching out before me and the sky empty of clouds, I spoke the Vow.

"Let the rains return to this land. Let the rivers run and the fields grow green again. Let no one in this kingdom know dry lands again."

After the Vow, I was unconscious for five days.

When I woke up, I was in a bed. The sheets were rough against my skin. I opened my eyes. But I wasn't able to see anything. There was only darkness.

I panicked. My hands flew to my face, touching my eyes. There was nothing there. I had lost them. The toll had taken them. I felt my hands, my fingers tracing over my own skin, and I could feel the cracks running through them. Fine lines, like the surface of a person had begun to split.

Then I heard a sound.

"You're awake."

Footsteps came running toward me. I recognized the voice. It was Richard. He hugged me, his arms wrapping around me with a desperation I hadn't expected.

"I thought you would never wake up."

I held onto him for a long moment, trying to steady myself. Then he told me everything. About my hair. How it had turned white. All of it. He said he had been taking care of me all these days. But I remembered him saying his wife was pregnant. That he was going to become a father.

"What are you doing here? You should be with your wife."

"Don't worry about that." His voice was firm, but I could hear the strain beneath it. "She's safe. She's with family."

He told me the rest. The Crown was being questioned by other nations about the droughts. How they had ended so suddenly. They couldn't afford me being found. A weapon they had destroyed. So they erased all my records. Every last trace of my existence.

I was no longer Ysolde Vane. I was nothing.

We lived in a small hut for some days after that. It was peaceful, in a way. Richard brought food and water. He talked to me about simple things. The birds outside the window. His wife, when I asked. The baby that was coming. He was trying to keep me alive.

Until we were found.

The Crown sent assassins to kill us. I couldn't see them, but I could hear them. The sound of boots on the dirt. The drawing of blades. Richard shouting for me to run. That he would follow.

I ran.

I ran into the dark, my hands stretched out in front of me, my bare feet catching on roots and stones. I ran until my lungs burned and my legs gave way. And then I waited.

But he never followed.

For many days, I wandered through the forest. I fed myself with fruits I found on the ground, berries I could identify by touch. My hands learned the shape of tree bark, the texture of leaves, the difference between safe and poisonous by feel alone.

Then one day, I heard voices. Children playing in the distance. I moved toward them carefully, my hands stretched out before me. As I got closer, I could make out some of the voices. They were Jenna's friends. And then I heard it. Jenna's voice.

I ran toward it, colliding with trees, stumbling over roots, but I kept going. "Jenna! Jenna!"

All of the voices went silent.

I approached them, breathing hard, my hands reaching out. "Is Jenna here?"

Jenna's voice answered, small and uncertain. "Yes."

I ran to her, kneeling beside her. My hands found her face, feeling her ears, her nose, her cheeks. It was her. It was my sister. "I missed you."

Then I heard the words I wasn't ready to hear.

"Who are you?"

I froze. "Why are you joking? It's me. Ysolde."

"Who's Ysolde?"

"What? It's me. Your older sister."

"What are you talking about? I'm the only child of my parents. How can you be my older sister?"

Two of the boys playing with her pushed me aside. "Go away. She doesn't know you." They all turned to leave, their footsteps retreating. "Let's go back, Jenna."

I sat there on the ground, listening to them walk away. The laughter started again after a while, as if I had never been there at all.

I wanted to cry. But I held it in. There were no tears left.

The toll had taken my sister's memory of me. I understood now. The price was never just your body. It was everything. Everyone. Every last thread that tied you to the world.

I traveled across the whole kingdom after that. I begged, I searched, I refused to give up. That's when I found my eyes.

I found two orphans who had lost their parents in the border war with the Kingdom of Virelle to the west. It was Tessa and her brother. The boy had blue eyes just like tessa. And I took his eyes.

I didn't ask. I didn't hesitate. I took what I needed to see again, and I began my journey to find the truth. To stop any other Fatebinder from ending up like me.

I traveled to the southern continent. And I found the truth in the Glautis Kingdom.

And I made up my mind.

No matter what happens. No matter what I have to do. I was going to stop it.