Chapter 13
Full Family
Ren's sudden stop drew more eyes from the crowd, to which Silas, whose expression Ren could no longer read and no longer cared to, shouted to control them. "Alright, Sparrows, get back to your stations. Our friend Venture here seems to be uneducated in politics. Evelyn will take care of that." He raised his hands above his head, flicking his wrists to emphasize his point. "Now get out of here. All of you!"
With the organization Ren had only seen in local militia, the 'Sparrows' scattered, dashing to other wagons and groups of travelers about the caravan. Leaving them with a suffering glance, Silas shook his head, "Have fun, Evie."
She shot him a glare that could whither weeds, and Silas grinned, giving a halfhearted salute before trotting back up to Leonidas' wagon. Blinking, Ren stared in that direction for a moment. 'No, it's probably his wagon…'
Sighing, Ren looked back at the ground, motionless.
Unfortunately for him, that meant Evelyn stopped, too. "Look… Venture." She looked back at the caravan, "Your sister had reached out to us after our year at the academy… I'd assumed you knew."
"Knew?" Ren mumbled, "Knew?" He looked back at the caravan, waited for them to move beyond them, standing silent for several minutes. Looking down at his hand, he closed his fist. "No. I didn't."
Evelyn reached out to touch his shoulder, attempting comfort, to which Ren stepped back. "Don't."
For a moment, just a split second, Evelyn hesitated, then shook her head. "She meant a lot to you?"
"She was my sister." Ren muttered, a harsh whisper that he knew would be drowned out by the horses. "What if Silas never told you he was just going to stay in the Grand City and just disappeared?"
There was a flicker of something in Evelyn's eyes, and she nodded. "I understand, Ren, I do, but I had figured you two were close enough that–"
"It's always what the papers say, isn't it? That we were a gift from the Divine? The twin prodigies!" He scoffed, turning away. "Erin was the only real prodigy. Everything came easily to her. I had to work hard. Strict schedules and long nights of study…"
"She said in her letters that she could never live up to you, you know." Evelyn sighed, bringing a hand to her cheek. "She was convinced that manifesting the Scales was a bad thing, because you were the only one who really wanted the position of Supreme Arbiter."
Scoffing again, Ren brought his hand to his face, his fingers splaying on the mask. "I never wanted anything, Evelyn. Nothing but what was right. Nothing but to be something worthy of my father."
Silence fell between them, and Evelyn sighed. "There's still time for you to do that."
Ren blinked, and Evelyn nodded slowly, then turned, walking silently to catch up with the Caravan. But… Roses and Ink why did that have to make some sort of twisted sense? He turned around, looked at the distant speck of the Grand City on the eastern horizon as the sun rose above them, and closed his eyes. 'I'll be back. I'll be back, and I'll clear my name. One way or another.'
After a moment, he turned away, trudging back toward the caravan. To his surprise, Evelyn lingered toward the back, a small wagon shaped like a barrel on its side and windows with blinds closed rattled alongside her. Occasionally, she'd peek over her shoulder, checking to make sure he didn't get too far behind. After a moment, Ren jogged forward, once again growing increasingly aware of his unsteady legs.
Eventually, he made it to Evelyn's side, and she gave him the barest hint of a smile, tilting her head. "Venture, come. I want to show you my mother."
And before Ren could decline in the most polite way he could, Evelyn had seized his wrist and stepped forward, jumping onto the odd barrel wagon. Of course, so he didn't get crushed beneath the wheels, Ren was forced to jump with her.
Raising an eyebrow, Evelyn studied Ren's landing before nodding in some odd approval. "Coordinated. Good. You'd make a good dancer."
Taken aback slightly, Ren gave her an odd glance, forgetting the mask temporarily. Evelyn smirked, then turned toward the door of the carriage and knocked. "Mother? Mother, our new ward is here."
From inside the cart, they could hear a woman's voice, "Bring him in."
Evelyn opened the door, turned to Ren, and led him inside. Though the blinds had been drawn, tiny pebbles of glowing stone hung from the ceiling, the floor shaking as the wagon rumbled along, tossing the little sources of light and scattering shadows about.
The wagon hadn't been very big, so it was odd to see that it was dominated not by a bed, but a desk, long strips of parchment and the materials necessary to make Ink, stored in bottles that clung to the shaking walls.
Hunched over the desk was a woman with golden hair, pulled back to keep it out of her work. Her work, it seemed, was that of scrawling incomprehensible lines and forms on tiny bits of parchment, then storing them away. 'Sorcery.' Ren realized, 'Leonidas married a sorceress…!'
"Young Arbiter," She said softly, never stopping her work, "Does this frighten you?"
"No." Ren responded, "But I don't understand why a Sorceress of the Sovereign Lands would align herself with a deserting Arbiter from Lilac Sky."
At that, the woman paused, looked up at Ren, and smiled. And unlike the radiant eyes Ren knew of his countrymen, she bore deep obsidian eyes, as if they were far more eager to soak in the light of life than the colored eyes of the Lilac Sky. "My daughter had warned me that the Arbiter heirs were the nervous sort. I'm glad to see she was mistaken."
Bristling at the comment, Ren turned to the closed blinds, then raised his hands to untie the mask bound to his face. As he pulled it off, he took in the carriage with newfound eyes and sighed. "My sister was."
"Ah," She said, gesturing to a small bench pressed against the wall.
Evelyn nodded, quiet encouragement as she strode over to observe her mother's penmanship. She frowned, "If you're trying to draw Concealment, you're still missing the axioms…" Mother shot Evelyn a glance, and the younger girl grinned, raising her hands. "Sorry, sorry. You are the one who taught me."
Turning back to Ren, mother spoke. "Well, young arbiter, do you know of our sorcery?"
"Only the tales they tell children. Ones meant to frighten them into submission."
Mother nodded, "Ah, of Old Man Flame?"
Slowly, Ren nodded to the papers, "They're not going to burn us to the ground, right?"
Mother shook her head, "No, no. Though…" She took out a scrap of paper, lifting it for Ren to see. Along it was that incomprehensible scrawl, lines and shapes overlapping to create some sort of symbol he couldn't possibly understand. "This, is the Word of Flame." She turned, handing the paper to Evelyn. "Care to demonstrate?"
Evelyn took the paper, holding it between two fingers and letting it dangle in front of her. Then, she closed her eyes, let out a breath, and spoke. "Burn."
Jumping to his feet, Ren ducked back as rings of light twirled up around Evelyn's arm… And the paper caught fire burning itself into cinders in a single flash of orange and yellow light. Ashes fell on the ground of the carriage, rumbled across the floor as the cart moved, then settled.
"There," Evelyn sighed, dusting off her hands. "Demonstrated."
Breathing heavily, hand at the door, Ren looked down at the shifting ashes. He hadn't even felt the heat of it. "Are you trying to kill us?"
Evelyn grinned, meeting his gaze for just a moment before turning away, "Sorcery isn't all that powerful on its own," She hummed, far too much amusement in her voice as she lowered her voice to resemble that of her mother's, "Young arbiter."
"Evie," Mother chided, turning to her daughter, "Leave the boy alone."
Rolling her eyes, Evelyn danced around the desk, found a seat behind her mother, and sat primly. "As you say."
Turning back to Ren, mother smiled apologetically. "Sorcery," She explained, "Is galvanized by the Spirit of the individual casting it. The stronger the Spirit, the more potent the 'sorcery'. Now, sit."
Eyes flicking over to Evelyn, Ren raised an eyebrow. "So she must not have a very strong Spirit, then?" Slowly, cautiously, Ren set back down on his bench.
Mother sighed, "Quite the opposite. She has one of the strongest in all of our Garden of Roses. You, young arbiter, must have quite the strong Spirit to have your Mark manifest so late. Or quite the weak one."
Frowning, Ren sighed, "Miss… Sorceress, riddles do me no good."
Smiling, mother leaned forward. "You force me to get to my point. I've dealt little with active arbiters, so you must forgive me." She brought a finger to her lips, thinking, "Oh, and I never gave you my name, did you? And my poor husband likely didn't give it to you, either."
Evelyn broke her posture, leaning against the rumbling wall. "Nor did Silas or I, mother."
Mother nodded, "Ah. Then my name, young arbiter, is Yona."