The Bound (Ascension #2)(38)
“The little redhead’s father is a wine vendor for the Royal Court, and she let it slip that he has been asked to procure a striking number of barrels of wine for a ball for a royal visitor next Saturday. Now, who do we know that might elicit such a celebration?” Ahlvie asked.
Cyrene sank back into her seat. “Kael.”
“That’s what I assumed, and where Kael is, so is Maelia. We need to get into that castle before we get on a boat.”
They had been waiting for Kael to show up in Aurum since they arrived. Based on the conversation she had overheard in Strat, they knew that Kael would be coming into the city, but this was the first real piece of news they had.
Avoca and Ceis’f had come back the first day with grim news about Eleysian boating. Due to the festival season, which was a monthlong affair leading up to the Eos holiday, travel had stilted between Aurum and Eleysia. A boat carrying travelers had left two days before they had arrived, and several Eleysian fishing boats had decided to stay for the entire season. They hadn’t seen or heard of anyone going to Eleysia, other than a mysterious large ship flying Eleysian flags that had apparently been in port for over a month. No one who they’d asked claimed to know whom it belonged to or when it intended to depart.
When the others returned that night, Ahlvie and Cyrene filled them in on what he had found out, and they set about trying to find a way to get into the ball.
“We’re going to need to hire a boat to take us out of the harbor. Even if it won’t take us all the way to Eleysia because of the festival season, it won’t be safe for us to be in Aurum after we break Maelia out,” Cyrene said.
“We’ll look into vessels leaving for other destinations,” Avoca said. “See if we can manage something that won’t be noticed.”
With their assignments divvied up, the crew returned to their rooms to pass out after another long day. Avoca never seemed to tire, and after changing, she was ready to begin Cyrene’s training once more. It was the only part of the day that Cyrene looked forward to even though she’d had no success locating her magic.
They spent the next two hours dutifully reaching a state of calm and then trying to sense one of the four elements. It didn’t matter that Cyrene had worked all day doing the same thing. Avoca demanded more from her. She always came full of new theories to break Cyrene’s block that she had thought of when she was out working with Ceis’f during the day.
Today, Avoca thought that since they were Bound, Cyrene might have an affinity for earth, like herself. For a solid hour Cyrene reached inward, touched the knot in her chest, and tried to focus it on earth matter. Avoca had even brought a pot of dirt into the room so that Cyrene could feel closer to it. It didn’t help.
“You know, I was thinking,” Avoca said after another failed attempt, “maybe you are more like Ceis’f.”
Cyrene snorted. “I highly doubt that. And, dear Creator, do not let him hear you say that.”
“I just mean, what if our magic complements one another? Ceis’f is better with air and fire. Perhaps you are, too.”
And so their training went on endlessly. Cyrene was no better with air or fire, but Avoca kept coming up with other possibilities that would lead them to more dead ends.
Cyrene had never been good at remaining calm and doing nothing. Now, those were her only tasks until they got out of this Creator-forsaken city. Her anger started bubbling up, which usually brought their sessions to a screeching halt.
“There’s nothing there!” Cyrene cried. “I’m sitting around all day, meditating and trying to find these elusive pulses that you claim exist, but I can’t even come close to sensing any of them! Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
In truth, Cyrene didn’t like being bad at anything. She had always been an exemplary student, and having something that was completely beyond her control was more irritating than disappointing a tutor.
Avoca just pursed her lips at Cyrene’s outburst.
“Okay. I’m sure you know what you’re doing, but maybe I just can’t do it,” Cyrene offered.
“I don’t believe that.” Avoca stood and began pacing the room. “I admit, I’d be surprised if you could sense anything in this city if you weren’t able to do it out in the woods. I can barely sense the earth in this place. It’s been so trampled and forgotten that the pulse is just a distant hum. Even this earth is…lost.” She toed the pot of dirt.
“If even you can’t find it, then how am I supposed to?” Cyrene asked in frustration. “You’ve set an impossible task for me.”
“I’ve not been in a city in nearly fifty years, Cyrene,” Avoca said. “It is easy to forget in that time.”
“Fifty years?” Cyrene asked, her eyes bulging.
“Yes. Leifs have exceptionally long lives, and at our hundredth birthday, we are given a year abroad with an elder. Most do not even take that year, but I did.”
“So…you’re a hundred and fifty?” Cyrene gasped.
“A hundred and forty-nine,” Avoca corrected.
“Where did you go? What did you see when you left?”
Avoca sighed. “That is neither here nor there. A story for another time. I have no more patience for training tonight. Soon enough, we will be out of this city and in a place more conducive for training.”