Every few meters, there were enchanted slates on pedestals that contained puzzles, riddles and other mind-teasers. Upon success, the hedges would part and grant you one pathway closer to the center. If you got the answers wrong, the hedges turned you around instead, completely obfuscating your progress. Complex, but delightful spellwork—crafted by the Elders, I had to presume.
Many of my classmates seemed to hate this place, claiming it was a headache and a half and not worth the effort. But I spent hours here, particularly whenever I needed to clear my head. The puzzles reset every week.
It only took me about twenty minutes to arrive at the center this morning, and I eagerly claimed my prize: To sit quietly by myself, swinging gently and staring into space, letting my mind go blank. The water fountains had been replaced by fire pits during the winter months, and I was grateful for their warmth.
At some point, I had closed my eyes, focusing only on the swinging sensation and the way it reminded me of calm nights on the ship where the waves had rocked me to sleep, back and forth.
“What’s on your mind, Little Conduit?”
Kieran had appeared out of thin air, joining me on the bench with two mugs of tea in hand. It used to startle the shit out of me, the way he would creep up behind me without warning—but Ihad grown accustomed to the way he seemed to move in silence. I had almost expected him to show up this morning, even though we hadn’t planned to meet up until noon.
“I’m worried about Laurel,” I said quietly, thumbing the small stone in my pocket as I so often did when anxious. Though I wasn’t looking at him, I felt Kieran stiffen briefly, and then release a heavy sigh.
So he knew, then.
“Yeah,” he said, voice strained. “That’s fair.”
“I know you can’t talk about it,” I said, fixing my gaze on the horizon in an effort not to search his face for answers that I knew I would not find. “But could you at least, maybe… Ah, nevermind.”
“At least, what?”
“It isn’t fair of me to ask,” I replied. “I know the rules.”
“You are almost always the exception to my rules, Arken. What is it?”
I did my best to ignore the warmth blooming in my chest, the way it always seemed to whenever Kieran let slip the fact that I was special to him in any way, shape or form. He was so charismatic that it was easy to forget that the man let a scant few people even remotely close to his personal life.
“How long have you known?” I asked, hoping like Hel that my tone didn’t sound accusatory. I wasn’t entitled to his privileged information, but…
“I found out this morning.”
“Oh.”
It wasn’t fair for that to be such a relief—but it was. It really was.
“I wouldn’tve kept that from you,” Kieran murmured, and I leaned my head against his shoulder for a moment, as if to channel my appreciation in silence.
“Could you at least tell me if there’s… any hope at all? For Amir?” I asked softly, shrinking a bit with shame for having asked another question.
Did I even really want to know? Was that a burden I was prepared to bear, even for Laurel?
“There’s hope, Ark,” Kieran said, keeping his voice low as he wrapped one arm around my shoulders, offering me that second mug of tea which I had forgotten about.
I took it gratefully, immediately comforted by the warmth of the ceramic against my palms. It had been so cold this morning that I could see my breath along the way here. The scent of cloves and cinnamon was an immediate balm against my fraying nerves.
“We’re doing everything we can,” Kieran said. “I promise.”
This left me with more questions than answers.
Why was the Elder Guard so involved with a crime in Samhaven? How did he know already? What exactly did he doas a Scouting & Reconnaissance Captain, to be so aware of what was happening in territories beyond Sophrosyne?
Iknewhis duties extended beyond training new recruits and running patrols with his squadrons—the two things I often got to watch from afar—but I also knew better than to ask for details.
“I wish I could tell you more,” he sighed, as if he could read my mind. “And I wish I had better news for Laurel. I can’t imagine what she’s going through.”
“She’s pretty fucked up right now,” I admitted. “Quiet. Somber. It would almost be funny, how absurdly out of character that is for her… if it weren’t so frightening. They say she might be assigned a personal guard… that she could be another target.”
“Yeah,” Kieran said. “I know.”