NOVEL NEXT 131 - Among Stone and Salt
"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Div asked Dana as she was getting ready to answer Emerios' summon.
She scoffed. "Are you trying to make the situation worse? Yeah, showing up with you will really make him happy. Not to mention, this is a military matter."
"Didn't they put you under Trabine's command?"
Dana shook her head. "They did, but it doesn't change the fact that Emerios is at the top of my hierarchy. Thank you for offering, but let's not give them a reason to make things difficult for me."
Div didn't like it, but he could see where Dana was coming from. It's not like his presence would bring any benefit aside from whatever emotional support he could provide.
All he could do now was hope for the best. He stretched and rubbed his tired eyes. They'd spent the best part of the night wondering what the Leios elder wanted. There was no doubt in Div's mind that it wasn't anything good. But what exactly? He didn't know.
There was bad blood between him and the Leios clan, more so after he put himself between Lepin and the two soldiers, but it shouldn't be enough to make Emerios act.
As much as he loathed to admit it, Div should have been relatively insignificant to an Ascended Rank elder. As long as he didn't return to Kheiron, they shouldn't care about him.
Was it just pettiness? A move against Uncle Basil?
"I'm going. Wish me luck," Dana said, pulling Div out of his thoughts.
He looked at her, dressed in her Kheironite explorer gear. She reminded him of the ones he used to see coming in and out of the city in his youth. He and his friends used to watch explorer parties return, Sebastian always eager to pester them for stories of their adventures.
"Good luck. I'll see you here tonight."
Dana squinted her eyes. "You better. You don't want me to look for you in the cellar."
Left alone in the house where he and his three friends lived, Div got ready for his day. First, he cleaned his clothes. Full of salt, decomposed fish, and grime, just soaking them overnight had turned the water black.
Using a rough brush, he rubbed hard enough to scour the crusted filth from the fabric. The bristles tore at stubborn patches of dried salt and fish scales, leaving his fingers raw by the time he finished.
He rinsed the clothes in a fresh bucket of water, though "fresh" was a stretch. The second rinse turned grey, murky, but at least it no longer stank of brine. He wrung them out, each twist pouring out days of labor, and the liquid drained into the floorboards.
He hung them on the line strung across the cramped backyard, watching them drip, pale and worn in the dull morning light. Then he washed his hands.
He'd gotten dirty before, but this was worse than he imagined. His enthusiasm to continue processing the salted fish barrels doused, Div chose to pay a visit to Lepin.
The initial surprise he felt when learning that the boy wanted to see him had washed away, replaced by guilt and a heavy sense of responsibility. It was his fault that Lepin had ended up with Molding Hands as a bloodline; he should at least be there for him.
Making his way through the oppidum, he crossed busy streets where the sounds of metal ringing against metal were only trumped by the shouts of foremen directing their men. People were tense, frantic, something the passing weeks spent locked behind the gates didn't alleviate.
There was a lot to do, yet Div knew that the deeper reason behind all this activity was to keep people's minds focused. They were worried enough as it stood. The tale of Lepante's destruction spreading through the masses hadn't helped. Now, Trabine's inhabitants and the refugees from nearby villages were worried that it was their turn.
Div couldn't blame them. He shared their worries even if he'd seen Gaumil's army from the walls. Even if he'd noticed they were struggling with supplies. Even if he knew how powerful the Kheironite army was, and that they were allied with Trabine. The opposing side was supposedly led by a peak Ascended Rank, someone on the verge of transcendence, and that changed everything.
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He didn't know what the leadership had planned to break the siege, but all he could do was trust Terebus and his elders to make the best out of the situation.
Soon, Div reached the local school. Lepin now lived there, which was no doubt a lot more comfortable than the streets.
He walked in, coming face to face with a middle-aged lady. Her hair tied in a bun, she was sitting at a desk, reading a document.
"Hello," Div said. "I'm looking for Lepin."
The lady looked up. "Okay… But the kids are in class now."
He resisted the urge to turn and leave. His face reddened from embarrassment. Of course, he was in class; he couldn't just show up at a school and ask to see a student in the middle of the morning.
"Who are you to him?" The lady asked. "Lepin doesn't have a family…"
"I'm Div, a friend of his."
She looked at him for a moment, not saying anything. "Well, I can't interrupt class for that. But if you wait for an hour, I'll inform him. If he wishes, you can see him during the lunch break."
He sighed in relief. "Thank you. I'll wait."
She gestured at a wooden bench placed a few paces away from her desk. "You can sit here, or just come back in an hour."
"I'll be back."
Div turned around and left the school. He didn't have anything to do outside—nothing he could do in a short hour—but he didn't fancy twiddling his thumbs on a bench.
Stepping back onto the street, he walked in a random direction. Exploring the neighborhood would make the time pass faster.
His thoughts drifted back to Dana. He wondered if she had already met Emerios or if they were making her wait. He shook his head; he really needed to stop overthinking. Looking left and right for anything that would distract his worried mind, his gaze settled on a fountain. In the center of a small plaza, a weak stream of water left the mouth of a uepi carved in stone.
Div had heard a lot about those birds. Endemic to Trabine, the animal was easy to distinguish thanks to its characteristic lack of wings.
He stepped closer.
Erosion and wear weren't enough to obstruct the care to detail that the sculptor had put into their work. Fine stone feathers, scaly legs, and a beak that shone under the sun. It even looked as if each feather was gleaming from their mana attunement. An optical illusion, as Div quickly confirmed with his mana sense.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" An old woman said, stepping next to Div. She placed a wooden bucket under the stream, letting the water slowly build up inside.
Div nodded. "It is, I wish I could see a real one someday. Those birds are very peculiar."
"They're not rare," the woman said. "Ah! Well, they were not rare. With that damned curse ravaging the land, I'm sure they have fled. Who knows if they'll come back…"
"Wouldn't that be terrible for Trabine?"
She nodded. "It would be bad, for sure. But we'll manage."
She picked up her full bucket and left Div on his own.
He stared at the statue for a while longer, listening to the calming sound of the water flowing. Then, he returned to the school.
Still too early, he waited the remaining time on the bench, with nothing but the receptionist's page-turning to break the silence.
Finally, she stood up. "I'm going to check if Lepin agrees to see you."
"Thank you."
Div waited for a few minutes until Lepin arrived. "Div!"
He stood up. "Lepin, how are you doing? Dana told me you were looking for me."
"I'm doing great. I just figured out how to use my bloodline, and I wanted to show you."
Div blinked. That was fast—and maybe a bit reckless. People tended to keep the specifics of their bloodline to themselves. Even now, Div didn't know what his friends' bloodlines were good for. At most, he knew that Lugsellos' had led to obtaining Empathic Resonance. Dana's old Steady Hands wasn't too hard to guess at. Her new Soulguided Hands, not so much.
as more complicated."Are you sure?" Div asked.
"Yes, I actually want to ask you for advice," Lepin said.
The receptionist coughed. "You can use Room 23, at the end of the hallway. Lepin, remember not to spill your secrets to everyone."
"Yes, ma'am," Lepin said.
"You should listen to her," Div added. "You know the way? I'll follow you."
Lepin led Div to Room 23 and closed the door behind them. It was a standard classroom, albeit pretty small. A few wooden desks were neatly lined up in front of a board.
Sitting on the teacher's desk, Div spoke. "So, I'm listening."
Lepin smiled. "Watch."
He held out his two hands in front of him and closed his eyes. As soon as he noticed what was happening, Div leaned forward and focused.
At a visible rate, mold was growing on Lepin's hands.
Div could see it with his eyes and sense it with Rotlife Sense. More importantly, he got the distinct impression from Coax Rotlife that if he wanted to, he could control it.