The Endless Solvent

“… signs of increased activity scattered around the continent,” the Solaris spoke as a dubious looking stew bubbled in a pot above the fire. Nilda sat too far from it, slightly behind Taurin so she couldn’t quite smell it yet, but she was almost certain it didn’t smell good. “Over the course of five years the occurrences of Gates increased and were slowly making their way to my kingdom.”

Nilda stared at the fire and ignored the activity of the men at the camp out of city limits. Her right hand still throbbed with her bleeding knuckles. Taurin had bandaged them when she saw the blood. A large man’s cloak draped over her against the night’s chill; it belonged to Rask, who had thrust it into her hands without saying a word.

The Solaris wove his fingers together as he spoke. “The scholars at your esteemed college and at the Academy can both attest that a pattern started occurring. Gates do not open within Caelis, nor do they appear to open further east in Yscian territory. We wanted to determine why. We wished to form a neutral territory east of Caelis to begin communications with the Yscians.”

“Because you think they know why the Gates are opening?” Taurin asked, sniffling. Her eyes were still swollen from crying. She hadn’t quite stopped crying since Nilda broke the news to her. Nilda suspected the Solaris was talking to distract her.

“We assume that they at least know how to prevent them from opening,” the Solaris nodded. “But… what just happened throws a different variable into the problem. What if some of the Gates opening in the empire were done purposely? The Academy had been most adamant that doing so purposely was forbidden, the knowledge of how is inaccessible to most people. Something must have gone wrong.”

The Solaris shook his head as Taurin looked solemnly into the campfire.

“Anyway, that was the original intention of our visit here. Lord Leton showed interest in our endeavor and worked to grant us an audience with the emperor.” The Solaris shrugged. “Our marriage was supposed to help the cause, but also to bolster your father’s campaign to be a senator.”

Taurin nodded. “I… I would have connections in the college to further research into this after establishing an alliance with the Yscians,” she said. “And that would allow the Academy to join in as well. Dad really did think of everything.”

There was a kind of awkward silence. Even the soldiers seemed to sense it and they all fell silent.

Then the Solaris cleared his throat and hesitantly reached out and took one of Taurin’s hands into his. “I know that we haven’t been courting long and perhaps this isn’t the right time. But… Please consider joining me at Caelis. I would like to go on with our engagement.”

Taurin gasped, then blubbered something about needing to think about it, but Nilda saw the way her mistress’s hand gripped the Solaris’ and knew what her answer would be. Without her father, a lone noblewoman was without power or prestige - Taurin basically had her title stripped from her over the course of the day. Marriage to the Solaris was the only sensible option.

The couple spoke further in low tones, hands clasped together and Nilda didn’t bother listening further. The Solaris was a capable man - or at least he had capable men under his power. With marriage, Taurin was going to be a queen to a small kingdom. She would have all the protection in the world if Rask’s abilities were any proof. She was going to be safe and thrive as the Solaris’ wife.

Nilda silently got up from her spot at the camp and slipped away into the night, pulling on the cloak hood over her head like she did many years ago. Was this what it felt like to fulfill a purpose? Taurin was safe now, wasn’t she?

Was this what it felt like to fail a purpose? Lord Leton was dead.

Nilda wandered the streets as she did back when she worked for Midge in the fighting rings. She thought about the day Lord Leton bought her off of Aldo. She could barely remember what that man looked like - she’d entirely forgotten why she was so enamored with him at all. Both Aldo and Leton used her as a weapon, technically, but the Leton family treated her like a person.

We must follow where the Solvent flows. Nilda believed the maps were signs of this happening, like torchlight leading her through the unknown. It brought her to people who cared about her. She believed it led her to her purpose - a purpose she embraced.

Then why couldn’t she save Lord Leton?

The night streets at the edge of the city were surprisingly empty. Citizens probably barred their doors tight after the news of a Gate opening so near them spread. She hid in the shadows all the same, observing rats skitter by and the sounds of the homeless flitting through the dark like herself.

Nilda drew the hood further down over her face, taking comfort in its weight over her head. She’d grown accustomed to the soft, luxurious life of the nobles. Years of good food, a warm bed - things that she now took for granted. Not only that, she had begun to think she was special. A strange child with strange powers to manipulate rock like clay. She was a child picked by underworld bosses to do their dirty deeds, a child picked by noblemen to protect their loved ones. She had grown to feel special, therefore someone would always want her. How presumptive of her to assume Taurin would always need her!

Rask and his men would do a better job at protecting her mistress. She wasn’t special at all, just at the mercy of the Solvent’s flow. Perhaps it wasn’t Aldo or Leton who treated her like a tool or weapon, perhaps it was the Solvent itself.

Nilda found an isolated street, a quiet corner. It was sheltered enough and isolated enough - it was a nook she would have chosen as a child to sleep in. She wrapped the cloak around her tight and sat in the corner, shivering against the chill of the stone against her back and bottom. It transported her back in time, as if she never left the streets. Perhaps the Solvent flowed in a circle and she was meant to be back where she started.

Perhaps it was just a cruel joke from the Parts. Perhaps this had all been one long, twisted dream. She closed her eyes, listening to the same sounds she’s fallen asleep to in the past. The whisper of wind through the buildings. The scratchy sounds of rodents or insects around her. Footsteps of the odd person walking by. Her knuckles throbbed, reminding her of simple, physical pain and she embraced it.

“I understand the camp isn’t very comfortable,” Rask’s voice rang out. Nilda nearly jumped out of her skin. He was nowhere to be seen in the alleyway around her. “But you would prefer to sleep here of all places?”

Nilda finally looked up and saw him perched on the wooden rooftop of the neighboring building. That was why she didn’t sense him approaching. Wordlessly, she got up and started walking away from him.

“You would leave Lady Leton behind just like that?” A thump behind her told her Rask had jumped off from the roof onto the ground.

“Her safety is your responsibility now,” Nilda said. “And the Solaris’s.”

“She’s looking for you right now.”

Nilda whirled around to glare at him. “You let her back into the Heart? There could still be Unseeing around.”

“Hey, when she marries the Solaris, she’s going to be my queen,” Rask glared back. “Even before that, she outranks me several times over. What makes you think I can disallow her to do anything?”

"You’re the worst bodyguard in the empire.”

“I am the Captain of the Solaris’ guard, not a bodyguard,” he said, his normally scowling face settled in what looked suspiciously like a smug expression. “And if you think you can do a better job, you should go back and prove it.”

It was something Vartu did all the time. Prove it, kiddo, he’ll challenge her whenever she runs her mouth at him. Nilda felt a stab of grief when she thought she could hear his voice. She closed her eyes and laid a hand on the side of a building to steady herself. Something else stabbed at her, a sort of feeling she couldn’t quite place.

Someone had gone out to look for her. Nilda struggled with the realization that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t abandoned. Evidently her silence made Rask uncomfortable because he gave a frustrated sigh, a flush rising on his rugged face.

“Sun’s mercy, I’ve never done this” he muttered. He offered his hand, palm up, fingers reaching towards hers. “Please come to Caelis with me, Nilda.”

She stared at his hand for a few seconds before bursting into a laugh; he was echoing what the Solaris said to Taurin. Did he think she was jealous that Taurin had the Solaris? She spotted Rask’s flustered look and quickly tamped down her outburst.

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice wavering with giggles. “I wasn’t laughing at you, I was just not expecting that.”

“Forget I said anything.” Rask withdrew his hand - she could see him turning redder in the dim street lamp light filtering into their alley.

“What were you thinking saying something like that?” Nilda shook her head. “Were you going to marry me?”

“If that was what you wanted,” Rask replied quietly, almost too quietly for her to hear. The feeling she couldn’t place grew stronger, almost painful.

“I’m not a noblewoman,” she said, not quite understanding why she needed to tell him.

“I don’t want a noblewoman.”

She gritted her teeth and continued. “I would never have agreed to go to Caelis just for you,” she said. “I’m sorry. We barely know each other.”

“I… I know. Like I said, forget it,” Rask turned sharply from her, running a hand through his hair.

She studied his back for a long while, the edges tense and awkward in the darkness of the alley. He was there when she ran back to find Lord Leton. He had saved her even before that, back when assassins went after Taurin. He looked for her when she disappeared and said the words he thought she needed to hear. He didn’t even comment about her stealing his cloak.

Please come to Caelis with me. She’d never been invited like that before.

“Let’s bring Taurin back to camp,” Nilda finally said. “You know where she is?”

“Of course.” Rask started down the alleyway and she followed.

“Then maybe afterwards we can discuss your terrible timing for marriage proposals,” she said casually. She breezed by him when he stopped dead in his tracks, burying his face into his hands with a groan.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” he muttered.