Chapter 15.1 (The City of Axes)

Author's Notes: 3,089 words.  Eremia isn't exactly the best protagonist. :P

When she woke up, Eremia felt blissful. Her back dimly ached, but warm sunlight streamed through the entrance and rested upon her feet, covering them in graceful orange-red hues. It took a few seconds for her to realize that she was not at home, and the weight of her memories crashed onto her.

Fidgeting, the girl groaned in exasperation as she crawled towards the back end of the wagon, pushing aside books and knocking over a mostly empty lamp. It landed with a dull thud on the blankets, one of which she reached for and pulled around herself. Eremia, wrapped up, peeked outside and blinked. The camp of the Doves, now coming alive, stretched out around her, blending into plains that felt hotter and drier than before. Far off in the distance, partly blocking the rising sun, was a city whose interior was surrounded by an imposing wall. Spires climbed into the sky, looking menacing as they towered over multitudes of houses and buildings, which stretched from the inner sanctums to the large river that drifted lazily through the middle of the landscape. Roads extended from all angles of the city, littered with passing people and pack animals, all staying clear of the army. The group itself was not far from a farmhouse, whose chimney puffed peacefully.

Peering to her right, Eremia could see Katerina, in fox half-form, arguing with Madeleine. It wasn't hard for Eremia to guess what they were talking about, as each would gesture to her at odd intervals. Finally, Madeleine hung and shook her head, her uncombed hair spilling out around it. Katerina, with an elated expression, turned and ran over to Eremia, vaulting over boxes in the process.

"Good morning!" she said cheerily, as Madeleine walked towards the wagon. "Do you like the sunrise?"

"I find it wonderful, yes," said Eremia, half-asleep and squinting at Katerina. "What were you talking about?"

Katerina grabbed the sides of the wagon and began to pull herself up, causing Eremia to push herself back. "I decided it would be hard for me to be at risk, so I went with honesty." She beamed as she squeezed inside and sat beside Eremia. "You may still have to answer to her, of course."

Madeleine had vanished behind a corner, but soon returned, carrying a pile of books and straining under the effort. Hunched and breathing deeply, she looked happy when Yorew appeared from around the side of the wagon and took the stack of books from her hands. She waved as Yorew set the stack in the wagon, causing the wagon to tilt slightly. "I hope you haven't changed your mind about that position," Madeleine said. "Because I'd rather not get some more exercise at this hour."

"Yes...oh! Of course!" Eremia leaned forward to stare into Madeleine's eyes. "And whatever she told you, I am certain I can support --"

Putting up her hands, Madeleine shook her head. "I suspected she would come to you, no matter how much I tried to stop her. It will just be easier for you to adjust if you know more about us, I suppose. Hopefully, she'll keep being informative." Katerina smiled beatifically and nodded. "Besides, she needs someone happier than me to throw her cheeriness on, and maybe you'll be that person."

"I could do with a smile," said Eremia, before turning to see the city again. Her mind began to work more energetically, and she recognized that this was something new to her.

Madeleine followed her eyesight. "We've made good progress, yes. This is the City of Axes, as they like to call it. Walenty's capital."

Eremia's eyes widened. Her lessons had taught her little of the Confederacy d'Austliere, but she was familiar with Walenty's allegiances with the Alliacne. "How could you not be worried of an attack?"

"They're used to us. We're not strong enough to actually fight any of the kingdoms; we just deal with little conflicts here and there. Often conflicts in villages or forces that both sides would like removed. Besides, whoever has you or Jonah has power, and Eimhin is treacherous enough that it won't bother telling the Alliance where you’ve gone. You're safe."

"Hmph." Eremia stretched and yawned. "I would rather not be here long, if you understand."

"Of course," said Madeleine. "We just have to restock, and then we'll be making our way south."

Katerina snatched Eremia's hand. "You look too tired to be reading right now, so what about something exciting?" - the vixen waved her other hand as she said “exciting” - "Don't you want to see Jonathan while he's training?"

Trying to appear as disinterested as possible, Eremia shrugged, yanking her blanket off. As she jumped off onto the grass, she found that her entire body ached. Struck by the wave of pain, she staggered briefly, letting Katerina wrap an arm around her. Madeleine stepped forward in alarm, but Katerina propped Eremia up, and the latter waved dismissively. "I suspect this is the new normal for me, so I will not let it concern me."

"I - make sure to take a rest when you need to. You need some fun, so I can't stop you, especially if Katerina has anything to say about it. Hmm - would it be too much to ask, then, if I could have Yorew for the day?" Working on picking her feet off the ground, Eremia turned her head back, eyebrow raised in confusion. "I could use somebody to carry my stuff around, and he seems interested in my work anyway."

Eremia was suspicious that Yorew was more interested in Madeleine than just her work, even if he was also a healer. Smiling, she nodded approvingly, and turned away, allowing Katerina to walk her through the camp. She would have to tease him about it sometime, since she had never known of him falling in love anyway. Yet, Madeleine saved his life, and he had to have been in the hospital with her for at least some time. Besides, he had also been sent away when Eremia had been training, and perhaps the hospital had been the only place he thought of going to. Why let Yorew be happy for a change?

Few people gave Eremia any heed as Katerina led her across the camp. Soldiers were waking up, stretching, and talking among each other. A few grabbed their gear and walked in various directions. Eremia guessed it was time for the changing of the guard. She felt better now, and walked alongside Katerina, who pointed to different groups of tents and explained who their occupants were. Eremia reasoned that she should probably be listening, but couldn't muster the energy to do so. Besides, Katerina seemed quite happy to just be talking.

Eremia couldn't help but think of Jonah. She hadn't seen him for this long in years, and it hurt. Sure, he was a prick, and a childish brat, and embarrassing, and stupid, and naive, and a million other things. He hadn't always been like that, though - she remembered fondly when she had had a younger brother to run around in the gardens with, or read books to, or look at the stars with. Jonah had been so curious and eager, and she had been happy to have company (rare with her busy parents). Something had gone wrong, though, and he had gone to be sourer and crueler, more distant and more uncaring. Yorew had eventually joined them, but he had been - and was - as personal as a rock. He was withdrawn, at the least.

Maybe that was why she felt so calm around Katerina. There was something distantly nostalgic about the vixen. Eremia still wanted to believe whatever it was that inspired love and energy was in her brother. That, in that hard and stupid shell, maybe there was a little boy trying to claw his way out. And she was tempted to cry, because she had seen him so - soulless, empty, dead. He had tried to strangle her, she was sure of it. Now she wasn't sure if she could even find him again, or if there would be anything left to find. It was hard enough to handle that now; she imagined it would be worse if she saw him again.

Katerina waved a hand in front of Eremia's face. "Are you alright? I thought you were just looking at him, but you looked so...sad."

Eremia blinked. "Oh? Oh, yes, I--"

They were standing by a small grassy field. A few targets had been positioned on one end, and a dozen people stood opposite, raising their bows and firing without order. Jonathan walked between each person, correcting their posture and whispering a word or two of advice. He was, as usual, dirty - clearly from hours of work - but was unbothered. In fact, he seemed to be in his element, and didn't look at either Eremia or Katerina as he walked to the targets and easily ripped arrows from them.

"Everyone likes him, you know?" commented Katerina, watching him intently. "He has some kind of rugged handsomeness that gets attention from boys and girls. Not that he ever really notices."

"Yeah..."

"I swear, he could lead anybody just by standing and pointing. He just hates the attention, though."

"Mhm."

"If it were me, I would take advantage of it whenever I wanted. I could tell somebody to find me an apple in the middle of winter, and just sit back and watch them fumble around in the snow. Arms flailing, kicking up a drift, freezing themselves senseless. I'm not that mean, but I totally could, right?"

Eremia was about to made an offhanded reply when she smelled something burning. Turning to the right, which gave her a headache, she saw Ceinen kneeling on the ground, humming poorly as he stuck a stick into the earth and placed a flint and stone aside. He was in human form, probably so he could grasp the stick. He was surprisingly focused, wiping sweat from his brow as he leaned back and stared into the sky.

"What are you doing?" said Eremia in a neutral voice. Katerina gave her a warning glance, but Eremia walked over to him anyway.

Ceinen appeared not to notice her.

Eremia sat criss-cross beside him, trying to keep from looking at Jonathan. She watched the sweet-smelling burning stick, and something she had read in a book ran through her memory. "Incense?"

"...Oh! Oh! I didn't, hadn't seen you there!" Ceinen lowered his head and smiled at her. "Yes, that's incense. It's hard to buy, but I used to make them when I was younger, and I still do now." Looking at the incense, his eyes widened, and he reached to grab the strange-smelling jar to place in front of it. "How silly of me! Wouldn't it - it would - be silly if I wasn't directing the offering? Maddie - that's Madeleine, by the way - sometimes buys incense for me, but they – the stores, that is - never have one of those small statues or trinkets. I make do with this, then."

Eremia titled her head and crinkled her nose. "Do I want to know?" she said, as Katerina frantically gestured for her to stop talking.

Narrowing his eyes and bowing towards the incense, Ceinen tried humming again, but stopped, thinking of something briefly. "The director has to be some part of whoever makes the offering, or something the maker has touched, or maybe a representation of some deity or spirit, and it's all sort of complicated. I just use my scent, then." He looked between the incense and Eremia as he spoke, watching her expression sour and smiling sheepishly in response to it. "It's easier to do when you're a deer and not a human, of course. I have the – the scent glands."

Katerina sighed, threw up her arms, and walked a distance away. "Wait, deity or spirit?" said Eremia, covering her nose with a hand. "There is only the one, correct?"

Ceinen's smile, distantly eerie, didn't dissipate, and he focused on the incense. "A test, then! Can you explain to me - in simple words or complicates ones, whatever you want - what bonding is? The process?"

"You cannot be serious," said Eremia, still pinching her nose. Her parents had raised her to be respectful and graceful - as royalty should be, they said - but Ceinen was unfathomable to her. She suspected he was one of the polytheists, which was disdainful enough, but he also acted and talked so strange. It was hard to remove the contempt in her voice, and that wasn't successful. "It is the rituals wherein two creatures are spiritually linked, usually with the aid of a psychic. They can perceive the other's reality, and one at a time can call upon the Creator to be granted the power that is shared between them. The only consequence is that the summoner has to deal with the mind of the other, as they will accidentally fight for control of one body's senses."

"And what happens to the, the, winner? Loser?" Ceinen responded, gesturing for her to continue.

"The winner controls the form the body manifests, based on all of the forms of the two who are bonded. The loser has to watch until they can seize control again, or pull themselves back and wait until they are needed." Eremia recited it from a book that she had read when she was younger (before Jonah tore out some of the pages to make wings for himself).

"Is that always the case?" Ceinen sniffed as the incense wafted into his nose, but didn't push it out of the way.

Eremia saw Katerina out of the corner of her eye. The vixen watched from the background bored, distracted by passerby. She wasn't normally this evasive. Now suspicious, Eremia continued. "If one makes a minor incantation, no. The summoner gains only a slight amount of power, but the other mind is almost certainly not strong enough to resist. What is the point in all this?"

Ceinen nodded and stood up, robes covered in dust. "And if one is dead, in some distant star?" He turned and looked down at her, apparently in concentration.

"In the World Above, you mean," Eremia said quickly, then thinking. "-Yes, one can be dead, and it is common for human royalty to bond themselves to nearly-dead members of the royalty of their companion species. This is what has kept the peace for ages. The dead cannot summon, nor can the living see the World Above."

"What is - do you - what is Exedor's again? I think - I know I forgot." Ceinen stared at the ground.

"The golden eagle. I have bonded to - well, it is my family's, yes."

Suddenly, he reached out and placed his hands upon her shoulders. She knocked them off swiftly, glaring at Ceinen as she heard Katerina run towards her. "Then, by all means, please, please tell me e-exactly why I'm wrong about my religion. If it makes you happy."

He was intimidating when angry; even if skinny as a reed and stammering, his height and twitching eyes told Eremia that she was stumbling on a deeply personal issue. Unable to reply out of fear, Eremia walked backwards, moving right behind Katerina. For her part, Katerina sighed and grumbled something quietly about newcomers always being the same.

"Don't worry, Ceinen," Jonathan said, walking to the edge of the training grounds. "She meant no harm. The Lady of Dawns happy?"

Ceinen's anger dissipated as quickly as it had come. "From her p-pool she grants us blessings, indeed," he said, nodding happily at Jonathan. Eremia breathed a sigh of relief. "Is - where is Madeleine?"

Jonathan pointed towards where the medical tent could be seen. "Oh! Of course," replied Ceinen, picking up the jar and burnt stick of incense. "I would - I will! - talk to her about the student."

As Ceinen disappeared, Jonathan turned to face Eremia, who hid behind Katerina. "He won't do anything. He's too shy. Don't do that again, unless he wants a debate. Then talk."

Eremia peeked out from behind Katerina's shoulder for a second, and then blushed at her own silliness. She was royalty; she was expected to be more professional. Calming herself - though her heart still raced - she stood in front of him. "Is he the only one who believes what he does? What faith can be correct when there are so few adherents?"

"It is his; that's all that matters to him." Jonathan narrowed his eyes in warning before his expression softened. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Eremia said, choosing to accept his warning. A tad afraid to speak to Ceinen, she was nevertheless hopeful she could overcome his falsehoods if he wanted to talk to her.

"The training," he replied, looking surprisingly downcast. "I overdid it. Alarick told me to, and - I didn't realize you had problems."

"I just hit my head a few times. It will go away soon enough. The training was nice of you." It was hard not to talk swiftly, but he had been, for the most part, personable (save for what he did to Aquila, but she reasoned that was his job), and it was odd to see him depressed.

Jonathan shook his head. "It was too much. I'll set camp up for you tonight. We can train when you feel better."

It was then, as Eremia was about to respond warmly, that Katerina jumped in between the two. "But first," said Katerina to Eremia, "before I forget, you should go and apologize to Aquila. Maddie says he's been cooped up - excuse my pun - in the medical tent since yesterday, and won't talk to anyone. She forgot to tell you, but he's taking up space and needs some fresh air."

Pulling back her long hair, Eremia nodded. She had been hoping to avoid that conversation all day; it wasn't like her to apologize to anyone save her parents, and there was something undignified in doing so here. However, she had no solid reason to hate him anymore, and she decided that it would be better than to leave him upset, particularly as he had tried to help her in the past. "And I will see you tonight," she said to Jonathan, hoping that she sounded reasonable and regal. Eremia couldn't help but feel excited, though, and walked eagerly as Katerina led her away.