‘Did you have trouble getting here? I was starting to get worried,’ Ioann told her as he walked with her inside the warm cafe.
‘No, I just, I wasn’t sure what to, I couldn’t decide what to wear,’ Syline admitted bashfully as a waitress waved the pair towards an open booth against a window.
‘Well, as I said, you look beautiful: that dress really suits you,’ he said, this time a flirtatious tone clear in his voice.
Syline wasn’t really sure how to reply to that. She blushed, she smiled. It was pretty obvious to her that he was interested, and so was she but…
‘How’s your arm?’ she asked, switching topics as they were each handed a menu.
‘Mmn?’ He looked down at his good arm.
‘N-no, the other arm.’
‘What other arm?’
Syline stared, uncomprehending for a moment before Ioann gave her a grin and shook his head.
‘It’s fine, Syline. I’m a soldier, I knew I could die. Losing an arm’s not so bad in comparison, and your father says we may be able to find a healer among the tundra elves who could restore it.’
‘That’s good, at least,’ Syline said with a little sad smile. She paused as the waitress approached. ‘I’ll have herbal tea and some buttered toast, please? Heavy on the salt.’
‘Black coffee and the blueberry muffin.’ Ioann gave his own order to the waitress and she took both their menus before fading back into the milling public in the cafe.
‘Healing your arm is the least my family could do for you after you gave up your magic. It’s really all gone, isn’t it?’
Ioann nodded solemnly but smiled.
‘My sorcerous magic, yes, you took all of that, and I don’t regret it at all. If I hadn’t, we’d all be dead. Has it had any lasting effects on you?’ he asked hesitantly. A sorcerer passing along his power like that wasn’t exactly common and the effects on the wizard were not always the same, nor the best recorded.
‘Er, yes, actually. My, I mean, I’m certainly no sorcerer, but my magic seems to come back to me a lot faster than it used to: what would once take a full night’s rest to recover takes me only half a day now. Though, I still don’t have your reserves. But Anatoly insists I have the potential to be an archmage if I keep casting and practising.’
‘Great! That’s great! I’m glad it’s stuck around for you. Makes it feel even more worth it. I actually have some good news.’
Syline perked up.
‘Now that the sorcerous magic is gone, I’ve found out I’ve got some talent as a wizard! I’ve hardly got your talent, but Anatoly says I could become a fine wizard, with training. I thought I’d test myself with a sigil or two, and after plenty of success, I’ve well… Anatoly has said he’ll take me on as an apprentice. It’ll be months until I can rejoin your father, so I certainly have the time.’
A grin spread across her lips and Syline found herself practically bouncing in her seat with glee. It felt as if a huge weight had fallen off her shoulders: the guilt of having taken such a defining aspect of his identity away from him.
‘That’s fantastic! When I get back, maybe you can…’ She let out a little coy giggle and leaned over to place her hand on top of his. ‘Maybe when you’ve really recovered, you could leave my father’s forces and come with me, wherever the roads lead me next.’
Ioann turned his palm up to take her far smaller hand, giving it a little squeeze.
‘Do you really need to leave so soon?’
Syline winced but nodded.
‘There’s something out there, this… Scholar of Ascension with the power to take gods captive and it’s clearly colluding with the Mother’s Hand. Rion begs us to go after him, and all three of us think it’s for the best. A-and we’re not going it alone this time, either. We have a lead and father and Kat will be with us this time. There’s still a month or more ’til we leave, though…’
‘It just… feels like I’ll be losing you right as we finally get the chance to get to know each other.’
Syline pushed down the butterflies in her stomach as she leaned over to kiss Ioann on the cheek.
‘We’ve still got a few days yet and I don’t plan to waste them.’
‘Laes?’ Amberly asked the air, climbing the steps up into the hidden little lounge. The doorman went to halt her, but a word from one of the men inside let her through.
It was a small place, all burnished wood, red carpeting and the crackle of a hearth, and it sat on the second floor of a building which held an assortment of small shops. A large window that took up one wall overlooked the church of the Wanderer and the large public square below, filled with closed stalls, civilians and clergy preaching to the wind, inviting those without a bed for the night into the church for soup and the hardwood of a pew to sleep upon.
Amberly walked towards the man who’d told the doorman to let her in. Softly tanned skin, slicked back hair and an unfading, rakish grin that made it look like he was laughing at a joke you weren’t in on. The greatest hint was his eyes: those, at least, hadn’t changed at all.
‘A whiskey lounge in front of a church, Laes? You definitely have… unexpected tastes,’ she said as she sat down in a plush, leather armchair across from him.
The man grinned and placed down his empty tumbler of whiskey. He held up two fingers to the gaze of a waiter somewhere behind her and, in no time at all, his was refilled, and a new one was placed down for her.
‘I doubt this new god of yours has any qualms about drinking,’ he said with a little chuckle, clinking his glass to hers as they raised them in tandem. She took a small sip, and it burned on the way down, leaving a wonderful warmth through the whole of her form. It reminded her of Rion’s embrace, in an odd way.
‘Plus, I thought this would be a nice place to celebrate your acquittal. I heard that the king has called off the manhunt on you?’ he said.
‘He did! I’m… not exactly welcome back in Dawnsteel, but the king said my actions here were proof that, even if I did not conform to what the men of the Morning’s Fury thought was right, I still had good in my heart. So, he’s officially announced me under his protection and forced the church to repeal their death sentence upon me.’
‘Good to hear some kings know that down here, it is they who rule, not gods,’ Laes said before taking another deep draught from his drink. ‘I suppose you and Thelonious are sticking on this venture with Syline back beneath… The Sea Without Sky? That place you were telling me about.’
Amberly nodded and Laes gave a joking, despairing chuckle.
‘So much for corrupting him into a worthy heir; with a goody-two-shoes bookworm and a paladin, I might as well drum him up as a lost cause. At least this new god of yours is better than Soel. I’ve only heard a little of her, but what is going on right now with you and this deity anyway? Are you now her living saint?’
