Morning Blessing

  It was the birds that woke her.

  She opened her eyes to daybreak, leaning on something soft and warm. Her coat was half draped over her. The culprits who had woken her were tiny specks in the distance, fluttering from tree to tree before landing in the center of the courtyard. Not a single person was in sight.

  Silence. Pure silence.

  Lifting her coat off as gently as possible, Ty slid off the bench and let out a short, relieved sigh when Theo did not stir.

  Your coat looks nice on him.

  It’ll be his when I’m gone, after all.

  Catching herself staring, she lowered her eyes and gradually began making her way back to the dorms, only realizing as she stopped just a few steps shy of the entrance that her pin was on her coat. It was always on her coat. She had no way of getting back into the common room.

  Dreading the thought of accidentally waking Theo, the desperate student peeked through the common room window and looked inside, hoping that someone would be there when a figure opened the door.

  “Oh?” spoke the Ancient, eyes wide and taken aback. “Ty? What are you…?”

  Similarly surprised, Ty jumped up in her spot. “I…d-did you notice me from inside?”

  “No? I see you now,” said Darius with a puzzled look. “What do you need?”

  Well, it was him or Selene.

  “Theo, he’s on the class bench, by the tree. Do you think you could wake him up for me?” she tried her best to say naturally, eyes still focused on the common room window.

  Without even questioning her, Darius stepped out and let the door lock behind him. “Yes, can do.”

  “And—” She turned back to him when she could see him already walking away from the corner of her eye. “If you have some time…I’d like to speak with you alone.”

  He tilted his head slightly, observing her for a few moments before finally speaking. “I have time.”

  Ty nodded. “I’ll be at the workshop.”

  With one last subtle bow, he headed toward the main campus square where she had just come from; no possessions on him, clothed in his usual Academy wear, his tall and bulky frame moved slowly down the path.

  And then she was alone again, back to thinking about what was going to happen next, what she had to do.

  Run.

  Past the rest of the dorms, the empty Great Hall, the entrance where she had met fate more than a month ago, past other class workshops, until she arrived at their old stone hut with their new class number on it: 2-A.

  Walking up the stone steps, she put her hand against the wooden door and applied just the slightest amount of pressure while whispering the class’s sealing words that she had memorized in her first year, when she had spent the winter break at school.

  How long ago, that was.

  How much time changes.

  The inside had changed little from her first year. There were piles of books still strewn about, several shelves across every wall except for the one closest to the back counter, which was a grand apothecary chest. Equipment hung on the walls, and potions lined the shelves and walls. The forge in the back corner was surrounded by the large counter and island that Darius used for his craft, and organized shelves containing books, tools, instruments, and apparatus sat against the back wall and on a small portion of the island where it was connected to the counter.

  In front of the island, and between it and the front entrance, were several stools where she and her classmates would sit all the time—they were wooden, unpadded, and had no support at all, but it was one of the most comforting places to be. Back facing the other responsibilities that came with school, an old Ancient in front of them serving tea and desserts while speaking in broken common tongue, she fondly recalled the days spent enveloped by the warmth of a faintly lit forge and the smell of Korinna’s baked goods.

  She had spent so many happy days here. Drinking tea with her peers, talking about school, chatting about matters completely unrelated to class, sitting on the steps with a blanket around her shoulders. Watching people come in and out of the Academy, the sun rise and fall.

  So many happy memories were here.

  Some you’ll never know about.

  I’ll make more.

  Walking softly over the threshold, Ty lit the hearth at the back with a quick Ignite spell and reached for a mug from one of the many that were in the cabinet marked “Class use” before filling it with water and placing it near the glowing rocks.

  As she watched the liquid slowly warm and then bubble, she reached into another drawer near the same cabinet and pulled out a random bundle of herbs, which she placed into her water.

  When it was sufficiently steeped, she took it out and brought it with her to the steps outside.

  Back to the door, the morning wind gently dispersing the steam coming from her tea, she sat there. Thinking. Watching the sun rise in the distance to chase away the last vestiges of blue, watching some researchers in MATS outfits walk past the gates, watching the birds fly. The noise of the fire crackling behind her, the sounds of the world coming to life, what the Earth Mother had created for them. What the Earth Mother was going to take away from them. What she was going to take away from them.

  Em, who had stood at the gates not so long ago. Talking to Theo, clothed in a way that obscured his black aura. The first commoner who had drunk from the fountain of life.

  The other Ancients, the ones she had seen in Hythe, before she had burned it down with Theo…she could not recall if any of them had black auras.

  And what about Krastoff? What about their wanting to take Emrys’s aura? The red that was the same as Theo’s. What did that mean? What happened to them, and what happened to Emrys? There was no longer the pale red in Emrys that they had admired so much. That they had wanted to protect. Did Krastoff fail?

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  It means they’ve taken souls, right?

  There was no reply this time.

  They must have. They’ve lived far too long; everyone knows that.

  Still, she was silent.

  Taking a long breath to ground herself, Ty continued to sip on her lukewarm tea. I wonder if Darius is doing his morning blessing right now…

  He’s here.

  “Hello, Ty.”

  Turning her head toward the Ancient’s voice, she flashed a warm smile as he walked over and leaned on the building beside the steps where she sat. “Hey.”

  “I woke him, like you asked,” he articulated fluently.

  She nodded. “Thank you.”

  Saying nothing else, his eyes shifted over to the sun rising over the faraway hill, and so did hers.

  Quietly, they watched the sun as it finally made it above the hill. A full circle.

  “Have you done your morning blessing yet?”

  “No. Would you like to partake?”

  “No, but I don’t mind watching you.”

  As if he had been waiting for those very words, he promptly walked forward from where he stood until he stood between her and the sun and faced the blinding light. He dropped to his knees and lay his palms flat and facing the ground with his arms bent and his head on the backs of his hands.

  At first, he was as quiet as the early morning had been, but then she could clearly hear him repeating the same few words under his breath. What he was saying, she couldn’t tell, but she was certain it was in his language.

  After a few minutes, he slowly lifted his head from his fingers, straightened his arms, and then lifted his palms off the ground. He rubbed the dirt off and took a seat on the ground, still facing the sun. His knees were dusty, but he didn’t seem to mind. His eyes were trained on the sun, the morning rising yet again in an undeserving world.

  “Why do you pray to them? The Earth Mother, Her Graces?”

  “I must.”

  “Even when they’ve forsaken you and your people?”

  “The Earth Mother has not forsaken us. You are proof of that.”

  “But you know what I must do.”

  “Whatever happens to me, it is my repentance. The price I pay for sin.”

  “Sin?”

  “The same.”

  Silence.

  “How many?”

  “One.”

  “Who was it?”

  Silence.

  The one he loved, the one you never—

  “Your father.”

  “Yes. His time was up.”

  “Why did you do it?”

  “It was one of his last wishes.”

  A long, long silence followed. Smoke rose from the village below, and the early morning bell had not yet tolled, but the mug in her hands went cold.

  “What was he like?” she finally whispered.

  “He was proud. In his work as a crafter. He made tools for the community, like axes for logging. Poles for fishing. Bows and spears for gathering food. Swords, for protection. Always for protection, and never harm.”

  The Ancient brushed the sand off his knees and crossed his legs, never letting his eyes stray from the morning’s blessing.

  “I was not asked to become a crafter like him. I wanted to. I followed him, was his shadow. Remained there for a long time until they found us. Until he was taken. Then…years. Ten, twelve. He was no longer the same person. Pride had become sadness. He was drained. Back then, I did not understand, but the adults did. Those who had come back knew. They knew he was lucky.

  “He continued working. On the community, and on a particular item he did not show me until the end, the one you know. Fervently. Days, nights. Some days, he did not stop. Like making up for lost time, or preparing for something. He did not speak to me often, but when he did, I could not help but feel like I had done him a great disservice for not having had the courage to ask him about his days away. I remained at his side. No longer his shadow, but his partner. I had taken the role after he had been taken away.

  “And then, one day, a lady came. Dressed in magnificent clothes. An outsider, one to be feared. I remember the day she arrived, the day she came into our small hut. She spoke plainly to my father as I stood in the room. She told him about a child. A girl. His daughter.”

  He paused again, this time to smile wistfully and finally look away from the sun to the ground below.

  “His eyes lit up. I had never seen it so bright. He was no longer the sad man I had known him to be for the past year. He was no longer the prideful man I had known him to be since I was a child. He was a hopeful man…until he asked the lady where she was. She told him that she was far, far away. That she had to be hidden, that he would never see her in his lifetime. And then she left.

  “The sad man returned. Sadness far greater than I had ever seen. He became lethargic. He would not craft, and his priceless sword lay untouched. He would not eat. He would not perform daily tasks, regardless of their ease. Some nights, he did not sleep. Some days, he did not get out of bed. He was dying.

  “Finally…one day, the Elder called him to her tent. That same day, he came to me when I was at the crafting hut. He showed me your blade. A blade that he was hoping could be used one day by his one remaining hope, who he would never live to see. Our Child of Hope.

  “On the morning of the fateful day, I woke up with him. I followed him and the Elder outside to a grassy clearing. As his shadow, I did not leave him. Even when the Elder told me that my father’s last wish was for me to take his life, that it could be no one else. I did not understand. The Elder spoke Ancient words to me. I still did not understand.

  “Then…my father looked at me. Sunken eyes. No pride, no hope. No more light. He told me to find the outsider. Find my sister. Take care of her, wherever she was, and give her the blade. He told me to take his sins from him—the ones the outsiders had forced him to commit.”

  Darius took a long breath and exhaled before looking back up at the sun. An unmistakable smile, still plain on his face.

  “The Ancients are not affectionate people. They form bonds, like friendship. Family. Camaraderie. But not romantic feelings. They do not love, like commoners do. They do not experience sexual desire. The act of creation is only done for the survival of our people, for tradition.

  “Even so, looking back on it, I can feel the love that my father bestowed upon me. I can still feel the warmth of his words when he first taught me how to fasten a string onto a bow. I can still feel his presence beside me when I shape a sword or carve the handle of a spear. I can feel the hope in his voice when he heard he had a daughter whose existence was a miracle. I can still feel him beside me, and his aura in everything that I do. Every step I take, every moment I live, I can feel him right beside me.”

  Closing his eyes and inhaling deeply again, his smile broadened. He laughed gently and then opened his eyes again.

  “I like to think that he was different. The only one of our people. Special. He could love. He felt desire and passion in a way none of us could understand. He loved his life. He loved the life he bestowed upon the world. In his craft, in his children. I do not think about the years he was gone. I do not think of his final years, when he was sick. I remember him for when he was happy. I remember him for his good days. The days he would praise me for something I had made. The days he would take me out for a walk around the community. The days he would walk with me to the sanctuary, so that I could watch the trees and nothing else. The days we sat silently together, content with each other’s presence. The days my father was still my father.”

  Watching him, feeling the warmth of every word pierce her, there was only one question in her heart.

  “Have you ever wished…for him to still be alive?”

  His expression did not change. “No. If I had a wish, I would wish to go back.”

  “Why?”

  “My life…every moment of my life has been a blessing. I have done many wrongs across these Circles. I have sinned. But I have met so many people. I have seen so much of the world. I wish I could go back. Live everything again. Thank my father. Thank everyone in my life who has helped me. Return to innocence. Become a child again, relive the pain and elation of the life the Earth Mother has blessed me with. She has brought us this far, I know She is right. Every small thing, every path. Whether it is painful, whether it is happy. Every choice has led to this. Even father dying. I have faith. I have faith in the life She has given us. The path She has set us on. It has all led to this.”

  There was light in his eyes, a peaceful smile on his face. Hope. No sadness, no pain. Just…at peace. Looking forward to the future, the warmth of life regardless of its hardships and strife.

  The halfling continued to watch him, taking in the hope in his eyes and letting it infect her, until he finally turned around.

  He gave her the same smile, the golden glow in his eyes as bright as the aura surrounding him.

  She smiled back. “Thank you for letting me be a part of your life.”

  His smile widened into a toothy grin, and he laughed before returning to the sun. He got up from his spot and wiped the sand off his pants. “I feel him in the sun today. His warmth. Can you feel it too?”

  Ty looked back out at the steadily rising sun, as golden as her brother. As golden as she imagined her father to have been.

  “Yes, I can.”