Damien just nodded, not wanting to interrupt her. Sylph drew a deep breath before starting.

“I was raised to be an assassin. I had multiple teachers, but the main one is the one that I referred to as my Master. They wanted to make me into a weapon that could kill powerful mages. My first memories are learning to become a killer, and I was never allowed to be anything else. A control rune was put on my chest when I was just a kid. They used it to make sure I could never rebel against them, even in my own thoughts.”

“I’d guessed a bit of that,” Damien admitted. “But who would need an assassin like that? The Queen?”

“No,” Sylph replied, her voice grim. “She could crush just about anyone she wanted to with brute force. I was supposed to be for a different purpose, but that all came apart when they realized I barely had any magical power. Without their training, I would have amounted to nothing. A mage college probably wouldn’t have even accepted me. My core wasn’t even big enough to summon a companion. My Master implanted an artifact in me as a last ditch effort to save his investment.”

Damien remained silent, allowing Sylph to continue to speak unimpeded.

“They knew I would never be as powerful as they originally wanted, but it didn’t matter. I only had to take on a single mission,” Sylph said. “So they went even harder on my training. The other teachers left and gave my Master full control. He wouldn’t let me sleep in the house and forced me to learn how to survive in the forest, saying that it would make me stronger.”

Sylph paused for a moment to gather herself. “I once told you that I killed my Master. That wasn’t entirely true. He was actually killed by someone else. A few months before the mission they’d been preparing me for, someone found my master’s house. One of the Queen’s Inquisitors. They got into a fight with my Master, and I distracted him by trying to break the control seal. It was enough for the Inquisitor to kill him.”

“So the Inquisitor saved you?”

Sylph let out a bitter laugh. “For a little, I guess. He was kind, but he brought me back to the other Inquisitors when he realized who I was and my relationship to my Master. They tried to figure out if they could use me as an assassin. They tried to figure out if I was a threat to the Queen or if I could be used as a weapon. Eventually, they decided I wasn’t up to standard. It was bad, but nothing compared to what I was used to. I managed to hide the true extent of what I could do, and my lack of magic made me pretty pathetic anyways. They let me go and pulled a few strings so I could get into Blackmist, as if that would make up for things.”

Damien put a hand over Sylph’s. She stiffened, but didn’t pull away.

“I’m sorry,” he said, at a lack for better words. “I had no idea. It’s disgraceful that the Queen’s men would act like that. They’re supposed to protect the kingdom, not torture its people. It must have been hard to stand face to face with the Princess and act polite.”

Sylph’s lips twitched. “You have no idea. But I can’t entirely blame them. After all, they were largely right.”

“What do you mean?”

“The mission my Master had been training me for was to assassinate the Princess. I have no idea why his group wanted to get rid of her. I wasn’t privy to that. All I knew was that she was my target. If the Inquisitors figured that out, I doubt I would have walked out of there alive, even though I was being controlled.”

“Eight Planes,” Damien muttered. “I’m glad they didn’t figure it out.”

Sylph examined him closely. “That’s it? You don’t care that I was going to kill the kingdom’s Princess?”

“I mean, not really,” Damien admitted. “It wasn’t you. You were being used as a tool. I could see some idiot blaming you for it, but it wasn’t your fault. Even if you’d succeeded, it wouldn’t have been your fault. I do see why you hate the idea of anyone controlling you so vehemently, though. How long was the control rune on you?”

“At least ten years,” Sylph said. “I don’t know the exact amount.”

Damien shuddered. “You’re stronger than I am. I don’t know if I’d be fully sane if I’d had to go through that for ten years.”

“You sure know what to say to comfort someone,” Sylph said, bursting into laughter.

Damien sputtered an apology, but it got caught in his throat as she scooted closer to him and leaned against his chest. After a moment, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

“I’m glad I went to Blackmist,” Sylph said. “I’d just planned to go to the college to see what other people did for a year, then drop out when my low magical energy became a hinderance. I never could have imagined life would be so… interesting.”

“Henry has a way of making things interesting.”

“What makes you think I was talking about that?” Sylph asked coyly. Damien opened his mouth, then snapped it closed when he realized Sylph was smirking.

He opted to say nothing. Damien didn’t know how long they remained there, listening to the sound of the waterfall, nor did he care to find out.

Somewhat predictably, the moment was interrupted by Henry. Damien’s shadow peeled away from his feet and unfurled before them. Henry leaned against a wall and covered a fake yawn with a shadowy hand.

“I took the liberty of restricting the sound while you two blathered,” he said, leaning in close. “Sylph, I wouldn’t speak about what anything you said here again. Damien and I have spent too long making sure that we didn’t end up alienating the kingdom, and I’d rather not have to go on the run after all that.”

“They wouldn’t go after Damien if they found out,” Sylph said, glancing up at Henry without moving.

“Probably not,” Henry admitted. “But the moron would go with you. Honestly, it might make a few things easier if we could stop wasting time at the college, but he’d probably complain to me anyways.”

“Sorry, Henry,” Sylph said with a laugh. “I won’t mention it again.”

“Just keep it to Damien’s mindspace,” Henry said. “Keeping secrets can weaken your soul. Trust me, I’d know. Just make sure you don’t reveal them to the wrong people.”

“An Eldritch creature is giving advice about opening yourself up to people?” Sylph asked, raising an eyebrow. “If you don’t mind me asking, where’d you learn that? It doesn’t seem to fall in line with what one would normally expect someone like you to believe.”

“Even idiots occasionally have a point,” Henry said with a grunt. “It was Damien that taught me. Wipe that smug grin off your face, you little brat. If your head gets any bigger, it might pop.”

“Thanks for the advice, Henry.” Sylph said. “I appreciate you looking out for us.”

“I’m just protecting my own interests,” Henry grumbled. “There’s one more thing. There’s someone in another part of the cave. His magic is pathetic, but I put up a weak barrier to stop him from getting closer just in case.”

Damien groaned. Sylph slipped to her feet and Damien followed her up. Mentally cursing the intruder. He knew the waterfall was hardly his own property, but that didn’t make him feel any happier with the interruption.

“Are they trying to get closer to us?” Sylph asked.

“Nah, he’s scribbling some runes on the wall,” Henry said. “Not the best work I’ve ever seen. Reminds me of Damien when he was younger.”

“There aren’t a ton of people here that actually like Rune Crafting,” Damien muttered. “Is he practicing? Or actually trying to draw something?”

“Last I checked, he was drawing in chalk and erasing it a bit later,” Henry said. “Looked like practice to me.”

“Well, he’s not bothering anyone,” Damien decided. “No reason to get in his way. He didn’t hear anything, right?”

“Nothing,” Henry confirmed. “But he did mention someone named Shindal pretty angrily under his breath. That’s the Mayor your mom didn’t like, if I’m not mistaken.”

Damien sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Let’s go find out what his problem is.”

Henry smirked. “Thought so. Just head back out, he’s in your way anyways. Not sure why he chose the middle of a tunnel to complain, but it certainly makes things easier for us.”

He shrank down, reconnecting Damien’s shadow. Sylph and Damien exchanged a glance, then headed down the tunnel. Damien heard the angry muttering nearly a minute before they actually saw its owner.

A short, mosey boy with unkept hair sat in front of a wall, drawing runes with sharp, aggressive lines on the walls. His chalk clicked with each stroke. The boy was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t even notice Damien and Sylph until they were nearly upon him.

He leapt, dropping his chalk and scrambling back on all fours as his eyes went wide. Damien knelt, picking the piece of chalk up and offering it back to the boy. He didn’t recognize the kid, who looked to be a few years younger than he was. “Sorry to interrupt.”

The boy eyed Damien, then slowly reached out and took the chalk back. “I didn’t think anyone else was here.”

“Don’t trust your thinking until you’re good at it,” Damien said automatically, quoting Delph during one of their less productive sessions. He immediately winced. “Sorry, my teacher’s words coming out before I can think.”

“Maybe they were more apt than you give him credit for,” Sylph said with a smirk. “We’re sorry for interrupting you, though.”

Damien scrunched his nose and examined the runes on the wall. His eyebrow rose incrementally. The pattern wasn’t the best he’d ever seen, but it looked similar to the ones he used on his flame papers. There were a few errors that would make it dangerous – both for the person activating it and anyone in the area.

“You shouldn’t draw runes like this,” Damien said, nodding at the wall. “You need to be calm when you work. If you misdraw something, you can seriously hurt yourself or someone else.”

“Why do you care?” the boy asked. “Who are you, anyways?”

“I’m Damien,” he replied. “Hilla Vale is my mom. I got a week off college, so I came back to visit.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “Mrs. Hubbard talked about you. You love runes, right?”

“Love is a strong word,” Damien said slowly. “But I use them a fair amount, I suppose. They’re powerful and interesting. I didn’t realize Mrs. Hubbard remembered me that well.”

“Nobody likes runes,” the boy muttered. “Real magic is way cooler. She remembers everyone that actually paid attention in her classes. It’s not hard when you can count them on one hand.”

Sylph snorted. Unbeknownst to her, Henry did the exact same thing.

“If nobody likes them, why are you drawing them on the walls?” Damien asked.

“Mayor Shindal made Mrs. Hubbard stop teaching us runes so she could do work in his big stupid house. We only learn runes three days a week now. Mayor Shindal said that runes aren’t as useful as preparing for real magic. He hired Mister Joey and wants to get rid of Mrs. Hubbard, but she’s way nicer than he is and I don’t want her to go so I’m trying to practice runes and get good at them but I kept messing up so I came down here to practice on my own and –”

“Whoa,” Damien said, his head spinning. “Slow down for a moment. Shindal wants to fire Mrs. Hubbard?”

“Yeah. So she can work more on his house, I think,” the boy said.

“He’s replacing her with his own kid? Does he even have qualifications?” Sylph asked.

The boy shrugged. “He’s stupid.”

“Alright,” Damien said, squatting to be at face level in front of the kid. “I don’t know if we can do anything to help, but I like Mrs. Hubbard. I’d like to help her if I can. What’s your name?”

“Tim.”

“Okay, Tim,” Damien said, rising and holding a hand out. “Is there anyone else that feels like you, or are you the only one that wants to help?”

“My friends do too,” Tim said, wiping his nose with the back of his sleeve before accepting Damien’s hand. “But their parents don’t want to make Mayor Shindal angry.”

“How about you take me to Mrs. Hubbard?” Damien suggested. He pulled Tim to his feet and wiped the bad runes on the wall away so nobody would activate them. “I’d like to get a better understanding of what’s going on.”

“Are you going to kill Mister Joey?”

“What? No!” Damien exclaimed, nearly choking. “I’m just going to try to help out a bit. Can you just take me to Mrs. Hubbard?”

“Okay,” Tim said, nodding. “But I still think you should kill him. I was gonna blow him up with the runes, but you’d probably be better at it than I am.”

Henry howled with laughter.

“Ah, what a kid,” Henry said gleefully. “Isn’t that a refreshing take? If everyone thought like that, the world would be a lot more fun.”

Shut up, Henry.

“Don’t take that attitude with me,” Henry said. “I just blocked out the latter half of the day so I didn’t have to dodge all the horrid thoughts bouncing around your head. You should be thanking me for not eavesdropping.”

Damien rolled his eyes, ignoring Henry’s snicker as they fell in behind Tim and headed out of the cave.