It didn’t take Aruna long to prepare the ritual. It was surprisingly simple to arrange a direct communication with the Moon Goddess if you had Luna’cala at hand. The silvery white liquid radiated power and Linea was eager to drink it. She hoped that her goddess would be able to break the chains that bound her.

“Ready?” Aruna asked as she handed Linea the flask with the glowing water.

Not trusting her voice Linea nodded and drank the Luna’cala in one go.

Linea noticed her goddess presence in her mind immediately but something was off. She couldn’t place it but in some way the presence felt cold. Uncaring even.

“Finally,” the goddess snarled. “I expressed my intention to speak with you weeks ago, yet I had to wait until now.”

Linea was taken aback by the abrasiveness of her goddess and didn’t dare to speak. Luna was upset, and it showed in her demeanor.

“It is rather difficult for your priestesses to reach us at the moment,” Sarah commented. Her voice was neutral but through their connection Linea felt the same irritation she had.

“Indeed…” Luna agreed and paused for a moment. “I expected better from you. Both of you. I gave you all that power, but you still managed to get enslaved.”

“Well, to be fair we fought a Void dragon and killed it which is nothing to scoff at,” Sarah countered.

“That doesn’t matter!” Luna raged, startling both Linea and Sarah. “You failed your people! you failed your country!”

She took a mental breath and her aura became even colder.

“You failed me… I expected you to protect my children. Instead they submitted to a human. A human! And now you are enslaved to those humans by this… abomination!”

Linea was silent. She didn’t like where this conversation going one bit. She couldn’t fathom the reasons Luna would turn so hostile towards them. Her whole life the goddess had been a source of solace and guidance for Linea but now she was furious. Linea tried to calm herself down, and she noticed Sarah’s emotions which twirled like a storm inside her waiting to break free.

“Are you able to lift the curse that binds our soul to this contraption?” Sarah asked almost dismissively.

“Perhaps,” Luna replied. “But I wouldn’t do it either way. I don’t have a use for a failed chosen. A slave. You have no idea how much disgrace you caused for me. The other gods laugh at me and me inept chosen.”

“So, this is it?” Sarah asked without a shred of sympathy in her voice. “As soon as the first wind howls against you, you turn your sails around and walk away?”

“Don’t you dare talking to me like that!” Luna yelled and her aura became even more oppressive. Linea was sure she couldn’t speak even if she would have found the right words.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Sarah countered letting her anger break out of her. “You all but accuse us of intentionally screwing you over although I risked my mind to protect your people. Linea lost half her family because you failed to warn us. We’re nothing but a tool for you to use, yet you’re telling us how this is our responsibility.”

“You insolent…”

“Cut it,” Sarah said coldly. “Linea? Do you want to say anything to her?”

Linea just shook herself to get a grip on herself.

“I- I don’t understand why you are mad at use for things we couldn’t control, yet if you deem it necessary to punish us I’ll take this punishment with honor and shall strive to do better,” she explained in an attempt to mend the last bridge to her home that was burning beneath her.

“I have no use for you anymore. What I need is another chosen. Someone more focused on the matter at hand,” Luna said.

“No… please!” Linea screamed as it dawned on her why exactly Luna had arranged this meeting. “Don’t abandon us!”

“What’s going on?” Sarah asked as Linea’s desperation spilled over to her.

“There is only one way to take back a blessing,” Luna explained. “Linea Luna’sindra! I hereby expel you and your soul sister from my followers. Henceforth both of you shall be banned from the lands of Luna’sindra. All your titles shall be revoked and all your claims be naught.”

Linea wanted to cry out but she couldn’t think straight. Her mind was still trying to figure out what just had transpired. They both experienced a rather painful expulsion of the blessing as it lost its foundation.

“Be glad I leave it at that…” Luna said with a distinct disdain in her voice. “I should have leave you be. This was the last time I help one of those Higher Gods…”

And with that she cut the connection and threw Sarah and Linea back into reality.

“Linea!” Aruna whispered as she rushed over as Linea dropped to the floor. Silent tears dropped onto the floor while Linea tried to get a grip on herself.

“Is everything all right? What happened?”

Linea gave her a sign to wait for a second.

‘Ca- Can you take over?’ Linea asked Sarah with a shaky voice. ‘I- I need time… to think.’

Sarah wordlessly took control of their body and looked at Aruna’s worried face.

“She threw us away… like garbage…” Sarah answered Aruna’s question in a hushed tone. She had never been someone overly emotional, but this had caught her off-guard. Her hands trembled like leaves as she looked down on them.

“What?”

After taking a deep breath to compose herself and focusing on reality, Sarah explained to Aruna what the goddess had done. It wasn’t a long tale but Aruna went through all the emotions in that short time. From surprise over disbelief straight to anger.

“I can’t believe she used me to bring you the Luna’cala just… for that!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be proud to have served your goddess so faithfully?” Sarah asked.

Aruna picked up how Sarah had emphasized the term ‘your goddess’. She blinked and stared into Sarah’s eyes for a long time before she shook her head.

“Why should I follow a goddess that tosses aside one of the noblest and most faithful souls I can imagine just because things don’t turn out as she would have liked,” Aruna asked. “I would rather follow that soul instead.”

“Are you sure?” Sarah asked as she realized where this could lead to. “Abandoning your goddess would make you an outcast like me. Go back home! Live a life of peace and happiness. If you follow my path you can only expect war and adversity.”

A tear formed in Aruna’s eye.

“My happiness died with your sister…” Aruna whispered.

“My…” Sarah said and something clicked in her mind. “You loved her? Were you two a thing?”

Aruna rubbed the tears from her face and shook her head.

“No… But I loved her. More than Xandarin.”

“Who is Xandarin?” Sarah asked trying to piece together the fragmented information.

“A peasant boy I loved when I still lived with my family in Tali’sindra,” Aruna explained. “Xandarin was the reason I got disowned. Your sister helped me in my greatest time of need and over the years I… I fell in love with her.”

“So, what you two had back in the University of Tali’sindra was more than…”

“No! Back then we just had fun,” Aruna deflected. “It wasn’t until later that I fell in love with her. Unfortunately she didn’t reciprocate my feelings…”

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said and put her hand on Aruna’s shoulder.

Aruna just shrugged.

“Don't be,” she said. “We stayed friends either way but I would never stop loving her one way or another. That’s why I feel it necessary to stay by her sister. If you let me, I will follow you.”

“Well, I could use more trustworthy allies,” Sarah pondered. “But - and I hope you’ll forgive me - I can’t trust you just like that. My recent experiences don’t allow me to trust people that easily.”

“Oh, I understand…” Aruna said deflated. “I don’t know what else I can do to prove my sincerity.”

Sarah tapped her chin for a moment and then sighed.

“You would allow me?” she asked. “I can read your mind while you swear an oath. I will see if you lie or not.”

“You- You can read minds?” Aruna asked in surprise.

“Rudimentarily,” Sarah replied.

Aruna pondered about Sarah’s proposition for a moment but gave in with a nod. To signal her she was about to start, Sarah placed her hand above Aruna’s head. The priestess’ mind was more difficult to read than Tirell’s because her emotions interfered rather impetuously. One thing Sarah was absolutely sure about was Aruna’s declaration of love towards Linea’s sister as Tarina’s face flickered through Aruna’s mind at regular intervals.

“I swear loyalty to Linea of the house…”

“No house,” Sarah interrupted her. “Just Linea.”

Aruna nodded and started again.

“I swear loyalty to Linea. I shall strive to support her in every endeavor and stay by her side at all times.”

Sarah sensed no dishonesty in Aruna’s thoughts and nodded. Suddenly Linea took back control over her body and stood up.

‘If you’re going to take loyalty oaths, do it properly!’ she said to Sarah.

“I accept you allegiance. In return I shall strive to protect you and your kin to all my capabilities,” Linea said with a strong voice. “Rise Aruna, as the first of my knights and as Darkborne!”

A moment of pause before Aruna raised an eyebrow.

“Thank you, but… Darkborne? What does that mean?”

“I refuse to be called a Moon Elf any longer if their goddess refuses me,” Linea explained with cold fury in her voice which made even Sarah shiver. “We come from the darkness of our past, we’re beings of the night and the moon can screw itself! We’re Darkborne!”

“Well, I see where you’re coming from but… Can’t we go with Dark Elves?” Aruna asked and chuckled.

“That’s… better,” Linea admitted. “Damn, I should have thought of that.”

“Don’t worry,” Aruna said. “We’ll figure out how we want to be called later. What are we going to do about this?”

She pointed at Linea’s collar. Before Linea could answer, Sarah pressed Linea to stand back again. Linea wasn’t sure what Sarah had in mind, but she trusted her.

“First you need to get away from Tovandir,” Sarah said. “Try to be as inconspicuous as possible. You need to find an explanation why you won’t go back to Luna’sindra with them. After that go to the harbor and search for the Flying Sailor Inn. Ask for the barmaid Tirell. Tell her I sent you.”

Aruna blinked a few times.

“You have been more productive as I would have thought. You already have contacts?”

Sarah just gave her a smug smile.

Sarah and Linea hadn’t seen Tovandir or anyone else after what happened with Aruna and the goddess. When they were done Brice had brought them back to his manor and as it was nearing noon, Sarah and Linea were tired.

Linea had gone back into her shell to think about things which Sarah could only guess. And so, she prepared for bed and waited for Linea to talk to her again.

‘I’m confused,’ Linea suddenly spoke as Sarah watched the ceiling unable to fall asleep.

‘How so?’ Sarah asked.

‘I should be devastated,’ Linea explained. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I feel betrayed, abandoned and overall rather miserable…’

‘But?’

‘I feel free!’

‘Okay?’ Sarah replied. ‘Do I need to worry? You do remember that thing around our neck?’

‘That’s not what I mean,’ Linea said with a mental groan.

‘Explain yourself then. If you only talk in fragmented sentences, I can’t really-’

‘Can you just shut up?’

Sarah chuckled as she found it interesting to see Linea so outspoken towards her.

‘All right, shutting up now,’ Sarah said amused.

Linea sighed but started to explain.

‘As far as I can remember I always had… someone telling me what to do… Someone superior who I could look up to and follow. That wasn’t always nice. My mother for example was quite a let down in most recent years. But I digress. I always had a goal that based on the principle how can I serve others. How can I follow traditions and bring happiness to everyone…’

‘That’s not necessarily a bad thing,’ Sarah commented.

‘That’s true,’ Linea agreed. ‘But on the other hand, what I was allowed to do to help people wasn’t what I choose. It was always something others expected of me. I remember how stubborn I tried to become a priestess because I didn’t want to become an enchantress like my mother expected me to. I had to force a decision about it.’

She sighed again.

‘I don’t want to blame others for my decisions and how my life went but now that I have absolutely no ties to anyone anymore I have this liberty in my mind. It’s the first time in my life that no one looks at me and has an idea what I should be. Well, except the humans here who believe I’ll be their slave forever.’

‘Hm, I have to admit you’re much more collected than I expected,’ Sarah said. ‘Somehow, I anticipated you to throw a temper tantrum when Luna did what she did.’

‘I- I tried to control my emotions like you do…’ Linea said sheepishly. ‘I realized that my emotions get in my way more often than not. Even though I think you’re too cold from time to time, I understand that I need to get a grip on my emotions. In stressful situations you’re always so collected and I thought…’

‘I see,’ Sarah replied. ‘In that case I applaud you because you did very well in that regard this time.’

‘Thank you,’ Linea said and radiated contentment.

‘But I have to admit that I have a suspicion regarding your emotions and ability to reign them in.’

‘Care to share?’ Linea asked curious.

‘It may be a side-effect of the fact that our soul was split,’ Sarah explained. ‘From what I gathered it seems my Soul-Aspect strengthens my rational thinking. I focus on logic but I have always been more collected than others. Not that I was uncaring or unfeeling but bad or good things never moved me in the same way as my peers.’

Linea listened to Sarah’s explanation, and it was in that moment when she got what Sarah was going for.

‘And magic is heavily tied to one’s emotions!’ she exclaimed. ‘Since I’m the Soul-Aspect of Magic, I’m more emotional than the other parts.’

Sarah smiled as she saw her theory at work.

‘But it doesn’t stop there,’ she explained further. ‘Now that we have been in proximity for quite a while we seem to balance each other. Ever since we met, I got more and more emotional. I want to believe this is a good thing but I have to admit it is slightly frightening to me…’

‘Don’t worry,’ Linea said with a laugh. ‘I’ll teach you how to handle your emotions if they overwhelm you… Once I figured that out myself.’

Both giggled for a moment.

‘But that means your presence helps me to get more control over my emotions?’ Linea asked.

‘It seems that way, but that’s not all. I guess you’ll see an increase in your cognitive abilities and rational thinking, while I’ll probably get more passionate and sympathetic to the emotional stuff of other people.’

‘Well, you’ll not learn that if you call it stuff,’ Linea noted and chuckled.

‘I said I’ll get there. Not that I’m already at the endpoint of that journey,’ Sarah countered and laughed.

‘I’ll be honest with you,’ Linea blurted after a short silence. ‘Despite everything Luna did or failed to do, I’m grateful that she brought you into my life. I wouldn’t know what to do without you.’

Sarah didn’t answer straight away as she pondered about Linea’s words.

‘You don’t give yourself enough credit. Perhaps you would have failed to accomplish what we did together but in my opinion as soon as you get some magic training you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.’

‘We’ll see,’ Linea replied with a mixture of hope and resignation. ‘But before we get to that point, we need to get free of this damned collar.’

‘That’s true. And we’ll start with that… tomorrow!’

Then she yawned.