Ida’s posture remained as rigid as always when she received the summons to the assembly, and so the Servicer that delivered the message bowed, and moved on to the next chamber to issue the same announcement, without a second thought.

Slowly, she turned back to her tiny room with its beautiful quilt, and closed the door behind her.

She had to communicate with Marney.

She had to know what she knew.

Had they run out of time?

Had her gamble not paid off?

Ida checked her black dress for any stray threads before she began taking measured slow steps down the hallway towards the dungeon that Alexander used as a throne room of sorts. It was the only room that could fit everyone that resided on the Island, but it was a very cold and helpless place. It had no windows, so had to be lit by torches and candle bearing chandeliers. Its walls, floor, and ceiling were made of the same darkened gray block stones, that allowed small trickles of moisture from unseen places.

Most of the other Servicer Breeders were free to wear muted colors unlike those that were actively bonded, but since Alexander and Celestine had spoken to her that day, Ida wanted to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

As she walked, she slowly began to join thicker crowds, that all were moving silently aside from the occasional rustling of skirts. Some of the women were already nearing time to birth their next kin, and most of the men were some of the guards, soldiers, or young ones not yet bonded.

When Ida entered the dungeon with its high vaulted stone ceilings, and dim lighting, she could immediately see her breath before her.

She sidled near one of the wide stone pillars, and waited as the rest of the Servicers filled the vast room wall to wall. The Seers were the last to arrive, 13 of them in total, a mix of young and old, but all bore the matching black circles under their eyes gifted by the nonstop demands of the Ruling Family that left them all sleep deprived.

Ida was certain she glimpsed Marney’s silvery blonde hair disappear into the crowd, but made sure to turn her gaze over the many heads and shoulders, to the empty high backed black ebony chair that stood on a small stone platform.

In total, there were nearly 500 present.

“What a great opportunity to slaughter the majority of our kind…” Ida couldn’t help but notice such a prospect as she raised a quizzical eyebrow. It was rare that the Ruling Family called such meetings.

No one spoke, but there was a good deal of scuffling that was beginning near the door, and it was then that a small cold hand pressed a piece of parchment into Ida’s hand.

She didn’t need to look to know Marney had found her.

As every Servicer’s eyes and heads followed the arrival of Alexander and Celestine, Ida smoothly slipped the note into the pocket of her dress.

The Ruling Family parted the crowd, and appeared before everyone on the stage. Celestine as always took 3 steps back from her brother, whom stood before everyone with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing a black tunic, and a long back coat to ward of the cold. The only piece of finery on him aside from the rings on his fingers was a gleaming silvery broach at his throat.

“I have gathered everyone here, to inform you all that all magical bonds to your Masters, Mistresses, and to us, your very own Rulers, are being threatened.” There were several gasps in the crowd, but they dissolved quickly.

“It has come to our attention, that through multiple betrayals, great and terrible threats have arisen.” Alexander’s piercing stare swept through the crowd.

“We are in the investigative period of whom is responsible for these betrayals. We do not believe that it is a single individual responsible for these treasonous actions. Rather we believe a rebellion has begun here on our island, and rest assured we will be looking into each and every one of you.” Ida’s face remained as calm as ever, though her heartbeat hammered wildly.

“We will begin our line of questioning with our most esteemed guards and those trained particularly for battle, and then move on to our more seasoned instructors. We will be summoning all actively bonded Servicer’s back to the Island to minimize damages to our reputation, and will in turn question those as well.”

“Oh God… Arlen…”

“If any of you receive word from your fellow Servicer’s, or if those of you dispatched for gathering our people cross path’s with Servicer Arlen, son of Ida, you are to immediately detain him by any means necessary, and return him to us. He is one of the proven deviators, and is henceforth dubbed a traitor of the highest offence. His Mistress has died, and has become aligned with one of the nomadic Minkies tribes.” Several Servicer’s shifted away from Ida.

“He has become a threat to our kind, and may have befriended the Fey who hold no hesitancy in attacking us.”

“Beatha has died?!” Ida felt her stomach churn sickeningly.

Everyone was doomed.

The Lady had been what every great accomplishment and plan had been based off of for the past 20 some odd years…

“Until we have more answers, Servicer Ida and all of her offspring, will be imprisoned immediately. Failure to comply will result in death.”

Despite not having been asked to step forward, Ida’s feet moved on their own, and out of the corner of her eyes she saw 12 other ebony headed children moving towards the Ruling Family.

She was given a wide berth, and once she was in front of the crowd before the Rulers, waited as her children lined themselves from oldest to youngest, and then stepped in front of them all.

She dipped into a low graceful curtsy.

“My Rulers, I do not make excuses for my eldest, and offer mine and my kin’s full cooperation. However,-”

“However?” Alexander’s voice boomed in the room making the first row of Servicer’s take yet another step away from Ida and her offspring.

“You dare to argue with your Lord Ruler?”

Ida rose slowly, and clasped her hands in front of her.

“Not at all my Ruler. I merely was going to suggest we also imprison my students as it could be possible that my eldest son has potentially influenced them- given they would have been near him during his growth.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

“How many of your students were surrounding not just Arlen’s growth, but those of your children?”

“Since my return from service, I have taught 299 Servicer’s. 190 are currently actively bonded, with the other 109 either killed, or still residing here on the island.”

Celestine made an aggravated noise from behind Alexander.

Ida couldn’t help but feel triumphant at the position they now found themselves in.

“Very well.” Alexander’s voice sounded as though it were barely controlled.

“We will imprison all your students that remain alive at this time.” A much larger group shifted through the crowd and lined up before Alexander, including a handful of guardsman and warriors that were always near the Ruling Family for their protection.

Ida could’ve sworn she saw Alexander’s eye twitch.

“You all are dismissed. Servicer guards, please escort these potential traitors to their cells.

*

Ida and her children were all placed in the same large cell, and the rest were divided into their own cells far from theirs- a precaution thought of by the Ruling Family no doubt to alleviate any plotting.

A small barred window lit the room with the moon’s glow, and the sound of the sea could be heard roaring outside.

Once the guard wordlessly locked their door and his footfalls fell away, Ida turned towards her children whom had remained standing lined up.

“Is it true, Mother?” Her second eldest at 24, Landon stepped forward.

“Has our brother become a traitor?”

Ida stepped towards Landon, and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. He was wider in the face than Arlen, and had a far paler complexion, but they still shared her eyes.

“Nothing is certain in life.”

“Mother, will we be executed for being associated with our brother?” Ruby, only 16 years of age, and yet enough confidence to rival Celestine thrived in her.

“There is a possibility, yes.”

“Why has our brother always been so different?” Arthur asked angrily. At 14, his body was only beginning to grow, and of his siblings, Arlen and he were the most similar in looks, but that is where the resemblance ended.

“You will have to ask again in less dire circumstances.” Ida sighed, and then stepped between her children to the light of the window. She pulled the note from her pocket Marney had slipped her, and read it carefully using her body to block her actions from her children.

‘She was gone,

but now has returned.

A singular bond was made.’

Any more said, and it would have been far too incriminating, but what Ida had most needed to know was communicated.

Arlen had ignited the dormant Life Magick in Lady Beatha through their singular connection-, enough to bring her back from the dead.

There was still hope.

***

Aggie blocked another blow from Bonnie, and immediately ducked out of the way of the spear the Queen had thrown at her. Arlen shouted out a protest from his own training with Declan and Tork, but Aggie didn’t let him distract her as she continued to dodge attacks.

The Queen had initially tried to bar Aggie from training, but after the 2nd night of finding her out of her bed past midnight doing pushups and training positions with the bow staff, she had relented.

What she knew but didn’t relay, was that Aggie was out training every night. She seemed to never sleep, save for the odd hour here or there, and had re-cooperated remarkably fast after being bed ridden for 2 weeks.

The Queen had arranged for a feast of celebration of life in her honor for that evening, much to Aggie’s chagrin.

Arlen was more or less silent throughout his time with his Mistress, but during the day remained glued to her side when he wasn’t training.

Aggie had managed to finally land a blow on Bonnie, but was still working on getting near to the Queen.

Bonnie’s claws seemed to be made out of some kind of stone that was indestructible, and with a twist of one finger could have a very deadly thin weapon whipping by Aggie’s face. The former Lady had managed to strike at the Magee fighter’s elbows, knocking the hands with their pointy ends aside, and was able to place a kick into her side, but the Magee fighter had then done a spin of sorts, and Aggie found herself once again defending her sides, while the Queen would periodically throw a spear in her general direction.

She’d received a few nicks and cuts, but nothing that a wave of the Queen’s hand couldn’t fix.

When Aggie had asked the Queen about why she had made herself and Arlen tend to the wounds on her men the day after they had met, the Minkies leader had replied with:

“Everyone was curious about you, and wanted an excuse to see you for themselves.”

Aggie had tried asking follow up questions, but the Queen had evaded them by attacking with her staff.

The training concluded with everyone sufficiently sweaty despite the cooling days.

“You’ve come far Beatha- to even land a blow on a Magee fighter while evading another.” Bonnie complimented with a smile.

Aggie didn’t smile; instead she locked eyes with her, and nodded in response.

The Lady returned the training staff she was using as usual to the inside of the barn, but kept the knives on her at all times. On occasion after her training, she would feed an apple to Quib, whom was kept in a cushy pen of his own with a small shelter, a huge bale of hay, and more feed than he could finish himself.

Today was not one of those days however.

Instead, Aggie immediately headed to the house ahead of the others whom lingered and talked amongst themselves.

She wanted to bathe and get the feast over with as quickly as possible, then she could resume training again.

She couldn’t help but feel agitated and restless that after the supposed declaration of war in the library, that no mention of attacks or strategizing was mentioned in her presence.

Aggie once again had the sense of frustration pertaining to being left out of crucial matters- matters that would affect her directly.

She tried to focus instead on her training, and to bide her time on when an appropriate time to confront the Minkies Queen alone would be, and yet at the end of the day she was often too tired from training and re-cooperating her health to find a moment alone with the Queen.

Aggie was pleased to see the tub of steaming water in her room, and had already taken off her clothes when there was a knock on her door.

“Come in.” She called taking a careful step into the water.

Arlen opened the door, jumped at the sight of her naked, and immediately began closing the door again.

“I will not talk to you through the door. What is it?” She slowly lowered herself into the tub as Arlen slowly entered, closed the door, and remained facing the exit.

“I wondered if you had thought of where you would like to go next.” His voice was quiet and his arms appeared to be crossed at his front.

“What do you mean?” Aggie’s tone was already aggressive.

“Did you want to see to punishing the Prince first? Or did you want to stay with the Minkies when they visit their other tribe’s to inform them of war?”

Aggie didn’t respond as she realized what he meant. The Minkies were willing to help with her vengeance when they could, but the threat on their people and the entire population, made it so that their priorities didn’t necessarily align.

“I will think about it. We will have to rejoin the Minkies at some point, but I think before there is a full-blown battle, I will handle the Prince.” Aggie began scrubbing her hair.

“Would you be able to pour that bucket over my head please?” She asked unfeelingly.

“My La- Aggie, I’m not sure why you keep insisting on me to do this… It is not proper for-”

“Being proper is for someone who has something to hide in order to gain something. I don’t have either of those. Women hide their bodies to gain a husband who will treat them as coveted as they have treated themselves. I do not wish to gain a husband. I do not care who sees me naked.”

“You might not now but-”

“Who would want to marry the likes of me, hm?” At this, Arlen slowly turned around.

“I cannot know but-”

“Even if someone did, I do not-”

“If you would let me finish a thought, you might rethink what you’re telling me.” Arlen snapped frowning at Aggie who met his gaze with a sneer.

“Fine. Tell me your thoughts.”

“While I acknowledge you have seen much in your time on the ship, you did not meet everyone on this planet. You do not know the people you will find, or who will find you. While you do not care who sees you naked now, you might care about it later.”

“What about men? Do they care about being seen naked?” Aggie fired back lifting her arms up onto the tub, purposely forcing her breasts out of the water in an effort to make him even more uncomfortable.

“The right ones do.” Arlen responded his eyes not moving from hers, his hands clenching his sleeves out of discomfort.

“Do you care?”

“Yes I do. I am uncomfortable, Aggie. Please stop.” Arlen’s cheeks flamed red, and he lowered his gaze to the floor.

Aggie’s challenging expression fell, and she dropped her arms back into the tub.

“The world doesn’t care about your feelings. You should get used to things not always being just so.” She said her voice still hard, but not nearly as menacing.

“Some beings in the world won’t care. Do we want to be those people, though? Do we want to treat others we care about with such disrespect?”

Aggie’s face paled, and she realized with sickening clarity that she was being reminded of someone else who treated others principles and dignity with such callousness…

The Captain.

“Sorry.” She muttered the word, and cast her eyes down to the water.

“You keep being angry at people, and maybe it is because you are angry that we couldn’t protect you, or save you sooner… But I am starting to wonder if that is how you think you can become stronger.”

Aggie’s eyes snapped up to his.

“It isn’t to be stronger.” She ground out, the rage rising in her steadily.

The ferocity rising in her was unquenchable as she leaned forward in the tub.

“It’s because you fucking failed. You were supposed to always save me. You swore to be by my side and protect me, but it took you months to get to me. You were supposed to be the only fucking person I could count on, and yet all of that horse shit happened!” Aggie’s throat was closing, and tears were coming to her eyes.

“I… I know. I’m sorry Aggie, I really am, I-”

“What? You tried? Did the best you could?”

“I am human.” Arlen’s gaze was soft with emotion, and Aggie found that she couldn’t look at him without feeling her eyes welling up.

“Last I checked you were a Servicer.”

Arlen felt as though he had been kicked in the chest.

“Does that mean I’m not a person?”

“I thought it meant you were better than the rest of us.” Aggie’s voice was hoarse, and she could feel a flush rise in her cheeks.

Arlen said nothing as he stared at Aggie for another long moment, his eyes full of emotion before he proceeded to drop his gaze while swallowing past a hard lump in his throat.

Slowly he turned, and left the chamber, closing the door a little too firmly behind himself.

Aggie coughed as she rubbed her calves, shook her head, and resumed washing while trying not to let the guilt of her own nastiness crush her.

A part of her could feel it though…

The horrible darkness inside of her being that wanted to burn everything good that had failed her, to the ground.

Yet there was also the undeniable part of herself that was silently screaming for someone to stay…

To not leave her like everyone else before had.