Kalie Rana

Later that night

Sitting at Grandmother’s bedside, brought what little excitement I had about leaving the Isles and exploring more of this world crashing down. Closing my eyes, I watched as the pure mana flowed up through the slotted floor. Lesser spirits of all affinities rose from the depths beneath the Petrel’s Temple, flowed up through the central column and gathered here in the Great Petrel’s chamber. With every shallow breath, she took in the mana en mass. Had the concentration of particles not been so high in the chamber, even her weak natural breathing would’ve been more than enough to drain the room empty.

“Grandmother.” It took more energy and effort than I had to move my hand to hers. The same hand that had been there to guide me for the last nine years. The same hand that used to tenderly stroke my hair. “It’s Kalie.” Making contact with her skin, a powerful shock snapped at my fingers. Although she was asleep, it didn’t matter, she was bursting with mana and the undulating flow of it was more than powerful enough to defend her body from any sort of contact. It had been months since she last ate or drank anything, before she fell into the inexplicable coma she was in now. All that sustained her now, was the mana of the isles.

There had always been a familiarity about the woman laying before me, that had been there ever since I met her. But now, as she lay immobile, the familiarity reached its peak. She reminded me so much of myself, so much of how I was at the end of my previous life, and the sight of her broke my heart.

“Grandmother, I’m scared.” As I had many times before, I waited to see if she responded. Once she would’ve been to my side in an instant had I ever so much as cried—outside of training of course—but now that I was standing at the precipice of what was quickly seeming to be the biggest decision of my new life, she just laid there silently. I hoped and prayed to a goddess that I didn’t believe in for one single word from that woman’s mouth. Anything to help me decide what I was to do next. But nothing came.

I opened my mouth to speak again, but closed it just as fast. There’s nothing that I could say that would explain how I was feeling, and there was something too sad about pouring all my emotions out to a woman who wasn’t there to respond. Just as the strength in my back started to fail, a knocking at the door to the chamber drew my attention.

“Yes?” my voice wavered, but in the still silence of the room, it rang clearly. In response, the door opened, revealing Maria.

“Your highness, I’m sorry to disturb you, but your father has requested you in the tea room.”

“Has he already finished with the guests?” I asked, being sure to wipe my tears before standing to face her.

“For today, yes,” she said, taking a few steps into the room before stopping, “but he assured both the Grand Admiral as well as your sisters, that discussions would continue first thing in the morning.”

My sisters? How in the world did he manage to find them?

“By the gods, is that wise? They did seem quite adamant that I would be the only one returning to the mainland with them,” as I spoke, an odd sense overcame me. It was weird, not one that I had felt in a long time. Anticipation? This was the precipice of another new chapter in this life. It was exhilarating and fear inducing in equal measure. But on the other hand, I was also petrified, was this truly the right thing for the people of Cerith? Although I hadn’t been born here, and in fact, I spent twice as long living my other life than I had living on this gusty, sea-salted island, yet it still felt like more of a home than anywhere else had before. The short life that I had spent with my mother was a tough one, of ambiguous love. This one, even shorter, was filled with love that was undeniable.

Although I felt a yearning to see the world, maybe my correct place was here, on Cerith, taking up the mantle left empty by Grandmother.

“Although I cannot comment on the wills and whims of his highness, I know, at the very least, that the ladies of Cerith will see to their duties, as best as…” Maria’s eyes began to close sluggishly, “as best as they can.” To the mundane, a room drained of mana or drowned by it, was practically the same. “Leona above,” she said, catching herself, “would you mind if I returned to the palace, I’m not feeling well.”

“Of course Maria, I will be right behind you.”

“Thank you, Princess,” she said, retreating from the room. In her haste, she left the ancient ornately carved door ajar, allowing for the dim light of the evening to brighten the otherwise pitch-dark room. I turned back to see the ever thinning husk of a woman laying on the bed. In the darkness, her skin and mana channels were bright and full—showing themselves to me in the immaterium. In the light, the truth of her body’s degradation was plain to see. Seeing her like this renewed the battle within me once again.

“Grandmother, what should I do?” I breathed the question out, knowing that the words would fall on empty ears.

But, as if a response from the Petrel herself a long, mournful howl floated up through the slatted floor, alongside a frenzy of mana. A howl from the heart of The Shattered Isles.

***

The king was waiting for me in the drawing room that separated the main halls of the palace from the small royal apartments. While it probably would’ve been easier for him to entertain me in his own apartments, for him, the idea of having me in those empty halls was probably too much. Too many old memories that were reflected in my face for him to be comfortable. As I got older and this body transformed from a girl’s to a woman’s he became more and more unable to separate me from Kalie’s late mother.

Father stood as I entered the room, guiding me to my seat. Maria, who had beaten me back to the palace, followed close behind me with a small tray with a tea set upon it.

“Thank you for joining me,” he said as we sat.

“Of course Father. I’m happy to. Has something happened with the envoy?” While he may or may not have noticed it, Father was playing a dangerous game with those men. He was on the precipice of something, and yet he kept on pushing forward blindly.

“I’m… I’m afraid that you, alone, will be leaving tomorrow.” And as if just to prove me wrong, he seems to have found his sight once again.

“But Maria told me that you were planning on continuing the discussions in the morning.”

“You and I both know that your sisters will not be arriving in time for that meeting, regardless of what I do. And furthermore, I have a feeling.” His eyes did not meet mine as he said this. While the king was no majin, he wasn’t left untouched completely by magic. For as long as I had known him, and much longer before that I’m sure, he had been visited by premonitions and feelings that were little more than hunches. But regardless of their unassuming nature, these hunches were more than accurate enough when it came to the matters that mattered most. “Deep in the pit of my stomach, I can feel the truth. Tomorrow, you will leave Cerith on that boat alone, and it will be a long time before you return to its shores.”

“But Father! I can’t!” Hearing the future so assured, caused nothing short of panic to run through my veins. “It’s too soon, and… and what if—gods forbid—I am chosen to be the queen consort of the White-Raven? What then? I don’t want to marry a monster like him! What good would it do Cerith if I were to be taken by him?” The questions flew from my mouth faster and faster with every passing breath. “Do you really, honestly believe that he would allow me to return to The Shattered Isles to perform my duties as the Petrel? What would I do if Grandmother passed while I was gone? What would Cerith do if there was no Petrel?”

“Kalie, dearest, I understand. I really do,” Father said, staring deep into my eyes, the intensity and sincerity of which filled me with comfort. “There is nothing more in this world that I fear than losing you. It’s—”

“Any of us. You wouldn’t want to lose any of us. Right Father?”

“Of course,” he said, before leaning in close to my ear, “but you have always been my favourite.” Leaning back in his chair, he smiled the same wicked grin that haunted the faces of all my family. The spiteful looking but genuine beyond words expression that I knew too well. “Regardless, I would never have agreed to something like this, if it wasn’t in the absolute best interest of the Isles. And my feeling tells me little of what happens to you once you leave the Isles. But, I know that whatever happens, you have the strength to do what you must. That, I know.”

“But what happens if I’m chosen?”

“Then you are chosen,” as he spoke, he pressed a pair of fingers against his temple, no doubt stymying the headache forming there. “By the gods and Leona above, we will find a way.”

“What if I just stay then. Send that Admiral and his secretary on their way, then. They can’t take me if I choose not to go. All that matters to me is Cerith.” Even though I said the words with absolute conviction, there was a niggling doubt in the back of my mind that told me how terrible of a mistake those words may have been.

“I know better than to ask if you saw the armada waiting off our shores.”

“If it’s what it takes, I’ll send a hundred armadas to the deeps.”

“All to keep yourself here?”

“It isn’t like that! I’m…”

“What good would it do to The Shattered Isles, to go to war with the Nine-flagged alliance?”

“It wouldn’t,” I admitted.

“Exactly! And furthermore, there is a reason beyond something as simple as marriage and dowry that Cerith needs to you to go to the mainland. Even though the ramifications of there being no Petrel on the Isles could be terrible. That is the unknown horror. The true horror is the one that is known. If you remain here, and the Isles remain alone in this ocean, then our people will starve. And that is the truth.”

I knew what he said was the truth. It had been years since the last emissary from Cerith made landfall on the mainland and that did not end well, on account of his majin heritage. That was during the time of the empire, but it made little difference. Mainlanders as a whole had been indoctrinated to hate majin with a fervor that was more virulent as any bigotry of my old world. The difference was so strong that the few who made their way to Cerith apparently experienced a sort of culture shock. Father was right. I knew he was. If nothing else, my involvement in the parlours and drawing rooms of the Alliance would see the essentials of trade return to Cerith. And, after all, it was not exactly a foregone conclusion that I would become the Petrel. I was not Grandmother’s only student. I am not the only majin of Cerith. There are always others, and if I am chosen by that tyrant—gods forbid—then another will have to take my place.

Steeling myself for what I needed to say next, I could practically feel the cold sweat forming along my hairline. There was a pain in my heart, allowing myself to be taken away from the Isles that I loved so dearly, but there was a higher calling here. The people of Cerith needed me to do this, and as I decided all those years ago with Grandmother and Father, it was my responsibility to be both princess and Majin, whatever that entailed.

I looked to my father before speaking, faltering for a moment at the sight of his face, I pressed through the ache.

“Then I’ll go. If only for the people of Cerith, I’ll do what—” A knock at the door interrupted my decision.

“Yes?” Father said, his eyes darting to the door, sharp as daggers. It was then that I noticed the beads of sweat forming on his brow.

Was he nervous?

“M’lord,” Maria said, poking her head in, “Mr. Anipinna is here to speak with you. Should I have him wait?”

“No,” he said, jumping from his seat. Anipinna? I knew nobody of that name, and I couldn’t imagine who it would need to be for Father to act so rashly. Or interrupt me especially now. “Please, send him in,” he said, smoothing out the wrinkles in his tunic. “I’m sorry Kalie. We will need to finish this conversation later.” He turned away from me just as Maria opened the door, revealing the Admiral’s secretary.

“Hello M’lord,” the man was speaking again in his affectless way before seeing me in the room. “Princess, good evening.” It was barely perceptible, but I felt a momentary lilt in his voice as he spoke to me.

“And to you.”

Whether it was intentional or not, I felt that there was some sort of an effect that I was having on the man. One that I wasn’t entirely against. While Joanna had Yohann, and there were any number of suitors that showed their interest in the beautiful but completely uninterested Ashrel—I was honestly only surprised by her ability to fend them off without anyone noticing her attentions laid more to the fairer sex—in this life like my previous one, I was mostly ignored by men. Whether it was my majinhood or my station, there weren't many suitable options for me. Not that I had been particularly interested in any that I otherwise should have been interested in?

Both my father and the secretary stood still and quiet as I gathered the unwieldy dress and made my way to the door to my apartments. The tension in the air was palpable as Father watched my every move. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something that he wanted me to do, or say, but there was no way I could know for certain. So, upon reaching the door’s handle, I turned to face the room, and did the only thing that I could do.

I smiled.

“Good evening gentlemen.” Upon hearing my words, I watched as a sliver of tension that ran through my father evaporated, and he returned my smile in kind. Seeing my job done, I passed through the door into the dark apartments beyond.

“Sleep well.” To my surprise it was the secretary’s words that followed me through the closing door. I turned just in time to catch a single glimpse of his watchful gaze.