The stars were out, and it was a beautiful night as Sera lay on the bench, the gentle rock of the barge tempting her to sleep, but a quiet prayer to the Elemental inside her produced a jolt of energy, and the drowsiness left. The priestess in training was a little worried about how often she was “praying” to the power inside her. Before, she had called out to the Divine with her petitions, and to do anything else seemed sacrilegious. And it wasn’t like her prayers hadn’t been answered. Her healing powers had been significant, so she hadn’t changed the destination of her prayers for lack of response. But the force of energy within her was so powerful and close at hand that looking elsewhere for strength seemed foolish.

Sera tried to convince herself that the Elementals were divine, or at least emanations of the Divine Creator’s power. Of course, they were meant for the Divine Savior, and her use of them should have been as problematic as someone using her personal things without asking. It should have been that invasive, but Sera couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty about it. She trusted that everything was according to the Divine Savior’s plan. He would come and take this power from Sera and thank her for keeping it safe. She could tell that using it was not draining the Elemental in the slightest, so she would continue, hopeful that everything would work out.

They were two days out from the temple. They had ridden the horses hard, and on the afternoon of the second day, they made it to the headwaters of the Bright River. Several smaller streams flowed out of the hills and surrounding forest, having collected the frequent rainfall from the storms coming east and the melting snow on the southern Border Mountains. The start of the river was dammed, forming a small lake that consistently fed the river all year. A shipwright operation on the lake’s edge sent boats downstream a few times a week. During the summer, they were loaded with fruits and wine, but when they arrived, the barge scheduled to go down was filled with logs and coal. It wasn’t full, and after Brittany negotiated with a large coin purse and the use of their horses, the barge master allowed them on board.

Now, as the midnight hour approached, the rest of the crew were below deck, sleeping in hammocks. Well, most of them were sleeping.

“Sera,” Ethan whispered, thinking the young woman was asleep on the bench.

She sat up, looking around the top deck of the medium-sized vessel. There wasn’t much to see on the top level except a central cabin that held the pilot. He was focused on keeping the barge floating down the center of the wide river and didn’t pay any mind to the two youths behind him on the rear of the floating cargo ship.

“I was worried you had fallen asleep,” she said, looking at the height and shape of the moon to determine the time of night. “No one saw you?”

“No one saw me . . .” he replied, drawing out the last two words.

“But someone felt you leave,” Sera interpreted the literal response.

Natasha emerged from the shadows behind the tall man, her grey cloak almost black in the night, but her pale skin reflected the moonlight with a vibrance that almost made Sera squint. The supplicant seemed to notice the distraction and gathered her outer garment tightly around her. It was a cool spring night on the water, and she needed the warmth anyway.

Sera was in the back corner of the boat along the port side, and Natasha took a seat on a bench on the back edge, at a right angle to the young woman. Ethan eyed up a seat next to either of the women and felt his heart torn. Ultimately, he decided to sit cross-legged before both of them on the deck, completing the triangle.

“Do you want to tell us what happened?” Sera asked, opening the conversation they had been waiting to have for two days now. This was the first opportunity they had gotten to themselves, and still, Sera kept throwing glances to the open hatch that led below deck, expecting Brittany to immerge any second. The large woman didn’t have an Elemental in her, but if the cultivation of her own body had reached anywhere close to the level Sera had, she would be able to hear the slightest of noises. They would have to keep their voices down and hope the white noise of the water around them masked their conversation.

Sera could only be referring to one thing, and Natasha nodded. “Let me start at the beginning. I don’t think I believe in the Supplanter anymore, at least not in the man ruling over the temple we left behind. He is weak, foolish, and stupid. I think he is a puppet of the prince.”

“The prince?” Ethan asked.

Natasha paused, forgetting that these two were not Tallashites. “The son of the king,” she explained. “Prince Dantell, heir to the throne of Talla. What other prince is there?”

Sera lifted her hand to stop any further sarcastic response. “Forgive us,” she said. “We are from the far north, and kingdom affairs never come up in our daily lives.”

Now Natasha looked confused. “I thought you were from the southern islands.”

Sera winced at her slip but had already figured they would have to come clean with this woman to plan their next steps. “We have secrets to share as well, but you may continue.”

The supplicant nodded. “Several months ago, the prince brought in four gemstones that he claimed were the natural elementals. Mages had studied them for several years and gotten nowhere, but the prince believed that the human Elementals and the natural ones were linked, and the key to unlocking the second was in the first.”

Sera nodded, not as familiar with the natural elements’ texts, but she had heard of them. The idea that there were power sources for the elements like there was for the human ones was new to her but didn’t surprise her.

“As an impassioned, I was given the ruby to study – the fire gem. Each natural element is linked with a specific human element, and fire is linked to the heart. When the stones arrived, I was not one of the Blessed Mothers, but the previous chosen impassioned died, and I was selected as her replacement. I don’t know how she died, but I worried it involved the fire gem, so I started my sessions with it slowly. But, very soon, I was able to produce a flame. From the writings the prince had given the Supplanter, we believed it was possible to wield the fire as someone would wield a sword or a bow. However, anytime I tried to increase the size of the flame, I would burn myself.”

Sera saw Natasha rubbing her palms at the painful memories. “We didn’t know why, and the master blamed me and scolded me to try harder, to dig deeper, but the harder I tried, the more it hurt. I had guesses, and the prince fueled those suspicions by trying to turn me against the Supplanter, claiming he was not the one destined to be the savior. I already suspected that because I had been dreaming of a man I was destined to give my life to; it wasn’t my current master.”

Natasha paused, looking between Ethan and Sera, thinking both knew what came next. Ethan obliged. “You had dreams of me. You think I am supposed to be the Supplanter?”

“Or the savior,” Natasha offered, unsure which religion she should belong to.

“What’s the difference?” he asked. Sera looked like she was going to respond, but Ethan stopped her. “Let me see if I understand. One religion says the savior will be divine and come down from heaven to absorb the Elementals and heal his followers. I am not divine. The other says a man will rise, take control of those same powers, and repopulate the world. I am definitely not that man. I have no following, nor do I want one.” He looked at the two women before him, wondering if he should make a joke about only having a harem of two but wisely decided against it.

“I only know what I have dreamed,” Natasha said. “And what happened the other day when we met for the first time.”

Now they had come to what Sera wanted to know. “What did happen?”

“The fire was unlocked,” Natasha responded. “Always before, it was like I was a river running into a dam. The more strength I summoned, the more damage I did to the dam. That’s because I was focused on the man pretending to be the Supplanter, and my heart refused to make that connection, and the dam remained closed. But once I met you . . . once we touched . . .”

“The dam opened,” Sera finished for her, not liking how she looked at Ethan. Natasha nodded, but Sera wanted to push back. “But wasn’t it just the Elemental inside of Ethan? Wasn’t that what allowed you to release the power?”

“I never dreamed of the Elemental,” she replied. “I dreamed of him.” Natasha’s voice was concise, but her face showed signs of uncertainty. She didn’t really understand it. “But what of you? What are your secrets?”

Ethan looked at Sera, and she nodded. “We are not who we say we are,” he admitted. “An assassin attacked a paladin in our local town. We were there, chased him down, and I killed him.” He drew the enchanted sword. “I killed him with this weapon that he stole. I didn’t know anything would happen, but I’ve had the heart Elemental inside me ever since.” Ethan sheathed the sword.

“We knew the paladins would come looking for me, and if word got out that the assassin had failed, then the Supplanter would come looking for me as well. There would be no way to trick the paladins, so I pretended to be the assassin.”

“And you went with him?” Natasha asked, looking at Sera.

She nodded. “I knew more about the religious factions in play, and when he got too strong-willed, I could . . .”

“Tame him,” Natasha finished for her, sensing her hesitancy. Did they not know the reason why? she thought. “Only one mercenary was sent out after each Elemental,” she said aloud, changing topics. “Returning with two people would have raised questions.”

“And it did,” Ethan agreed. “We ran into the islander who had stolen the axe with the body Elemental, and he sniffed us out immediately. We fought, and he had us beat, but Sera snuck up behind him and killed him . . .” Ethan paused dramatically, looking again at his partner. Sera nodded. “She killed him with the axe.”

Natasha breathed in sharply, not having figured out that part. She had never been around Sera without also being near Ethan, and the young man’s presence was so all-consuming that she never sensed any power from the young woman, but now that she looked for it, reaching out with her emotions, she felt the physical presence next to her as clearly as if she were sitting next to Brittany. Thinking of the large woman, Natasha asked a question, whispering even quieter than before. “Has our escort noticed?”

Ethan and Sera guessed she was talking about Brittany, too scared to say her name aloud. “I don’t know,” Sera responded. “From what I’ve seen of the interaction between you two,” she paused, noticing the color rising in their faces even in the moonlight, “I feel it should be more obvious if one of us detected the other.”

Natasha nodded, understanding what she was saying. “Emotions drive the heart and are in the air all around us. Children can tell when their parents are in a bad mood. Friends know when they are sad or upset. You don’t need to be a heart disciple to feel it. But when it comes to physical presence, unless someone is over six feet or 250 pounds, you can’t really tell how strong they are by looking at them. Plus,” and now she dropped her voice even lower, “I don’t think the other Blessed Mothers are as talented as I am.”

Ethan and Sera looked shocked at her bold boast but figured it was probably accurate. “From what I can tell, almost all of Brittany’s strength and size comes from elixirs she drinks several times a week. I never see her meditating or performing any physical exercise other than sparring with her weapons. I don’t think she has a good connection with the source of her strength.” Natasha kept looking around as she spoke, expecting the imposing supplicant to appear at any moment.

“I think it is the same with the others. Eastasia is knowledgeable, but all I ever see her do is read. She is just smart, but I don’t think she really understands where intellect or the powers of the mind come from. As far as Quinsha, she is pregnant. That seems to be her only qualification. And she has only been in the position for the past few weeks since the last Blessed Mother . . . well . . . became an actual mother. The Supplanter has two other pregnant women I know of who are each two and four months behind Quinsha, respectively. Presumably, they will become chosen as the one before them gives birth.”

Sera scrunched up her face at the detestable practice. “And what are your jobs, exactly? I mean as Blessed Mothers. What are you supposed to be doing?”

“We are to aid and guide the Supplanter’s journey in obtaining all four Elementals.”

“By sleeping with him?” Ethan asked, the disgust evident in his voice and face.

“Traditionally, yes,” Natasha admitted. “But it has not been that way with me. I don’t entirely understand it, but I believe the Prince plays a role. He has made it clear that he wants me to be his queen someday. I also think our roles have changed since the actual Elementals entered the playing field. They play no part in Supplanter religion, as they were only believed to be a myth, but now he doesn’t need to sleep with cultivators to gain his power.”

“Bummer for him.” The sarcasm dripped from Ethan’s voice as heavily as water off the prow of the barge.

Natasha ignored him. “Instead of gaining power slowly, he will have all four powers inside him at once, and while they will balance each other, he will not know how to wield them. To specialize in just one of the human elements takes years of study. I have been at it for over 15 years, since I was about ten. No one can be properly disciplined in more than one, much less four, but the Supplanter will have all four and need a guide.”

“A guide would have been nice,” Ethan said under his breath.

“I can guide you,” Natasha was quick to answer.

“Hold on, sweetheart,” Sera cut in. “We all saw how that went last time. Or maybe you two were too distracted to see it, but I saw it. You were an inferno; if you had continued any longer . . .”

“I would have died,” Natasha cut in. “I know that. I would be foolish to engage in that type of bond again, with me being the source of the fire. But Ethan could learn to harness that power without danger to himself. The Elemental will never run out of energy; it will never drain his strength.”

“And that is what you are meant to do?” Ethan asked. “You are to train the Supplanter how to use the Elementals to sling fireballs?”

“We have only been working with the natural Elementals for a few months. That was never part of the original arraignment nor found in any of our religious texts. Though not as powerful as the natural elements, the human ones are still formidable. A man who is wise, strong, eternal, and driven by true devotion has his own power.”

“That is not your only duty,” Sera said, not really asking a question. “Your titles as Blessed Mothers are not merely symbolic.”

Natasha shook her head. “No, we are to bear his children. All the female supplicants will bear his children, but our offspring will be unique. Our union with the Supplanter will give us access to the power of the Elementals, and we will be able to transfer that power to our children. He should be able to share some of his power with each of his supplicants, but it takes effort, and he will only be able to perfect the process with the four chosen women who have the closest relation to him.”

“And you are okay with this?” Sera asked, confident that even without her religious bias, anyone should find this practice abhorrent.

Natasha frowned. “Long ago, I made peace with the fact that I was destined for this role, even if I was only a regular supplicant. But because of my discipline, there are other things to consider. For the scholars, it is an intellectual matter. Mating with the Supplanter is necessary to fulfill the ancient prophecies. For the immortals, it is all about producing life, and they get pregnant more frequently. For the physicals, it is about pleasure and satisfying a physical need. But for the impassions like me, sex is a matter of the heart. We cannot open ourselves up to just anyone. The Supplanter knows this, so he must focus our devotion on what he will become, not what he is.”

“I’m sure you are one big happy family,” Sera said, mimicking Ethan’s previous tone.

“We are not members of a brothel!” the supplicant bit back, a bit too loudly. She realized that and lowered her voice again. “And it is only a small part of our duties. Each chosen will spend time with him each day, guiding him to learn his Elemental power. We would only be invited to his bedroom once a month at the right time and once pregnant, not again for over a year.”

“But you don’t think the other women will be able to guide him as well as you?” Ethan cut in, trying to steer the conversation away from sex.

“I will never guide him,” Natasha said firmly. “Not now. Not after . . .” she let that thought trail off. “But, no, if our master somehow gains all four elementals, I don’t think the other chosen supplicants will be of much help to him. Seeing their impotence was one of the reasons I was losing faith. But now I have many others.”

“I am not the Supplanter,” Ethan said again, more urgently this time.

Before Natasha could argue, Sera waved her hand. “No one is. The Elemental Order was right. The Elementals need to be kept safe until the coming of the Divine Savior. That some of the Elementals are in humans right now is a setback but showing that we can handle this problem and keep the others safe will only prove our worth to the Divine Savior.”

“Prove our worth?” Ethan asked skeptically. “I thought you were only to show the Savior that you were ready? Now you sound like a perfector.”

Sera frowned at her friend, upset that he caught her in a religious contradiction. “It is the Elemental talking,” she said. “You knew what I meant.”

“Pride comes from the heart,” Natasha added with a smirk, quickly sensing the playful rivalry between her two new friends.

“Regardless,” Sera said with a slight growl, “we need to make sure the Supplanter doesn’t get all four.”

“And how do we do that?” Ethan asked. “It’s one thing to fight against crawners or bloodhounds, but I am no match for Quarton or Yori. With the Elemental, you are a much better fighter now, but could you even take Brittany?”

Sera didn’t look confident, her pride receding in the face of reality. Instead, they both looked at Natasha. She held up her hands defensively. “I know how to hold a sword, but I’m all heart and no match for a trained warrior.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sera responded. “The last Elemental will be guarded by a member of Sir Gerhold’s Order, probably more than one. We must establish our allyship with them as quickly as possible once the encounter happens, and then we can defeat the three others together. Plus, we may be able to convince Yori to give in since there will be no money in it for him. Even if we are defeated, Quarton and Brittany will take charge of the other weapons, and he won’t have a play but to give over his or be killed.”

The other two nodded at the sound reasoning. “Good,” she continued, standing to signal the end of the meeting. “Now, we should all get some sleep. We will probably arrive late tomorrow. If you know how, pray for our success. We will need it.”