“Why... why are you laughing...?” Berla asked with a frown.

“Hah... Sorry, that was just really unexpected,” I said. As I calmed down, I realized Berla looked more insecure right now than I had ever seen her before. It seemed like this was a big deal to her. Oh... My reaction wasn’t ideal I guess...

She looked down at the floor again, seemingly unsure how to continue. When she said nothing for a few moments, Tomar spoke up. “So... you didn’t get the Ruler Calling?”

“No... I didn’t...” Berla said.

What am I missing here? Is she sad about not having become a Ruler...?

“Hey... I really am sorry about my reaction. Why did you keep this from us though? Why... is it such a big deal?”

I guessed getting the Ruler Calling was highly desirable for most people, seeing how it would immediately put you above all common citizens in this town, but it didn’t seem like she was simply sad about not having received it. She actually appeared kind of ashamed. I looked at Tomar, to see if he had some kind of insight, but he just shrugged, signaling that he didn’t know the answer to my questions either.

“Come on...” Berla said, throwing me a sideway glance.

When I stared back at her in total confusion, she seemed to realize that I truly didn’t understand what she was getting at. Now it was her turn to look at Tomar for help, but once again, he just shrugged with an unsure expression on his face.

Berla looked between the two of us in exasperation. “I’m a fallen Ruler! And my uncle literally tried to hunt you down, after arresting you and letting you get tortured!”

That second part made some sense. Personally, I couldn’t care less about who her family was, and I was sure it was the same for Tomar, but it was true that we hadn’t been the king’s biggest fans. Initially, she might have kept it a secret so we wouldn’t abandon her, or worse. After that, there might not have been a good opportunity, and eventually she had put it off long enough for us to get back to Alarna, and she decided to just wait and see what would happen. I could sympathize with her. That’s for the second part, but...

“Uhm, what’s a fallen Ruler?” Tomar asked.

It was clear that Berla had expected him to know the answer to this question, and it seemed like she was thinking over how to respond to that not being the case.

“Hm, I would guess it’s a child of a Ruler who didn’t become a Ruler or something?” I said, theoryzing based on the term and what she had said. “Is that supposed to be... bad?”

The realization that we truly had no idea what was going on hit Berla hard and she stared at us with wide eyes. She finally started to explain that in the world of Rulers, a child not getting the same Calling as their parents was seen as shameful. After all, they were the ruling class. Based on her description, it was like the kid of a successful business owner not wanting to take over the company times ten. Even though it was not your fault in any way, you would become the black sheep of the family, and some would rather see you get kicked out. This did not happen to Berla, because her mother was quite infatuated with her, but maybe that would’ve even been preferable, because ever since her Calling ritual, she had been told that she had brought dishonor to her family. Not only by other Rulers, but also by guards and agents who were close to the royal family and wanted to see them flourish. As the child with the closest relation to the king, Berla had actually been supposed to become the next queen in the future, and for some, a world ended when this didn’t come to pass.

Everybody Berla had ever been surrounded with knew who she was, who her family was, and what a disappointment she had been. Aside from a few select friends who weren’t bothered by all of this, she had been surrounded by nothing but negativity for years. And even her uncle, the king, who tried to help her where he could, had apparently distanced himself from her, because it would’ve looked bad if he associated himself too much with his niece.

Neither me nor Tomar had been exposed to this world before. As far as I knew, this line of thinking didn’t exist among the commoners. For some families, it was heartbreaking when their child unexpectedly got a Calling that would put them in danger, but that was only out of fear of what could happen to them, not because they were seen as a dark stain on the family tree.

“Pari...” Berla said with a sad smile. “He was one of the most experienced agents around and he didn’t care about any of this. He always said that he’s too old to let such crap bother him, and he took me under his wing.”

Oh, Pari, I thought. We had barely talked about him since we buried him back then. On that day when we met Berla. He had indeed looked very old for a Fighter, and I wasn’t surprised someone that age had reached a point where they just did as they pleased. Good man.

It was weird to think that she had hid this from us all this time because she was afraid that we might dislike her for it, or think less of her. Even if we were familiar with this negative stigma, you would think she would realize that we didn’t care about such things. But that’s what years of being treated this way will do to a person. If you don’t know anything else, it’s natural to fear that anyone might react this way. And now that she has lost her leg, she can’t even do her job properly anymore... I guess it’s not so surprising that she was ready to abandon her life back then...

“My uncle put in a good word for me, so I could easily become an agent and stay close to the family... He meant well, but I think I might’ve rather become a guard... None of them wanted anything to do with me anymore after my ritual, not even people I thought of as friends before that point. I... didn’t want to leave my mother either though. So I bore it.”

“Hmhm...” I commented as she became quiet. We had mostly just listened to her story, and I felt like neither of us really knew what to say. She looked so sad, but I had never been good in such situations, and Tomar seemed out of his element as well. This was a big deal to her, and we could hardly just wave it off. She was scared people would distance themselves from her because of all this. Even us, despite our plans for this world and our flexible relationship towards Callings and destiny. I had to do something. With no better idea in sight, I scooted closer to her, put my hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up at me, I hugged her.

“You’ve got us now, and we’re not going anywhere,” I said. She didn’t respond verbally, but she hugged me back tightly and we stayed like that for a little while. How many years has it been since I hugged someone...?

***

Through the window in the High Priest’s office I could see it getting darker outside, and a lot of citizens started making their way home as their day slowly came to an end. Some wandered over to the market to buy ingredients for dinner, just like Tomar and Phiona had typically done in the past, some walked across the main square in smaller and larger groups, talking on their way, and many looked in the direction of the temple, sometimes spotting me looking outwards, making them wave at me with smiles on their faces. People were clearly hopeful that better days were just around the corner, and if I had anything to say about it, they would not be disappointed.

However, we still had a lot of work ahead of us, and two of the most important things we had to figure out required us to get the guards fully under control. We needed them, both against the talking beasts and to do something about Cerus. Less than a month from now, we would need blue stones once more, and with nobody in the neighboring town to mine them, we didn’t know how that would go. It was very likely that there were still stone stocks in the destroyed town, but the people of Alarna weren’t the only ones visiting Cerus, and a lot could happen in a month. As I waved back at the passersby, I thought how quickly they would turn on us if we told them that there was no more water.

“Reurig is coming back,” I said, spotting him walking in the direction of the temple. By his side was some guard that seemed vaguely familiar. “Hm... Hey, Tomar. Do we know that guy?”

Leaving the papers he was going through on the desk, he joined me at the window and looked at the guard. “I don’t think so,” he said. It wasn’t anyone we had been closely involved with, but I was sure that I had seen him before. Unfortunately, me recognizing a guard wasn’t optimal. No matter what we told people, there were some who had seen Tomar and me early on, with our beast-like aura, as we essentially committed crimes. These guards were more likely to treat us, or at least Tomar and Riala, with scrutiny, and if Reurig was bringing him back, this guy was presumably in a leading role right now.

“I guess we’ll know in a few minutes,” I said, and waited for them to make their way into the temple and up to the third floor, where the office was. Getting around the huge temple was pretty inconvenient, and I briefly thought about how a few additional staircases could make reaching this room much quicker and easier, but soon I would give full control back to Lilana anyway, and once I left the temple, I would hopefully not have to worry about these lengthy travel times anymore. Eventually, there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I said, and the door opened to reveal the people we had waited for. “Welcome back.”

Reurig nodded and stepped into the room, followed by the guard, who closed the door behind him. Now that I got a better look at him, I was able to place his face. It made sense that Tomar didn’t remember him, since he had been completely out of it at the time. This was the guard who had escorted Tomar home shortly after Phiona died. Based on the few glimpses I caught of him at the time, he had seemed a little annoyed at having been given this task, and he did the bare minimum to get Tomar, a devastated and grieving child, home. I was also fairly sure that he had been part of the squad that later arrested us as well.

“Lilly, this is Eissen Caroul,” Reurig said, introducing him. “Highest ranking guard of Alarna and informal Head Captain.”