The women strolled down the clean cobblestone street further away from the temple, ironically in better spirits than when they’d been inside it. Saren carried the satchel that had Zara’s temple gown squished in it. Its only use was going to be tearing it apart to help Zara block her blood flow. Saren had purposely left the soiled part of the gown in one of the potted plants at the temple. Everything there, including the water and its greenery, were considered blessed and pure. It was amusing to imagine what the attendants would do once they found it. It was even more amusing to imagine how the priest himself would react.

“I am really so sorry,” Saren told Zara again. “That wasn’t the right place to start our tour.”

Zara pressed her lips together, willing to forgive, but she needed to ask: “Why did you want to go there, Saren? I know you talked about liking spirituality but, now that I remember it, don’t you have a different belief?”

Saren took a quick glimpse at her as they walked through a quiet neighborhood. “Did I say that?”

Well, truly, Saren had been under some sort of strange possession when she mentioned Lilith’s people driving hers farther north. Just from that, and the fact that the isles tended to have a belief system of their own, according to an interesting literature Zara recently happened upon, she assumed that Saren would be against the Faith of Lilith. Her willingness for a temple visit today was surprising.

Saren sighed, defeated. “I am not sure what to believe anymore. My people’s faiths are what yours call myths. Spirits, wanderers, seers, destiny…meanwhile, I want to believe there is a much higher power here, watching over us. Helping us. Perhaps, I had misunderstood Lilith’s people. I wanted to test myself in that temple, but…it was wrong. It felt very wrong. And I’m sorry I pulled you into it. I knew you didn’t want to from the beginning. I was very selfish. But I thought that, if the experience was good, and if I had been mistaken, then it would have been worth it. Our moods would have been lifted, particularly yours.”

“So you do not have a single belief? Not even from your own people?”

Saren smiled wistfully. “I do. Not much in the gods, but I do believe that a person can be given multiple chances at life. Be it human, spirit, or mage.”

Zara’s insides jolted at hearing the word “mage” through Saren’s lips for the first time.

“We are all here with a purpose,” Saren went on. “We will be born again and again and again, through many different souls, good and bad, until we have completed that purpose. This division between man and magic, these past wars in our history, are so meaningless to me. We are all from this world, and we must reside in it together. What is the point in this superiority? First the mages, now the humans. Neither are invincible, in the end.”

Zara searched Saren’s face, but all she saw was clarity. This was Saren speaking, not the hypnotic version of her. Zara was in awe. A vague recollection of Naz’s frighteningly black gaze suddenly popped into her mind. It had been their final face-to-face interaction, and Naz had said something about mages and humans living in harmony as an “illegal faith.” Naz had also expressed a distaste for the upper northern people as well. Perhaps, he had also been referring to Saren’s people.

Saren was exactly what Revan had described—an anomaly. She wasn’t a mage, but she wasn’t fully spirit or human either. But if anyone in authority were to find this out, she would be taken, tried as a mage, and publicly executed. Her belief system was indeed prohibited in these lands. All the temples and religions in this continent took humanity’s side only. Everything else was blasphemous.

Saren’s breathing suddenly became heavy. Zara stopped them where they were, concerned. The gem had brightened for a quick moment before returning to normal. The woman put a hand over her chest, as if there was something wrong with her heart.

“Saren? What’s wrong?”

Saren gulped, then shook her head like it was nothing. “I’m fine. I just…I don’t know.”

“What? What did you feel?” Zara pressed. It had something to do with the gem’s magic. It was taking effect. Zara wasn’t sure exactly how it would, but if Revan was using her power right now, perhaps Saren had felt that.

“I felt a bit ill. But it went as fast as it had come. Have I stressed myself too much?” Saren groaned. “Look at what my foolishness has caused. I’m fine now, Zara. No need to worry.”

They walked on. The road was steadily getting crowded as they approached a market zone. Zara was starting to see the sea more clearly. The breeze was delightful, as was the salty scent of the world’s largest body of water.

Zara turned to stand in front of Saren. The woman still looked uncharacteristically insecure. Zara wanted to forgive and forget. Even if the temple visit was a case of poor judgment, Saren wasn’t a horrible woman for it, and in the end she had looked out for Zara like a decent friend would. Zara smiled encouragingly. Maybe Revan was right. Maybe, besides for the purposes of their mission, this could be a second try at a real friendship.

She reached out and took a gentle hold of Saren’s arms, gazing up at the taller woman with more ease than she had before.

“Maybe we could try again? It’s like you said. Despite the ugliness here, there’s still a lot of beauty for us to see, apparently. And I want you to be the one to show it to me.”

Saren’s insecurity transformed into a jubilant grin. She laughed and pulled Zara into the market.

As the women passed by a stall shadowed by tarps and trees, Zara felt a peculiar set of eyes following them. Very quickly, the eyes turned into a fully formed presence, carefully concealed among the throng of shoppers. Zara walked on like nothing was wrong, though she kept one hand at her side, near the dagger in her pocket.

The Sorko scales had come to use, as he suspected they would.

Revan swam in the depths of the ocean. It had been so many years since he’d done this that he allowed himself the leisure of enjoying it. He swam at a slow pace toward the caves situated behind the castle. There was no chance he would be allowed in through the main gates, for obvious reasons. He was not acquainted with the royal family; he was a nobody. There were other methods of passage at his disposal, even a forceful entry through the gates if necessary. But Revan wanted to remain as hidden as possible. The palace grounds were always teeming with servants. He did not want to be seen at all, even if he cast a memory alteration over them.

This was also a good excuse for him to use his beloved scales, in his own special way.

What he hadn’t taught Zara was that in certain cases, one had the option of transfiguring into an animal of choice, half-formed. Doing so was more complicated, and Zara had yet to accomplish a full morph without hurting herself in the process.

Revan’s current form was bigger and broader than normal, with a scaly blue and black tint like that of a normal Sorko fish. But his upper half remained humanly intact. His teeth were incredibly sharp, as were the points of his ears. His irises were a deep red color, and practically shone in dark waters. Spiky fins protruded from his elbows and on his back down to his lower half, which was a long, thick tail—the only part of him that did not resemble a man. This tail had the strength of twenty muscle men. Revan could easily smash the bottom of a boat, or even damage a small ship, with his tail alone.

He surfaced near the opening of the cave, where the waters were still deep and he wouldn’t be noticed by guards. Hardly any soul roamed these parts. A mile away stood the castle, tall and proud. Behind him, the ocean went on forever. Thick white clouds swirled endlessly across the horizon, shrouding life and land beyond it in mystery.

The palace was a gold beacon among the city, surrounded by red fort. He can see the many windows aligning each floor. He could only imagine how many more structures were within those walls. In all the places he had been in his long life, he had never been able to step foot within the ancient palace walls. The Sanyaran Sun waved to him in the form of a flag situated at the top of the highest tower.

“You are a sight for sore eyes, my dear.”

Revan was not the least bit surprised to hear her silky voice so close by, yet his heart involuntarily pinched anyway. His old instructor emerged from the shadows of the cave, a Sorceress he hadn’t seen since he was a young man in soul. She looked the same as ever—tall, slender, and as sharp as the spikes around the palace’s fort.

Dayana of Rune, the most ancient city in their southern homeland, sauntered easily toward the water’s edge. She wore a blackened jewel wrap gown that reached the top of her ankles. Her midnight hair, graced with a bit of gray, was tied back, leaving her tan shoulders exposed. A thick gold necklace lined her bare neck, and her matching earrings drooped heavily on her lobes. She smiled at Revan with maroon lips, and her sultry hazel eyes popped against the thick lines of kohl.

Despite being over a thousand years old, her appearance had barely reached middle-aged. It was no matter. The Sorceress radiated dark beauty.

“It’s been so long, and this is the form you greet me in?” Dayana clucked her tongue. “What a shame. I was hoping to see someone more familiar and handsome.”

“You’ve seen me, Mistress,” Revan said, his voice deep and grating in this rather hideous guise. He swam closer to her, baring his teeth on purpose. “I know you’ve been watching me.”

Her slim brow arched. “Is that so?” But it was a question that didn’t need an answer. She already knew.

“For how long?”

“Since your arrival in Darhai.”

Revan’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, which incited a soft laugh from Dayana.

“Get out of that water and please, turn yourself back into the Revan I know. I cannot take you seriously as you are now. Those eyes…my dear gods. I do appreciate your cautious approach. But why Sorko?”

Revan shrugged, flapping his tail. “They are fast swimmers. I did not wish to keep you waiting.”

Dayana nodded in approval, even though Revan didn’t need it.

“So,” Revan went on, “you’ve lifted the barrier.”

“That I have.”

“Why did you put it up at all? Why conceal yourself from me?”

Dayana turned her back on him. “You’d better hurry on then before a fisherman spots you. We will talk by the Reena statue. It’s not far from the cave’s entrance. I’ve set up a table near it. I hope you haven’t filled up on too many sea creatures already, but I brought some treats I know you like.”

Revan did consume some other fish while he’d been swimming, but the woman knew his favorites, so he was willing to eat more. A long conversation just wouldn’t do while he was half under water anyway. The gills on his neck were a source of discomfort amid the open air.

“I brought coffee as well.” Dayana side-eyed him, gleaming. It was an expression she used to use on him all the time when he was a boy.

“I’m coming,” he groaned, swimming away to find shallower land.

Revan’s heart gave an uncharacteristic pound. It truly felt as though no time had passed between them, even within only a few minutes of meeting after multiple decades apart.