Legends of Vecira

Veli watched Risi carefully. Xe’d been practicing with a spear for the last few days, and it seemed to suit xer. Combat in general suited xer. It was distracting to have xer practice in the same room.

It was like xe moved fast enough to redirect the air to keep xer strikes at full momentum.

Xe turned toward Veli, then stopped, holding the spear in a throwing position. Veli realized he was in the way of the targets. He moved to the side.

Bullseye.

“You’re quite the adept,” Veli complimented.

“I certainly like the spear best so far, but I don’t know if it’s the right one.”

Xe took a glance at Veli before running to retrieve the spear from the target. It was lodged a little too deeply.

“Could you assist?”

Veli grabbed closer to the blade, and pulled it out with some stumbling. Risi kept him from falling all the way, granting him a brief moment in xer arms before setting him upright again.

“Thank you,” xe said, gently taking the spear from his hands, “Sorry you had to fall.”

“Falling is no problem with you there to catch me.”

“I won’t be there to catch you after you defeat Ulven.”

“It wouldn’t be that difficult to become consort. You’ve had no trouble defeating me so far.”

The same challenge that determined a general could instead determine a consort, if the challenger so requested after their victory. Many great romance books started with a general letting someone wise defeat them in a challenge to gain their aid. Then the forced proximity of a general and consort living together devolved in the expected way. Veli also enjoyed the adventures where the wise person seduced the general into letting them win, only to claim generalship after their victory.

Risi’s expression looked concerned. Xe probably compared Veli’s statement to romance stories as well. For some reason Veli couldn’t find the words to correct the misunderstanding.

“What are you discussing?” Vara asked as he finally entered the training room.

“Veli believes it wouldn’t be difficult for me to become consort after he defeats Ulven.”

“Why would you wish to become consort?” Vara asked, a hint of accusation in his tone.

“I do not,” Risi assured.

Vara seemed relieved.

“Nonetheless,” He said, “Let’s put it to the test. Veli, see if you can defeat a spear.”

Veli managed to dodge the initial blow, grab the spear, and pull it out of Risi’s hand. Xe made the mistake of looking to Vara for a moment, so Veli could manage to grab xer and pin xer to the floor.

“Hah!”

Vara had the spear to Veli’s throat.

“Don’t let your guard down. You’re not victorious until he’s either dead or surrendered.”

“Understood.”

“May I stand up now?” Risi asked.

Veli scrambled off of her, offering a hand, which xe gladly took.

“You should avoid distractions too,” Vara told her, “I’m not usually there to point a blade at whoever threatens you.”

“I’m well aware,” Risi said.

Vara looked away.

“What are my directions this time?” Veli asked.

Vara was thinking for a moment. He clearly hadn’t thought Risi would actually lose this time.

“Distraction: I’ll find a few trusted individuals to scream in your face.”

“This doesn’t seem like a normal lesson.”

“It’s not,” Vara confirmed, “Risi, come recruit with me.”

The two left Veli alone to wonder.

“You shouldn’t entertain such proposals,” Vara said behind the closed door.

“I already told you—” Risi defended as they started down the stairs.

“I know you have no intention now, but I need to be clear why you wouldn’t wish to be consort.”

“The last thing I want is public scrutiny,” she acknowledged.

“The public is less of a concern than Veli is.”

Risi rolled her eyes.

“He said the idea of you being demon-addled was irfinshit. He wouldn’t—”

“I wouldn’t have trained him if he held too much against your mother, but xe is not the only demon people remember.”

“Then who?”

Vara took a few deep breaths.

“Veli’s parents abandoned him on the order of the progenitor of your mother’s line. The trait you share with xer,” he put a hand on top of Risi’s head, “Xe inherited from aer.”

“I already said I don’t—”

“When I found out xe was aer kin, I almost killed xer myself, and ae never harmed me directly.”

“Did you love it by then?”

“That is why the betrayal hurt.”

It was rare that Vara admitted any problems with The Demon.

“Veli considers you a friend,” Vara continued, “And his comment today show he could see you as a partner. How long would it be until he convinced you to take off your headscarf?”

Risi was still focused on The Demon.

“Why don’t you you—”

“Xe proved xer innocence,” Vara explained, “Then xe used what I taught xer to permanently scar another demon.” He traced a line down the left side of his face, over his eye.

“I didn’t know it fought alongside you.”

“Xe didn’t. Ae cornered xer, unaware xe’d learned to fight back.”

“Fight back?”

Risi had never questioned the demon’s life before Vecira. Vara was usually too busy defending it to deal in specific stories. What did the demon need to fight back against?

“You should ask Veli to join you in Vecira next time,” Vara said, “I think some air would do you both some good.”

That didn’t sound like Vara.

“Why him? Anyone else—”

“He’s the only one I trust to watch your back, and he should be reminded of why he’s training. He’s not doing this for our purposes after all.”

“And what if seeing him in his element makes me decide to become his consort?”

“Then you may return at any time, and if you do not want him after you, I’ll disrupt the general’s succession myself.”

For once, Risi understood why Vara was called the Slayer.

“Also, I need you to take a letter to the scholar’s office. A messenger won’t seem as conspicuous crossing city borders.”

“Who are you sending it to?”

“One of the few people we can trust to keep this secret.”

Risi couldn’t think of anyone worth risking a letter through public sources for.

“You’ll need to keep the letter a secret from Ulven. Use Veli to help if necessary, but keep him out of it if possible.”

“Then why bring him at all?”

“Distraction,” Vara said, “Test his focus on the mission.”

Was everything a test now?

“Arnelo,” Vara called, “Gather up anyone who feels like yelling for a few moments.”

This was the first time Veli had flown an Irfin this long.

The lessons were standard for every employee of Vara’s, and they’d been terrifying at first. Now they were terrifying again.

Luckily, his Irfin knew to follow Risi’s, and Risi had no struggle in flight. Xer headscarf didn’t even flap in the wind.

Eventually, they landed in Vecira, and Veli took a grateful moment to appreciate ground beneath his feet.

“Two this time, ideally next to each other,” Risi told the stable hand as xe offered payment.

The stable hand nodded and looked at Veli.

“It here to insure you only take one trip?”

“Probably,” Risi said.

“Veli?” Elhomm asked, stepping out of the stable, “You look stronger.”

“They feed me well at the ranch,” Veli said, hugging his old friend.

“And the labor is good exercise,” Risi added, “Are you helping at the stable?”

Elhomm nodded.

“I’m even getting some training.”

“Maybe we’ll poach you next.”

“Don’t you dare,” the stable head said, “You may be our best income, but we can’t just let you take our employees.”

Risi giggled mischievously, finally comfortable after their consort discussion.

Veli dare not comment on the change, instead taking the spare bag from his Irfin, as Risi grabbed the bag from xers.

Then they were on there way out, with no space for privacy.

“I’m sorry if I upset our employer,” Veli said, “I didn’t realize how protective he was.”

Risi shook xer head.

“He’s been harder on you because of your potential, nothing to do with me.”

Veli would have stopped if Risi wasn’t pulling him. Vara had seen progress.

“Still, I heard him say you shouldn’t entertain such proposals.”

Risi stopped this time. Veli stopped with xer.

“How much did you hear?”

“Just that, but it was enough.”

Risi’s eyes darted throughout the square, before settling on a back alley to pull him into.

“How well do you trust me?” xe asked.

“Considering where it’s gotten me, I might as well continue.”

Risi took his arm, placing xers next to it. Veli wasn’t sure what he was supposed to see.

“It’s hard to tell,” xe whispered, “But my skin is lighter than most Vecirans.”

“You spend much time inside.”

“That is not why,” Risi said, “I…” She watched Veli intently enough to make him blush, glad the alley was shadowed enough to hide it, “Have you never wondered why the wind never harms my flight with Noone?”

Veli thought back to the unruffled headscarf.

Risi flicked the space in front of his face, causing a gust large enough to push back all his hair.

Risi had domain over the wind. There was only one race that could manage that.

“Fey?” he asked, “Is that why animals like you so much?”

Risi kept watching him.

“Aren’t the fey dead?” he asked.

Risi shook xer head.

“Not fey,” Xe revealed, “My father was Raosi; I am nephilim, the race that calls itself Mages.”

Veli thought Nephilim were part demon, but why would demon blood grant domain over the air?

Veli probably wasn’t the only one who thought that.

“Is that why you hide your hair?” Veli asked.

“It’s a strange color.”

Veli nodded.

“May I see it sometime?”

“No,” Risi said quickly.

Veli bowed in apology.

“Thank you for letting me know. It must be difficult to hide.”

Risi shrugged.

“Power passes for skill, and I don’t need to correct people, but it’s not worth the public scrtuiny.”

She stepped out of the alley, ending the conversation as she walked to the next booth.

The shopping was fairly routine until Veli grabbed Risi to follow a seemingly random child, ending the chase in an abandoned building.

Several more children came to watch them, eyes on Veli.

“How have you all been?” Veli asked.

“Are you here to teach us how to fight the guards?” an older looking one asked. Except for Veli, none of them were full-grown.

“Is it the one that fought them off before?”

“I didn’t fight them off,” Risi revealed, “They caught me.”

“Surely you’ve succeeded before,” Veli said.

Risi shook xer head.

“They always catch me.”

“Why?” another child asked.

“They outnumber me?”

“Why do they need to catch you? We can usually run away,” said another.

“We can’t stay long,” Veli redirected, “But we can teach you a few basic forms.”

The kids cheered. Veli put an arm on Risi’s shoulder. Xe pulled away quickly.

This was the opportunity to send the letter without exposing Veli. Xe handed him the bags of groceries, keeping the letter for xerself.

“If I stay longer, I risk exposing all of them.”

Veli grabbed xer wrist.

“Why do they always attack you?”

“They don’t trust me. Meet me at the stable once you’ve gotten our fruit supply.”

Xe popped Veli’s hand off xer wrist and left by a different door before jumping through the buildings. Xe usually stayed lower, so it was hard to ignore the view.

Vecira may not be home to xer, but it was beautiful. The triumvirate’s castle dominated the scenery, clearly meant to house everyone in case of an attack.

There had been many demon attacks before Risi was born. Xe’d heard that much. They stopped caring after Vara was taken.

Xe turned to watch the general’s annex. That was where xe first came to this world, the location that bound xer to Ulven.

The perfect place to cause a scene.

The walls of the castle weren’t heavily guarded, so it was only a matter of a few buildings, easy to glide over with magek.

Xe stopped by the Scholar’s office, one of many tossing their letters into a collection bin.

After returning to the wall to avoid attention, xe was able to glide toward the General’s annex. Xe hid herself from the training guards, silently noting the flaws in their form. No wonder they needed at least three to take xer down. They were barely trained.

Xe edged closer to the grounds. These felt familiar. Xe realized after a moment that the ranch was a more streamlined version of this design. Vara must have had it in mind when he built the place.

Xe dodged several servants, stopping a moment at the wall that marked the special place.

Xe looked in the window. The garden was overgrown, and no one was currently inside.

Xe jumped silently over the wall, landing gently on the ground.

Xe could see the inspiration for the garden back home, though most of the plants had either outgrown their allotments or withered to nothing. Xe took a deep breath, pacing around for a moment.

This wasn’t necessarily the best place to cause a scene. If xe was found, of course, xe’d probably be arrested for much longer than usual, but no one entered this garden. Xe was arguably safer here than xe’d ever been in the market. For some reason, though, it felt like there was something important here.

The fountain was stagnant, growing its own environment within. Risi disturbed the water slightly, but found nothing. The bushes had little more than whatever creatures had wandered in and some rotting fruit.

Xe sat on one of the benches for a moment, and spotted xer mysterious quarry on the other side.

Xe lifted the book off the ground. The title was written in a language Xe didn’t recognize, and the text within was the same, but some instinct made xer know it was xers, or at least it was meant to be.

Xe couldn’t risk losing the book now, letter or not. Besides, it wasn’t like Vara actually told xer to cause a scene, just to keep Ulven from learning about the letter.

Xe held it close, wishing xe’d brought xer bag, checked the guards, and jumped back over, running quietly toward the wall.

One guard tried to trip xer, though xe managed to jump over aer spear, but two more swiftly grabbed xer arms, causing the book to drop.

“You stole from the general’s library?” the guard asked.

“No.” Xe stole from a garden in the general’s home, not that xe was sure it counted as stealing. The book had to have come from the demon, and xe was the demon’s kin.

“Trespassing is a crime, especially alongside thievery. Your name will not save you this time.”

At least xe’d made a good distraction.

When my mother left me, he gave me a name, Mother said, Not that I will leave you.

No, of course he wouldn’t. Mother loved her, he said so every day.

I want to wait until we’re with your father, but…

Mother was spinning around, causing the baby to laugh.

We each only had one parent love us, and both would work with the Raosi tongue. My mother was named Niviane.

She didn’t like that one.

Maela.

No.

What was mother’s name? He never said it.

Mother kissed the baby’s head.

My name is dangerous to know. I will tell you once we are safely with your father.

Mother hummed a lullaby.

River? You were born on Earth, so a name from one of their tongues might suit you.

Mother shook his head.

Closer, he admitted, But not quite.

Your father and I call each other Rovnabai. Would you accept Rovna?

No.

You like R though, that’s the right sound to start with.

Mother listened. The baby could tell because Mother’s listening felt like a blanket in her mind.

Risan, Mother concluded, No not quite, but very close, right amount of syllables, close sound…

Risi

Mother smiled, holding Risi close.

We’ll be home soon.

The ground beneath Risi was wet and cold.

Mother was gone.

Risi cried.