Azela Incarnate

The following day, a letter arrived for Phoenix.

She broke the seal the moment it was placed in her hands and read it while standing in the doorway. "It's from Rachael. She says she'll meet us at the closest inn."

On the floor nearby, Catherine was sitting cross-legged with her new staff laid across her lap, carefully hollowing the wood with a small carving tool. "When?" she asked.

"Tonight. One of you will have to come with me, the other will have to stay and watch Tisha."

"It'll have to be me," Catherine said. "I'll tell Zel."

She set the tool and staff aside, brushing wood shavings from her lap. Her hands were steady. The rest of her was not.

Rachael.

Catherine had kept her expression composed and her voice even because Phoenix was watching, but as she crossed to the back door and stepped into the afternoon light, she let herself feel it. Spikes of anxiety filled her, clinging to her chest and tightening in her gut. Her breath became short. For a moment, she just stood there with her back to the house and her eyes closed.

First love seemed too small a phrase for what Rachael had been. She had left a hole in her when they parted, one haunted with ghosts of longing and regret. It had shaped her decisions every day since.

She found Azela around the side of the paper house, sitting on an overturned crate with her bare feet in the grass. She had her face tilted up toward the sun with her eyes closed. The sight of her loosened some of the tightness in Catherine's chest.

"Where is Tisha?" Catherine asked.

Azela answered without opening her eyes. "Under a cart a few feet from here. I'm pretending to count, and then I'm going to pretend to look for her. Maybe I'll pretend to find her, maybe I won't. My glitchen senses would make the game unfair, but she doesn't know about them."

"I'll be going with Phoenix to the inn tonight," Catherine said.

Azela opened one eye. "What about me?"

"Someone has to keep an eye on Tisha."

Azela sat up straighter now and opened both eyes. "Why are you so nervous?"

Catherine's gaze drifted toward the grass. "We're meeting Rachael."

"You finally get to see her again," Azela said. She tried to sound happy, encouraging. Her real feelings were a bit more complicated. Something sharp and instinctive had risen low in her stomach. She hated how immediate it was.

"We grew up together," Catherine said. "It's been so long."

Azela was careful with what her expression showed. "I'm happy for you." She made sure that her smile met her eyes so that Catherine knew that she meant it.

"I've changed," Catherine admitted quietly. "I wonder… I don't know if she'll like who I've become."

A breeze stirred the grass between them. Azela said, "Everyone changes. She probably has too."

Catherine nodded.

Azela slid down and hugged her. "I'll keep Tisha out of trouble. We'll be fine."

A faint smile touched Catherine's mouth. "Hopefully, all of us stay out of trouble."

Then she turned and disappeared back inside, leaving Azela alone with emotions she wished were easier to untangle.

* * *

Catherine and Phoenix stepped aside as a thief ran down the busy street, carrying an awkwardly sized crate and being pursued by three men in bronze uniforms. One of their staves was raised, and Catherine realized that her own staff still looked too similar to their own.

Her fingers tightened around the hollow wood that now concealed the Katherine Odachi inside. She turned slightly to keep it from view, hoping that they wouldn't recognize it.

From the armored man's raised staff came a fireball that flew toward the thief's general direction, heedless of the bystanders around them. No one had the warning or the time to get out of the way before it struck the side of a building. Cries erupted from the crowd as fragments of stone and wood scattered among those close by. The wall remained on fire for a time.

"Those idiots are going to get someone killed," Phoenix said as she watched a frightened family stumble away from the burning wall.

The sharp scent of smoke was already spreading through the street. Nearby shopkeepers rushed to salvage goods before the fire could spread any further.

Catherine squinted against the daylight and watched the thief dodge between a cart and a knot of pedestrians. "I know that thief. Excuse me." She pulled out the worn ledger-turned-grimoire out of her pocket and slipped out of sight. Phoenix could hear her singing quietly.

A many-legged rustling could be heard in the alleys, rising rapidly. Before anyone could question it, swarms of rats spilled out into the crowd. Panic and chaos ensued. People shrieked and leapt in every direction to avoid the vermin suddenly at their feet. The authorities chasing the thief now had to deal with both people and rats rushing into them.

Their pursuit slowed and then stopped as they found themselves swamped on all sides by people fleeing rats that fled from people. One guard lost his footing entirely and disappeared beneath a surge of scrambling civilians that fell with him. Another swung his staff wildly in an attempt to clear space around himself, accomplishing little besides worsening the confusion. The rats darted through every available gap, brushing against boots and vanishing beneath wagons.

As they were distracted, the thief rounded a corner and was gone.

The rats were vanishing as suddenly as they appeared, fleeing back into their hiding spots as Catherine stepped out of hers. "Well then, let's get moving." She continued onward with a smirk and a spring in her step.

That bit of mischief had put her in a good mood. Still, she wasn't prepared for the tidal wave of emotion that she felt when stepping into the inn and seeing Rachael for the first time in years.

In all of her daydreams about how this moment would go, she never imagined that it would happen in a dingy, foul-smelling inn. Even so, the sight of her was like opening a cage that held her heart. Even after hearing otherwise, she had been carrying a heavy amount of guilt until that moment, certain that Rachael had met her end alone in the myst.

Rachael sat at a table in a far corner. A lantern hanging nearby cast a warm glow across her soft features and reflected on the metal of her facial piercings. She hadn't noticed Catherine yet. Her attention was fixed on the book in front of her.

Catherine was stricken by the beautiful woman that Rachael had grown into. Suddenly she was aware of the scars on her own face, how messy her hair must be, and the itching on her skin. When was the last time she had properly cleaned herself? Did she smell bad? Weeks of sleeping in the wild probably showed in ways she hadn't thought of until this moment.

Then Rachael looked up, and their eyes met. A moment passed where Catherine felt frozen in time. Then Phoenix pushed her from behind, saying, "Yes, yes, my sister is fairly attractive. Now come on, you're blocking the door."

Rachael got up and met them halfway. Before Catherine could stop her, she reached out and put a hand on Catherine's cheek. Her thumb stroked Catherine's scars gently.

"I can heal these," Rachael said, and she backed away to get a fuller view of Catherine. "You're so tall now."

And you're so beautiful, Catherine thought but didn't say. Instead she said, "I've missed you. I was sure that you were dead."

Phoenix made a sound and said, "Good to see you, little bird. I'm surprised to find that you made a friend in the temple."

"She was a fellow acolyte," said Rachael. "A ray of light in that dark place."

"I'll let you catch up then, while I get a drink." Phoenix left toward the bar.

Rachael stepped up to Catherine again and they hugged.

A moment passed.

As they separated, they caught each other's eyes, and Catherine felt her heart skip. She remembered the feeling of Rachael's lips on her own, and knew that Rachael was remembering the same. If she had leaned in, she would know it again.

But then she thought of Azela and the reason she was here. The temptation passed and they both took a seat at the table.

"It is good to see you again," Catherine said. "I never knew you had a sister."

"When our parents died, we were separated," said Rachael. "She was adopted into a family, whereas I was given to the temple. She found me first and sent a letter. That was one of many things that prompted my departure."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Rachael smiled bitterly. "I wasn't supposed to have found that letter. I was more than a little paranoid about anyone knowing where I was going. I'm sorry."

"You made the right choice," said Catherine. "They interrogated me after you left, but I had nothing to tell about your whereabouts." She touched the scars on her face. "They were very thorough. You set a bad example, in their eyes. Giving acolytes the idea that they could just leave at any time."

"I'm glad you got out as well," Rachael said. "Did you try to follow me?"

Catherine shook her head. "No, I was there for far too long, thinking I could make changes from within the system. But instead, they simply threw me out of it." She leaned back. "Exiled at my own ordainment. I should have seen that coming."

Phoenix returned with a pint she had already half-emptied. She sat with them. "Have we gotten down to business yet?" she asked.

Catherine looked at Rachael. "How much do you already know about my situation?"

"Only that you're traveling with an amnesiac and dealing with a curse," Rachael said. "I'm a healer, I might be able to help."

Catherine leaned in and kept her voice low. "'Tis not a healer we seek, just information. My problem does not stem from any ordinary curse. It stems from my namesake."

Rachael began to pale as she realized what Catherine was saying. She tried to keep both her voice and her panic down as she said, "Absolutely not! What you would court with is a death worse than death! They keep it locked away for a reason!"

"I know," Catherine said. "I've seen its work firsthand. And I feel it at all times."

Rachael's eyes were wide in growing terror. "You… Are you saying that it's already in your possession? How are you still talking? You must be mistaken. There's no way."

Catherine placed her staff on the table. "I'm not mistaken. I've lived with its whispers for a while now, tugging at my sanity. Even so, I cannot bear to be away from it for long, which is why I've had to bring it with me."

Rachael pulled back from the table but remained seated. "You brought it here? Catherine, this thing's presence alone could kill all of us!"

Catherine tried to keep her tone assuring as she said, "It's no threat while in my care. Rachael, its minds are linked to my own. I know it as few ever have, or would dare to dream of. But I don't know everything. Its history, its inner workings. I need as much knowledge as you can find for me, so that I can unlink it from me without passing its curse to another."

Phoenix said to Rachael, "For as long as she's been with me, she's been in full control of herself. I trust her when she says we're not in immediate danger."

Rachael had her hand on her heart, trying to calm herself. "I don't understand how this is possible. It is a weapon of last resort. It hasn't had a true wielder since times of myth." She took a few breaths as she thought. "This cannot wait. We're going to the academy now. I know ways around security there." She looked into Catherine's eyes. "I will save you, I promise."