Page 105 of Chaos and Destiny


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She narrowed her eyes and evaluated me. She was a fierce female to be sure. “I’ve heard of the rebels. They’ve been around looking for males to join them. They said I could join too, but we’re safer here. Away from that.”

“This is safe?” Gaea looked at the dead body bleeding all over the floor.

The child stepped forward. “We cannot travel safely. We tried, but it is just me and my mother.”

“Tian, mind your tongue.”

“I know you don’t trust me, but I could take you to the rebels if you truly want to go there. You could pack only what you need and quickly,” Gaea said.

She wouldn’t join the rebellion, but she still believed in them. She would never take a child there if she didn’t think they could keep her safe.

“Do you mean it?” the girl asked with doe eyes locked on Gaea.

“I do.” Gaea smiled, her face tender and kind. Her love of children was greater than anything I’d ever witnessed. Perhaps she had acquired that from Oleonis.

“We won’t go,” the mother answered, pulling her child back. “You take your weapons and get out of my house.”

“But Mama,” the girl cried. “This is our chance to leave. Next time, what if no one is here to save us?”

“You let me worry about this, child. You don’t know if these fae can be trusted. Never trust anyone. How many times have I told you?”

“Trust is fluid in Alewyn.”

Everyone turned to see a strange old female standing at the door. She had long white hair and carried a staff with braided leather hanging from the top. Her face was wrinkled and her eyes were unnaturally large.

“Aibell!” The child crossed the room to her.

“TheAibell?” Gaea whispered, looking to me with her mouth gaping wide.

“Speak up, child of the wind,” the old female snapped, slamming the bottom of her staff into the floorboards.

“A-are you really Aibell?”

“She really is.” Tian looked to the older female as if she were a god.

“We have not called you, you may take no payment from me today,” the mother said, voice shaking.

“You must leave, or you never will.” She stared down the female, then moved closer to me. She walked carefully around me, judgement as heavy as her steps.

“Ah. There you are. In there,” she said, tapping her staff to my chest. Gaea and I exchanged a glance, but no one moved. “You will lose all hope, but I remember, and so will you. Your magic is what you make it, Temir.”

“I didn’t realize I had lost myself,” I snipped.

“Time is relative,” she answered.

“What does that even mean? Who are you?”

“I am Aibell,” she answered before disappearing.

Gaea looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her slackened jaw snapped shut, and she turned to the girl. “Do you know who that was?”

“Yes. That was Aibell,” she said, giggling. “She has ponies, and I got to ride them with my friend Ara one time.”

“Quiet, child. You may take us to your rebellion headquarters,” her mother said.

“Is there anything you wish to take?” Gaea asked.

“There is nothing here for me anymore,” she said. “I will dress, and we can go.”