The Darkness

River Magic

"Wake up, lover."

I groaned against the ache in my muscles, stretching like a cat as my foggy mind recognized Paeris' voice. When my fingers didn't brush him, I curled tighter into the warmth of the bed.

"It's time to wake up, Ray." He said a little louder, clearly trying to coax me from my cocoon of warmth.

"Just hold me a little longer, please." I whispered sleepily, searching for him with my arms again. "I never get to sleep in with you anymore."

He laughed then, but it was odd. It was as if he wasn't quite in the room with me. As if he were an echo in the room.

"I wish I could hold you now."

I shot up in bed then, my sleepy eyes darting around the room, looking for him. He was gone. Cage groaned from the floor beside my cot, his own sleep disturbed by my sleepy discussion. Reality hit me like a brick wall: Paeris wasn't here. I wasn't in the High Wall. We weren't home.

My eyes darted over sleeping bodies around me, memory of reality slowly coming back to me. We were still in Fluvis.

There hadn't been enough room for us to have private rooms to ourselves, despite how hard Jonas had fought for me to have a small room for myself for privacy. Instead, we had been placed in a small room that had been set up for the guards and lesser nobles of the Region. It had been the safest and most realistic place to sleep, but my heart wrenched at the memory of Paeris' voice. I wondered if Laurel had tried to contact me and Paeris was able to interfere again. Or maybe I had been so exhausted, I imagined him.

I sighed, running my hands through my matted curls as Jonas brought me a glass of water. He looked better rested than he had the past few days and his shoulder length hair was tightly braided with a small piece of twine. I downed the water quickly, not realizing how badly my throat was burning until I swallowed the cool liquid.

"How did you sleep? You seems restless."

"Fine. Better than I have been, actually." It was true. While I hadn't slept perfectly, it had been a peaceful and mostly dreamless sleep. I couldn't admit to Jonas that I had dreamt - or imagined - his son coaxing me awake.

"Wonderful. You will need your strength for Braun." He remarked in a fatherly way and patted my shoulder fondly. "I'll leave you to freshen up and Delphine has requested you meet her at the water today. She said something about wanting to teach you intuition before we head out."

I nodded slowly, unsure if I was prepared for more training, with the way my muscles ached. I felt a bit better after my float in the water the night before, but the anxiety of what was to come seemed to hit me two-fold. All of this was becoming so real.

I sighed as I watched Jonas retreat, the leathers of his traveling shirt reminding me that it was getting closer to time to go home - with or without Paeris or Allie.

Cage shot awake then, thumping his head on the underside of my cot and making me gasp.

"I'm okay!" He called into the room, causing echos through the chamber. He offered me a sheepish smile as I shushed him, but we couldn't help but hold back our laughter as he stretched and hit his head again on Jonas' cot next to me.

"If you didn't have damage to that head of yours before, I'm sure you do now."

____________________________________

It hadn't taken me long to pull on a lightweight blue dress and meet Delphine at the edge of the water I had met her at yesterday. It astonished me how effortlessly beautiful she looked, wading and sparkling against the water with her blue paints and glitter on her cheeks and shoulders. I vaguely wondered if the paints were permanently etched into her skin as they didn't wash away when wet, but I didn't have the courage to ask. It wasn't that Delphine scared me - quite the opposite. There was something interesting about the way she walked, the way she knew things.

"Good morning, young Queen." She had greeted, a small smile creeping over her lips. "Your soul looks much lighter today."

I had no idea what's she meant, but I nodded slowly as if I understood. She giggled softly and motioned me toward a frayed blue mat in the sand before climbing out of the water and joining me.

"I fear I only have enough time for one more lesson with you before your final trip. You have a long journey back to the High Wall."

"I have one more stop on our trip, in Braun." I reminded, seating myself across from her on the edge of the mat and crossing my legs beneath me. "Fern said there is someone there she wants me to meet."

She raised an eyebrow slightly at my words before shaking her head. "Fern has such wishful thinking. Do not trust many of those you pass in Braun." She clasped my hands in hers and I didn't fight her. "I would suggest you make your decision well before you stop in Braun. Not everyone has your best interest at heart there."

I studied her piercing blue eyes, wondering how someone could hold so much knowledge behind those orbs.

"Now." She squeezed my hand softly. "Protecting yourself with magic and being strong is very important. But being one with your power is something that not many prioritize."

"Fern had mentioned 'grounding' myself."

"Come, get closer. Share my space. Share my energy."

I scooted myself across the mat slightly until our knees overlapped and our foreheads were nearly touching. She smelled like a summer's day - fresh and a bit salty, in a pleasant way.

"First, you need to build the energy inside of yourself. Imagine a wave, ebbing and flowing freely through your veins. The water can be beautiful and cool, but also incredibly dangerous." I closed my eyes, imagining a large wave crashing over the surface of the beach. A tickling feeling started over my shoulders and I fought off the urge to shake them. "Feel the energy of the waves push and pull you into a deeper consciousness. Feel the weightlessness of floating on the surface of the water."

My body rocked involuntarily as my mind spiraled into a relaxed state. A golden haze fell over my vision as my eyes opened again and my anxiety slowly melted away.

"Fantastic. You are a fast learner." She whispered, squeezing my hands softly, as if she could feel my relaxation and concentration.

We spent the rest of the evening in a meditative state, starting on the mat and eventually moving to the water. I lost myself in the waves at one point and thought I would be swallowed whole by the waves, but they pushed me to the beach safely with only a small amount of water in my lungs.

I had wondered where Cage had taken off to, wondering if he was making himself busy or if his silent understanding with Dax the night before had lead to a friendship.

I loved learning to be more connected to my power and felt a soft hum inside of me as I listened to its song. She showed me how to uncoil my power, how to release it onto someone else, and how to snap it back in times of danger to be prepared for defensive fighting. As I practiced the steps for what felt like a hundred times, I reveled in the feeling. By the end of our training session, I hung on every word Delphine whispered to me, truly grateful for her teachings.

Eventually, Cage joined us on the shore and told us that Jonas had been running a security detail most of the day so we could leave at dusk. He also told me that there was a small settlement of shifters outside of Braun that needed to clear us before going into the Braun Region. Apparently, they had taken Lorelei's adaptation of using Guardians despite their anger and hatred of her. Most were refugees that refused to live under my mother's rule, but I wasn't sure how it was different being Guardians of Braun versus Lorelei.

I had wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep away the night now that my anxiety felt far away, but I knew we had a lot of ground to cover before I could rest.

I could think of nothing but Paeris as the sun began to set and we wished Dax and Delphine an sad goodbye. Though I promised to return soon for more lessons and to visit, there was a sadness in her eyes that told me she knew more than we did.

Jonas had asked her what we should expect from Braun and had even asked about the spy he had felt around us since the boat ride, but Delphine didn't seem to have enough answers to confidently tell us much of anything. It was odd to me how she could know so much with such detail at certain times and others, not know enough to comment on.

Jonas sighed as we watched the sun sink below the horizon, thanking Dax as he offered us a small wicker basket of breads and what looked like a type of fish wrapped in leaves. My stomach growled in protest at the sight of food, but I pushed my hunger to the back of my mind as Delphine gathered me into a hug that surprised me.

"Don't you forget us, Alaray. We will see you soon."