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LINK

E mryn was going to be sick. Sick on the implications of what the First Wizard had said to her. What had she done? Had she truly-

“Emryn, I need you to breathe.” Cas’ voice said as hands removed the spoon from her now nerveless fingers and set it down on the table. “Asan says we can undo it.”

“I have to-” Emryn tried to stand and fell immediately. “Highness, I have to get rid of it.”

“I don’t understand.” The prince helped Emryn off the floor and settled her back in the chair. “Asan, please explain?”

Asan nodded, looking at Emryn who was shaking in the chair. “Forgive me, Emryn. I should have realized that you would take this hard. It can be undone, but the question then becomes, what happens when it is. If Cas is draining you to this extent, there must be a cause.”

“I’m not an idiot, but I am confused.” The prince looked between Emryn and Asan.

“I’m getting to it, Cas.” The First Wizard rose from his chair and walked to Emryn. “We must research the cause prior to eliminating the link, Emryn. If we go off unprepared, we stand to do his Highness a great deal of harm.”

Emryn tried to make herself relax, swallowing her breakfast back again until it consented to staying in her belly. “I saw no evidence of the illness, First Wizard. It should have been eliminated from the first.”

“I would like to emphasize the ‘should have’” Asan said, looking down at Emryn. “We do not know the true nature of the illness, nor do we know the reason that only you were able to mend it. Those questions must be answered before the removal of the link.”

Emryn nodded slowly, the First Wizard made sense, even if the entirety of her training said that she had to eliminate the link as quickly as possible. After all, if the link remained, she would not heal.

But why? What was wrong with the Prince that was draining her magic as fast as it could be produced? Emryn needed to figure that out first, but she was too weak to forge the flame link that would allow her to figure it out.

Not to mention that forging the flame link under the eyes of the First Wizard felt like an outstandingly bad idea. His eyes would see, and he alone might understand what she was doing and be able to guess that she was no true healer.

And if that information went around and the head healer heard it, she would lose her home and everything she’d spent her life on. She would lose the vow she’d spoken to the Mother and what would she be then?

Nothing.

So it was direly important that she do nothing with her flame while the First Wizard was watching. She’d already told him far too much, and he was far too intelligent.

Emryn shook the dread down and looked up at the First Wizard and then across at the prince. “Where do we begin?”

“The Mother named you her Wings.” The First Wizard gave her a penetrating look. “A title not seen in centuries, since the genesis of the Eternal Empire. In order to get to the bottom of this entire thing, I believe we must begin there.”

“I don’t know what it means though.” Emryn managed to get the words out over the knot of nerves in her throat. “I don’t have wings, I never have.”

“It is metaphorical, or at least I believe so.” The First Wizard tapped his chin with one long finger. “If it is not, that opens an entirely different set of problems.”

“So we are operating under the expectation that I’m still sick?” the prince broke into the conversation. “I feel fine.”

“You are being bolstered by Emryn,” the First Wizard said. “Emryn, do stop thinking of me like that. My name is Asan and I prefer not to stand on ceremony.”

“What?” Emryn jolted, eyes going wide. “Are you-”

“You are projecting your thoughts rather loudly.” He smiled at her. “I have no intention of having you removed from the temple or from your vows, so please stop flinging your worries at my head.”

Emryn felt her face pale, and she grabbed the thoughts that had escaped and shoved them rather hard behind her eyes. It gave her an instant headache, but it was better than having the First Wizard hearing her.

He nodded, “better, thank you.”

“Apologies,” she muttered.

The First Wizard shook his head. “We will peruse that train of thought later. For now, if you will grant permission, I would like to look at your pathways.”

Emryn nodded slowly. “If it will help unravel this.”

“It is the first step,”the First Wizard replied, rising and moving in Emryn’s direction.

Emryn forced herself to remain precisely where she was. Her pathways were constructions rather than being natural. Her fire didn’t need pathways, it simmered until she needed it. But all humans had pathways and so Emryn had made herself some.

And they had passed muster with the head healer, he hadn’t been able to tell that she’d made them herself.

Emryn turned inward as the First Wizard stopped next to her chair. “We begin,” he said, laying a light hand on the top of her head.

Emryn waited, and then he was there, standing in her head looking around at the darkness where there should have been light.

“Fascinating,” the First Wizard reached out and touched the closest conduit that should have held her fire. It was cold and empty now, dark and silent, and the First Wizard looked confused.

“Emryn, what did you do?”

“I don’t understand?”

“These-” the First Wizard touched the conduit again. “There is something strange about these conduits.”

Emryn’s mouth went dry. How could he tell that the conduits weren’t right? No one had ever been able to tell before, and she’d had too many healers in her head to count. But then, he was First Wizard to Rodilla, and maybe he was looking at it from a different angle.

“I don’t know- I didn’t do anything to them.”

The First Wizard gave her a hard look, like he was trying to see through her. “Tell me in time, Emryn.”

“Truly,” she stammered. “These are my conduits.”

“And they are not part and parcel of your core.” The First Wizard gestured to the darkness where her fire should be. “But that is not why we are here.”

“Then why?” Emryn asked.

“I wished to see your core, and I thank you for your trust.” The First Wizard nodded to her. “I believe I understand now.”

He faded out before Emryn could ask what he meant.