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AERI

THE TEMPLE OF KNOWLEDGE, GAYA

I fall for an unnerving amount of time. Well, I mean, any amount of time is unnerving when you fall inside of a hollowed-out tree. But I finally land on a pile of…scrolls. Some skitter and roll, and others get crushed by my weight. I’m half sitting, half lying down with the wind knocked out of me.

So, that hurt.

But all things considered, I’m in great shape for how far I fell.

I rub my backside as I get to my feet. I’m in a circular room, or more like a stone cavern.

The walls are smooth, striated stone with…

green grass beneath my boots, as if we’re not underground.

Confused, I look around. There have to be hundreds, if not thousands, of scrolls in a pile.

But this is the strangest room I’ve ever been in.

It’s light like it’s daylight in here, but even above ground isn’t bright like this.

To my right, three Yoksa in gray robes stare at me. We’ve done it—found the Temple of Knowledge…sort of. I accidentally fell into their depository hole. But, hey, I’ll take it!

“Hi. I’m Aeri.” I wave at them.

The older woman with gray hair tilts her head.

With a short scream, Sora falls through the ceiling and lands on the scrolls. She has just oriented herself and moved out of the way when Mikail falls, but he’s like a cat, landing on his feet with the walking stick for balance. Last is Royo.

“Feet first,” Mikail yells.

“I don’t know which fucking way is up,” he says before he crashes onto the pile.

The three others look around the same way I did. This is so unnatural, so obviously created by a god, that it takes us a little while to catch up. The grass is real; the ground is soft enough to brace our falls.

The priests continue to stare at us. We must be the weirdest thing that’s happened to them today. Or probably in years. Maybe ever.

Mikail gets his bearings first and grabs his walking stick. It held together despite the impact. He says something in Gayan as he takes a few steps closer to the priests while Royo curses in Yusanian and dusts himself off.

“Royo, they can understand all four languages,” Mikail reminds him. “Do you have the key?”

“Oh, um, yeah.” Royo fishes around in his pocket and pulls out the green key. I don’t know how it stayed on him all this time, other than the God of Knowledge willing it.

The three priests exchange glances and then ask us to wait. We don’t have a lot of options, so Mikail agrees on our behalf.

“What did you tell them?” Sora whispers.

“I said that we are pilgrims seeking knowledge and safe quarter and that Royo is the son of a keeper.”

I mean, it’s true. It’s just leaving out some pretty big details.

A single woman returns. She has darker skin and reddish gray hair styled in locs. I think she’s around fifty years old, but her skin is smooth and her cheekbones are high, so it’s hard to tell her age.

“I am Braya, keeper of the Gayan temple,” the woman says in Yusanian.

“I am Adoros Miat,” Mikail says.

Sora and I turn. This is the first time I’ve heard Mikail use his real name. But will she know who that is with Fallador pretending to be the prince?

The woman smiles slowly. “I can see the resemblance to your parents. Gods guide their souls.”

Mikail’s whole face lights up, and then he inclines his head.

“And that makes him the keeper’s son?” Braya says, gesturing to Royo.

Royo takes a step forward. “I am, ma’am.”

She eyes him appraisingly. “Yes, you do resemble Snaw.”

Royo’s eyes go wide. That’s the man he can’t remember—the one who walked out on his family. The one the amarth mentioned. Royo thinks he was abandoned, but it isn’t that simple of a choice for the keepers of knowledge. Maybe this will give him some comfort.

“She is Naerium, the twice-blessed princess of Yusan,” Braya says, looking at me. I blink at her, wondering how she knew that. But she has already moved on to Sora.

“I am Athora Inigo,” she says.

I turn my head and stare. I’ve only ever known her as Sora. Does everyone have a different, hidden name?

“Are we welcome in your temple?” Mikail asks.

She folds her hands. “Yes, Your Majesty. However, no information is to be destroyed, taken, or altered. We have a vow of silence within the temple walls; however, you may ask for assistance, and we will provide it. We require that your weapons remain outside the doors, as nothing can be learned at the edge of a blade.”

Ugh, it’s going to take forever for everyone to disarm themselves, but it’s a fair term.

“You have my word and my vow that we will do no violence in your temple,” Mikail says.

Unless we have to.

“Follow me, then,” she says.

We start walking down the green grass of the cavern. Royo comes up alongside me.

“Don’t do that again,” he says, taking my hand.

“I didn’t plan on falling down a hole, Royo.” I laugh. “But noted.”

“You scared me,” he says.

This man. His words strike a chord in me from the base of my stomach up through my throat. I weave my fingers with his.

“I always want to be by your side,” I say. “It’s my favorite place in the four realms.”

He grips me tight, the same way he laced his fingers with mine in the tent last night. I melt into his side, the same way I did after we fell back exhausted. Together, with Sora and Mikail, there isn’t anything the four of us can’t do. And now, maybe we’ll find answers and a way out of all of this.