The days after the fight blurred together.
lisa gave her statent to the village guards. Then to the council. Then to Elder Yuna personally, who listened with a grave expression and thanked her for her service to Foxhollow. The words felt hollow.
The sick kitsune started recovering almost imdiately once the draining stopped. Color returned to their cheeks. Their essences slowly refilled, like cups being topped off drop by drop. The healers were cautiously optimistic. No permanent damage, they said. Everyone would make a full recovery.
Good news. lisa should have felt good about it.
She didn’t.
On the morning they were scheduled to leave, she found herself at the hot spring on the village outskirts. The sa one where she and Zephyra had... well.
The water was warm. Steam rose around her. She sat on the edge with her feet in the pool, staring at nothing.
Footsteps behind her.
"I thought I’d find you here."
Zephyra settled beside her, lowering herself onto the stone with a sigh. She didn’t get in the water. Just sat there, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
"You knew," lisa said finally.
It wasn’t a question.
"Yes."
"How long?"
Zephyra considered the question.
"I’d heard rumors about Foxhollow for months. Kitsune falling ill with no apparent cause. Essence depletion without any curse or disease to explain it. It didn’t take much digging to narrow down the source." She paused. "I confird it was Sylra about a week before we arrived."
A week before.
Which ant Zephyra had known the whole ti. Every training session, every conversation about the sick kitsune, every ti she’d brushed off lisa’s concerns with vague non-answers. She’d known.
"You brought here on purpose."
"Yes."
"As a test."
"Yes."
lisa’s hands clenched on the stone.
"I slept with her, Zephyra. I told her things I don’t tell anyone. I trusted her."
"I know."
"And you just let that happen? You watched fall for her bullshit and you didn’t say anything?"
Zephyra turned to look at her. Her grey eyes were calm, unreadable.
"I needed to know what kind of person you are."
"What?"
"If I’d told you about Sylra from the start, you would have confronted her imdiately. Justice served, case closed, and I’d have learned nothing." Zephyra’s voice was asured, like she was explaining a simple concept to a slow student. "I needed to see what you’d do when you discovered the truth on your own. When you had to choose between justice and loyalty to your own race. When stopping her ant betraying soone who understood you."
The anger in lisa’s chest burned hotter.
"You used ."
"I gave you a choice. You made it."
"That’s not—" lisa stood up, water dripping from her feet. "You manipulated . You let walk into that situation blind because you wanted to see how I’d react. Like I was so kind of experint."
Zephyra didn’t flinch.
"If you’d been willing to overlook what Sylra was doing because she was nim, I couldn’t recomnd you for what cos next."
The words hit lisa like a splash of cold water.
"What are you talking about?"
Zephyra stood as well, brushing off her robe.
"I’m retiring."
"You’re... what?"
"Retiring. Stepping down. Leaving my position as Court Sorceress of Syux." She said it casually, like she was discussing dinner plans. "I’d been thinking about it and I’ve decided. It’s ti."
lisa stared at her.
"But you’re... you’re the Court Sorceress. You’ve been the Court Sorceress for—"
"Not terribly long, but long enough for ." Zephyra smiled, but there was weariness behind it. "I beca a mage because I loved magic. The discovery, the experintation, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Sowhere along the way, I got trapped in a position that’s ninety percent politics and ten percent actual magical work. Council etings. Guard rotations. Noble squabbles." She shook her head. "I’m bored, lisa. It’s ti to move on."
"Move on to what?"
"Travel. Research. Finding old magic in forgotten places." For a mont, Zephyra’s eyes lit up with genuine excitent. "There’s a whole world out there full of secrets I haven’t uncovered. I want to spend whatever years I have left actually discovering things, not babysitting aristocrats."
lisa’s head was spinning.
"Okay, but what does that have to do with testing ? What cos next?"
Zephyra t her eyes.
"I’m recomnding you as my replacent."
The words didn’t make sense at first. lisa heard them, but her brain refused to process them.
"You’re... what?"
"Court Sorceress. Or Court Mage, whatever title Aria prefers. The position will need to be filled when I leave, and I’m recomnding you."
"I’m twenty-one."
"And already more accomplished than most mages twice your age."
"I’m a nim."
"Which will make the appointnt historic and send a powerful ssage about Aria’s commitnt to reform."
"I—" lisa’s mouth opened and closed. "Zephyra, I can’t—"
"You can." Zephyra stepped closer, her voice softening. "Queen Aria will need soone she trusts. Soone powerful enough to protect her and the kingdom. Soone principled enough to do the right thing even when it’s hard, even when it ans standing against their own people." She gestured vaguely in the direction of the village. "You just proved you’re that person."
"By beating up a woman I was sleeping with?"
"By choosing justice over tribalism. By refusing power that would have co at others’ expense. By being exactly the kind of person Syux needs in that position."
lisa sat back down on the stone, suddenly exhausted.
"I don’t know if I want it."
"That’s precisely why you should have it." Zephyra sat beside her again. "The people who desperately want power are usually the worst ones to wield it. You’ve never sought authority for its own sake. You just keep stumbling into positions of influence because you can’t stop yourself from doing the right thing."
lisa laughed weakly.
"That’s not a qualification."
"It’s the most important qualification." Zephyra put a hand on her shoulder. "Think about it. Talk to Aria when we get back. But know that you have my recomndation, for whatever that’s worth."
They sat in silence for a while, the steam rising around them.
"I’m still angry at you," lisa said eventually.
"I know."
"You should have told about Sylra."
"Perhaps." Zephyra inclined her head, a small concession. "I made a judgnt call. You can decide for yourself whether it was the right one." She stood, offering lisa a hand. "Co on. The carriage is waiting. It’s ti to go ho."
Ho.
Syux.
lisa took Zephyra’s hand and let herself be pulled to her feet.
She still didn’t know how to feel about any of this. The test, the recomndation, the idea of becoming Court Mage. It was too much to process.
But Zephyra was right about one thing.
It was ti to go ho.
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