Chapter 319: Threading Chaos
Liam walks into the living room and hesitates when he sees Maeve already busy in the kitchen.
He swallows and continues walking toward her, his eyes on the floor rather than forward.
Maeve is focused on making breakfast, but she catches Liam hesitating out of the corner of her eye. She almost drops the bowl and whisk she is holding before her reflexes save her.
She returns to whisking the eggs, head down, eyes fixed on the bowl.
"Good morning." Liam murmurs.
"Good morning." Maeve replies, equally mumbled.
Silence.
Awkward.
She continues making breakfast for Theo in silence, her movents quick, efficient, and practiced.
Liam continues standing there saying nothing. Like an idiot. He thinks it himself. But he has no choice. What happened that night is still fresh in his mory.
And in Maeve’s too.
Her gaze flickers to that one spot in the living room.
Liam catches it.
Their eyes et.
Both go pale and look away.
Liam’s ears are ringing.
He recalls the horror he felt that night. When he realized that everyone was looking at the exact sa spot.
Arthur. Julian. Maeve. Him. Everyone.
Each of them knew they were seeing things.
When the realization hit that everyone else was seeing the sa thing, they could only blink. A few seconds later, they walked away from each other without a word, heading back to their own rooms.
In silence.
Since then, they have been avoiding each other, not daring to et each other’s eyes.
They all know they need to talk about it. But they have unanimously agreed, without saying so, to postpone it for as long as possible.
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Maeve notices Liam leaving the kitchen area and stops what she is doing. She just stares at his back.
She feels her chest tightening, heavy and stuffy.
Tears well up in her eyes.
"I’m sorry. I should have said sothing by now." She chokes on the words.
"I’m such a failure." The tears fall.
Maeve sniffles back her tears and turns back to making breakfast.
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Sonia enters her hotel room with heavy steps.
Her head hangs low and she walks as if her legs are weighed down by anchors.
Water drips steadily from her clothes.
She is soaking wet.
She shuffles toward the bed like a zombie, steam rising from her body as she walks, slowly drying her clothes with each step.
She plops down face first onto the bed with a heavy sigh.
Steam continues rising from her, curling into the air, until she is completely dry.
Her eyes are shut tight. She sighs heavily again.
"I can’t believe I still haven’t found the rogue mage." She says, pouting.
"Ugh!"
"And this weather! This damn storm is not helping at all!" She lashes out her frustration and hits the bed.
"Three days! It has been three days and I have nothing!" She yells.
She rolls over onto her back.
"I’m tired and wet all the ti. I can’t keep myself dry out there. This rain is imbued with mana, it’s not so easy to dry off. It takes more mana to dry myself than it would to just fly above it all."
"This rogue mage is soone very powerful. Damn it!"
She turns her head toward the shower.
"What I need right now is a long hot shower."
She blinks, not moving at all.
"Yeah, that’s right. A long, nice, hot shower. Or maybe I should run a hot bath? I could put in a bath bomb. Sothing I’ve been aning to try for a while now." Her smile cos slowly.
Sothing flies out of her bag and hovers in the air above her.
She looks up at the dolphin shaped bath bomb.
Her smile widens into a full smile.
"Yeah. I should try this."
Full grin.
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"You found her?" Elder Maer asks.
Elder Loujt shakes his head.
"But you said Aeiht’s group t with her on the east side of the forest?" She presses.
"That’s right. But they lost her again." Elder Loujt explains.
"How can that be?" Elder Maer exclaims, crushing Eirbhaen’s letter in her hand.
"Maer, she may be young. But she is strong and fast." Elder Loujt reminds his sister.
Elder Maer sighs and nods slowly. "Yes, I know. That’s what frustrates . She is an excellent mage and among the most talented we have. I just can’t believe she would use everything we taught her against us to escape."
Elder Loujt sits down beside her.
"According to the letter, she didn’t escape, Maer. She is doing what she believes is right. And she is actually doing it, not just planning it on paper. We have to give her credit for that." Elder Loujt says gently.
Elder Maer looks at her younger brother, her face making no effort to hide her annoyance. She lifts the crumpled letter.
"She also did it because she doesn’t trust us. And you want to praise her for that?"
"No, she did not say that." Elder Loujt counters.
"She wrote, ’Please take into consideration that I am doing this because the elders haven’t done anything and I feel you are not listening to .’"
She turns to Elder Loujt. "You tell
that is not her saying she doesn’t trust us?"
Elder Loujt blinks and frowns slightly, taking a mont to untangle her wording.
"Okay. I think she is simply venting her frustration. She has been telling us, reminding us, that she believes there are rogue mages out there and that mana is returning to Altheon. And that it is the Vaelin’s duty to act on that."
"Loujt! We are doing sothing!" Elder Maer almost yells. Her worry for Eirbhaen, out there alone, is written all over her face.
"Maer, I know that. You know that. The other elders and the council mbers know that."
"But she doesn’t." His voice turns gentle.
"That is the point, Maer. We have been keeping her out of the loop when we should have been keeping her in. That was a mistake on our part. She is still the Princess, and she will lead us one day."
They stare at each other, each firm in their own conviction.
Elder Loujt takes a deep breath and leans back in his chair, taking a step back the way he always does.
"Look, the important thing right now is to find her." He says.
Elder Maer sighs. "You’re right. And I have so news."
She takes out an envelope from her space.
"This is the latest report from Dae. He says there is another phenonon appearing in Concordia. This ti in Solarys."
She hands the envelope to Elder Loujt, who opens it imdiately.
Elder Loujt skims through the report.
"An ongoing storm?" He looks up from the report.
"Yes. Right now, a third of Solarys is underwater. If this storm continues, the entire city might be subrged."
Elder Loujt goes back to reading the report.
"’Another abnormal phenonon is occurring. People in Solarys are growing increasingly hostile toward each other.’" He looks up again, his frown deepening. "What does that an?"
Elder Maer shakes her head. "I don’t know. It is as though sothing or soone has decided they don’t like that city and is actively attacking it."
"I’m afraid Dae cannot handle this alone. Which is why I want you to go to Solarys and investigate. Dae is a good investigator, but he is not powerful enough for sothing like this."
"Elder Maer, Dae is one of our best fighters." Elder Loujt looks back at the report.
"But he is asking for help, and half of this report doesn’t make any sense. It reads like he is struggling to write it."
Elder Loujt lifts his head.
"If I go, Elder Reis cannot go. He must stay here. You cannot hold off the barrier alone." He gives her a determined look.
Elder Maer nods. "I know. Reis and Brunn will stay and help
maintain the village barrier."
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"I understand, Governor. But Solarys DEU’s main duty is to help the city clear dungeons." Alicia says into the phone, pacing inside her office, trying to keep her annoyance at bay.
Her door clicks open and she whips her head around to see Arthur entering.
"Oh thank God." She whispers, covering the phone with her hand. She waves him closer.
Arthur looks exhausted, but he walks toward her.
"Yes, Governor. I understand. But we cannot send any more officers out there. Most of them are still in recovery from St. Lucas, and the ones that are here are already deployed. Even our interim chief is out there breaking up fights. We do not have any more manpower, Governor."
She rolls her eyes at Arthur.
Arthur sighs. He already knows what the call is about.
The Governor of Solarys is demanding that the DEU send out more personnel to help the city’s law enforcent contain the fighting.
Fights have been breaking out in almost every corner of the city, and both law enforcent and hospitals are overwheld.
The ongoing storm only makes it worse.
It is as though the rain is washing away people’s patience and leaving behind nothing but irritation and raw nerves, which spill into argunts and almost always into physical altercations.
The city’s law enforcent personnel are sotis joining in the fights themselves rather than stopping them.
Solarys is in chaos.
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