The messenger owl arrived before dawn, his white plumage a frightful warning against the vast darkness of the desert sky.

— The Temple has taken the Keep. Serscei and I escaped, but Daedren and Ralyei are being held captive. The Viper is on your trail. —

The message was short, and unsigned — but Aella would recognize that bold and decisive handwriting anywhere. Cairen.

Her brother and his partner were safe for now, but this news was like a bolt of Blessed Silver straight through her heart. How had the Temple gotten their forces through the Celestial Sands so quickly? But that hardly mattered now. Half Moon Keep, the fortress city that had become her home over the last several months, had lost its freedom because of her. She clutched the message tightly, crumpling the frail paper between whitened knuckles.

“We should have left sooner.” She whispered roughly.

“It wouldn’t have mattered. Daedren and Ralyei knew the risks, and it was their decision to allow us to stay. It was only a matter of time before the Temple followed.” Grimm replied calmly, gently ruffling the owl’s breast feathers with a large yet elegant hand as it perched on his shoulder, cooing softly.

“Then we shouldn’t have stayed there at all!” Aella cried, throwing the paper into the smoking embers of the campfire. “All of this is my fault! If I had just stayed in Starfell…” she trailed off, her hands trembling at her sides.

“If you had stayed, nothing would have changed. You would have died, and the cycle would only continue. Another Maiden would spend her short life in that tower, and be sacrificed just the same. And on and on, just as it’s been for three thousand years.”

“But one life against an entire city… against all mankind…” Aella mumbled, her brows furrowing deeply as she gnawed at her thumbnail. It was already bitten to the quick, but she didn’t notice. Grimm sighed, and sent the owl back into the slowly lightening sky on silent wings. It vanished quickly into the endless expanse of dusty desert horizon, as if it had never been there at all. Only the devastation of the message it bore remained.

“Aella.” Her name was a gentle summons on his lips, and she only hesitated for a moment before responding, melting into his arms as they encircled her. She pressed her face into his broad chest, and allowed him to soothe her as he held her bleeding hand with one of his own, and stroked her hair with the other. His long fingers slipped through the inky strands, caressing the edges of her ears as if they were precious silk beneath his fingers.

“You are the only one who can break this cycle. The only one who has seen the light of truth beneath that false God’s golden facade. If you don’t discover the whole truth, the Aether will continue to fade until there is nothing left of this world but Chaos.”

“Will the truth really save us? Is it worth braving the Chaos?” She asked hoarsely, her voice muffled against the silk folds of his robe. “The Temple will destroy everything and everyone in its way to get to me. And what if the Barriers fall before I find this ‘truth’? I hardly even know where to look. How do I find something when I don’t even know what it is?” She had been too afraid to voice these fears out loud, but they had sat like daggers inching slowly closer to her heart for months now, speeding up with each passing day. But if anyone could see her doubt and not also see weakness, it was Grimm. He had already seen every dark shadow in her soul, and never once wavered.

“The truth is like a light in this dark world. Knowing it might not be enough to change anything, but it will guide you to whatever will, without fail.” His voice was firm and confident as it rumbled through his chest, tickling her ears as she rested against him. Once again, she wondered where that calm assuredness of his came from. How was he always so steadfast in his belief in her? He was as steady as the mountains, and as fluid as the rivers. Nothing shook him, and he never doubted.

She sucked in a small hiss of pain as he pinched her chewed thumb gently, and clicked his tongue in reproach. “I’ll have to bandage this again. Maybe keeping it wrapped will stop you from eating your own fingers for a while. What are you, a Chaos Beast?”

She leaned her head back to stick her tongue out at him, and their gazes met. Her heart picked up pace instantly as his eyes dropped to her mouth, and her offending tongue. The moment distracted her from her thoughts entirely, replacing them with a fizzle of nonsense.

And then he flicked her nose.

“Come on, let’s patch you up and pack up. Before your old friend the Viper shows up.”

Aella groaned.