The Truth-Teller Of Estrella

Chapter 14. The Brothel Spy

The cabin door creaked steadily, unveiling the siblings on the couch. They were crouched and whispering. Looking at the two — their heads bent slightly and their curls drooping forward — it was obvious that they shared the same parents. There was no denying their resemblance. How had she been blind to it?

"Let her explain." Orius muttered, his eyes focused on Aleta's as she walked back into the home. "It makes sense-"

"I'd like to talk." Aleta interrupted, looking past the man and to the woman she once considered her dearest friend in the corner. "Alone."

The first floor room set aside for Karisa was small and cramped, even in comparison to the room the two had once spent so much time in — her room. They both sat silently for a while, Aleta's gaze focused like glue. Karisa kept her chin high.

Such tension had never existed between them.

"I have kept secrets from you too." Aleta finally muttered over to her friend. "I am sorry."

"I never had any intentions of hurting you." Karisa replied. It was the truth.

"Well intentions-"

"I know." Interrupted Karisa with a knowing nod. "Listen," she paused, taking a deep breath. "I was born to Horus and Rashida Daniels. They were refugees who came to Estrella as children with their families. My grandparents, on both ends, fled their homeland — plagued by famine. They ended up on this continent, in Estrella. Our people followed the stars straight here, as if the gods themselves were guiding them. My parents grew up together in the camps that were set up where the ocean meets the land. Hope's Horizon, that's what they called it. When the royal guards came to recruit, and he was of age, my father joined. He was newly married to my mother, Rashida. And she..." Karisa paused, "She was already pregnant with Orius. As my father had a family, and proved highly skillful, they were given a space, a place near the palace to live. As long as my father worked as a guard, and my mother worked in the kitchens, the studio home was theirs" Aleta watched as Karisa's chin fell. "But there's more... When I was a child my mother told me stories about people with powers, about magic that lived beyond the walls of our Kingdom. My favorite stories were the ones her mother had passed along. Their stories were about life, loss... and love. The kind that transcends borders. One that always stood out to me was this story about a friend my grandmother once had... who was taken from her. After arriving at the camps, before they were even properly camps, a few desperate Uryvalians sought out help. One of the first people to arrive, to offer them food, water, and kindness was a woman who held the power of magic deep within her blood. This young woman, with eyes that burned with the flames of fire, befriended my grandmother. But when the Emperor died and whispers of the continent and empire becoming parceled out spread, her friend's visits dwindled. My mother told me that the reason behind her disappearances were tied to the war, the Great Civil War. And one day, when she vanished completely, it was said that Drika's mother, the newly crowned Empress, had imprisoned her. My grandmother's friend was used for her powers." The words elicited a coldness that traveled through Aleta bones.

Karisa continued, "One day, in passing, my grandmother encountered the woman outside of the palace while she was setting up her produce stand. The woman smiled, but she looked tired and faint. It was as if the magic had been drained out of her — as if all her light had diminished. Under the watchful gaze of a group of guards, my grandmother offered her a handful of fruit. It was a thank you for all the times the woman had visited the camps... all the times she had fed them. At first, the woman hesitated, but when the guard's attention diverted to some ruckus in the courtyard she grabbed at it, and replaced the fruit with an item in my grandmother's hands. She had given her a pair of earrings, carbon-steel with a pair of Ruby's embedded." Karisa's fingers caressed the jewel that hung from her earlobe. "That was the last time she saw her... dirty and covered in soot — black as night."