Altered Destiny

Ch. 21

It was about a month after the funeral that Galleous agreed to train Kareinos with her Song. Ingressus heard Galleous talking to someone outside, and emerged from the cave to see Kareinos standing there, nervously passing the Protiseum Song from hand to hand. Saylor was sitting on the bench, tapping his fingers against the wood in a nervous habit. When Kareinos saw Ingressus she perked up, her gaze still nervous but some of the apprehension seeping away.

"Are you still coming?" she asked him.

Galleous glanced at Ingressus in confusion. "Coming?"

"I had to pull her little brother out of a Song-trance while you were gone," Ingressus said. "She's been worried it will happen to her, too."

Based on the look on Galleous's face, he didn't know what a Song-trance was, either. Ingressus was somewhat concerned for the four clans– what did they do if a kid got a hold of a Song and wanted to try it out? If they knew about disrupting the Songs, they would surely have used that skill on the raids, but his father had assured him that the four clans knew nothing of that ability.

"You'll have to tell me about it later," Galleous said. "Just a moment, please, I'll be right back."

He vanished into the forge, then reappeared a minute later. "All right, let's go."

The four walked through the town, heading ever upwards from island to island. The shrine was on the highest island in Ataraxia, its broken-arch outline visible from nearly everywhere in town. Ingressus had been there many times before, studying the shrine in the hopes that some of what he learned would apply to the resonances. He knew the pillars in the shrine corresponded to the orientation in which the Songs would have grown: Aggressium to the south, Protisium to the west, Supporium and Mobilium to the north and east. But he had only been there once when Galleous was training someone, many years before. He had snuck up to the shrine before Galleous and his student had arrived, a cranky Nestoris named Lorcan whom he'd had a mutual dislike for ever since.

Ingressus hadn't known that the four clans considered bonding with their Songs to be such a personal, borderline sacred affair. He hadn't known that that moment was only between the student and the Songmaster among the rest of the Ardoni. In the mountains the children had been encouraged to watch when one of the older Voltaris had gotten their first Song, so that they would know what to expect when their turn came– or so that they could have a chance at figuring it out for themselves if they were ever separated from their group. He had suspected he wouldn't be welcome at the Ataraxian shrine simply because of his clan, so he had hidden behind the pillar across from the bridge, hoping to listen in on Galleous's lesson. Lorcan had been outraged when he realized Ingressus was eavesdropping and Ingressus had responded in kind, until Galleous silenced both of them and took Ingressus aside to explain.

"I trust you've been doing your training?" Galleous asked Kareinos as they walked.

Kareinos nodded. "I'm ready. But... is it true I'm likely to pass out, when I claim the Song?"

Galleous arched a brow, glancing back at Saylor. "Your brother told you?"

Saylor rolled his eyes. "I was a little alarmed when I blacked out without warning. I know I would've preferred to be forewarned."

Galleous looked back at Kareinos. "Yes, you will almost certainly pass out. It's perfectly normal, and nothing to be worried about. Songs hold a lot of energy, and it's quite the shock to your system to take it in for the first time. You'll wake up again once the energy has settled into your body, and then we can get started on summoning the Song."

"You might pass out then, too," Saylor said wryly.

"Excuse me, who is the Songmaster here?"

Saylor glanced at Ingressus, just a second too slow for it to be anything but a conscious decision. Ingressus snorted, imagining what the council would think about that. The Voltaris they'd forbidden from even using Songs, ending up publicly recognized as the foremost Song expert in Ataraxia. He imagined Tiris's eye would twitch every time they spoke if that were to happen.