From Iron and Ruin

Slipping.

Chapter Eight: Slipping

Asthan could have been like Dratlan. Everywhere I turned,  I was reminded of the home I once had. 

"Aviana..."

Greydon's voice rang out in the burning Sanctum of Dratlan. I blinked, my throat choked with ash and my arm burning as fire ate away at my flesh. Run Greydon.

A hand fell on my shoulder and I jolted. Around me, the walls reformed and the fire died. The walls were not the brilliant white stone of Dratlan, but they were close enough to make me believe I saw a familiar face everywhere I turned. Enough to make me hope for the impossible.

"I -," I managed a weak smile, "Asthan looks like Dratlan."

Commander Greydon Caldson smiled kindly down at me, motioning for me to stand. "Would you care to take a walk with me?"

"Please." I took his arm, finding that my fingers trembled. How could my hands shake at mere memories and not when I clasped a blade and faced down Nirani? Did my own mind make me so weak?

Classes had broken for the afternoon and the voices of students filled the air. Still, they parted for the Commander and the young girls tittered and stared at the male in all his finery while the young male students looked on, eyeing up the sword which Greydon kept a hand resting on it's pommel.

The hounds followed on my heel, sated after their morning hunt. I had tested the waters this morning, travelling deeper into the depths of Asthan but I didn't want my absence to be noted at breakfast.

Catching the students whispers, I tried not to listen to their remarks on my ears which marked me as different so obviously. Greydon, with his lesser hearing, was spared from the mutterings.

"I hear that you and Fyr had a falling out." Greydon queried gently. "Do you wish to tell me about it?"

"How did you find out about that?" I asked tightly. Fyr had tried to speak to me last night, but I was too afraid of what she might say again and what I might say that I didn't open the door to her. This morning at breakfast, she did not look or speak at me. Or Gwen. Or Mahon for that matter.

"Mahon was in a terrible mood – well, more terrible than usual and I managed to pry from him that you and Fyr had a spat, and that somehow bothered him."

I managed a smile. "You are terrible at details, Greydon."

His eyes were bright, but there was easy comfort in his smile. "And you are avoiding the question."

The same hurt cut into me, ringing in the hollowness of my chest. I had been such a fool. "Fyr let it slip that she and Mahon have been suffering in my presence."

We passed into a bright courtyard, where flowerpots over spilled with colour and green. Students packed on the benches and some sat out on immaculate little lawns, with books and parchment spilled out around them. "She said that they are disgusted by me."

Greydon snorted. "What!"

"She said it and she meant it." I told him stiffly. "You can excuse me for being upset about it."

"Aviana, have you been present for anything in the last couple of months. Fire-Lady adores you. I haven't stayed in Haaling long and I've never even been to Adotlan to know that she cares for you. And well Mahon ... well, you would be a fool to think that he abhors your presence. Gwen and I have quite a substantial bet going on actually."