Pyrrha and Weiss left the Sanctuary of Second Blessings and headed over to the Illuminator’s house. It was a decently large house, four stories tall, and quite wide. She could imagine there had to be at least seven or eight bedrooms there. “Why is this house so large?” she asked, looking at Weiss.

  “Well, Illuminator of Lore is usually a long-term position. So an Illuminator staying in one place for fifteen, twenty years, may very well get married and have kids. I’m not supposed to be here that long term, though. Maybe a couple years max. However, the Guild told me to stay as long as it’s needed to complete the job. And if I get really integrated into the community, then to stay.” She shook her head though. “I don’t see that happening, though. Plus, I’d miss my family in Elentharis. I want to go back to the capitol at some point.”

  Pyrrha frowned. “I’d have to stay here.”

  Weiss blinked. “Why?”

  Pyrrha sighed. “I was cast out of the pegasus knights. I was in the northern city when Prince Darius accused me of seducing him.” She didn’t want to talk about it yet, but there was really no choice. She knew Weiss had to have a million questions about who she was and what her backstory was. She was essentially in exile. Even being in Illyria was technically against her orders to leave the country, but she was so close to the border, she doubted anybody would care. And she sincerely doubted any of her sisters that came across her would rat her out to the higher ups in the sisterhood. A few had turned against her for bribes, and she sincerely hoped their pegasi would turn against them and abandon them. She had done nothing wrong and hoped those that spoke against her would get their comeuppance.

  Weiss blinked again. “I did hear rumors of a pegasus knight seducing the princes… That was you?”

  Pyrrha looked at her wearily. “I did nothing wrong. What do you know of pegasus and their riders?”

  “That it’s pretty much unbreakable.”

  “Is that it?”

  “It’s not like I’ve spent a ton of time around the sisterhood. They’re quite insular, you know.”

  “True.” Pyrrha sighed. “A pegasus can and will abandon its rider if the rider doesn’t live up to the morals that the sisterhood sets out. I’ve seen pegasi abandon their riders after they engage in sexual activity with another person. Purity is prized in our order, and any sort of intercourse will usually have a pegasus abandon its rider.” Some sisters did hook up, but it was still heavily frowned upon. They were still forbidden to engage in any activity of a sexual nature, though. Doing that would almost definitely cause a pegasus to abandon its rider. She’d seen it far too many times… The riders were either kicked out or forced to go on the Trial of the Winds to regain their standing in the knights. She had been offered the Trial, but she refused as she had done nothing wrong…

  “I see… I knew the knights were strict, but I didn’t know they were that strict.”

  Pyrrha nodded. “They are.” She looked ahead. “Let’s get off.” They were at the barn. Pyrrha dismounted, her head spinning a little bit from the impact of her feet on the ground. Nendia walked over and rested her head on Pyrrha’s shoulder, letting Pyrrha lean against her neck until the dizziness passed.

  “Okay, how about you go get comfortable in a room while I go take Poppy back to the mayor?” Weiss suggested.

  “All right.” Pyrrha picked up the clothes from the Sanctuary of Second Blessings and led Nendia to a stall. She left the bedraggled tack in the tack room. She desperately needed new tack as she hadn’t been able to upkeep it. It was dry and cracked from the lack of oiling. It still clung on but barely. She would need to take care of Nendia being caked in mud, but for now, she would get herself settled into a room.

  A young woman stood at the door. “Hello… I don’t think you’re our Illuminator?”

  “I’m her companion. You should’ve received notice about me.”

  “Yes, right… Where do you want to go?”

  “Could you take me to a room to get comfortable?” The young woman nodded and led Pyrrha up to a room on the second floor. Pyrrha opened the door and got her clothes into order in a dresser, then headed back down to the barn. The walk felt incredibly long to her and she was exhausted, but she needed to get Nendia clean and attend to her grain. She’d put the pegasus in a stall for now, but the poor animal really did deserve a better rider than her. She wished Nendia had left when they’d been exiled as she would be in much, much better shape than she was now… She wouldn’t be caked in mud and as thin as Pyrrha was… She probably should’ve just opted to have someone undo their magical bond, but she hadn’t wanted to be truly alone while wandering… But now, she truly regretted it. Nendia had suffered horribly because of Pyrrha… She wished she had just let Nendia go, despite how painful it’d be for both of them.

  She couldn’t let Nendia be so dirty any longer. She approached her pegasus who gave her a concerned look. “Pyrrha… You should rest. You look exhausted.” Nendia’s voice was soft and her tail flicked a bit.

  Pyrrha shook her head. “I’m not going to leave you to be dirty any longer. I should’ve taken care of you last night, but I was selfish. I’m not going to let you be caked like that any longer.” It looked like Nendia had a few things to say from the look in her eye, but she remained silent.

  She went to the tack room and got a box with some brushes, then went back to where Nendia was. She took out the curry comb and started getting at it. She was already completely exhausted, so she wasn’t sure how long she’d last. This would likely take hours. The dirt was caked on so hard and crusty that it was going to take a lot of strength to break through it. But with it being winter, getting Nendia wet to wash the dirt off might’ve exposed her to hypothermia and she couldn’t risk that… She couldn’t risk being alone. Nendia was the only thing keeping her going in the end. She would’ve just laid down and not risen again had it not been for the pegasus, though she wished Nendia had left her a long time ago. It would’ve been better for both of them.

  She worked as much as she could, at least until she heard somebody approach. “Good mornin’, little lady.” An older man, likely the stablemaster, stood outside the stall. “You look awful tired.”

  Pyrrha shrugged. “I’m not going to leave Nendia to be dirty any longer.” She felt ready to drop dead, to be honest, but she was staring to see Nendia’s blue dun color for the first time in half a year. This was taking so much energy, energy that she didn’t have. But she was bound and determined to see Nendia shine like a coin again. She could not and would not leave her pegasus in this sad state any longer. Well… It would take time to put weight on her again, but that would take time for both of them. She knew they were both severely underweight, but now that they were somewhere stable, hopefully they could begin to put some weight on.

  “How ‘bout I finish up for you? You seriously look ready to drop dead,” he said.

  Pyrrha shook her head. “I can’t… Pegasi don’t really tolerate the touch of a man. It’s called the sisterhood for a reason.” There were no men allowed in the pegasus knights, no matter what. There’s a fight whenever an ecliptic attempts to join…” Ecliptics were people whose gender didn’t match their body. People born men that identified as women and the other way around. Flowborn were people who existed outside of even that. Their gender and the way they expressed it often went well outside of what was seen as conventional by masculine and feminine standards. She had met a few ecliptics in her time as a knight, but there was a lot of resistance whenever one wanted to join. However, Heshia themselves was never portrayed as one gender entirely; sometimes masculine, sometimes feminine, sometimes inbetween. Few people ever saw Heshia’s true form; Pyrrha had seen all sorts of portrayals of the deity and no two were ever identical.

  “I’m the stablemaster here and all the horses tolerate my touch.”

  Pyrrha looked at Nendia. “Would you be willing to allow him to do it?” She doubted it. Pegasi so rarely tolerated the touch of a man, at least those brought into the sisterhood. There were domestic pegasi that anybody could ride, but the ones brought in specifically by Heshia themselves generally refused to tolerate the touch of a man because they knew they were supposed to prefer the touch of a woman only. Heshia demanded purity of the pegasi and their riders.

  Nendia flicked her tail. “Go rest. You need it. I’ll deal with the touch of a man this once. He’s the stablemaster, so he has to know a thing or two about handling horses.” She let out a soft whinny and shook her head. “I mean I’m no horse but I’m close enough.”

  Pyrrha felt all the air let out of her and looked at the man. “She said she’d let you finish up.” She really couldn’t believe it. Like at all. She’d seen Nendia balk whenever a male knight (not of the sisterhood) approached and attempted to take her reins. Pegasi could turn outright violent if men attempted to touch them without very good reason. Nendia was technically correct; she needed to rest, but it felt so wrong to turn her pegasus over to a man to take care of.

  “Eh? You can understand her?”

  Pyrrha nodded. “All pegasi can speak, though using their natural noises. It takes a few years to understand them, but all members of the sisterhood get there eventually.” She looked down at the box with brushes. “Only brush her and maybe give her some grain and hay. If you want to let her out on pasture, just open the stall door and she’ll go on her own. Pegasi are incredibly intelligent animals. She doesn’t need a halter and lead rope to be taken out to pasture.” She paused. “Plus, I doubt she’d let you lead her out.” Nendia had cleared him brushing her but that was it. “Pegasi can and will get aggressive. She only said you could clean her.”

  “All right, all right; I get it, I get it. Only brushing and feed. I have stablehands out here that’ll be the ones feeding her, but considering the awful shape she’s in, I wanted to check on her rider too… I can see she’s not in great shape either.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Pyrrha sighed. No, she wasn’t. “I’m going to go sleep.” She was bone tired from the ride over, then the long walk from the stable to the house, a walk she’d have to make again. Not to mention the physical exertion it took to brush Nendia what little she had. She was so tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep again… She wished she could bathe Nendia, but with as emaciated as she was, she likely wouldn’t survive out here in the barn.

  “I’ll see you later.”

  “See you later, girl.” She bumped her forehead against Nendia’s, then headed back to the house. When she arrived back, she squinted her eyes. She couldn’t remember the face of the woman who helped her, or the room she’d been put in. She couldn’t remember much from the past months, but she hadn’t expected it to have effects like this.

  It was then that a young woman with blonde air walked up next to her, dressed in the green robes of Vareya. Pyrrha blinked. “Who are you?”

  The young woman blinked, her purple eyes confused. “You don’t remember me?” The bird sitting on Pyrrha’s shoulder tweeted. “We met not that long ago in the Sanctuary of Second Blessings.”

  Pyrrha closed her eyes and willed herself to remember. “Maybe… I remember someone being with the bird?”

  “I’m her caretaker. I got cleared to stay here with you while you learn to take care of her.” The woman paused. “Were you going somewhere?”

  “My room…but I don’t remember where exactly it was. Somewhere on the second floor.”

  “How about we find it together?” The woman smiled. “I’m Yang; it’s nice to meet you.”

  “Pyrrha.”

  “Right. Now how about we go look?”

  Pyrrha nodded wearily and followed Yang up to the second floor where they started opening doors then closing them. After a couple minutes, they found the room. The bed had clearly been slept in and the dressers had clearly been messed with. “This has to be it… Thank you.”

  “No problem.” Yang smiled. “I’ll go find someone to see if they can help get me set up in a room.” The little bird on her shoulder tweeted again and then flew over to Pyrrha’s shoulder. “Just don’t sleep with her in bed. I’ve heard horror stories of people crushing birds when they’re in bed with them.”

  Pyrrha frowned and shook her head. “I won’t.” She still didn’t want this bird, but it seemed like she didn’t really have a choice unfortunately. So she just looked down. “All right; let’s go…” She withdrew into her room, then put the bird on the dresser. “You stay here so you don’t die, understand?” The bird nodded to her surprise, then tucked its head under its wing on its back. With a hefty sigh, Pyrrha went to the bed and curled up, falling asleep almost instantly. She was just far, far too exhausted for this…

  ?

  Yang watched as Pyrrha disappeared into her room with Lumesong. She was a little worried about the bird because Pyrrha seemed to be none too thrilled with having a little companion with her. She hoped and prayed to Vareya that Pyrrha wouldn’t do anything to harm Lumesong. But it wasn’t like she could just stop the pyrelark from attaching to somebody. If Vareya herself told Lumesong to be Pyrrha’s companion, almost nothing was going to change that. Divine animals like pyrelarks and auroraswifts were at the whim of their specific gods. If their god told them to attach to somebody, then they would and could. Getting them shaken off was going to be a complete nightmare… She hoped that Pyrrha wouldn’t hate Lumesong and would allow her to be there for her. An auroraswift might honestly be a better companion as they were all about joy and new beginnings, being sacred to Rhyza, the Dawnbringer. But Vareya brought light and flame to people, so it wasn’t all that unusual that a pyrelark had chosen her…

  Shaking her head, Yang picked up her bag and saw a servant walking by. “Good morning. I’m here to help Pyrrha take care of her little birdy companion. Could you show me to a room?”

  “The Illuminator will be the one to decide if you stay or not.”

  Yang frowned. That wasn’t promising. She supposed that made sense, as this was the Illuminator’s home, but still… “Where is she?” That Weiss woman… Where was she?

  “She’s busy.”

  “Can I speak with her?”

  “Make an appointment.”

  Yang’s expression flattened. “You’re going to say no to a Flamekeeper of Vareya?” Normally she wasn’t one to intimidate people, but in this case, she needed to pull her rank. She helped keep the Sanctum safe as well as the town in general. Flamekeepers were fighting clergy that could easily join the town guards at the drop of a hat in the case of some sort of danger. She’d never been called to combat or anything, but she could still easily take people down… Plus, a Flamekeeper of Vareya was a very honored position. For this woman to deny her request… “Do you want me to report you to the Sanctum and keep you from rites?” Yang very well could do that.

  The woman looked spooked. “N-No. The Illuminator’s office and the library are on the fourth floor.”

  Yang smiled pleasantly. “Thank you.” The woman led Yang up to the library and left her alone. Most of the floor was the library and it was big. She would have to search for a while to find Weiss unfortunately. And Lumesong had gone with Pyrrha, so she couldn’t rely on the little bird to try to help her find Weiss. So with a heavy sigh, Yang started walking through the long, dusty shelves of the library until she heard someone hefting something.

  She rounded a corner and had to shield her eyes from a bright light. “Oh geeze…”

  “Huh? Is somebody there?” The light dimmed into nothing and Weiss approached. “Oh… You’re…Yang, right? We met you at the Sanctuary of Second Blessings. What are you doing here? Also sorry about the light… I just don’t want to burn candles in here, around old documents; I could start a fire.”

  “Fair, fair. As a pyromancer, I understand the dangers of fire and documents. But I’m here because of Lumesong, Pyrrha’s companion. I was given clearance to stay here until Pyrrha understands how to take care of Lumesong. Birds are delicate things and have to be handled gently.”

  Weiss nodded. “Right, now I remember you mentioning that… Still, a pyrelark? Vareya herself? Why would a deity step in for something like this?”

  Yang shrugged. “Honestly, I would’ve expected Rhyza to be the one to step in; he’s the one about new beginnings. But it also does make some sense for Vareya to step in—she’s all about light, power, and strength. Maybe she thought Pyrrha could use some strength. In the end, though, the will of the gods is pretty unknowable. I’ve been wrong about all sorts of things before.” Yeah, the gods could be relatively obtuse in how they handled things. They were human enough, but they still didn’t always make sense. They made just enough sense that people felt like they could grasp them, but they were different enough that it wasn’t always possible. “Do you know what her story is?”

  Weiss nodded. “I was coming into town last night and cut through a forest—stupid, I know, but I wanted to get to town as soon as possible—and a phantom lynx led me to Pyrrha and her pegasus, Nendia. I don’t know her full story, but she was a pegasus knight. Emphasis on was. She hasn’t really told me her story yet, but we are strangers, so I can’t blame her.”

  Yang frowned. “A disgraced pegasus knight, huh? I wonder why she chose not to go on the Trial of the Winds to regain her standing in the knights…” There were a lot of questions there that needed to be answered, but Pyrrha was the only one to know the full story. She supposed they would only come with time and trust, though. How long Yang would be there, she honestly wasn’t really sure… Pyrrha seemed to be having memory issues and that would definitely effect how she treated lumesong. As it was, Yang probably wouldn’t trust Pyrrha to take care of Lumesong alone for quite a long time. Not until it was ingrained in her memory on the normal routine.

  Weiss nodded. “She’s been through a lot and forcing her to talk about it probably wouldn’t do her any good, not right now. She needs to recover mentally and physically. Though based on how she reacted to you offering her some counseling in the Sanctuary… Well. I’m not so sure about spiritually.”

  Yang sighed. “It’s rare to see someone deny the gods like that.”

  “I mean, I’m not super religious by any means… I’m sworn to Niru due to being an Illuminator, but I don’t really do rites or anything. I don’t hate them; I’m just…irreverent.”

  “That’s unique to hear from someone sworn to the direct service of a deity.” Yang had honestly never heard of anything like it before. She knew religion didn’t touch everybody’s life as deeply as hers, but that didn’t mean hearing about someone being irreligious wasn’t strange. Then again, the Sanctum was the main source of spirituality for most areas. Most towns did have a very small Sanctum, nothing like the one here in Hazelmere, where multiple deities had their own, unique temples and worship services. Most Sanctums were small and accommodated all the gods and demigods. Anybody could revere any good in most Sanctums. They were lucky to have maybe two clergy members in very small villages; one was usually the case.

  Weiss shrugged. “The Illuminator’s Guild is more focused on training for practical matters such as record keeping and such rather than forcing us to be indebted to the gods. It’s pretty common for Illuminators to be somewhat irreverent. Of course, that’s not true of all Illuminators, but it’s pretty common. My mother is devout, but me and my sister?” She shrugged again. “We really couldn’t care less about the deity part of our job. We respect the gods and their messages, of course, but that’s about as far as it goes.”

  “Interesting. I didn’t know that about Illuminators…but I’m also not old enough to remember when we had the last one.” She shrugged. She’d only been a little girl then and she had never met the Illuminator at the time.

  “Yeah. I am sworn to Niru due to my knowledge, but I’m just irreverent. Unless Niru or Alaethe sends me a personal message, the gods don’t impact my life on a daily basis. And this isn’t me saying I don’t appreciate the people who do dedicate their lives to the gods; it’s just not my thing personally.”

  Yang nodded. “I get it. The life of a devout isn’t something most people could handle. Question though. Do you offer any sort of libations to the gods or anything? Though the gods don’t touch most people’s lives on a daily basis, a lot of people do leave little tokens, offerings, or prayers to the gods.”

  Weiss shrugged. “I only go through the motions for holidays and rites where I’m required to. Talking to the gods directly just isn’t my thing.” She paused. “Anyway, enough of that. What did you come here for?”

  “I wanted to ask if I could stay here so that way I can teach Pyrrha how to take care of Lumesong. But I might be here for a while because Pyrrha seems to be having memory issues—she didn’t remember my name when I talked to her earlier.”

  Weiss frowned. “That’s…concerning. I wonder if she’ll remember my name or not. But yeah, you can stay with us. I know birds are generally delicate little creatures and one wrong thing can send them keeling over. I’ve seen falconers lose birds to something that should be easy to treat, but then the bird just goes downhill and dies. Even if I’m irreverent toward the gods, I don’t want to see a divine bird die due to improper care. You’re perfectly welcome to stay here; it’s not like I’m going to be using most of the rooms anyway.” She shook her head. “Why are you asking?”

  “A servant told me I had to speak with you.”

  “I mean, I guess it’s proper decorum to do so, but I really don’t care about decorum unless I’m in Elentharis or Verdalyn. This is a small, ho-dunk village on the edge of the nation. There’s no reason to get so up in arms over decorum.” Weiss shook her head, then looked at Yang. “I’m guessing you haven’t gotten settled, then, considering you still have a bag with you?”

  Yang shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I’ll go find a room on the first floor. I’m a Flamekeeper of Vareya, so I know how to protect people should it come to it. Pyrrha was a pegasus knight, but I don’t think she’s in any shape to be doing much.” Yeah, Pyrrha was in terrible shape. The clothes she’d come into the Sanctuary with, the raggedy boots… Something bad had happened to the pegasus knight, but it would take and trust to get it out of her. She really did want to help Pyrrha as well. But with the way Pyrrha had reacted to the gods… She’d obviously been hurt somehow by them but right now wasn’t the time to try to rebuild that trust. She needed Pyrrha to just trust her first…

  “I’ll be up here if you need me.” Weiss waved and, seeing she was dismissed, Yang left the library and headed back down to the first floor. She found an empty room and got her stuff set up. Once that was done, she paused. She wasn’t really certain what to do with herself right now. She was used to having a rotating schedule of duties to attend to during the week at the Sanctum, but now, she didn’t have any of that. Weiss would be busy a lot of the time and Pyrrha would need companionship… Well, assuming Pyrrha was up to it, she could be her companionship during their waking hours. Though…she would need a physical checkup along with tinctures and such.

  She knew exactly who would be best for that. She knew exactly who to contact about that. With everything in the room set up, she left the Illuminator’s home and headed into town.