"I hate this," Valens grumbled, keeping one firm hand on his alumna's shoulder, which hunched more and more every second. He glared at anyone who met his eyes too long, trying to warn them with his gaze not to try anything. But lightning could only do so much if the Pyrrhaei throng surged past the double line of Regum Electi and up to the skyhaven platform.

"I do as well, young man," Aix said, keen gray eyes taking in the growing crowd. "But it will be better when we are within the skychariot."

Valens hoped so. A nerve-wracking blend of curious, adoring, and hostile faces surrounded the platform where their tiny royal party waited for the Electi to finish sweeping the skychariot for threats. Mostly hostile faces. Some of the Pyrrhaei would probably kill Domi if given the chance.

"Ow," Domi said, voice choked, and it was only then Valens realized he'd dug his fingers into the boy's slight shoulder.

"Sorry, Alumna." He ignored the stern glare from Domi's new protocol handler for not addressing the kid as "Basilicus". The man appointed by the Rex made Comitas's strictness seem like a reed in the wind, but Valens didn't care. The last thing the traumatized kid needed right now was yet another reminder that he was Princeps Worldholder and the fate of the planet rested on his slender shoulders.

Thank the Eternal Radiance--or whatever source of generosity and mercy remained in this nightmarish hellscape--that they would have the entire skychariot to themselves. Well, to themselves save for the attendants, who had been carefully screened and compelled to ensure none meant the new Princeps harm. Domi needed privacy and quiet. They all did.

"Will we see them again?" Domi murmured.

Valens followed his alumna's gaze to where Arbita stood, alone, next to the Rex and the other Principia to see them off. But he knew what the boy meant.

"I'm sure your mother and the others are safe," he said, though he was not sure. Not really. But if anyone could survive and keep the others alive with her, it was Merula Nocticola. "We'll see them again when we get back."

"If we get the Trellis back. If we don't die and then everyone else with us."

The kid had a good point. But still. "You can't think like that," Valens said, rubbing the boy's shoulder to try to soothe him. "You need to focus on seeing them again. On getting through this so you can be with your mother, Sidus, and Radix again when all of this is over."

"And Edera?" Domi said quietly. "She... she's a widow now. She'll be alone with the--"

"Don't say that out loud," Valens interrupted, his heart pounding. If the Rex found out and captured Edera, one of the unborn twins would be killed whether their mother wanted that or not.

"I messed up everything for everyone," Domi whispered, body trembling beneath Valens's fingers.

Eternal Radiance, what could he even say to that? "Alumna..."

"We are now pleased to welcome the Princeps Worldholder aboard," a voice bellowed from the skychariot entrance.

Relief flooded Valens, followed by a wave of guilt. He shouldn't relish an excuse to escape the task of finding words to comfort his alumna. But sometimes his own helpless inadequacy felt overwhelming.

"Come along, young people," Aix said, sympathy heavy as rainclouds in his gray eyes. He held an arm out, encouraging them to pass.

Their pathetic party of three passed the Rex and Principia, Decus's droning, empty blessings upon their quest rolling over them.

And then at last they were on the skychariot, greeted by a row of beaming Pyrrhaei attendants who stood at sharp attention in their crisp, calf-length ruby double tunicas. The din of the crowd outside faded to a hush, the vessel's promenia sound-dampeners more a blessing than the Rex's hollow prayers.

Outside the window, Valens saw the Rex and Principia turn and depart. "Good riddance," he growled.

Domi followed his eyes and offered a tiny smile, the first Valens had seen in days. Then the smile faded, gone again before it had fully formed, and he looked uneasily around the skychariot. "Uh... What are they doing?" he whispered, eying the attendants with a growing frown.

Valens followed the boy's gaze and blinked. "What the hell?"

In front of them, the attendants had relaxed from their stiff attention and turned to one another, talking animatedly and utterly ignoring their passengers. One leaned against the wall, crossed her legs at the ankle, and pulled out a Caeles stone.

"Shouldn't they escort us to our chamber or something?" Domi whispered.

Valens gritted his teeth but tried to shove the frustration down. "It seems we won't be receiving great customer service during our flight," he grumbled. The snub by mere Pyrrhaei rankled, but he had to admit it could be far worse. He'd rather be ignored than attacked by angry commoners.

"No, I think something else is going on, young Aedilis," Aix murmured. He approached one of the attendants. "Good Erus?"

Nothing. The woman did not even twitch as the silver-haired man stood before her where she gossipped with her colleague about some white flower she'd found growing in her salutatio room.

Domi frowned and stepped up to a young man. "Erus? Hello?" He waved a hand in front of the man's eyes, but not only did the attendant show no sign of noticing the kid, but he pulled a book out of his paenula pocket and sat down on a bench to read. Domi darted back to Valens's side, alarm widening his eyes. "What's going on, Valens?"

"It's not just on here either," Aix said. He dipped his chin toward the observation window. "Look at the crowd outside."

Valens leaned forward to see out the window and felt a chill sweep through him. The crowd no longer focused on the skychariot but stood, lazy and carefree, chitchatting among themselves like they had not just been on the brink of a riot a few minutes earlier.

Then, through the sea of shifting people, Valens spotted a brilliant sapphire gleam.

"Mindholder," he breathed.

At his side, Domi gasped and then swayed into him. "I-I don't feel well," the alumna whimpered.

Valens whipped around to look at the boy, gripping the kid's shoulders as Domi grayed before his eyes.

"Hide him quickly," Aix said. "This looks like--"

"--an assassination attempt," Valens finished with a grim nod. He cast his alumna another worried look, noting the sweat breaking over the boy's face. Poison? Not a fast-acting one, it seemed, but dread filled him.

Eyes narrowing, he drew scattered promenia to him and then spread it above and below the approaching mindholder. The lightning strike might kill a few Pyrrhaei, but he could not allow the assassin to draw closer.

"Do you think he's been poisoned?" he asked Aix, nudging his alumna toward the man. Eternal Radiance, if so, the man could not use promenia to help treat the kid. Not with the Rex's command restraining all lifeholders.

"I will check him shortly," the old man said, "but first, really, we must hide him." He fixed Valens with a grave look. "This could be an assassination attempt, a kidnapping, anything. Hide him."

"One moment," Valens said and released the lightning bolt. With luck, there would be no need to hide.

Then he stared, horrified, as nothing happened. The mindholder continued through the throng, resolving into a woman's silhouette.

Few people in the world outranked Valens. He served a Princeps and was the world's top-ranked worldholder after the boy.

Yet the assassin outranked him.

"Alright," he said, voice choked. "We need to hide." He grabbed Domi's arm.

"Wait," the boy said, digging his heels into the faux velvet carpet. "It... It's alright."

"It's not all right," Valens growled. "Come on, we need to hurry."

Domi shook his head, leaning away from his grip. "It's Buccina."

"That doesn't mean you're safe," Valens snapped. It could mean quite the opposite. The woman had hidden her involvement from the Rex. Perhaps she now planned to tie up loose ends to avoid following Daedalus to the funeral pyre.

"No, she says she'll explain," Domi said. He peered up at Valens. "Please, I trust her."

"A mindholder can make you trust them, young Erus," Aix said, though now he looked thoughtful.

"I know," the boy murmured. He trembled against Valens. "Still, I want to talk to her." He gulped. "But can I sit down? I don't feel so great."

Valens nodded, filled with unease as he guided the boy to slump onto one of the benches. The kid did not look good, breathing hard and clivia pale. He hoped it was just the stress of the past few days and now this new fear catching up with him.

"Please take a look at him," he asked Aix, but the man was already sitting down next to the boy.

"I need you to give me your permission," the impure lifeholder said, his voice soothing.

Domi gave a shaky nod, slumping against the old man's shoulder as the promenia hummed.

"Well?" Valens snapped as one second passed, then two, and Aix's brow furrowed.

"I am looking, young Aedilis," Aix said, a small frown on his lips. "I see no poisons, no damage. His..." He trailed off, his frown deepening.

"Is he alright?" Valens demanded. The other man shook his head, and Valens's heart plummeted. "Aix!"

"I'm not sure," Aix said, withdrawing his promenia. "This--"

Sapphire flashed in the corner of Valens's eye. He whipped around, his hands clenching at his sides, as the mindholder stepped onto the skychariot.

"Please forgive the scare," Princeps Buccina said. She nodded to the skychariot door. "Come, there is not much time."

"Not much time for what?" Valens snapped. He glared from his ailing alumna to the woman. "What are you doing, Basilicus? Did you hurt him?"

She shook her head and glanced at Domi, sympathy spreading over her face. "It's just a side effect of the magic. He'll be alright." She swept a hand toward the skychariot door, her arm passing inches away from an attendant obliviously filing his nails. "Please come with me. You can only be away a short time before the Rex notices the skychariot has not yet departed. I convinced the Electi to triple check to ensure that your flight path will remain clear of all other vessels, but it only buys so much time."

"Time for what?" Valens demanded, but to his dismay, Domi rose, shaky but determined, from his bench and crossed to the mindholder.

She placed a hand on the boy's back and nudged him toward the door. "There are some people who want to see you before you depart," the Princeps Mindholder said.

<>

"This is so weird," Domi murmured, peering around in wonder as he, Valens, and Aix followed Buccina through the streets of Vola Apertus.

They had left the skyhaven, forum, and marketplace behind, meandering into the winding alleys of the slums. They'd passed hundreds of people, and yet no one looked their way, intent upon other things.

"It's like we're invisible," he added.

"Not quite invisible, dear boy," Buccina said with a small smile. "Merely the least interesting thing here."

Domi shook his head, gazing down at himself in disbelief. He wasn't wearing a ceremonial paenula, but in clivia blues studded along the collar, cuffs, and hems with tiny black opals and diamonds, he was hardly dressed like even a common Lightholder, let alone the Pullati and other peasants milling about the slums around him.

"I could have used you back when I still snatched," he murmured, his heart aching. He'd give anything to go back to his old life, even if it meant the chance of dying forgotten in some gutter.

Still, walking these unfamiliar and yet strangely familiar streets filled him with a sort of cautious hope. He almost didn't dare let himself feel it, yet still, it stirred inside him, easing some of the discomfort caused by whatever Buccina had done to him to make him unnoticeable.

He'd never seen Vola Apertus before, and certainly not this impoverished corner. Urbs Hostiae had been a city of sandstone and ivy, a visually subdued place even in the slums of sedate tans and greens with a sprinkle of night-side cyans.

Vola Apertus, on the other hand, even here in the poorest district, looked like something a rainbow had puked all over. These people sure liked their bright paints, colorful prayer flags, and vibrant bunches of flowers. And not just the simple wildflowers that sometimes grew back home but died out over Germinating. No, everywhere Domi looked, glowing snow blossoms grew out of every crack, cranny, and crevice. The narrow streets were beautiful in their way, if a bit gaudy.

Not that he had the right to complain about gaudiness. He scowled down at his jewel-crusted clothing. Not any more.

He hoped Merula and the others had found a nice hidey-hole in this area. If you had to be on the run, at least this was a beautiful place to hunker down.

Still, he didn't want to hope too much that Buccina was taking him to see his mother. He couldn't handle the disappointment right now of being wrong. He just couldn't. But who else could she be taking him to meet?

"Here we are," she said, stopping before a shack of alternating dark blue, rich purple, and lime green painted boards. "Salutatio just finished up."

Domi's heart leaped in his throat. Salutatio? Unless Vola Apertus was different than home in more ways than color, there was only one group of people who held salutatio in the evening.

"Don't mind me," the Princeps added, and between one blink and the next someone, new stood at his side.

The slender ebony-skinned boy winked an eye gleaming the same shade of sapphire as Buccina's now missing laurel. The boy pressed one finger to his lips, quirking a sly smile, then reached out to rap his knuckles upon the peeling lime green door.

After a moment a filthy kid, covered head to toe in soot, threw the door open, blowing a giant pink bubble that Domi half thought would snap all over her face.

"About time," Radix blurted behind the filthy lifeholder girl.

Domi gaped, looking from one youth to the other in astonishment. Edera's hair was no longer pink, not because of the soot but because it had been dyed a dingy black.

Radix too looked a bit different, red hair now a wash of every color under the sun as though in tribute to their new home.

"Might as well stop staring at them and give them a hug," Edera said with a huff and an eye roll. She stood aside to let Radix rush out and all but pounce on Domi.

"You're alive. You're alright," Domi gasped into their shoulder.

"Yeah," Radix said, squeezing him so hard he thought his ribs would break. "To be honest though, I don't think they'll hurt me if they catch me." They gave him one last bone-crushing hug and then stepped back to grin up at him. "Kind of hard to use me as a hostage if I'm dead, right?"

Domi clenched his jaw as tears threatened. "Please don't even talk about being dead," he choked. "So many people are..." He couldn't bear to finish the sentence, his throat squeezing the air from him as surely as Radix's hug.

They patted him on the back, then grabbed him by one arm and tugged him inside. "Come on."

"Hold up," Domi said as they passed through the doorway. "I gotta give something to the Rex."

"That's... gonna be complicated," Edera murmured.

"What do you got?" Radix asked.

Valens, walking into the shack behind them, frowned. He gave the mud-splattered, rug-filled common room a disdainful glare and then pulled out his purse. "Will coin work?"

"Coin will do," a gruff voice answered, and a bald old man stepped into the room. "Though this would be nice too," he added, flicking the back of his fingernails against Domi's glittering sleeve, where opals and diamonds crawled up his forearm like a gauntlet.

"If I give you the whole sleeve someone will notice," Domi pointed out. "How about we pick a few gems off from here and there, though?" Between two adorned collars, two hems, and the cuffs of his tunica and waist of his paenula, there were tons of spots where a gem or five could disappear with none the wiser.

"You can't be serious," Valens said as Buccina's creepy kid illusion chuckled.

Domi scowled at his aedificans. There were some things the man just didn't get. "They're gonna be hit harder by what happened than anyone else," he said, trying to keep his tone civil. "It's the least I can do."

"We can figure out his contribution later," a new, heartily familiar voice cut in.

"Ma!" Domi gasped, stumbling away from the others and collapsing into her arms.

He did not realize that he was sobbing until he felt her stroking his back, her voice choking as she murmured, "Shh. It's alright, I've got you. Shh now."

"H-how did you get out of the p-palace?" he gasped, her strong arms helping hold him together. "Comitas and Fons died. Dae died. I thought you were going--" The breath stalled in his throat and his tears soaked her patched tunica.

"I went right out the front gate, kid," she said, rubbing his back as he clung to her. "When you were arrested, Arbita and Aix said everyone should go back to Urbs Hostiae before any more arrests were made." She shook her head and smiled at the old man. "But the others and I didn't want to be so far away from you. And if necessary, we want those of you in the palace to have friends here in the city."

"Others?" Domi murmured, hope swelling. If Merula, Radix, and Edera were here, then maybe...

Merula gave him a dry chuckle. "Bored of your ma already, hmm? Eager to leap into the arms of that boy?" He flushed and she smiled, nodding. "Go ahead. Sidus is in the back room."

Domi smiled sheepishly, and stepped away from her. She chuckled again, sadly this time, and reached out to brush his tears away. "It will be alright," she murmured. "You'll see. Go to him now."

He wanted to believe her, really he did. But there was no way everything could turn out alright. Even if he got the Trellis back, he could never, ever bring back everyone who had died. Comitas and Fons. The millions who died in Trellis Descent. His birth mother's eidolon. Daedalus. But if he could bring the Trellis back, maybe no one else would die.

"Go on," Edera murmured. "He's been worried sick about you."

Nodding, Domi brushed fresh tears from his face, then went to the shack's back room.

Just before he could walk inside, Sidus stepped out. Domi froze, and for a moment they stared at each other.

Sidus's eyes were bloodshot, and Domi wasn't the only one with tears dampening his cheeks. But the older boy was beaming.

"Sidus," Domi breathed.

For a moment, as the smile slipped from the other boy's face, Domi's heart plummeted. What was he thinking? The starholder couldn't want to see him. He probably hated him. Sidus's foster brother and parents were dead because of him.

And then Sidus's face lit up again, and he rushed forward, crushing Domi's body in a hug and his lips in a kiss. Their tears mingled on their faces as they tried to press as close to one another as possible.

It was only when Domi's back slammed against the wall that Sidus stepped away, breathing hard. He pressed his forehead to Domi's. "I wasn't sure I'd get to see you before you left. To show you."

"Show me?" Domi asked, unable to catch his breath or make his mind work. For a moment, just a moment, horror, grief, and guilt had been held at bay.

"How do you feel?" the starholder asked.

"Feel?" Domi asked stupidly. His lips felt bruised but in a good way.

Sidus gripped his shoulders. "Take a deep breath." Confused, Domi did as he was told, and Sidus gave him a nod encouraging him to take another. "Alright. Concentrate. How do you feel?"

"G-good," he started to say, blushing. But then the clammy, nauseating misery reminded him of its presence. He winced as his head and chest throbbed, and then his arm.

His...

"Sidus..." He breathed, beginning to tremble. "W-what are you going to show me?"

The other boy beamed, tears glimmering in his eyes. "Come here. Deep breath." And he clasped Domi's hand and drew him into the back room.

Domi followed, his head spinning and his heart pounding in his chest. And then he saw what Sidus meant to show him, and his heart felt like it stopped in his chest.

Quiet footsteps approached, and then Valens and Aix entered the room. The aedificans froze, staring, and Aix stepped forward and rested a hand on Domi's trembling shoulder.

"I sensed it," the impure lifeholder said softly, "but I didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong."

Sidus nodded. "His prometarium was badly hurt, but he just started producing prometus a half-hour ago," he said quietly. "I don't know if his laurel will come back or if he'll be able to rekindle at all, but honestly, I don't care. He's--"

"A-alive," Domi sobbed, stumbling on weakening knees toward his sleeping twin. "Dae's alive."