FENRER

Yuven left without another word of icy intent.

Let's see what I can do for their mother.

Her aura fluttered with a fragmented mosaic of sickly blues lost in the tangle of deeper leashes of red fear. Around her arms, the bandage sagged and failed to prevent the infection the Derelict venom caused in the subset. Which means she's been like this a couple days without antidotes. It's not the venom itself that's often lethal... but what comes after is another story. He checked the other strap to take out a phial of moondew — one of the most effective concoctions against the venom. He put it on the small stand at the head of the bed for preparation before unraveling the rest of the bandage around her arms, taking care to not press on the wound and the last stream of the infection which tore a crimson shade through her blue aura. Sweat plastered thin strands of hair to her brow while she breathed through soft groans. He set the dirty bandages into a bucket with the rest, but frowned when he peeked into the healer sack left nearby.

One last wrapped package of bandages remained. He set them on top of the bag and rubbed the bridge of his nose before uncorking the nectar. Its puff of sweet fragrance chased the feverish death hanging in the air around him, but a different aura molded in the comfort of the deep blue, and he twisted when a shadow lowered itself to the ground.

Asu crept into the light of the ceiling lamp with a glare to rival Yuven's. In fact, it reminded him too much of Yuven. Fenrer smiled at him. "Hello, Asu, was it?" He frowned when Asu stomped to his side, then glanced at the phial in his hands. "Is something wrong?"

"Is that poison?" Asu asked while Suka crawled down the ladder, stretching her legs to meet each step.

"No," Fenrer said while the two crept close together and hid by the open curtain which protected their mother from the world. "It's something we carry as Wardens in case we run into any victims of Derelict maulings." He held out the phial to them, but Asu stepped back with a grimace. "Moondew, it'll help your mother with her infection," he explained, but Asu hid Suka behind him without another word. "I'm curious what made you think we'd kill your mother if we found her in this condition."

But maybe I don't have to ask.

"Storm Wardens destroy anything Derelicts touch, don't they?" Asu insisted. "I read it in one of our history books. Before the Pact, your order sent a wave through the lands and destroyed the dark in a continent wide Cleansing March, right? Even..." Asu locked his knees when barbed fear struck his sharp-edged aura, though Suka tugged on the hem of his shirt. "Even if it meant erasing a little bit of shadow. Is it true?"

"I don't know, I wasn't alive back then," Fenrer pointed out. "I like to think that whatever the truth — we've learned from it." He opened the phial again. "I'm not here to take your mother away from you. I'm here to help her. Storm Wardens aren't just trained to fight Derelicts." New bandages in his hand, he tipped the moondew over the woven fabric. It molded into a jelly substance and he pushed it through the bandage and spread the moon-shaped suds. "It's our Oath to defend the innocent — just as much as it is to be a shield against—"

"Against the obscurity of the inferno," Suka whispered behind her older brother.

Fenrer beamed. "Yes, so..." He wrapped the sponged bandage around their mother's arms with careful hands. "This will drain the infection out, as far as it goes — down to the bone if necessary, but..." He checked her aura once more when a disturbance of relief flowed through the painful blues. "Your mother will wake up, she needs rest above all else."

"Are you saying she will be okay?" Asu asked, all pretense of a strong front breaking apart into a familiar icy flurry of humility. "No one else in the village was sure... how are you so certain?" Asu crept closer and pressed his hands against his stomach. "She's not corrupted?"

"No." Fenrer placed the empty phial back onto his strap. "She'll survive. You have my word."

Airy relief chased the death in the air and smothered it in a scent of flowers. Asu sat on his knees. It fluttered into tears when he hid his face behind his hands. "I thought we'd have no one," he whimpered. "I didn't know what we would do... We have no one else."

Arrows zipped through the mist of fire and struck the back of a giant who pulled trees out of the ground. Fenrer strangled the hem of his pants. "I'm glad I could provide you the security you needed," he said, then straightened himself out, causing the two to peer at him. "Let her rest." He drew the curtain around the bed once more, but stopped when Suka zoned in on the black band around his forearm.

"You're an Aurus!" Suka exclaimed, and Asu jolted with a gasp.

Thoughts braced against the shield of his mind, but Suka sped forward and pushed Asu out of the way, who grunted with a complaint. "Does that mean you have the swirly eyes?" She bounced on her legs, but her own shield lifted around her strained aura of sunflowers. "I want to see!"

"Suka, don't be rude," Asu bit. "And be quiet. He just said Mom needs to rest. If you're loud, you'll just make it harder for her."

"The..." Fenrer stifled a laugh deep in his throat. "The swirly eyes, sorry?"

"Yes! When you use your powers they swirl, right?"

Fenrer touched his hand to his chest, then said, "How about we leave your mother to sleep first?" He motioned the children to the ladder out of the bunker, but drew the sputtered flames in the lamps into his hands. Ashen fever coursed through his nose, but he cleansed it of the pain, and left the scent of the comfort of family in the air before crushing the crimson embers in his palm to douse its despair. Drenched in peaceful darkness, he rejoined the children upstairs and left the hatch open to allow in the fresh air to replace the stale ones. Suka and Asu rushed out of the pantry, while he stepped over bags of wilted grain. His foot knocked a small broom to the side, and he put it back where he kicked it before ducking to avoid the low hang of the doorframe.

He sat down on the bench, and raised his hands when Suka came closer. "I'm sorry if I was rude," she said. "It's just... I mean, I have a lot of storybooks back where we live and we don't see a lot of Aurus here either."

Asu joined her with a frown. "Have you heard how some of the Elders talk about Aurus, Suka?"

"Elders shmellders," Suka said and threw her hand out. "Why ask them when I can ask a real Aurus?" She brought the bridges of her fingers underneath her nose with a smile. "Can you show me?"

Hm... Yuven and Adara are gone, I don't sense their auras in the area... and I need to make sure nothing happens here. Fenrer nodded, and Suka wriggled in place and took a respectful step back from his hands. Internal focus ripped through his mind when he zoned in on a single spot in the ocean of auras. He lifted his head to the last traces of silver lily-bells and the dance of snowroses which left a path on the wind in the direction they took. Frost mingled his senses and twirled around his necklace to remind him of the piece of magick Yuven entrusted to him so long ago. Suka gasped when Fenrer switched his attention to her, where the sunflowers bloomed further and all around the ground and ceiling. Asu tipped his head with a shred of curiosity, where the wall of stone grew — protective in measure, ready to defend who he kept behind him. It flowed against the leaves of the world tree, and he rubbed his temple when it sharpened against his skin and drove its wedged teeth into his head.

"It's just like the Aurae Crystallis book Mom read to us!" Suka said, then recited, "Within the eyes of a crystal; a pure starlight aura. For when the world takes a breath, they can see."

Fenrer chuckled and pushed the sensory overload out of his head, but he rubbed the back of it when it centralized over his nape and black spots danced instead in place of the beauty of a breathing world. "My eyes aren't quite crystal as described in stories, that would be interesting," he muttered, then pressed his palm to the other side of his head, and Suka frowned.

"Are you okay, Mr. Fenrer?"

"I'm fine," he assured. "It's just a lot to watch the world breathe."

"Is it beautiful?"

Fenrer tested the word on his tongue. No control over the view of the world. No words to change a mind. He smiled at the two, then nodded. "It is heavy knowledge, but is wondrous beyond measure, to be given this gift to watch the world breathe along with us," he said, then closed his eyes to chase the last remnants of painful stars out of his vision while Suka and Asu examined him.

"That band? You have to wear that all the time?" Asu asked, then leaned forward. "Even... in the bath?"

Fenrer smiled. "That'd be a tad tedious. I don't have to wear it constantly." He held out his forearm for them to prod. "Otherwise, yes, I must wear it most of the time while I'm out and about."

"It looks itchy," Suka muttered, then grimaced. "If it gets wet I bet that makes it worse. I hate it when my dress gets muddy and damp..." Her fingers drove into the crafted hem of the flowers.

"You get used to it." Fenrer set his arm back down on his seat.

"Does that mean you can do a mind beam attack?" Asu blurted.

"A..." Fenrer tasted the concept on his tongue. "Mind beam attack?"

"You know... Here, I'll demonstrate." Asu twisted to the closed door and held out his hands. Air whispered from her fingertips and concentration creased his brow. "It's like when you do it with magick, but you know..." He motioned with his elbows, and Fenrer blinked when a burst of wind crashed into the door and it twisted off its hinges to smack on the outside with a rocking wooden clack. "Can you do that but with your mind?"

"No!" Suka bit. "It's a mind blast, not a mind beam."

"What's the difference?"

Fenrer got out of his chair with a laugh. "No, I can't do something like that, beam or blast otherwise."

Asu folded his arms. "But you can do mind attacks, right? People sometimes mention Aurus who've broken the law."

Fenrer drew back, and Suka pushed Asu. "And you say I'm rude?"

"Don't push me, I was just asking..."

Fenrer steadied his breath. "It is true that Aurus... can do many things others can't on a level that's terrifying to some," he tested the words and filtered through the ocean stone. "Others fear what they cannot understand, that is a simple truth I've learned in the Order." He sat back down and folded his arms. "I understand the fear... so, I suppose I could do a mind attack, but I don't want to — and it is against the law. If these Aurus do use their powers for this reason... then they deserve the full extent of the consequences."

Told time and time again and the band tightened around his wrist and the fabric dug into his skin.

"I'm sorry." Asu put his hands on his knees and bowed his head. "I really meant no offense, Ser Warden."

"I'm not offended, all is well," Fenrer assured when Suka copied her brother. "I don't mind the questions. Questions can lead to knowledge. It is good that you ask me."

Asu raised his head back into the firelight with a deep frown. "Then... is it true that Aurus can speak to the dead?"

A bell tolled on the horizon. One deep thunder for the call of the setting hour.

Fenrer breathed out its last noise and sat up. "Not in the way you think of," he explained. "On the auric level I can communicate with them, but that is without words — without sound. I can sense their presence and pinpoint their pain. Aurus are sought for this ability, to regain passage into the Otherworld for their lost and to prevent the spread of wraiths." He got out of the chair and headed to the fireplace when a chill swept over his shoulders. "It is also true that the dead may use me as a vessel, a lifeline to this world, to speak through me. They cannot strictly hear the world of the living, only that of the dead and the veil Aurus can see."

It went quiet.

"That sounds scary..." Suka whispered with a sniff.

Fenrer smiled at her. "It can be, yes."

Dawning realization filled Asu's stone wall, and he rushed to Fenrer's other side. "You can help the dead then?" He leaned closer, and the shadows spread over his cheeks. "I know where they buried the corpses."

"Asu..." Suka drew into the corner. "Maybe you shouldn't mention that. Messing with unmarked graves is bad luck..."

Asu scowled. "No one will help!" he snapped, then pointed at him. "But... he can. I want to go home, Suka. I want to go home and read with Mother again. But no one in the village will do anything in fear of that thing!" Tears fell down his cheeks with the power of determination. "If he can help..." He bowed again. "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier, please help us, Storm Wardens. We want to go home."

I want to go home... a different voice sobbed in his ear.

Fenrer dug his fingers into his palm then knelt on Asu's level. "Where are these graves?"

He faced the wall of fire when it descended across the sunny grove.