"I don't understand, I thought you said that you'd already searched through Orion's room?"

Aurnia spun on her toes, taking in her surroundings and doing her best to ignore the churning guilt in her stomach. To her left, a small desk stood laden down by mottled books and sheets of paper filled with scrawled notes and crossed out instructions. Aurnia carefully pushed the books aside, gently tracing her fingers lightly over his handwriting and smiled. It seemed that like Lily, Orion did not have a knack for potions. But seeing nothing else, she turned to her aunt with a frown.

"There is nothing here and if Orion is truly as well behaved as you say that he is, then I doubt that he would have decided to slip away. Unless-" Aurnia hesitated and sent a look in her mother's direction. "That is unless Orion had reasons for wanting to leave."

At that her mother narrowed her eyes and Aurnia sighed. "Our relationship may be prickly but I believe that my childhood was a happy one and for that I have no complaints. However, like the clouds in the skies, every child is different. Some may not be suited for constant pressure. I buckled and look where that landed me."

"You did more than buckle," said her mother as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Can I remind both of you that you'd promised to cooperate while we try to find Orion? And please remember that children are not made of steel." Reuna's voice cut sharply through the simmering tension and Aurnia pursed her lips and mumbled another apology. Her mother did the same, offering Aurnia a curt nod before stepping into the room.

"We have checked the room but unlike you, our sight is limited to the physical world. Orion may not have left a sign as to where he went, but a person cannot possibly vanish without leaving a trace."

Aurnia's eyes widened as she sucked in a breath. "You think my abilities will lead us to him?"

"I cannot say," her mother let out a shallow laugh. "But you walked into our living room and sensed an argument without us having to tell you about it."

Aurnia looked away, feigning interest in the three wooden bears that Orion had placed on the shelf above his desk. Clumsy as they were, she had carved wooden charms for his twelfth birthday in an attempt to ward off bad luck and sent them to him on the wings of one of Lily's remaining Watchers.

Her mother cleared her throat, softly motioning for her to make use of her powers and Aurnia pursed her lips with a tight smile. It would be a lie to say that her abilities had first alerted her to the quarrels between her mother and aunt, their conflict had been loud enough to permeate through the front door. But truth be told, her mother's supposed faith in her abilities sent a trickle of cautious joy slithering through Aurnia's mind. She swallowed and felt the familiar tingle of magic creeping along her fingertips. After their last argument, Aurnia had left feeling as if her powers were a gift her mother had wished she had never bestowed upon her.

Aurnia moved deeper into the cluttered room, eyes scanning the hastily made bed and the pile of rumpled clothing lying abandoned in the furthest corner by a chair. Reuna coughed from somewhere behind her and having caught her attention, quickly smiled and said "I'm sure you were the same as a child, leaving your clothes everywhere except on the furniture in the room."

A grin broke out across Aurnia's face and she shook her head with a laugh. "I cannot say that I was exactly the same but I had a habit of tracking muddy footprints through the temple halls and it drove my mother mad." Her smile wavered and pushing away her leaping doubts, Aurnia steered her focus to the scene before her.

Taking a deep breath, Aurnia concentrated on dampening the world around her. Gradually, the sound of her mother's breathing faded alongside the sweet-musty scent of moss and morning dew. She closed her eyes, allowing the sounds of her heartbeat to reverberate through her chest and down into her fingertips. It was a slower way of accessing her powers-one that her mother had first taught her when trying to reign in the excitement of the young dragon. Gentle pressure built at her fingertips, her tongue flicking at the roof of her mouth and when Aurnia opened her eyes the world had dimmed into shadows and inverted colours.

Aurnia spun on her toes, noting the bright threads simmering alongside her aunt's aura and it pleased her to see that Reuna's life-force still remained so strong. Likewise her mother's spirit glimmered in the world beyond but the shining threads tangled before her chest, forming a tight knot of whirling string across her heart.

It was tempting, awfully so, for Aurnia to reach out and brush her fingers across the knot-to coax its secrets out into the open. Secrets, like the memories and pains she was often summoned to remove always had a taste and Aurnia found herself wondering if her mother's secrets were as bitter as she'd always implied. Her tongue flicked. The knot flared crimson, and Aurnia murmured a quick apology for even considering the intrusion.

She redirected her abilities towards the room and to her dismay, found nothing. On first glance the space was empty, devoid of anything that may have suggested an altercation or any other event of concern. Sparks of magic, hung in the air like shattered starlight and when she approached they eluded the touch of her hand and she instantly figured that the sparks belonged to her mother. The magic was familiar and not the type to arouse any suspicion, so Aurnia turned her attention to the defending silence looming in the room. She strained her ears but try as she might, Aurnia was unable to detect the echoes of distant arguments.

Aurnia shook her head, easing her abilities back into dormancy and looked towards her aunt with a small grimace. "I'm afraid that I can't sense anything of use. The magic lingering in this room is yours, and there's no evidence of a conflict. I would say that it's unlikely that anyone made it past your defences to steal away our nephew."

"But is he alright?"

Aurnia frowned, running her tongue across her teeth before turning to face her aunt. "It's like I said, I cannot determine for certain if Orion is alright. But if it's any consolation, the only life threads I can sense are yours and my mother's, and there's no stray frayed threads to signify a death. So I would hazard a guess and say that whatever happened did not happen here."

Relief, rapid as an incoming tide, swept through the room and Aurnia carefully weighed her next question. She tilted her head, returning her attention to the scattered notes on the desk and said, "I hate to ask but how was Orion behaving when you left? Was there anything to indicate why he might have gone and gotten lost?"

Both her mother and aunt quickly shook their heads with her mother adding, "Orion was never the kind of child to willing keep secrets from us, and besides there were two of us and one of him."

Aurnia found herself nodding along. Her mother's words made sense and it would be difficult to hide things when two pairs of eyes were constantly trained on you; especially if those eyes harboured the anxieties of losing yet another loved one to the cruel hands of a king who had lost his way. She shifted on her toes, only stopping when she felt Koa squirm in her arms. His voice echoed softly in her head as he wriggled free, only to clamber up her arm and settled around her shoulders. His ears tickled her neck and he adjusted to get comfortable.

"What about the compass? I know you said you didn't want to tell your mother that you still speak to that eerie lady who told us to come here, but it helped us find her so maybe it will help find your nephew."

"The compass?" Aurnia stiffed and upon seeing the puzzled reactions on her relatives faces, blanched. It seemed Koa was right about being unable to avoid mentioning her encounter with the goddess of death. She quickly smiled, stomach lurching as she hoped for a levelled reaction and gestured towards her shoulder. "Koa asked if it would be possible to use Agrona's gift to locate Orion."

"Agrona?" Her mother glowered, folding her arms across her chest as she shot Aurnia a pointed look. "I see that you're still talking to that infernal woman."

Reuna winced, tapped three times on the wooden doorframe, a move to ward off bad luck and glanced sharply at her sister. "Your opinions aside, I believe that we should be more careful passing judgement on those who are not currently in the room with us. Rumours and mispeaks have a way of growing legs and finding themselves in places where they do not belong."

Aurnia coughed, slightly grimacing when everyone looked back at her. "I don't think Koa's suggestion is a bad one. Without the compass, I would have been unable to find Agrona and thus would have never shown up looking for Orion. Besides, if you really have to know, I hadn't spoken to her ever since you told me to stay away. My only reason for approaching her now was because Lily sent me to find her."

Whispers of Agrona's warnings about her stolen memories slid across her tongue like oil, heavy and hard to push away. Aurnia wondered how easy it would be to simply ask her mother if what Agrona had told her was true. But given her mother's feelings on the matter, Aurnia doubted she would ever receive a straight answer. She glanced at her aunt hovering in the doorway, silently urging her to join the conversation. Reuna caught her eye with a sigh and gently nodded.

"If Lily sent you to find her twin then perhaps we should explore this route, though I still believe that her gifts often carry unintended curses that far outweigh their benefits." Reuna shuddered, wooden bracelets clanking and continued, "If we truly intend to make use of this compass you say that she gave you, then I ask that we use it outside. As much as I wish to give her the benefit of the doubt, I do not want her magic lingering around my home."

Aurnia nodded. Regardless of anyone's feelings about the Goddess of Death, it still made sense to venture outside. Orion was clearly nowhere in the house and lingering in his room wouldn't throw up any new clues. She followed her aunt out of the room, casting one last look at the sunlight filled space. Perhaps it was nothing but wishful thinking, but Aurnia hoped that one day she would get the opportunity to speak to the nephew she'd long left behind. The steps down into the main hall creaked as she slowly descended and down below, she heard her mother and aunt talking in the living room. She paused, hands lingering on the oak bannisters.

But perhaps she was being too optimistic. The likelihood of Orion knowing who she was was slim given that eleven years had passed since their last face-to-face meeting. And besides, old wounds would never heal overnight and suddenly presenting herself to him may open up unwanted memories on his part. Orion may be resentful, not that she could blame him, for her cowardice. As she reached the final step at the bottom of the stairs, the weight of what was to come settled heavily on her shoulders. Agrona had not elaborated on what to do after finding her nephew, nor had she provided any insight into how Orion held the answers to unravelling Lily's predicament or healing the cracks left by Lily severing her heart from the kingdom.

Aurnia forced a smile onto her face as she entered the kitchen and wordlessly grabbed her bag from where it hung on the kitchen chair. She held it open, wincing as Koa's claws dug into her skin as he scrambled down her arm and into the bag. As Koa wriggled to get comfortable, his paw knocked against the cloth wrapped mirror stuffed at the end of the bag. One corner broke free from its pale wrappings and swallowing, Aurnia deftly covered it up. Perhaps it was silly to bring the mirror along. It was no time to be distracted and Idra had long claimed that she never wanted to be saved.

Koa chirped, breaking through her thoughts and softly she tickled the underside of his chin before taking a deep breath and venturing out into the main hall to join her relatives by the door.

In the short moment that she had dithered in the kitchen, her mother had managed to don a midnight blue cloak and a pair of weathered boots. The dappled sunlight dancing through the glass gave the illusion that silver wolves embroidered on the fabric were moving. Blinking, Aurnia shook her head and the vision faded away.

Reuna stood close by with her hands wrapped firmly around her leaf-laden staff. She gave Aurnia a quick once over before asking, "Are you ready?"

Aurnia nodded and silently followed her relatives out the door. They descended in silence and with each step the pounding of Aurnia's heart grew steadily louder. As a child she had always hated the unknown with its murky secrets and hidden snares, and now she feared what they would find in the forest. Flickers of doubt jumped through her mind, images of a crumpled body, clumped blood and matted hair. Shuddering, she pushed those thoughts to the side. Few could tell the future. Worrying now might only slow her down. As much as it scared her, she would have to have faith in Agrona's advice. Death may be fickle but they were unlikely to have sent her on a futile mission, right?