Hours later, Sevra sat on her bed, still reading the same passage over and over. It was impossible to concentrate for more than a minute. The words would all start to look jumbled, and she’d realize she read a particular line over and over, or read a paragraph to find her mind had completely wandered.
“I’m going to be scrubbing pots again if I can’t get through any of this,” she mumbled.
Returning to the book she read the line once again, and in year 857 of the second era the rule of Dun’Aldir was split amongst two families with valid claims to the throne. The Aldura clan proved legitimacy through the maternal line dating back three generations…
A knock at the door interrupted her this time, followed by Bernard’s voice stating, “I am entering.” Sevra found he was often more polite than he needed to be, despite his usual acrid demeanor. Not that he asked for permission to come in, but at least he announced it.
“There is a problem. Stay here in your room until I tell you it’s safe to leave,” he told her.
As Bernard turned to leave, she heard another voice. Follow, it commanded. She turned around, unsure of where it came from, or even if she had heard it at all. Despite her best intention to obey Master Bernard, she could not help but give into the intense feeling of curiosity overcoming her. She had to follow the directive. Who had said it, and did she really hear it? Maybe it was Master Bernard, playing a strange game or testing her in some way. Whatever the case, before she knew it she was standing in the hallway outside of her room.
Activity in the hallway seemed normal; a servant worked up ahead, and behind her a maid was clearing out laundry from one of the wizard’s quarters. Two elder magi walked side by side, chatting pleasantly about some obscure subject she couldn’t begin to decipher. No one paid her any mind. She was able to glance Bernard at the end of the corridor, turning to the right in a hurry.
She walked as fast as she would dare without drawing attention onto herself. Running through the hallways would not be proper, but she was terrified she might lose him. She didn’t understand why it was so important for her to go after him, it was a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. Though it didn’t make sense, she felt someone would be deeply disappointed with her if she failed. She hated to fail.
When she reached the corner she turned, and was filled with dismay to see an empty hall in front of her. Bernard could eventually go any number of ways in the labyrinth of passages and chambers that made up the Keep. The insistence that she find Bernard grew stronger.
“Please, I don’t know which way he went,” Sevra moaned. Distantly she recognized she should feel worried that she didn’t know who she was talking to. The urge to find Master Bernard, however, consumed all of her thoughts.
Track him.
“I… don’t know how,” she said.
Images flashed through her head of the spirits Bernard said she wasn’t supposed to call upon anymore. Each one stood out, Master Bernard’s shining with a fiery glow.
His essence. This one. It is a beacon. Open yourself to the veil and find him.
Unsupervised, she was strictly forbidden from calling upon her gift.
They will not notice this time. Go.
She sighed in relief, knowing she would be able to see this task through. It was a simple exercise for her to touch upon the spirits, as easy as letting go of a held breath. Calm washed over her, like water onto parched soil. She had gone far too long without this feeling; until coming here, as far back as she could remember, she always had her mind partially beyond the veil. Veil, she thought, that wasn’t what she called it.
The image shown to her a moment ago sprang to life, the aura of every living thing nearby standing out in stark contrast against the otherwise muted world. Physical barriers did not stand in the way of her vision; they meant nothing here. Master Bernard’s position was clear to her. Whether because she knew him better than the others, or because it was he whom she sought, she did not know. She only knew she had to get to him and he was heading to the bottom levels of the keep.
Ignoring everyone else around her she began to run, no longer concerned with being noticed. Knowing his location relative to her, she found the nearest path downstairs, always moving towards him, homing towards his beacon. She had to stop him.