Splinter Angel Chapter 162 (Patreon)

On her last morning in the Summer Angel Splinter, Messy woke alone. But she’d been expecting that. It was part of the plan. Ana didn’t sleep much, and she needed time to get ready.

As she folded the linens that she’d be leaving with her laundress, she looked around her empty apartment. If you could even call it that; it was one room with a small washroom and an equally small storage room. But she’d lived here for nearly the whole three cycles she’d been in the Splinter, and it had been home. She’d made it her own. She’d brought friends here, for games or long talks when the inns and taverns felt too public. She’d brought a few girls, too, but she’d never had anyone stay for more than a lazy morning—she’d never felt that connection that she really needed. Not since Lara. Not until Ana.

It wasn’t much, but it had been hers. And then it had been theirs, together. And now it wouldn’t be. She’d miss it.

Before she left and locked the door for the final time, Messy dressed for combat. Her pack and everything else that she wouldn’t be wearing were at the Exchange, but she had everything she needed. Besides some stylish-yet-hardwearing clothes she had her armor, her heavy boots with the reinforced toe, and her belt with her utility pouch, emergency potions, and her sword and two daggers; one just a plain one that she’d had for years, the other the fine, Engraved one with the opal pommel and its fancy sheath that she’d taken off the Ascender. If anyone asked, it was for practical reasons more than anything; her armor was too rigid to pack easily, and wearing it was the easiest way to transport it. With any luck, that pleasant fiction would turn out to be true, and she wouldn’t need them.

If she did… she was only Level 13, but she had a Master Tier Class. She’d survived three on two against higher Level opponents, with Ana’s passive help. If they were attacked outright, she figured she had a good chance of making it out alive.

She also had a somewhat romantic fantasy of Ana whisking her away to safety on her wings, but that was neither here nor there.

There was a sad finality to the click of the lock, and the rasp of the key as she slid it under the door. For a moment she lingered, her fingertips trailing down the smooth wood that stood between her and the last eighteen months of her life. How odd, she thought. She’d never intended to live here forever, but neither had she seen a future beyond this Splinter. She’d expected to move into the apartment above Master Renvi’s shop once he left, either now or possibly at the end of the next cycle, and to stay there as the outpost grew into a proper town. Maybe finally find a girl who captivated her the way Lara had, who’d move in with her, and they’d fill the place with tokens of their shared life as the outpost grew into a town and perhaps even a city around them. Now she didn’t expect to ever see this place again.

She had no doubt that she’d rather live out of inns and tents with Ana for the rest of her life, however long or short, than to be apart from her, but she still gave herself a minute to mourn the life she’d imagined. Then she turned her back and left.

She left her linens with Messila the Laundress, then went to Master Renvi’s. The man himself was still upstairs, but he opened the door quickly once she knocked. It took her many long minutes to express her gratitude for all he’d done for her, and to apologize for abandoning him the way she had and the way she would. Renvi himself took almost as long to express just how thoroughly he forgave her imagined sins against him. Then, as she started building up to final farewells, he asked her to come down to the shop with him one last time.

How could she refuse? She loved that shop. She’d expected to run that shop until she turned it over to some apprentice of her own. It would have been terribly sad not to see it one last time.

“You’re not the only one who’s grateful for the time we’ve had, dear girl,” Renvi told her as he brought out a box that he’d hidden away under some tools. “And I never was able to express myself well in words. So I made these.”

He opened the box, and inside was a paired set of necklaces in untarnishing silver. The pendants depicted two women in profile, dancing so their skirts swirled around them. One had short hair, wings, and the tiniest thunderstone set where her eye should be; the other was taller, with a hint of a braid and a pointed ear and a minute sliver of amber for her eye, its color matched to Messy’s own.

Apart, each looked like she was dancing alone. But they were so cleverly made that they fit together perfectly, their arms and raised knees slotting in to hold them together so that their faces almost, almost touched.

“I don’t know that I’ve seen a necklace on Miss Ana, but I hoped she might wear this one,” Renvi said, lifting the one so obviously meant to depict his former assistant.

When Mestendi left a few minutes later, she was wearing the angel pendant, and her eyeliner was, she was sure, an absolute mess. She wiped it off with a handkerchief as she walked; she’d have time to reapply it before they left. There was nothing she could do about her puffy eyes, but she refused to be embarrassed about those.

It was still early, but the square was already host to a few people. Loiterers, mostly, who hung about talking, but there were also food vendors setting up to offer last minute snacks to people going through, and a handful of Mistress Thair’s assistants were doing… something. Preparing to undo the lock on the Waystone, most likely; Messy’s knowledge of magic was limited, and even more so when it came to rituals.

Then there were a few, likely to become quite a few more, who seemed to have all their worldly possessions with them. People who’d lost too much, or who’d been planning to leave anyway. They were gathered in a small group along with some of the loiterers. Messy gave them a sympathetic nod as she passed; some nodded back, others looked away. Worshipers of the Sentinel who hadn’t recanted, most likely, and no wonder they were leaving.

With a few hours left until the official end of the cycle, at which point Mistress Thair would open the Waystone and allow them passage to Ellsthal, Messy didn’t actually have anywhere she needed to be. And while she was sorely tempted to go to Sadie’s, where the Courtesan and her friends would be doing their level best to disguise Ana, Messy wanted to allow herself to be surprised. So instead she went to Petra’s. She hadn’t had anything to eat yet, and she couldn’t think of anything she’d rather have for her final meal in the Splinter than a big bowl of Petra’s porridge and a cup of her awful tea.

The moment she stepped into Petra’s common room, a cheer of greeting rang out. There was Kaira, grinning and waving like an idiot. To her left at the four-seat table was Rayni, who was undoubtedly the one who’d pointed Messy out. Finally, to Kaira’s right was Omda, who gave Messy a nod of acknowledgement before going back to his porridge.

“Hey,” Messy said, sitting down across from Kaira after grabbing breakfast from the bar and putting down her money. “Where’s Jisha?” Tor’s absence was no surprise. He lived with his parents, after all, and he’d want to have breakfast with them on the day he left.

“Oh, she’s with Touanne,” Kaira replied. “She was all misty-eyed about leaving ‘Anette’ behind. Which, I mean, Touanne’s a wonderful person, so I’m not gonna judge there. Besides, Touanne’s both the one who tested her and the one who got her started with magic, and she didn’t even know magic was a thing until just recently. No wonder she wants to spend every second she can with her, yeah?”

“Sure,” Messy agreed. “Though somehow I can’t see Ana being the same with Tellak.”

“Well… yeah,” Kaira said through a mouthful of porridge, then swallowed. “But even if Ana wasn’t, you know, Ana, I don’t think any Earth-mage would. I expect a, you know—”

With some effort Kaira schooled herself to be flat and emotionless. She shifted so she sat on only one half of her chair, turning inward to face Omda, and in a passable imitation of Ana’s voice she said, “Thanks. For everything. I appreciate it.” Then she shifted to the other side of the chair, turning to face Rayni, and replied to herself, “It was my pleasure. Be well.”

“Decent,” Omda commented and kept eating his porridge.

“Yeah?” Kaira became her normal animated self. “Thanks!”

“She’s not like that!” Messy laughed. “I mean, Tellak is, but Ana… okay, she can be, but she’s usually not!”

“Well, not with you, obviously!” Rayni interjected with a grin. “With you she’s all soft words and  softer eyes. And don’t get me wrong, we all love to see it!”

“She can be very sweet,” Messy agreed. She didn’t share that she was never entirely sure when Ana was being spontaneous and when she was just acting to make Messy feel good. It didn’t do her any good to wonder, so why should anyone else? Instead she said, “By the way. Ray? Thank you. I know I’ve said it before, but I feel like I can’t possibly thank you enough.”

“Hey, what about me?” Kaira protested. “I did my bit, putting the idea in her head! Or making her aware of it, at least.”

“Didn’t you try to get her to let me down easy?” Messy asked.

“Repeatedly! And she never did, did she?”

Across the table from Kaira, Omda cleared his throat, drawing the three women’s attention. “Is everyone ready?” the big Ranger asked.

“Said my goodbyes, restocked, everything I’m taking is at the Exchange, everything I’m keeping is stored away, and everything else Valena is taking care of,” Kaira said, ticking off each item on her fingers.

“I don’t have much that isn’t in my pack,” Rayni said, shrugging.

“Ana and I took care of it yesterday,” Messy finished. “Same as Kaira, I’ve got stuff at the Exchange. It’s that and what I’m carrying.

Omda nodded. “I’m ready too.” Then he paused before adding, “Need to say bye to Tellak.”

“Huh?” Messy asked, but she went unnoticed.

“Aw, I’m so sorry about that,” Kaira said. “Was it going well with you two?”

Omda nodded. “Fairly. But she can’t leave. I must go. It is what it is.”

“When did this happen?” Messy asked, looking between Kaira and Omda, and Rayni leaned in.

“Since about a week after we got back from the obelisk,” the Huntress whispered. “But Tellak can’t leave Touanne and Jancia. It’s all very sad.”

“Right,” Messy muttered. She’d heard something, she thought, right around then, but it must have slipped her mind. A whole romance had just passed her by, unnoticed. She used to live for these things! “Well, sorry to hear that, Om,” she said, patting him on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” he replied, turning his head to nod gratefully to her. “Then, if you’ll excuse me…”

With that he rose and left Petra’s, making barely a sound as he went.

“Omda and Tellak,” Messy whispered. “Huh.”

Soon Petra took Omda’s empty chair, and the four friends said their goodbyes. It wouldn’t be the last time they saw Petra, no matter what—Petra was heading through to Ellsthal for the day like so many others, to make purchases and to enjoy some luxuries that Summer Angel Splinter didn’t have. But with the plan as it was they likely wouldn’t have another chance for serious talk, so now was the time.

“We’ll meet again,” Kaira said, hugging the innkeeper fiercely as they were leaving. “When things settle down, we’ll be back, or we’ll meet in Ellsthal or something. Like hell will we never drink together again.”

“Like hell,” Petra agreed, her voice a little thick as she squeezed Kaira right back. “You all take care, you hear? Of yourselves, and of each other.”

They promised that they would. Then they left. The time was getting closer, and they had a few more Party members to collect, including a temporary one. And wouldn’t that one be a gods-damn joy to have around.

*

“Don’t be so pissy about it,” the woman next to Messy whispered. She bumped Messy on the hip with the back of her hand. “I’m not any happier about being here than you are to have me. But if it looks like we’re quarrelling, this will all be rather pointless, won’t it?”

“Mm-hmm,” Messy agreed unhappily. She refused to look as she took the offered hand. She’d seen enough, and it was… upsetting.

Or perhaps confusing was more apt. She’d known that Aaspiyah looked eerily similar to Ana. She was a little taller, wore her hair differently, preferred sensible dresses, and was slightly curvier, but that was about it. The similarity of their faces, and especially their eyes, was uncanny, and Messy had already had some confusing feelings regarding the woman who wanted so very much to kill her. Now, though, Aaspiyah stood beside her wearing a tunic and trousers under Ana’s armor, with Ana’s hammer-axe and buckler on her belt and carrying Ana’s new blanket-wrapped sword in one hand. And if that wasn’t enough, she’d gone and both cut and limed her hair. It wasn’t quite the same as Ana’s had been, but it was short and white, and her sides were shaved.

She looked like a slightly taller version of Ana, and when Messy had first seen her like that, the combination of fear and desire that had woken inside her was… confusing. So she chose not to look any more than she had to.

Instead she focused on Ana. As much as Aaspiya looked like Messy’s angel, Ana herself looked like someone else entirely. She was wearing a bleached woolen shawl over her shoulders, and beneath it her dress was forest green with yellow trim, ending just above the knee and hugging her figure in a way that made it embarrassingly easy to focus on her. Sadie or one of her friends had done some kind of hitherto unknown magic to feather her short hair, and more to soften her strong jaw and cheekbones and to raise the point of her nose, among much else. And then there was her company and the way she acted: Ana was with Braggie, Sadie, and all of Sadie’s friends from the outpost’s two brothels, and she wasn’t Ana right now. She was wearing a persona that she had said was perfect for the situation, one that she loathed and only brought out in emergencies.

The entire effect was that Ana, the confidently handsome angel of judgement, was gone. In her place was Stacy, a giggly and irresistibly feminine Companion among a troupe of other Companions, all hiding their actual Classes and chattering loudly about what they’d do when they got to Ellsthal. She couldn’t possibly have found a better place to hide, but again, Messy was… confused. Yeah. She was going to go with confused. Because feeling like she was borderline being unfaithful staring at her own girlfriend was patently ridiculous.

And Aaspiyah wasn’t helping. “Is she jealous, at all?” the Iron Warrior whispered. “I gods-damn hate you, and even I feel like I should be upset with how you’re staring at those girls.”

“She’s—” Messy said breathlessly. Her voice failed her, and she tore her eyes away from Ana and the group she was hiding amongst. “She’s not the jealous type, no. She’s too confident for that.”

“Is she? Huh. I would have thought her jealous.”

Messy refrained from commenting further.

Jisha, perhaps on purpose, chose that moment to push between the two. “Look, look!” she said, pointing to the mages around the Waystone. “They are doing something!”

And so they were. Earlier, in a drawn-out ritual, Mistress Thair and her assistants had undone the lock on the Waystone. Now every waiting face turned to watch as they began the process of opening the portal. Though she couldn’t feel it, Messy knew that massive amounts of mana would be flowing into the Waystone, while the ritual circle now surrounding it activated specific parts of the divine enchantment within.

It didn’t take long. The Waystone and its enchantments were created by the Wayfarer, after all, and they were as close to perfect as any such thing could be. And the mages, working in concert with Mistress Thair directing them, knew their craft well. Patterns in the black surface of the obelisk came alive with bluish-white light, so incredibly similar to the wings that Messy saw so often on Ana that she couldn’t imagine that it was a coincidence. Then, for the briefest moment, the whole pillar flashed with that same light, before it collapsed in on itself.

The Waystone was gone. In its place was a rift wide enough to drive an ox-cart through.

The way was open. Beyond lay Ellsthal and the uncertain future.

The waiting crowd began to stir.