WWW #15: Hold On Tight

This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number.

Autumn

leaves of gold

and crimson

deep orange and bright yellow

bob and float on the little stream cascading over waterfalls

piling up amongst the smooth stones

the noise of songbirds bidding the day farewell as the shadows lengthen.

Deep golden haze of sunlight

as the day draws to an end.

It is quiet.

It has been quiet

for a time both short and yet so, so long

by

a tiny little

four plank dock

built

solely to dip one's feet into the water,

too shallow for even the most modest boat other than the boats made by the little leaves scurrying to and fro,

sits Ame

the warmth of the sun sinks into the fabric of your clothes

where your skin touches your shirt

you can feel it almost

hot like the top of a stove and yet it sinks into your skin as the sun

soothes

whatever now

moves upon your heart.

A voice

moves

across

field and garden

from a warm wooden doorway.

Amy,

I'd love some help setting the table, darling.

I give myself just

a moment more to take this all in.

To sit,

eyes closed, feeling the warmth and

hearing the crackling of the leaves

as they

crunch underfoot or the little critters running running around

coming grandma

to check the pen is closed on your way in

the door closes

and you turn and can see

at the eastern edge of the sky the gold has already receded giving way to lavender and indigo as the sky darkens

I

shake

my feet

so that the water droplets

sprinkle,

dry my feet,

slip them back into my little boots, and start walking back towards the cottage.

As you walk,

you hear not a single unfamiliar noise.

The smell

of leaves

of wet earth.

Familiar smell of

the feed from the goat pen and

scat from the chicken coop and

dust on the wind, and the oncoming cool of night.

And there it is, faintly

a little smell of jook.

You've been getting it a lot lately.

It's always very tasty.

Very kind and conscientious of Grandmother Wren to think about your favorite meal and cook it

for breakfast and dinner sometimes on the same day.

It's nice too that it provides such a good base and that if you gather different seasonal items, it can just completely change the flavor.

Like Shiso leaves in

mostly spring and

in autumn, there's a certain kind of mushroom that

looks like...

looks like fingers

kind of reaching out of a log that I like putting in there

And um

yeah, I'm excited about what we can add tonight.

I have a little foraging basket with me

You walk into the house

And you hear

a voice

say

Very good

marked improvement

But that voice isn't here.

In Grandmother Wren's house.

It's the first promising sign you've seen.

Grandma Ren,

can you hear that?

You go to say that, but you don't say it.

Because you didn't say it.

Not here.

Not in this memory.

It all slips away

into darkness and murkiness once more.

You feel yourself shivering until a warm weight sinks into your chest and helps to soothe.

The movement of your extremities brings some warmth into your body, but it's still all darkness.

Memories.

Memories keep coming back.

It's cold as I move between them.

What are the memories Ahme is searching for?

It's a couple of summers

after my friends have left.

And

I come

bursting into the kitchen, practically kicking down the bottom door of the farmhouse-style doors.

Grandmother Wren, it's the summer festival!

Summer festival is coming!

Ah!

Oh my gosh, I gotta win a goldfish!

You see, Grandmother Wren, say, um, Ami, I am, I am, uh, very, very sorry, but uh, uh, we are not going to be able to attend the summer festival this year.

Oh, come on!

It's the best part of the summer.

Um, you know, I didn't get to show them, but oh my gosh, uh, I'm gonna get so many fried foods, I'm gonna see if I can bring some foods and then they'll fry them for me.

I'm gonna have to fry anything there.

Ha!

Grandmother Wren says, take this lantern, go and stand by the road.

Okay.

I can tell in her tone of voice, something is wrong.

It brooks no argument.

I grab the lantern and I go running down to the lane.

How old is Amay in this memory?

About nine.

Deep, cool night.

You hear the croaking of spring peepers, frogs out by the water side.

They go silent.

Their celebration of the return of spring is calmed.

You hear a rustle of some rabbits moving away from their warren.

Looking down the road in either direction,

you don't see

anyone approaching.

But it's not always about seeing.

I listen for the sounds.

Perhaps there's a a traveler coming.

Or should I be listening for hoofs?

I

smell.

Is it is there

something around?

Is there fires?

Smell.

You listen.

You

feel at first the wind blow and then hear until there is a susserus of rattling rustling leaves and branches the trees bending the wind almost overpowering you the lantern flowing as the lantern blows in the wind you see that the light flickers on the verge of going out

I I rummage around through my pockets.

I am pretty sure I have some some sort of spare bit of candle or something that can help bolster the flame.

As you go to help bolster the flame, you get an extra candle.

You moved your cloak up around to light this second candle.

And as you light it and drop your cloak,

a figure is standing, looming over you in the road.

Hello, I'm Aume.

And I put up my other hand that's not holding the lantern.

Um, and a um

to shake.

And I put it down.

Uh, and then I end up just nodding my head instead.

The figure

looming over you

is

perhaps

a woman of some exceptional height.

A black gown extends to the dust of the road.

shimmering gossamer with lines

of pure reflection that fade away into the thick blackness of the gown.

Like a spider's web spun of mirror glass,

throughout the jet black cover of night itself, no shoe or slipper can be seen.

Indeed, the gown seems to stretch all the way to the woman's shadow, cast by the lantern behind her endlessly into the forest on the other side of the road.

Tall, tall, tall.

And hard to tell what angle or curve of her movement, our knees, or waist, or back or spine, as two long sleeves of an ancient cloak

lie limp at her side with something like fingers extending from in the shadows.

Illuminated by the lantern, you see a

headdress or crown

of many spines of shadowy black, like the quills of some deep sea monster.

And a face

that you wonder

whether it is regarding you in neutral impassivity until you recognize that it is a mask.

A white porcelain mask

with jet-black eyes and jet-black mouth, only slightly open in the whisper of the beginning of an expression that you cannot countenance.

Kneeling at some strange angles, she brings

this

unmoving face

of

inorganic matter close to you.

Did you offer me something, little one?

I really like your outfit.

Come.

I think Grandmother Ren must be expecting you.

Um, may I ask what you are called?

She cocks her head to one side and says,

I asked you a question, little one.

From inside the house, you feel Grandma Ren's voice in your mind.

A compliment.

You offered her a compliment, Amy.

Oh, uh,

I offered you a compliment.

I am called

Marara.

Mara?

Um.

I

kind of get a little closer to her.

Um.

Are you, um,

I don't know the protocol for this?

Um,

but

should I should I call you that too?

And do you do I invite you in?

Or can you not step off of the road?

And also, where did you get your mask?

And also, um,

do you need the lantern?

Is this your lantern?

And then, do you know Grandmother Wren?

Shegards you.

Once again,

there is no face for her to move.

There is no point of light within the openings of the mask's eyes.

She says,

You have come to light my way from the road

to the door of Wren's abode.

I immediately

imagining

this grand lady of shadow and darkness just sitting in the cozy tiny kitchen

drinking tea with Grandma Wren.

Yes.

Oh, um, yes, please, uh, right this way, uh,

Miss Marara.

As you say, Miss Marara, you hear some spring peepers start to peep again.

Just Merara.

And she stands.

And Ame, you

head into the cottage.

Grandmother Wren stands at the door.

Very good, Ame.

Go fetch us some tea.

I must talk with my sister.

Your sister, your sister, I mouse.

I must her.

Grandmother Wren says,

We are sisters of a coven, she and I, little Ame.

Go fetch us some tea.

Oh, gosh, are you older?

Or is she the older one?

Do you have a mask?

She leans in and says, Ahme, we're not that kind of sister.

I don't know how old she is.

Oh my god, is it rude to ask her?

Can I ask her?

Fantastic!

Okay.

And I go back into the cottage and I start, I climb off of my little steppe stool and I start rummaging through the tea cabinet.

It is absolutely jam-packed.

There are jars,

glass jars, and

canisters, and

like bags, and different kinds of teapots in there.

Nothing is labeled per se in a way that, you know, with writing or anything of the sort, but definitely,

you know, different

shapes and pictures and scratches and colored wires on things.

And I'm gonna I'm gonna choose one that I think

is a nice tea for guests and not too much caffeine in it because it's kind of late.

You busy yourself making tea.

You can hear them talking.

You hear a grandmother Wren say, Merara, thank you so much for coming all this way to see me.

It is very kind of you.

I uh

I appreciate the effort.

Marara says,

Not a kindness, Wren.

Simply

obligation.

Certainly the obligation to meet, but I appreciate you acquiescing to my desire to meet here.

And you see that Marara sits in a chair with a patchwork quilt and carved

pigs' heads on the armrest, and you know, this like musty old seat that you would like watch Ursulan fall asleep in

the time that he like spent here.

You see here in this place how

the visitor looks

and it is

made manageable by the comfort of Wren's home.

Mirara does look out of place here.

Her crown barely sort of avoids scratching the like various hanging sages and rosemary bundles.

She is not on her home turf here.

But she does not appear to be uncomfortable in this space.

Wren sits down.

You bring them tea.

I give her the nice cup.

It is the one that has

looks like a cat's face and it's got little ears on it.

And I tell her,

don't put, don't drink with it with the ears facing away from you.

You'll poke your eyes out.

You watch

as

a

skeletally thin

hand

that appears to be clad in a glove that covers claw-like fingers and extends all the way up

as the hand and arm emerges from the center of her chest,

takes the cup, and the cup and tea vanish into within the center of her being.

Grandma Ren looks at you with a look like,

we might not see that cup again.

I'll go get another cup then.

As you go, you hear them speaking.

You hear Mirara say to Wren,

Time does not appear to be on our side, Ren.

The world moves, whether we will it or no.

Not always

can the comings and goings of great happenings

dwell pleasantly in your realm.

A decision must be made.

You see, Ren goes.

Well,

I think you know my decision, Marara.

And I think you know where I stand.

If these tidings cannot sway you,

what event possibly could?

You see, Ren leans forward.

Grandma Ren says, Perhaps none

could sway me.

There is a long pause here, and Marara turns to regard you, Ame.

The voice emerges from the mask, and again, you can't tell if there are lips moving behind fabric under the mask or not, or if instead this is simply who and what she is.

But you see her turn to regard you.

Your little apprentice offered her hand to me on the road, Wren.

Hmm.

An offer of friendship.

Or an offer of a hand.

I wouldn't get so cross, Merara.

Marara turns back to Grimm of the Wren, saying, Do I seem cross to you?

For you, Marara, this is positively irate.

I am forced by circumstance to act at the boundaries of what is mine to do and undo,

to see my obligations fulfilled.

These are desperate times, Wren,

and if I am offered something as special

as the hand of a great apprentice,

if you will deny me other tools to address these problems, Marara,

I've never known you to refrain from a fight you thought you could win.

There's a long silence, and Grandma Wren says,

If you start to laugh, Grandma Wren whips her eyes over you.

Grandma Wren stands up and says, Ahme, go to your room.

Grandma Wren, I have.

Okay.

Yes.

Yes, Grandma Wren.

As you turn to leave, Marara turns to look at you and Grandmother Ren, uh, almost thinking just kicks the ground as she turns that Marara can't complete her look to you, Ami, and looks back at Ren.

Ren says, just an observation about your character, Marara.

Different from my own.

I refrain from fights I can win all the time.

Ami fully is like T T in mouth, like shaking,

Shaking with her hand.

The cup is shaking in her hand.

I scamper over to my room

and I

whip behind the door and crack it a little bit.

Are you trying to get a look at Marara as she leaves?

Just a little bit.

Give me a

wisdom saving throw.

That's a 19.

Okay, not bad, not bad.

My mind is not blown.

You catch just the barest flash of black as Marara moves to the doorway, as on the lawn

Marara turns to say,

There is much the Coven can do without full unanimity.

We can act if need be, Ren.

Of course, that's your business.

If you and the others see fit to act in a certain way, you are welcome to do so.

As you've said, it will not be with full unanimity.

Best of luck, Marara.

I trust that you will see to yours as I shall see to mine.

There is a strong noise of wind.

Trees shaking.

And

you hear Grandmother Wren at the door for a long moment.

You hear her go into the kitchen.

There's a cabinet open that you don't hear open that much.

And you hear a little

of a flask opening, and a long drag of a pull from a flask.

And a

I wait for the sigh to almost completely be done, and then I come bounding down the stairs.

Hello, Amy.

Come around.

Very well done.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Uh, you had to send me to my room.

I just

was that uh

coven sisters?

Oh, dire times.

Uh.

Am I in a coven?

No.

Do I have sisters?

No.

But

one day you will.

Amy, go ahead and take a seat.

Uh, and she gestures to a little place by the fire.

She says, throw another log on there.

This is gonna be a while.

I throw a log on there.

Um, Grandma Wren comes over to you and says,

Can I have a drink too?

You heard that.

Oh, uh

gosh, you little rascal.

No, you cannot have a drink.

Um, these are dire times, Grandma Wren.

Don't repeat things she said.

Times, listen, times are always dire.

People are always running around saying, times are dire.

We have to take drastic measures.

Times are dire.

Let's do some unconscionable, absolutely ill-fated fool.

I don't.

Ooh.

I am vexed.

You see, Taro

sort of appears and flutters off to his side.

That

was my sister, one of four.

And

she is called Marara, as I am called Grandmother Wren.

Um,

Amy, you are not part of a coven.

And you see, here she actually goes and she makes tea and puts a little cup in front of you and sits down with her own teacup.

Um,

across all of Umora, there are many, many witches in a vast and broad tapestry of those of us

called upon

to

see to the ways and bridges and paths between the world of spirits and the world of Umora.

Our earth, our home, is blessed and fortunate to

be

tied forever to the world of spirits.

It is within, amongst, beyond, between

all places

and

there are many parts of managing two

worlds together that are in fact one

it's it's are you saying that they're all

there's a free flow between spirit world and our world

and we have to help

that

interaction

Yes, i it's it's about as complicated as a as it could be.

There is a it is useful to think of a world of spirits and a world of people, for indeed that is how they most often regard themselves.

But the truth I feel after many long years is that it is one.

That we are all one.

And that

these distinctions

we accept these distinctions for their utility and often do not see the price we pay for that usefulness.

You will have a coven one day,

and

you are almost ten years old,

which is very young, but old enough perhaps to know that

for fate or fortune,

the coven you will inherit from me one day

is the coven of elders.

Coven of elders.

Is that why you're a grandma?

Will I become a grandma and inherit it?

Um, you can't.

Is she gonna be my sister?

Grandma is sort of a nickname that I like.

Um

what you will be, Ame, is the witch of the world's heart.

And you see that she takes a lovely little wooden, polished, varnished thing of warm yellow-brown wood

up off the mantle and sort of dusts it.

And there's some old writing on it.

And

this like beautiful, sort of flourishing script with little roses around it.

And you see it says,

there's like a little poem on it that you've seen sort of your whole life.

It just reads,

Of open hand and trusting face, a home of homes does all embrace.

She says,

Of the

coven of elders,

there have been

many

witches,

and

of these witches have there each been many people?

I am not the first witch of the world's heart.

There were others before me.

But for the past.

172 years have I...

Hey, relax.

Alright?

It's not that old.

There's older witches than me.

considerably older witches than me.

Witches have areas that they steward, that they tend to.

And

the

areas of a witch's care

are in some ways her domain, although that word I have never quite enjoyed, because there is no

whatever response a witch does not have authority, she has responsibility.

And you are responsible responsible to what you represent.

And

I will say it is your freedom to refuse

this coven and this position.

No, no, no,

I want to steward something.

Alright, well, I'm glad, because, you know, I'm getting older, and I put off

finding an apprentice for a long, long time.

And I think, honestly, I...

There are risks with with bringing on an apprentice, I think, too early.

No one wants to be an apprentice for a hundred years, but

um

I also

cutting it a little bit close, um

but uh the the witch of the world's heart um

of the elder coven

there are five

you see that she gets sad here as she says there are five.

You almost wonder if there have always been five.

Have there always been five?

Um

when

I was young and first

succeeded to

the hearth and home of the world's heart

there were seven

and I believe

there have have been as many as thirteen.

Many

great witches have been lost.

The witch that you saw here earlier tonight was one of my sisters.

She is the witch of the waning moon, Merara.

The witch of the waning moon.

And of my sisters who

remain,

there is Gramor,

the witch of the wild hunt,

and there is

Hakea, the witch of the woodland green,

and there is Indri,

the witch of the wind and stars.

And

each of us...

Whoa, whoa, whoa,

was was

there the other there's a lot of W's is is it did you name it because

it just alliterates with witches?

You know, wild hut, woodland green, wind and stars, uh,

world's heart,

waning moon.

The naming convention is secondary to the auspices of these various positions.

But yes, an observation well made.

There is a strength in names, and those names were selected for those reasons.

But truth be told, the categories of our coven do not seem to

the names didn't come first, in other words.

So then why did the other witches that

are no longer on the council, the ones that you lost, didn't they have heirs or

apprentices?

They did not.

not.

One of them never took an apprentice, though she was

made aware many times of the danger in not doing so.

And

the others, uh, apprentice betrayed her and forswore witchcraft.

Can you do that?

Of course.

In my life, I have

the coven

diminish.

Uruna, the witch of the wide blue sea, and Skalvi, the witch of the watching fire, both

departed, their seats unsucceeded and unfilled.

Is that what this is about?

Is um Marara worried that there's gonna be another loss of an elder?

No,

no, that's not what Marara's worried about.

Marara, I will point out, does not have an apprentice.

Well, and who drank the tea inside her stomach?

I don't know what she does with the tea.

Oh.

The point is this, Ame.

You don't need to worry about.

Marara is going to...

There's always some

problem,

but as far as I'm concerned, when Marara's got a problem, we're all doing better.

The important thing to know about the Coven of Elders, Ame, is that witches

are those who practice witchcraft, and witchcraft is about

understanding.

Witchcraft and magic itself flourishes when we understand.

And there is much in the world to understand.

There is value in the truths that we are all able to speak to.

And though I don't like Marara's truths, and she definitely does not like mine,

they are there.

How can they be both truths if you guys disagree that they're truths?

because

our world

cares

about what is true

and people care about what they want

and

unfortunately

in some ways witches for the moment

have to be people too

So each of us is responsible for observing and understanding the nature of our world, for tending to it, for speaking to something that could

unfold in a catastrophic way.

But also, each of us, probably on some level,

wants to see more of what we care about in the world.

That second part is a...

I don't know, call it a personal ambition.

I think the world would be nice if it were nice.

Some people feel differently, and witchcraft,

in its beneficent wisdom,

in its beneficent!

You see, she stands up and waves her broom and the shutters.

In its beneficent wisdom!

I also stand up and I get on my chair.

Beneficent wisdom!

Yes, Amy.

Remember always

that

some portion of magic is yours to wield, and that the world contains many, many truths.

And the hope, I suppose, of a good witch is that there are enough things that are good that are also true

that your magic might flourish

at its utmost.

How

how do you I know that the truths that I stand for are are the right or

the

beneficent

ones?

How do you know if you're doing the right thing?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Um

great question.

Let's spend the rest of our lives figuring it out.

Don't give me that sigh, young Ami.

It's a very worthwhile endeavor.

Can I just get to be like what you are and just know?

A little tear comes to Grandmother Wren's eye.

Well, I know nobody's perfect, but but

you do a really good job of it.

I mean you always seem to know

she leans down

puts her sort of like

puts her nose at like the edge of your like hair and just closes her eyes and puts her head against your head and goes

You're coming in at the end of my story

And whatever wisdom you think I have, I can only assure you that my ledger is filled with the mistakes that bought that wisdom.

I am

can feel her breath on my little bowl cut

ruffling the hairs.

I can smell

her warm smell.

It's already warm on this hot summer night, but her her different, her kind of warm smell is different.

It's cozier.

I

don't

I mean you said a hundred and

seventy isn't that old and that there are many witches that are much older than you

and

and um

that seems like there's a lot of time for a lot more mistakes

and we can make them together.

There is more time, Ami.

We will be together

over the coming days and weeks, as memories flood through your mind,

Grandmother Wren trains you in all the ways of the witch of the world's heart.

And you begin to understand how strange and fluid these domains of witchcraft are.

For the world's heart seems to be

not a physical thing, but rather

the magical tapestry of all of the ways in which parts of the world move together.

There is a magic to

compassion, understanding,

insightfulness, moments where a choice to grind and dissolve and dismember instead becomes a choice to

come together, to grow, to have two things join and become more than the sum of their parts.

It It is

an idea almost impossible to articulate, but you begin to feel it working in the world.

The idea that

within the domain of this witch of the world's heart are

all of those moments where

a creature,

a category, a concept, things large and small, and things that might not even be said by most folk to have the ability to make a choice.

Make the choice

instead of being afraid and moving away and

dissolving and disintegrating, to make the braver choice to instead connect

and move as one.

You

see all of the ways in which Grandmother Wren, in communicating, begins to talk to you about the adventures of her life, what she does.

You remember the first night that she puts you on the front of her broom in her lap?

Once again, it's

pre-dawn light, early sunrise.

She's got a huge bag of food and snacks.

Taro's in your lap.

You're in her lap.

All right, this is our first little outing.

Hold on tight.

Wind in the trees.

The fog clears as she takes off into the sky.

And at first, it's treetops.

It's moving.

It's wind and it's everything.

And then it's even higher.

And then, oh my god, you're seeing stormwind.

You can't even see buildings anymore.

Oh, you're way too high.

You're in the clouds.

This is too high.

Put your scarf on.

You'll catch pneumonia.

Just fully, fully, like, shouting at the joy and the pure

freedom of movement and sky and air and stars and oh

I just

oh it's wonderful.

I close my eyes and it really I feel

I

I can't explain just the joy.

I feel like my heart is soaring.

She takes you on some very

simple, minor

adventures.

Mostly things where she has to go somewhere to retrieve something, find something that was stored away a long time ago.

Many of her adventures at this time have to do with old friends and allies dying, passing away, that there is a moment of ages changing.

She communicates to you how vulnerable the transition will be on her passing, which, as painful as it is, she talks about with some regularity, especially as you get later into your like teenage years.

She just has to be honest.

And specifically, that you will come into a great power that you will not have her experience or wisdom in wielding.

And there will be a very fragile time

for

essentially the

office, the station of the witch of the world's heart will have moved to new and inexperienced hands.

And with no judgment or castigation, she just has to warn you how dangerous a time that will be for the world.

And over these years, you realize essentially that in this coven of elders, and of those elders, you don't even meet the other witches.

She doesn't bring you on those meetings.

But unless you would like desperately ask to go on one of them.

But the other domains, the wild hunt is a like

monstrous witch.

One of like the other there are other rhymes that she gives you in like a children's nursery rhyme almost for each of those stations.

For the witch of the wild hunt, there's a little rhyme that a little fairy in the attic of Grandmother Wren's house repeats for you.

Where beasts have tread and monsters fed, the bloody fang and maw hath led.

And it's like very cutesy, but you're like, oh, meeting that person

in person would be very intense.

The witch of the wind and stars,

who apparently lives at the far northernmost point of the world,

in that same little sing-song rhyme about these great witches of old, of frost and stone, of ice and throne, the ruler of the self alone.

And

you,

the only one that sounds,

the only one that sounds like close to being like a person you could hang out with is the witch of the woodland green,

which is the holly branch and towering oak,

the limb and leaf and thorn, her folk, which seems like pretty like, okay,

nature.

Yeah.

Okay.

This is doable.

I

commit all of these to memory and I imagine what the witches will be like.

And maybe some of them have apprentices and maybe there are other

witches my age that are also learning these rhymes and that I can meet.

And maybe the one that's from the wild hunt is like

like like like I'm imagining I imagine like a female looking Ursulan like an Ursulan with eyelashes

and

and I just

you know I I really apply myself um because I want so badly to to be part of this and and to do right by Grandma Ren and to spend as much time with her as I as I can learning.

And think that when I meet the other witches of the coven, we can also have

witty exchanges with each other.

As you think about having witty exchanges with the one witch of the elder coven that you met, you come across the last little stanza of that poem.

Underneath the sign of the waning moon.

The death of light, the end of might, the all-consuming dread of night.

And you realize that of these stations,

only one of them concerns itself with people.

And that all of

person

in the world, all of the world of humans, exists in the purview of a single seat on that coven.

There is much in the world

that is spoken for outside of people.

Over those

years,

I will ask, as these memories come flooding back,

what your most

sorrowful and your most angry memory would be.

My most

sorrowful

memory is that

I just

I couldn't

stay away

and

I had to find out more about my parents and my family

that left me with Grandma Wren.

I don't think it was much more than just

finding out who they were, where they were.

I can't imagine that they live in a village too far from Toma if they knew about the witch of Toma and to bring their daughter there.

But I just want to see what they look like,

you know?

And I know I vaguely remember there were a lot of brothers and sisters.

I used to have

a lot of playmates.

How do you try to find them?

I just ask people in the village.

Everybody knows everybody.

That's when you realize that nobody knows where you came from.

Are you sure?

We see that you're, uh, it's like a spring festival.

How old do you think you are?

I'm 14.

It's a spring festival.

You see that there are some other some other girls

that are like out by this like apple cart.

There's hay, there's some like beautiful dancing, these like long ribbons strung around a big string, like may pole.

And you see, the girls go, like, uh, that one of the little girls who has like these long brown pigtails goes,

No, my mama talked about it.

You're not from here.

Your mama talked about it.

Well,

well, it is interesting.

Yeah, I am interesting.

Um,

where where did I where did your mama say that I came from?

Well, when you were really little like I don't know like five years old or four or five years old or something like that you just showed up in town one day grandma Ren goes on long trips out of town.

Yeah, I know but I mean didn't

you know like how far away and and and

what does the local gossip say?

You see a little ten-year-old girl goes I heard you came out of an egg.

i don't think witches come out of eggs

not least not um

well

hmm

not in in in the way that chickens do we all come from eggs of course but you know you see that uh one of the other girls who's like a four a fellow 14 year old just looks at you and says

look

Your family's not from around here.

You don't think they would have come to find you if they wanted to see you?

Well, they don't want to see me.

The other sort of girls,

you know, like sort of whisper, and you see like two or three of them behind the main one you're talking to kind of turn and laugh to each other.

And

you see that one of them turns around and says, like, why do you want to know anyway?

Look, if your mom wasn't the town gossip and your dad wasn't the town fool, I mean, you'd want to know anyway, even if it sucks to know, right?

My mom's not the town gossip.

And I don't know why you want to come talk to us anyway.

It's not like you're another village girl.

You don't go to the school.

You see this, you see another woman who says, yo, like, says, like, calm down.

She's clearly a girl.

And she's like, no, she's a witch.

I go,

and I, like, punch her right in the face.

Bam.

You see, they scream.

Ren, you feel Grandma Ren's hand on your back.

You leap on her.

And I started in the windmilling my arms.

Enough, enough.

You see, she pulls it, pulls you off.

The girl is like bleeding out of her nose as you've socked her.

You're out of your mind!

What's wrong with you?

I'm a witch!

You see, Ren goes, we don't need that.

And then

pulls you out of there.

Later at home, you are being excoriated.

Are you thick?

What's wrong with you?

You can't attack.

Look,

why can't I?

Why does she get to say mean things about me and I can't do anything back?

Because she's not trying to be good.

Maybe she shoulda and she would have gotten hit.

Oh,

oh, is there something someone in the world should have done?

Oh my goodness.

Someone in the world

should have done something.

Yeah.

Let's let's every time someone doesn't do something they should, let's absolutely lose control.

Great, good.

Okay, I would like to say that I did not lose control.

You leapt on her and socked her in the face?

Yeah, and I could have done magic about it, and I didn't.

I'd say that's very in control of me.

It gets dark in the cottage.

Whatever you're glibly referring to has the power to rot your heart from within and turn you into something that you would never recognize.

Do not glibly invoke casting magic to settle a score because of your hurt pride.

That you have even turned your feet in the direction of a road that

gives me pause.

Well, what if I wanted to have that?

What if once in a while I wanted to

have a little bit of something and feel good about things and not always be working

every summer,

you know, you go to the festivals, and or every spring you go to the festivals, and and you give so much to all of them, and

they don't even

invite you in for tea like a normal person.

What if I wanted to be a normal person?

Sometimes

I couldn't make them think I was normal.

Grandma Wren

looks at you,

sees this incredibly dangerous statement you have made.

She walks over to you, picks you up, which is harder for her to do now that you're 14, and hugs you close to her chest.

You miss them.

to them I was Ome

and everybody else I'm just a witch

You know

I can't be like them

and

I don't belong with the spirits

but

I only have you and

and them and they're gone

I'm sorry I didn't mean that

Don't wanna be good

I wanna

I don't wanna be kind

I'm sorry

that's all right sweet mommy

You're

these are the very very hard years

and you're not wrong to feel this way

I just don't understand

what's happening to me.

I just feel

things all the time

the pain

the pain

will never be able to overtake

the cause

of its appearance.

Here.

You see she takes a little sort of

she roots around in the thing and pulls out a little ball.

It's like a little sort of soft blue ball.

It looks like something that might even be like from the citadel.

And you see she holds it up in her hand and she drops it.

She doesn't throw it.

She just drops it on the ground and it bounces and it gets like a a couple inches away from her hand that she has to lower her hand to get it.

It's a very wonderful little thing.

Soft and stone gave this to me

because they believed that they would be able to come and visit once a year.

And they wanted some toys for little Suvi here in the cottage.

It's bouncy.

It's fabricated from some wizardly materials and it's quite a lovely little object.

object and it um

when you drop it

it can never go higher than the point from which it was dropped

and

there's something

in that that I sort of feel about

dealing with

the pain and loss

great pains

great feelings of unfairness of loss of hurt

mirror the wonder of the thing that we lost

your sadness

is in its own way

a reflection of how wonderful the friendship you discovered was And I don't think you would feel it if it were not for how special those moments were.

Yeah, yes, I'm...

I'm just glad I had them for

a summer.

But, you know, I think it's like...

like this ball it always

just gets lesser over time you know the comfort that that memory brings

boy if I live to 170 and that's kind of the only high point for me, then I don't know.

I can't

promise

that it won't be lonely.

I can only

And you see here she sits, goes

before you

I was very alone

I'm afraid I don't have the answers, my darling.

The world

will always be ready to see you as a witch.

Sometimes it will be in celebration,

sometimes in fear,

sometimes in wonder, sometimes in dismay.

I'm ready to accept that responsibility.

You see, she

holds you close, says.

I...

I will reach out

to...

I know not where Ursulan is.

His path he has concealed.

But...

A day I think might come

where

Suvi

could come into your life again.

Really?

And Ursulan.

Yes, if Ursulan were to return one day and

it's not beyond imagining, but

Suvi is in a hard position, and I will reach out to Steele to

I have often reached out to Steele to

inquire after Suvi to make sure that she is alright.

I think it's time I told you.

Um

Suvi

needs to be at the citadel for some time

because there is a great danger that surrounds her.

Can you can we help?

Is she

just safe there?

Wasn't she there when when when her parents,

you know

they got attacked there before?

What if they're attacked there again?

She should come here.

No, not here.

There would be a safety here, but Suvi would.

Suvi needs a place to flourish.

And

though there are comforts here,

there...

She has a gift.

And she is gifted in those ways.

And the Citadel has for her.

More books, yeah, yeah.

I hate to be that crass, but it's got way more books.

She looks at you and says,

Do you want me to tell you?

Yes.

Alright.

Suvi's stay here that summer was about more than just being safe.

There was a business at the Citadel that

soft and stone and steel were all all involved in.

The night that Suvi first came here, the night that Ruve attacked the Citadel, was

anticipated by a

faction within the Citadel that had been discovered by

Soft and Stone and Steel.

They knew about it?

I don't know that they knew about the attack before it happened, but they knew that there were people within the Citadel working to bring about the downfall of the citadel.

This information I'm telling you, I'm telling you because you will one day be the witch of the world's heart.

This information could absolutely

see people killed.

And I have to start telling you at some point, and you're 14, and that feels early, but any later, it starts to feel irresponsible.

No,

no.

When

Soft and Stone

passed away,

it was after many months of

hardship and violence.

Wait, wait, wait a second, wait a second.

I come back, and I have like a little sort of accordioning

almost map, like

like a piece of parchment that I kind of roll out.

And you can see that it's got drawings and sketches and different connecting bits and marginalia and chicken scratch about Suvi and her parents and Jasper and Steel and Citadel and

Beast question mark and

just

absolutely,

you know,

as much information as I have been able to gather over the years.

You see that she says,

the Akadator was a small group of self-deputized individuals within the leadership of the citadel that included Suvi's parents as well as

several other important wizards, Steele,

and several figures outside of the citadel that alerted them to the presence of these agencies.

One of of them was a man named Joran, who was a shapeshifter from Gauthmai.

The entity they were chasing, which I believe they jokingly referred to as the League of Whispers,

was dedicated to the downfall of the Citadel from within.

They discovered that, but

unfortunately, their own secret society was operating outside of the bounds of review because they believed there was a corruption within the citadel, and they had to move extra

judicially in order to

cut the rot out, and it resulted in a prolonged series of secret violences across Umora.

I have scribbled on an extra piece of parchment.

equatitor.

Um and uh I have uh uh slapped it onto the uh middle of the uh board

and I'm quoting making notes.

You see, she says

Suvi

was brought here because

her parents

they thought they had more time

and the summer that she was protected here, they were intending on coming back.

Yeah.

However, I believe that those individuals responsible were pushed underground, although

Steele has often asked me if I had any idea where Yorin was.

So, his involvement.

I have my suspicions about him

and how loyal he ended up being.

Regardless,

Suvi.

I do not believe that Suvi is in danger.

That matter is now many years resolved.

But.

Are you sure?

When Steele came to collect Suvi at the end of that summer,

the

primary targets of their investigation were

dead or missing.

But if there was no

okay, well, if they were missing, that's just

not here.

That's not gone.

It was all dead.

Well, it was all tangled up in

the issue with getting involved in that level of conspiracy is that

if you have an enemy in Ruve and an enemy in Gauthmai and an enemy in Kamsaraza

and you come across one of them in a dark alley and they end your life there, then you're not necessarily gonna post a bulletin for your other enemies.

This is going to be very complicated, Ame, and a great deal is going to rest on your shoulders.

There is a.

There is much to do, and unfortunately,

your position as Witch of the World's Heart is to

fix fix problems that affect people.

You'll do great.

Yeah, yeah.

You're sure there's no one, none of the other witches that have apprentices that could, you know, lend a hand or something?

Well,

I believe that the only two of my coven that have an apprentice at the moment are

Grimoire and Indry.

So I think Grimoire's apprentice is busy catching and eating things,

and then Indry's apprentice is occupied with tending to empty hallways and corridors of icy crystal.

Okay, well, that first one, we are all trying to catch and eat something.

Second of all, that second one

sounds

irrelevant.

I'm going to tell you something.

What you've said is absolutely true, and you are magically prohibited, as am I, from saying that in coven meetings.

Oh my.

Wait.

When you're in a coven meeting,

one day...

You can't insult somebody, like, magically, you can't.

Oh, there will be tremendous repercussions if you insinuate that any of the other stations are not incredibly significant to the nature of magic itself.

We are bound by laws of mutual respect.

We are bound, Amy.

You move from this memory in the final.

Grandmother Wren tells you a lot that honestly, these memories come flooding back to you, and of them, you remember like what?

There's like wild memories or whatever, or memories come flooding back to you.

She tells you about

friends of your station all over the world.

It's more than I can even impart to you in a single episode, but from this point forward, if you're in a new city or a new place or a new whatever, like, and you want to like roll a check to see who's there, like, in other words, you know, Grandmother Wren does like the anti-heroes quest mentor thing.

She's not like, the power will be within you when you most need it.

She's like, here's a list of a hundred helpful people.

Right.

She's like, she's like, this is exactly what's going on.

She spends a lot.

This is the villain.

This is.

Yeah.

She spends a lifetime training you.

But of note, it's like, to give you an idea of the flavor, it's like years of her not only training, like, here's how you make a potion, here's how you put a stitch in a magical garment, here's how you do this, here's how you do that, here's how you cast a spell like this.

All of this stuff that she's training you to be able to do, she's also flying you around the world, showing you places of significance.

And she's like introducing you to some people.

She's like,

she even

tells you, if you ever go to the Citadel, she talks about the friendly people there, where she's like, of course, Suvi, your dear beloved friend,

is there.

The Citadel hosts many people, many wizards, many spirits.

Steele is someone that you can trust

to

do what she considers honorable and just.

But if you try to talk to her about something that does not benefit the Citadel, you are going to meet a very, forgive the pun, steely

presence.

Um,

uh, a good friend there is my old friend Sly of the brooch, a very powerful wizard who is very underestimated in a good way.

Um, Gult the Artificer is also an old friend, and there is a spirit that they have bound to their service in one of their libraries who is called Pomeroy,

but his true name is Gwynfalnrathra here.

And you see that um

she spells the name out for you.

Uh

he is the spider of the wind.

You may find him in

yes, gross.

Gross.

And she goes through an immortal man, uh, she and she all over the world too.

She talks about like in the port of Kudroi on the inner sea of Ruve, there is a man named Thraun who sold his soul to the moon for the chance to live forever.

He made this promise a long time ago, so he's immortal, but

he made a promise a long time ago to always look after his descendants if asked.

The powerful,

powerful warlock.

However, he didn't really understand how generations worked when he made the promise.

So he has like thousands of descendants.

You are one of his descendants.

It doesn't.

He didn't.

Wait, I have a.

You and like 50,000 other people.

So he did.

That's sort of how our species works, yes.

She goes over all this different stuff.

The last memory that comes back to you

is

as she gets the first,

the last day she's on her feet before she has to go into the bed.

Amy,

it's time for me to start handing over

tasks to you.

See the big bed around her

breathing heavily.

I understand.

I have done my best to put as many

tasks to rest as I can

so that this transition might be as smooth as possible.

We respect all honored friends.

The wild ones are as much a part of this world as its people, as the rocks and trees and rivers and lakes.

There is a spirit that is moving upon the world

in a way that I have never seen before.

He has held his breath since the dawn of time

He is known by some as the Pilgrim under stars and by others as the man in black.

He is the king of night.

He is called the stranger.

For

some time now, since...

Since you were a very little girl, in fact, he has been moving upon our world in a way that I cannot quite see.

And you see that she begins to show you writings on her desk,

other elements.

I have never found even a shred or scrap of what his name might be, and I believe that he has never been bound by any wizard or sorcerer of antiquity.

He is a spirit of the night and of dread things, and

earlier this

month,

while I was away,

I was in a sacred place of the Coven of Elders known as the Grove of the Well.

He appeared and attacked me there, and I fear he is coming to the cottage.

How do I prepare for him?

How do I...

If he comes, do not grant him entry.

This station still has power left in this sanctum.

If you ever...

It is important that you not lose

this home.

There will come a moment after I am gone where,

for a very brief moment, there will be no

witch of the world's heart.

And in that moment, he may strike.

But you must act carefully, quickly during that time.

But once you have inherited the home,

all will be well.

When you say he moves upon the world in a way that you haven't seen before

and he dared to attack you,

what

hope do I have

against such power?

You have

the hope

that you have the strength to provide.

No more, no less.

You see, she puts a a hand to your face.

It is not fair

to be tasked with this.

The door is open.

I remember that little girl that I held weeping in my arms

who wished for a life

where you could feel that you were of the tapestry rather than speaking for it.

It is not fair to be asked

to be a speaker for the world.

And if you wish to put that task aside,

no,

of course not.

I mean to say if you wished to put that task aside, there are none that could blame you and I need you to know that I would love you all the same.

My love for you is not built upon what you can do for this world.

You have earned it every moment of the day by being just and only yourself.

I love you so much, Grandpa Run.

Thank you for always

seeing me.

She smiles.

I will tell you everything

of the stranger that I know.

Now be ready.

She goes to sleep,

and you wake up.

Ame, you awaken in a bed, clean, smooth linens.

Your belongings are on a small dresser to the side.

A window is open, and a scent of jasmine comes in through the window on an evening breeze.

That you look out and see yourself and the stars moving in a strange way.

You are in a town or a city, and you realize that the city is

rising slowly.

You are in a hovering platform the size of a small town within the Erian of the citadel.

Oh, fuck.

On your chest, you feel a weighted warmth.

And the fox looks right into your eyes and goes,

You awake?

Fox.

You okay?

I hug him real close.

He goes

and licks your face.

He's just licking at your chin and cheeks.

Fox.

I gotta go to bed.

Oh,

oh, okay.

Okay, I gotta let you.

Okay, I'll look at it.

And they kind of...

Oh, it takes me a minute because I just don't want to move.

You know, once he's on top of you and he's all comfy and asleep, it's like, that's kind of it.

But, okay, I gotta get up.

I

put him, put him to the side.

I scooch him to the side.

I look around.

A woman steps in, dressed in white robes with white gloves.

She has dark hair up in a large, sort of wide, almost like a Victorian bun.

She has a gold piercing in her nose that goes along a gold chain to pierce in her ear.

And you see, she goes,

Oh, are you awake?

Ame of Toma.

Yes.

I am Dr.

Nadine Tamri.

Oh, my goodness.

Yes.

Oh, my goodness.

I suppose I have you to thank for uh

being

in

good health here

uh yes oh my goodness your fox uh is asleep yeah

yeah he does that oh no he doesn't actually what

what

uh well he he has uh refused to sleep uh while you have been uh unconscious

oh

oh my

uh yes you've been in a coma for a little over a month

a month

We cut to

We cut to the smell of rich incense

and

wondrous potpourries of flower petals, nectars diffused from glass decanters, in a rich palatial suite.

In tangled sheets, we'd find

Suvi

next to the sleeping sleeping body of the wizard silver.

Damn, everybody in bed.

Everybody's in bed.

It's been a month.

Abria, could you please describe Suvi and her abode?

Yes.

Suvie has a

she would call it a comfortable set of rooms that she calls her own.

They are

very.

She's tried, and I think now, having spent that one sort of

precious afternoon at Grandmother Wren's cottage, she has tried to approximate the level of coziness using the sort of

sumptuous, uh,

very elaborate styles of the citadel.

Uh, so there are like cushions everywhere and like fabric swooping down from the ceiling, and uh, all of that looks like very languorous and decorous,

because that's the outer sort of what she shows off to the world.

She wants to look comfortable and poised and cozy and fucking a little sexy.

And then she's got obviously her secret study that no one is allowed entrance to that has a completely different vibe.

That's just a

monomania dream of books and thoughts and things.

But for now, she's here just sort of laying in bed and looking over at this very handsome man that seems to match this room quite well and she's feeling

very pleased with herself

it's like early evening right now so you know silver is very much not asleep he's just like resting his eyes

He turns over, you see that he has a bunch of scars on his body from combat, that all of which have been, as most Wizards of the Citadel do, have been modified.

So they are genuine scars that would have actually sort of impacted his good looks.

And so he had them healed just enough to keep them, but keep them in a way that did not alter what he felt were his best features.

I love wizardry.

This is great.

As he turns over, goes,

hmm.

How are you doing i'm doing

better

than before

um

i wanted to uh

uh ask by the way uh are you planning on seeing any of the um

sort of grand examinations for people that are trying to be graduated up into the upper upper class because i think some people are going to go do that this weekend i don't know if there's any that's like struck you as being interesting or not but oh uh do I know anyone that's coming up through these glasses?

More specifically, do I know any of Steele's kids coming through?

One of Steele's, Steele's eldest is close to this, but this is actually not even about.

This is about

acceptance into the Citadel.

This is about graduation and promotion up through the ranks of the Citadel.

So these are graduated wizards.

Oh, got it.

Silver looks up and says, you're, you're, correct me if I'm wrong, you're, you're getting your name cloak, right?

Uh, God, yeah, I guess that's time for that.

Yes, yes, I am.

Oh, you have a, you have, uh, you know, some people are superstitious about it, but do you have one picked out that you would want to tell me?

Oh,

oh,

do I want to leave that a surprise?

Uh, I think CB gets really quiet and like still

for a while.

Sky

Sky,

Yeah, I'm gonna...

I'm gonna be the wizard sky.

Third of the name, all right.

That's a.

I mean,

I would have put money down on...

I would have put money down on it.

Yeah.

For sure, for sure, for sure.

Look, it's a...

I understand it's kind of a cold shot, but I,

yeah.

You're sort of but you're sort of in that you kind of have to.

I mean, you grew up, you know, it's like if you didn't say Sky, people would be like, I wonder why she didn't do Skype.

Yeah, right.

They're only like, oh, she picks Salaman.

What the fuck?

No.

Yeah.

Hey,

I have lived.

You've known me forever.

Big shoes, big shoes to fill.

So I guess we're kind of just going to lean into it now.

It does feel like part of the order of things, right?

Like, Skye, yeah.

Well, for what it's worth, I think you'll do an amazing job.

Everything I hear is that you're one of the only Arc Magi apprentices that's actually

doing anything or is helping the Citadel at all?

Yeah, it's crazy.

I got back and I was like, oh, I really want to buckle down.

And it's been very easy to keep up with that workload.

Huh.

I look, this feels weird to brag because you're kind of covered in battle scars and I'm talking about paperwork.

Is this weird?

What is this?

I should.

Can I insight check him?

I just need to know if

I'm losing it in this moment.

Give me an insight check.

How is this

a natural one?

Part two.

We're back, baby.

You

think

of

the past month.

You look at Silver.

You he can't how can he not be judging you?

I mean he's seen actual war

You see, he looks at you and just sort of smiles and says,

I feel like you have things you're worrying about.

Lord knows whatever this is.

And he points to like your study area.

And he's like,

kind of

doing some memorabilia collecting?

Oh, oh,

yeah, just

big project.

You know,

Gavmai

and there, it's fine.

I want

help

with the war effort.

We need to know who we're fighting.

You hear a bang on the door.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

Uh, wizard, uh, apprentice archmage, Suvi.

Um, uh, your friend has awakened.

Ame?

Amen is awake.

Oh, um,

oh, shit, and Suvi's like whole, she was diving out of bed and then does the freeze kind of at the edge like a weird sexy gargoyle.

And tears back and looks at Silver.

Hey,

I have to, I have to.

You see, he creates a dimension door back to his own quarters.

And

you see that Silver goes, no worries.

He traces a finger in the air, opens a doorway that

suddenly reflects his own quarter and chambers.

And you see he goes, clothes, hop to it.

Claps his hands.

And as as he steps through, socks, shirt, pants, he, like, hops up in the air, the pants, like, jump up on his legs, and they all sort of animate and fly onto his body.

Before he leaves, I want to grab him sort of at the threshold of the dimension door and kiss him.

Uh, he kisses you back passionately.

Yeah, let's go to the

thing later.

When I'm, I, okay.

Uh, there's supposed to, yeah, there's gonna be a little get-together tonight.

I think, uh, um,

oh, I heard some people were gonna try to challenge your uh

guardian to a drinking contest.

I will be there.

He peels out and you begin to.

Suvi makes for the door, opens the door, slams the door shut, remembers she is butt-ass naked.

The attendant goes,

Oh god!

Oh, modify memory, you will not come quickly enough.

One second, and I

will analog put on clothing.

You analog put on clothing, charge at the door, and you make it down to the bottom of your plate of your suite in Alabast Hall, looking at the rest of the court around you.

Malacanth Court, one of two dozen massive floating platforms that rotate softly and gently, helixing up and down through the massive glass tower of the Erian.

These perfect courtyards, neighborhoods, small cities unto themselves in this

massive stretching to the sky, almost, you know, seven or eight mile tall glass structure, boggling the imagination.

Rising into the sky of the white sand desert.

Stars overhead.

It is so bright here at night as the white desert reflects the moon and starlight back up into the citadel.

Racing out

underneath a hedgerow of peonies,

you see the supine form of Ursulan, or as he is known here, Bear of Silbri.

I'm just asleep.

Yeah, I'm asleep.

Ursulan, please describe for me, if you would,

what objects of consumption and comfort, which the Citadel so richly provides, surround you here at this flower bed and the soft, supple grass that creates almost like beds of you know comfort beyond what you could imagine kept privately all throughout the citadel.

I think you see Ursulan splayed out.

I think there are a number of like kind of very intricate, like essentially to-go boxes from the different restaurants and eateries that have been, he's been just picking at, a bunch of half-eaten things,

and then bottles upon bottles of the nicest wine they'll give to a guardian.

There is like a silvery, a silver metallic box of like wrapped chocolate bonbons with small cream in them.

You see that there is like a long package with like a kind of baguette-esque bread that has like cured meats and fresh cheese and fresh green sprouts throughout it.

You see that all of these just sit here as like birds and grasshoppers flit around, but these birds and grasshoppers are illusory, so they would never eat your food.

And there are no ants to come and get them.

So you can leave your bonbons.

You can leave your bonbons right on the ground.

uh suvi you see ursalon bear bear

cool bonbon comes out of my mouth oh oh i catch it oh uh put that down

are you done are we are we allowed to can i come upstairs are you done oh

yeah yes but uh

on his wake what yes what come on come on

and i just crushed the like wet bonbon in my hand

ursalon desperately trying to brush all of the crumbs off of himself

A series of prestigitations.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah, that's right.

Gotcha, bud.

Gotcha.

Crumbs, everything go away.

As it goes away, you see you leave, whatever like litter or garbage you leave.

As you exit more than 30 paces, you see there is a momentary eclipse of a rune of magic hanging in silver light, and a small dust devil whirls the refuse up and begins to move it in the direction of a receptacle.

This is the best place in the whole

amazing.

So there was a moment where I was about to feel bad about just leaving up a threat, and then it's always fine.

It's always

fine.

Thank you.

Again, I'm sorry.

I'm not sorry.

Yes.

How long have you known?

Is it just now?

Just now.

Oh, okay.

Yes.

All right.

All right.

You begin to tear across Malacanth Court.

This is a central.

This is the home of the Pyrran Dome, which is the meeting place of the Arch Magi of the Citadel.

Even for a place of riches in all corners, Malakanth is the place of highest clearance and business.

This is the cream of the crowd.

Like the Ark Mag, the Arch Magi of the Citadel have their quarters here in this place.

The Tower of the Sword, Steele's home, is here in this place.

As you run through, once again,

it is not austere.

The Citadel is far from austere.

Beautiful marble and bright red bricks covered in flowering vines, huge fountains of golden statues where the water erupts in movement to ethereal music that plays from seemingly nowhere.

You hear proud horns playing.

This is not one of these sort of like carousing platforms, so it's not body here.

Instead, it has a kind of peaceful, serene music that plays at certain fountains.

And you see that as night sort of descends, people are very much heading to their homes.

You see that a few little like carts in places stay for those who have like forgotten or like skipped dinner.

There's like a small sort of umbrella

over a cart of someone serving shaved ice

who looks out.

As you rush past in this plaza with like well-lit kind of wizardly torches that flicker in flame that is cool to the touch.

Erslan slows down for one second and then realizes that he should just keep running.

We can get some later we can.

We'll come back.

Yeah, we'll come back.

You know he only comes out like twice a week.

I know, but now we can show Ahmed.

Yeah, that's right.

Ahme, Ahmed, Abe, Ahmed.

There are many

intersections.

So Malacanth is very much not on a grid.

So small alleys raise into steps that go up into a cobblestone across a wide avenue where troops can march up through another sort of curving street that moves away a sort of hodgepodge panoply of various streets and buildings many of the buildings here fit a central civic imperial architectural style but several of the buildings and towers here are of strange architectural styles that the buildings were moved here whole cloth from other places.

Sufi's doing the rom-com run of in narrow alleys, she's in a full sprint, and then anywhere where like someone important might see her, she's gonna do the slow, like, and we're good, and we're power walking, and then into a dead sprint.

And Ursula just keeps bumping up to you.

Oh, God.

I'm really not telegraphing this in a way that's out.

It's fine.

No, it's

you be in front.

You be in front.

Okay, well, then I'm just gonna run the whole time.

Oh, okay.

Oh, shit.

You arrive and see a crowd outside of Ami Space.

This is in the alchemists' hall, where you see that there are a number of alchemists all talking excitedly to each other.

You, of course, are shepherded right in.

You see that there's another

Citadel wizard who says,

I believe that the Sword of the Citadel is on her way right now.

You are both ushered in, see the lights on inside.

Dr.

Nadine is there, who has cleared the room.

I am up and storming around, like hobbling a little bit.

I need to see her now.

You see a shaky on her feet after a month in bed, Ahme holding a sleeping fox.

And when he's sleeping, he sometimes can make himself into a little ball when he wants.

Legs full splayed out.

Like legs hanging from her arm, head lolling, tail drooping.

He is just a bag of bones.

You rush into the room.

Ah, you see Suvi and Ursula.

Ame.

You're awake.

I'm going to come and pick you up, probably too aggressively.

No, sorry.

We need to talk.

We need to talk.

We need to talk right now.

You just woke up.

Are you okay?

Yes, yes.

I'm fine.

I'm fine.

I'm fine.

We need to.

It's a lot of energy.

Do you want something to drink?

Are you...

No!

As you rejoin in this moment, you see Ame has this, you know, intense look in her eyes.

Fox just just going,

oh, he's asleep.

He's so mean.

Okay,

Dr.

Tamri,

hi.

Thank you so much.

Go, please.

Let us know when Steele gets here.

We need a minute to catch up.

Tearful reunion.

Thank you

so much.

I don't know how to expedite this without

the test.

All right.

There are some other tests to run.

Yeah, we can run them in.

We can do that.

Five minutes.

All right.

She steps out.

I'm going to roll a die to see how close people are.

You want, I guess, a lower number?

Okay.

That's a 19.

That's the opposite of a lower number.

You guys can start talking.

Okay, okay.

I'm going to close the doors.

Hi, are you good?

Do you need anything?

I mean, you seem well.

Well, the last time we saw you.

I

opened up the door.

Oh!

Steel is standing right there.

I close the door.

Okay.

All right.

I know everything.

I know everything that I was forgotten.

I know the things about the parents.

Hi,

this is Steele, this sword of the Citadel.

May I come in?

One minute!

I have so much to tell you.

I remember everything, and I know who we can trust, and I know who we can't trust, and I know some things, and we gotta compare notes a month.

A month.

Also, thanks for visiting me, both of you.

I know you were there.

What do you mean?

I whip back, open the door.

Hi!

Ame, you are?

I'm awake.

Awake.

How are you feeling?

Good.

Okay, great.

Well.

Do you want to come in?

Yeah, can I come in?

Yeah, yeah.

I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to.

And then I closed the door behind Steve.

Please come in.

Wonderful.

Hello.

Hi.

Good to see you, Steele.

Bear, very good to see you.

Well,

I'm sure Dr.

Tamry has mentioned, but you've been

unconscious for about a month.

And.

Your friends, Suvi,

is very close to getting her name cloak, which will be a big milestone.

Oh, yeah.

We're having that ceremony very shortly.

Bear has been training for

some time.

Yes.

And you'd see now I'm wearing, I don't think I'm wearing my normal,

like my plain clothes.

I think I'm wearing essentially

whatever would be a training

someone in training's outfit.

I am also wearing fully a hospital gown.

This is all

hospital gown.

You see, that she says, yes, so

Bear

has been staying with us.

And for you to know, because you've been asleep for a month, Bear is the guardian and protector of the Archimage Apprentice Sous V.

Yeah.

And there's a

very

foolish rumor

going around based on the fact of there's a familial resemblance between Bear and Bear the

human

who looks like a very familial resemblance to

this is like the most unsubtle you've ever been

she's maybe groggy and seemed very perturbed and slammed a door in my face so I'm just trying to communicate to you

that some there's a very nasty rumor going around about

uh bear's resemblance to the late Soft, the Wizard Soft.

Yeah, he's my half-brother.

The great thing about a rumor

is it gives people something to talk about, which is the thing you always need them to be doing.

Right.

Something else interesting, an interesting story.

Um

great.

So

here I am in the citadel and uh

sorry, I'm yes, a little overwhelmed.

You're good.

Right.

Now, what's a name cloak?

Oh, we don't have, oh, um,

so, you know,

not, uh, so steel, and I just gesture at the massive armor clad, like kind of not really her born name.

Uh, wizards, you have a name, and then we kind of, and then you get an S name.

Yes, and it kind of eats the real name out of the world because names are powerful.

Remember, but that I got mad at you once when I was like, stop saying my name all the time.

It's a whole thing.

I'm sorry about that.

God, so much to catch up.

Anyway, I'm taking

the name Sky.

We, I mentioned it.

Right, but that was just a pseudonym.

You're saying that it will eat the name Suvie?

Yes.

So if I call you Souvie,

does that mean that

it doesn't exist anymore?

No, no, no, no.

Will everybody else hear Sky?

Yes, yes.

Um, Steele, yes.

I just have to give them a bit of my name, and that's how they can still remember?

Uh, yes, if they, if you want to give them,

you don't have to give them your last name, but if you want to give them your first name, they'll be able to refer to you however they like, and the world will hear Skye.

So if I say Suvi,

then everyone will hear Sky.

Yes.

And I will hear Sky.

I will hear myself say Sky.

You'll hear Suvie.

Suvie.

You'll hear Suvi.

But you'll know that you're not really like everyone else is hearing.

Also, as a point of order, not everybody gets an S-name.

Okay, yeah, it's complicated.

There's things.

So it's special.

Sky, soft, silver.

Stone, silent, silver, silver.

Yes.

So that's a thing, and it's very cool.

We don't have to.

That's a lot of.

You know, Steele's true name?

Or real name?

Because she knows yours.

Yeah, because she was kind of around when I was born.

Sure, but do you know hers?

Do you, did, is that something you share each other's names?

Wow, it came out spicy from a coma.

Typically speaking, Amay.

Children don't know their parents.

Younger generations do not know the given names of their older generation.

My parents died before they could tell me their name.

I'm sorry.

It's okay.

Okay.

Uh

great.

Uh sorry, a little bit of a diversion there.

There you're going.

Uh you're trained.

Why don't I know your name?

You want to know it?

Yeah.

It's classified.

Ugh.

Well, what if I want to know it?

Maybe forbear if you stop dropping your guard

after a successful counter-stroke.

Well, you're being mean, all right?

You make me do all the push-ups before, and I'm not as strong as I need to be toward the end.

Oh, you're only gonna fight people when you're not tired?

Maybe,

if I can time it out well.

Well, you might not always be able to time it out well.

Regardless, Hame, are you okay?

You seem very agitated.

Yeah, um.

Um,

I

whip open the door again to look to look out.

A bunch of doctors go, slam the door again.

Why?

That will happen every time.

Why are you doing that?

Um,

Steele, I, um.

I remembered the things that Grandmother Wren taught me.

That she told me that

I had been cursed to forget.

Great.

That's really good.

And

if you ever want to talk about some of the things you remember,

let's be really

thoughtful about good places to have those conversations.

Wonderful.

You are a welcome guest of the Citadel for as long as you should desire to be so.

And also,

the traveling door to Silbury is functional again.

So,

if you would wish to return home, you may do so as well.

See, we just a little bit shaking your head, like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I, uh, thank you.

That is very kind of you.

I very much appreciate the hospitality, uh, and

we'll,

I suppose, eventually have to return to Toma and my duties as a witch, but uh, for now, I would love a chance to catch up with my companions.

Lovely.

Then

by all means, and if you wish to catch up in earnest,

Suvi's dwelling place is an extraordinarily comfortable and safe place to do so.

Ah, wonderful.

And there's pants there.

What?

You got, you got your cheeks in the wind.

You're wearing a.

You've been asleep, so you kind of got a backless thing happening right now.

So I'm just saying, gesticulate less.

Pants.

I like prisons.

She

looks out and says, all right.

You see that

the alchemists outside, the various doctors, come in, administer a few other tests.

They provide a sleek, small, lightweight wheelchair for Ahmed to be escorted back to Sufi's dwelling place.

Fox sort of rolls over.

Oh, he's all tuckered out.

I never saw him sleep.

He slept while I was there.

Wait, really?

Sometimes.

Seriously?

Yes.

He bit me twice.

He was honestly, it's the nicest he's ever been to me.

All right.

I'm not going to take that personally.

Steele looks over and says that fox badly bit a number of wizards.

I'm so sorry for his behavior.

He also, I believe, almost drove one wizard to renounce the citadel.

That's

he can tell you the story when he's awake, but

essentially

it was

squeeze him tighter.

Boss.

You guys move out, taking Ame back to your dwelling place.

And Ame, for the first time,

you

are walking under the skies of a distant land within the realm of the Kemsarazan Empire here at the heart of the citadel.

At the edge of Malakanth Court, which is at the edge of the platform, you look down and see a several mile drop to Haverward, which is at the base of the Arian.

A massive sprawling city that is the terrestrial landing pad for the various campuses, colleges, and universities of the citadel.

This enormous

marble balustrade

Flecked with mica, fool's gold, coloring this place,

twinkles under the light of desert stars, reflecting the glow of endless white sand rolling in dunes.

Ame, you can see the dance of these windswept dunes and trails of gossamer snow-like sand being carried by the wind from the cresting ridges of each sandy hill in the vast wide sea of desert expanse.

Looking out at the edge of the platform that rises slowly, slowly to the Erian where it will crest at the very top align with the points of geometric line at the apex of the Erian's tower.

It will receive that magic there and then slowly twirl down to land before rising again in an endless dance of swirling platforms

here at the heart of wizard's magic in the world of umura

That was Lou Wilson as Ursulan, Erika Ishii as Aame, Abria Iyengar as Suvi, and Brennan Lee Mulligan as Everyone and Everything Else.

Worlds Beyond Number is edited, designed, and scored by Taylor Moore at Fortunate Horse with additional sound design from Michael Gelfie Studios.

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