VIRAN

  Auntie was a little scary when she was working.

  Viran only realized how scary she was after the tip of the hydra's tail disappeared into the mountainside, when she stopped holding herself up, all at once.

  Her wings drooped just a bit, the mana in her staff stopped buzzing itself against Viran's vision like a warning, and the dry crackle of the air against his scales receded enough that he didn't feel the need to itch them.

  After all that was done, she looked tired instead of scary. No, not just tired.

  Viran had seen her pyre-weary before.

  She had looked just like this, ten seconds after she dropped out of the sky, when Mirri had found him, and they had gotten close enough for her to sense.

  "Can you flood the tunnels on them?" Viran heard himself ask. "Is there enough water?"

  A real Immortal wanted to kill Mirri. A total stranger, one dangerous and capable enough to stand firm against a Seraph. And Auntie was letting them walk away, for some reason.

  There had to be a plan he was missing.

  "Not if I want the next threat to be willing to bargain. The Long Road doesn't run on fae-forged hooks and exacting bindings. I have to maintain a certain level of credibility for the city to work with me as easily as it does," Auntie still had her work-voice on, even if she had lowered her staff and stepped away from the edge of the casting platform. "Not everywhere is the deep north, if I've told you once I've told you a thousand—"

  Her head finally turned, and she had to look down to meet Viran's eyes. Just a scaleswidth, but she closed her eyes and her mouth when she did, letting out a deep breath through her nostrils.

  "Auntie?" Viran asked, waiting for the rest and wracking his brain for the lesson he was missing while Auntie gathered her patience.

  It was hard to even sort them. They had spent all winter learning how a Warden was supposed to work with power, so there were a lot of lessons bouncing around, some of them rubbing up against each other, some of them sharing space with things he already knew.

  None of them had been important enough to say a thousand times. 'Careful of the tides' was the closest, but even that had only been once a day, and only when they were traveling the coasts. She had said it four, maybe five dozen times at most.

  And there were no tides in the pass. There wasn't even enough water in the same place for Viran to swim.

  "I'm sorry," Auntie's work voice was gone, when she opened her eyes. "Not all of that was for you, no matter how much you sound like her sometimes."

  The little twist of pride that formed in Viran's chest painfully pressed all the air out of his lungs, when he realized who she had been talking about.

  But right now, he needed to help. Auntie needed help, and Mirri needed help, and Viran was still useless. There was nowhere to curl up alone, and the world would only get worse if he waited.

  So he couldn't go back to being sad, and Auntie would see it in his eyes if he looked at her. She would start talking about taking a step back, and taking time to change things. Time they didn't have anymore, now that Viran had been to the city. People knew he was alive for sure, and they were acting like he was half an Immortal already, even before his Proving match.

  The Immortal Games had begun long ago, and he was on the board now.

  His eyes found the snow-covered peaks jutting out over the horizon, instead of looking back at her.

  "I'll be able to help someday," He promised. "I won't make the same mistakes they did."

  It was Auntie's turn to look sad, collapsing just a bit more against her staff in the corner of Viran's eye.

  "It only takes one, sometimes," She whispered. "And you're already helping. Mirri might still be alive because you warned me."

  Viran craned his neck, following her gaze over the edge of the tower, and confirmed that Mirri was still standing. She didn't look wounded, and even had the energy to be investigating the human she had saved.

  So Auntie was talking about something that could have happened, not something that might still happen.

  "Viran, do you remember when you were angry with me?" Auntie called his attention back. "When I told you I couldn't make things even, not unless I had the power to tear out every single one of the Teeth, all at once?"

  Viran looked away from the tiny people moving around down below. Neither of the humans was attacking Mirri, and Mahira had trusted one of them with Seraph Steel, so she would be safe for now.

  Auntie wouldn't be taking the time for a lesson right now unless it was a very important one.

  "Until you explained what an 'ablative layer' was," Viran confirmed, pointing at the peaks on the horizon. "All that rock is too hard to break quickly. You wouldn't have been fast enough to get to the Mage Lords who ordered it, so striking back wouldn't stop them from doing it again."

  No matter which mountain Auntie chose to collapse first, the kobolds in charge would have an escape route. She would just be wasting power breaking things, and if she didn't stop after one mountain, the rest of the Mage Lords would have taken notice, and done something.

  They wouldn't have just waited for her to choose their mountain. That would have been the kind of mistake Viran had just promised to avoid. They would have found a way to take advantage of her exhaustion, or strike somewhere she was too far away to protect.

  "People we care about are alive today, who might not be, because I refused to take that risk, when you wanted me to," Auntie said Viran's thoughts out loud. "Mirri is going to be angry with me for the same reasons, after today, but she already knows why I couldn't. Explaining won't fix things."

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  Auntie wasn't using her teaching voice, Viran realized belatedly. She was using her asking voice, because she needed his help.

  "So what do I do to help?" he asked, just to make sure he had understood.

  "She will need time, because she insists on misunderstanding what I mean when I say 'anything.'" Auntie sighed. "I only need you to be there for her. She should have family to lean on, while I am forced to make decisions as a Warden."

  Viran nodded. There was finally something he could help with, and it was easy.

  "I won't run away again, Auntie," He was making a lot of promises, but that was safe with Auntie. She wasn't the kind of old that meant she was fae-bound for sure, and had never chosen to take on the restraints. "And I won't let her hide behind a locked door this time, either."

  "Good," Auntie sighed again, but different. More relieved. "We're all going to be busy enough this year, with the new guests. Humans, humans everywhere."

  She sang the last bit over the wind. Which reminded Viran of something.

  "I, um." He started.

  Auntie's gaze drifted, and she arched a brow at him, waiting patiently.

  "I found the squires Dovin was looking for. They found me, actually," Viran confessed, reaching up to rub at the dent in his helmet. "I couldn't get them to be calm without fighting, though. I think they're okay."

  "Two steady heartbeats, and they are standing," Auntie confirmed after she cocked her head, looking down. "The Wards downstairs have finished disarming them already. If you want Yarrun to shape the steel, I'm certain we'll be able to find other uses for the options he's prepared for you, after you decide what you want."

  The useless weapon hung through Viran's belt tapped against his kilt, the twice-shattered haft reminding him of the way the 'duel' had played out.

  "Yes Auntie. Even if it's dead steel for now," He nodded, frowning. "They didn't... they weren't making smart decisions, until I took away all of their other options. It was like they were too scared to listen, even when I was trying to be friendly."

  "Some people are like that, especially when you first meet them. The trick is to keep trying, but only with the ones who matter," Auntie's mouth curled up at the edges of her jaw. "Take the cart, and bring their helmets to Dovin, he'll know what to do with them. A little more bronze off the ledger won't matter much when we exchange them for ours, and I suspect our new allies will appreciate having armor fit for skulls their shape."

  "New allies?" Viran's foot had almost reached the top step when his mind caught up, halting him.

  The Venatrix had died, and had her own helmet before that anyway. The Bessos men had run away.

  That only left the Arrivals Mirri had found, who couldn't possibly be enemies yet, and should be friendly, once they understood they were safe.

  But Auntie had called them allies, like they had power.

  "Hurry hurry. Sariel will be done with them, and hopefully calm enough to speak to me, by the time you get down there," Auntie shooed him away with one last piece of advice, before the rest of the world needed her time. "Be friendly even if they're afraid, the little one just saved Mirri's life, and the other one earned a Bestowal in the space of a morning. Watch to see what kind of people they are, on the ride to Eastwatch. I suspect they will be very important, in a decade's time."

  The last few aches from the fight faded away in the rush of excitement that infused Viran's limbs.

  "Yes, Auntie!" Viran called over his shoulder. "I'll do my best!"

  He was supposed to be making important friends anyway, if he wanted to be a Warden someday. This would be good practice.

  Viran hadn't been anywhere with more than two floors since leaving Eastwatch last autumn, so the bump-bump-bumping sensation of his tail dragging down the steps took a moment to place. He had eventually given himself a bruise, last time he had run down stairs this fast, but the feeling was different this time. Lighter, and it twinged of mana when he concentrated on feeling why.

  He hadn't just gotten larger, his passive durability was higher too. Like a real Immortal, even a young one.

  It was a second piece of proof, joining the knife at his belt with only a little of his blood on the tip.

  Viran helped lift a few of the bunks out of the corner stairs before he left. The Wards in the barracks were only too happy to hand Viran the helmets after that. 'The prisoners' were just fine, and 'very willing' to cooperate until there was a spare cart to take them to cells at Eastwatch. Auntie had told the Wards she didn't want the squires in the same spot as the Arrivals, in case anyone got them mixed up.

  The aurochs being stubborn failed to foul Viran's mood. It knew the feed bag was empty, but wanted water before they left, and wouldn't let him take the feed bag off its face until it was shown a trough.

  There was no water trough at the south tower. Puddles were no good, when he asked. Viran didn't trust it enough to kneel down and cup his hands, he would still bleed everywhere if the big bull wasn't careful with those teeth. Or decided to be mean.

  Tricking the animal into doing the right thing wasn't hard. He just had to promise that he had seen a nice, crunchy tuft of grass catching lots of rain down in the pass, and suddenly the animal was willing to take the bit, and pull the mostly-empty cart to get there.

  The trick almost worked too well. The aurochs didn't care at all about how fast the cart was made to go. Downhill was easy, so they were going fast. It complained every time Viran leaned back on the reins, and still almost tipped the cart twice, going too fast where the bumpy dirt road curved.

  They made up all the time they had lost arguing before they left, though.

  The sparse foliage by the bottom of the slope was skeletal enough that the animal didn't bother to slow, which was a problem of its own, since Viran needed the cart to turn almost all the way around to get it into the pass.

  Leaving the road again, he managed to get the animal on a course that wouldn't twist any of the axels too far, or trample anyone who was busy resting, or praying, or singing mostly the same twenty words over and over again in different tunes.

  Viran hummed a few bars of 'Making a Forever' after he passed that last group, who seemed to be crowded around and led by Dast, but it started to make him sad again, so he stopped before anyone heard. It didn't sound right, coming from just him.

  A little more coaxing got the cart deeper into the valley. Sariel taking to the air was the last interruption the aurochs was willing to take, and after that Viran lost all control. The wind from the Seraph's departure flattened any grass that wouldn't count as crunchy, and shook water off the rest.

  The animal started weaving side to side, investigating the clumps that were still standing, and kicking at a stained toy rabbit someone had discarded recently. The bloodstains, and the way the aurochs was barely weaving around half-buried boulders convinced Viran to leave the toy alone to focus on his task. Someone else would get it.

  Dovin was watching patiently, talking to Mirri. Eventually, the aurochs chose a spot to eat, and stopped. Firmly.

  Viran gave Dovin a meek grin, and waved them all over, glad to hand the reins off.

  Auntie's lieutenant glanced up at Viran's forehead, and gave him a look that meant he was busy right now, but they were going to have a 'learning conversation' later.

  Viran rubbed at the dent in his helmet, checked the cliffside, and decided against fixing it right now. The helmet would work fine, and they were still out in the open.

  Dovin had already seen anyway, and would hear about the fight later, when the Wards Auntie had brought to the south tower gave their reports.

  The humans were already done dragging the Seraph Steel into the cart by the time he reached the back. The bigger one had leapt up to drag the shield into the back while the other one pushed, and they had both disappeared before Viran could offer any help.

  Mirri didn't like it when people tried to help her do things, so Viran waved a little and turned around while she climbed in after the Arrivals. She had lost her cloak, but still folded herself up against the side of the cart opposite the two humans, and away from their things.

  Borrowing heat from the Arrivals must count as help.

  Dovin took the reins after Viran finished dragging his tail over the bench, and the aurochs listened the first time.

  The mud almost swallowed a wagon wheel when they were two thirds of the way back to the proper road, but Viran only had to hop off the bench and push for a moment. Less weight and more power got them out of the bind before they could sink too far. He was the heaviest, so he stayed walking until the wagon was on solid ground again.

  After that, there was nothing left to do but try to be friendly with the strangers behind him while they were on the road to Eastwatch.

  That was when things started to get difficult.

  druids in tabletop role-playing and videogames, there are no historical sources that indicate the iron-age Celtic priests ever claimed to talk to animals. Most of these modern conceptions evolved from fabricated or otherwise unreliable evidence produced in the 18th and 19th centuries by neo-pagan groups with no provable connection to the original religion. They instead served as religious leaders, legal authorities, medical professionals, and political advisors.