and obvious. He could count the legs on the tiny spider spinning its web between Blath’s foot and the warmth of the hearth. If he studied the busy creature long enough, he would be able to see the fine hairs on those legs, maybe even smell its acidic, spidery scent. The stones under Blath’s feet were dusty. Blath’s soft leather boots were dusty, too. His mind was fully on the other side of the Veil now, yet his body remained safe in Dari’s bedchamber, contained behind the thick walls of the High Master’s Den, and ultimately Triune itself.
Focus, Aron, and be at ease. Dari’s thoughts were controlled, muted, almost a whisper, yet commanding nonetheless. Here. Come with me.
Aron turned his attention to her, glancing at her only from the corner of his eye, so he wouldn’t get caught up in just staring at her. The dull green energy, the disguise she kept around her legacy, blazed a sharp peridot with crimson flecks.
The essence of Aron’s head snapped backward as something like red and green fire flowed across him, turning into dozens of hues and shades. It was hot and heavy, pressing in on him—yet cool at the same time. Comforting. Then relaxed and gentle, like the feel of holding Dari’s hand.
He risked a full glance at her face, or the strong, sharply defined essence of it, and saw that she was smiling. He was captured by the curve of her lips, the lift of her cheeks, and the depth of her eyes, even though he knew such things weren’t exactly real or accurate on the other side of the Veil. Dari seemed as much herself as ever, and he realized that it didn’t trouble him as much as it should have, the fact that she had completely overpowered him, taken control of his essence, just as she said she could do.
It’s not unpleasant, he thought, forgetting to keep the appropriate guards around his own mind. The words came out loud inside the shell of rainbow light covering them both.
Dari blinked from the noise.
Aron gave her an apologetic look and controlled himself better as she took them out of her bedchamber and lifted their combined awareness over Triune. She kept them below the clouds, as a bird might try to fly if forced into the air during such weather, but of course the patches of mist and rain did not touch them at all. Aron was usually a bit cold on the other side of the Veil, but not this day. Half-absorbed by the sensation of being so close to Dari, wishing he could hear her thoughts to know if she enjoyed being close to him, Aron made himself look at the Stone stronghold below him.
The cloud-choked sunlight that had seemed so gray before he came through the Veil, it was bright now, playing off damp branches and roof thatch. He felt himself squinting, even though he knew his body was well warmed inside the bedchamber, so close to Dari’s hearth. To his right, in the clusters of huts that comprised the quarters for the sheltered, children wrapped in rain leathers were already at play or chores, plowing through puddles and mud. Smoke billowed from the main kitchens nearby, along with the smells of baking pies and bread. The archery and knife ranges were deserted, but a small crowd had begun to gather further to the south, toward the horseman’s armory. These were the regular apprentices, boys and girls Aron had little contact with, since the apprentices to the High Masters were kept to themselves for living and training.
Aron studiously kept his attention away from the structures on his left. He wouldn’t have minded seeing into the House of the Judged or the Judgment Arena to the far south, or even the courtyard of the main gate and keep. It was the structures closer to him, Endurance House and the Shrine of the Mother, that put him off. He was grateful that Dari didn’t seem to notice that as she took them higher, through the billowing gray clouds, and higher still, until they broke into the bright morning sky.
The flood of blue-white brightness flowed over Aron, touching him inside and out, filling him with a wild energy and hope he so rarely felt when his awareness was bound firmly into the flesh of his body.
Now you lead, came Dari’s urging. Take us far. Anywhere. Whenever you’re ready, imagine us heading toward the ground, through the clouds.
Aron pulled his mind this way