The first rays of morning light were creeping round the edges of the curtains as Felitïa stood up and tip-toed across the room. Someone had collected her clothes from the floor. And Maneshka’s.

Marna.

Poor Marna was curled up in a corner of the room. When had she come in? Was it after Felitïa and Maneshka? Had she been there the whole time? Felitïa blushed. She hadn’t been paying attention to that sort of thing. Even with Marna waiting on her for a couple months now, Felitïa still hadn’t gotten used to having a servant. She hadn’t even thought of Marna last night.

Felitïa had been letting Marna share her bed since servants didn’t get their own, but last night...it just wouldn’t have been an option, even if Felitïa had remembered her. She wondered what Marna had been thinking when she’d lain down on the floor to sleep. She hoped the girl would be forgiving.

Felitïa looked back at Maneshka, still fast asleep in the bed, and smiled. And blushed some more. Held back a laugh. Blushed again.

Last night had been...not what she’d expected. Wonderful—unbelievably wonderful—but awkward too. Her inexperience was a large part of that, but the lack of common language was a big part too. Still, not being able to communicate with words meant finding other ways to communicate, and that had had its own rewards.

A part of her felt guilty. There were important things she was supposed to be doing. What was she doing being preoccupied with her own pleasure? What would Quilla think?

Felitïa took a deep breath and reminded herself that Quilla was sleeping with Garet on a regular basis, and she doubted the two of them had put that on hold until Corvinian was found. And Quilla was the first to tell people to rest and relax once in a while.

Felitïa wasn’t certain last night counted as restful, but it had been relaxing.

And it could be counted as productive as well, since Felitïa had learnt something new about herself, about her telepathy. And it was both exciting and terrifying.

As they explored each other’s bodies physically, Felitïa began to explore their minds. At first, it had been instinctive and involuntary. She hadn’t meant to do it, just their minds were so close together. Felitïa could still distinguish between their two selves—indeed, she could distinguish them better than she could sometimes distinguish overpowering feelings—but they were overlapping each other. On the metaphysical plane of the Room, their minds were occupying the same space.

Felitïa couldn’t help but see into Maneshka’s thoughts. It wasn’t a complete view—there was something there blocking full view—but she got flashes of images, memories. Kindanog. Maneshka’s mother. Her pet rats. For a brief moment, Felitïa even saw herself through Maneshka’s eyes.

With her physical eyes, Felitïa saw Maneshka’s widen, saw her gasp. She was aware!

Felitïa pulled back from her. “I’m sorry. It was an accident.” She knew Maneshka couldn’t understand the words, but she hoped she would figure out the meaning. The last thing Felitïa wanted at a time like this was to cross a boundary she shouldn’t.

But Maneshka just nodded, put her hands behind Felitïa’s head, and pulled her back in, kissing her again. Her eyes stared into Felitïa’s, and in the jumbled mess that was their overlapping minds, Felitïa heard an invitation calling her in, so in she went.

The experience magnified the physical sensations a thousandfold as their thoughts and memories mixed together. Whatever barrier had been blocking things before melted away and for a while, they became like one person.

When the night ended, when they separated into two people again, Felitïa spent some time exploring the Room as Maneshka fell asleep. She had never noticed before, but there were walls beyond the walls she raised and lowered herself. They were farther out, dull grey and almost invisible.

And they were not of her own creation.

Somehow, for a brief time, she had broken through those walls, but they were back again, just beyond her reach.

She had fallen asleep shortly after that realisation, exhausted from a long day and their activities, but as Felitïa looked back at Maneshka now, she began to probe at those walls again, and again they remained just beyond her reach. They didn’t obey her directions the way her self-created walls did, but she suspected their overall purpose was similar.

She remembered that day by the well as a girl, when her telepathy had first manifested. For that brief time it was so much stronger than it had ever been since. One of Elderaan’s initial theories had been that it was just a surge caused by the initial manifestation and that her telepathy would settle at a lower power level, and for years, that had seemed correct.

Yet it had never really settled. It wavered all over the place, all the time.

No, something else had happened that day at the well. The barest images were beginning to surface in her head.

She is here with us.

A woman’s voice.

Zandrue. Rudiger. Borisin. Meleng. Corvinian. Jorvanultumn. Quilla. Kindanog. Nin-Akna...

The same voice as the one constantly in her head.

She is powerful indeed if she can see us in this place.

A man’s voice, that one.

Who are you? she called.

She tried to dig at the memories, probe them, pull them out, but those other walls sprung up in her way.

You are not invulnerable, she said as she tried to push them aside, tried to find a way around them. You fell last night. You can fall again. Get out of my head!

The walls just stood there, intractable, unmoving.

Felitïa.

She felt a hand on her arm.

“Your Highness? Princess Felitïa?”

It was Marna. She carried two of Felitïa’s dressing robes over her other arm. Maneshka was sitting up in the bed, looking at Felitïa.

“Yes, sorry, Marna,” Felitïa said. “I was miles away.”

“It’s okay, your Highness. I understand. I think the way you look at her is very sweet. I wish I had someone I wanted to look at like that. But there is a messenger here for you from the Ninifin delegation.” Marna held out the robes. “You may want these. One for you and one for your friend.”

Felitïa blushed and took the robes. “Thank you, Marna. Tell the messenger I’ll just be a moment.”

Marna curtsied, then hurried over and slipped out the door. Felitïa tossed one of the robes to Maneshka and slipped the other on. Marna returned a moment later, made some adjustments to Felitïa’s hair, and helped with the robe.

“That’ll be fine, Marna,” Felitïa said. “We shouldn’t keep the messenger waiting.”

“Of course, your Highness.”

A couple minutes later, Marna showed a Ninifin girl into the room. No more than fourteen or fifteen, she carried with her a piece of paper, folded and sealed. The girl knelt and bowed her head. “Your Highness, Princess Felitïa of Arnor?”

“Yes.”

The girl held out the paper. “I bear an invitation from her Holiness, Queen Nin-Xoco of Ninifin. She requests you visit her at your earliest convenience.”

Felitïa took the paper and looked at the seal. She had no idea what the seal of the Ninifin Queen looked like, but this one showed a coiled snake. She broke it and opened the letter.

My sister,

A matter of great importance has come to my attention, and I ask that we meet so that we might discuss it. If you are able, please come immediately. The servant who carries this message will bring you before me. If you cannot come at once, then I ask that you delay as short a time as possible.

I would also ask that you do not inform your family of this meeting at this time. I am aware of your brother’s attempts to speak with me, but this matter is not related to that. Nor is it related in any way to the offences committed by the Arnorin delegation against the Ninifin delegation. I hold you in no way responsible for the actions of your mother and father. The matter I wish to discuss pertains to me and to you only. You may bring an attendant if you wish, but I otherwise ask that you come alone.

I swear to you that there is no subterfuge in this invitation and that your safety is assured. I swear this in the name of Eleuia, Prophet of the True Gods, and in the name of her disciple, Nin-Papan.

Your sister,

Nin-Xoco,

12th Queen of Ninifin,

Bearer of the Rod of Nin-Papan,

Voice of Ninussa

Felitïa looked up from the letter and at the messenger who was still on her knees. “I’ll come right away. Just give me fifteen minutes to dress. Wait outside until then.”

“As your Highness wishes,” the messenger said. She stood up and Marna showed her out.

When Marna returned, she said, “Fifteen minutes will not be enough time to prepare you for an audience with a queen, your Highness.”

“Her Holiness doesn’t want me to delay, so I’m sure she’ll be forgiving of my appearance. Just do the best you can in ten minutes, then run and find Meleng and bring him here. Don’t tell anyone else what you’re up to.”

Once Felitïa had finished dressing and Marna had hurried off, Felitïa went back over to where Maneshka was still sitting in the bed, and sat beside her. “I’m sorry. I have to go.” She tried to mime herself leaving.

Maneshka just looked at her and smiled.

“You don’t have to rush away though. You can stay here as long as you like.” She had no idea how to mime that. “Marna will help.” Or that. “I’ll see you later at the library.”

They sat there for a few more moments, staring into each other’s eyes. “Marna should be back with Meleng in a moment,” Felitïa said after a while. “I’d better get going.”

Maneshka nodded, almost as if she had understood Felitïa’s words.

Felitïa leaned over, kissed her, then stood up to leave. She walked a couple of steps before turning back around and kissing Maneshka again, this time holding on longer, not wanting to let go.

* * * * *

“I think I might have found something about Corvinian,” Meleng said, rubbing his eyes. “I can’t be sure. I’m going to need to check some of the translations with Maneshka who’s a lot better at that sort of thing than I am. But I’ve found something about a child—”

Felitïa placed a hand on his arm to stop him. “This is probably not the best place. Tell me later.” The two guards probably didn’t know Arnorgue, but better safe than sorry.

Meleng nodded. “Right.”

He was still dressed in his formal wear from last night.

“Were you up all night?” Felitïa asked.

He nodded.

“Did you get any sleep?”

“I nodded off a couple of times. I’m not sure for how long. It couldn’t have been very long, though.” He yawned.

The door opened to reveal the young messenger who had brought them here. She bowed, then stood aside, and motioned for them to enter.

The Ninifin apartments were laid out similarly to the Arnorin ones—similarly to all the apartments as best Felitïa could tell. Queen Nin-Xoco’s was one of the larger apartments, like the one Felitïa’s parents were using. It was broken up into more than one room—an initial meeting room and a couple of bedrooms beyond that.

A chair had been set up opposite the front door, a little in front of the far wall. Sitting in it was a young Ninifin woman dressed in a shawl and skirt of mixed colours, though predominantly green. She wore several heavy necklaces, bracelets on her wrists, and anklets on her bare feet. On her head was a tall headdress adorned with green peacock feathers. Her long black hair was draped over her chest and hung down to her legs.

To the Queen’s right stood Nin-Akna, a spear in hand. Another warrior stood to her left, and others were spread around the room. All of them had red jerkins like Nin-Akna’s. Three other women stood in the room behind the Queen, one in green robes, the second in white, and the third in yellow. Several others—servants, Felitïa presumed—also stood around the room.

Felitïa and Meleng bowed.

The Queen leaned forward and peered at Meleng. “Your attendant is a man?”

“Yes, your Holiness.” It dawned on Felitïa that everyone else in the room, even all the warriors, was a woman. Meleng was the only man.

“How strange,” the Queen said.

“He is the same one who was with the young sister, Holiness,” Nin-Akna said.

“This is Meleng,” Felitïa said.

The Queen smiled. “Ah, yes. Forgive my rudeness. I am Nin-Xoco. Thank you for coming so quickly. Can I offer you some refreshments?” She motioned to a couple of the servants, who came forward, one carrying a tray of white fruit chopped in cubes, the other a tray of wine.

“Thank you.” Felitïa took a goblet of wine and a piece of fruit.

Almost everyone in the room was very young. The Queen, the guards, the servants—none of them looked out of their teens. Many of the servants looked barely in their teens. The Queen herself was maybe eighteen at most. Only the three robed women behind the Queen were older, two of them mature women of fifty or more, the third—the one in yellow robes and with a tattoo of an eye on her forehead—looked close to Felitïa in age, maybe a little older.

After Meleng selected a piece of fruit and a goblet, the Queen took a fruit piece herself. “It is a local fruit. Unusual. Tasty, but dry. I do not know the word for it in your language. I apologise that my command of your language is not good.”

“It is called coconut, Holiness,” Felitïa said. “But I didn’t know that before coming to Scovese. Believe me, your command of the language is excellent so far.”

“The Sanalogs are good hosts, wouldn’t you say?” the Queen said.

“Yes. They’ve been very good hosts, very welcoming. They’ve gone out of their way to make everyone comfortable. The ball last night was more than anyone would have expected of them, I think. I don’t recall seeing you there, Holiness.”

“No, I chose not to go. I must be careful about my public appearances. The Sanalogs are good hosts, but I do not trust the Volgs. Do you not find them frightening? Or the Isyar?”

“The Volgs, yes, at times,” Felitïa said. The Isyar?

“It is still strange to me,” the Queen continued. “I did not think they existed. Eleuia revealed that the Volgs are a creation of the Isyar, to misdirect our attention away from their evil. I always thought that meant the Isyar created stories of Volgs. Most others believe the same, but now my advisors tell me it is more literal than that. The Isyar actually created the Volgs. Such powerful evil frightens me.”

There was genuine fear emanating from the Queen, but Felitïa got the impression it was more than just fear of Volgs. Some of that fear seemed directed at her. The emotions from the rest of the room were a mixture of confusion, uncertainty, fear, and a small amount of hatred, but it was difficult to separate where the individual emotions originated—not and keep her attention on the Queen.

“Forgive me, Holiness,” Felitïa said. “You said you had something urgent to discuss with me.”

“Yes, that is correct.” The Queen looked to Nin-Akna and nodded.

Nin-Akna tensed and Felitïa felt intense uncertainty from her. “Are you sure, Holiness?”

“You said you believed her trustworthy,” the Queen replied.

“Yes, but—”

“Then I will take the chance. You need not go far. I will call if I need you, but go you must. This is not for your ears.”

Nin-Akna snapped to attention. “As you wish, Holiness.” She raised her spear and motioned to the others in the room. The servants left, followed by the guards, and finally Nin-Akna. She paused at the door to look back at the Queen. “I will be just outside the door, Holiness.” The Queen nodded and Nin-Akna exited the room, closing the door behind her.

The only people remaining in the room were Felitïa, Meleng, the Queen, and the three older women. There was silence for a moment as Nin-Xoco looked behind to the older women, who each nodded in turn. She turned to face Felitïa again. When she spoke, there was a waver to her voice. “Thank you for coming so quickly. I asked you here because I need your help.”

“My help?”

“I fear for my life while I am here on this island.”

“Why do you want my help with that? What of your own people? Your guards?”

“Nin-Akna is devoted and loyal, but she is young and inexperienced, new to her position. I also fear that soldiers and weapons will be ineffective against the threats that may come against me.”

“What do you think I can do that your guards can’t?” Felitïa asked. New and inexperienced? On an important journey like this? As she thought about it, apart from those three women standing behind the Queen, all the Ninifins Felitïa had seen so far were very young. The male soldiers outside were twenty at most.

The Queen took a long sip of her wine. “Before I came here, I was advised to seek you out if I felt threatened.”

“I don’t understand,” Felitïa said. “Why me?”

“Because you are the Will-Breaker.”

Felitïa wasn’t sure whether to groan or shout in excitement. Yet another person was using that term for her, yet for once, it wasn’t someone trying to kill her. Maybe she could actually learn something about it.

“Who told you this?” Felitïa asked.

“How much do you know of Eleuia and her disciple, Nin-Papan?” the Queen asked.

“Very little, Holiness.”

“Didn’t Eleuia lead a resistance against King Everet and Stark Drago?” Meleng said.

The four women all gasped. “Never speak that name aloud!” the one in the green robes snapped.

Nin-Xoco held up a hand to silence the others. “Please refer to that person only as the Dragon.”

“Of course,” Meleng stammered. “My apologies, Holiness.”

“However, you are correct,” the Queen continued. “Eleuia is our greatest hero and the mother of the Ninifin people. Not literally, of course, but she brought the words of the true gods to us, and Nin-Papan recorded her words and actions for posterity. Thanks to Nin-Papan, every child in Ninifin knows the story of Eleuia. We base our whole society on what she taught us. However, there are things that not every child knows. That very few know. Before I tell you more, I must ask that you swear never to divulge this to any other living soul.”

Part of Felitïa wanted to agree without hesitation—anything to find out what was going on—but something continued to bother the other part of her. Nin-Xoco was terrified; so were two of the other women. The third—the one in yellow robes—emanated hatred over her fear. And all of it—the fear and hatred—was directed at Felitïa.

“I will keep your secret,” Felitïa said.

There was silence a moment, and Felitïa nudged Meleng. “Oh yes,” he said. “I swear it, too.”

Nin-Xoco glanced at the other three, who nodded one-by-one. Then she continued, “Nin-Papan wrote of several things that Eleuia said and did that are not in the official story. Many of these were words the gods spoke through Eleuia telling of the future. Some of these refer to a person called only the Will-Breaker. The writings say that the Will-Breaker will first make herself known the next time all the peoples of the world come together in one place to talk.”

“What else do these writings say?” Felitïa asked.

“I am not certain,” the Queen said. “I have not read them myself. Only a few specialised members of our clergy ever study them.”

That probably meant they wouldn’t let her look at them either. “How do you know I’m the Will-Breaker?”

The Queen motioned to the woman in yellow. “This is Ses-Tlacotl. She is one of our greatest wizards. It was her task to locate you.”

Ses-Tlacotl touched her eye tattoo with the tips of the fingers of both hands and bowed her head. “As soon as we arrived here, I began subtly probing people,” she said, lowering her hands. She was a full-figured woman with silky black hair. “When you came with your brother the other day to protest the treatment of your sister, I noticed you. Not only did you have mental defences—which most people do not have at all—but you had defences of a type I have never encountered before. I could not breach them. This left little doubt that you were the one I sought.”

“I never even noticed,” Felitïa said.

Ses-Tlacotl touched her eye tattoo and bowed her head again. The hatred still poured from her.

“Ses-Tlacotl is very good at what she does,” the Queen said.

“That was three days ago,” Felitïa said. “Why have you waited so long to contact me?”

“Because I didn’t yet know that I would need your help.”

“So why do you contact me now?”

“There is a Volg here by the name of Agranim. Do you know him?”

Felitïa nodded. “I’ve had the displeasure of meeting him, yes.”

“He has made threatening remarks towards me.”

“What sort of threats?”

“He said that once the meeting is over, when we are no longer under the protection of diplomacy, he would see to it that I died. He said that I would not see it coming, that it would come from a source I did not expect.”

“I see,” Felitïa said. “Why are you afraid of me?”

Nin-Xoco grimaced. “Is it that obvious?”

“You or your associates must know something of my abilities if you think I can help you. I would have thought you’d know I’d notice something like that.”

“Ah,” the Queen said.

“Because Eleuia said the Gods foretold that your coming would herald a time of terror worse even than that wrought by the Dragon,” Ses-Tlacotl said. “Who would not be afraid of you?”

“You think I’m worse than the Dragon?”

“No,” the Queen said. “As I understand it, you are not responsible for the bad times. They just follow you. However, it is also said you have incredible powers that can seem terrifying.”

“I see,” Felitïa said. “Thank you for answering my questions.”

“Will you help me?”

Opposing Agranim seemed a likely course of events regardless, so the decision was easy to make. “I will do what I can, Holiness. But I would ask one thing of you too.”

“Of course. What do you wish?”

“I’d like to see these writings that foretell the future.”

A sharp pang of annoyance came from Ses-Tlacotl.

“We do not have any copies here,” the Queen said.

“That’s all right. It doesn’t have to be right away. At some point in the future.”

The Queen nodded. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

“Thank you. If I haven’t already dealt with Agranim by the time the meeting’s ended, I’ll come to you and do whatever I can to keep you safe.”

“Thank you, Will-Breaker.”

“If you will excuse me then, Holiness. I need to make plans.”

The Queen nodded her assent, and Felitïa and Meleng bowed.

As they left the apartment, Felitïa paused by Nin-Akna. “You can trust me.”

“I believe you,” Nin-Akna said. “But there are things you don’t know.”

That was certainly true. Far too many things. “Perhaps we can talk at some point? If the Queen gives you leave?”

“Perhaps,” Nin-Akna replied.

As they walked back towards the Arnorin apartments, Felitïa said to Meleng, “I hate pretending I know what people are talking about when I really have no clue.”

“Well, at least we’re learning something,” Meleng said. “These prophecies or whatever they are seem really fascinating.”

“You think so?”

“I can’t wait to get a look at them,” he said. “That reminds me what I was trying to tell you earlier. I found something that I think mentions Corvinian. It talks of a child who is of the Volgs but not of the Volgs. Or something like that. It’s kind of confusing.”

“This was written how long ago?” Felitïa asked after he had filled her in on the details of what he’d found.

Meleng shrugged. “Not sure exactly. Twenty-four hundred years ago at least.”

“And it predicted the exact date of Corvinian’s birth? Using a dating system that hadn’t even been created yet?”

Meleng nodded. “Assuming it’s talking about Corvinian. It’s really fascinating. That’s two examples we’ve discovered of people accurately predicting the future in just the last few hours. I wonder how they do it. I’d love to figure it out.”

Felitïa stopped walking and it took Meleng a moment to notice and stop as well.

“I don’t like this, Meleng,” she said. “Don’t you find this predicting the future disturbing?”

“Well, I suppose it is a bit, but think what we could learn.”

“What, that we have no choice? Someone two hundred years ago decided that I would come here now, and so here I am? Do I get a choice? Do you? Corvinian? If the future can be foretold, then what does that say about our ability to make decisions for ourselves? What does that say about free will?”

Meleng gulped. “I didn’t think of that. But we should still find out what these things say.”

Will-Breaker. They kept calling her Will-Breaker. That implied breaking, ruining, destroying will. Removing free will.

No. She would not be part of that. Nor would she let her life be predetermined for her.

She would find another way.