Chương 57: Chapter 56: The Unexpected Absence

She opened her eyes with fear, prickling her skin. Her heart pounded against her ribs like a trapped animal, and her breathing was a quick, shallow gasp that failed to fill her lungs. As soon as she became aware of where she was —the beamed ceiling, the grayish light filtering through the windows, the murmur of the other women waking— she tried to regain control. The breath entered her lungs, slow and deep. She released it bit by bit, feeling the warm air escape between her lips.

Then she inhaled deeply again, once, twice, until she could remain calm. By the time the other girls were getting up, rising with the slowness of those who hadn't slept enough, Selena had managed to master the trembling. She looked for Kaela, and there were her dark eyes, still clouded by sleep. Her shivering went unnoticed, for it was an unusually cold morning. An icy wind whistled through the cracks in the windows, making everyone shudder, and that helped her pass as just one more person rising with the shakes.

The usual routine intervened as always in the morning, a dam of normalcy against the tide of fear. The morning bath, the freezing water clearing the remnants of the night. The daily task: Selena had to help peel vegetables alongside Anya, her fingers moving with learned precision while her mind wandered to other territories. Then the morning porridge, steaming and comforting, tasted the same as always.

The prayer thanking for the food, the words of gratitude to Aelthra that Selena repeated with her lips while her heart prayed to no one. And finally, the warm farewell from the sister of charity at the gate. Selena and Kaela headed straight toward the heretics' cave. They walked in silence at first, with only the murmur of the estuary and the singing of birds for company. But something in the air was different.

Selena felt the weight of the dream, of the images, of that woman with the silver blindfold and the runes. Once they reached the entrance to the cave, Selena dropped her mask of sadness and the unusual silence she had maintained to speak with the tanner. —I'm afraid —she confessed, her voice a thread lower than usual, barely a whisper that the wind almost carried away. Kaela stopped and looked at her, her dark eyes fixed on Selena's with a disarming intensity. —A few nights ago, I dreamed I lost someone...

—Selena paused, searching for air, for words. —And I don't want it to be you. Another pause. Her heartbeat forcefully, but it wasn't fear; it was something else. It was the need to say what she felt, to put into words what she had understood in the darkness of the night. —You are my friend. Beyond that, you are a pillar in my life. You don't know how valuable you are. Kaela stopped for a moment and looked at her.

There was no surprise in her dark eyes, only a serene understanding, as if she already knew everything Selena was saying, as if she had known it all along. —I know— she said, and her voice was unusually soft, stripped of that characteristic hardness. —I don't say it, but I know. Her face, normally carved in pragmatism —in that expression of one who has learned not to expect anything good from life— softened in a way Selena had never seen before. —You are the same as me. They said no more.

Words were a luxury in this world, a scarce commodity to be managed with care, and they knew they needed no more. They knew they would have each other, no matter what happened. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Selena felt tranquility in her heart after the horrible dream. The fear did not disappear entirely, but it grew quiet; it became manageable. Together they walked peacefully until they reached the periphery of the cave. And then they noticed it.

There was the sound of birds. Animal life around the cave. The insects had returned to the jars, all illuminating with their intense blue light, pulsing in that hypnotic rhythm that had so fascinated Selena. The deathly silence of the previous days had been broken. Both followed the path, though Kaela took Selena's arm for a second —a gesture of protection, an acknowledgment of her own fear— until they reached the threshold of the cave. In the center of it stood Elian.

The acolyte had an unusually serious expression, sitting on his rock in a meditative posture, eyes closed, breathing deeply. Something in his attitude conveyed a gravity they hadn't seen in him before. Once the acolyte heard their steps, he looked at them. He greeted them with a tilt of his head, but his expression did not relax. Then he said: —Corren had to leave. For five days. He paused, letting the information sink in. —He had to take care of a matter regarding the Path.

He held out a rolled document toward Selena, a carefully sealed parchment. —He left this. A document with questions he wants you to answer while he is away. The deal —he added, with a serious look— still stands. Selena took the parchment, feeling the weight of commitment and the absence. Corren was gone, taking with him the mysterious cause of animal silence and, perhaps, a layer of protection that was now missing. But he had left an assignment.

The world, with its strange dreams and its seekers of silver threads, would not stop because the master had departed. She headed toward the office, walking through the stone corridor with slow, pensive steps. She sat at the coralwood desk, in that chair that was almost her own now, and sighed deeply. Upon the clean surface of the desk, however, rested two objects that hadn't been there before. A small, folded piece of paper and, beside it, two simple bracelets.

They were of an almost crude simplicity, made of strong but ordinary thread and common stones, smooth, unpolished, and dark-colored. Nothing about them suggested material value or exquisite craftsmanship. They looked handmade, with care but without pretension. She opened the folded paper. The handwriting was Corren's, precise and angular, but the words had an unusual, almost personal tone, as if he had wanted to leave something of himself behind before departing.

"A master is one who knows the times and interprets them, but a scribe is the one who writes, that is, narrates reality as their hands draw it." Selena read the sentence once, then twice, letting the meaning sink in.

"The bracelet will protect you, or so say the men who believe beyond faith and reason. It is a symbol of protection for our deal. And I have not forgotten your friend." The signature at the end was unmistakable: Master Corren, the Scribe of a Thousand Letters. An intense curiosity invaded her. She set the paper aside and picked up the first bracelet with her right hand. Upon contact with her skin, an unexpected sensation of warmth expanded from the stones.

It wasn't a physical, scorching heat like that of a flame, but a comforting warmth, like that of the sun on stone at the end of the afternoon, when the rays no longer burn but still caress. It was pleasant, almost familiar. It reminded her of something she couldn't name, a forgotten sense of safety. She smiled, letting the warmth travel up her arm, spread through her chest, and envelop her in a bubble of tranquility. Then, with her curiosity still alive, she picked up the second bracelet.

Instantly, an intense shiver, foreign to the cold of the cave, ran up and down her spine, making every hair stand on end and freezing her to the marrow. At the same time, a metallic and bitter taste, like copper and old iron, flooded her mouth, filling her throat with a nauseating sensation. The sensation was so vivid and unpleasant that she almost dropped the bracelet. Only her iron will keep it held between her fingers as the shiver shook her and the metallic taste filled her mouth.

She placed it on the desk carefully, as if it was burning. The first bracelet remained in her other hand, still warm, still comforting. Selena looked at the two bracelets, so identical on the outside, so radically different in their effect. One gave her warmth. The other, a bone-chilling cold and the taste of death. What does this mean? she thought, her mind working at full speed. Why does one give me warmth and the other... the other makes me feel like I'm sucking on a copper coin?

She remembered Corren's words: "The bracelet will protect you, or so say the men who believe beyond faith and reason." Was that it? Protection? Perhaps.