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When I got back to the camp, Mistress Kora and Veronika were waiting with a bowl of soup and a plate of roasted meat. I went back pretty late though, having gone to take a bath first and change into a fresh set of clothes. Unlike before, I didn't have the luxury of my own bathing pools, something which I very dearly missed. The bathing grounds were almost always occupied too, and one could only have it to themselves up to a certain amount of time in consideration to all the others who lived in the temple.

Good thing fresh water was not hard to come by.

Upon arriving, I could hear Mistress Kora loudly thanking our neighbors. They were getting along really well with the refugees, it seemed. The same could be said for Maun and Erenol, though the latter seemed vaguely uncomfortable still. She probably was not used to being around so many strangers—and she had been complaining ever since about how she wasn't used to our living conditions.

I, on the other hand, was like my usual self—silent, mildly tolerant, introverted, and the occasional bully. It didn't really matter to me where we lived so long as we were alive.

Nonetheless, I was very worried about the family I had grown up in for the past decade. Though my grieving and sadness had been overwhelmed by my wanting to earn my right to redemption, the feelings I have been suppressing for some time now still burst forward like steam rising to the surface of the water.

I sincerely wanted to ask more about how my mistresses were doing—Mistresses Lili, Marga, Liane, Marian, and Neilly. I knew Mistress Lamia stayed back in Venerya to somehow meddle in the affairs of the country—I heard her swear at least. The rest of my family, I had absolutely no clue about.

I didn't even get to say goodbye to them before we all went our separate ways. It was a good thing we still had Mistresses Kora and Veronika, otherwise I'd have really lost my mind.

"Evy! Tin lopen du?" Erenol unconsciously asked in Veneryali.

"For the hundredth time, Eren, in Lovardi please," Mistress Kora lightly elbowed the girl.

"Ah," Erenol muttered in realization and stuck out her bottom lip upon realizing she had to struggle with a language she wasn't very fluent in. "H-how it go...uh...whatever." She threw in the towel, frustrated. Instead, she kept silent.

That should deter her from talking too much for a while—until she gained decent fluency in the local lingua franca at least.

"I heard you didn't find your name on the list," Mistress Veronika said, her Lovardi as smooth as flowing water save for the occasional trip in the accent, giving light to her Ovanolish background. She gazed at me, shredding the meat with her fingers and popping pieces into her mouth.

"It's alright. I cleared things up. I already took the next test. I only have to return for the final elimination." I joined their circle, squatting before their mini bonfire.

Maun gazed at me questioningly, not understanding a word I said. I gave him a small smile and signed, "Everything is good."

He imitated me, confirming he understood. "Everything is good." He then added, "You got in?"

I nodded, tugging on my hood and bringing it forward further.

He smiled. Very brightly, if I might add. So bright it was blinding.

Erenol looked at us, frustrated that she couldn't be let in on the joke. She then cried to herself in her mother language, "I can't understand..." She then proceeded to stuff her mouth with food, messing up her lips with the sauce covering the roasted meat before abruptly recovering. "Oh wow," she said upon tasting the food. "This is...good. Ah! H-h-hoooooottt."

"Careful with that. I added a ton of herbs—and chilis," said Mistress Kora. "The meat had a slight pungent smell to it before that I really had to rub it down. Good thing this place has a lot of salt!"

The spiciness must have kicked in after a slight delay. Chilis were very sneaky like that. I almost forgot that Lovardi cuisine was very particular about hotness. Traditional dishes often had an ample amount of heat. Not only the temperature kind.

"Are you hungry?" Mistress Veronika asked, looking at me.

"Somewhat," I replied. "Where'd you get the meat? Aren't we lacking in money?"

"No worries," Kora said. "That young man...Elion, I think. We bought it from him for a very small price. He caught it in the forests. It seemed they are very good at it—hunting, that is. Besides, why would you even think that way? Even if we're like this, we did save enough when we were still working. We won't be getting to the bottom of our savings anytime soon."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes." He winked at me.

I looked to the direction that Mistress Kora was casually pointing at and found the dark-skinned youth from before busily skinning his catch—whatever kind of animal it was. As though he felt me looking, he lifted his eyes and met mine.

Curiosity bloomed in them.

I casually looked away.

"It seemed to me that they caught on already," Mistress Veronika said, having caught our exchange of gazes. "Evy, half of your blood most certainly belongs with these people. It really is hard to keep hidden considering how obvious it is. Why don't you try learning their ways? Haven't you always been curious about what the other half of the world is like?"

Mistress Veronika made a lot of sense and I couldn't refute my wanting to know about Vertvalden and the countries in it. Besides, it would also be very useful considering all the trouble that Amber was talking about was currently in Vertvalden. With how he made it sound, I would be heading there at some point in my life to face the trouble.

From my mistresses' perspective, now that I "knew" I was only adopted, that should mean I would be seeking my identity even more. Nonetheless, even with my curiosity, I was very hesitant in dealing with these people—probably because I wasn't certain about what to expect.

Besides, it was almost impossible for these people to know who my parents were directly. Just because they came from the same continent, it didn't mean they knew everyone there.

I only knew my mothers' name...Elleria, most certainly. But I wasn't supposed to know that so I could not ask. I was a baby when I was taken away, after all. I wasn't supposed to remember.

"I don't know," I told my mistress. "I'm really different, aren't I? Won't they question and not like me?"

Kora and Veronika exchanged looks.

"Why don't you try?" Veronika asked. She tore at a piece of meat for me and handed it over in a bowl. "You never know until you do."

I looked at Erenol and Maun and found them busily stuffing themselves. I accepted the bowl from Mistress Veronika and gazed at Kora inquiringly. He gave me the same, encouraging smile.

Eventually, I slouched over my bowl of food and picked on the meat. I wasn't sure which animal this belonged to, so I was very hesitant with putting it in my mouth. Whatever it was, I did not have the privilege of being picky, so I just bit into the meat and started chewing away. It had a very unique...texture and toughness. Though it was strange, it was still good.

I eyed the congregation of the Vertvaldenians on the other side of camp and eventually shook my head, rejecting the idea of asking.

Now was not the time.

I was not very confident at all.

My mother just died. It didn't feel right approaching these people so soon. Though I wasn't crying anymore, I had still not gotten over my mother's death.

Images of her last moments flashed inside my head. My appetite died down—as did all the spark and passion that had been ignited inside me with the idea of 'redemption.'

This wasn't fair.

No, this wasn't fair at all.

I eyed the bowl, uninterested. There was still a lot left in it. While it looked tantalizing, I was not tempted to continue eating in the slightest.

"What's wrong? Did you not like it?" Mistress Kora inquired, eyeing me out of concern.

"No, it's alright," I told him. "I guess I got full too soon."

"Oh," he muttered. "Well, give it over here then." He took the bowl from me and piled it on top of the other empty ones. "Would you like something else? I managed to get some fruits over here. You can use them to cleanse your palate." He rose from his seat before the bonfire and carried over a bowl of fresh fruits to offer me. Mistress Veronika helped him with it as it sat just by her feet.

"No. I'm all good." I shook my head with a tight smile. "I'll go walk around to help my food down."

"But...you didn't even..." Kora speechlessly watched me stand.

Maun made a motion to follow me, but he was tugged back down by Mistress Veronika with a shake of her head. I acted like I didn't see what happened and turned my back to everyone to seek the sanctuary of silence. The monastery, despite how crowded it was in the camps, had fairly large grounds. I would say it dwarfed the House of Oblivion by a couple of times. Therefore, it wasn't impossible to find a place for privacy.

The stone path slithering across the monastery was lit by lanterns. They speared across the towers and the landscaped gardens. As I went down farther, I saw a young monk carrying a lamp, a stick, and what seemed like a small stepping ladder. He would carefully carry over the ladder to each post, climb, and reach for the hanging lanterns. With patience and calmness, he would lift the lids on the lanterns and light the fire inside with the stick he carried. After lighting one of each, he would blow on the flame on his stick and move on to the next.

Watching him was almost hypnotizing. The routine was so very obviously well-practiced. I bet he was the one to do this every night.

There were still people around taking the test. The sound of their cries during the performance would occasionally pierce the silent air.

I retreated further away from the people.

Eventually, I found myself in the praying grounds where the statues of the eight entities, the seven dragons and the serpent, were standing in. I remembered coming here not too long ago with an incense stick in my hand, praying to the gods and getting flashes of memories from my previous life.

How did all come to this?

I stood in front of the statue of Kaliya—dragon of death and chaos. He was my Deliverer of my fate, my patron.

"Why?" I found myself saying. My question had been just under my breath, barely audible even to me. "Somehow...I wish you've never taken me away," I whispered. "I wish I hadn't been so stubborn. Would it all have been easier if I just plain accepted everything? And to think...I wanted to stay back there and fade out of existence."

Though, I would suppose I did get the oblivion that I wished for. Just not in the shape that I expected it to be.

"Even if you drank from that river, it would all have been the same," a voice landed on my ear. Faint enough to be heard by just me alone. "Though I would be having much more trouble than I am now."

I looked at the statue of the dragon and met its eyes.

Tired, I squatted before it.

"Tell me," I told Amber. It was only him. It could only be him. "How would we go about fixing all this mess? Will there even be enough time?"

"There will be. I hope," he replied. "Before I took you away, I got some things done to help ward the Veils off for much longer. That path that was forged by your unintended rebirth to this world? I sealed it off temporarily so that it would not crash open like a dam—which it had done for a while until I came. That is all, in the end, some hasty plaster taped over hole in the tank. It won't last for a long time. When all is well with you and you get sufficient control over your ability, we can head on back to Vertvalden to close it off permanently. Then you can continue living this life until I come to take you again."

"I thought I was already technically dead," I said.

"No. I did not mean it like that literally. You'll still die, but the Veils would not have the effect on you as they have other people," he told me. "You get a free pass until I kill you myself."

"Talk about special treatment."

"The song is the key." Amber's eyes momentarily appeared to meet mine. "The language of the in-between is key to your ability. It's what allows everything in this world to communicate. It commands all forms to move. The Veils will heed it, but only to the extent that you can manage. You'll need to get stronger."

"Fine. Since I can't get out of this mess, I'll wholeheartedly put my heart into it. But, first, let's make a deal." I shifted.

"What?"

"When the Veils—or you—get a hold of the empress's soul, I call dibs on torturing it on the other side." I smirked. "I've been there before. I know that the things that should hurt still hurt."

I heard a heavy sigh.

"That's technically against protocol."

"Well, where's the people who should be enforcing them?"

"They're out on vacation. I'm not the only one available! All my superiors are out there chilling by the cosmic sea sipping juices made of ambrosia. Why do you think I was stuck dealing with rascals like you? I was a temporary hire! A temporary hire! I don't even get to decide what goes on to happen!"

"Sheesh, really? You people take vacations?"

"Why do you think crap happens sometimes?"

"Makes sense. So, if crap happens when they take vacations, won't it be more efficient to not take vacations at all?"

"Don't ask me."

"Okay then. When do they come back?"

"Probably...in five hundred years human time, I suppose."

"Bullcrap!" I exclaimed.

My voice echoed throughout the whole praying grounds. Startled, I covered my mouth. Had anybody heard me, they'd think I was cursing the gods.

Which what I was technically really doing.

"So...you're saying...we're screwed."

"A little worse than that, but yes."

"Am I the only one who really knows about this?"

"Trust me, if there was someone else, I'd have enlisted their help too."

"Dragons be damned," I whispered.