“It’s so…gloomy…even with the sun shining. All those mountains.”

Anna stood at the railing of the Ophelia, looking out at the mountainous shore. They were nearly there. Lee stood beside her, shielding his eyes from the sun and nodding. “The island of Khezhan is closest to Cradle Ring. Most of this is volcanic, just one long mountain range. Hardly anyone lives here, there are only two villages. Look, you can see the Oracle’s tower from here…just barely. We passed it in the night, while you were asleep.”

Squinting, Anna could just make out a white column, crowned with a shining light like a star. It seemed far away, and very small under the cloudless sky.

“Have you been to Fann Village before?”

“Long ago. We often trained in the mountains. The village is small, though, and very few men reside there. It’s a complete matriarchy. The women don’t welcome soldiers very warmly, especially if there are many of them. That’s why we stayed in Zara, on the other side of those mountains.”

“Why are there more women here?” Anna asked, curious.

“In Fann Village, the one purpose in life is the care and protection of the Oracle. They have been guarding and attending to her for hundreds of years, for as long as she has been alive.”

“She is…immortal?”

“So the legends say.”

“But how is that even possible…?”

Lee smirked. “So many questions. I’m sure the women will answer them for you, and gladly. I would try to answer them, but I could be wrong, you know.” Anna scowled, turning her gaze back to the rocky shore. Smoke rose from a few chimneys and a bonfire on the strange dark sand. Vague shapes were milling from building to building. Across the expanse of water between the ships and Fann Village, the waves were calm and quiet. Somehow, Anna thought, the peaceful exterior still felt like it could shatter at any second.

“Anna, we are to go ahead in order to speak with the villagers and tell them why we are here, as well as to ask them permission to dock. Come, the boat is waiting.” Marisa was there, Orris not too far behind her. Anna followed her and stepped inside the gently swaying boat, holding on as they were lowered to the water. She could see Luke rowing himself to shore as well. They had not spoken at all, since the day the ships left Asphel Harbor. Anna bit her lip, concentrated instead on the approaching shoreline. She didn’t know what to say to Luke, or what to think.

When they had landed on the beach, they were approached by four white-robed women, some bearing swords and some carrying gnarled staves of driftwood, curved and shaped by the sea. Orris and Luke they regarded with passing glances, but Marisa and Anna they gestured to come nearer, their hands outstretched. The twins stepped forward cautiously, and so did Luke. Anna gasped as two swords flashed in the scorching sunlight, the blades only inches from Luke’s chest. Voices, in synch and interwoven with one another, chimed out from the women who held the weapons aloft.

“There is darkness in you. We do not suffer such darkness to pass. If the Oracle so chooses, she may allow you to stand in the presence of her light. However, we who guard this village are bound to protect it from any darkness, no matter what shape it may take.”

Anna was shocked into a small gasp, although Luke barely moved a muscle. Marisa immediately clamped a hand around her sister’s wrist and pulled her back. The two women were motionless, and it seemed to Anna that they hardly blinked. Under their silent stares, Luke turned around, returned to the rowboat on the beach. With that, the women turned to Orris, who stood behind Marisa and whose lance was at the ready.

“Knight, lay your weapon down. They will not be harmed. Your protection will not be necessary, and therefore your presence will not be necessary either. Go now, and return to your ship. In the morning, you shall all meet the Oracle. We will be waiting here for you, then.”

“It’s alright, Orris. We should listen to them, we don’t want any trouble. This is their land and we have to follow their rules. Please, don’t worry about us,” Marisa whispered.

“My Lady, I have not left you, not once since the day you became Ambassador. I refuse to leave you now.” Orris wore an expression carved in stubborn lines, but Marisa shook her head and motioned for him to go.

“I know…I know you haven’t left me. You have guarded me with loyalty and strength. But I will be fine—we both will. I will see you in the morning. Let us go with them now, they have promised we will come to no harm and I believe them. They have no reason to hurt us.”

“Be that as it may, but I will not leave this beach. I will stand here until you are returned, and returned safely.”

The women bearing swords sheathed their blades, and the women carrying staves each took one of the twin’s hands. They looked at Orris, standing on the sand, his armor shining in the noonday sun. One by one, they nodded their approval. And then, one by one, they began to walk away, taking Anna and Marisa with them. Anna glanced back just once, her eyes searching out Luke’s expression as though she could read it in his face, whatever words may be in his mind. But Luke was already rowing back to the Reina, and she feared her heart may rise up into her throat if she dared to open her mouth. Darkness? But he was her brother. Surely…surely it could not be as terrible as they made it sound…

The village was spare and clean, but very quiet. Some of the women sang as they went about their work, but they sang in lullaby voices, as though they were rocking young children to sleep with every step. Anna and Marisa walked behind their escorts as though in a kind of trance, and Anna was reminded instantly of being on a ship at sea. The lilting melodies of the women’s songs were not unlike the rhythm of the ocean, which in turn was never far removed from the cadence of sleep.

All the villagers were clothed in bright, nearly blinding white, and none of them seemed to notice the two girls in their midst. Even the children continued playing their games, and if their voices were hushed, it was only because everything in Fann Village seemed to be so. They caught sight of two or three men, all busy as well, hauling in fishing nets or carrying loads of wood, but they were nondescript and never turned to see who the visitors were. They continued on, as though unnoticed, until they had reached a house built snug against the mountainside. Three little girls in spotless white dresses sat side by side, their fingers weaving coarse strands for baskets. One of them suddenly lifted her chin, looked straight at Anna as they walked past and into the house. Anna felt a shudder go through her, although she couldn’t even dream of explaining why.

Inside the house, a woman was seated beside the window. She smiled a strange, vague smile—distant, like a beacon shining from miles away. Their escorts led them to chairs, and the sisters sat there before the woman, clasping hands against the unnerving silence of the village and the strange rhythm of its life.

“Welcome. You have come to seek the guidance of the Oracle, have you not?”

Marisa choked back the knot of anxiety that had worked its way into her throat. “We…we can only hope to be worthy of an audience.”

Laughing quietly, the woman gestured for the escorts to leave. Then, she turned to Anna and Marisa and motioned for them to sit closer. “There is much that you must learn, before you go to the Oracle. I will tell you these things, now.” “The Southern Oracle sees fragments of time, shards of old memories and memories yet to be made. Whether she is viewing our history or our future, she is sometimes unclear. But her memory is the memory of the world, the memory of ages come and gone. She lives forever.”

Anna couldn’t help herself. Forgetting to be timid, she spoke up. “How, though…? How can the Oracle live…forever?”

“The body decays, but the spirit remains. The Oracle has always been born and reborn in our village. For hundreds of years, we have been her guardians and her keepers. Men have marched upon her tower, even severed her life with sword and flame. But her soul returns to us, always. She is bound to us, as we are bound to her.” The woman gestured with a sweep of her arm, out the window and towards the sea. “As you must know, this land belongs to no one but the Oracle, and the Oracle in turn belongs to no one. We do not wish to know your allegiance; such things do not interest us, and they have no effect here. Political ties dissolve and all other bonds are sorely tried. We maintain our neutrality, as we have maintained it for all this time, no matter what sacrifice we may be called to make. Whatever sacrifice she may be called to make.”

“And…what must we do, in order to speak with the Oracle…? Whose permission must we receive?” Marisa asked.

“You would not be here if the Oracle’s blessing did not already rest in your hands.”

“And my brother…? Why was my brother not…allowed…?” Anna whispered, remembering the unforgiving flash of the swords and the sharp melody of the women’s voices ringing out in chorus. The woman’s brow wrinkled slightly.

“Darkness carried on the shoulders, darkness carried within your heart—these burdens, we do not carry. We can taste it and feel it and sense it. We keep it from our village, for all darkness is a seed, and any seed can grow.”

“But my brother…there is nothing…he wouldn’t hurt the Oracle, and he has to speak with her about the Cure…!”

“There is no need to fear. He may still receive an answer to his question. But here in our village, we do not suffer darkness to pass. There is too much at stake. We guard centuries and stand watch over too many things. He may not enter the village, although the Oracle may let him through into her tower; it may be that she will see deeper into his heart than we. Now, speak nothing more of this.”

Marisa took Anna’s hand and squeezed it as reassuringly as she could. Anna tried to push it all from her mind. Nervously, she reached for her locket and felt her limbs relax the instant she felt the familiar engravings under her fingertips. She nearly tumbled out of the chair, however, for the woman suddenly stood up, towering above them. She really was quite tall, and her hair fell in what seemed like an endless cascade down her back. Her eyes were somewhat shocked, somewhat in disbelief.

“Those…so, the time has come indeed. It explains many things, although she has not spoken to us of them at much length.” The woman bent down slightly, took Anna’s locket in her hand and looked at it closely. It seemed to Anna that the closer she was to the woman and the longer they remained in the village, the more distant it all became, until it was almost like sitting in a dream where nothing was quite solid and everything was somewhat blurred. The woman continued to stand there, staring quietly at their lockets, never uttering a word, although the worry in her expression only deepened the longer she stood there and looked.

“You are a long way from home,” she murmured at last.

At dawn, Orris was still standing there on the beach. He was awake and alert. Luke had just arrived, Lee and Sam not far behind. Ten sailors of the Royal Navy stood at attention on the shore, as Anna and Marisa made their way back from the silent village. Just on the horizon, the Oracle’s tower stood wreathed in early morning fog. They could see clearly, though, the jagged rocks and the shadow of a dangerous reef just below the tranquil surface of the water.

It’s just like everything else…Anna thought. So peaceful, but inside…there’s something else waiting….

“Ennea, you know your orders.”

“Yes, Lady. I will not fail you.”

Stella’s mouth curved into a slow, cold smile.

“Go, then. And I’ve changed my mind—I do believe I will go as well.”