Chapter Twenty One

Back at the cabin, everything had adapted to a schedule, an unspoken routine, different for everyone.

Istelle spent most of her time training the army. The Ennel was making progress.

During the breaks she took for meals, she planned with the others and had a meeting every evening with the leaders of the nine groups that the Ennell had been divided into.

A dark-skinned, puffy-haired pixie named Isabelle lead group 1. She was chosen for her popularity among the tiny, mostly flying or hopping creatures such as fairies and pixies that made up her group.

A nymph named Nikole with long brown hair kept in a tight braid, chosen for her calm, was the leader of group 2.

A skinny young man with straight blonde hair even longer than Jude's named Lachlan, chosen for his focus, led 3.

A brown-haired cat ashy called Laya, chosen for enthusiasm, was leading group 4.

A dark-haired wizard named Ace who was practical and realistic led 5.

6's leader was a small brown dwarf named Giovanni, chosen for his confidence and natural authority over other dwarf and gnome-like creatures of his group.

A centaur named Hyrum was leader of 7, chosen for his experience.

A strong woman called Phyllis led 8.

9 was led by a huge towering troll named Bruno.

Gwanwyn returned mostly to her old routines, taking care of Arin and the Cabin, as well as tending to Evan, who stood outside with his hands in the air, palms up. Holding up the rain.

He wouldn't have been able to do it if Gwanwyn hadn't been there to feed him and give him drink. Pendre and Lachlan often came out to hold his pale, shaky arms up for him, so he could relax. Then they would rotate with other men from the Ennell, taking turns.

Alekzavier and Jake rotated with Pendre and Lachlan and others from the Ennell, and participated in most of the training with group 5 under Ace with other wizards and mages and humans with magic abilities.

Alistair looked out for Arin in the daytime when she ran around and played. He could always be relied on to do this job well. He also made sure to keep her away from the training army. The two of them spent their days as before, roaming the woods together, playing at the creek. Only now, Adalyn visited less, because Evan and Gwanwyn were too busy to look after them. But for that same reason, Arin and Alistair were suddenly freer to go places by themselves

Talion did as much army training as Istelle did, and participated in the daily meetings every evening.

After the meetings, he and Nayana liked to take walks in the forest.

It was the highlight of both of their days.

Before their walks, Nayana spent her days helping Gwanwyn around the house and bringing meals down to the army. Her Kapworky had been inactive for a little while now, and she hoped it would stay that way.

She and Gwanwyn did a lot of foraging and cooking, while Pendre and Talion did a lot of hunting.

It was only in the evenings during her walks with Talion that she ever brought up her family, and how much she missed them.

One day, Pendre and Talion returned from a hunt by the cliffs with a group of ashies who wished to join the Ennell.

A raven ashy. A fox ashy. A bat ashy. A pegasus ashy. A swan ashy. Raven, Dayna, Alexa, Zarnieth, and Cygnus. Istelle had been shocked to see them since they had saved her, Jude, Lina, and Liz on their first day, falling off a cliff. They were joined by another fox ashy named Sophie.

But as surprised as Istelle was to see that she knew the ashies, she was even more surprised to see that the mages knew them as well.

"Jake!" Cygnus flew to meet him. Zavier smirked, "they're a little more than acquainted."

The ashies had joined training with the Ennell in group 4 under Laya.

The morning of the thirteenth day of the drought, Jake and Zavier were on either side of Evan's chair, holding up his arms, Istelle, Gwanwyn, Nayana, Pendre, and Talion gathered around, with Arin playing tag with Alistair on the side of the hill just in Gwanwyn's line of sight, and Ace and a few of the wizards from his group, Cadae, Barrett, Kuell, and Rein were gathered up for a meeting.

"The explosion rock is ready." Ace was speaking, "we can use it any time."

"That's excellent," Istelle nodded, "we need it done as soon as possible.

"We do it later today," said Talion seriously.

The others nodded and looked to Evan, the only one who hadn't said anything.

His head was down. His long beard touched his lap. His arms, looking quite dead and drained of blood, hung limp in Jake and Alekzavier's strong ones.

But the rest of his body was tense.

"...Evan?" Gwanwyn asked gently, looking slightly worried.

There was a pause.

When he looked up, the others saw that his face had also drained of color, and his expression was pained.

"What's wrong?" Nayana seemed as concerned as Gwanwyn.

"Nothing...nothing's wrong." The old man spoke in barely a whisper. "Only, before you explode Veiled Lake…"

"Yes?"

"I wish to visit Cyan."

The others were surprised.

"Why?" asked Istelle.

"How come?" Nayana asked at the same time.

"Are you sure?" Pendre raised his eyebrows. "Actually, it would be interesting to see her, before you blow her up…" he trailed off, thinking.

"In private." Evan finished.