Page 43 of Triadic

Peter preened under Ceridor's praise, then he sobered and took on a more serious tone. "If these lanterns are meant to help Mother Nature, and if they want to help bring peace—"

"Careful," I warned. "Peace can come through very bloody means."

Peter hesitated, then nodded. "Maybe they mean to protect us, this region, from the murder, rape, and pillage of invaders, for a stable society with less bloodshed and more bountiful harvests."

"I could support that," said Ceridor. "Haven't seen it in my lifetime. The central Danubian plains have borne the brunt of it. Then Ulbrecht the Great, a blacksmith's son, rose from the blood-soaked battlefields of hisdevastated homeland to conquer these lands and vanquish his enemies."

He sounded exactly as if he were delivering this tale to a full tavern, to captivate and delight, to praise the strong and sing of their glory.

"I want to help if I can," Peter said softly, and I worried over whether he'd gotten caught up by Ceridor's charisma. "My five years in a magical forest have to mean something. If I can train under Corbi and Marit and help diffuse this power so it won't harm Wren, then I want to try."

Corbi came up beside me and took my hand.

I spoke up. "I suggest, since we'll be returning to Helvetica, that someone remaining in Danubian territory take this beaded chain and see what you can make of it."

"I'll take it," said Awariye. He scooped up the chain and didn't appear to react upon contact with it. "If it can diffuse and disperse the power that comes down when Uli and his men are fighting, as the lanterns do, then that would allow me to help Wren even when I'm traveling, so the power does not overly saturate into him and change him."

"Just make absolutely sure it goes into the soil, preferably into the forest and not bouncing around in a stone castle or a city where the most absorbent material around is human bodies. It changed our consciousness, Awariye, but in ways in which we'd already trained our minds. For me, it brought me closer and more attuned to them, and for you it has sharpened your memory with your bardic techniques," saidWren.

Ceridor gave a whistle of appreciation and raised his brows.

Wren continued. "But imagine what that could do to someone's regular human desires."

I thought of my own stressful upbringing. "It could take someone who struggles with drinking and make them a full-blown alcoholic, someone with a hot temper into an abuser."

And those were just the start. It could take someone who had bloodlust, but mild enough they got it out of their system through hunting, and make them into a monster.

"Does it have a cleansing effect?" Corbi asked, giving my hand a squeeze.

"It did for us," answered Awariye, "but we don't know if that was from the lanterns, or from their power flowing through the conduits in our minds that we had already laid out through our years of cleansing practices."

Ceridor suggested we turn in early and discuss our plans further with a fresh mind tomorrow. I for one hoped that some sleep might make me more able to perceive Wren's changes, even if just to confirm that they seemed to be safe.

We spread out the blankets while Wren did a closing ceremony for the lanterns, which he apparently kept burning through the night and only allowed to burn out once the sun had risen. I offered to take first watch so Igor could sleep, since I was a bookworm night owl by nature, and the dog could keep me company. Everyone slept next to each other to conserve warmth, scootching as close to thelanterns' heat as they dared. I keenly felt the absence of light, warmth, and companionship from my post by the chilly door. I changed places with Igor later in the night and settled on Corbi's free side, spooning around him as he held Peter close.

I woke at dawn to Wren softly singing his prayers to the lanterns, which lulled me in and out of a doze, fleeting dreams of magic and sunlight trying to tantalize me back into a heavier sleep.

"Heyyo, Igor?"

Igor opened the door, and in a flash, his arms were full of a broad man as large as he. They hugged and clapped each other on the shoulders before the man charged straight inside and over to the table.

"Uli?" Wren yelped, and then he was swept up and spun around.

Fear leapt within me, and I gathered my strength, preparing to launch myself at him, but Wren cupped the man's cheeks in his hands and kissed the daylights out of him. I took a breath and tried to calm down from the adrenaline rush, resolving to wait and see.

As they made out, my brain finally caught up, and I realized this was Wren's new lover, the Danubian High King.

"Why are you here?" askedWren after breaking the kiss and touching their foreheads together.

"I wanted to meet Marit and Corbi," he answered. "When your little wren informed me you had stayed in Danubian territory and not crossed into Helvetica, I decided to come. If that's not okay, I'll leave right now."

"No, it's okay," he answered. "They want to meet you too."

"I also wanted to tell you: I'm having a cabin chapel built in the forest by the castle. It'll be close enough that I can get to you but also surrounded by soil and trees. Maybe that will be enough for you to funnel the power of the lanterns into the earth and not have it unable to dissipate through walls of stone."

Wren squeezed him tight. "Thank you, Uli. Let's try that, during the seasons when it's too cold and snowy to be up at the mountain shrine."

There wasn't a chair in the castle ruin—no furniture unless one considered the stone table that seemed to be part of the room—so once Ulbrecht set Wren back down, they slid to the floor. Ulbrecht had reached for his partner, and Wren had crawled into his lap.