Yesterday, 09:59 PM
Do not squander it. The words settled tightly around her heart, though uncertainty lingered. Except she could not fathom the Luminar being wrong about it. He moved on to the quiet Seeker before she could fathom to seek more of his wisdom though.
Uncomfortably it was Sámiel who finally pierced the shell of her disbelief. Just as the sound in this room permeated, so did his presence seek to drown the others out. He used words she wouldn’t have used, but he laid bare a truth nonetheless. She knew the Veil would not touch her because she’d tried. So many times, in prayer and in desperation. Even now she could not pinpoint the moment of the sound bath where that had changed, but she slowly began to accept that it had. What it meant, though; that was yet to settle. She felt every inch of the steep precipice Sámiel had spoken of back in the Hall of Stars. Of the pull, and the fear.
How had he known that? And why had it happened for her today?
She desperately wanted to speak to Quillon about it all – about what she had felt when Sámiel had touched her hands, about what she had seen and felt in the Chamber today. But he didn’t look at her again, consumed instead with the greater prize.
Sámiel.
His pledge shivered Cali for no reasons he could fathom, beyond an unknown instinct. She was not sure which of them she watched more closely as they exited the chamber: Sámiel or Quillon.
Afterwards she turned back to Seraphis, feeling the disquiet inside begin to ease at the Veilwarden’s soft words. Cali had quietly idolised Seraphis since her arrival at the Brotherhood, and the hands on her shoulders felt like grounding, a return of composure that had wavered, despite little outward change in Cali’s demeanour. She nodded, hazarded the first flicker of a smile – which grew almost instantly to a beam, as it finally began to sink in. The Ceremony of the Luminal Flame. A Veilwarden.
She glanced once more at the Luminar and the man who yet remained, and then she took Seraphis’s lead form the chamber.
Uncomfortably it was Sámiel who finally pierced the shell of her disbelief. Just as the sound in this room permeated, so did his presence seek to drown the others out. He used words she wouldn’t have used, but he laid bare a truth nonetheless. She knew the Veil would not touch her because she’d tried. So many times, in prayer and in desperation. Even now she could not pinpoint the moment of the sound bath where that had changed, but she slowly began to accept that it had. What it meant, though; that was yet to settle. She felt every inch of the steep precipice Sámiel had spoken of back in the Hall of Stars. Of the pull, and the fear.
How had he known that? And why had it happened for her today?
She desperately wanted to speak to Quillon about it all – about what she had felt when Sámiel had touched her hands, about what she had seen and felt in the Chamber today. But he didn’t look at her again, consumed instead with the greater prize.
Sámiel.
His pledge shivered Cali for no reasons he could fathom, beyond an unknown instinct. She was not sure which of them she watched more closely as they exited the chamber: Sámiel or Quillon.
Afterwards she turned back to Seraphis, feeling the disquiet inside begin to ease at the Veilwarden’s soft words. Cali had quietly idolised Seraphis since her arrival at the Brotherhood, and the hands on her shoulders felt like grounding, a return of composure that had wavered, despite little outward change in Cali’s demeanour. She nodded, hazarded the first flicker of a smile – which grew almost instantly to a beam, as it finally began to sink in. The Ceremony of the Luminal Flame. A Veilwarden.
She glanced once more at the Luminar and the man who yet remained, and then she took Seraphis’s lead form the chamber.