19. The circle in which separation anxiety may be a real problem

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The circle in which separation anxiety may be a real problem

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A strange ringing came from Kally. High pitched and scratchy to the ears. It seemed to be vibrating from within her core. A strange sensation, it made her feel brittle. She tried to stay still, as she had been instructed, but she could not help the jankiness in her arms that she needed to iron out. She ground her teeth with each ring, and planted her feet firmly to the ground.

How had it come to this?

She was stood in a circle, formed by a powder of sorts she had never seen before; aquamarine in colour. Her nostril itched. Attacked by the peppery scent of assorted herbs around her, earthy and tangy, she could not scratch, lest she break the circle. Any large sweeping movements were forbidden, as Barley had instructed before they commenced this soul analysis. That was a few hours ago by now, surely.

Beads of sweat clung to her brow and her breathing was shallow. The ringing had started off quiet and localised at first, then it had travelled up her, like a current. Now, it was loud and all encompassing. She chewed on her lip and quickly glanced over to Ahkaiyu. He stood, face no gloomier than usual, in his usual attire with the hood of his cloak still up. A welcome image; he had not changed.

Maybe this was all going to plan.

≋❈≋

The room - filled with bodies, alive ones - was small. It felt too small. The aquamarine circle barely allowed her to shuffle her feet without breaking it, and she felt the stares of the row of eyes that were fixed on her. Strictly speaking, most of them were fixated on her, ahem, foot, not her per se. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

The star of the show, Katoia, was unsheathed and trembling. Her previous nerves, momentarily quelled by Kally the night before, had broken free again. A look of pure terror was plastered under her nail, the two dark splotches deeper than normal. Her cuticle, never still, was uncharacteristically silent.

She could not particularly feel the sensation of the ringing from Kally, but she could feel the absence of it.

It had started at her, initially.

When it left her, it was as if her soul had been jostled about and shoved to her edges. A numb vacuum was all that was left. She hoped this was not a permanent sensation, and that Kally would not experience this too. A loud buzz snapped her out of this thought and Katoia looked up at the mountain that was Kally.

≋❈≋

Kally, mouth open wide, tilted her head back. Her chest rose with her and her legs dropped, feet no longer touching the ground. She flowed into this uncanny position as if this was the most natural thing in the world to her. The arch of her back and the levitation of her limbs defied all sense of natural motion.

Katoia let out a small cry of surprise.

Were they going to separate? Was this it? Some weird naturalistic contortion that would result in their ultimate separation. She looked out to Barley to see if he gave anything away.

Stoic and with a sombre gaze, Barley was fully focused on his task. His long sleeves, rolled up as far as they would go, revealed the tiny pin-pricks from a needle. His wispy hair, he had tied back. No distractions were allowed for this ceremony. Not even a wayward strand was allowed to tug at his attention. He had stayed up most of the night, reading and rereading his books on body and soul analysis and how it can relate to purple infusion. Preparation was key in this sort of thing. It would be a good one for a report - maybe he would write another full journal on this case. It would all depend on what the analysis revealed.

Luckily for Kally, the analysis was coming to an end. The veins on the side of her face bulged and a strained expression took over her face. Clenching her fists, a static of purple sparked out. It was only for a moment, and she couldn’t be sure, but she thought Kai had inhaled sharply around the same time.

“Everyone out,” Barley commanded. “It is the crucial moment now. No distractions.”

The babble of eyes looked down, in an almost forlorn manner, as they left the room. Good riddance, I say. Why were they even there in the first place?

“Not you.” Barley motioned to Ahkaiyu who had, understandably so, mistaken Barley’s instruction to include him and had started heading towards the exit. He stopped in his tracks and moved back to his original place without a word.

“I need to get an accurate reading from her now.” Barley paused. “Or this will have been completely pointless.”

He sighed. “Hold her steady.”

“The circle?”

“Breaking it will have no effect now. The energy has created its own force. It will need to run its course.”

Ahkaiyu nodded and stepped closer to Kally.

≋❈≋

Kally, still contorting in the air, found herself in the rather surreal situation of having Ahkaiyu gripping onto her shins, pulling her back to the ground. Barley circled around her, muttering ancient words that she could not decipher. She felt light-headed and the ceiling was spinning. Surely this could not last for much longer? This energy was taking over, intruding into her being. Her nervous system felt fraught. Prickly charges ran through it - cold, up her spine.

“Nearly there. That’s it, keep holding her up.”

Ahkaiyu gritted his teeth in concentration. He avoided looking at Katoia, who was pretty much at his eye line.

Katoia, herself, felt woozy. Slightly nauseous and dry in the mouth. She was doing better than Kally at this point though. Kally was writhing, as if bugs were crawling within her, which was making Ahkaiyu’s task rather troublesome.

“Yes, yesss, done, done… I’ve got it.”

Ahkaiyu exhaled. It would all be over soon. He relaxed his grip a smidgen without thinking. The energy that had been pulsating through Kally surged to her head and, with a tingling brain, she dropped towards the floor.

≋❈≋

Kally looked up blearily. Her head felt fuzzy. The ceiling was further away than before, though partially obstructed from her view, she could see that much. She appeared to be laying down and cushioned by something. Her eyes widened. Ahkaiyu had caught her.

She was so close she might as well have been in his hood.

Her face, almost as pale a green as with the innkeeper the night before, flushed. She was, like Katoia, woozy. An emptiness filled her, in a place she never knew was filled. It was as Katoia had feared, Kally had not escaped the soul jostling sensation, and this experience had weakened her greatly.

“Katya.”

Kally’s eyes snapped blearily towards the mouth that muttered this name.

“Katya,” he repeated again. His tone was soft, yet strangled in layers of emotion she had not witnessed in him before. Thick and choking, they wrestled with his vocal cords, and he barely managed to force out a soft, “Katya,” for a third and final time.

Kally could feel the worry dripping off of him: intense and raw. Her skin prickled uncomfortably wherever she felt his touch. Her thoughts spiralled despite her weakened state. His emotions were too overpowering - she grabbed her head - and not for her or Kat. Just who was this Katya? Was she the reason his eyes were—

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Kally woke up in a bed, the bed from the inn. A vague recollection of a dream, of that faraway land, was not as vivid or as potent as those previous dreams or visions - whatever they were. She had not seen Alena in it; she was sure of that much. It had focused on a girl with platinum hair and deep blue eyes.

She scraped her hands down her cheeks.

Why couldn’t she remember? She strained her brain but it was no use. Useless mush. She sighed deeply, her thoughts turning to more pressing things. How long had she been asleep for? It could easily have been a few hours, or days. Rolling her eyes at her rumbling stomach, she hoisted herself up to a sitting position.

Kally, about to get out of bed in search of food, stopped as she heard footsteps approaching and a half-rap at her door.

“It must be nearly time for her to wake.” Kally heard Ahkaiyu’s voice through the door. “It has been so long. You informed us that the process was safe?”

Barley sighed. “It is. She is just suffering from soul exhaustion.”

“Exhaustion—? It’s nearly been four days.”

Kally sat bolt upright at this. Four days? Four whole days? She reached for her foot, and exhaled. Katoia was still there. She could feel her tiny breath.

Wait, she was still there?

Her face dropped. They had not been separated then. She clenched her jaw. Was Barley just another hack? She felt sick at the thought of all they had been through being for nothing. A morose feeling washed over her, a cloud over her face, as she heard the click of the door opening.

Barley, in an exasperated voice, replied, ”She will regain consciousness soon, I’ve told you that already. And, who knows she may already be— ”

By this time, they had both entered the room and were facing an alert looking Kally.

“—awake.”

Barley, with barely a look at Ahkaiyu, glided towards Kally with great purpose.

“And how are you feeling now, my dear?” He placed a hand on her forehead. “Your fever seems to have come down and your soul seems to have calmed somewhat.”

Kally, with a sigh, admitted, “I guess I am a tad hungry.”

“Ah, of course.” He motioned with little patience to Ahkaiyu. “Come, bring the food to the patient. You've been feeding her all this week, no need to be shy about it.”

Kally’s head reeled at this new knowledge. She had not been awake long enough to process this idea. Ahkaiyu walked forward with the tray in his hands and proceeded to pass her the bowl of hot soup.

“Here, take it,” he almost growled at her and, then, shuffled between his feet.

“Take care, it is still hot.”

Barley chuckled at this scene - Kally’s eyes bulging out of her head as she accepted the soup without a word and Ahkaiyu, uncomfortable and rigid. They really were a pair. It was amusing to watch.

≋❈≋

Kally sipped at the steaming soup, her tongue tingling from the ginger, her thoughts whirring. Was she mistaken or had Ahkaiyu looked like he was worried about her? She could not prevent the smile from poking out at the edge of her mouth at this thought. Were they finally getting somewhere? If so, all her hard work had paid off somehow.

Just as she had these positive thoughts, an unwelcome thought intruded. She pulled a face. Katya. Just who was this Katya?

Kally stared glumly into her soup, stopping eating.

“Ah, you must be worried about Katoia and the outcome of the soul analysis.”

Kally felt a pang at this. She was being ridiculous. Her mind should be on Kat and the task of separation, not who this Katya is to Kai. What did that even matter to her?

She nodded, still staring into her soup.

“The analysis has shown that, just like we expected, you and Katoia share an emotional link. Now, this link does seem to be all you share.” He paused, in a way that seemed to be for gravitas if he was theatrically inclined. Theatrically inclined, this one is most certainly not.

“As such, there should not be any damage to either you or Katoia from the process of separation.”

Kally’s heart pounded at this, and her ears seemed full as she waited for Barley to continue. Ahkaiyu, himself, was listening intently with an overbearing intensity.

“This process, as I am sure you both can appreciate, is not routine. I can count on two fingers how many have gone through this process in the last quarter century.”

“How can you guarantee safety?”

Barley inwardly chuckled at Ahkaiyu’s concern. How many times would he enquire about the safety of his practices? If he was a younger less experienced healer, he might have been offended by Ahkaiyu’s repeated questioning of his methods.

Instead, he took a breath and replied, “It is in the quality of the ingredients.” He paused, placing his hands in front of him. ”And therein lies the difficultly. The ceremony itself is simple and with an exceedingly high success rate, but it does require—” Barley paused and wrinkled his old nose. “It does require some exceedingly rare ingredients to make the concoction.”

“And these ingredients, you do not have in Traemiridian. Correct?”

“Very astute.” Barley nodded.

Kally, dejected, sighed and her shoulders drooped. Another disappointment.

“Do not be disheartened, my dear.” Barley put a hand on her shoulder. “Something tells me that you will get your ingredients.” He winked at Ahkaiyu, who bristled.

“How many?”

“Three. The first is an almost extinct flower high up in the mountains behind Purple Leaf Forest.”

Kally groaned, not another forest.

“Another is a pot of Terabyte Giant ink, their rarest blend.”

Ahkaiyu’s mask wrinkled where his eyebrows would be. Kally assumed he was raising a brow.

“And the final ingredient is some silk from the Cavern of the Bandaged.”

Ahkaiyu exhaled at this, but Kally had no reaction. This was a place she had not heard of, not even in her books.

Barley, grave faced, brought his hands together and declared earnestly, “Now, I am sure you understand that this will not be an easy task. But, if you do decide to do this, I want to assure you that I will do everything in my power to give you both…” he turned to Kally at this point, “…the quality of life you both deserve.”

Kally looked up, eyes glazed in emotion, and her bottom lip wavered. She glanced at Ahkaiyu, who had somehow become her and Katoia’s only hope. If he agreed to this journey, she would make sure to not be a burden again. She would learn to fight.

“Very well.”

Barley nodded at Ahkaiyu. “The journey is dangerous, I would advise you take some time for Kally to heal.”

He furrowed his brow, and continued, confirming his thoughts were in line with Kally’s. “And she should learn the basics of fighting before you embark. It should take—”

“Yes,” Kally interrupted. “Yes, I should learn how to fight.”

“I shall go alone.”

Kally’s eyes flashed. “You can’t do that.”

“—three weeks, or so,” with a low voice, Barley muttered to himself. He sighed, these young souls.

“Why not?” Ahkaiyu asked haughtily.

“This is for my ceremony, it’s about me and my toe. I want to be there, I feel like I need to be there. Even if you leave me, I will set out on my own.”

Ahkaiyu said nothing but his mouth tightened.

Kally, still looking dejected despite her sudden flare up, continued, “Besides, I can’t stay here waiting, doing nothing. I don’t think I could take that.”

“Ahkaiyu,” Katoia piped up, “Please, just let us come along. Kally’s dripping with disappointment, you know.”

Kally swatted at Katoia. “You always wake up at inopportune moments and say the weirdest things.”

“Come on Kally, I’ve been awake this whole time, you’ve just not noticed.”

Kally sighed again as Katoia continued, “And don’t forget, all of us in this room know I can feel your emotions.”

Ahkaiyu looked glum at this exchange.

Katoia twisted as much as a toe can twist in order to face him, and pleaded, “Please Ahkaiyu, take us with you. If you teach Kally to fight, we won’t be a burden.”

Ahkaiyu shuffled on his feet and exhaled. “Very well.”

Kally felt a twinge at this. When she asks—

No, these were not helpful thoughts. She should focus on the excited feelings of going on another adventure, and more imminently focus on the matter of learning how to fight.

≋❈≋

As Barley had surmised, it took approximately three weeks for Kally to both recover fully and get to grips with some form of basic fighting style. She trained with daggers, which would enable her to stay mainly in the background initially. This was Ahkaiyu’s thinking anyway.

Ahkaiyu spent hours in his evenings making up paper sigils for her to carry and invoke, preparing for as many scenarios as he could imagine. It would come as no surprise that the bulk of them included the familiar protection barriers. The weeks passed in this way, with the only other thing of note being the woollen toe sock that had appeared in Kally’s room one night - lime green.

Whilst nothing was said of this, Kally did pack it in Karin’s bag for the journey ahead.