LISSIE

MORNINGS WERE ALWAYS LISSIE’S weakness. Her body always felt heavy, like wading through mud as she tried to sit up. And her companion was far from being helpful.

She shoved them hard, sending them falling back on their rump. Lissie chuckled at their expression of mock hurt.

“Grab the potion. I’ll start packing everything up.”

Aven stood up, rubbing their behind, and heading toward the door.

Lissie took the chance to stand up and run a hand through her loose hair. She pulled it out of the braid, sending it falling around her shoulders.

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t leave me for dead. I’m just a random kid who got dragged into your quest,” Aven finally said, breaking the silence.

Lissie shrugged, picking up her cloak. “You shouldn’t have seen the hidden chamber. Only those connected to a phoenix can see it.”

“I don’t have a phoenix!” Aven exclaimed.

“I know. Which makes it more puzzling. You’re quite interesting, you know that, Aven?”

Lissie stuffed her cloak inside her satchel. She normally wouldn’t pay someone with no phoenix any attention, but this was different. Her master definitely would want to meet Aven. Besides traveling to Camp Black Crow, she would have to gain favor from Maji Sonya to leave the camp and head for Moonshine Academy.

And what made everything so perplexing was the fact that a black phoenix didn’t outright kill in a bloodlust rage.

Aven walked over to Lissie as she pulled the bottle from her bag again. She handed it to him and watched him drink. Out of the corner of her eye, Lissie saw Aven’s body morph in skin and hair color. Once again, they stood as the dark-skinned elf with silver hair — an alari.

They handed the bottle back and Lissie took a swig. The taste of the potion was like fermented apples. She squinted her eyes, shaking bitterly at the vinegary taste that coated the inside of her mouth. Her typical features paled, making her appear as a human woman.

With their appearances altered, Lissie slung the satchel over her shoulder. “Do you think you can follow me downstairs? I’ll pay double as a sorry for the…state we left the room in.”

Aven glanced at the sheets. “I did bleed out a lot.”

Lissie rolled her eyes. She strolled to the door and opened it. The hallway was empty. She could hear Aven following behind, taking careful steps as they headed downstairs.

The tavern was quite in the morning, with the fireplace still crackling in the morning hours. A nimble man sat at the bar, polishing glasses while Fira sat busy with a giant logbook in front of her.

Lissie strode toward her, taking out her coin purse and fishing out a few silver pieces. Setting them on the counter, she cleared her throat. Fira jumped in her seat, spinning around as she fumbled to catch herself.

“My goodness. Ya scared me there. What can I do for ya?” Fira asked.

“I luckily found a healing potion for my friend last night and was able to patch up their shoulder. I wanted to give you extra coin as an apology for the mess we made. Their wound was pretty deep.”

“Oh, dear. Ya didn’t have to worry about that! I pride myself on taking care of my guests. Now, why don’t ya head on up and we’ll get everything sorted out?”

Lissie waved her hand dismissively. “No, thank you. My friends are waiting for us through Farlet Woods.”

“Farlet Woods?” Fira’s eyes widened. She glanced at the front door of the tavern and leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Are ya sure ya wanna venture into the lion’s den? Children have been going missing around there and strange noises can be heard at night. A few hunters are gathering to go slay the beast.”

“Hunters?” A chill ran up Lissie’s spine. She stuffed her coin purse into her pocket, and turned to Aven, pleading with her eyes for them to understand. “We have to hurry. Sonya is planning a party and the hunters may disturb it.”

The nimble man sat the glass down on the bar table and picked up another one. The action made Lissie tense. He wasn’t saying anything, but his attention seemed to flicker over to them a moment ago. Lissie focused her attention on Fira, gently patting the coins still on the table.

“Please, take the coin. I feel bad for your sheets,” Lissie explained.

Turning toward the door with elegance, she strode to it with Aven trailing behind. They exited the tavern, with Fira calling after them to be careful. Lissie wished that were true. They had five hours to make to the camp before the potion wore off.

Aven stepped beside her, their hands stuffed into their pockets. “I never thought I’d get to visit a village. I worked with Valk for so long that I stopped thinking of my childhood dreams - to travel.” Aven stopped walking, eyes staring at rundown well in the center of the village. “Blessed by the light! I forgot to let Valk know I wouldn’t be returning after yesterday. He’s probably worried sick about me.”

Lissie patted their shoulder. Aven broke from their trance, turning to face her, eyebrows furrowed. She held her fingers up to her mouth and whistled, short and low that drifted higher, and once again lower, like a melody playing. A screech tore through the street, startling a few people doing their morning chores. Aven stood with their gaze transfixed on the sky.

Soaring across the sky, darting through the clouds was a large red wolf hawk, its wings spreading over four feet. The hawk dove toward the ground, folding its wings close to its body. In a swift movement, just as it was about to hit the ground, the hawk spread its wings out and landed gracefully, talons digging into the dirt. The hawk tilted its head, blinking as if to ask what they wanted.

Lissie smiled. “Aven, meet Slæn, a red wolf hawk. He can deliver messages. Would you like to send Valk something?”

Aven blinked. They looked over the hawk. “I’ve never seen such a massive bird before. Can he be ridden?”

“Oh, but of course. Right now, your message is more important. We can’t have him thinking you’ve gone rogue to your kingdom.”

With a shake of their head, Aven glanced around. “Um, people are staring.”

Lissie glanced across the open village square. Sure enough, people were gathering about, whispering to one another and pointing their spindly fingers at Slæn. A smile spread across Lissie’s lips.

Lissie petted the top of Slæn’s head, who trilled and buried his beak into her shoulder. “I think he wants to fly. Do you want to take him for a ride?”

Aven’s eyes widened with curiosity, a look only a child could get when receiving a present. Without saying a word, Aven walked up to the hawk, raising their hand toward Slæn’s head. Slæn bolted back from Lissie, blinking his eyes. He shook his head, feathers rustling.

“Be careful. Slæn is touch-sensitive. I rescued him when he had been in a forest fire. Some of his feathers are only now coming back,” Lissie explained.

“Oh, perhaps I shouldn’t go for a ride then,” Aven said.

Lissie nodded, giving Slæn a pat on the side of his neck. The hawk shook out his feathers and spread his wings, flapping them. He took off in the air, soaring high into the sky, disappearing from sight as soon as he reached the clouds.

They continued on foot, the village slowly fading into the background as the Farlet Woods loomed overhead. The dark pines stretched for miles going east and west. The smell of the wild kept Lissie’s head clear. She was finally entering a safe haven she enjoyed being around. Forests were the easiest thing to track through, the trees somehow finding new ways to talk to her, whether in faint whispers or loud, creaky groans.

She took the first step into the forest, the sense of freedom washing over her. Sunlight danced through the pine needles, speckling her skin like a sweetened honey-kiss. Her feet moved lightly across the earthen ground. Unlike her, Aven stumbled through the forest like a newborn fawn. She chuckled as they barely missed the tree root that snaked its way under the brush.

“Aven, once we reach Camp Black Crow, I’ll need you to stay quiet while I speak to Sonya. She may have heard about your betrayal to the kingdom and will want answers in case the guards show up.”

“What about the party you mentioned at the tavern?” Aven asked.

Lissie gave a half-hearted shrug. “The camp also presents itself as a group of performers to make money for travels.”

Aven nodded.

The longer they walked, the forest grew darker. The sun only came in small pockets, leaving the forest floor cold and lifeless, with scarcely a bush or fern in sight.

Eventually, the forest started to thin out and loud voices could be heard through the trees. Clanging of metal, the smell of sweet cakes, and the melodic notes of music echoed loudly. Lissie smiled.

Camp Black Crow.

Lissie hooked her arm with Aven’s and dragged them forward. Through the final trees, tents could be seen of various colors with bonfires going as the performers were running around and trying their best to finish for the first show of their stay.

Aven’s eyes were wide with wonder as they walked toward the tents. A childishness draped over them, slowly creeping its way to Aven’s lips. Lissie squeezed their arm and grinned.

The sensational warmth of being back at the camp was a happiness that Lissie didn’t realize was buried within. Facing the black phoenix had her questioning so much, and wondering if the truth about black phoenixes was real.

“Lissie, you’re back!” A short macska with dark brown fur containing tawny sploches stood out against golden cat eyes. He paused, feline ears twitching as he hesitated at the sight of Aven.

Around them, performers paused their work, glancing toward them. Lissie swallowed, a nervous fluttering of fire beetles in her belly.

“Drake, I’ve brought a new guest with me. They were unfortunately betrayed by their kingdom due to my misdeeds.”

“Take them to meet Maji Sonya. She’s in her tent, going over the preparations for tonight’s show,” Drake said, barely glancing at Aven again.

Lissie tugged Aven in the direction the tents, with a wave to Drake. They slipped around a yellow tent with horizontal white stripes at the base. Each new tent that came after was being worked on. Signs were being hung above the entrances and decorations were being placed along the pathways.

Aven froze mid-walk when a gleam of silver caught their eyes. Lissie turned toward it, spotting an all-too-familiar shape. A silver phoenix with feathers polished until they glowed like starlight.

“Sanar, I’m back!” Lissie called.

The phoenix turned to her, nostrils flaring. I thought you would have been back yesterday, little one!

Sanar’s frosty tone caused Lissie to flinch. “I’m sorry. There was a lot going on, and we might have pissed off an entire kingdom…”

“Wait, you can understand that beast?” Aven asked, slowly approaching with their eyes locked onto Sanar’s massive frame.

Lissie rolled her eyes playfully. It had been a while since she saw someone containing zero knowledge of phoenixes. It was quite interesting, to say the least. “All phoenix riders can hear their phoenix’s voice in their mind. It’s how we communicate."

Aven curiously tilted their head, clearly trying to understand how phoenixes sounded so animalistic whereas their riders spoke them so easily.

"At Moonshine Academy, there is a study on how phoenixes can communicate with their riders. Once a rider bonds with their phoenix, the rider undergoes a form of metamorphosis that alters their brain to awaken a deeper part of it. It works sort of like how a rider can't use magick until their phoenix is hatched," Lissie explained. She held out her palm and a flicker of flames appeared in her hand. "Elves are born with the unique ability of magick, but the magick is doubled if they are a rider."

"So, you're saying that my magick will increase once I find my phoenix? How? I've never been around a phoenix until now."

Lissie dismissed the flames and touched Sanar's cool beak. "Phoenix riders are born with a strange symbol on their body, often in the form of a phoenix. It can be freckles, a birthmark, a scar, or something more interesting, like their veins."

Aven frowned. They reached down and pulled their shirt from their pants. "I've always had this weird bird wing symbol on my back. My pa always said it was some birth defect, but now that you mention it, it seems to be something more."

As they turned around, Lissie froze at the sight of Aven's lower back. Clear as day, the mark of a bird wing was prominently pink. Lissie shook her head and slowly walked over to Aven, tenderly touching the mark. An icy hot spark shot through her hand and up her arm. Her hand burned, skin blistering red. She yanked her hand back, whispering curses in elvish.

"There's magick embedded into the mark. I fear that someone wanted your rider mark hidden. Only another rider can do this," Lissie said, eyebrows furrowing.

Aven lowered their shirt. "I figured as much. Pa always made me swear to hide my magick. Perhaps it was because of this mark?"

Lissie nodded. "I think we need to speak to Maji Sonya immediately."

A phoenix mark hidden by magick was seen as a bad sign. Those who were hidden often had magick that was overwhelmingly powerful. Lissie had read about cases like this, where riders were kept from their destiny until they were of old age and found their phoenix. Aven had nearly gone through that if they hadn't happened across the secret chamber.

Sanar lowered her head and bumped Lissie's back. Loïck is back and wanted to know about your disappearance. He's with Sonja.

"Alright, Sanar. We were just about to head over there."

Sanar dipped her head lower, eyes gazing at Aven. Will he be accompanying you?

Lissie smiled. "They're a rider. I can't discern all the facts, but Sonya is the only one with authority to send us to Moonshine Academy."

Aven slowly inched closer, their hands fumbling with each other. "I am right here and able to make my own decisions."

Sanar blinked, pupils dilating at Aven's closeness. Sonya's in her tent. Be careful. Sonya won't be trusting of an outsider.

With a roll of her eyes, Lissie patted Sanar's beak. There had been plenty of threats since entering the Xovaria Kingdom, with the Xovarian Army tightening the reins on all non-humans. Aven had seemed extra fearful of being caught without a certain coin. So perhaps, even citizens were trapped in the line of fire that the kingdom developed.

Hesitantly, Lissie stepped away from Sanar and made her way to Aven. "We need to go to Sonya's tent."

She pointed toward a red tent large enough to harbor a young phoenix. It stood in the center of the camp. A bonfire was lit near it, the flames flickering a strange violet light. Two guards stood outside the tent, halberds in hand.

Lissie strode to the tent with Aven trailing behind. The tent was structured like an oval with repair patches sewn throughout the tarp. Tent flaps were pulled back to reveal random rugs laid about. A single lantern could be seen, glowing a sunset orange.

As Lissie walked passed the bonfire, the guards moved in front of the tent's opening. A sudden burst of heat singed the hairs on the back of Lissie's neck as shadows elongated in front of her. She froze, her heart slamming against her rib cage.

Sonya had purified the bonfire with elven charms to detect immense magick if anyone came within twenty feet of the tent. Only one person came to mind with magick of that aura.

Lissie spun around, her hand instinctively going for her sword when she spotted Aven standing beside the bonfire, their body tense as part of the flames reached out to Aven like phoenix claws. The flames licked toward the sky, flashing a brilliant venom green.

"Aven, what did you do?" Lissie gasped.