Page 94 of Sunsplitter

“You’re Avroz’s spy?”

“Spy?” Syvr huffed. “I don’t like that word. I gather information is all.”

“That’s… a fuckingspy.”

“Oh.” Their tail swished. “I see why Antal likesyou.”

That sounded strangely like a compliment.

“And you?” Fi said. “You’re the only one here who doesn’t look at me like a lost hare.”

They hummed, thoughtful. “Those are old ways of thinking, most rigid on the Twilit Plane. But I travel often. Humans are far more common company across the Planes. Your people have an earnestness to them that I imagine Antal appreciates.” They lowered. “And you do some excellent things with your mouths. I’m sure he appreciates that, too.”

Fi weighed the jab. Decided it was not, oddly, an insult. “Damn right he does.”

Syvr snickered, tail swishing a contented arc.

She must be getting soft, the way their grin eased her bristles a little. The way it made them feel like fellow conspirators. Maybe they were just a good spy.

In the clearing below, a human man worked in the yard of the farmhouse, splitting wood. Everything looked calm. Normal.

“You found the trail?” Fi asked.

Syvr tested the air with a sniff. “The scent is all around this forest. And him.” They nodded to the man. “Whispers in town say he missed an appointment recently. Acting strange before that, avoiding conservation.”

Fi frowned. “You think he’s helping the aedari?”

“They can be persuasive. In their part of the Planeverse, the aedari call themselves gods. They offer favors to loyal mortals in exchange for supplication. This aedari may have sought a place to rest, convinced the human to act as lookout.”

If that was true, Fi pitied the man, caught up in this the same as her.

“Shouldn’t we wait for night,” she asked, “if we want to catch it sleeping?”

“Aedari don’t rest like humans. Or daeyari. They stay awake for days, sometimes weeks at a time. Then, asleep for several days straight.”

Asleep fordays? Easy prey, then. Fi wondered if there was as much honor in that, slaying an aedari in its bed. Assuming it was actually asleep. If not…

“What do I need to know to fight it?” Fi asked.

Syvr glanced at her sword hilt. “Antal hasn’t told you?”

“He doesn’t want me to fight.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t? I’m not fighting. Ixli does the fighting.”

From her perch in the trees, Ixli huffed. Syvr waved a dismissive hand at her.

“I can decide for myself,” Fi said. “I want to fight. How?”

Syvr looked at her. At Antal, still arguing with Jazst and his father. Back to her, hushed. “They don’t Shape energy like daeyari. Aedari bind their magic to jykae, more versatile at—”

“Jykae?”

“Ah. Like…” Syvr mimed drawing with a claw. “Little pictures. You would say…” They swapped to seasonspeak. “Glyphs? I think?”

“Little pictures…” Fi mused.

Syvr returned to daeyari. “Glyphs can alter physical aspects of the world around them. The trained magicians are the deadliest, but even their brute warriors use basic glyphs to bolster strength and defense. Watch for the golden light. Golden eyes.”