Fly Away, Part III
One week later, Roshil was sitting with Aonva at dinner and feeling much better for it. It was just the two of them, the way Roshil wanted it. Roshil smiled down at a gilded metal bracelet on her wrist.
Its twin sat on Aonva’s wrist. It was more or less simple. Roshil had worked out how the messenger spells worked — and learned about the identification orbs (she liked the word “bauble” better) in the process. The orbs allowed servants of the court to send messages to one another, greatly simplifying the process over having to recite the entire spell every time. What Roshil did was recreate the spell between two bracelets, but instead of her consciously sending a message to Aonva, the bracelet sent a preset message at a fixed interval, a single word: “Roshil”.
“I’m sorry,” Aonva said between bites of what little food she ate.
“For what?” Roshil replied with food in her mouth.
“Have… have I been ignoring you?”
Roshil hesitated, which in hindsight was a bad idea.
“It’s just that I feel like I’ve been spending all my time with Kurgm, and I really like spending time with him, but we used to spend so much time together, and I think I miss that. You’ve been on my mind all day. It’s like I can’t get your name out of my head. I think I feel bad after you made this beautiful bracelet for me.” She smiled at it. “It really was nice of you. And I’m starting to think maybe I’ve been ignoring you all this time, and I didn’t mean to ignore you, it just sort of happened, and now I feel awful, and I hope you’re not upset.”
“I’m fine now, really. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
For once, Roshil meant it. She had Aonva again. Even if Sirshi and Oshal ignored her, at least she still had one friend. Everything was fine.
Until they left dinner.
Kurgm was waiting outside the great hall. He frowned at them when he saw them.
“Aonva, weren’t we going to eat in the kitchens?” he asked.
“I wanted to eat with Roshil,” Aonva replied. “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you. I really meant to, honest. I just… I don’t know, it slipped my mind.” She touched a hand to her head. “I feel strange.”
Kurgm took a step toward her.
“Maybe someone should look at you.”
“I’m fine.” She backed away from him and closer to Roshil. “I want to stay with Roshil.”
Roshil got a bad feeling. She looked down at her own bracelet. It couldn’t be the bracelet giving her a headache, could it? No, it couldn’t have been. Her enchantment was perfect.
Aonva looked at her and her face lit up. She was so happy to see Roshil. It filled Roshil with a familiar warmth, but it was quickly overshadowed by panic. She’d gone over the enchantment hundreds of times, but it was simple. She hadn’t confused any words like Master Dordir had warned her about doing. All it was supposed to be doing was sending her name to Aonva.
“Is something wrong?” Kurgm asked, adjusting his glasses.
“I’m fine,” Aonva said again. “I want to spend time with Roshil for a change.”
Kurgm frowned at them both. He knew something was going on.
Aonva touched her head again. It was getting worse. Roshil began to panic. This was the bracelet, she was sure of it. She grabbed Aonva’s hand and led her away from the crowd of apprentices heading toward their rooms.
“What’s going on?” Kurgm asked, staying with them.
“It’s just a headache,” Aonva said. “You two don’t need to panic.”
Roshil glanced back at Kurgm. If she took the bracelet off now, he’d figure it out. She could explain it to Aonva, and maybe she’d understand. But Kurgm wouldn’t.
Aonva pulled her hand away from Roshil. “Roshil, I’m fine. Really.” She winced and held her head again.
Roshil realized she didn’t have a choice. She took a step toward Aonva. “Aonva, I need to see your bracelet.”
“What for?” Aonva put her hand over the bracelet. “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s perfect.” She smiled at Roshil.
Her smile made Roshil feel worse. She wanted to fly away and never return.
Kurgm’s eyes darted between Roshil and Aonva. “Roshil… What did you do?”
Roshil wanted to tell him that she hadn’t done anything, but the words wouldn’t come out. She looked down at her own bracelet. She didn’t know what would happen if she took it off. It could stop sending the message, or it could make it worse. She hadn’t accounted for that possibility. It was foolish now that she thought about it. They’d have to take off the bracelets when they went to sleep.
Her mind raced out of control. She felt like she was suffocating.
“Roshil!” Kurgm said. “What’s wrong with Aonva?”
“Nothing’s wrong with me,” Aonva said. “It’s just a headache. You’re both overreacting.”
“I… I made a mistake. I enchanted the bracelets. You’ve got to let me take yours off.”
“You did what?” Kurgm roared.
Aonva closed her eyes and held her head. She backed into the wall, and tears trickled down her face.
“My head,” she groaned.
Kurgm rushed over to her, but she stepped toward Roshil. He glared at her.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Roshil said. “I didn’t mean—”
“What, to enchant her?” He looked back at Aonva. “How do you take it off?”
“There’s a clasp,” she said, stepping toward Aonva.
Aonva backed away from both of them, but stumbled and fell.
Roshil rushed over to her and grabbed her wrist. Aonva struggled, but she didn’t have the energy left to stop Roshil from undoing the clasp on the bracelet.
Aonva gasped for air as Kurgm ran over to her and hugged her.
Tears fell from Roshil’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Roshil reached for Aonva, but Kurgm slapped her hand away. He wrapped his arms around Aonva and helped her to her feet.
“Don’t come near her again!” he shouted.
Kurgm led Aonva away. She didn’t look back at Roshil.
Roshil watched them leave. Then she closed her eyes, spread her wings, and flew away.