Name: Trial by Earth
Story: Starfall
Colors: Nacre #5 (secret compartment)
Supplies and Styles: Life Drawing + Panorama
Word Count: 4386
Rating: PG
Warnings:
Notes: 1313 Portcallan; Viyony Eseray, Leion Valerno, Leily Valerno, Iyanin Valerno. Follows on from Set Patterns and Take To the Streets.
Summary: Leion takes Viyony to see the Empty Temple, for an afternoon of ominous warnings and cake.

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Riverside scarcely looked as if it had been the site of a large procession on the previous day, let alone an attack by firestone. Whoever was responsible for city maintenance had worked swiftly. Portcallan’s widest and grandest street had had its stones swept clean till they looked almost white in the afternoon light. The only remaining tell-tale signs, if Viyony looked hard enough as she walked along it, were tiny pieces of bright blue and gold paper scattered here and there in the cracks and gutters.

Leion Valerno had arranged to meet her at Temple Bridge. As she neared it, Viyony saw him standing by one of the lamps in a dark coat and hat, although he wasn’t alone – there were two children or teenagers with him.

She straightened her coat, a grey-grey purple tailored affair that split at the sides into strips (two at the front, one at the back) and checked her hair was still safely tucked into her matching soft cap. Underneath, she wore a grey jacket and trousers with a pale lilac blouse. She wasn’t dressing for a large audience this afternoon, but everyone kept telling her that Leion Valerno had influence and if Viyony had to consent to this ridiculous visit to Portcallan, Eseray’s works were going to be well-represented wherever she went.

Leion turned then and caught sight of her, instantly hurrying across to meet her. He held out his hand and gave her a practised, charming smile. “Imai Eseray. I had a feeling you’d be prompt. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve brought these two with me.” He gestured with his hand at the youngsters with him. “My eldest nieces, Leiona and Iyanin Valerno – or Leily and Nin, before they eat me.”

Viyony raised her eyebrows, but refrained from commenting as she turned aside to greet the two girls. Leily was taller and narrower framed and faced than Nin, and probably the elder by about a year or two, but they were both brown-skinned with black curls, and features similar enough to mark them out as sisters. Leion looked paler than ever in contrast. “Pleased to meet you,” Viyony said, dignifying them with a formal little nod.

“It is a cheek, I know,” said Leion, “but Nin has to write a short piece on a landmark of the city for her school, and she prefers practical research to looking things up in books. She asked to come, and I said yes. Leily is here to keep an eye on us all.”

Nin added, “Uncle Leion said we could go to Dala’s afterwards. Have you been there before, Imai Eseray?”

“I hadn’t even heard of it,” said Viyony. “I’m new to the city.” She instinctively looked to Leion for explanation.

“There is a confectionary shop not far from the temple,” said Leion. “It has a nice little eatery attached and I’ve promised them a treat afterwards.”

“We’re to choose something for the others, too,” Nin added, twisting around and nearly tripping over the paving stones in her enthusiasm. Leily caught hold of her, and gave her a small shake.

Leion ushered the little party along onto the wide bridge over the river Calla. Portcallan’s Empty Temple, the largest and possibly oldest in Emoyra, was already visible on the opposite bank – a tall grey building, grimly plain in contrast to the pale bricks and painted plaster that were more usual in the city. Its narrow windows had muted stained glass panes that from the outside looked almost as grey as the stone.

“I also realised,” said Leion, falling into step beside Viyony, the two girls in front, “that as I’m going to ask you to go down into the underground chamber with me, I needed to avoid looking too sinister.” He turned his head. “I hoped bringing these two along would help.”

Viyony refused to respond to the humorous gleam in his eyes. She merely said, “Do I get cake afterwards too?”

“If you like, yes.”

She nodded, and glanced down at the river to hide an unwilling smile. “Acceptable, then.”


They left Leily and Nin upstairs. Nin was in the midst of bombarding a tall grey-robed temple attendant with questions while Leily trailed unwillingly behind.

“We had better not be too long,” Leion said, glancing behind him as he and Viyony followed another attendant to a heavy wooden door at the side of the main space. The woman unlocked the door, then nodded to Leion, passing him the lamp and standing back for them to pass.

Leion held out his free hand to Viyony, who took it despite herself. The narrow corridor was darker than the gloomy main hall of the temple, and ahead of them a set of worn stone steps led down into even deeper shadows. The attendant shut the door behind them with a solid thud. Viyony jumped. Leion hadn’t been joking about this excursion seeming sinister.

“Do you know the thing about the original Empty Temples that everyone forgets?” Leion murmured into her ear as he guided her down the stairs. “Something that ought to be obvious, if you think about it.”

Viyony shook her head, and tightened her grip on his hand. As they descended the old steps, hairs lifted on the back of her neck. Something almost tangible encircled her, closer and closer: an oppressive monster breathing warm, musty air against her skin.

“The oldest known examples all have one thing in common,” Leion continued, sounding incongruously normal, as if he hadn’t noticed anything. “They were built to mark untransformed land.”

Viyony reached the bottom and would have let go of him, but the floor was uneven beneath her feet – it seemed almost to twist and roll under her like a live thing. She had to hang onto him to stay upright. It was hard to see much else with only one flickering yellow lamp to illuminate the ancient cavern. The air thickened further and it grew harder to breathe. Viyony’s ears began to buzz.

“Literally empty earth,” Leion said, putting the lamp down on the steps behind them, and waving a hand towards the cavern.

The floor was shaped like a mass of writhing stone tree roots. Looking at it dizzied her. Viyony closed her eyes and clutched at Leion’s arm with both hands, suddenly sure she was going to fall away into the darkness. “What is it – what is it?” The atmosphere was unbearable – stifling. How could Leion not react? “Can’t you feel it?”

“Hold on,” he said, putting a cautious hand on her arm. “It should pass in a moment.”

Viyony’s head began to clear. She opened her eyes. The oppressive atmosphere lifted; a light breeze from somewhere brushed against her face, bringing with it a faint briny scent. She straightened, looking around her warily. The ringing in her ears subsided, too, if slowly. She pressed a hand to her mouth as she blinked tears from her eyes. “W-what was that?”

“Yes. Sorry,” said Leion, letting go of her and taking a step back. “A rotten trick to play, I know, but my intentions were good. It’ll be all right now, anyway.”

Viyony sank down on the steps, next to the lamp. “Trick?” she said. She’d be angry in a minute, she knew, but she felt too much like a damp rag yet to muster up anything as fiery as rage. “How dare you?” she said. “What did you do?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he said, standing over her, his face and front picked out in yellow light and deep shadows, behind him only the echoing darkness of the cavern. “I’m sorry. It’s what I was telling you – this is an untransformed place. If you believe all the legends, it’s one of the patches of ground the Powers left untouched. Whatever the truth, people with sufficient affinity have trouble adjusting to it. It’s over now, though. Do you want to go?”

Viyony glared upwards, and then scrabbled to her feet, keeping one hand on the steps to pull herself up, rather than rely on his support again. “What I want is a proper explanation! What, did you gather I had affinity from Mierly’s talk yesterday and decided this would be funny?”

“Of course not,” he said. He put out a hand towards her, then withdrew it again, shoving it into his jacket pocket. “I apologise. I hadn’t actually seen the effects for myself before. The accounts all said it would be pretty mild.”

“Thank you!”

Leion reached for the lamp. “I’m explaining badly. Let’s get out of here.”

Raising the light revealed a greater extent of the cavern. There were carvings on the stone walls that had been built up on the inside of it, though its full length stretched out well beyond the reach of their lamp’s beam. Viyony didn’t follow Leion’s lead, remaining where she was. “How far does this place go?”

“All the way down to the sea, I believe,” said Leion. “There’s supposed to be a tunnel, but it fell in centuries ago – it’s completely shut off.”

Viyony hugged her arms against herself, taking it in. It wasn’t a public area, and she’d probably never get the chance to come down here again. Despite her initial reaction and Leion’s cavalier behaviour, she didn’t want to leave quite yet. A sense of its vast age seemed to seep into her bones, and a shiver of fascination ran through her.

“They say there’s nothing else like it in Emoyra,” Leion said, but he still didn’t sound as if he understood the weight of it; he might as well have been quoting from Viyony’s guidebook. He shifted behind her, causing the light to waver. “We must go. Leily is sensible enough, but Nin can be a handful when she chooses. I can’t abandon them for long, even with an attendant keeping an eye on them.”

Viyony turned slowly, and walked across to join him at the foot of the steps where he was waiting, lamp raised his in his hand. “Yes, of course. And you need to explain.”

“I do, don’t I?” He led the way up the steps. The centre of each was dipped down through centuries of use and they were oddly shallow, making progress hard work. “Your little piece of foretelling yesterday caused alarm among the authorities, particularly when it appeared that young Rosfallen Captain had been responsible for the assassination – some eye-witnesses thought you were in cahoots with him.”

Viyony halted. “What? Captain Maraseny? Are you sure?”

“No, as it turned out, I think?” said Leion. “Sorry. They don’t tell me details of their investigations, but my stepfather hears things – he was formerly head of the Guardians of the Peace. He says it was actually some Rosfallen Leaguer, but the people who called me in tend to be suspicious about coincidences. And three North Easterners behaving oddly in the middle of an assassination attempt made all their little antennae twitch.”

Viyony snorted.

He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“It’s no wonder people get angry enough to cause trouble,” she said. “Where I’m from is actually right on the border with Eastern, but still, I’m a North Easterner – I must be a disunionist! I don’t think Captain Maraseny was even from North Eastern – he merely happened to be in one of the Rosfallen regiments.”

Leion reached the top ahead of her, and turned. “Yes, well. As I said, I’m not responsible for the investigation, thank all the Powers. But they didn’t really believe you were part of a conspiracy, and they didn’t want to offend the Modelens and the Gerros by dragging you off to question you, so they set me onto you to find out more discreetly if you were telling the truth. My only aim was to rule you out without causing you any or your family any more trouble.”

“Oh, how thoughtful. And to do that, you brought me down here and waited to see how ill it made me?”

Leion paused and glanced back down the steps into the darkness they’d left behind them. “That wasn’t precisely – ah. Yes. I thought you might prefer it to officials demanding proof of your dreams, or High Guards interrogating you and the rest of your relatives.”

“How is it any of your business?”

He kept her moving along the corridor. “I carry out discreet enquiries for people – for an equally discreet fee. But I have a specialist area that the High Council call on from time to time – which is the other thing I need to talk to you about.”

“Shara save us, you haven’t finished with me? What next? Drop me into the sea and see if I drown?”

“If that’s what you’d prefer, although personally I was going to buy you a cake.” Leion paused outside the door. “No, the other thing is Mierly’s careless talk last night. Bad enough the Guards and people like that had to hear about your gift –”

Viyony pulled back. “Gift,” she said, her mouth curling in distaste. “Is that what you would call it?”

“I’ll try not to call it anything in public again,” said Leion. He grimaced. “I don’t suppose I’d enjoy seeing the future, either.”

“It’s never good. Sometimes I can stop things – sometimes it’s not like that at all. None of it is good.” She bit her lip. She hadn’t meant to say so much, but whatever she thought of his behaviour, he hadn’t yet resorted to any of the usual responses people made to hearing about her dreams.

“What you can do is rare – the way you reacted down there showed how strong an affinity you have. There are people in this city who will want to make use of that – of you. Mierly couldn’t have chosen a worse place to let that secret loose. You must be careful.”

“And this is left to you?” Viyony frowned. “Not the guardians, or someone else more appropriate?”

“No – but the laws that apply to these things are so archaic, and it’s hard to stop people from carrying out what they call private acts of worship or personal research. For those at the top of the tree, like the Allins, Hyans, and Barras, or Copperfort lords, it’s even easier to get away with it. I get invited to all sorts of places, so I can keep an eye on them without alarming anyone.”

Viyony narrowed her gaze. “But what use could I be to anyone? The dreams – they’re not controllable. There’s nothing to be gained from them. I should know.”

“These people want to force some sort of control onto abilities like yours. They play about with starstone and anything else that takes their fancy to do it, but they need people who have affinity or they can’t put any of their little theories and games into practice.” Leion fished in his pocket. “I have this, if you want proof of my authority – such as it is.”

He passed her a piece of thick folded paper with the eight-sided star on starflower of the High Council embossed onto it and a printed couple of lines stating that the bearer – with Leion Valerno written in black ink in the following space – was enabled to act on behalf on the High Council, and signed by off by an illegible scribble of a signature.

“If anyone approaches you about that kind of thing or makes any odd suggestions, refuse to have anything to do with them and then let me know.”

Viyony handed the warrant back to him. “Wouldn’t it be better if I said yes and then you could catch them in the act?”

“Not if you want to live to marry that rich Lialian merchant of yours,” said Leion. “That’s the sort of scheme government officials would dream up, not me.”

Viyony’s cheeks heated. She barely took any note of what came after ‘rich Lialian’. “It’s easy for you to sneer,” she said. “I have perfectly good reasons for what I’m doing! It doesn’t make me mercenary – just a realist.”

“What?” He stared for a moment; then his face cleared. “Oh, your Copperfort bargain of a marriage, do you mean?”

“People from Copperfort prefer other people not to use that term,” said Viyony, as haughtily as she could manage when he had the advantage of height. “And didn’t you say you needed to return to your nieces?”

Leion screwed up his face. “Yes. Just don’t forget what I said, please – if you want to survive your trip.”

He rapped on the door to the main body of the temple. The attendant, who had evidently been for them waiting on the other side, unlocked the door, the key grating painfully in the lock, and then they emerged out into the main temple. Its smooth, newer stones and calm grey light made Viyony blink at the contrast.

“Where have that pair got to?” Leion leant over to her, lowering his voice instinctively in the sacred space. Without waiting for an answer, he suddenly marched away across the room. Viyony following, heard Iyanin still asking questions. She, the attendant and Leily were standing around in one of the alcoves studying lettering carved into a stone slab on the floor.

Leion led the way across the great hall towards them, giving Leily and Nin a brief wave as soon as they caught sight of him.

“Uncle Leion,” said Nin, hurrying over, Leily trailing behind her. “Do you know when the temple was built?”

Leion’s expression lightened as he bent down towards her. “Yesterday?”

“Not silly answers,” said Nin. “Can you guess?”

Leily seemed a little subdued by the visit. She gazed about the space, saying nothing. Viyony glanced over at her. “Did you find it interesting, too?”

“I suppose,” was as far as Leily was prepared to concede, while Nin announced to Leion that the temple was in fact older than almost everything else in Portcallan and had been built in the first century.

“But,” said Nin, hanging onto Leion’s arm as they all headed out of the temple together, “it’s been rebuilt a lot since then, so that’s why it doesn’t look as old as it really is.”

“I hope you took notes,” said Leion.

Nin nodded and then waved a small card-bound book in his face.

“Yes, thank you. Put it away,” said Leion.

They turned away from the temple and the river, down a narrower street, full of small shops, their stonework painted in differing pastel colours. Each one of them had an artfully decorated window display, lit from within by soft lightstone lamps, or a stall out front, where the wares of the shop encroached onto the pavement. The three Valernos walked straight past, too used to all of it even to look, while Viyony kept falling behind, distracted by tantalising boxes full of books and music beside one establishment, or vivid bargain fabrics hanging up outside another. On the opposite side, as they neared the end, the shops gave way to houses built of pale stone, many of them with chips of different kinds of starstone fixed over the doorways for luck.

“Imai Eseray,” said Leily, suddenly, having fallen into step with Viyony when she wasn’t looking. She touched the sleeve of Viyony’s coat lightly. “I like your earrings.”

Viyony laughed, putting up a hand to remind her which pair she was wearing. It was the Eseray set she’d defaulted to most days since she arrived, as if that might ward off homesickness – silver leaves and tiny amethyst berries. “Thank you. I’ve had them since I was ten.”

“Ten?” said Leily. They stopped outside the windows of Dala’s, with jars of coloured sweets and various cakes and pastries on silvery stands displayed inside, and Leily moved over to wave at Leion. “Uncle Leion, Imai Eseray had her ears pierced when she was ten!”

The other three all turned to look at Viyony, who had to laugh. “It was for a reason,” she offered in her defence. “I had to go through a ceremony to acknowledge me as Grandmother’s heir and wearing these is a tradition. I’m not quite sure how old they are – at least a hundred years or so.”

“Still,” said Leily. “That’s very useful.” She unbent from the grand dignity of nearly fourteen enough to laugh. “I’m collecting evidence for my case to show Mother she’s just being unfair.”

Nin pressed her fingers against the glass of the window, gazing at the treasures within. She pulled a face at Leily’s conversation. “Who cares? Can we go in now? Uncle Leion!”

“Is it good?” asked Viyony, smiling.

Nin nodded, a more worshipful look crossing her face now than any she’d worn at during her visit to the Empty Temple. “Oh, yes. Can we?” she demanded of Leion, hopping up and down. “Don’t forget, we have to choose something for everyone else as well.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” said Leion, shooing her onwards and waving at Leily to follow. “Go on, go on, both of you.” He turned aside to Viyony, and said, “Sorry. I didn’t think this through, did I? Allow me to buy you something to try and make up for it.”

“You can’t give a person ominous warnings and then expect them to eat cake,” said Viyony. “It’s not good for the digestion.”

Leion hesitated outside with her, although he kept one eye on the two youngsters, as they set about examining the delights on sale at the gleaming green and gold counter inside. “I’m just saying be wary of who you trust. If anyone asks you to go anywhere unusual or to do anything you’re not comfortable with –”

Viyony burst out laughing.

“… aside from me, of course,” said Leion. He put a hand to his head to remove his hat, and gave her a grimace. “I am serious. Especially any of the elite houses – let me know.” He glanced beyond her, and laughed. “Come on. We’d better go and join them before there’s a riot.”

Viyony wasn’t sorry to oblige. Despite her comments, the smell of baking drifting out was making her mouth water.

“One each,” Leion reminded the other two. He turned around to face Viyony. “We could be a while. What will you have?”

Viyony gazed past him at the selection of cakes, pastries and biscuits of all sorts of colours and shapes. The scents of different fruits and spices were all enticing. “I don’t even recognise any of these.”

That got the attention of all three Valernos instantly.

“None of them?” asked Nin, in tones of horror. “Well, then, you have to have a golden crunch like me.”

“Rose creams,” said Leily. “Much nicer. And, Uncle Leion, buy a spice swirl for Mother, and don’t listen to Nin. She always chooses what she likes, not what other people want.”

Viyony looked to Leion.

He smiled slowly. “Oh, I don’t know – maybe a rosemary and lavender slice? But we can let her try some of ours each, can’t we? Then she’ll know what she likes next time.”

“Golden crunches are much better,” muttered Nin, but after that, barring a short argument on what to get their youngest sibling, it didn’t take too many more minutes before they all had their cakes selected and placed on a tray. Those to be taken home for the rest of the Valernos had been neatly wrapped up in a paper bag, and Leion passed it to Viyony to keep out of reach of the other two.

The eatery lay through the shop and in a conservatory jutting out into a little back yard with brightly flowering pot plants dotted about. They sat together on a small table beside the window, and while Nin bit into her golden crunch as if she’d never been fed before in her life, Leion and Leily disconcerted Viyony by watching her closely to see how she liked her first Portcallan treat.

“What do you reckon?” asked Leion.

Viyony swallowed her mouthful. “Very good – although a little on the sweet side for me.”

“It would be,” he said. He cut off a piece of his cake, a dark sponge with raspberries and cream on top. “How about this?”

Viyony put up a hand. “Thank you, but I’ll just have to make sure I come here a few more times before I leave and try everything. It’s the only way.”

“Yes, definitely. I would,” said Nin. “You have to have a bit of mine now, though. Go on.” She thrust a tiny square of crumbling honey-coloured biscuit at Viyony.

“You’re not two, Nin,” said Leily, hiding her face. “Please don’t.”

Viyony took the piece. It tasted mostly of butter and honey and had a chewier middle to it than she’d expected. “You’re right,” she told Nin. “It’s very nice.” She laughed, and said to Leion, “Don’t worry. I have three brothers and sisters, all much younger than me.”

Leion relaxed back in his chair. “Ah, good.”

“It’s only you whose behaviour has been unacceptable today,” she added, low enough for the other two to miss.

Leion winced. “I’m nevertheless going to be obliged to keep an eye on you.” He glanced aside at his nieces: Leily was rested her chin on her hands and dreaming, while Nin was engaged in hunting down every last crumb on her plate, frowning with intent as she chased her golden quarry. He held out a small card, with his name and business address on the back. “If you need me in the meantime, this is where to find me. I’m sorry if you’d rather not, but –”

“Oh, I shall be happy to see you again,” said Viyony. She took the card and put it away, then folded up her napkin and placed it demurely on the plate. “People keep telling me you are such a useful acquaintance to have – that you know nearly everyone in Portcallan.”

“Everything comes down to business with you, doesn’t it?”

Hot tears stung her eyes, but she merely blinked them away and said, carefully impassive, “It’s the only way forward, Imai Valerno. I appreciate your concern, but you’ll soon find that nobody here is interested in yet another dreamer of dreams.”

“Make sure you’re right,” said Leion. “Otherwise you won’t get to try any more of Dala’s wares. Nin would say that would be a tragedy – and I’d agree.”