But even as his stomach made an eager leap at the sight of his mother and father, it sank as he saw the things that were different.
Seisha’s head had shot up at the sound of the door opening, though Kelsa’s return couldn’t have come as a surprise. She held a book on which she could take notes, but instead of paying more attention to it than her surroundings, she clutched it like a child clenching a blanket to ward off nightmares.
Jaran’s eyes were clouded over, and he stared slightly over the doorway. Kelsa announced herself as she entered, and Lindon realized she must have developed that habit for their father’s sake. “It’s me, and I brought Lindon.”
Seisha’s eyes grew wide as she saw him. “Lindon.” She took a deep breath and said it again. “Lindon. You look…well.”
The badge she wore was still iron. She couldn’t sense him.
“I am.”
There should be something better to say, but he couldn’t find it.
Jaran smacked his cane on the ground. “Why didn’t you come back?” he demanded.
Lindon wished his father had stabbed him instead.
“Not right now!” Kelsa snapped. “He’s alive, and he’s Gold now. He’s going to take us away from here. Won’t you, Lindon?”
“Yes,” Lindon said, but the word came out as more of a whisper. “You can come live with me, and nobody will…nobody can…what I mean is, you’ll be safe.”
Neither of his parents said anything to that for a long time. Too long.
“So you’re Gold?” his mother asked at last. She glanced down to his badge, which clearly wasn’t made of gold.
“Something like that.” That sounded like he was weaker than Gold, so he clarified. “I’m strong. More than any of us ever imagined, and the friends I brought are even stronger.”
Seisha nodded and pointed her finger at the sky in a gesture so familiar it clenched a fist around his heart. That was what she did when she finally understood the truth of a problem.
“Ah, I see. So they lent you their power.”
Jaran leaned forward. “Can they give it to us too? At least Kelsa, she’s young. Orthos has trained her well.”
Lindon looked to the floor.
Even now, his parents didn’t believe that he could have earned power on his own. He must have borrowed someone else’s.
Then again, they were somewhat right.
Yerin had protected him, pushed him, and fought for him when he was too weak to do it for himself. Eithan had given him his Iron body, his Blackflame Path, his Jade cycling technique, his contract with Orthos…almost everything. And what Eithan hadn’t given him, Mercy’s clan had.
The only one whose power he hadn’t borrowed was Ziel.
Kelsa made a dismissive sound. “Stop it. I know you know about the fire in the sky that drove away Heaven’s Glory. That was Lindon.”
Jaran made an expression of clear doubt. “I heard that was Orthos.”
“It was Lindon. Alone. If I had to bet on a fight between Lindon and the whole Heaven’s Glory School, I’d put all my money on Lindon.”
She glanced at Lindon quickly, and he suspected she wanted him to confirm that she was right. He gave her a tiny nod.
Jaran blew air out of his cheeks. “The heavens have blessed you enough for a lifetime, boy.”
“They have.”
That had been true before he’d even left Sacred Valley. If life was fair, Suriel descending from heaven to bring him back from death would have been the only miracle he ever received.
Seisha’s hand tightened on her notebook. “Are you going to fight Heaven’s Glory? You and your friends, I mean.” She gave Kelsa a faint smile. “Orthos has already done more than we could expect, but if you and the others are really all Gold…”
“I’m sure we will.” Lindon had been on fire to do that very thing before he’d walked into this room. Now, the cabin felt claustrophobic, and he wanted nothing more than to leave.
His mother’s grip tightened further, to the point that the wooden backing of the notebook splintered slightly. “Do you have to? Can’t we all go now?”
“I won’t leave until we’ve made Heaven’s Glory pay in blood!” Jaran announced.
“And what are you going to do?” Seisha shot back. “What can any of us do? They only came for us today because we fought them.” She softened as she looked back to Kelsa. “Not that it’s your fault. You were very brave.”
“I don’t think you understand how much stronger they are than the Jades,” Kelsa said. “I’m not sure I understand.”
Seisha carefully set her strained notebook down on the table. “No one is invincible. Orthos is stronger than they are, and look what happened to him.”
“Now we have hundreds like Orthos,” Jaran insisted. “We can take the fight to their gates!”
“I can’t imagine they’re all like Orthos. And how do we know what secrets the Schools have hidden up their sleeves?”
Lindon fumbled behind him for the door. He was afraid he was going to throw up.
This had been a mistake.
He should have saved his family without meeting them. What had he expected?
His family argued with each other as though he wasn’t present. If he opened the door to leave, Kelsa would notice and include him in the conversation. His parents would halfheartedly loop him in, but they would continue making decisions without him.
It was as though he’d never left.
As he was about to turn, his vision filled with purple.
Dross, in physical form, drifted ahead of him. Seisha jerked back with a gasp while Kelsa gathered White Fox madra.
One boneless purple arm raised in greeting. [Hello! Don’t be alarmed! I am Dross, the spirit that lives inside your son’s brain.]
Jaran inclined his head in the entirely wrong direction. Dross’ voice was inside his head, so it didn’t give any clues to his location. “Greetings, Dross. I am Wei Shi Jaran. Thank you for protecting my son.”
[Ah, yes, I thought you were making that mistake. It’s not easy for me to admit this, but it’s actually the other way around. Without him, I’d still be rusting at the bottom of a well. Oh no, wait, I’d have been torn apart by collapsing space. That’s even worse than I thought.]
“You can stop, Dross,” Lindon said quietly.
[I could show you some of your son’s memories, or maybe all of them? No, he doesn’t like that idea. So I guess that means he’s going to share his thoughts with you the boring way: with his mouth. Now take it away, Lindon!] Dross drifted to the side, gesturing to Lindon with both arms wide.
The three members of Lindon’s family waited.
“I don’t want to do this,” Lindon muttered.
[Oh, this is embarrassing. This is one of those things where he says one thing, but he actually means another, because he does have something he wants to say. Quite a lot, actually.]
Lindon looked back to his family and, after another moment where he desperately wished to leave, he allowed the words to spill out.
“I’m not a Gold. I’m a Lord. It’s an entire realm beyond.” His parents wrinkled their brows in confusion, but Kelsa nodded sharply.
“Even at that level, I’m…” He tried to think of a way to say it that didn’t sound too proud, but he was too tired for that. “…I’m very good. One of the best. If you took away my advancement, I’d still be a better fighter than you or anyone you’ve ever met. Did Orthos tell you why I left?”
It didn’t matter if he had or not, so Lindon just kept talking. “I saw the future. You were all going to die. Here. In this Dreadgod attack.”
Or maybe another one. The attack Suriel had seen was supposed to happen in thirty years, not three, but he didn’t think that was relevant enough to mention.
“If I got strong enough, I could stop it,” he continued. “I left so I could grow. I left for this.”