Rune

The woman led them through to a huge dining room. There she gestured them to sit at a table already laden with food. "Sit, children. Eat. You must be wary after the day's journey – especially since you went through a path not many tread."

As Rune sat she wondered how much this woman knew of their journey – for it appeared she already knew a bit and knew they would be here today. No one was saying anything though, and she wondered what her companions were thinking – well, she could tell that Jaekel had a thoughtful look on his face, but could not read the other two's face.

After making sure all of them was served the woman spoke, addressing towards Rune, though not at her. "Zilanius. I know you're here. You might as well come out and grace us with your presence."

As she spoke, the wraith-like being came out and moved to perch on her chair. "If you do not mind, Rena."

"Even if you are like this now, I would not have minded seeing you." She glanced sideways at him, "Since you are not fully a wraith."

The wraith seemed to lower his head, "I'll come more often in the future then."

Rune watched them. It was not immediately obvious – not from the woman's tone. However there was something in Zilanius's voice that made her understand – this was the woman he had mentioned earlier, his wife who he had so loved. And once she realized that, she also picked up in Rena's voice suppressed sorrow – she was trying not to cry.

She did not cry. It was another person who suddenly, and completely unexpectedly broke down into tears. Talon covered his face with his hands and rose from the table, fleeing the scene sobbing.

Niliah half-rose startled. She hesitated as if unsure whether to follow him. Zilanius however drifted down from his wife's seat and followed the sobbing suddenly distraught young male.

Rena addressed Niliah, "Sit. Zilanius is perhaps the best suited to talk him through this. It's probably been coming on for some time – and this was just the catalyst."

"What's wrong?" Niliah sounded more worried than Rune would have expected.

The red-haired woman smiled sadly. "It has to do with his familial curse. I do not blame him nor his father for what happened. I suppose I don't even fully blame his aunt… I suppose if I were to blame someone it would be Ryliah – she was the one who started this whole mess." She sounded sadder than ever. She shook her head. "We will talk more of that later though – tonight you all shall rest deeply. Though…" And here she addressed Jaekel. "You might find it a bit hard to rest properly in this place – the last oracle who came here did."

"This place seems to be a place of divining after all." He sighed.

She nodded, "Even regular people might have visions at night in this place. I do have a tea that might help you feel rested despite it though."

"That would be appreciated."

"Though if you do take the tea you will definitely have visions." She warned.

"I'll take it." Jaekel said, "I'm pretty sure from the feel of this place I would definitely have some anyway."

"Alright then, I'll make you some before bed." She smiled at him, "But please do eat your fill – I'll make sure Ariwynd eats some later."

For a moment Rune was confused who she was referring to but Niliah furrowed her brow, "How do you know Wind's fuller name?"

"I know many things – I am a diviner after all." She turned her blue eyes on Niliah and smiled softly. "I even know his first name – though I have not been given permission to call it. Do not be too frustrated that he has not trusted you with it – to his kind names hold great power. Especially their first name."

Niliah fell quiet, gazing down at her food with a furrowed brow. For a while the table was quiet.

Once they were done eating, Rena stood up. "Well, I have prepared rooms for each of you – I think you will like them. Come along."

"Do you always prepare rooms for your guests before they get here?" Rune asked curiously.

"No." She smiled at her, her eyes soft. "Not specifically for them at least – I have many rooms available. But you in particular are long awaited to come here. So I prepared all of you rooms tailored for you."

"Thank you."

"I am hospitable to most that end up here – its one of the tenets of my Order. But how much more should I be hospitable to a group of younglings with such a heavy burden?"

"So are you going to help us?"

"I am afraid I can only offer you limited help. As much as I would like to give more. But The Order of the Stars are supposed to not interfere with the outside world – though we are allowed to help those who come to us to a point – feeding them, clothing them, advising them. Unless otherwise directed."

"Then who can direct you otherwise?"

"Who else? Only Xi'eli can move us to interfere more. Which by the way does mean I can help you a bit more than I might normally. You see, many years ago the last oracle to come here told me that I must help you – that I was allowed to interfere a bit more with this. Though, I still can not leave my Tower for long for I am the last of the Order."

The room she gave to Amrunela for the night was a very pretty room – and had many books in it. As she looked at it she realized that it was truly tailored specifically to her own tastes. It was a bit unsettling that a woman who had never even met her before could make a room so specifically for her.

She sat on the bed and pulled out her journal.

"Unecin, 13th of the month of Caimures, Evening,

Today has been interesting – Talon took us by a path through an underground cavern that was… very offputting. The almost wraith and I had an interesting conversation, and we came to the Tower of the Stars. Apparently the lady here was the wraith's wife. I have a lot of questions right now, some of them I don't want to voice."