REBUILD

56

Hardened rock was cleared from the site of the Academy to reveal the door to the vaults, miraculously left untouched after being buried in the debris.

Academy staff emerged, ready to assist in the cleanup, though it took most of them quite a while to fully grasp the level of damage and loss that surrounded them.

Finally able to stand on his own, Luka accompanied Aria to the healer tent, wading through the injured—cries of grief and pain still echoing around them. Aria scanned the expansive space quickly, assessing the destruction, looking for their loved ones.

She hadn't seen her father yet, unsure where he ended up during the battle, and prayed he was either helping outside or was somewhere in this tent. To her surprise, a few Unifier soldiers sat with their wings and arms tied behind them but were still tended to with care. Beside one of them, Nyvia helped Evan who held a bloody cloth to his chest, both seemingly in high spirits. Hyla sat beside Clem, who laid flat on a cot, his wings dotted with bandages. He held Hyla's hand tightly— a good sign , she thought.

Not far from the entrance, she spotted Leah, sitting cross-legged next to a pallid Kam. "There," Aria said, nudging Luka. They weaved through the beds, careful not to disturb the injured that lay upon them. "How is he?" Aria whispered.

She'd found Evelyn before they'd headed for the infirmary, and the panther had filled them in on the particulars. But even knowing he'd been on death's door, the sight of him was shocking.

Leah's brow furrowed, but she didn't look up. "Stable, now. But the healers said that could change. They're monitoring him for infection." She sighed, running her fingers over his hands. "I wish he could hear me. He hasn't been responsive."

Luka knelt on the other side of his bed before running a gentle thumb over the wolf's clammy forehead. He looked up at Leah with assurance. "He'll be okay. He's the toughest bastard I know." The corner of her lip twitched but fell quickly back to a frown.

"Hey, you two," one of the healers called to them from the corner, his voice gruff but kind. "If you're going to take up space in here, we need your hands."

They looked at each other and nodded. Luka squeezed Kam's shoulder and stood. As she looked around, Aria knew some of them wouldn't make it through the day. Wings were shredded and chest wounds bled profusely. People were missing limbs. But she and Luka both picked up supplies and began helping as much as they could.

She worked her way through the line of fae and shifters, offering willow bark tea for the pain and bandages for those who needed them. After wrapping the particularly gruesome head wound of a shifter, she looked up to find her father's fiery red hair peeking over a cluster of fae gathered in the corner.

"Father!" She dropped her supplies and ran to him, weaving through people in her path. A healer kneeled over him, shielding her from getting a good view at his current state. As the healer turned at her shout, Aria nearly vomited at the sight that was revealed. Arach's legs were mangled, destroyed. She screamed.

Luka grabbed her from behind as she thrashed against him. "What happened!" Aria shouted, tearing at Luka's arms to release her. "Father!"

The healer resumed her work, stitching and sewing furiously. The king laid still, unconscious. But blood still oozed from his wounds, meaning he was alive. He was alive.

It was no consolation. Aria's screams tore through the tent, disrupting the relative calm around them.

A shifter Aria didn't recognize laid on the roll beside the king and peered up at her under his sweating brow. "The king saved my life," he said weakly. "He pushed me out of the way of a falling rock along the mountain, but he wasn't quick enough. His legs got pinned by the boulder. I tried to get it off him as fast as I could—" a cough cut off the rest of his words.

Aria barely heard the man as she finally broke free of Luka's hold and rushed to the king's side. The healer spoke to her without looking up from her work. "He's lost a lot of blood. I have to amputate one, but we may be able to save the other. If he pulls through."

"What do you mean if ?" Aria looked at the woman, a shifter, her dark face serious and focused. Her wolven teeth emerged to bite through her stitching thread. "You have to save him," Aria begged.

"I will do my best," she replied shortly. "But please, I need to work alone. He will not be conscious for a while yet, and you are distracting."

Aria nodded quickly in understanding, but cursed at the dismissal. Luka placed a soft hand on her shoulder as Aria squeezed her father's hand. He'd saved a shifter's life, the life of a man he didn't even know. Proof , she thought, of her father turning into the man she'd always thought he could be. "I'm proud of you, father. I'm so proud of you. Be strong," she whispered and placed a kiss on his brow.

She stood, backing away slowly—afraid to take her eyes off him—and wondered if her mother knew about her husband's act of heroism. About his injuries. They left the tent, Aria eager to get some fresh air as her shoulders shook.

Outside, cleanup began in earnest. Both remaining Legion Council generals hauled some of the stored supplies from the vaults out into the open air, divvying up food and issuing orders for some of the captains to travel to neighboring towns for additional support.

The early morning quickly became afternoon. The air was still as they worked, the only sounds coming from those in pain, those in mourning, or those issuing instructions. Only a single wing of the Academy building remained upright, and Aria thanked the gods it was the dorms because they desperately needed to get some of the injured off the ground and into real beds.

Taren, Finn, and Evelyn, along with a host of other volunteers, offered to haul the casualties to the beach. As the sun began to sink low in the sky, groups of fae and shifters gathered along the shore, all of them placing their friends and loved ones gently onto the wooden rafts that littered the sand, most of them constructed hastily that afternoon.

As Aria approached the gathering, her heart sank at the familiar wrinkled face of Professor Embris, the old woman's body propped up on one of the rafts. Her beautiful, deep umber skin was now lifeless against the wooden planks. "No," she whispered, rushing forward where Evan and Ambrose worked to move the woman into a prone position. "What happened?" she asked, exasperated, her muscles protesting from the outburst .

"I think she drained herself earlier today and didn't tell anyone," Evan said, shaking his head somberly. "We found her under the rubble of the Academy, struggling to pull herself out. We tried to get her to the healer but she just whispered Amyr's name," his voice broke, "and then she was gone."

Aria's eyes welled. She prayed Jil found her beloved, that they could make amends with one another wherever they joined each other in the afterlife. Squeezing Jil's hand, she gave the woman silent thanks for everything she'd given to their kingdom—for better or worse. Aria looked up to find Taren leaned over one of the rafts, sobbing. Oh gods , she thought, and ran across the sand to her friend. "Taren," she said softly.

Taren sniffled. On the raft, a man and woman who both resembled Taren rested with their eyes closed, arrow shafts piercing their chests and necks. "They weren't really soldiers, they… They were just misguided people," Taren's head shook. "I wish things could have been different."

"Me too." Aria wrapped her arms around Taren's shoulders from behind, careful to avoid the bandage on their neck. "Gods, me too."

There was so much loss. And likely more to come. An overwhelming amount that was too much to process. Every single raft that lined the beach held dozens of people, all of them deserving of the ritual of rest—no matter which side of the former border wall they came from.

Beyond them, a dragon blew a torch alight. Others walked toward her with their own torches, the small fires illuminating the shore as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

Aria felt the sand shift next to her and watched Luka carry Shara's body, placing her onto the raft next to a few other shifters who had sacrificed themselves for their people. He lifted her hand to his face, squeezing his eyes shut tightly, before resting her arm over her stomach.

He didn't even have enough magic left to light the raft on his own, Aria realized, as he took the torch from the dragon shifter and placed it to the wood before giving it a final shove into the sea, standing knee-deep in the water as he watched his mother drift away.

Aria walked out to meet him and took his hand, which trembled between her fingers.

The other rafts followed, one by one. Anyone who could get themselves to the sand now stood and watched the pyres float into the distance, most hugging and crying together. Luka finally turned and walked back toward the shore, Aria in tow. When they made it to the sand, he pulled her into a tight embrace. Taren approached them and joined in. Aria felt more arms around her and recognized the feeling of Evelyn behind her, the panther's warmth encircling her as she nuzzled into Aria's neck.

Evelyn was quickly joined by Finn and Leah, who had made her way down from the tent. Leah's voice was soft as she broke the somber silence. "Aria, your father is waking."

***

Joyen sat beside Arach, his hand in hers. Sweat gleamed along his skin as Joyen poured a strong liquor—laced with willow bark—into his mouth, hoping to get him drunk and delirious enough to numb the pain.

He swallowed hard and bared his teeth as he assessed his damaged legs, one of them missing below the knee entirely. The queen watched the pain course through her husband, threatening to drag him under again .

Aria's relief was quickly replaced by concern as she witnessed the way his face twisted. She joined her mother at his side and dabbed the sweat on his brow with the cleanest cloth she could find. "You're okay," she said to him softly. "You'll be okay."

His throat bobbed, his breathing labored.

Aria placed her head on her mother's shoulder, guilt washing over her at the fact her mother and father both sat here with her—alive—when so many others had lost their loved ones. Even Joyen, she realized with a pang in her chest. She'd lost her mother in all of this, too.

So many had to say goodbye—some not even so lucky to get that chance—and here she was, complete. Aria turned to Joyen, who still looked down at Arach with concern. "Are you okay?"

Joyen's lips were pulled into a thin line, her forehead wrinkled with worry. "I'm okay. Nothing more than a few burns. I'm just happy you're okay." She rested her head on top of Aria's and chuckled lightly. "When were you going to tell me about Luka?"

Aria raised her head up and faced her mother, blush creeping along her cheeks. "I wanted to… I just—"

"It's okay," her mother grinned. "I think he suits you."

"You're not upset?"

"If you are happy, Ari, then I am happy. So long as he treats you well, of course."

"He does," Aria smiled sheepishly. "He really does."

"He better, or he'll have me to deal with," Arach wheezed, his eyes still closed. Aria and Joyen laughed freely at the king's weak attempt at humor, something resembling a grin forming on his lips. "Go on, you two," he said. "It'll take more than this to kill me. Let me rest."

** *

They repaired the damage to the land during the day and held sailing ceremonies for the dead nearly every night for a week, some of the injured losing their battle for life after days of struggling with blood loss and infection.

Even as the days stretched on, those sailings never got easier.

After a few days, most had regained their magic and the Erdanean fae—aided by the strong hands of others—helped rebuild the Academy walls brick by brick, lifting stone from the earth and placing them one on top of the other. It took them two weeks in total, but the Academy looked like an actual building again.

Eventually, because most of Denover had already learned of the battle and sent aid, Joyen agreed to send messengers to Allar with news of what had happened. And—to Aria's urging—it was the full truth. Every last part of it.

Slowly, Allarian people began arriving in droves to offer their hands, their food, bedding and medical supplies, whatever they could spare. Even some of the fae still in training that had been left to guard the castle had made their way to the Academy.

By the end of the third week following the battle, they'd had so much help that most of their troops had returned home to their own families and traveled to share the news with the families of those who had lost their lives. It warmed her heart—the bright spot in all of the pain—to see so many fae and shifters working together, helping each other.

Now, the only Allarians left at the Academy were Aria, the king and queen, Taren, Clem and Hyla, and a few other high-ranking guards .

As Aria wandered room to room with an armful of bedding for the new dorms, the freshly-built halls sat unusually quiet compared to the bustle of the month leading up to the equinox.

"I never got to thank you," Aria turned to Evelyn who walked beside her, "for pulling us out of the water." She'd barely even spent time with Luka in the past weeks, merely to sleep in a shared bedroll, saving the beds for the injured. The only times she had crossed paths with Evelyn had been to exchange information or relay orders. When Evelyn had asked her to help fit the rooms today, she'd jumped at the chance to spend time with the panther she desperately missed.

"That definitely makes us even now, right?" Evelyn teased.

"Yeah, I think that makes us even." Aria laughed, "I mean it, though. Thank you."

"For the record, you did thank me. I just think you may have passed out right after," Evelyn chuckled. "Regardless, I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"Don't go getting soft on me, kitten," Aria elbowed her playfully.

"Hold on," she scolded, "you know you don't get to call me that in public or people will think I'm soft." Evelyn's smile filled her entire face as she took the sheets from Aria's arms and placed a light kiss on her cheek. "You're going to be late for your meeting. Go. I can handle the rest."