"Out of all the knightly orders scattered throughout the Tetriat Alliance, the four that form the Knights Allegiant chapters in Vittora and the city-state of Coine are easily the most famous, with aspirants coming in from all over the continent in the hopes of being worthy enough to join their ranks. Of these four, the Order of Nova are perhaps the most notable. They seem right out of the storybooks, solitary heroes that leap into danger for the sake of honor and gallantry. But what is their ultimate goal? That, they are quite tight-lipped about, and it has become the subject of many rumors and legends, each more exaggerated than the last."

-By the Sword and Shield: The Pocketbook on Knighthood

Sai-em knocked on the door of Books On 8th. It was cool and overcast that day, with a gentle spring breeze stirring the air. Still, his palms were a little damp with sweat and his pulse hammered against his ribs. After a couple of days of rest, forgoing a streetcar for a long walk from his apartment to Nova Hall, then Nova Hall to 8th Street was little more than a light stroll to him, and that made it exceedingly difficult to pretend he felt anything besides nerves.

It took a moment. The door cracked open, and one suspicious dark brown eye glared up at him through the tiny gap. Now that she was no longer hiding her identity from him, even that sliver of space was enough for her icy blue-white godfire to flare through like a beacon.

"I feel like you're here to embarrass me again," said the Kha-hesh, tone sour as a lemon. It did little to change how pretty her Rhuzic sounded to his ears.

Three days ago, upon learning who exactly had gone out of her way to pull him out of Ewald Vale, he had immediately fallen to a knee in profuse regret, apologies tumbling out of his mouth faster than his mind could keep up with. The act triggered the same whirlwind that had swept him from the end of the Road to Nova’s infirmary room before he could register what happened. One minute he knelt before one of the most important arcane public servants of the mountains, the next he stood outside the shop, blinking at the sudden onslaught of sunlight in his eyes as Nemira Bizen-Rava vah Sahas slammed her door behind him and yelled for him to never return until he had regained his senses.

Sai-em furrowed his brow. "What did I do that embarrassed you the first time?"

"That's exactly what I thought you'd say," she told him cryptically. "I've given you back your sword, so what do you want now?"

"If you would lend your ear to the lowly sound of my words," he replied, putting a hand over his heart and inclining his head. "I would like to speak to you at length about some concerns I have."

"You skate upon very thin ice right now, sir knight."

Before he could ask what she meant by that, she threw open the door. Sai-em's gaze swept over her with nothing but innocent instinct, and then snapped right back up to her face. He would have bet the Behemoth Calling Sword that the cotton shorts and loose, thin shirt she wore were her bedclothes. But keeping his eyes locked well above her chest was no better: with her curls wrapped in a bright green cloth, it was impossible not to notice the wound he had given her. She had removed the bandages, and the scars looked painfully fresh as they crawled up nearly to the curve of her neck.

"However," she continued, oblivious to his struggles. "Your timing today is impeccable. Follow me, please. Lock the door behind you."

He did as she bid and trailed after her as she marched back into the depths of her store. The lights were off, giving the air a sense of gloom on top of the pervasive abandonment. She led him behind the counter and up the staircase half-hidden in the corner. Following behind her proved incredibly hazardous to his heart. He looked her over once more, somewhat helplessly, and the sight prompted him to supplicate the gods in desperate silence.

Quiet Ven-yagi, who meditates eternally at the center of the Lake of Souls, may your steadfast self-discipline inspire and guide me down the path of righteous sobriety. Reo-yagi, perfumed Lady of Delights, I thank you for the beauty you have placed before your humble admirer and shall contemplate it in joy and wonder.

Soon, however, the smell of food distracted him from the shapely reason for his prayers. They reached the top of the steps and into a charming living area filled with plants and floor cushions around a table laden with bowls and plates piled generously with servings of a hearty home-cooked breakfast. 

"Leave your boots over there and then sit down and help me eat all this," said Nemira, who was already padding toward the table. "Consider it your chivalric duty for the morning, since this is your fault."

Sai-em looked up from where he knelt by the staircase, boot laces half undone in his hands. It occurred to him a moment too late that the particular angle of his sight might have given him a view of the Kha-hesh that would linger hotly in his dreams for years to come, but much to his relief she was already sitting down.

“It’s my fault that…you cooked too much food?” he asked, just to be certain.

“I stress cook,” she told him, dolloping thick scoops of what he recognized as cornmeal porridge into two empty bowls. “And you, Sir Stressful, have been quite the inspiration. Please save me from having to spend a day visiting family just to push cold leftovers onto them.”

He removed his boots and went over to the opposite side of the table. "I would like to know what I've said or done to upset the Kha-hesh."

"Remember what I told you before I gave you my name?" She pointed a porridge-coated spoon at him, her expression disgruntled. "You didn't even try to prove me wrong! Even at the Temple of Our Kin, the only ones who've ever knelt for me were nervous new recruits to the Sentinels, and I could hardly bear it then, either! No more ceremony, please. It’s incredibly unnecessary."

Sai-em settled down, placed his sword on the floor within easy grabbing distance, and gave her a very serious look in return. "I cannot be so casual with you. You see what's broken upon my brow, and even beyond that, I committed an offense so grave to the clan that once claimed me as one of their own that I was banished within a fortnight of my crime. Under the law of the mountain, I have little right to even approach you."

"And yet here I am, inviting you to breakfast, neither of us anywhere near the mountains. You can take a guess as to how I feel about said law."

The following silence went on for quite a while.

Nemira pushed a bow of thickly sliced fried plantains at him. "Try these first, they're best eaten hot."

The next few minutes passed on in a truce made much less uneasy by the presence of food. Sai-em, who had quickly divested himself of pickiness and learned to never waste anything he could consume during his first few years away from the mountains, would have eaten everything his stomach could fit even if the fare had been poor, but it proved to be one of the better breakfasts he had had in some time. The cornmeal porridge and plantains were comfortingly sweet on his tongue, and the heap of mango salad filled his mouth with freshness and a pleasant touch of heat.

Just as Sai-em began to feel sluggish from the abundant meal, Nemira took a final sip of her iced mint tea and set her plate aside. "Now. Why has the Beast Champion graced me with a visit?"

That got Sai-em sitting straighter on his cushion. He took a breath and folded his hands in his lap. "I am here to challenge your dayam to a duel."

The Kha-hesh's eyes went saucer wide.

"Where are they now?" asked Sai-em, growing in confidence as he spoke. "Where were they when you found me at the end of the Road? Not a drop of your blood should have spilled before theirs, and yet you bear the marks of a battle hard fought while I am largely unscathed. Your dayam should have done their best to kill me during my rampage. I may be in disgrace, but I will not let such negligence—are you alright, Kha-hesh?"

Her face had turned incredibly red. "I...don't have a dayam."

Sai-em stared at her. He could barely comprehend it. There was immense honor in serving the Sahas clan. Thaumaturges across all of Rhuz's territories would have lined up for a chance to swear the Oath to a new Kha-hesh. "Not even a dat-tak? Surely there was someone who would have been more than happy to continue in that role for you." 

Whether a family member, friend, fellow clansman, or a volunteer warrior, a dat-tak guarded a trainee summoner until they came of age and could choose a dayam for themselves. It was ultimately a temporary position, but Sai-em knew there were plenty of situations that would warrant keeping a dat-tak beyond a summoner’s youth.

"My mothers were my dat-tak while I studied at the temple." She began to stir the bowl of cornmeal porridge with unnecessary force. "Now that I am fully-fledged in the art, I do not plan on involving them further in my work."

A bolt of realization hit him through the bewilderment. This made his true plan exponentially easier to accomplish. He had no great speech prepared ahead of time to convince her, he simply leaned forward and said, "Would you be willing to accept me as your dayam?"

Nemira dropped the serving spoon into the bowl with a clatter. Her face became even redder as she flicked her eyes up and down Sai-em in the exact same way he had examined her on the stairwell, lingering on his bare chest for a moment too long before they darted away.

"Th-that's very flattering," she said, her voice cracking. "Truly, it is, but you're — I mean, I'm not sure I, ah..."

"You told me that you worked under the Council while in Coine. Do they forbid you from having a dayam?"

"...Not necessarily, no."

"Then why hesitate?" he asked, trying not to appear too eager. He sat back in his seat, hoping a little more space would ease the strange tension that had seized her. "Even if you find me lacking, you need someone to protect you as you carry out your sacred duties.”

She took her glass of mint tea and stared into it as though it had offended her deeply. “You’re not the first person to tell me that, Sai-em.”

It was the very first time she had said his name. Everything inside him fluttered to life at the sound of it.

“Sai-em…”

IWA calling him wouldn’t have been nearly as alluring. One day, if everything went according to plan, perhaps he would be able to hear her say his full name. Would she be proud of it? Joyful? Would she even remember all that he did to restore it?

“Sai-em.”

Dame Paladin Wyr Enide-neth’s husky voice echoed through the cavernous marbled meeting chamber of Nova Hall. Sai-em’s gaze refocused on where she sat in the high backed chair at the end of the long, polished table. She was as she had been ever since he had first arrived at the Order so many years ago. Her ironbark armor covered her completely, birch tree white and impenetrable. A single point of blue light he could only assume was her eye shone through the grille of her visor, and elegant antlers curved out through openings at the top of her helm. Wyr Enide-neth, the Eternal Champion, forever frozen where she sat. How she turned out that way Sai-em did not know, and did not think anyone still living knew.

“What a delightful report you have given me,” she said. Her tone was always easy-going, almost playful. “So what of that ring of Lord Black’s? Is it of any interest to us?”

“I don’t believe so,” Sai-em answered dutifully, clasping his hands behind his back. “I quote the Kha-hesh when I say: ‘it is nothing but a facsimile of a fraction of a particle of the power he thought it had.’”

The suit of ironbark armor sighed. “What a shame. Four mortal lives lost for nothing but a toy. No matter. We move on. How fares your little summoner charge? Does she please you?”

If there was any sly insinuation hidden behind the Paladin’s words, Sai-em ignored it in favor of thinking of how he had left the Kha-hesh: near sick with fatigue as she crawled into bed and wished him good night. His hands clenched into fists behind his back. “I have every confidence that with her by my side, I will reach Anima Rex before all other contenders.”

“You are our most promising proxy in quite some time, young Beast.” He thought he heard a smile in her voice. “I wish you all the best in this perilous race.”

Sai-em simply bowed his head. “Save your thanks, Dame Paladin. I do not undertake this assignment for you and the Order.”

“Oh, I am very well aware of that, my Champion,” replied Dame Wyr, her laugh bouncing around the room. “You are shockingly transparent.”