Goddess by Liv Savell (autobiographies to read txt) 📕

ate, seemingly uninterested in their conversation. “Did Alphonse enjoy your city? Or was she a clan girl like me?”

“She is from a small town,” Etienne said, stressing the present tense. “But she lived in the city as long as I did.”

They had gone to school together. Years spent studying and taking care of each other when no one else would, away from the families neither of them had ever truly felt at home in. Really, they had been more family to each other than anyone else—his sister in all but name.

“Alphonse loved Dailion and the school, though many of them didn’t understand her and her conservative ways. There are plenty of people of all types there. Even spear-wielding barbarians, though they frown on fighting in the city streets.” He said this last with a small smile, his eyes turned towards the clan girl.

Delyth set her meal aside unfinished, seemingly torn between hearing more about the place Alphonse had come from and disappearing into her tent. For now, though, she stayed.

“We spent almost all of our time in the school,away from the main city. We weren’t strictly forbidden from visiting, especially not in our later years, but it was easy to get wrapped up in studying and forget that the rest of the world existed.”

Etienne had learned more in his time traveling than he thought possible, though he had little to show for it. He had once equated knowledge with power. Now, those desires felt far away. Small. Unimportant even.

“I don’t think I’d stay locked away in some building—Not with all that available to me.” Meirin nodded vaguely in the direction of Gwynhafan. “It’s too exciting.  Who would want to sit around reading and—” She gave Etienne a thoughtful look. “Mixing up tinctures when you could be exploring and having new experiences?”

“I guess to us, the city was not all that new, not by the time we were allowed to explore it at our leisure. And there were always new things to learn at school. Not to mention, the constant pressures of maintaining grades and dealing with other students.”

Both he and Allee had been too devoted to their studies to easily be swept away by ideas of adventure. Only the most dire mistake had made them leave in the end.

Meirin shook her head slowly. “What a waste. It sounds as if I should have been in a city, and you should have stayed in a clan. What about you, Delyth?” Meirin tried to engage the stoic warrior, though, by the expression on her features, it was clear she didn’t expect much success on this front.“Would you enjoy traveling?”

Really, if anyone was built for exploration, it was Delyth. She could get to new places so easily.

Delyth shook herself as though coming back to the present; her thoughts must have been leagues away. Etienne assumed that she would brush the question off, but she surprised him by giving it some thought.

“The last time someone asked me that, I had not much considered it. I was too concerned with my duty. If we make it out of this, though, and I recover Alphonse and manage to keep my freedom, then yes. I think I would like to see more of the world.”

That was the most hopeful Etienne had heard Delyth in a long time, and he smiled. Perhaps it had been speaking with Alphonse. Or the fact that they were at the gates of Gwynhafan with no sign of the Gods.

“I’ve just about had enough adventuring,” Etienne admitted. “At least for now. I used to dream of traveling to study with different masters of magic.”

“What? You don’t find me master enough? What about Delyth? She’s taught you plenty of rune and blood magic. Surely that lives up to your expectations?”

“You can never learn too much,” Etienne said sagely and leaned back, his bowl empty. He wasn’t going to criticize the teachings of either woman while he was still sparring with them regularly.

Delyth stood and scraped the remains of her meal into the brush. Stew didn’t exactly keep. “We should set a watch, so close to the city.”

“And be more tired when we have to get the artifact tomorrow?”

“Better than to wake at knifepoint and have our belongings stolen. Or worse, with Enyo and the others here.”

Etienne shook his head. “I can set a ward in a wide perimeter. And then we can ward our tents.”

Delyth hesitated for a long moment, but her own exhaustion seemed to weigh heavy on her. “Fine,” she said eventually before slicing a finger to ward her tent. “But don’t forget.”

Etienne nodded. Of course, he wouldn’t.

After Delyth disappeared, Meirin and Etienne sat in silence with only the fire’s popping to keep them company. She finished off her dinner and then resumed gazing at the city’s outline as the sounds of night arose around them. Most insect noises had died off by this time of the year, but then there were owls and other creatures that preferred the cloak of darkness.

Meirin watched as Etienne started the process of tracing a large circle around the campsite, his features contorted with concentration as he worked.

“You’ve lived an interesting life, Etienne,” she murmured, quiet as to not disturb Delyth in her tent.“You’ve been to so many places and seen so many things. I thought Mynydd Gwyllt was exciting—it’s one of the larger clans, after all. But now it seems so… small.”

Etienne smiled lopsidedly. “I was just thinking that school life was small. It didn’t feel like it at the time, but compared to this—” he gestured at the world around them. “It's been almost too much to take in.”

He walked over and sat down beside her once more, his ward complete and buzzing happily below his thoughts. “I think that new experiences must make our old lives feel small, though it seems a shame that we can’t see more of Gwynhafan tonight before we have to worry about the artifact.”

Something sparked behind Meirin’s eyes, and she leaned forward. “A shame indeed.” She looked towards