In the living quarter of the servants, a hidden door creaked open.
Alea led Ellie past a row of occupied rooms, where weary servants were settling in for the night.
At last, they reached the stairwell leading down to the laundry room. Alea glanced around, then pressed a finger to her lips, signaling Ellie to move silently.
Together, they descended the stone steps. The descent felt agonizingly slow, each second stretching longer than the last.
They made it to the door of the laundry. Alea eased it open just enough for them to slip through.
The moment the door shut behind them, Ellie let out a slow, shaky breath. Her legs gave out, prompting Alea to held Ellie tightly.
For a moment, Ellie's world was her mother's embrace. Unlike the harsh reality, this one was gentle and warm.
Her breathing steadied, but her eyelids grew heavier. The mental strain was finally catching up to her.
Alea held Ellie's hand gently, guiding her toward the washing device.
Ellie fought to stay awake as she climbed the ladder to the top of the machine before slipping inside through one of its chutes.
Alea had busied herself ensuring there was no lingering scent of soap inside.
A soft clinking of metal echoed in the quiet, followed by the gentle glow of a lantern.
For some reason, Ellie always felt a strange sense of comfort in its light. A sense of kinship? Like a guardian angel watching over her.
Alea leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"Sleep now. The journey ahead will be long."
Ellie tried to respond, but her eyelids betrayed her and sleep overtook her.
***
At night, Windshire Fort would rise, lifting the land beneath it and turning into a floating island. Along with it, the underground water system would ascend, creating two distinct flows. At the back of the castle, water cascaded down in a near-vertical waterfall, rushing toward the land below, forming a lake where land used to be. In contrast, the front side carried a gentler incline, allowing late-night visitors like the Thunderspine Clan to ascend using special boats purchased by House Gennan from the Waterfolks.
The washing device was connected to a large enchanted pipe, part of a network of massive pipes used to pump underground water for everyday uses in the castle. At night, the water drained back down to the land below through the pipe system.
The washing tank, that Alea and Ellie were inside, was large enough to accommodate up to five people. Alea had made several modifications to the washing machine, transforming it into an escape pod.
She repurposed the heat-washing function to overheat other tanks causing the surrounding stone ground to expand and crack under stress. The two adjacent tanks to them would continuously cycled cold water to prevent the heat becoming dangerously hot.
Once the ground weakened enough, gravity would do the rest, sending the washing device into the large pipe below. Then, it would travel along the pipe system before failing down the waterfall. To stabilize the descent and prevent a catastrophic crash, the wind vents were modified to redirect airflow and water flow.
Alea looked at her daughter. The soft, gentle light from the lantern embraced the young girl's body, casting a warm glow over her. Her blonde hair cascade over her chubby face, highlighting her peaceful expression.
Alea caressed Ellie's check, the healthy layer of fat reminded her of Ellie's younger years.
Memories surged forward—Ellie smiling as a baby, cradled in her father's arms.
Alea turned to the lantern with a sorrow expression.
"Ellie's core character is developing. I must take her to a human settlement beyond the edge of the world."
Alea hugged the lantern tightly. "I don't know if I have the strength to do it."
Its warmth reminded her of his warmth.
Suddenly, Ellie stirred in her sleep, causing Alea to quickly wipe away the tears in her eyes, not wanting to let her daughter see her being weak.
"No, I must be strong. Ellie needs me."
Taking a deep breath, Alea took out her rune carver. It was an older model, one that a younger Alea had hidden away, just in case she would ever need it.
The first lesson a rune master was taught: no amount of preparation was ever wasted, and one could never be too prepared.
Alea began carving the final runes. As she completed the last stroke, the washing device rumbled to life, shaking and trembling as the stone weakens beneath it.
The sound of water rushing in and out of the two adjacent chutes echoed through the space, drowning out the wind howling around the washing device.
Holding Ellie and the lantern close, she whispered a prayer.
"O silent protector, bringer of harvest, strongest of all divine spirits,
Whose breath carries the weary and whose gale humbles the mighty
Guide us upon your unseen path, swift as the storm, gentle as the autumn breeze.
Let no chain bind us, no wall contain us, no storm cast us astray.
With wings of wind, lift us beyond the reach of fate,
And let your whisper be our compass in the endless night sky."
***
Ellie woke up in her mother's embrace. A sudden ruckus had interrupted her nap.
She saw her mother's face damped with sweat, despite the cold air inside the washing tank.
"Just what you expected from top-of-line rune tech," Alea said, a sigh of relief escaping her lips.
The washing device had crashed into to the lake below Windshire Fort and was now rising to the surface. Ellie knew her mother had gambled on the fact that the washing device was built with strong reinforced materials, as well as an already strong base output of runic magic, to overlock its system. However, the massive machine was now only one-fourth its original size, as all the other washing tanks had crumbled due to three factors: the overclocking, the constant high thermal stress, and the impact from the fall.
If it was anyone else instead of her mother she would have never agreed to such a suicidal plan.
"You've woken up, dear?"
"What's next, Mom?"
"Next, I will change the wind rune of direction so that our escape pod moves to shore."
Ellie looked at the glowing rune of looking like the wind. It was connected to a tree rune, with multiple intricate branches. The wind rune itself was also complex, twisting in all sorts of directions in orderly yet chaotic way.
Without realizing it, her brows had furrowed. Her head ached as she struggled to grasp the logic behind the pattern.
"Are you trying to understand it?"
Alea gave Ellie a condescending smirk, as she said.
"Do you think you can understand something that took me months? You know I love you, but you need to stay grounded in reality, dear."
Alea placed a hand on her puffed-out chest.
But then, her eyes opened wide and one hand covered her wide open mouth, releasing how she had acted toward her daughter.
"Baby, I… I didn't mean to. I'm… so sorry."
"It's okay, mom. I know how much pride you have in your craft."
Beside Ellie, rune magic was her mother's pride and joy.
"How about you teach me rune magic as an apology?"
"Only if you have the talent for it," Alea said, her voice devoid of its usual warmth.
Alea waved a hand dismissively in front of her face.
"No, I meant. Of course, you'd have the talent for rune magic."
Needless to say, there wasn't much talking after between Ellie and her mother since Alea was focused on changing the wind rune that was responsible for the direction of the floating washing device.
'Crazy. Mom's changing the rune while while it's still active.'
Alea gestured Ellie to came closer before she began to explain, pointing at the tree rune.
"It's really not that impressive. This is a level one spell because it has only one base rune. A spell consists of three parts: the base rune, the elemental runes, and the function runes. Only tree runes can act as the base for a spell. Elemental runes call upon the spirits of an element, while function runes tell the spirits what to do."
Not looking up from what's she doing, Alea continued.
"However, a level of a spell doesn't necessary mean it's weaker or any less complex than a higher-level spell. For example, this one right here, though it only has one base, the tree rune has multiple branches connected to several wind runes. Some are calling upon wind spirits, while others are directing them in different directions.
Calling more spirits results in a stronger output. However, if the material isn't strong enough, the spirits will destroy whatever the runes are carved on.
Depending on the item's purpose, rune masters decide whether to use a low-level or high-level spell. A low-level spell is easier to maintain, more robust, and can function even if certain parts are damaged. On the other hand, a higher-level spell with multiple base runes is harder to maintain due to its complexity. If not handled correctly, the rune output could be completely different from what was intended.
That's why household appliances usually have level-one spells, at most level two, to prevent dangerous consequences."
Ellie tried to wrap her head around the explanation. After a moment of silence, she looked up at her mother with a spark of realization.
"So, it's like cooking?"
Alea looked up from the runes, raising an eyebrow "Cooking?"
Ellie nodded eagerly.
"Yes. A simple dish, like boiling an egg, requires only water and heat. It's easy, reliable, and doesn't take much effort. Even if you hit the egg, you'll still end up with a boiled egg. While baking a cake, you need the right balance of flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and heat. All in precise measurements. The oven temperature must be perfect, and if you make a mistake, the whole cake turns out wrong."
Alea chuckled. "Not a bad comparison, actually."
A moment of silence settled between them before Ellie finally spoke up what had been weighing on her mind.
"Mom, may I ask what happened?"
Suddenly, the washing device lurched forward. Ellie barely managed to steady herself, pressing her hands against the floor.
"There. All done," Alea said, a proud smile etched on her face, "What were you saying, dear?"
"It's regarding the earlier ruckus in the castle. I don't think any intruders could have sneaked onto Windspire… at least, not that I can imagine," Ellie said.
She hesitated before asking the real question.
"What am I meaning to say is... Why were the guards fighting members of Clan Thunderspine?" Ellie asked.
Alea's expression didn't change.
"Velkan Thunderspine was found dead in his bedroom," she answered calmly.
'What? How could that be? Unless...'
Ellie replayed the night in her mind. Despite the fighting, the commotion had been contained to the guest chambers. The rest of the castle remained undisturbed—most of the maids had still been asleep. If such an important guest of House Gennan had died, why hadn't there been more of a reaction? And more importantly… how had her mother known about it so soon?
The pieces clicked into place.
'She wasn't allowed to be in the dining hall for the Gennans. She shouldn't have known I had been ordered to visit Velkan's chambers. That news wouldn't have spread so quickly—unless she was the one who told Velkan to ask for me. And when I wasn't, she guessed I'd gone to my room instead.'
Ellie's throat felt dry. She met her mother's eyes.
'Mom killed him.'
She couldn't understand it.
Her mother who had always been so kind, who had quietly suffered through every hardship. How could she cold-bloodedly kill a boy no older than her?
She wanted to deny it, to find some flaw in her reasoning, but the more she thought about it, the more everything made sense. And they all pointed to the same conclusion.
"You killed him," Ellie said.
Alea didn't look surprised. Ellie searched Alea's face, hoping, praying for some flicker of guilt. But her mother's expression was as composed as ever. If anything, her lips curled into a small, amused smile.
"I don't know if I should be impressed, scared, or proud, dear" she mused, "I didn't want you to know about it. But. Yes. I killed him."
"But why?"
"Because otherwise, the guards would have noticed our escape the moment the machine started making noise."
Ellie stared at her mother in disbelief. "Mom, what have you done? We're criminals now."
"I'd rather see millions die than see you die."
The image of the dying guard flashed in Ellie's mind. And Velkan? She never wanted to harm him. She just didn't feel safe going into his bedroom because Dwarphs were more physically stronger than Elves.
'People died today because of me.'
Her stomach twisted painfully.
'Why does it hurt so bad?'
The sensation was unfamiliar to Ellie. It was not a simple stomachache that she was sure of. She had eaten plenty of strange things before and suffered her fair share of food poisoning, but this was something else entirely.
The lantern flickered, its glow unsettling. A chill ran down her spine. Ellie swallowed. For a split second, she could swear she saw shapes shifting within the flame. Then her vision darkened.
The last thing she heard was her mother screaming her name, rushing in to catch her falling.
***