“Please wait until after the saint’s ization to fraterh her,” The Exalted chastised the prince. As he spoke, the Exalted grabbed a beautiful sword held in a white and gold-ated scabbard from a dispy case. As he carried it over to me I couldn't help but think it was too beautiful to be a on. "Now then, Lady ne, please accept this sword. In my authority as Exalted of the Church of Nakara, leader of those faithful to the divine six, I ask that you uhe it. Prove to us now that our saint has been once again reborn."

  Hesitantly I held out my hands and allowed the Exalted to careful y Rochelle's sword ay palms. It was lighter than I expected. Gold was a metal Elise had oold me was worth ign when it came to swords. It was heavy and softer than other metals. The meraries we typically offloaded our ill-gotten goods to weren't ied in weak swords that existed only to be oral.

  There were always exceptions. The sword in my hands for instance felt no heavier than a bundle of muslin cloth. Never in my life had I held a bde so weightless. With a deep breath to settle my nerves I ed my fingers around its pommel and drew Rochelle's sword free of its scabbard. Everyone gasped as the exposed bde glittered in the light. Its luster was entrang. The metal olished to perfe with a gss-like sheen. As I stared at it, the world around me seemed to fade away.

  “Wele, Vessel,” A geherly voice called out to me. Looking toward the speaker I froze in shock. The Exalted’s offid all of its octs had vanished. I alone was standing in a beautiful garden that stretched as far as my eyes could see. At peared to be the heart of the garden was a beautiful white gazebo covered in fl vines. Seated within, smiling mirthfully at me, was a woman with pure white hair. She looked human a somehow deep down I knew she wasn’t. She was somethiherial, like a goddess given form.

  ?Am I dead?? I signed. It didn’t make sense for me to have died just from drawing a sword, but then again nothing made sense anymore. Maybe I was just unworthy.

  “Of course not,” The white-haired woman chuckled. “e here, dear vessel. It has been ages since I’ve had the opportunity to speak with one of my desdants. And, you need not sign in this space. This world is akin to a dream, a ply your mind inhabits. In fact, you need not speak at all. If you open up your thoughts to me I hear them just as easily as I hear the spoken word.”

  “Okay,” Timidly, I approached the woman. She’d called me one of her desdants, which meant she had to be Saint Rochelle. Was ization a process for her to repce me? Would she take my body the moment we left this pbsp;

  “May I know your name, vessel?” Rochelle asked, resting her in her hand.

  “ne.”

  “ne. A beautiful name, for a beautiful girl. But where are my manners, I should’ve given my name before asking you to give yours. I am, or was, Rochelle Stel Cotterell, the saint who slew the archdemda.”

  “Was?” I couldn’t help but be curious as to why the Rochelle in front of me believed she only used to be herself. Without answering she beed me to sit. Hesitantly I took a seat across from her, curling my tail uhe chair.

  “In truth, I am just a phantom. A colle of magid memories left behind in my sword. My spirit, the true Rochelle, passed on long ago. Your existence is proof of that." Rochelle smiled and began to pour tea into ay cup in front of me.

  “Am I… just Rochelle, reinated?”

  “You are what you want to be. Some of the vessels who came before you took my name and tried to carry on my legacy. Others sought to make their own mark on history. But you are no mere copy. Each vessel has excelled at different disciplines. Some have bee warriors, others ing magis. To me I simply see you as one of my children. You were born from a part of myself. We are ected by something more binding than blood, which, to me, makes you my daughter. Though given es, perhaps I should call you my great granddaughter." Rochelle chuckled.

  “You… are my mother?” A well of emotion rose up inside my chest. The wounds left on my heart after my mother and father cast me out ruly healed. Even Elise, despite being my perfect person, couldn’t fully erase the damage that’d been done.

  The loneliness within me craved what Rochelle so casually offered. A mother who hadn’t rejected me. But my fear of rejeade it hard to a it. She didn’t know me, and I didn’t know her. Who cared if I shared her soul. I was bound by blood to my birth mother and she refused me. What would prevent Rochelle from doing the same someday?

  “That is how I see our e, yes. But you are free to defi as you see fit. The saint before you, Katina, simply referred to me as the spirit of Rochelle’s sword. I was a guide to aid her on her journeys, nothing more.”

  Lost in thought I reached for my cup and began to sip the tea Rochelle poured for me. It had a f warmth and tasted heavily of apples. I was relieved to hear that Rochelle was willing to leave how to bel our e to me.

  It was also f to hear Rochelle say I wasn’t actually her. Being a saint was already enough of a shock. Having to live up to the legay heroic past life would be too much.

  I didn’t really want to be a hero. The world had already taken Elise from me. Lydia was all I had left, as long as she lived a long happy life, nothing else would matter. Even if Azmoria and Bir had been kind to me, they were still the knights who’d forced Lydia and I to split up.

  “Your hair has already turned white,” Rochelle noted walking around the table. I shivered as she began to gently brush my hair with her fingers. “Most vessels don’t experieny ges until they e in tact with the sword. You must have experienced something truly harrowing.”

  “I tried to turn into a demon to save someone I care about.”

  “A lover?”

  “Just a friend. The girl I love… isn’t with us anymore.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Rochelle ed her arms around my shoulders, huggiightly.

  “Thank you,” My voice trembled as fresh tears began spilling out of my eyes. Already, two weeks had passed since Elise’s death. Soon I’d mark a month without her. Every day when I woke I’d have to remind myself again that she was gone. I kept feeling like if I returned home, to our in the woods, she’d be there. It was so hard knowing I’d never see her again.

  “Would you like to talk about her?” Rochelle spoke gently as she tio hold onto me. “There is nothing important you o know. I only brought you here so that we could meet.”

  “Will there ever be ao this pain?”

  “In time it’ll ease, but the pain will ruly go away. There will be days you think of her and it’ll be as if your heart is torn open all aiient with yourself ne. I do not know the girl you loved, but I’m sure she’d want you to live a long and pleasant life. Nobody wants their loved oo spend their lives in agony.”

  The strength left me as a pained sob escaped my throat. Normally, g hurt. I always did my best to quiet the pain I felt, but, iermath of Elise’s death I couldn’t quiet the deep well of agony I felt. Here, for the first time in my life, I could weep freely.

  Rochelle said nothing as I howled in pain. She quietly held me close, gently patting my shoulder. As if to tell me it was alright. I could cry as long as I o.

  “Let’s you up.” Once I’d finally exhausted all of my tears, Rochelle gently wiped my eyes with a handkerchief.

  “Isn’t this just a dream?” If this pce wasn’t real, there was no point in ing myself. The sticky remnants of my tears would vanish the moment I woke up in the real world.

  “I ’t do anything for you outside of this pce. So let me take care of you while you’re here, okay?”

  “Will I be able to see you again?”

  “Of course, ne,” Rochelle poured a fresh cup of tea and ha to me. “It may take some time before we see each other face to face again. The sword does not reci its own, and soon I will exhaust the power o maintain this space. But, with a little training you’ll be able to e here as often as you desire.”

  “What… does it really mean to be the saint?”

  “I’ve existed for two millennia and I still don’t have the ao that question. Vessels are borher there is a need for them to exist or not. You may never have a foe worthy of your power. What the world will remember of Saint ne is for you to decide. The only advice I give you is that you o train. Right now you are nothing more than a bundle of potential. If you do not hone your body and mind, you will never have the power to enact your will.”

  “What if I have nothing I want?” I sipped at my tea, my gaze locked on my own hands. Rochelle was kind. Just as kind and f as my birth mother had been before I’d failed the trials of my tribe. Would Rochelle someday turn on me just as she had? If I did nothing worthy of a saint, would she reject me?

  “Train, so that you have the power to act if you ever discover something worth wanting. If you never find something worth using your power for, then that’s fine. I’ll be here with you till the end of your life.”

  “You don’t have anything you wao do?” I looked up at Rochelle and she smiled at me. Her smile was soft, as if was looking at something adorable.

  “I just want you to live, ne. You will meet many people during your life, but I will only have you. When you’ve reached your natural end, I will once again be alone for turies until another vessel is born. Even then, I will only know them if they e in tact with the sword. Through your predecessors I have had the scripture altered so that the church sees value in eg sword and vessel, but even the church is no immortal entity.”

  “Has no oempted to free you from this pce?” I knew little of magic. But I had heard of magical structs. A pair of alchemists had even done a small exhibition of their moving dolls in Duwan’s town square. It wouldn’t be a human body, but living in a doll had to be better than being trapped in a sword.

  “I’m just a phantom, ne,” Rochelle gently mussed my hair. “I have no soul to trao another body. Do not feel bad though. Now that we have met, I will be free to see the world through your eyes. As long as you keep the sword close, I will not be trapped here.

  Closing my eyes I took a deep breath as my emotions swirled. Soon I’d leave this pce, and I wouldn’t be able to return for some time. The lonely little girl in my heart who’d long craved her mother’s attention wao free Rochelle immediately. Even if I had no idea how to do such a thing.

  “ you train me, while I’m here?”

  “Yes, and no.” Rochelle replied, turnitention to the vish garden around us. “I give you advice, but I ot ingrain form into your muscles. Your body is not here. You would not feel the burn of ichor as you cast spells, nor would your arms remember the motion of a thousand swings. To truly harhe power you’ve ied, you will o find a mortal tutor.”

  “Uood.” Frustrated I chewed on my lip. Bir would likely be delighted to teach me magid Azmoria was sious I doubted she’d reject me if I asked her to train me in the sword. But, it would be so much easier to learn from Rochelle. She expected nothing from me, while everyone else saw me as a reinated hero. Ohey saw just how i at everything I was, they’d lose faith in me.

  “Looks like our time is up,” Rochelle’s voice pulled me free of my imagination. Opening my eyes I saw the garden around us fading away. The once vibrant colors of the flowers desaturating into shades of grey. “Good luck, ne. Remember, no matter what happens I’ll always be at your side.”

  “Wai—“ I tried to call out. I wao remain at Rochelle’s side a little longer. I reached out to grab the table in front of me, to g to the dream. The se in front of me shattered like gss, leavianding once again in the Exalted’s office. The sword within which Rochelle resided still held aloft in my hand.

  eri