“Why did you attack us?” Jularra demanded.
“You are strangers. I don’t owe you any further explanation. Now tell me why Vylas sent you.”
“Release us!” Jularra cried.
Leona took no notice of her words. She stepped closer. “Answer me.”
Before Jularra could reply, a war cry roared up from the middle of the field. It was Vischuno, revived and refreshed, rushing back into the battle he didn’t realize had ended. As he approached Leona and his suspended queen, another sphere of captivity popped into existence and floated Vischuno up into the air next to Jularra.
“Visch!"
He didn’t respond, too busy writhing in indignant confusion while Leona watched dismissively.
“Visch!” Jularra yelled again, louder. Upon hearing his name, he dropped his flailing arms and looked at Jularra.
“Hold on,” she instructed. “Be calm.”
Jularra looked back to Leona, tired of their current situation.
“I need help with the Voidwarden, Leona, and Vylas suggested I seek you out.”
Leona showed no discernible reaction, and only began to pace in front of her suspended captives.
Fucking bitch, Jularra thought. She wanted to unleash a tirade of verbal attacks, but bit her tongue in hopes of being freed soon. Fine. Go ahead. Take your time.
Leona spun around, momentarily surrounded again by smoke.
“I will take my time!” she thundered, her voice echoing around the clearing with shades of profound and foreign power.
Jularra froze inside her sphere, her thoughts awhirl. Mind reading—of any degree—was supposed to be impossible. For anyone.
She glanced at the others, watching helplessly from their invisible prisons. As Jularra began to wonder whether any of them would survive this encounter, the floating prisoners started to slowly return to the ground.
The moment the base of her own clear prison touched the ground, Jularra felt the constraints upon her release.
For the first time since the battle, the tension in the air relaxed. Leona raised her hand calmly; the encircling rings of smoke appeared once again, but they spun with a fraction of the frenzy they had before.
Leona casually waved her hand. Across the entire expanse of the open field, baykoks and bears flickered away into dusty puffs of ash. So, too, did the conjured Acorilinian forces. Meanwhile, Jularra’s corporeal company of Bedrock and Spire panned the area with jaws dropped in awe.
Jularra worked hard to calm herself. Now that her people had been healed or revived, she might actually succeed. Leona took a deep breath, as if doing the same thing. With a new appreciation for the sheer scale of the witch's powers, Jularra cleared her mind and waited patiently for Leona to make the next move.
“The Voidwarden,” Leona said. “Vylas thinks I can do something to help you?”
“He wasn’t sure,” Jularra responded gently. “He told me that if anyone could, it would be you.”
Leona shifted her feet and looked around. “Why did he think that?”
Jularra cycled through possible ways to formulate the delicate answer.
“Because… you two were…” Jularra started.
Leona broke out into a sad smile.
“I understand,” she said. “I understand.”
“He warned me,” Jularra continued, “that due to his... "mishandling"... of past events, approaching you for help might be…”
Leona looked directly at Jularra, curious.
“Dangerous,” Jularra finished.
Leona chuckled softly to herself as she paced in a circle. “He acted in the only way he could,” she said somberly. She turned back to face Jularra. “I wanted to spend every minute I had learning. Minutes spent with him were minutes lost.”
Jularra returned Leona’s now-gentle gaze. The frozen block of animosity and fear that surrounded Jularra’s perception of the woman began to thaw.
“Vylas has been my closest friend since I was a child,” Jularra told her. “Every time your name came up, a bright light of regard blazed in his eyes.”
Leona grunted, though with humor or shame Jularra couldn't tell.
“Did it? A warm flame that I’m sure scorched his heart at the same time.”
Leona forced out a heavy sigh. Then she waved her former adversaries over.
As they approached, Jularra reached into the small pouch around her neck and produced a letter from Vylas, which she handed to Leona. Leona tilted her head appreciatively. Jularra noticed that she hesitated, just for a moment, before reaching out to take the letter.
Leona stared at the letter for some time. Finally, she looked back up to Jularra.
“All right, Jularra. What is it that you need my help with?”
Jularra swallowed and set her sights on the massive monument behind Leona.
“You’re aware of the pact my ancestors had with the Voidwarden?”
Leona nodded.
Jularra sighed under the weight of a topic that she hated more each day. “I originally planned to perpetuate the agreement,” Jularra began. “I took steps to comply, but then I... I lost the baby.”
“And you ran out of time to conceive again?” Leona surmised. Jularra nodded.
Leona tapped her chin. “Does the Voidwarden know?”
Jularra shook her head. “Vylas made a potion to disguise it.”
Leona nodded slowly. “My knowledge of magic is extensive,” she began pragmatically. “I’ve spent decades studying and learning.”
Jularra's stomach sank. She guessed where this was going. Still, she waited for Leona to continue.
“How old is the Voidwarden?” asked Leona.
Jularra rushed to answer. “It's ancient, I know, but—”
“It has to be centuries old, Jularra!”
“Yes, I understand, but—”
“We’re not even sure what type of creature it is, right?” Leona interrupted again.
“That doesn’t matter. It’s just the agreement we need to—”
“It absolutely does matter, Jularra! The feasibility of destroying the agreement between it and Acorilan is directly correlated to the nature of its existence, its age, and its power!”
Jularra shoved her hands through her hair in frustration.
“I know, Leona! But there has to be something that can be done to break that oath. I need to end that agreement. I’m not asking you to destroy it—only to help me consider what it might take!”
Leona glared at her, silently contemplating.
"Please," added Jularra quietly.
Leona’s shoulders dropped. She turned towards the steps leading up to the monument. After a glance back at her allies, Jularra followed.
Leona did not look at her feet while she
