Atsuki Nightwhisper's Arc

Chapter 17 of 17

Atsuki left the monastery at first light. His grandmother and uncle were safe under the sealed rulings, but they were still fugitives. The monastery was recorded as a refuge for people wanted by law. No priest could touch them now, but no court would let them walk free either. Only one authority could change that. So Atsuki went down the cliffs and asked Aelindor where fugitive rulings were undone. Aelindor sat in his groove at the base of the old oak. He did not look up from his page. "The council hall," he said. "The High Chancellor issues those." He set down his pen. "He speaks for the king. He can lift the mark or leave it." Then he reached into his robe and drew out a worn brass medallion, its face rubbed smooth. "This is old. An amnesty token. Show it. It may help." He gave it to Atsuki and said nothing more. The Council Hall of Elders rose from carved stone and dark timber, its doors banded in iron. Atsuki climbed the wide steps and asked to see the man who ruled on fugitives. He waited hours on a cold bench. At last a small fairy came out, gold horns curling from his hair, tiny golden flowers blooming along them. Thin wings caught the light behind him. This was Aurelius Thornbloom, the High Chancellor. He moved fast for someone so small, and clerks stepped aside without being asked. "You want two fugitives freed," Aurelius said. He did not sit. "Explain why the crown should care." Atsuki set the sealed rulings on the table. The archon's signet. The warden's seal. "The blood debt that marked them is closed by law. They fled to escape a priest who no longer has any claim. They hid because they had to, not because they broke the king's law." Aurelius read both rulings without touching them. His small mouth pressed thin. "Sealed debts I know. Fugitive status is another matter. It does not lift itself." He tapped the table once. Atsuki laid the brass medallion beside the seals. "Aelindor Whisperwind gave me this. An amnesty token." Aurelius picked it up. He turned it in his fingers and studied the rubbed face. Something in him shifted. "This is genuine. Old, but the crown still honors these." He looked at Atsuki a long moment. "You climbed a long way for two old people." "They are my family." The Chancellor called for a scribe. He dictated an order in clipped words, then pressed his own seal into the hot wax. "Your grandmother and uncle are free of the fugitive mark," he said. "They may live anywhere in Eldergrove. This is binding." He handed Atsuki the sealed page. Atsuki held it and felt the last chain fall away. His family was safe and free at last. But the order named a home in Eldergrove, and his grandmother and uncle had no home. The watchtower was lost. The monastery was only a shelter. Free people needed a place to stand.