Cyndi Cylendar's Arc

Chapter 3 of 6

Sierra fell asleep on the couch around midnight. Cyndi moved the last of her charts into a locked box in the shed and walked back to her desk. She opened the feed from the cameras aimed at Bella's house. The kitchen window was lit. Cyndi leaned closer. Bella stood at the counter with Silver beside her. Silver's white hair caught the lamp. Bella spoke, and Silver nodded once, then again. Cyndi could not hear them, but she knew a lesson when she saw one. Silver was being taught to hold the realm. Not Goldie. Not Sierra. Silver. Cyndi watched Bella tap the counter twice, and Silver copied the motion. A handoff, quiet and steady. Bella had already picked. Cyndi switched to the feed on Goldie's new window. Goldie sat on the floor with Sierra across from her. Cyndi did not know when Sierra had slipped out; she checked the couch camera and saw a folded blanket where her daughter had been. Both girls held their hands in front of them. Goldie's fingers moved, and a candle flame on the rug stopped. It held for a count of five, then wobbled back. Sierra tried next. Her flame paused for one count. Bella walked in behind them and set a hand on each daughter's shoulder. Training. Not a demonstration. Training. Cyndi sat back. She had been counting on time. She had told herself Bella would drag out the choice for years, and in those years Cyndi would build her network, gather her tools, and step in when the seat was empty. Now she saw the shape of it. Silver would take the role within the year. Goldie and Sierra would hold the power beside her, trained hands, loyal to Bella. Three young rulers who knew their work. Not the confused new leaders Cyndi had pictured. A wall. If Cyndi waited, she would be waiting outside a locked door forever. She closed the laptop and pressed her palms flat on the desk. The window of a weak, untrained successor was already gone. She pulled a fresh page toward her and wrote one line at the top: move before Silver is confirmed. She underlined it. Then she wrote the second line. Split them. Silver, Goldie, and Sierra could not be allowed to stand together. If she could pull even one away from Bella's house, the training would break. Cyndi thought of Goldie's brief hug at the gate. She thought of Sierra folding her arms on the couch. Neither would come back on a kind word. She would need pressure, and she would need it soon. She turned off the desk lamp and sat in the dark, planning the first crack.