Page 8 of Sunsplitter

As Fi was being responsible today, she steered Aisinay off the road, weaving through hillocks and tundra ponds until shecame upon a pair of patrol officers in dark blue coats. Ahead of them lay charred timber, the remnants of a building.

At their feet lay a heap of muddy cloth. Body-shaped.

“What’s happened here?” Fi called out.

The officers turned. She watched their appraisal of her Void horse, her rainbow hair.

Then, a morepointedappraisal of her Void horse. Her rainbow hair. Her black and red coat. Fi was still settling into the role, might not know what to call herself, but she retained enough petty spite toward law enforcement to enjoy flummoxing patrolmen any day.

“Miss Kolbeck? We hadn’t heard you were visiting the city.”

“Territory business,” she returned imperiously. “What’s happened here?”

“A fire, miss. Burned the place down before anyone could stop it. Owner was a sheep herder. Poor bastard didn’t get out in time.”

Fi surveyed charred foundations, loose sheep wandering the yard. What a wretched way to go. “If you—”

Aisinay lurched beneath her. Fi barely held on as her horse pranced, nostrils flared. She pressed a hand to Aisinay’s neck, urging calm.

Fi didn’t enjoy the smell of burnt flesh, either.

“If you need help,” she continued, “or if there’s family needing assistance, send word to the governor in Thomaskweld. We’ll support however we can.” A year had shown her the needs of a territory were endless. Every small kindness was remembered.

The patrolmen nodded. Fi, eager for home, urged Aisinay toward the road.

The horse wouldn’t budge. She pranced again, eyes wide.

“What’s gotten into you?”

Aisinay took longer to soothe this time, her snout raised,scenting the air. Fi scanned the moors, searching for the source of her agitation. There were only sheep. Only burnt rubble.

Fi dismounted and grasped the fin down Aisinay’s neck, leading her into a walk.

Reluctantly, Aisinay complied. Her head stayed tilted. Still testing the breeze.

The fickle horse was back in good spirits the moment she smelled home.

A couple hundred miles lay between Calvariz and their destination, but Fi never traveled the long way. They stepped through the first Curtain outside the city, off the Winter Plane, onto a smaller Shard. The fragment of reality lay beneath silvered light, speckled in heather brush with bone-white stems and pale leaves, stone crumbling into nothingness at the edges.

Around the Shard, the view was black, starless, moonless. An endless Void of liminal space beyond realities, ozone sharp on Fi’s tongue.

Maybe she wasn’t taking thefastestway home. The human concept of Voidwalkers—mortals who could see Curtains, but still relied on walking across Shards to travel from one Plane to another—was a misnomer, Antal insisted on reminding her. According to daeyari,realVoidwalking would require Fi to jump into the abyss itself. A feat she’d survived before.

But Aisinay preferred solid ground beneath her hooves.

They passed through a Curtain onto another Shard. Another. Another. Each stepping stone warped distance compared to the Plane, cutting the journey down to an hour. As the final Curtain approached, Aisinay perked her ears and pushed into a canter.

They passed through with a prickle of cold, back onto the Winter Plane.

Twilight lay upon the mountain ridge. Shiverpines loomed above, needles dark and snow-heavy. Fi set Aisinay loose into the trees, off to forage for fish in the nearby river.

Her cottage lay in the clearing. Windows dark.

Had she really been gone a whole month this time? Her longest absence yet. More and more, she spent time where she was needed, in Thomaskweld and other major cities. Another reason the world felt bigger—her quiet retreat in the woods, traded for a capital city.

Still had to check in occasionally, make sure no rats had moved into her cupboards. Fi kicked the snow off her boots then stepped inside.

She touched a metal wall panel, Shaping energy out of arm muscle to power on the lights. The place was as she’d left it. Her plants, she’d cleared off the kitchen counter. The table, messy with empty energy capsules. The air, stuffy with disuse.