Chapter 272: Witch Tree [2]

“Gold.” Esther’s smile grew. “It’s beautiful.”

She could see the trunk first, rising through a quiet space she had never noticed within herself. Its surface shone with a warm golden light, brighter along the places where the Branches divided. Farther out, finer lines extended from them, delicate enough that she was afraid she would lose sight of them if she became distracted.

The Tree did not remain perfectly still. Light moved through it in slow currents, and Esther found that she could feel that movement as well as see it. Her breathing eased without her having to think about it.

“There are little lines coming from the Branches,” she said. “They look thin, but there are so many.”

“Those are the Veins. Do not try to touch them for now.”

“I won’t.”

“You have done very well.”

Esther giggled, delighted by the praise, and the image wavered.

“Oh!”

“Keep your attention on it,” Shana said, smiling despite herself. “You can be pleased afterward. For now, breathe and let it remain as it is.”

Esther pressed her lips together to contain another giggle. The gold returned to its earlier clarity.

Beside her, Hermione became even more determined.

Esther had found hers already. Hermione was pleased for her, of course, but she had no intention of sitting there for the rest of the lesson while her younger sister described something she could not see.

She brought her attention back to her chest and tried to put aside the habits she had learned from Strelley. She was accustomed to following mana toward her core, considering how it would move through a spell and what she could make from it. Each time she did that, Shana’s instructions became more difficult to follow.

This time she let the familiar path go.

A few minutes passed before she noticed another presence, faint at first, but distinct from the mana core she knew. She almost reached for it. Remembering the warning, she kept her hands open and followed the sensation without trying to direct it.

Red began to gather in the darkness behind her eyes.

Hermione’s breathing caught, then softened. The colour resolved into a trunk, rich and luminous, with Branches extending from it in forms too intricate to take in at once. Veins spread along them, finer than the Branches that supported them, carrying small movements of light.

She had expected something she could examine as she examined a Formula Ring. Instead, she found herself staring.

“It’s red,” she said quietly.

Shana turned toward her. “You can see it?”

“Yes. I can see the trunk and the Branches. The Veins too.”

Hermione followed one Branch outward, mesmerised by the way its finer vessels curved and separated. What Shana had explained began to make sense. She could distinguish the conduit from the Veins along it, though she could not yet imagine how to bring their ends together or twist them without losing the whole image.

“Good,” Shana said. “Stay focused. Both of you. Do not begin experimenting just because you have found them.”

Hermione had already been considering it.

“I wasn’t,” she replied, too quickly.

Esther made a small sound that might have been another giggle. Shana decided not to comment.

Airam had said nothing.

Her eyes remained closed, her back straight, but she had become so still that Shana watched her more closely. Unlike her sisters, she did not look absorbed. Her brows were drawn together, and the fingers of her uninjured hand had begun to curl against her knee.

“Airam?” Shana asked.

“I can’t see anything.”

“That is all right. Take your time.”

“I am.”

Shana heard the irritation beneath the answer.

“Then stop searching for a moment. Pay attention to your breathing again.”

Airam tried. She felt the ground beneath her legs, the air entering her lungs, the pulse of pain in her bandaged palm. None of it brought her closer to the Tree.

Esther had seen gold. Hermione had seen red. Both could describe their Branches and Veins while Airam sat in darkness.

She knew her witchcraft was there. She had used it without lessons, called on it when her sisters were in danger, and felt its strength answer before she had time to think. It made no sense that she could wield it and yet fail to see the place from which it came.

“Do not order it to appear,” Shana said.

Airam clenched her teeth.

“You cannot force your Tree into showing itself. You are trying to recognise it, not make it obey.”

Airam loosened her hand with an effort. She drew another breath and tried to follow the strange pressure within her chest without demanding a shape from it.

For a few moments, nothing changed.

Then the grass around her feet stirred.

Shana noticed before either of the younger sisters did. There was no wind strong enough to account for it, and the movement travelled outward from where Airam sat.

“Princess Airam. Please ease back.”

Airam did not answer. Something had finally shifted within her, and she followed it, certain that if she stopped now she would lose it again. The pressure deepened. She could feel power gathering, familiar and close, but still no Tree appeared.

The ground trembled beneath them.

Hermione’s red Tree vanished as her concentration broke. She opened her eyes and looked toward Airam. Esther opened hers a moment later, startled by the movement under her crossed legs.

“Eldest Sister?”

Airam didn’t understand; she already seemed out, somewhere else.

The air around her had begun to feel wrong. Nothing visible hung above her, yet Hermione could sense something pressing outward, dark and destructive, gathering strength while her sister remained unaware of what she was releasing.

Shana rose immediately, feeling the threat.

“Stay behind me.”

Loose runes formed around her hands as she stepped between Airam and the younger girls. She twisted the Veins she needed, drawing their threads together through one Branch before releasing the woven spell. The runes spread into a protective barrier around Hermione and Esther, its light trembling under the pressure moving through the yard.

Airam’s head bowed slightly. Sweat had gathered along her hairline, and her breathing was no longer measured.

“Airam, open your eyes.”

She did not respond, and instead she gritted her teeth harder.

Shana moved closer without dropping the protection around the other two. The ground shuddered again beneath her feet. She caught Airam by the shoulder and shook her strongly.

“Airam!”

Her eyes snapped open.

For an instant she looked at Shana without understanding why the woman stood over her. Then she blinked, drew a sharp breath, and turned toward her sisters.

Hermione and Esther were behind the barrier.

Esther looked scared and worried, much like Hermione, who had moved closer to her, watching Airam rather than the runes between them.

The pressure in the air receded. Shana kept her hand on Airam’s shoulder until the last tremor passed through the ground.

Airam looked from the protection to her sisters’ faces. Sweat ran down her temple. Slowly, she lowered her gaze and clenched both hands against her knees.

Pain flared in her injured palm. Her nails pressed into the cuts beneath the bandage, and a small stain of blood spread through the cloth.

“I can’t see it…” she said.