Contents
Chapter 23. Now: Maris
Overview
Maris slips back into the Citadel and clashes with Nej over her disappearance and her challenge to the Consul. She reveals blank aviary messages and learns Nej knows nothing of them. Using her mother’s godsblood, Maris unveils a hidden first-language cipher but cannot decode it. She confirms the New Legion will cross in three days, sharpening the stakes.
Summary
Under cover of night, Maris slips back across the river after Zuri bribes the south-bridge legionnaires. At the villa, Nej’s worry turns to anger as he confronts Maris for vanishing, missing the portraitist, and publicly challenging the Consul. Maris insists she asked what any Magistrate should and hints the city is losing the war.
Pressed for honesty, Maris probes Nej’s relationship with the Consul. Nej calls himself an advisor and warns that every choice now matters. When Maris reveals the New Legion plans to cross in three days, Nej demands how she knows but gets no answer. He urges unity, promising to handle the Consul, and forbids further trips to the Lower City.
Maris tests his trust: she presents a blank aviary parchment taken from the New Legion’s downed birds. Nej claims ignorance, suggesting the Consul might be writing to the gods, but admits nothing. Doubting his explanation, Maris recalls similar blanks on her mother’s desk before the harvest revelations.
In Iola’s study, Maris unlocks a cupboard, takes the last vial of godsblood, and spreads it over the parchment. Hidden text emerges in the first language, arranged as a cipher requiring a key she cannot find among her mother’s scrolls. Surrounded by unrolled records and trinkets, Maris realizes the Consul’s secret communications are encoded—and time is running out before the New Legion’s crossing.
Who Appears
- MarisNew Magistrate; clandestinely returns, confronts Nej, reveals blank aviary notes, uses godsblood to expose an undeciphered first-language cipher.
- NejUncle and advisor; worried and angry, claims ignorance of messages, vows to handle the Consul, forbids Lower City visits.
- The ConsulOffstage; suspected sender of secret aviary messages, projects calm certainty about victory.
- ZuriAlly who bribes legionnaires so Maris can cross the river unnoticed.
- Iola CasperiaDeceased mother; her study holds the godsblood Maris uses to reveal the hidden message.
- LucaLeader of the New Legion; offstage, his plan to cross in three days drives Maris’s urgency.