She paced around their small room. Ellio mindlessly watched her while Azhar sat on the windowsill, looking out towards the ocean. Jule would’ve preferred Azhar to at least pretend to care. But apparently her form of ‘care’ included blabbing secrets out to anyone who’d listen. So she refrained from trying to entice her to join their discussion.

  “So Guardian Spirits do not consume corruption.” She listed out the main piece of information they learned. Ellio nodded. “Instead, they eat purity?”

  Ellio nodded again. “We’re sure we can trust what those merchants told us?”

  Jule waved off his concern before realizing he hadn’t taken Ancient Studies at the academy as she had. “Thelccea is the oldest civilization in the world, known for its wonders and miracles. Outside of Anu, they have the deepest understanding of magics and close relationships with numerous peoples. I’ve heard their cities have quite the diversity, even. Their knowledge is as good as truth.”

  He blinked at the information, nodding, and added to his memory. Or at least, Jule hoped that’s what he did. She never enjoyed repeating herself, and she’d already need to do so for Taiga and Mouse. She snuck a peek at Azhar. And maybe another repeat or three for her.

  She sighed.

  “So on the basis of belief, the standard understanding for how Guardian Spirits functions is… wrong throughout all of Anu?” Ellio munched on some sort of bready stick, snapping off the top with his teeth.

  “I guess.” Jule threw her arms up in the air, as if to fling all of her current annoyances away. Unfortunately for her, it didn’t work, and she stewed on them instead. “I mean, how is that even possible? What was the point of the academy if they taught inaccurate assumptions?”

  “Well,” Ellio mulled over his words for a long moment, and irritation took over her.

  “What??”

  He flinched at her tone. Only a smidge of remorse stifled her anger. “Lanria is the knowledge center of Anu for all things magic. They even lured away every magician from Monx with honeyed promises. So even our academy in Monx relies on the information Lanria publishes, right?”

  “So, you’re saying,” she pursed her lips, “Lanria either has no idea what they’re doing or they’re purposely spreading wrong information.”

  “I,” he paused, and instead of snapping, Jule gave him an extra moment to gather his thoughts. He sheepishly looked to the ground. “I think it’s closer to the latter. If they’ve gathered all the magicians in Anu, then they’ve had the best resources at their disposal this entire time. It’s doubtful every single magician and scholar of Lanria was incorrect about something this important.”

  She considered. He was right. This along with the blatant censorship of information about demons and the outlawing of books from abroad aligned with only one outcome. “Lanria’s queen is keeping their population in the dark about what’s happening in the country.”

  “In all of Anu, really. Queen Nolara made sure they were the only source of magical knowledge on the continent. And then changed those facts as they pleased… I just don’t know why?”

  “Why?” Jule paused her pacing.

  Ellio nodded. “What’s her reason for it? Surely something like this isn’t done on a whim.” Neither said anything, and Ellio added, “wouldn’t the Ganakri know the truth?”

  “The Ganakri…” Jule always thought it was odd that every tribe of the Ganakri slowly disappeared from history over the last couple centuries. But every cause was an unfortunate accident. A mudslide, flooding, magical beast attacks, and most recently, bandits.

  But in Taiga’s fevered state… he’d revealed it was in fact mercenaries who killed his people, right? “Mercenaries are loyal to those who pay, no matter the emblem they wear.”

  “What?”

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  “Taiga said that before. Mercenaries are loyal to those who pay. So who would pay for the Ganakri to be massacred?”

  He blinked, tension rising in his shoulders. Ah, that’s right, she hadn’t told him. “Taiga mentioned it by accident. His people were killed by mercenaries, not bandits.”

  “You just… kept that information to yourself the whole time??” Ellio stood, slack-jawed.

  She waved him off. “I don’t have to tell you everything, Ellio. And I’m telling you now, anyway.” She waited a moment to see if he'd say anything back, but knew he wouldn’t. He never did, afterall. “Back to the important part.”

  “Who would pay mercenaries to kill the Ganakri?”

  She nodded. “And I doubt just any mercenaries. Post a job like that up in Winolin and it would even get a nibble. Besides, if they had—”

  “People would know mercenaries did it, and not bandits.” Ellio took another bite of his stick.

  “Exactly.”

  “But Jules,” Ellio looked at her, “wouldn’t Taiga know best? Shouldn’t we ask him? And besides, this feels… intrusive.”

  Yeah, because Taiga would really tell if asked. She rolled her eyes and sighed. She supposed it could be considered intrusive. “So then we’re back to wondering why the Ganakri never rectified the misinformation. Which, I guess, might be another Taiga question.”

  “Back to the Guardians,” Ellio plopped the last of his stick into his mouth and crunched it, “does this new information about what they eat help us at all?”

  Jule tapped a foot, returning to her pacing in front of the bed and table. “I can see why Taiga got confused about the magics now. He probably saw orange magic being consumed and thought it was corruption because, well, we all thought they ate corruption. Because why wouldn’t they!” She felt her voice rise and her tone sharpen. She huffed, trying to release her quickening temper.

  “So the Guardian Spirits, which eat purity, are imploding from too much purity. Rather than the corruption in them disappearing despite consuming it constantly, as we thought. This means their innate corruption is still disappearing. At least now we know it’s not disappearing as quickly as they consume it.” Ellio kept his calm tone as he spoke.

  Her feet stopped as a thought overcame her. Taiga hoped that since Pnendua was in the corrupted zone, they could constantly get a supply of corruption by consumption. They hoped it would protect Pnendua from purifying. But if this was true then… there was nothing to prevent Pnendua from getting sick still.

  She bit her lip. This was why she never placed hope in anything. They’d hoped for the wrong thing, and Pnendua was just as vulnerable as before. And they still didn’t know what caused the sickness. “If only there was a way to force corruption back into the Guardians.”

  Ellio blinked at her. “Something that can manipulate magics? Give the Guardian the corruption it needed to cycle their own magics and possibly heal?”

  “The Ganakri can do that.” Azhar smiled, still looking out the window.

  Jule stared at the woman. She’d entirely forgotten she was even there.

  “What do you mean?” Ellio asked, his slow response likely for the same reason.

  Azhar shrugged. “The Ganakri are one of the few that can use magic like that. Fairies use magic through wishes, sirens through their voice, demons through feeding. But Ganakri interact directly with magic. That’s how they balance things.”

  “You just,” Jule tapped a row of fingers on the table, “know all this? You can’t even remember what you had for breakfast, and this is what you know?”

  “Know what?” Azhar turned to her, rocking her head to the side. “What do I know?”

  “About the Ganakri!”

  “Who?” Azhar blinked, her face drawing blank, before returning to stare out the window.

  Jule pressed her knuckles to her forehead, breathing deeply in and out before opening her eyes again. Heat cooled from her after several breaths. “Fine. Whatever.”

  “She’s right. I remember… Guardian Spirits and Ganakri are ancient and tied to the gods, which gives them a closer connection to magics. So maybe Taiga could theoretically manipulate purity and corruption?”

  “He’s never done that before. Nor mentioned it.” Jule didn’t recall learning anything like this. Where’d Ellio hear it? “Let’s write to him and ask—”

  Laughter interrupted her thoughts, and she turned to Azhar, who’s head rocked back, rippling with every laugh. Jule trembled in rising anger. “What now??”

  “You really think,” Azhar’s eyes darkened, focusing solely on her, “in a country that forbids outsiders, their knowledge, manipulates, and prevents spread of important information, doesn’t monitor mail?”

  The direct and utterly firm way Azhar spoke stunned both Jule and Ellio.

  And more, she was right.

  “So, back to Winolin?” Ellio looked uneasily from Azhar to Jule.

  Could they gain anything more here? Maybe, but without a way to get more information about the imbalance or this illness, they were at a standstill. “Back to Winolin.”