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k_a_webbPart 8, fifteenth continuation
Lucille hadn’t realised she knew so much. When she was studying the worlds she’d found herself fascinated by everything, including the creators of both the worlds and the races, which led to her spending hours in the library reading the journals that had been left behind. There was a chance, from what she’d read, that Emrys knew more about the Web than he was letting on, which could mean he was still alive somewhere. It was possible that all the fae who’d disappeared would once again step onto Athare, because there was no way of proving they’d died. She didn’t think it was likely, believing they’d all walked away for a reason, but that didn’t stop her from occasionally hoping that maybe she might one day meet Riordan, or Emrys, or Bronwen, or maybe even Eithne.
If Lucille hadn’t met time travellers before she didn’t think she’d feel the same way. Meeting Leolin had changed her perspective on the doors, and the worlds, after she’d already been forced to change it once when Kniroch chose her to be his Walker. Time travelling had always seemed impossible, except for the fae who were born with the ability and mostly chose not to use it, but she should have realised by that point that the impossible was possible within the Web. How else would a group of desperate fae have created the Web in the first place?
The idea of writing a book about it all, for Quiar to begin with, was a good idea and a bad idea all wrapped into one very tempting package. Lucille knew if the Council found out that she was teaching anyone what she knew it was likely she wouldn’t be a Walker for much longer. At the same time she knew that no matter what the Council did she’d still be a Walker. In the end it was always going to be the worlds who had the final choice if someone travelled there or not, which made her wonder why they permitted the Council Walkers to step onto them.
‘To protect the true Walkers,’ Quiar murmured, almost making Lucille jump.
‘I’m never going to get used to you doing that,’ Lucille replied, trying not to smile. ‘Do you think there will ever be a time when the fae realises that the Web is much more than they expected it to be?’
‘Possibly, if they ever accept responsibility for the choices that were made when they first arrived on Athare. I doubt they will, because the fae as a race like to bury their heads in the sand and pretend things never happened, while trying to keep control of the things that never happened at the same time.’ Quiar laughed. ‘Sometimes I wonder why they still exist.’
‘Luck and fae who do accept responsibility.’
‘True. It does appear, from what Athare has been saying, that at least some of the younger fae are beginning to leave behind the warded settlements to become a real race of the Web. You were born at a time of change, Lucille, and none of us quite know what’s going to happen.’ The world sighed. ‘We never do. We just have to accept what follows.’
‘If I find out anything from any of the diviners I know I will pass the information on.’
‘I know you will, child. The information a Walker can gather is one of the reasons we finally accepted what Athare was saying and chose to have Walkers of our own.’
‘There’s a story I’d quite enjoy being told.’
‘One day, Lucille, when you aren’t in the middle of finding out who’s been creating counterfeit enchantments.’
‘Can you help us?’
‘If you find out enough to send me in the right direction I might be able to, but the problem with being a sentient world is that being able to see everything doesn’t always help. There’s a priest in Mothar I could tell you about, because he’s praying to me, which is unusual…’ Silence followed, so Lucille waited patiently, knowing that Quiar would return. ‘Even Mothar is changing. That’s fascinating.’ It was easy to hear the happiness in Quiar’s voice. ‘Seeing what’s happening doesn’t always tell me if what’s happening is good or bad. For me to have a better understanding I would have to connect with someone, but there are so many people who don’t even know that I exist that it’s difficult to do more than watch and try to learn from what they’re doing whether their actions are going to adversely affect someone. Then it’s unlikely I’d be able to warn the person who’s going to be affected.’
‘So basically we have to do the legwork and then you might be able to help, if the work we’ve done gives us the right suspect.’
‘Pretty much. Sorry.’
‘Don’t be. We all have our limitations.’
‘There are deities who might be able to help you.’
‘I don’t believe in deities.’
‘You’re sitting there having a mental conversation with a sentient world and yet you don’t believe in the deities.’
‘None of them have ever talked to me, so why should I believe in them?’
‘Open yourself to them. You never know what might happen.’
The sudden emptiness of her mind told Lucille that Quiar had gone, probably to talk to the Motharan priest who was praying to her, and Lucille thought for a moment about deities. In Mab’s journals, written while she was still Queen of the Thirteen Families, she talked about an unexpected meeting she’d had with Persephone and Hecate, and Lucille knew that other races believed in deities. Obviously the worlds did too, so maybe it was time for her to attempt connecting with one of them, because it wasn’t as though she talked to enough disembodied voices. Her problem was, she thought as she sipped her juice, she had enough complications in her life and connecting with one or more deities would just add more. It was something she might have done without worrying too much if she’d been nothing more than a Council Walker, because they were something more to study.
***
Watching Lucille was interesting. Sini kept her eyes locked on the Moonjumper as she seemed to focus on something that none of them could see. Once again the chimera found herself thinking about becoming a Moonjumper, because she was fascinated by everything that Lucille had told them so far, but at the same time she knew it was unlikely she would ever be accepted. The Council would look at her and see a bird, instead of someone worthy of a one of the sought after places as a Moonjumper. Sighing, she nibbled a couple of nuts, before glancing out of the window once more.
It seemed like time had slowed down for them, so they could learn from Lucille, but Sini knew it was time she stopped learning and started teaching. That was when Lucille finished whatever she was doing. Until then Sini had all the time she needed to think. She knew if she hadn’t met Lucille she wouldn’t even be thinking about becoming a Moonjumper. Being a guide made her happy. Living in Seahorse Port made her happy. Her problem was knowing that there were other worlds out there she could explore, because she’d never talked to the inhabitants of the other world settlements about what they’d been forced to leave behind. Bringing up something so painful had seemed unkind.
“Why don’t the Council help the people who are displaced?” Sini asked, even though she wasn’t expecting an answer.
“The first rule.” Lucille sighed. “If we were to help them we’d be getting too involved, even though we’re supposed to help them fit into their new world if we can.”
“Nothing about the Council really makes sense.”
“One of the main problems is the fact that there are rules created by the fae, who aim to constrain us in every way they can, and then there are rules created by the Council, in an attempt to work around those constraints. It’s a mess, really, that always makes us hope that one day the fae will realise they can’t control the worlds or the Web the way they want to. Magic isn’t controllable when you free it in the way they did when they made the Web.”
“Magic evolves.”
“Exactly.” Lucille smiled at Sini. “Then there are the volcanoes, which mean the fae have even less control, and it’s due to them that there are three different magics on Siaral that the fae never planned on.”
“Siaral?”
“The Breeders’ world. It was meant to be one of the least experimental worlds magically, because Piaras and the race creators he was working with wanted to focus on creatures rather than anything else. At least until Mairin asked Piaras for a place for her magical race, which led to a hidden place being added to the world, and then the volcanoes went off which added more magics to the mix.”
“I think I’ve heard of it. Occasionally we get dragons coming through the doors.”
“Dragons have a lot of freedom. They’re like the natural Moonjumpers, because they can travel the Web without needing tattoos, but they have a lot more freedom. As they’re creatures the fae don’t think they can do any real damage. We’re fortunate the fae are idiots sometimes.”
“What do you mean?”
Being a creature doesn’t make you stupid. The dragons are…” Lucille shook her head. “They made a choice, probably not long after they were first created, that they were a part of the Web. The Web accepted them. Now they’re used a lot as messengers, I have a couple I work with who happily take messages to Carver for me, by anyone who needs to contact someone. Another advantage of the dragons is that they can travel through time as well. If you’re a time traveller stuck in another time you can send a message to your loved ones to let them know you’re safe.”
“Not everyone knows about the dragons.”
“Which is a problem, but we have to be careful about who knows what the dragons can do. It’s likely if the fae find out they’d exterminate them.”
“Instead of destroying the Council we need to destroy the fae,”
Lucille nodded. “That’s why there are races out there who would protect the Council if someone tried to destroy it. They understand that the main problem is the fae and even with the Council gone the fae would still attempt to control everything. It would just mean that there weren’t Moonjumpers there doing their very best to work around the rules that the fae have put in place.”
“There would still be the natural Moonjumpers.”
“Who would have no protection from the fae’s attempt to exterminate them as well. A lot of the true Moonjumpers do what the can to keep the natural Moonjumpers safe, even though we don’t always agree with the choices they make.” Lucille laughed. “I know an assassin, a time changer, and a tattoo artist who are all natural Moonjumpers, and the only one I agree with on most of the choices they make is the tattoo artist.”
“What’s a time changer?” Peric asked.
“Basically he travels the worlds looking for points in history he can affect with his magic. The only world he hasn’t trued that on is Quiar, but that’s because he knows Quiar would never let him set foot on her.”
“The worlds have a choice?”
“I told you before that they’re sentient. Taithmarin chose to block the fae, which meant it blocked anyone who had the fae ability to create doors. From what I’ve heard the world uses its’ single door to gather the races it wishes to have on it. If any world doesn’t want someone on it then it won’t let them there. They let the Council Moonjumpers on because it protects the Moonjumpers they want on their worlds and really the Council Moonjumpers don’t have much of an effect on the worlds. Most of them just gather the information they need to write the histories or let the Council know if there have been any major magical changes. It’s the natural Moonjumpers who can have an effect on the world that the world may not like, so they keep an eye on that.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.