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k_a_webbPosted in return for a poem by Elizabeth Barrette – if you’re interested in a setting rental or character adoption then these will be the sorts of stories you’ll receive. (Email me for more information on the barter system.)
The room was dimly lit for two reasons. Firstly, Frode’s eyes. A disadvantage of being a quetzal. He didn’t mind, because the second reason was his trade. Using candles scattered around the room made the room seem more mystical and as a storytelling wizard his patrons appreciated the atmosphere. It could have simply been their imaginations that made it seem that way, combined with the way he looked and his interesting companions. Of course they couldn’t know that his companions were his friends, who’d helped him in way he could never have imagined until he’d fled to the Jade Basin, knowing that he could never live up to his family’s expectations.
Unsurprisingly Frode had changed his name, even before he started using his abilities to make a living. If anyone found him he knew exactly what would happen and that was something he was planning on avoiding. His companions made him seem even less like the quetzel he’d been before he left his family behind. For that he was grateful, because he’d never wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, but that had been what everyone had expected of him. As he was the son of a priest he should become a priest, whether he wanted to or not.
Neither Frode’s mother or father, or their families, had ever accepted that he wanted to be a storyteller. They thought it was beneath them, beneath a quetzal, when their true path should be that of the priesthood, while he had found it beautiful. He could use the illusions he created to make the stories he told come alive and until he met his new friends he’d never believed anyone would appreciate his abilities. When they did, when they looked on with smiles and amazement and made him believe in himself, he knew that he’d found where he was supposed to be. So he sat on his perch, knowing that once the sun set he could go gliding, doing what came to him naturally. He created stories in his mind, or maybe they were given to him by the characters, and, using illusions, he told them to anyone willing to listen.
Frode’s other abilities were what had led to the wizarding side. People came to him because he could divine with accuracy, heal almost any injury, transform, create and summon. They were the abilities that made his parents believe he would be a wonderful priest and he knew they were probably right. If he’d chosen to become a priest he would have been looked up to, but he would have hated every moment because priests didn’t have friends. They didn’t even really have relationships. His parents had only been together so his father could have an heir to his priestly throne, which had failed when he’d chosen to leave everything behind, wanting his sanity more than he’d ever loved his parents.
Occasionally Frode felt bad about the choices he’d made. Sometimes he even missed his family. Then he looked around at the family he’d chosen, as weird as they were, and knew he’d done the right thing. Maybe they were a weird group, maybe he shouldn’t be friends with mammals and a reptile, but he cared about them and he knew they cared back. For them that was enough to glue them together, no matter what other people thought of them.
***
Walking through the darkened room Jin looked over at Frode. He appeared to be asleep, finally, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have another nightmare. She always kept close, knowing he might need her. Some nights were better than others and she knew what haunted his dreams. If she’d been him it would haunt her too, even though he had people around him who would do everything they could to keep him safe if his family did find him. As one of those people she was glad that she could stay close to him when he was at his most vulnerable.
A slight noise had Jin moving towards Frode, but thankfully it was nothing more than a sleepy half snore. Smiling, she focused instead on the cloak she’d been making for him, using her abilities to make it so that it could be a part of his act and also work as an alarm if anything happened to go wrong. When she was working on anything it had to have more than one use, otherwise what was the point? In the moonlight she worked, wanting it to be a surprise once it was finished, listening to the noises all the sleepers were making.
When they’d first gathered together it had been nice to know that there would be someone to keep watch at all time. She, Asuman, and Frida took the night shift, while Plamen and Wieland took the day shift. There was, of course, some overlap, so they spent that time together. As they were all friends and had been since before they met Frode, but things had changed when they met him. Then, having a bird in their group, it almost made their gathering a little less strange, as it explained why Wieland would spend time with them. If they knew that Wieland had only stayed with them after Frode had arrived because of Plamen they would get some very strange looks.
Smiling to herself Jin thought about how their friendship had been before and how grateful they’d been to find someone who would make them make sense. Working for Frode meant they didn’t have to meet in secret, which was especially good for Plamen and Wieland. Glancing over at where the two of them were sleeping, Wieland wrapped around Plamen, she couldn’t help feeling happy for them all over again. Asuman and Frida would be outside, Frida no doubt watching Asuman fly around from a comfortable position hanging upside down in a tree using just her tail for grip. Together they were the happiest they’d ever been, which meant that something had to go wrong.
***
Frida was doing exactly what Jin thought she was doing. Hanging from a tree from her tail gave her the best view of the world around her and meant she didn’t have to think about what she was doing, instead focusing on what she could hear from the minds of everyone. It wasn’t a surprise that Jin was thinking about the time before Frode, because they all seemed to have been thinking about the past more than normal. She couldn’t tell if it was simply because they were all worried about the future might bring or if they were having some strange kind of premonition. That would be something to ask Frode, when he was awake.
The three sleepers, unsurprisingly, had sleepy thoughts. Frode was dreaming, rather than having one of his regular nightmares, which was nice, because there had been a number of times when the graphic violence in them had shocked her. It wasn’t unexpected. He wasn’t a normal quetzal, any more than they could be called normal either. Plamen and Wieland were the main example of that, being best friends even though they were from two different phyles, mammal and reptile. Sometimes she did think about the possibility of their group travelling to Larnach, where they’d be more accepted, although with Frode there they were more seen as his helpers rather than anything else.
Shaking her head, she focused on Asuman. When they were out together at night Asuman would do her thing and send back information to Frida in case someone had worked out who Frode really was. If that happened she didn’t want to think what might happen, but she knew they would all do their best to help him. There was Asuman with her shadow magic; Jin with her textile magic and the cloak she’d been working hard on for Frode; Plamen with his fire magic; Wieland with his egg magic and summoning ability; and her with her telepathy; as well as Frode’s mix of powers. Logically they should be able to, at the very least, escape from whoever it was that had found them, even though they were quetzels. Unfortunately life and logic often didn’t mix.
‘Nothing to report,’ Asuman sent, knowing Frida would pick it up although her own telepathy was nowhere near as strong.
‘Thank you, Asuman. Anything out there at all?’
‘Some tasty insects.’ Frida could hear Asuman’s smile. ‘The best part of night watch is definitely the insects.’
Frida couldn’t help smiling herself. ‘I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. Let me know if anything changes.’
‘Will do.’
With that Frida sent out her awareness as far as it could go, picking up a mix of sleepy thoughts, full of dreams, and the much more awake thoughts of the nocturnal races. They were who she was most interested with, even though she doubted the quetzels would work with anyone if they found out about Frode. It would be getting complacent that would be their downfall, so she’d always promised herself she would never get complacent.
***
Asuman played with the darkness as she flew along. It was fun and good practice, in case the worst happened. Like her friends she always had, in the back of her mind, a plan for what would happen if Frode ever got found by his family. She couldn’t understand the silly birds at all, because she could understand why Frode had never wanted to be a priest. Even though she’d been brought up on Mothar she never really understood why they worshipped the fae. They had created them, but that didn’t make them worth worshipping.
That was probably why she’d ended up with the group she had. All of them were unusual for Mothar, although Jin and Plamen could almost be called religious. It was hard to believe, but the only thing she could think might have made a difference was living in the Jade Basin. With worship of the fae being more integrated with every day life than anywhere else it was easy for it to be seen as nothing important. At least that was the way Asuman saw it. Of course she never made it obvious outside of the friends she had that she didn’t worship the fae the way she should.
Pushing her thoughts of religion to the back of her mind she kept a lookout for anything unusual. There were magics that would light up the sky in such a way she’d know for certain that something unusual was happening. Other magics she’d been able to find using her echolocation. If it wasn’t for Frode she probably wouldn’t have a use for that ability, but his arrival had changed all their worlds and she was grateful for that. She’d never been certain what she wanted to do with her life, so being paid to keep Frode, and her friends, safe, was easily the best job she could ever have been given.
‘Still nothing,’ she sent to Frida, wanting some connection with her friend. ‘Anything your end?’
‘Good to hear. All I’m getting is normal thoughts from the normal people.’ Asuman could hear Frida’s sigh even in her mind. ‘I don’t want to wish for something interesting to happen, but at the same time there are days when night watch is the most boring part of the day.’
‘True.’ Asuman checked all around once more. ‘It will be over soon and we can check in to tell them all it was another normal night.’
‘Do you think anyone will ever work out who Frode is?’
‘Frode is afraid, so I’d guess it is possible. I don’t know enough about quetzels to really have an opinion.’
‘I feel the same way. If Frode is scared then I’m going to keep coming out on night watch, no matter what, but I wish I knew more about the quetzals he’s on the run from.’
‘We should ask him in the morning. I would like to know more about what I’m searching for so I can do my job better.’
***
Yawning, Plamen stretched, doing his best not to disturb Wieland. Wieland always woke a little later than he did. Carefully he stepped over the curls of snake, only letting himself look around the room once he was certain he wasn’t going to do something stupid like stand on his friend. Jin glanced over at him and smiled, putting away the cloak she’d been working on so hard because it wouldn’t be long before Frode woke if he was up.
“Morning, Plamen. Sleep okay?”
“Wonderfully,” he replied. “It’s amazing how snuggly a snake can be.” He smiled down at Wieland. “Quiet night?”
“Seems so.”
Frida bounded through the window, pulling the shutters closed behind her with her tail. “Very quiet. Asuman kept herself busy eating insects while I was listening in on a very interesting night in one of the Matamata’s head.”
“Is that really something you should be doing?” Plamen asked, amusement filling his voice.
“Probably not, but I had nothing else to do last night.” Frida smiled at Plamen. “Asuman and I were talking about asking Frode for a little more information so we know what we’re looking for.”
Jin looked over at the still sleeping Frode. “It would be a sensible thing to do, but I worry about how it might affect him. He’s been having more nightmares recently.”
“That is something I’d noticed,” Frida said. “The problem is we’re all thinking more about what we’re going to do if Frode’s family do find him and I can’t help wondering why. It’s possible the Frode has picked up on our worries and we’re affecting his nightmares or something really is coming and we’re picking up on it.”
“Really?” Plamen looked between Frida and Jin. “I thought that was only something that Wieland and I had been talking about.”
“It’s all of us,” Frida said. “Take Jin’s gift for Frode. If she wasn’t worried then I doubt that she’d be making a cloak that was an alarm in case something happened to him with none of us around.”
Glancing at Frode again, Jin nodded. “She’s right.” Sighing, she nodded. “We talk to Frode. If something is coming I want to be as ready for it as I can and if we’re all worried about nothing then I’d rather know for certain rather than be in the dark.”
“Talk to Frode about what?” Asuman asked, as she flew though one of the gaps made especially for her, landing on Plamen’s head. “Morning, Plamen.”
“Morning, Asuman.” Plamen smiled at her form of greeting. “We’re going to talk to him about whether it’s our worries affecting him or if something might be coming in the future.”
“I’m glad we decided. What’s for breakfast?”
“You’ve been eating insects all night,” Frida said, shaking her head. “How can you want breakfast?”
“Insects don’t last very long and I don’t sleep well if I’m not full.”
Smiling Jin patted one of Asuman’s wings gently, so Plamen could feel it. “I’ll put your breakfast on in a minute, Asuman. While I’m around you’ll never have to go to bed hungry.”
***
Slithering towards his friends Wieland stretched out his whole body. It made him feel ready for the rest of the day. The first to see him moving was Frida, who smiled over at him, and then Jin, who followed Frida’s example. He waved his tail in reply, before feeling Asuman land on him, the way she did every morning.
“Morning, Wieland. Sleep well?”
“Last night was a good night. Interesting dreams.”
“What were you dreaming about?” Plamen asked, turning to look at them.
“Our first meeting, actually.”
Plamen smiled. “That was a good day. I never thought I could be friends with a reptile and you proved me wrong. You prove me wrong every day.”
“I never thought I’d be friends with a mammal either. I’m glad we were both wrong.” He looked over at Jin. “What’s for breakfast?”
Jin shook her head. “I get the idea. I should be working on breakfast.”
From Frode’s stand a sleepy, “Well, you are the best cook out of all of us,” got unanimous agreement. “If we didn’t have you to cook for us we’d all starve.”
“Asuman wouldn’t,” Frida said, grinning. “She’s too good at catching insets.”
“True.” Frode moved, stretching his wings out. “I heard you mention you wanted to talk to me about something.”
Wieland looked at Plamen, confused. “We did,” Plamen said. “Frida suggested it after a conversation she and Asuman had last night. We’re a little worried about why all our thoughts have turned to the possibility of someone finding you at the same time.”
Frode looked at them all, one at a time. “It could be me. This time of year my mind always turns to thinking about my family, because it’s when I left them all behind, but this hasn’t happened before so maybe we should throw the coins to find out if something is coming.”
“Will the coins tell us what we need to know?” Wieland asked, having never truly believed in divination.
“I hope so, but there are no guarantees.”
Wieland flicked his tail. “I guess it’s worth a try.”
“Frida and I were also talking about learning more about your family,” Asuman said, sounding a little tentative, which wasn’t at all like her. “If we’re going to protect you we need to know what we might be coming up against.”
“That’s true.” Frode sounded thoughtful. “I think it might be time for a story.”
As the first pictures appeared on the walls Jin made her way around the group with the different breakfasts for each of them, before sitting down to watch the show. The night watch didn’t get a chance to see the stories Frode told during the day, the same way Plamen and Wieland did, so it wasn’t a surprise to see both Frida and Jin smile at each other, even though the story was going to be about Frode’s family. Wieland shared a smile with Plamen before focusing on what Frode was about to tell them.
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.