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k_a_webbSini sat opposite Bertram, watching the raven as he looked over at where Lucille was communicating with the Council. They all worried, because they knew how careful she had to be, and yet they’d never worried she might give something away that she shouldn’t. It was easy to trust her, as they all knew how much Quiar meant to her. Unfortunately that would never be enough. None of the conspiracy theorists would be able to see past what she was to who she was. As far as they were concerned all Council Moonjumpers were the same and Sini had been exactly the same until she’d met Lucille.
It was obvious to Sini that they didn’t know enough about the worlds, the Web, or the Moonjumpers. How could they? Quiar had been detached from the rest of the worlds ever since it had been created, which may well have been what Emrys was after, but it seemed unlikely they’d ever be able to find out for certain. Unless… she thought for a moment. There was a chance that Emrys had left his journals somewhere safe, the same way Leolin had done, so that one day someone would be able to learn about him and why he’d made the choices he had.
As Lucille sat in the seat next to Sini she glanced at the Moonjumper. “How did it go?” she asked, even though she wanted to talk with her about Emrys.
“I talked to my Grandmother and the leader of the Council.” Sini shivered, her eyes meeting Bertram’s. “Kester’s definitely a descendant of Riordan. He knows about true Walkers and does his best to keep us safe, even though he knows it could lead to the fae turning on him. We don’t have to worry about him.”
“That’s good,” Sini said, even though she didn’t feel certain.
“My grandmother trusts him.” Lucille sighed. “I want to believe them, but at the same time I just don’t know. I’m going to have to talk to them more before I go back, because the last thing I need is to return to Athare to find that there’s an arrest warrant out for me, even though it doesn’t seem likely that either of them would do something like that. Some of Kester’s family are natural Moonjumpers, having inherited the ability from Tegan, and he was glad to hear that Kai was safe, so I’m just going to believe that everything is going to be fine.”
Nodding, Sini was glad to hear that Lucille was going to be careful. Knowing how dangerous the Council could be had made all of the Quiaran’s wary, and getting close to a Moonjumper, especially a Moonjumper like Lucille, had taught Sini there were more reasons than she realised to be aware of the Council. After glancing at Bertram, who looked unsure, she decided to change the subject, because they had more than enough worries in their lives without adding another.
“Do you think it’s possible someone might come across Emrys’ journals?”
Lucille looked at Sini. “I honestly don’t know.” The Monjumper ran a hand through her hair. “While I was talking to Kester and Grandmother I realised that I may know a lot about the Web, but there are still things I don’t know. The Council teach us what we need to know – geography, history, about any religions that may exist, and it’s all quite basic. I spent ten years studying the thirty-four worlds, and I learnt as much as I could about the lost worlds and the sibling worlds, because I knew it was important to understand the worlds as best I could. Yet there are places the Council can’t get to, things they don’t know about, and there’s still so much I need to learn about the Web I travel.”
“Life is a learning process,” Bertram said, reaching out with a wing to touch Lucille’s shoulder. “You still know more than we do about the Web, the worlds, and the doors, so we can learn from you while you learn more about Quiar from us. Then you can return to Athare and learn from people who have spent decades learning about the Web, because that’s a part of your job.” He smiled. “Surely you didn’t think you could pass a few exams and know the worlds.”
“For a while I did, Bertram, because Mother always believed deeply in the Council. She became a Moonjumper because it’s what her Mother did, even though I think she breathed a sigh of relief when she became pregnant with me, as it meant she could leave it all behind.” Lucille shrugged. “It never seemed to be something she wanted to do, but something she felt she had to do.” She shook her head. “Grandmother just told me I have two aunts I never met before. They live on other worlds, and I should have asked which ones, and I think Mother wasn’t pleased about the choices they made.”
“You seem to keep learning more about your family that they never told you,” Sini said, sympathy filling her voice.
“I think Mother turned her back on her family quite early on and Father’s family… I don’t know. There are so many things I need to ask them about, because they’ve kept so much from me, but I’m not sure I want to. It would have been easy enough for them to tell me years ago and they chose not to.”
“When you started studying you left your family behind, right?” Bertram asked.
“As my family lived on Athare it was easy enough for me to see them when I had time off, but there were plenty of people who did leave their families behind entirely so they could become Moonjumpers. I had a couple of girls from Raenarin in my class and they’d left everything behind, but then it was Raenarin.”
“Maybe they felt that you had enough to deal with,” Sini suggested.
“It’s possible, but I have a feeling it was Mother.” Lucille bit her lip. “Mother told me a long time ago that she’d never got on with Grandmother and I found out that Grandmother thinks it’s because she didn’t stop travelling the worlds when she had children. I don’t know for certain if it’s right, but Mother never accepted my decision when I told her I wanted to become a Moonjumper, so I definitely think it’s possible. The thing was I wanted to follow in Mother’s footsteps, because she’d told me so many wonderful stories, and yet she walked away as soon as she could. I never understood that.”
“You need to talk to her, Lucille,” Bertram said. “She may not tell you what you want to hear, but I think you need to take the time to understand her and her point of view, as well as your grandmother’s, because otherwise you’re always going to have questions. One day you might chose to have children and they’ll need to have some sort of relationship with their grandmother.”
Lucille nodded. “Mother never let me have a relationship with Grandmother, so it’s not something that I would do to my children, even though I’m not sure I want to have children. The Web doesn’t feel like a safe place to raise children, especially now that things are changing so much.” She sighed. “I feel like we’re coming up to something big, like when the fae turned against the natural Moonjumpers.”
“You think the fae might turn against all Moonjumpers?” Sini asked, thinking that it was possible, especially if they found out that there Moonjumpers who were connected to the worlds they travelled to.
“There’s always a chance,” Lucille replied, and Sini could hear the worry in her voice. “I was thinking about whether it was possible that someone from the Council was involved with the counterfeits and I don’t think they would here, but they might somewhere else. No Council member, especially if they’re fae, would trust someone from Quiar enough to get them involved in something so dangerous, because this is something that could easily get out of control. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other worlds they might try to affect.”
“Even though that would mean breaking the first rule.”
“Breaking the first rule is something that Moonjumpers would be worried about, but the fae… there is no first rule for them. We have no idea what they might be doing inside those settlements and there’s a chance they may be planning the downfall of the Council or the end of the Walkers or possibly even the end of the Web.” Lucille shook her head. “I could easily be worrying about nothing, but with the fae we have no idea what they might do. The Council really isn’t something the worlds need to worry about so much, because the Council, even though it isn’t perfect, was created by someone who wanted to do the right thing. The first rule was a part of the compromise they were forced to make, so that the Moonjumpers had a chance to live their lives.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.
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Date: 2013-07-23 01:06 am (UTC)That should say "choose" above.