The World Walkers: Quiar: The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments (part 9, 18th continuation)

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Part 1

Part 9, 17th continuation

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“It would be a different place,” Lucille said, running a hand through her hair, “but I don’t know if I’d necessarily describe it as better. That depends on who takes control of the Council and the Moonjumpers, because there are groups I know would be much worse.” She sighed. “You also have to take into consideration the number of fae settlements there are and how much time it would take to gather the spirits of all the fae, because it’s not something that could be done all in one go.”

Meriwether nodded. “Maybe, if we were going to do this, we could create a door within the settlement that would attract the spirits to travel through it, and they’d end up trapped on Quiar… which could end up being a problem. They don’t have to chose to live another life, so we’d end up with a hundred or more fae spirits, all preaching their beliefs to the spirits of the races of Quiar.” He rubbed his antler. “Honestly, I would love for the fae to not be in control of the Web any longer, but Lucille is right. If anyone was to do something to force the fae to understand the Web it would have to be very carefully planned.”

“Would there be no way of forcing the fae to live as Quiarans?” Bertram asked, sounding disappointed, and Sini could understand why he felt that way because she was disappointed too. Without the fae there she might have a chance of becoming a Moonjumper. “Can’t Quiar do it or something?”

“There isn’t one that I know of. All the spirits I’ve known have made their own choice about where they want to live and when they want to be born, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way. Personally I think it’s important that the fae do learn about the worlds they created from the point of view of the people who live on them, the races we chose to create because we thought we had no other choice, because I’ve learnt so much by travelling the Web and living different lives.” Meriwether shrugged. “The hard part would be getting them out of the warded settlements.”

“A spirit can’t leave or enter, can they?” Sini asked, sure she remembered Meriwether mentioning it before.

“No, the fae spirits are all trapped in there and there was no way for me, or any of the spirits I took with me, to get past the wards.”

“Is there a way of bringing the wards down?”

“From what I can remember it’s almost impossible to destroy a ward after it’s been built – the best way is to stop the creator when they’re in the middle of making the ward, because once it’s up there’s very little that can be done, and they get stronger with time. If someone had tried to bring the wards down a year or two after they were created they’d have a better chance than we would, as they’ve been up for centuries now.”

Sini nodded. “Does anything go through the wards?” She thought for a moment. “Like do flowers grow on both side of the wards or is there a tree in the other side that may have come from this side?”

“Yes, there are,” Meriwether replied, sounding as though he’d worked out where she was going with her questions. “Which means we should be able to use a form of the memory potion that the spirits originally created to make the fae forget who they are… and we’d be able to affect all the warded settlements at the same time.”

“How are you going to control it enough to make sure that it’s only the fae who lose their memories?” Lucille asked. “If it might the races of Athare as well then I’d have to warn the Council about your plans, although I wouldn’t name anyone, because I wouldn’t feel right if I hadn’t. There are too many people I know that could lose their memories if something goes awry.” She shook her head. “What are you going to do with all the fae once they’ve lost their memories? How can you be sure they won’t regain their memories at the end of their lives? Doesn’t ridding them all of their memories defeat the entire plan, really, because we wanted them to learn what it was like to have to live as one of the races their ancestors created, so if they can’t remember their ancestors created the races in the first place then they won’t have learn any lessons?”

Lucille’s questions silenced them all and Sini was grateful once more for the Moonjumper. “Do you think this is why no one’s tried this before? There’s always been a Moonjumper there to remind them that there are other variables to think of, so we remember that ridding the Web of the fae isn’t going to be as easy as we’d like it to be.”

Meriwether, smiling, nodded. “I think so.” He lifted his hand, as though he was going to rub his antler once again, but stopped himself. “From what I can tell Moonjumpers don’t like the fae, but see them as a lesser evil. They know how to work with the fae and no one really knows who would step into the place of the fae if they were to suddenly not be there any more. I have a feeling it would be the Weavers.”

“I do to and I’m not sure it would be a good thing, because the Weavers are more secretive than the fae. They have plans no one knows about, they remember all the way back to the time when they were created, and, I’ll be honest, the Weavers are a very strange race.” Lucille shrugged. “I have, over the years, met some really lovely Weavers, but as a collective… the Moonjumpers, in general, view them as a race we need to be very careful of.”

“Who else might take control?” Bertram asked, the fascination he felt filling his voice and Sini found herself smiling over at the raven again.

As Bertram smiled back Lucille replied, “You’re asking a very difficult question, Bertram. Some of the races who see themselves as having the ability to take control of the Web are only kept in check because they know the fae are still alive and that it was their decision that led to the execution of thousands of natural Moonjumpers. They don’t want to be in the same position. Other races would take control of their own worlds when they found out that the fae were extinct, like the races of Beshaki, even though they respect the true and natural Moonjumpers, as they know without the fae life could be very different.” She shook her head. “We follow the first rule – we never get involved, but we’re always watching. The Council Moonjumpers go back with every little piece of information and the races feel like it’s possible that the fae might decide at any point to become more involved in the Web. During the wars on Beshaki I think they all kept waiting for the fae to do something to stop what was happening and then one of the natural Walkers did, so they assumed it was the fae getting involved, which makes them even more wary.”

“I think we feel that way too,” Sini said, as she thought about what Lucille had just said. “Even though we know about the first rule it’s purely for Moonjumpers trained by the Council. That rule isn’t one the fae will never break and we’re always scared that they might decide to invade Quiar in order to exterminate us. Maybe it will never happen, but while the fae are alive there’s always that fear, and although it’s illogical to fear a race that went into hiding we have no idea what they might be able to do, what their decisions might be in the future, and whether we’ll get any warning that they’re coming.”

“The longer I’ve lived in the Web the more I’ve come to understand that fear.” Meriwether sighed. “Sometimes I wish I hadn’t, because I hate fearing a race I was once a part of, but they’ve been hiding behind those wards for more than long enough to create an army that could sweep through the Web and change everything. It’s something even the spirit races are worried might happen in the future and there have been so many plans to bring an end to the fae that haven’t worked out for one reason or another.” He shrugged. “At the same time I understand exactly why Lucille feels the way she does, because she knows that the fae have accepted the Moonjumpers as something they need, which is why they started creating Moonjumpers before they started executing the naturals. For anyone within the Council it makes more sense to deal with a race they sort of know, instead of having to worry that they might be the next on the list if someone else were to take control.”

Lucille nodded slowly. “Although, Merry, there is a fear that the reason the fae representatives keep changing is because they can’t decide if they need us or not. One of the families thinks we’re important, another wants to bring an end to travelling the Web.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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>> “If it might the races of Athare as well<<

That should say "might affect" above.