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k_a_webb“That sounds wonderful,” Sini said, smiling at both Bertram and Lucille. “It really gives us something to look forward to when we’re dealing with so much awfulness.” The smile faded as Sini thought of her sister, but she chose to focus on the chance of something good happening to her. “How would we go about doing such a thing?”
“Kaito’s been working on a charm,” Meriwether replied, “that will allow the wearer to travel the worlds the same way a Moonjumper does. He’s asked me to test it for him when it’s ready, because in this life I can’t use the doors, so if it does work then I’m sure he’d make some for us.”
“I’ll pay him for them.” Lucille sounded determined and Sini knew it was because Kaito wouldn’t let her pay for the charm he’d made for her. “Somehow.”
“You know what he wants.” Sini shrugged. “I’m sure if you can get those things back for him he’ll count that as the two of you being even and actually let you pay for things after that.”
“He won’t let you.” Meriwether grinned at Lucille. “He’s too happy that you’re alive and he can help you for him to let you pay him for that help. The thing I realised when Kai came over that day was that he really does think a lot of you.”
Lucille nodded. “He does now. We had a long chat about things, because I really am a different person now to the one I was when we first met.” She smiled. “Back then we only became friends, if that’s the right word, due to Carver’s insistence. Now that I think about it I can’t help wondering if Carver knew something that I didn’t… that none of us did. The group he managed to pull together wasn’t one that I could have ever seen working, but somehow we did, but only if he was around.”
“Do you think Carver might have some abilities as a seer or a diviner?” Sini asked.
“Possibly, or he had a family member that did.” Lucille stared at the table, as though she was thinking of something. “There was me, Azure, and Kai. Kai, to begin with, thought that spending any time with me was going to be a total waste, because I was just going to be another Council Moonjumper. When he found out that I was attempting the thirty-four his opinion of me changed, but even then I was only viewed as someone who might be useful, and it wasn’t until we found out that we shared a strong love for Kniroch and it’s sibling worlds that we had any connection that wasn’t Carver. Azure… from what I know of her now she was a Natural who chose to learn from the Council because she thought it was safer. Back then they were keeping that information from me, because they didn’t know what I was going to become in the future. Thankfully we had a chance to connect before she had to run for her life and now… I hate that I have no real idea where she is, but Carver told me that was all a part of their plan.” She sighed. “I was never a part of that. I never needed to be. Carver knew that.”
“It doesn’t make you feel any better though, does it?” Meriwether asked, and Sini could hear the pain in his voice.
“No, it doesn’t.” The same pain filled her voice. “For a long time, until I found Carver again, I thought it was because I wasn’t as important to him as I always assumed I was. He put all that effort in to convincing me that we should be friends, even though I thought having friends was going to distract me from my studies, and then he just disappeared without a word.” A tear trickled down her cheek and she scrubbed it away, looking embarrassed. “I realised later that he had no choice in that, the same way Kai had no choice, and when we talked he told me he’d chosen a world he knew I’d travel to, so he could explain to me what had happened. I wasn’t a part of their plan, because he knew I’d be safe, but he never told me exactly how he knew.” She shook her head. “I always knew they were keeping things from me. Carver knew what I’d become in the future, but I wasn’t a safe person to talk around until I connected with one of my worlds. I would have gone straight to the Council – it was what I had been trained to do and I believed in them.”
“There were always plans being made within the Councils. At the beginning we were all working together, because we knew we were doing the right thing, even though the rest of the fae started having misgivings from the time we created the first race. Then again that was the Weavers, so I can understand why. Slowly it became little groups working towards certain goals, some of which were the Council’s and others were the fae’s, and I never felt like I was a part of any of them.” Meriwether rubbed his antler. “Now that I look back I can see that my neutrality was a good thing. People talked to me. They trusted my opinion and listened when I spoke, but at the time I was young, so all I wanted was to be a part of one of those groups. Even now, when I think back, I still feel the same hurt I felt then, and it’s as though I’m back there, dealing with all the problems that got dumped on my shoulders.” He shook his head. “Normally I’d be able to go to Bronwen with them and she’d help or pass the information onto Riordan. I know that a lot of the creators weren’t comfortable talking to them, because they were in charge of the whole thing. Along with Emrys, but he was always slightly on the outside, probably more through choice than anything.”
“When I started my studies my plan was to always be on the outside, never getting too close to anyone, because I didn’t want to have any close connections if I managed to become a part of the Council.” Lucille bit her lip. “I think I made a mistake, really. It made me seem aloof and as though I thought I was better than everyone else, when all I was doing was keeping myself neutral, especially as I was one of the youngest students in any of the classes for a few years.”
“It makes sense to me what you were trying to do,” Meriwether said, reaching out and gently squeezing her arm. “Once you managed to pass all those exams the people you were friends with might have expected you to do something for them, like promote them to a certain position even though they weren’t capable of doing the work, and making sure you weren’t too close to anyone would have made that a lot easier. I think I would have done the same thing if I’d have gone into training with that ambition in mind.”
“Have you ever been a Moonjumper?” Sini asked.
“A couple of times, yes, but never a Council trained one. I never felt comfortable with the thought of trying to work with the fae when I disliked them as much as I did.” Meriwether shrugged. “Even now I don’t think I could train to become a Council Moonjumper, although my feelings for the fae have changed over time, but after another couple of lives I might change my mind.”
Sini looked at each of the people she shared a table with: her old friend, Meriwether, who she was getting to know much better than she ever had before; her new friend, Bertram, someone she would never have believed she might be lucky enough to have in her life; and the Moonjumper, Lucille, a stranger from a strange world who was teaching Sini so much about the Web she previously knew very little about and didn’t think was important to her. Breathing deeply she decided she could talk to them about anything.
“I’d like to become a Council Moonjumper,” she admitted, hoping she was right.
“How old are you?” Lucille asked.
“I celebrated the day I was born just over a season ago and it was the beginning of my twenty-sixth year.” Sini felt her heart sink. “Does that make me too old?”
“No, not at all.” Lucille reached over and patted Sini’s shoulder, where her wing met the rest of her body. “A lot of Moonjumpers don’t start their training until they’ve reached their twenties and your age is never a problem. There was one man in my Beshaki class who’d decided it was time for a change of career on his fiftieth birthday. He started studying the same year I did, he passed four exams, I think, with high marks, and he’s doing something he never believed he would.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.
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Date: 2013-09-03 03:55 am (UTC)Sini could make an interesting Moonjumper!