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k_a_webb“Can you do that?” Sal asked. “I thought Moonjumpers trained by the Council had to follow the orders of the Council.”
Lucille nodded. “We do, but once we’ve done all the training and gone through all the stages we have more freedom in what we do, and if we aren’t needed by the Council then we can do whatever we want, within reason. My mentor, when she first became a journeyman, chose to spend three full years on one of her worlds and the Council didn’t have a problem with that, because they know that the more time she spent there the more they’d learn about the world. To them it makes more sense that we spend the time on the worlds that we have chosen, so they get more from their investment.”
“I would have thought it also helps that Lucille is planning on choosing Quiar as one of her worlds, because the Council know very little about our world and the longer she spends here the more we’ll, hopefully, open up to her.” Peric smiled. “They, fortunately, don’t know that she’s a true Moonjumper, so will put our needs above the needs of the Council.”
“Yes, it will help.” Lucille smiled back at Peric. “The Council is desperate to learn about this world.” She shook her head. “I guess I technically mean the fae, because the Council is… it’s like a creature with several heads that all have brains and want to do different things. One part tries to follow the orders of the Council to the letter, another part realises that the rules are for the good of the fae rather than the good of the races they created, a third part knows that there are true Moonjumpers and is trying to keep that information from anyone who might tell the fae. Knowing who belongs to which head isn’t easy, so we don’t talk to anyone about anything unless we’re certain they won’t share the information with the wrong person.”
“Unfortunately it always was.” Meriwether sighed. “The problem now is that the fae seem to still be as badly stuck in the past while the rest of the Web has moved on, and it makes things even harder than before, as well as seeming to insist that they’re in control of everything. From the beginning, when the World Creation Council was set up, they weren’t in control. We were. It was just easier then to make it seem as though we were listening to them, but that was obviously a mistake.” He rubbed his antler. “Being one of them and feeling as though we owed them something meant we made choices that we wouldn’t have done twenty years later.”
“The other major problem is the families,” Lucille said, “because they have no cohesiveness any more, if they ever did. I have no idea what the Thirteen Families were like before, but when they split into the different settlements it was as though each one became a new race. Instead of being the fae, they were the Black Fae or the Grey Fae.” She shook her head. “Each one wants us to do things their way, but there can only be a certain number of fae on the Council, so they keep arguing to see who’s going to take the places, and then when they turn up we need to debate the choices we made at the last meeting all over again. It’s something we really wish we could put an end to, but can’t work out how. They’ve always been a part of the Council and we don’t really want to push them out, even though it would be much easier if we could, so the decisions that need to be made just don’t get made.”
“We did, once.” Meriwether stared at the window as though he was seeing a past Sal couldn’t even imagine. “Although that was long before we left Kalinia.” He shrugged. “Before I came here I couldn’t remember the lives I’d lived before and when I first died that all changed. I lived other lives on Kalinia before I was born as Meriwether, when I made the choice to become a member of the Thirteen Families because I knew I had a chance of survival. Others made us of the doors, moving onto other worlds to start new lives, while some decided to end everything and die with Kalinia. That may not have worked, because souls aren’t meant to die – they’re meant to keep changing and growing, until the time comes when they need to forget who they once were and begin again.”
“Where did you live before Kalinia?” Lucille asked, staring at Meriwether.
“I wish I knew. My memory starts with my first life on Kalinia, so I might have wiped the memories from before that using a potion or that might have been my first life.” Meriwether rubbed his antler again. “No one ever mentioned our race ever having lived somewhere else, but I just have this feeling that we did. I could be wrong. The fae might have evolved into being on Kalinia, but I don’t think we did, and I don’t think we evolved either. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll ever know for certain.” As he stared at nothing again Sal couldn’t help wondering exactly what Meriwether could see in his mind’s eye. “It wasn’t something I ever asked questions about then, because I had no reason to think that Kalinia wasn’t our home world, but since then there have been things that have made me wonder. The mer would have been good to talk to about it, but they chose to travel to Earth with Willow, or the griffins, if they hadn’t disappeared when they realised how bad things were getting.”
“The mer?” Sal asked.
“Merpeople. They lived underwater and were, according to their history, on Kalinia before the fae, although I never believed them. Some did, so they took the time to learn from them, which is something I wish I’d done now, because whatever they could have told me would have been fascinating. It may have been their truth, but that doesn’t mean they were wrong. I just wish I realised that then, before it was too late.” Meriwether shook his head. “You wouldn’t have liked me if you’d met me then. I really wasn’t a nice person at all, but slowly I started to grow and change, because that’s what happens when you live different lives. A couple of times I was even female, because the process of living another life was very different there to what it’s like here. There it wasn’t about choice – instead there was a council of souls who decided where each of us went and every time I died it was a different council, so they obviously moved on to new lives too.”
“Merry, every time I think you can’t get more interesting you do.” Lucille smiled. “I have so many questions for you, but they can wait until we can sit down for a couple of days without worrying that someone might break in here and try to kill us all.”
Sal looked at Lucille. “Is that really what you’ve been thinking the whole time you’ve been sitting here?”
“Not really. I just know it’s a possibility and I honestly don’t know what to expect from the counterfeiters any more.” Lucille shrugged. “I wish I did, because that way I wouldn’t be worrying about things that are really unlikely to happen, but until they make their move against us I’m going to keep being wary.”
“Why do you think they’ll make a move against you?”
“Several reasons: we arrested their agent in Sheepshank; the fact I’ve done everything I can to mitigate the damage they caused; I’m a Moonjumper and an outsider working with a group of Quiarans who could easily be seen as traitors; and the simple fact that everyone knows that we’re doing everything we can to find them, so Hereward can arrest them. All I’ve done since I arrived is attempt to stop the ring from being able to sell their counterfeits any more and I think they know that. I’m a danger to them, someone entirely outside of their control, and so they have two choices: they get rid of me or they try to use me. They’ll try to get rid of me first, to see what happens.”
“How do you know this?”
Sal, I’m not the first Moonjumper to be involved in something like this, although I may well be the first on Quiar. Even though the first rule is that we shouldn’t get involved there are times, like this one, when it’s waived, so we can keep the Web safe. I think that’s why we evolved in the first place, but the fae didn’t like that they couldn’t control us and in the end the worlds had to work with what they had.” Lucille shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned this is my main job, even if the fae don’t like it.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.