The World Walkers: Quiar: The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments (part 9, 44th continuation)

[k_a_webb]

Part 1

Part 9, 43rd continuation

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‘Taithmarin wants to meet me?’ Lucille honestly didn’t think that Taithmarin would have an interest in any of the Moonjumpers, considering the choice they’d made in their first year. ‘Why does Taithmarin want to meet me?’

‘I’ve always been close to Taithmarin. When I was younger we spent a lot of time together and we’ve talked about you a lot, because of the way you’ve been growing and changing through the years, so now that you’re at the point where you’re ready to learn about your past lives Taithmarin thinks it would be a good time for the two of you to finally meet.’

‘So you’ve been planning this for a while then?’

‘Not so much planning, but it has been something we’ve talked about before. Taithmarin has always been fascinated by the Moonjumpers and probably would have invited one sooner if it wasn’t for the fae. The fae always been a problem for my sibling – to be honest the fae have always been a problem for all of us, but Taith was the one to walk away, knowing that they didn’t want to have to deal with the race that created us not having any understanding of what it was that they actually did. We are sentient, we know how they created us and what their original plans for us were, and we were never going to let the fae walk away from us. Athare had a strong connection with the Weavers and Eithne, and they helped us create the Moonjumpers long before they could have evolved, because they knew how important it was to keep the worlds of the Web connected.’

‘Merry seems very wary of the Weavers.’

‘He knew them when he was fae, so he would have been wary of the Weavers. Eithne was experimenting when she created the Weavers, the same way they all were and if she hadn’t been the woman she was she might have walked away from them, instead of accepting what they told her, but she’d always been different to the rest of her family. All the creators were. That’s why they ended up doing what they did, that’s why we accepted them when they chose to accept the responsibility of looking after the worlds they’d created, and why we always wished the rest of the fae would understand that they had no say in what happened next. When they decided to hide themselves away in those settlements they lost any rights they may have had to feel that Athare was their home and I don’t think they’d ever felt comfortable with the choice they made when they followed Mab.

‘Unfortunately they knew they had to leave Kalinia behind otherwise they’d die and Earth was no longer an option, not with Willow there. They might have been able to find another Earth, but that would have taken too much time, so Athare it was, even though they didn’t know anything about the world. All they’d been searching for was a world with enough magic to keep them alive and Athare was the only one they’d found in days of searching, although that might have been because they didn’t want to have to deal with the fae, while Athare had already been dealing with them for centuries by that point.’

‘Quiar, will I ever get to see any of the other Webs?’

‘I don’t know. You might in the future, but right now we need you here and I can imagine we’re going to need you to spend at least another two lives helping us, although, if you do chose to see any of your past lives, it will change the way you live your life from the very beginning. That’s something you should talk to Merry about, because he understands it better than me. As a magically created world I’m unlikely to die unless the balance of the Web is affected in some way.’

‘That’s something that could happen if the covens of Raenarin keep fighting each other. We both know how dangerous that world is at the moment.’

‘Hopefully things will begin changing there, too. The Witch Queen is soon to attempt her return, so I really think we might be able to stop worrying so much about the covens, unless something goes very wrong.’

‘You really think Katya will be able to do it.’

‘She’s the right girl for the job, she has the seer and the witch with her, so I think she stands a good chance. The Sorcerers, naturally, are worried that something will go wrong, but I believe that we’ll finally have a Queen on the throne again.’

‘I made a choice to be dealing with all this. Katya never did, she was born into it, and I’ve always felt sorry for her, because I know I wouldn’t have chosen to attempt a take-over of Raenarin at twenty.’

‘From what Raenarin said the covens have no idea that anything is about to happen.’

‘Even the coven that Martina left behind.’

‘They think she chose to leave them and take the jars of energy of her own accord. None of the covens even know the Sorcerers exist or that anyone might possibly be planning against them, because they believe, as they always have, that they are in charge of Raenarin.’

‘The Witches do make me think of the fae – they’re both blinded to the truth and I know that the Witches, in general, have very little understanding of the way the Web works. They simply don’t care enough to learn about the worlds around them or how their world was created, even though they’ve had the most dealings with the Moonjumpers. Every year we have several Witch born girls who were unlucky enough to be born without powers come to Athare to study with the Council, because their coven doesn’t want to have to care for those who are of no use to them. It really irritates me, but there’s nothing I, or the Moonjumpers of Raenarin, can do about it.’

‘If Katya does manage to retake the throne then she’ll be able to change things and I know one of the first things she’s going to do is bring an end to the Covens killing any boy child born to a witch, in case they happen to inherit the ability to see into the future.’

‘Didn’t they know that Mira survived? I would have thought they’d be a little wary that the Witch Queen might return.’

‘Even though they do know it’s not something they really think about all that much. As far as I can tell they seem to have come to the conclusion that Mira couldn’t possibly have survived alone on an unknown world and she probably died of starvation – probably because they don’t want to think that there might someday be another Queen. They got rid of her so they didn’t have to follow her rules any longer and if Katya does manage to retake her throne they’re going to have to accept whatever changes she makes.’

‘I’m glad that Raenarin didn’t chose me.’

‘Lucy, Raenarin was thinking about it, but decided you had enough to deal with as you had me to deal with. To be honest all the worlds were thinking of asking you to be their Moonjumper, because of who you are, but in the end we decided that only three of us could have you and I was the only one who didn’t have to pull a straw. My siblings decided that I needed a true Moonjumper more than any of them really did, because of the counterfeit problem that we knew was coming. Kniroch and Beshaki just got lucky.’

‘Did the sibling worlds of Kniroch get to pull straws too?’

‘That’s something you’ll have to find out when you finally gather up the courage to try stepping through one of the doors.’

‘You’re still not going to tell me if I’m a natural.’

‘I would if I knew, but as the only time you’ve ever stepped through a door has been when you already had a tattoo I can’t know for certain. I think you probably are, because you were in your past lives and almost all the women in your family are, but that doesn’t mean you definitely can travel to the sibling worlds of Kniroch.’

‘Even my sisters?’

‘Neither of them have said anything because they don’t know how you’ll react. If you tell them you’re a true Moonjumper they’ll be more open with you, as they won’t be so worried you’ll go straight to the Council to give them up. Your mother…’ Quiar sighed. ‘She’s a different sort of person entirely and I’d be more wary of how much you open up to her. I don’t know her that well at all, as she’s a very young soul, even though she’s lived several lives, because the majority of them were inside one of the settlements.’

‘My mother was one of the fae?’

‘For a long time she was. When she found her way out she didn’t know what to do with herself.’

‘Athare told you about this?’

‘We all talk a lot. Sometimes it’s the only thing we have that keeps our minds off all the problems that we have to deal with.’

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

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[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>The fae always been a problem for my sibling<<

That should say "have always been" above.

>>My siblings decided that I needed a true Moonjumper more than any of them really did, because of the counterfeit problem that we knew was coming. Kniroch and Beshaki just got lucky.’<<

*laugh* Oh what an image. Been there, done that.