The World Walkers: The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments (part 9, 46th continuation

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Part 1

Part 9, 45th continuation

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‘Before you get back to answering the question – there’s a Web where the worlds are more involved?’

‘Lucy, there are all sorts of Webs. If I tried to list them all we’d be here all day and there are more being created every day. You also have to take into consideration how time works for us, because I do talk to future Quiars, who’ve already been through this, so we’re always learning something new about ourselves and about the people who live on us. Think about the choice you made today: you already know that there were some Lucille’s who didn’t make the same choice, which changed the future, but now that you’ve done that what decision will you have ahead of you tomorrow to make that might change the future for us.’ Quiar sounded as though she was smiling. ‘Every Quiar I talk to is going to be in contact with past versions of herself, future versions of herself, and probably a couple of present versions, which were created due to tiny decision changes by people who don’t really matter to the big picture.’

‘What’s that Web like?’

‘It’s not the sort of place you want to live.’ The smile faded and Lucille could see Quiar nibbling on her lip, the way she always did when she was uncomfortable with a certain subject. ‘I’m sure it sounds wonderful, but power corrupts and it can even corrupt us, as much as I hate to say it. That’s a Web from before Emrys created me, so I don’t have any connection with it at all. A couple of the worlds who do have counterparts there say that the worlds aren’t easy to get along with, partly because they think we made a huge mistake by not getting any more involved than we did. They think we should have done the same thing they did – from getting rid of the fae to taking control of both the Council and the Moonjumpers within it.’

‘You don’t think you could have helped us more that way.’

‘I’ll be honest with you, as I always try to be. I think it was possible for us to do a lot of good if we did the same thing, but what I worry about is what it would have done to us, because it could so easily have changed us to be people who just wanted to be in control. The fae weren’t always the way they are now. As the years have passed their race has changed a lot from what it was originally and if you could see what they were like then I doubt you’d believe they could become the way they are now.’

‘How is the choice you made better?’

‘Saying it’s better would be a mistake. We made a different choice, due to our fear that we would change ourselves too much if we took total control the way we easily could, and I think it was the right decision for this Web. Maybe we can’t do as much as I’d like, at least not without Moonjumpers like you to help us, but it’s better than being able to do too much, to change too much, to stop things from happening the way they should because that isn’t the way we wanted them to.’

‘Do you ever wish you could get more involved?’

‘More often than I’d like. My races are important to me and as they’ve already been though so much that there was a moment when I could easily have squashed the counterfeit ring before it even began. Instead I had to make the choice to let things happen, even though it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, because it’s supposed to happen, unfortunately.’

‘The points in time that are meant to happen.’ Lucille sighed, remembering what Quiar had said about them before, and how Athare could have stopped certain things from happening, but knew if she did she would probably have ended up destroying the Web. ‘This really is one of them?’

‘As much as I wish it wasn’t.’ Quiar sighed. ‘There are times when things are meant to change and you’re a part of that, Lucy, and the more time you spend here the more people you’ll meet that needed to meet you. Part of this was so that you’d be forced to stay here for a longer than you would do normally, but that isn’t the whole reason, so don’t go feeling guilty for something that isn’t your fault, and I can’t tell you what the whole reason is yet, because you haven’t met the right people.’

‘Is there another Moonjumper on any of the other Quiars?’

‘Yes. Some day you might even be lucky enough to meet her, but it’s not going to be happening this lifetime. You’re both needed where you are at the moment.’

‘Tell me about her.’

‘Why?’

‘Something has to happen soon and I’m distracting myself from worrying about it by asking you questions that I didn’t even know existed until recently.’

‘You always knew there were other Webs.’

‘I didn’t always care, Quiar, because it didn’t seem so important, but now…’ Lucille shook her head. ‘I still have so much to learn about being a Moonjumper and, even though I know I’m going to live other lives, it doesn’t feel like I’m ever going to have enough time to learn everything. Maybe if I’d cared more about this all when I was still studying I could have connected with my worlds sooner and done the work then, before I was qualified to deal with things like this.’

‘Being a Moonjumper isn’t easy, especially with the Council the way it is now, but once this time of change is over things will become simpler. They’ll never be simple – you chose a job that couldn’t possibly ever be defined as simple – but you won’t have so much to worry about, because the fae won’t be the problem they are now. I know that. I just don’t know exactly when it’s all going to happen.’

‘All I can do is hope that you’re right. I trust you, Quiar, but there are things that could change the future from happening, and we both know it.’

‘We’re lucky here, to be honest, because it seems like we’ll be getting rid of the fae a lot earlier than the majority of the other Webs. I know we aren’t the one that Athare’s been trying to create, but I think we’re much better than the majority of the early ones and a lot of the later ones. The problem was that the creators didn’t always listen to Emrys, there have been a few Webs where Emrys actually died and couldn’t help the creators, and there was even one where the fae managed to send someone back in time to assassinate Emrys before he could do the work that needed to be done. Fortunately there isn’t a Quiar there, but from what I’ve heard that Web is another scary place to live.’

‘How did they make that work?’

‘Pure luck, Lucy, because Athare was on the look-out for things that could happen to Emrys and she didn’t think, for some reason, to check all the possible futures. That really isn’t like her, but she was working on a number of different things at the time, so they managed to slip past her. He ended up dead, she ended up not having a helper, and the Web became something she could never have imagined, although the worlds there are beginning to work together now, simply because they don’t want to have to deal with the fae any more. I think, if I remember correctly, there’s a Knircoch there with seven siblings worlds and the Lucille who connected with that Kniroch is also connected with all seven of the sibling worlds, but she doesn’t have any others to look after. She isn’t a Council Moonjumper, but a natural.’

‘I need to learn about all the Webs, Quiar, and all the Lucilles. Until now I didn’t realise how important it was to me, but it really is. I want to know everything I can and then I want to pass it on to as many people as I can, even if I have to do it one by one. That’s my job as a Moonjumper.’

‘You’re right about it being a part of your job and there will be others doing the same thing, but right now very few people even know about the other Webs. Very few people know that it’s possible for a soul to live more than one life, because it wasn’t something that they needed to know. As a Moonjumper you know better than I do what it’s like when you get further away from the doors, especially on worlds where the Moonjumpers didn’t care much at all about them. They don’t even know the rest of the Web exists, so how they can be expected to know about the other Webs or that there are people among them who have lived other lives.’

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

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