k_a_webb | The World Walkers: Quiar: The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments (part 9, 93rd continuation) (Reply)

Peric, finally, realised something about the letter he was trying to write and he wished that he’d thought of it sooner, as it would have made the task so much easier. The words he was using didn’t have to be perfect – they just had to be right. It wouldn’t, for most people, make much of a difference, but for him, a self-confessed perfectionist, it did. Hereward simply needed to know that there were rumours of a connection between the known leader of the counterfeit ring in Seahorse Port and a wildebeest, who had travelled from Fasach recently to see who it was that seemed to be causing so many difficulties for the goanna. Someone who might well have returned to Fasach with plans to send some of his own people to deal with them, after the platypus assassins had failed in their task, and sighing, Peric made another new start.

He knew why it was so hard for him to write the letter. If Hereward didn’t accept that the Fasachis really were involved after he received the anonymous tip, and Peric didn’t say anything about what he’d found out while he was in the assassin’s mind, then it would be his fault. Everyone would be angry with him for withholding information, even though he didn’t have any way to prove that what he had found out was true, which would make it hard for anyone to believe him… especially someone like Hereward, who’d already been through so much, dealt with a number of anonymous tips that had turned out to be lies, and wouldn’t want to accept that the Fasachis were involved.

Knowing that it meant they’d probably end up having to travel to Fasach Peric felt exactly the same way, but, in a way, it wasn’t a huge surprise. The counterfeit ring was going to have started somewhere, probably Theas as that was the hame who had the greatest belief in magic, and once they’d started up business there they would have spread out to the other hames, gathering people who wanted money more than they cared about other people, and whoever it was that created the ring would want to have people from Fasach on their side. After that they’d done to Theas… what they could have done to Quiar if someone in Theas hadn’t stopped them, everyone was scared of the Fasachis, in a general sense. Peric was terrified of going there, because he was a white mouse, but they would hopefully have Kaito’s charms to protect them.

Obviously the leader of the ring wasn’t and knew that having their help would, if someone happened to start working against the counterfeiters, be something that anyone would want. They knew how to fight, in a way that the rest of the hames didn’t, not even the guards, which would mean that everyone would be in danger. Peric wrapped his free arm around himself as he tried to continue writing the letter, but it was almost impossible to do. It wasn’t enough. Nothing would be enough. He could tell Hereward about the link to Fasach, without any evidence, and wouldn’t be believed, because, so far, there hadn’t been any other connection to that hame. Not even the white mice would be enough.

Although… Peric took Kaito’s charm off, the way he had when he decided he was going to hunt the assassin, and used him empathy to go hunting for at least one of those mice. If he could get them to tell Hereward who it was that had hired them Peric might be able to get the guard captain to accept that he needed to ready himself to fight the Fasachis, if the wildebeest really had gone back to his home hame to bring back people to help the goanna take them out. Knowing that someone had already tried to kill Lucille and Bertram, but failed, told Peric it was likely that the wildebeest would return and it wouldn’t take him long, because the longer Seahorse Port was fighting the ring the more money they were losing.

Being in Seahorse Port had given Peric a chance to learn more about his abilities, which was something he appreciated, but all he really wanted to do was go home. Home was safe. The rest of Quiar… if it wasn’t for the counterfeiters the rest of Quiar wasn’t something he would think about. Until he’d become involved in the case he never thought about how the counterfeit charms might be affecting the rest of the hame, or the other hames, and it was something he felt guilty about, because they’d all been dealing with them for much longer than the town of Sheepshank. That disconnection was probably why the Moonjumpers existed and if it wasn’t for the fae the Web would be a very different place.

‘There are a couple of Webs where the fae didn’t create the first rule,’ Quiar said, making him jump. ‘Sorry, Peric, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to try to take your mind off things that you can’t change.’

‘How do you cope?’

‘Badly, sometimes.’ Quiar laughed. ‘Most of the time being a sentient world isn’t simple, no matter how much we want it to be. If Lucille hadn’t told you about us and you weren’t open to the idea of our existence I wouldn’t be able to talk to you now, because closed minds don’t want to hear us, like the minds of the people who run the counterfeit ring. Going into their minds and showing them the damage they have caused is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I can’t.’

‘You can’t help us, either, can you?’

‘No, not as much as I would like to be able to. The problem with knowing things is that you have to work out what you can pass on to someone else and what you can’t, because if you tell someone too much you might affect their normal reactions to situations that shouldn’t be changed, for whatever reason, which makes me hate it when I know what’s coming, when I know that I have information that might makes things easier, but I can’t say anything, just in case. We’ve all been through it, Peric, all of the worlds.

‘Raenarin dealt with this when her Queen was assassinated and she’s been watching the Witches make mistake after mistake, because the only thing they really want is power. She might have been able to change things, but the assassination was something that had to happen… and we all hate the things that have to happen. Even Athare does. Unfortunately, if we were to change the things that have to happen, we might end up bringing about the end of the Web, and that is something we don’t want to do.’

Peric nodded. ‘I’m sure there are people who must have been angry with you before for not telling them everything you know, but I do understand why you can’t. Being able to see the future is a skill I would never wish to have, because I know how much of a burden it is, and I’m grateful that you have done what you can to help us, as it would be so much easier for you if you took a step back.’

‘Some of the other worlds have tried to convince me to do just that, but I need to be connected to my people. It’s important to me. They don’t understand in the way that Gaelom and Raenarin do, because, although they’ve been through these sorts of things, they have been able to keep themselves disconnected. Connecting to the people of their world, or the Moonjumpers, is something they find too difficult, because everyone dies.’ Quiar sighed. ‘Having a relationship with someone you know is going to die, start a new life, and forget about you is something they don’t want to do, even though they might have done in the early years. I do understand why they feel the way they do, but what they seem to have forgotten is that there are people who remember them, who keep hold of their memories from one life to another, and, due to certain things that have happened, is something that more and more people are going to be able to do.’

‘Lucille had to come here, to meet Meriwether, to pass on the ritual to Kester, so that Kester can pass it on to the other Moonjumpers.’

‘Exactly. A time of change is coming, Peric, and we’re going to need all the help we can get. That means we’re going to need Moonjumpers who can remember the past and will remember it when they move onto their next life.’ Quiar sounded more worried than he’d ever heard her sound before. ‘Times of change have happened before, but never like this, and I am worried, because even Athare isn’t entirely sure what might happen, and when Athare isn’t entirely sure… well, we all worry then.’

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.