Through the Fog

Granny nodded with satisfaction. “You’re ready.” I sighed and let the Expanse flow out from me, leaving me feeling drained. It was late at “night” in the Pocket, a few days after my disastrous confrontation with Shemman. Since then, I hadn’t gone down there at all. Bekah had quietly taken up bringing the brothers food, and so far as I knew, even had spent some time talking with them. Not that I cared if Shemman preferred talking to another girl. Especially my sister. Nope, I was busy not caring at all.

Granny spoke, shaking me out of my reverie. “We’ll do the expedition tomorrow.”

“So soon?”

“Hoho, the sooner the better, no? Your father is ready at any time.” She spent a moment studying me. “Now get some rest.” She gave me a quick hug. “I know things are tough, dear. But like the fire tempers steel, times like this temper strong mages.”

I slept fitfully that night. I kept waking up from dreams of me failing to perform the portal spell in front of everyone, or else forgetting midway through and trapping myself and my father in the real world.

Granny must have shared the plan with my father early in the morning, because he announced it to all the mages at breakfast. I had expected cheers and celebration like before, but instead, the announcement just got grunts and nods. Perhaps that was because we were at the final traces of our food supplies, and thus breakfast was even smaller than usual: just a thin slice of tasteless bread.

Still, I had such serious butterflies in my stomach that I couldn’t even finish that food.

After breakfast, all the mages, unbidden, gathered at the barrier of the Pocket. Like always, it appeared as a wall of grey mist, but solid to the touch.

A moment later, my father appeared, escorting Shemman and Japha. This was the first time I had seen them in days. Come to think of it, this was the first time since our arrival in the Pocket that I had seen either of them outside the jail cell. Shemman was deathly pale from the time indoors. And while he retained some of the lithe power I had noted when he first arrived, his time in jail with little rations had clearly done a toll on him. Even with his loose-fitting black robes, I could see his ribs protruding from his side.

Shemman caught my eye. He smiled and gave a little wave. I deliberately looked away.

On Granny’s cue, I began the complex hand gestures required for the spell she had invented. Granny matched me. The crowd hushed to watch us. In theory, the better you know a spell and the simpler it was, the less necessary hand gestures were. Granny had explained that the gestures are sort of like digging a ditch to direct the flow of water. Without them, the water would go everywhere, but with the ditch, the water did what you want. But after enough time, water would wear its own path. So, as the analogy went, when a mage had performed a spell enough, there was less need to “dig” the ditch every time.

But this was a highly complex spell that I only knew in theory; obviously, I hadn’t had time to put it into practice before. So I felt a drop of sweat trickling down my forehead from the stress. This spell supposed to pierce the barrier that divided the pocket from the real world; if it went wrong, perhaps nothing would happen, or maybe I’d erase the pocket entirely. No, I told myself, I’ve practiced this.

Shemman and Jepha stood across the field, far enough away that the disruptive effects of the Aijalon bloodline wouldn’t disturb the casting. I caught sight of Shemman about midway through the casting. Our eyes met, and I saw him give me a little thumbs-up of encouragement. That man—honestly. Despite myself, I felt a boost of confidence from the support.

Granny and I completed the spell, and I felt the Expanse within me react. The Pocket’s grey wall shimmered. Granny said “it’s done. Rakel, you’ll have to go through first.” As she spoke, I saw her wobbling. I grabbed her before she could fall over. “Thank you, dear,” she said, exhaustion written all over her face. Despite that, she smiled. “I’ll be all right. Just need a moment to rest.”

“Don’t strain yourself too much,” I told her. I gave her a quick hug, then stepped forward to touch the grey mist. While before it had been solid, now it gave way like real mist. I stepped into a patch of slightly glowing fog so dense that when I put my hand in front of my face, I couldn’t see it. It was disconcerting, but after a moment, the fog dispelled, leaving me in the middle of a forest clearing.

As I got my bearings, I noticed that despite not concentrating on it, I still held a little bit of the Expanse. Granny had explained that the spell would keep me in the Expanse as long as the portal remained open. Because this spell was the best Granny could come up with, I would have to keep the portal open the entire time I was outside. Otherwise, I’d be trapped out there.

A few seconds later, I felt something in the back of my mind, like a tone just barely too high to be fully audible. A moment later, a patch of the glowing fog appeared, and when it dispersed a moment later I saw my father, in full suit and tricorn hat. He approached me and asked “how do you feel, Rakel?”

“I’m fine.” He nodded, relief evident on his face. “Will you be all right? We’ll come back as soon as we’ve gathered the supplies, but you might be alone for nearly a day. I wanted to have someone stay with you, but your grandmother said we should have as few people as possible go through, because too many people might destabilize the portal—”

“Father,” I cut him off, “it’s fine. I can take care of myself for a while.”

My father smiled, genuine pride and affection written all over his face. “Yes, you’re right, Rakel. I keep forgetting you’re not my little girl any more. You’ve grown into a fine mage and young woman.”

A moment later, my head throbbed painfully. Shemman and Jepha appeared, although rather than the mist dispersing like it had for my father, the mist seemed to explode into drops of water that splattered nearby trees then instantly evaporated. Granny had also predicted that the portal would react strangely to the Aijalon brothers passing through, but fortunately the portal held and the brothers passed through with no issue.

Shemman approached my father and me. He bowed deeply to my father and said “sir, I must thank you for your hospitality you have shown these past months.” Coming from anyone else, Shemman’s gratitude might have sounded like sarcasm, but I knew him well enough to know he was being genuine.

My father chuckled. “Well, I don’t know if I’d call a prison cell ‘hospitality,’ but…”

“Oh no, sir,” Shemman said earnestly. “It was better than I could have expected. After all, at the outset, we were enemies. Some mages would have killed my brother and I immediately upon captivity.”

My father shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, well, every nation has its share of good people and bad. I know there are some bad actor mages out there, but I like to think our community is made up of decent people.”

“Indeed. At least, the ones I have interacted with are decent.” Shemman turned to me and opened his mouth as if to speak, but apparently couldn’t think of what to say. I didn’t meet his eyes.

The awkward silence stretched until my father placed his hands on my shoulders. “And, Shemman, I wish to thank you for being such a good friend to my daughter. It’s good for her to have friends her own age.”

“Fatherrrr,” I groaned, but I was grateful to the embarrassing comment for breaking the silence.

Shemman said “sir, you have raised a good daughter. Truly, even should I never see her again, I will always count Rakel as a lifelong friend.” Although he still addressed my father, during the last part he had locked eyes with me. I knew that comment was for my benefit. Despite myself, his words still made my heart beat a bit faster.

I realized with a jolt that Shemman and my father were both waiting for me to reply. “Yeah. Me too,” I mumbled. “It’s been good knowing you.”

With a nod and a smile, Shemman took Jepha’s hand. Jepha gave a little wave as the brothers began to walk off. “Bye-bye, Miss Rakel!” he said.

I wanted to run after them; to hug Shmman and never let him go; to beg him to stay with me. But all I did was silently watch the brothers as they disappeared into the trees.