As Was, So Is

I scrambled to my feet, reaching for the Expanse. I felt sluggish, but I didn’t have to worry. My father stood no more than two feet away from Rubia, arms crossed. Amazing. I knew how difficult it was to maintain a spell so close to an Aijalon. My father’s control of his Body magic was way beyond anything I had seen.

I felt my stomach drop, and suddenly I was about a dozen feet away from Rubia. That had been a Space spell. Granny? I looked around. Sure enough, she had Moved me to right next to her, away from the female Aijalon. Now, it was just my father on one of Rubia, and Shemman on the other, with a crowd of other mages a few dozen feet away. Everyone waited for someone to make the next move.

Rubia tossed her dagger to the ground and raised her hands. “I surrender.”

Shemman called out “really? That’s unlike you, Rubia.”

She smiled and shrugged. “I can see I’m outnumbered. What good does it do for our people if I die at the hands of devils?”

Granny performed a gesture, and a rope appeared in my father’s hand. Another Movement spell, although I hadn’t seen where the rope came from originally. My father tied her up.

“What will you do with me?” Rubia’s voice was calm, almost cocky. If she felt nervous at being in the hands of her enemies, she sure didn’t show it.

My father looked around at Granny. “I don’t suppose we can send her back to reality?”

Granny sighed and shook her head. “Dearie me, I think Aijalon constantly coming back and forth damages the Pocket. I won’t be able to open the portal again for quite some time. If ever.”

My father nodded. “I suppose we put her in the jail cell, then.” He looked at Shemman and Jepha, then shook his head. “And why, in the name of the Golden Monarchs, did you boys come back here?” I quickly explained how the brothers had jumped in to protect me, then carried me through the portal due to my injuries. He sighed and said “well, I suppose keeping them in jail for another few days won’t do us any harm.”

Oh. “Father, we don’t have to lock up the brothers again.”

“What? Why?” He was echoed by several of the onlooking mages, who were clearly none too thrilled about having Aijalon back in the Pocket so soon.

I said “they’ve proved their loyalty. If they wanted to hurt us, Shemman could have just let me die. Why would he risk his life? In fact, they chose to come back here to protect me. They’re not a threat.” While I believed what I said, that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want Shemman back in jail. Maybe it was stupid of me, but something in how Rubia had looked at him, and called him ‘Darling’…I wanted to ask Shemman what exactly the nature of their relationship was. I just didn’t like the idea of Rubia and Shemman being forced to spend so much time together.

Despite my efforts, my father looked unconvinced. “I know Shemman had been kind to you, Rakel, but it’s just not safe to let an Aijalon wander around. You never know what they could be planning.”

“But—” my protests were drowned out by calls of agreement from the crowd.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see Liah. She leaned in close, as if to whisper something to me. I braced for a barb, but all she said was “you owe me one.” She stepped away and addressed my father, although I could tell she was speaking to the whole crowd. “Rakel is right, for once. I can confirm.”

“What do you mean?” my father asked.

“Recently, I figured out the Mind Reading spell.” This caused a murmur from the crowd. Liah was the only full Mind mage in our community, which put her at a distinct disadvantage. She had no way to learn new spells besides puzzling them out herself. I was lucky to have Granny around to teach me Space spells.

Liah continued, “over the last couple of weeks, I read Shemman’s mind a bunch of times. Not once did he have a thought of hurting any of us. I did it again as soon as I saw them all appear from the portal just now. Same result. Shemman and his kid brother are safe.”

“What about the girl?” a voice called from the crowd.

“She’d slaughter us all in a heartbeat if she could,” Liah said offhandedly.

My father looked at Liah with an unreadable expression. “Not that we don’t believe you, Liah, but what about the Aijalon bloodline ability? Surely that made it difficult to read his mind.”

She snorted. “Only a failure of a mage would let something like that mess with their spells.” Ok, I was certain that one was an jab at me. “He’s safe,” Liah said again.

She and my father locked eyes for a long moment. He looked away and shrugged. “Congratulations on discovering such a significant spell.” He directed a few mages to unpack the supplies in the enormous sack, then firmly but gently led Rubia toward the jail. Shemman and Jepha stood around awkwardly while the crowd eventually dispersed, following the sight of food moving toward the kitchen.

I moved close enough to Liah that nobody else could hear. “When did you learn the Mind Reading spell?”

“I didn’t.” She seemed to enjoy the shocked look on my face. “Don’t be so dramatic. My current spell, Guidance, tells me how to emotionally hurt people. I can use that to get a general insight into what people want . Plus, people are really easy to read. If you’re paying attention, you don’t need magic to figure out what someone is thinking.” As I processed that, she added “oh, but I wasn’t lying about visiting Shemman a bunch of times before he left.”

I decided not to comment on the final remark. “Thank you,” I said quietly.

“Oh please, I didn’t do it for your sake. I just figured it would be hard mentally break the girl if Shemman is around. He’s too much of a nice guy to let me do it.” She turned and followed the procession of mages going toward the food.

I sort of hoped that part about mentally breaking Rubia was a lie, too. “Let’s get some food too,” I said to Shemman and Jepha.