“You could be wrong.”
“Maybe. But, it is one of the few things I’m fairly sure about.”
She joined me beside the fire, taking my hand in hers. She shivered, not from the cold. “Only Damon for you, too.”
“She, the Blue Woman, accused you of controlling too much of the essence of the world. She might control magic of a different sort. Mine is different from hers and also different from that of mages and sorceresses. That makes at least four kinds of magic.”
Kendra shivered again, her fingers threatening to snap mine in her solid grip. “Agreed. Mine may be any of the others, or possibly even a fifth kind. Whatever that means. I’m so confused at all this my mind is swirling and unable to concentrate on anything.”
“Me, too.”
She paused, then went on as if with a new thought, “Still, all the magic she mentioned seem to come from a single source. If that is true, there is just one kind and different uses.”
Her assessment eased my mind instantly. Like various dancers to the same music. It was far easier to think of it in that sense than five different kinds of magic. “We’ve figured some of this out.”
“How can you say, we?” she wondered aloud. “But even if we have managed to figure out part of it, there is a lot more.”
I shut my eyes. The red/orange light of the campfire filtered through my eyelids, making it seem almost daylight. My unconscious mind seemed to creep forward and speak for me. “We are both near twenty-years-old, educated, and intelligent. We need to begin a discrete investigation into our backgrounds beyond what was done years ago. Who were our parents? Where did they come from? And why did they leave us at the same time? Did they die or abandon us?”
“If we both inherited magic,” Kendra continued as if she read my mind, “then it stands to reason they also controlled it. If they did, they probably used it to better their lives, and may have become prominent.”
“So, they would be remembered in some circles,” I finished for her. “Maybe feared in others.”
She said, “We should tell Elizabeth all we know.”
“All?” The word was out of my mouth before I could prevent it.
Kendra let loose of my hand and took a step back. Those simple actions spoke more than a conversation.
I said, trying to defend myself, “Yes, we should consider well before we tell her. If for no other reason than because the knowledge of what we’re discussing tonight might place her in danger.”
“How?” Kendra demanded, her face twisted in anger.
“I don’t know. What about the Blue Woman who was here? She controlled magic and hurt me when I touched her. She could do the same to Elizabeth.”
“There is more you haven’t said.”
I relented. “Did you get the impression that there are sides to using magic?”
Kendra nodded. “I think she might have used the word, evil.”
“Which side are we on?”
[PWE – Ruminations on the past seem lengthy] Kendra nodded, then said, “How do we make a discrete investigation? Just by asking questions will tell others what we’re interested in. You know that.”
I picked up a blanket and placed it on her shoulders, then another for me. This conversation might take a while. “First, a few assumptions. Since we were young when found by Elizabeth, we probably didn’t travel far to get there. I mean, we probably didn’t even travel from the next town or city. That means our family home was in Dire, near the Palace. With our parents.”
“We might have all traveled there from some far-off place.”
I considered and relented. “Okay, our parents’ home may have been, but when we were young it was probably in or near the palace. People do not usually become influential until after the age of thirty, so anyone who interacted with our parents are now aged over fifty. Agreed?”
“I don’t see how that helps.”
“We can assume our parents were about the same ages. How many upper-class, thirty-year-old people with a young boy and girl—who were not royalty—could there have been in Dire twenty years ago? Especially ones that look like you and me?”
“How can you possibly draw all that from the little we know?”
I said, “We can exclude any idea that they were royal. If they were, there would be rumors all over about them, their deaths, our abduction, or whatever. There would be questions about the children, and the king would have inquired about locating them. He would also remember meeting them—and us. Since none of that happened, we can assume our parents were lesser-born.”
“So, we begin our search by finding non-royal people over fifty who may have either known our parents or met them in the course of business.”
“We can narrow it down more. They were teaching us to read and do math, which is uncommon for peasants. We can assume they were not farmers, shopkeepers, or uneducated tradesmen. The one image I have retained has our mother dressed well, in a long gown, and the man standing beside her is our father. He looks wealthy and powerful.”
Kendra shrugged and remained quiet for a time. Finally, she said, “There are not a lot of wealthy people who are not part of the royal family. You can count those I know on one hand.”
“Exactly. There is the woman, Raven, who imports gemstones, and that spice merchant from Garland named Windsor. And the widow, Ella.”
“Her husband owned a fleet of trading ships before he was lost at sea, so she met a lot of travelers, which might have been what we did. And there are only a few more that I can think of. An investigation along those lines shouldn’t take long.”
I said, “And there are also Others. High-ranking priests, military officers, and a few importers who generally fit the category. Mages and sorceresses also come to mind. We have only to speak to perhaps twenty people. If our parents were affluent, at least one of those should have encountered them. If all that is true and so easy to find, why have none of them come forward?”
Kendra pulled the blanket around her tighter and avoided my eyes. I shut up and let her think because she was about to say something important. “Damon, that Blue Woman. Who was she, and why does she care if I use too much essence? How will that allow the forces of darkness to emerge?”
“It’s all a mystery.”
She continued, “In your mind, imagine a wine pitcher, tall, with a bulbous bottom and thin neck. When too much essence is poured from it, the dregs of wine at the bottom flow out. Those are forces of darkness.”
Kendra had subtly changed the subject and went to the heart of a problem in a way I hadn’t considered. “Do you remember all the Blue Woman said?”
“No. Do you?”
I hesitated. Was there a way to use my small-magic to recreate the visit? If so, I didn’t know how, but there was another way. “Get your writing kit and give me paper and pen. I’ll start at the beginning, recreating every sentence. You do the same. Then, we will compare. What one forgets, the other will remember.”
She liked the idea. No more talking to distract us or influencing each other with what we remembered. We sat with crossed knees, and I balanced paper in my lap while writing. It took half the night until satisfied I’d jotted down every detail. Kendra was sleeping, so I did too. The exercise hadn’t recalled any new information for me, but it might for Kendra. Besides, in the coming days we would want to review it again, and now we had it written down so our memories wouldn’t fog.
Tater woke us early. “Grab what you want to eat and carry it with you in the saddle. We gotta get over the pass before dark today, and worse, I think a storm’s comin’.”