The World Walkers: Quiar: The Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments (part 8, 30th continuation)
Part 1
Part 8, 29th continuation
Landing Page
“Would you have made the same choice?” Peric asked, still feeling Meriwether’s sadness.
“I did. If there had been enough of us who’d vetoed the plans it would never have happened and the vote was close. Much closer than I think the elders had expected, but in the end the decision was for us to make the worlds. What they seemed to have failed to realise was that even though their bloodlines had been badly affected by the loss of magic on Kalinia that other bloodlines weren’t. Some of the elder fae were really uncomfortable with the plans that the elders were making, including Mab. Mab just realised it was better to be involved than to turn her back, because then she could affect some of the decision that were made. In the end she did stand down, deciding she didn’t want to be Queen any longer, and was never replaced. Instead we now have the Council and the leaders of the settlements.”
“What do you think of the Council?”
“They’re doing the best job they can.” Meriwether shrugged. “Riordan knew when he went to the original Council, the World Creation Council, he was going to have to convince them that the evolution of the Moonjumpers was a good thing. I was there and I know how hard it was for him to get the majority vote, but in the end he did because people trusted him. In the end the Moonjumpers were permitted to live on the worlds, as though the fae could really give them permission, in return for Riordan taking on the duty of watching over them to make certain they didn’t overstep any boundaries. Of course they were boundaries that we set up, including a version of the first rule, although it wasn’t quite as restricting, and Riordan wasn’t happy with some of them. He thought we shouldn’t try to control the races we had shown so little interest in up until then.”
“How did it work?”
“At the beginning it was difficult. There were a lot of Moonjumpers who knew that the Council, the World Walkers Council, had been created as a way to control them. So they chose to stay away, rather than add their names to the list. Even Tegan thought long and hard before she put her name down, because she wasn’t happy with what the fae were trying to do, but she wanted to give them a chance…” Meriwether smiled. “She wanted to give Riordan a chance. He’d done what she thought was impossible, so she put her name down and convinced her friends to do the same thing. I hate to think what her opinion would be of the Council now.”
“You haven’t met her during your deaths then?”
“No, I haven’t been that lucky. Tegan and I got on well when I was fae, because I listened to her in the same way that Riordan did. Before she married Riordan we were together for a while. I even thought about proposing to her, until my family convinced me it would be a mistake, which gave Riordan a chance and he didn’t let his family talk him out of anything. In the end she married him and they were happy, and I made my family happy by doing what they wanted me to.” Meriwether rubbed his antler. “I regret the choice I made. I should have married Tegan. We had a good relationship and I loved her. All of the fae women I married ended up getting compared to her and now of them ever came anywhere near reaching the expectations I had. They were good fae, good daughters, and Tegan was Tegan. None of them could ever compare to her, because they hadn’t had a chance to really live their life.”
“I never imagined Tegan would have had a relationship with someone before she married Riordan.”
“Tegan was young when she first met Riordan and she viewed him as a mentor for a long time. They were always close, but I was never jealous of the two of them, in part because I always thought Riordan was in love with Bronwen. In the end Bronwen chose to walk away from the fae, going to work with the races of Raenarin, and I don’t know if she ever married; Riordan and Tegan made one of the best couples I’ve ever seen, because they had real respect for each other; and I made a mess of my life so I could keep the family I stopped caring about after they ran to one of the settlements happy. No matter what I was a good son.”
“Would your life have been very different if you’d married Tegan?”
“I think it would have been, but it’s something I can never really know. Unless I meet a Tegan from another Athare who married me.”
“Have you ever met yourself?”
“Once.” Meriwether shook his head. “It was… interesting. We met during my sixth death and after our fae lives we’d both gone different ways. He chose to live another fae life, while I spent three lifetimes going from one life to another, and after his second fae life he travelled to Kniroch. During his second fae life he’d explored all the worlds, wanting to make an informed choice, and he decided that Kniroch was the best world for him. He spent that life travelling from Kniroch to Kniroch’s sibling worlds, and wrote a book on them then he gave to the Council. It’s something he regretted, because the Council decided to destroy the people of Kniroch, knowing there was no other way to get rid of the ‘Moonjumpers’ who inhabited the world.”
“How did that go?”
“The Council did manage to do what they wanted to. For a hundred years no one would live on Kniroch, because they felt it was bad luck, and the sibling worlds were badly affected. It meant the Council there felt much more powerful and it didn’t take long for them to chose to empty another world.”
***
“I want to learn more about everything,” Sini said, getting excited by the idea of Lucille’s book again, and hoped that it would get written. “Before Lucille came to Seahorse it wasn’t so much that I was happy with not knowing, but I didn’t really understand how much there was to know. There are races I never knew existed and now I know it’s possible to learn about them, and the worlds they live on, I want to know everything I can about them.”
“The books are going to take time, Sini, especially as there are other things Lucille has to do. She will have to travel to another world once we’ve solved the case and when that happens… who knows how long it will be before she can come back to Quiar.”
“Thank you, Bertram.” Sini sighed. “I know all that. It’s just…” She looked down at where Lucille was talking to one of the stallholders, and smiled when she realised who it was, before returning her gaze to Bertram. “Lucille’s here. While she’s here I’m going to make the most of it, because she knows so much about the worlds.”
“Lucille needs to learn too. She may know a lot about the other worlds, but she doesn’t know anywhere near as much about Quiar. We need to teach her to understand out world while she’s here. That’s just as important as us learning from her and you can talk to Kaito when Lucille’s gone.”
Sini nodded. “I hadn’t thought of that. I have trouble seeing him as a Moonjumper, because I’ve always known him as a fox, but he is. He really did learn about the worlds in the same way that Lucille did, but I doubt he knows as much as she does, because he didn’t study or travel to as many worlds as she has.” She thought for a moment. “It’s possible there are other Moonjumpers in Seahorse, in hiding the same way Kai is.”
“There might be, but I doubt that many of them would still be around with all the stories they’d have heard about Lucille’s arrival. I’m surprised Kaito was still here.”
“He couldn’t have known that the Moonjumper who’d come to Seahorse was a Moonjumper he knew. They can’t all know each other, so even if there are other Moonjumpers in hiding on Quiar it’s unlikely that Lucille will know them, but you’re probably right about them leaving. I wouldn’t have taken the chance.” Sini shrugged. “Kaito probably stayed because he’s a charm maker and we need the charm makers we trust. He knows that.”
“So what you’re saying is that Kaito put the people of Seahorse Port ahead of himself, partly because he believed the Moonjumper who was in the city couldn’t possibly be someone he knew?”
“That’s what I’m saying.” Sini smiled. “Kaito is a good person, Bertram, and a good friend, as well as the best charm maker here. Even though his charms are expensive we know they can be trusted, so more people are going to him for what they need.”
“Do you think it possible that a real charm maker might be working with the counterfeiters?”
“Yes, I do. The charms have power, even though it isn’t used for good, and I’ve felt it. Even after my sister used her charm there was still residual power in it. I had to wrap it back up, because no one else would touch it, before taking it to Hereward, and he could feel it too when he unwrapped it to check what I was telling him.”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“It was.” Sini thought for a moment. “I don’t think all the charms are being made by the same person. Some of them are stronger than others, so it seems likely, to me, that there’s more than one person making the charms.”
“Or the person who’s making them is getting better.”
“That’s possible, and likely, even if it is more than one person. I just wish I knew more about where the charms were coming from, because then we’d have some idea who was making them.”
“You think they’re being imported or being made in the city?”
“Hereward thinks it more likely that they’re being imported, but I’m not certain. It would be easy enough for someone to make the charms in Seahorse and make it seem like they were being imported. The way the city is set up makes it hard for the guards to get any information from certain quarters.” Sini shrugged. “If I wasn’t a guide I wouldn’t know who Hereward was, because the majority of the Fasachi quarter think it’s better for our hame to police ourselves, and those who disagree are ignored. Personally I don’t think it’s possible for us to police ourselves fairly.”
“In Sheepshank we have a council member from all but one of the races who live in the town, so that every one of them has a voice. The seagulls chose not to, permitting the ravens to speak on their behalf, trusting in the close relationship between them. So far it’s worked well enough and I know the pup birds appreciate the fact they’ve been made a real part of things, instead of feeling like outsiders.”
“That’s Lucille’s contact.”
Bertram nodded. “Seraphina has a good head on her shoulders and I trust any advice Lucille received from her. She understands the pup birds and other Theasian races in the ways that we can’t. It’s good that we have her on our side.”
“I doubt it’s the Theasians who are behind the charms.”
“I agree, but within their hame is a race who probably sees more than all of the others put together.”
“The tigers.” Sini smiled. “Of course. If anyone else is going to be looking into the counterfeits it’s definitely going to be a tiger, so if they have been through Seahorse they might have found out something that we couldn’t. You’re a genius, Bertram. I never would have thought of that.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.