Previous
Top
Next
Truth Among the Stars
Rahaan and Mandrake walked for a while northward, past the archway that marked the edge of town and then off the pathway as Rahaan led the man up a small hill dotted with small bushes and late-blooming wildflowers. “I come up here sometimes to look at the stars. That’s why I thought of it when you said you wanted a place like this.”
“It’s perfect,” said Mandrake, seating himself on the top of the hill with his legs crossed and his tail coiled. “It’s quite a sight, isn’t it? Thousands and thousands of stars, and even millions more too far away to see. The night sky where your father and I were born only had a few hundred, even on the clearest night. There only were that many in the entire universe.”
Rahaan seated himself on the grass next to Mandrake. “You keep saying that you and my dad are from someplace else. What are you talking about?”
“Your mother was, too. All told, there are less than twenty of us, and we have all scattered across Symphenia.”
“Less than twenty of who?”
Mandrake paused. “Did you ever hear the story of how the world was made from dust? How there was another world that was shattered to pieces, and those pieces came together again to form this one?”
Rahaan nodded. “Everyone knows that story...”
“Every word of it is true.”
Rahaan paused for a moment, then thought to take a look at the stranger with his Phenists’ Eyes. What he saw was even more shocking than seeing a living creature with a hole through it: Mandrake had no phenes at all. Mandrake was a phene. A single undivided being, with no visibly separate Heart, no pattern of lines to mark out his anatomy, and merely a soft uniform glow where most people and animals had flowing veins of energy.
“...I know that look. You can see it, can’t you? Your father and mother are the same way. We survived the process — we are from that old world.”
Rahaan was confused, but not so confused that he was about to believe everything the stranger said. “That can’t be true! You’d be thousands of years old, and so would my father!”
“How old is your father?”
“Um — forty-six.”
“And I am forty-five. We are not thousands of years old because we all re-entered the new world at the same time, nearly twenty years ago. Before then, we were still on the outside, waiting for the right time to come back.”
“The ‘outside’? The outside of what?”
“This world. Also the previous one. It’s the only reason we survived Delyria’s destruction; we were not in it at the time.” Mandrake turned his gaze downward. “I’ll spare you the agonizing details, but it should suffice to say that we had front-row seats to our own planet’s death.”
Rahaan took a moment to ingest this, then looked at his own hands. “That’s really where phenes come from? They really are pieces of your world?”
“Yes.”
“And both of my parents are from this Delyria place?”
“Yes.”
“So they’re both like you, then. They don’t have phenes either...”
“That’s correct.”
Rahaan gave Mandrake his best skeptical look. “I still don’t believe you. I have phenes. I’ve seen them.”
“You were conceived and born here in Symphenia. Everyone and everything born here is made of phenes — it’s the only available material.”
Rahaan tilted his head. He had read enough stories about lost sons of sorcerors and orphans destined to become kings to know that there was always something that made them stand out. His parents being from another world seemed about as likely at this point as a rainbow made of steel. “Well — all right, I guess, but if both my parents were from this original world, shouldn’t I have something to show for it? I don’t feel any different from anyone else.”
Mandrake rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You are quite different from most people, Rahaan. You have four arms — “
“So does my mother. I got them from her.”
“You’re an apprentice phenist.”
“I decided to do that. That didn’t come from my parents.”
“You saved the life of a maginaria.”
“Anyone in the same situation would’ve — wait, how did you know about that?”
Mandrake simply smiled enigmatically. “I have my ways... You seem upset that you don’t have some kind of birthright, though.”
“If I don’t have one, then how do I know you’re even telling the truth?”
The stranger chuckled. “I suppose you can’t without some kind of proof, eh? Good for you. I can see you inherited your mother’s sharp mind. You’ll make a fine phenist when you grow up... All right, then. How do you suppose I knew you saved the life of a maginaria named Drench, partner to a young woman from the Kaolin Mire named Rúu?”
“Well... you could be reading my mind somehow.” Mandrake raised an eyebrow at this. “But you said earlier you could hear Rúu and me through the walls. It’s how you knew I was listening in. You seem pretty well-travelled, so you’ve probably been to Kaolin and you know what they look like and what their accent sounds like. You also could’ve stopped by the Phenists’ Guild before you got to my dad’s bakery and someone there might’ve told you I saved Drench’s life. That all fits together, doesn’t it?”
“Impressive bit of detective work, Rahaan. You’re right that I could have done all that. You really are well-suited to your chosen occupation.”
“Thanks... but was I right?”
“No. You were more right the first time — I was reading your memories.”
“Now I know you’re lying. That’s impossible. Only maginaria can do that, and even then it’s only some of them.”
“The maginaria are originally from our world too. It’s why they can do things here that would be impossible for normal animals.”
Rahaan laid back on the grass, silently watching the clouds pass in front of the twinkling stars.
“Rahaan?”
“...I still don’t believe it.”
“Right now, you’re thinking that it’s not fair. That if you’re going to have the sort of background you do, with your parents and all their closest friends from another world where magic is everywhere, that you ought to have known already. That you should have powers of some kind. A destiny. Something, anything, to make you feel like a hero.”
Rahaan took a deep breath, letting it out in a slow sigh. “You don’t have to be a mindreader to know that.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Rahaan. The path you’re on is a very worthy one, and in time you may be one of the world’s foremost phenists. You may well save thousands of lives in your time... but not because of destiny.” Mandrake uncoiled his tail and laid back on the grass next to the boy. “It will be because you are who and what you are, right here and right now. You have your father’s horns, but also his kind nature. You have your mother’s arms, but also her keen intellect. Your father and mother have a past as well, but it is not yours to inherit. You must live your own life.”
Rahaan was silent again, taking it all in. For a few minutes, he and the wanderer stared wordlessly into space.
Mandrake stood up. “Come on — it’s getting cold out. I expect your father’s wondering about you as well.”
“All right.”
Rahaan stood up as well and started back toward Reskevel, but stopped when he noticed that he was alone. Mandrake was walking a different direction — northward, away from the town. “Hey! Where’re you going?”
Mandrake grinned back. “I make it a point never to stay in one place too long. Give your father my thanks for his hospitality. I may return someday. Farewell!”
“But what am I supposed to do now?”
The wanderer gave a short chuckle at this. “‘Supposed to’? You believe in destiny now after all that? Trust yourself, Rahaan! You’ll know what to do when it happens.” And with that, he tipped his hat and was gone, vanishing over the crest of the next hill. Rahaan chased after Mandrake, but as soon as he crested the hill, the man had completely vanished from sight.
The next morning, Rahaan got ready for the ride back uphill to the doctor’s house. His father was in the kitchen, the same place he was every morning, tending to the ovens and kneading batches of dough for the day’s supply of biscuits and loaves. The entire house was full of the familiar smell of fresh bread — one of the advantages, Rahaan thought to himself as he pulled his shirt on and walked out of the bedroom, of growing up in a bakery.
“‘Morning, Rahaan. Sleep well?”
Rahaan nodded. “Where’s Rúu? She was was gone when I got up.”
“She headed into town pretty early — she’ll be staying here for a few days while she looks for work. Care for some breakfast? I’ve got a batch of fried potatoes you can help yourself to, and there’s fresh milk in the icebox.”
“Thanks.” Rahaan retrieved a glass from the cupboard, grinning inwardly at his father’s use of the term “icebox”. They had replaced the old thing with a new Silverfox Mark III Alkaline Evaporation Refrigerator last summer, but there was something resolutely old-fashioned about his father after all. “How long is Rúu going to stay?”
“Oh, just until she’s made enough money to move on to wherever’s next. The life of an itinerant mage, I guess. Still, she should do decently well. There’s always a need for good waterworkers... what’s with the look?”
Rahaan spooned some of the potatoes onto his plate with his lower hands while his upper arms gave his father a shrug. “I thought I’d see for myself if that guy last night was telling the truth or not.”
“He was, Rahaan. Your mother and I really are from the old world.”
Rahaan sat down at the high kitchen table with his breakfast. It was just as Mandrake had told him — his own father looked exactly the same as the wanderer had through Phenists’ Eyes. A single undivided mass of blurry energy. “I still can’t quite believe it, but it really is true, isn’t it?”
Kai chuckled, nodding. “It is. Just don’t go blabbing to the other phenists about it, all right? I like having a bit of privacy — as far as anyone’s concerned, I’m just a baker.”
“Don’t worry, dad. I can keep a secret.”
“Good...” Kai turned back to the floured board, punching the ball of dough down with a gloved hand. “By the way, Rahaan, when you go back, could you take that basket with you? It’s got some things for you and the doctor — the usual order, plus a few extras like always.”
Rahaan nodded. “All right.”
Back at the doctor’s house, Halhaw seemed to be in one of his rare good moods, although that may have been just at the prospect of fresh bread. “Welcome back, Rahaan. I trust you brought me the Wing phenes I asked for?”
Rahaan nodded, handing over the small padded envelope. “Seven of them. How’s Swirl?”
“Asleep at present. She will be grateful for these, I’m sure... Once she’s awake, I’ll begin the operation. In the meantime, however...”
Rahaan tilted his head as Dr. Halhaw opened the envelope and passed two of the small crystals inside back over to him. “I can tell you exactly what you were doing wrong. It only occurred to me last night what you were trying to do yesterday and why it didn’t work. I was too angry to think it through clearly.”
“Oh?”
“Wings are arms, Rahaan. They need to be attached to shoulders, otherwise they won’t stick. Here... I got these out for you.” Halhaw dropped another pair of crystals on the counter — slightly bulkier in shape, with a different rune engraved on the top. “Shoulder phenes. Feel free to take more bait from the kitchen — I think this could be a worthwhile exercise for an afternoon, and it will keep you out of my hair while I see to the patient.”
Rahaan, apprentice phenist, grinned, scooping the four crystals into one of his lower hands and setting out for the forest. Sometime later, a squirricoon stretched its new pair of fur-covered leathery wings and took to the sky.
end of episode 1
Previous
Top
Next
