“Word has reached us that to a . . . vehement degree, you have demanded to speak with our Grand Healer.”
That’s certainly a way to put it. Jo kept the remark to herself, opting instead for a simpler, “It is a matter of dire importance.”
“I would hope so,” the queen said softly, crossing her legs and leaning back in her chair, looking bemused about the situation. “It will take a century to repair the Sapphire Bridge.”
Jo should feel guilty. But she didn’t. If anything, she just felt slightly angrier at Eslar for forcing them all into this mess with his stubbornness. Then again, she didn’thaveto start destroying the bridge . . . Her head hurt if she tried to tally up the scores for “who messed up more”.
“Tell me, why should I not just strike you down here and now for waging war against the elves?”
“Because I am not waging war,” Jo insisted.
“It certainly appears that way.”
“I was given no other choice to get the attention of your—”How did he phrase it?“—Grand Healer. We had made every attempt to contact him through conventional means.”
“So you expect to go unpunished?”
That was something Jo hadn’t considered. Punishment was likely fair. But Jo didn’t find it very threatening. She bit back a sigh.
“You want to ‘punish’ me? Be my guest. Let’s see how well that works for you.” Jo shrugged. “Could be interesting, I suppose, because I’ve found there’s very little that harms me. Locking me up would just give me a fun puzzle to break apart. And the longer you keep me here, the more at risk you all are.”Be it from Pan finally catching up, or the end of the world—Jo kept the thought to herself.
The king gripped and let go of his arm rests as if he were giving them a massage. “I am willing to forgive your transgressions.” Spoken like a man already backed into a corner, making it sound like it was his idea to be there all along. “On one condition.”
“I didn’t come here for conditions.” Jo put her hands on her hips. “I was hoping we could have a productive working relationship.”
“I hope for that as well.” The king stood. “But to achieve that, you must tell us what strange magic you used to break our wards and level the work of our people as though it were a mere initiate’s exercise. This information will be valuable to us in rebuilding and could perhaps expunge the damage you’ve done.”And give him an opportunity to write her off as a sort of test, or human wrecking ball making way for new improvement, to his people.
Jo frowned. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to work with him... “There’s not enough time for that.”
“I have lived for over five hundred years. I am very patient.”
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. There wouldn’t be enough time for you to understand, and unfortunately we don’t have five hundred more years for you to let it sink in.” Her hands fell from her hips, as though pulled by the weight of disbelief at yet another hoop before her. How hard was it to just give her some time to talk to one elf?
“You presume too much to speak to the king that way,” their tall escort cautioned.
“Fine. I presume a demonstration of my powers will be good enough? Maybe then you’ll see why you should’ve just taken my word?” Jo cracked her knuckles, mostly for show.
“Don’t do anything rash,” Takako whispered as their escort quickly said something in elvish to his king.
But the conversation was interrupted by the loud shutting of a door echoing through the hall, followed by a simple statement in an all-too-familiar voice.
“You should know better, Takako. Our Josephina has yet to master the art of not being rash.” All eyes turned. Eslar gave a small frown at seeing them. “You never knew when to quit, did you?”
Chapter 13
Impatient
For as much as Eslar’s tone betrayed annoyance, Jo liked to think the exasperation didn’t quite meet his eyes. He looked much the same as she remembered, though no longer wearing casual 2050s fashion.
Now, as he approached their stunned little group, a long robe flowed behind him, lined and accented in the oceanic tones that Jo was now learning to be the particular color scheme of those with import in Luanian society. His long black hair had been braided back from his dark face in intricate weaves, making the silver and sapphire jewelry lining his pointed ears and pinned throughout seem more prominent.
They had called him their Grand Healer, but to Jo, he looked equally as royal as their king.
“You’ve certainly put in a surprising amount of effort to get here.” Eslar broke the stalemate that had followed his arrival. “Clearly my silence had not been answer enough to whatever request you plan to make.”
Jo winced, not liking the way his tone shifted from indifferent to cold, though she held hope in the way his eyes took each of them in one at a time. Surely, despite his self-induced isolation from his former team, he would have missed them,right?Even just a little bit?
“We had hoped you would change your mind once you actually heard the request. And since you wouldn’t give us the time of day over the phone—or disk—we had to come here to deliver it in person,” Jo threw back, though Eslar’s wandering gaze had finally shifted down the line of their group and onto Samson. Jo couldn’t even be sure Eslar had heard her, not for the way his focus narrowed down to the craftsman as if he were the only one in the room.
