“What?” Jayme looked between them. “I just got done promising I would—”
“How many times have you come here, Jayme?” Vi interrupted.
“Given that I’ve been your courier for four years now and make a trip almost every month, that’d be…”
“At least forty-eight times.” Ellene jumped in. “Well, almost every month, so at least forty.”
“At least forty times and you’ve never even seen the Northern coast.” Vi gasped loudly, drawing even more attention than the two heirs and their guard already were, walking through the shaded city. Medallions of sunlight danced on the road ahead, striking beams like the footprints of mythical fairy folk the elders spoke of around campfires.
“Can you keep it down?” Jayme looked around, uncomfortable.
“I just think that’s something we need to fix.”
“The coast is a little far,” Ellene said uncertainly. “Why don’t we—”
“No, we’re going to the coast,” Vi insisted. “We can dip our toes in the water before it’s too cold.”
“Yes, this has everything to do with water and nothing to do with the news that the fishing town has moved.” Ellene easily called out Vi’s true intentions.
“They always change the landscape. I must update my maps!” The fishing town was a nomadic ground that traveled along the coast. They used their abilities as Groundbreakers to terraform the land for better fishing. Living in a region full of those with the power to manipulate the earth itself was both a delight and nightmare, for a hobby cartographer like herself. “Besides, you knew this was going to happen, or you wouldn’t have put my journal in my pack. You practically ensured it.”
“Did you really?” Jayme looked to Ellene, but the girl looked anywhere else.
“She’s an enabler.” Vi laughed, hooking her arm with Jayme’s. “Now, it’s just us and we have a long hike ahead. Tell us all about the news of the South?”
Luckily, Jayme had no shortage of stories this time, for she talked as they left the city proper and the trees became free of dwellings. Her stories continued as they traversed the burnt stretch of earth that ringed Soricium—a holdover from the Empire’s siege during the war well before Vi’s birth.
On the second day, Vi and Ellene caught Jayme up on their adventures since the last time Jayme had been in the North—much less to talk about. Which was good, because by the late afternoon they had reached the sea, and Vi had all but forgotten the storm of power that loomed within her, threatening to break free.
Chapter Seven
From this highin the treetops, there was only wind.
A vine as thick as Vi’s bicep was wrapped around her waist and the bark of the tree curved upward to cradle her feet and give her a comfortable stance. She squinted into the sunlight, trying to make out the exact curve of the land around the waves—nearly impossible with the midday glare off the sea.
Her journal was propped against her upper abdomen, held by her left hand. In her right was a stick of charcoal she was using to make hasty sketches—desperately trying, and failing, not to smudge. Every now and then, Vi lifted her eyes toward the horizon, checking her rendering.
It was close, not exact, but coming along. Vi stared again, this time in sheer wonder at how much the land seemed to have changed from the maps pinned back in her quarters. She’d stared at them for hours on end, committing their wiggling lines to memory. To think that some could make such a difference on the earth itself. Vi couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to control power like that.
To have full control of magic at all.
“Are you quite done?” Ellene called up to her. The girl was stripped to her underclothes and dripping wet.
“Are you?” Vi shouted back. “You two look like you’re enjoying the water a lot for people who didn’t want to go this far.”
“You should enjoy it too. Rather than spending theentiretime perched in that tree.”
“She’ll just spendmostof the time perched,” Jayme chimed in.
“All right, all right, I’m basically done. I’ll come down.” Vi returned her charcoal to behind the front flap of her journal, quickly lacing the tie closed.
Ellene raised a hand and the tree shuddered and came to life. The vine around Vi adjusted its grip before hoisting her into the air. Her stomach rose to meet her jaw as she descended from the canopy. She’d been so high up that the wind in her ears grew to a whistle well before she neared the ground.
With a twist of her wrist, Ellene brought Vi to the earth gently. Her feet touching down on the soft carpet of small grasses that quickly became white sand. With a snap of her fingers, the vine uncurled and hung limply behind Vi.
“Was the snap really necessary?” Vi asked, kicking off her shoes and putting them with the other pairs.
“Everyone likes a bit of drama.”
