“I wanted to ask what is the proper way to refer to someone from the Twilight Kingdom. Someone who has the markings on their brow like yours. I’ve only read about the Twilight Kingdom tangentially in books brought from Meru, so there hasn’t been much information. And—” She was interrupted by his laughter.
“I suppose if you’ve never seen a morphi before, you’d have questions.”
“A morphi?” Alyss asked. “Is that what you and Graff are? Is that like elfin?”
“Indeed. But morphi possess the magic of the shift, which is unique to us.” Ducot leaned forward and broke a branch off one of the carved topiaries. Magic rippled out through the air from his fingers, as though reality itself had become the surface of a still lake that he was casting stones into. The branch blurred, hazy between each ripple. Then, at once, Ducot flicked his wrist, freeing it from the magic. However, it wasn’t a branch any longer. It was a pale blue, faintly glowing, long-stemmed rose that he handed to Alyss.
“What was that?” Alyss whispered in awe, accepting the rose. She turned it over in her hands and looked to Eira. “It’s real.”
Eira sought clarity. “The shift can…transform things?”
“More or less.” Ducot began to meander down the stairs that led toward the river. “The shift is the ability to bridge the gap between what is, and what could be.”
“Amazing,” Eira breathed and followed after him. “So you can transform anything?”
“To an extent.”
“What about this bench, or that plant, or that boat on the river?” Eira’s excitement at new magic made the words blend together a little.
“It depends on the strength of the morphi, of course.”
“Is there anything you can’t—”
“I’m sorry for my friend.” Alyss stopped her. “She’s a bit over-eager.”
“Alyss—” Eira hissed.
“You can’t go interrogating the first people you meet,” Alyss hissed back.
“I can hear you both perfectly.” Ducot pointed to his ears. “These make up for a lot of the sight I don’t have, and then some.”
Alyss put her hands on her hips and gave Eira a pointed glare.
What?Eira mouthed.
Apologize, Alyss mouthed back.
“Still here. You’re not as quiet as you think.” Ducot sighed.
“Ducot, I’m sorry if I asked too many questions,” Eira forced herself to say. She had about a thousand more, but Alyss was right.
“You’ve nothing to apologize for.”
“Ha.” Eira couldn’t stop herself from blurting. Alyss rolled her eyes.
“Honestly, it’s nice to have someone genuinely interested in the morphi…someone who hasn’t been tainted by the Faithful of Yargen.”
“Tainted?” Alyss repeated.
“Not literally, just your perception of us. We were worried, you know. Since your princess is marrying the Voice.” They arrived at the lowest walkway that ran along the river. Ducot rested his hands lightly on the railing, spreading them out, feeling the metal, before leaning against it. His milky eyes stared out over the water. “The Twilight Kingdom and Meru haven’t historically been the closest of friends. Things have been better under our current rulers, and hopefully better still with this treaty. But when you said you’d read about us in books from Meru… I was worried. Every historian’s penmanship seems to have a differentslantwhen writing about the truth.”
“Isn’t the Twilight Kingdom on the Crescent Continent as well?” Eira asked. She would presume their histories to be closely intertwined enough that the truth was well known.
“It is. And border disputes have been but one of the sources of our tension.”
“Oneof the sources?” Eira pressed. Ducot just shrugged. She was in the middle of figuring out how to rephrase her question to try and get him to talk when Mister Levit interrupted them.
“Eira, Alyss,” Levit called down the terraces. “Your trunks have arrived; you should come and get dressed for dinner.”
