As soon as we arrived, Everan sent for Sir Kevel and had me attempt to take his asha—with his permission, of course. I had no problem connecting and pulling on his asha. I didn't actually remove any, just made sure that I could.
“Thank you, Sir Kevel,” Ever said with relief. “You've been a great help.”
“Anything you need, Your Majesty.” Sir Kevel bowed.
“Have the mages sent word yet?”
“Not as yet. And no word has come from the Bargests.”
“Have someone check on the mages. I want an estimate on how much longer they'll be.”
“Yes, Sire.” Sir Kevel bowed and left.
“Oh! I almost forgot,” I exclaimed. “I was talking to Cyprian and he pointed out that it would be impossible to just stumble across the magic mantle.”
Everan frowned and made a thoughtful sound.
“You'd have to be digging to find it,” I said pointedly. “So, whose job is it to dig in the Northern Kingdom? Are their miners? Dwarves maybe?”
“This is not a human fairy tale, Shalani,” Everan huffed. “Dwarves don't mine for gold. They—” He blinked as he finally processed what I said. “Great Gods!” He ran to his mirror/comm device and pressed the camouflaged button. A chime sounded. “King Benalt of the North.”
Another chime came and the mirror faded into a blank gray. Everan leaned on the dresser below the mirror and tapped his fingers impatiently. At last, colors seeped into the gray and took shape. My grandfather appeared, seated in an ornate chair. My grandmother hovered at his shoulder.
“King Everan,” King Benalt said crisply. Then he spotted me. “Hello, Amara.”
“Hello, Grandfather,” I said politely. “Is everything well in the North?”
“Yes, we're fine for now.”
“King Benalt, you need to put your miners under surveillance,” Everan cut right to the chase.
“Pardon me?” My grandfather scowled.
“The thief has to be someone who would have a reason to dig deep enough to hit the magic mantle,” I explained. “Unless you can think of another occupation that requires digging, the thief is likely a miner.”
“Everlasting Earth!” my grandfather exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. “I shall have them all rounded up and questioned immediately.”
“No!” Everan and I shouted together.
“Why not?” He scowled at us.
“Consider how powerful the thief likely is,” Everan reminded him. “I believe it would be safer to watch all of the miners for now. If one of them reveals himself to be the thief, all the better, but if not, when the mages finish their device, we'll know who to point it at first.”
“Um, aren't you forgetting something?” I asked Ever.
He lifted a brow at me.
“All we need to do is get close enough to take a look at their ashas. Either one of us should be able to see who the thief is in a matter of seconds.”
“Of course!” my grandfather exclaimed. “I'll have my knights confirm the location of every miner in the kingdom. Or perhaps I can come up with an excuse to bring them to the castle. When you get here, you can look them over.”
“We'll see you soon,” I said to my grandparents.
“Just twist here, sweetheart,” my grandmother said. “You can use your mother's room as a destination.”
“Thank you, Grandmother. We'll be there as soon as we can.”
The mirror went gray and then shifted back into a mirror. Everan's reflection looked guilty.
