He sat at the edge of the pool, his feet in the cool water, as Koji splashed around for a good chunk of the afternoon. It was hard not to dwell on things, but at least he was in the sun; and there was no shortage of things to explain to Koji, who had never been in a hotel, or a swimming pool, or an airport, or an airplane before.
When the novelty of the swimming pool wore off and Koji was ready to go back to the room, it was nearly dinnertime. Rather than venture out again, Florian just ordered room service while Koji was showering, rinsing off the chlorine smell of the pool water. His lighter mood was already wearing off now that he had some time alone with his thoughts.
They sat around the small dining table in their room in silence for a little while, then between bites of the sandwich he’d ordered, Koji asked,
“So... Was it my fault we had to leave the wolf kingdom?”
Florian stared at him dumbly for a long moment, his mouth half-open, before he shook himself out of his surprise.
“What? No, of course not,” he stammered, although he realized even as he said it that it wasn’t entirely true. “Well, I mean, it was both of us being there. And not us personally. Just us... being in the village. He told me there’s a whole ceremony that has to happen when one king dies and the other takes up his place, and he was worried that having us there would be... disruptive, I guess.”
Koji seemed to think that over for a long moment.
“Kade is... hard to read,” he finally said, his tone careful, as if he were gauging Florian’s reaction as he said it. “For a little while, I thought maybe he was upset we had gone with him. Like we were making things harder for him.”
Florian wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It wasn’t entirely inaccurate, but he knew Kade didn’t begrudge their presence either—however he felt about it, he didn’t think Kade was upset with them.
“Us being there did definitely make things more complicated,” he replied slowly. “But he wasn’t mad. I think he was... more frustrated at how torn up he was about his dad.”
“His father has been sick for a long time, right?”
“Yeah. They knew he didn’t have long to live for a while now. So I think he expected to take it less hard when the time actually came, but...”
Florian trailed off, the thoughts growing too close for comfort. He was sure Koji would know what he meant, though—Koji had lost his mother.
“I see,” Koji finally said softly. “Well, I’m sorry we had to leave in such a rush, then. I’m sure this must be unpleasant for you, too.”
Florian let out a bitter chuckle, shaking his head. “Yeah. I really didn’t want to leave. But Kade said it would be for the best, and I... I trust him. Or at least, I’m trying to. It’s hard.”
Koji nodded, his expression pensive. He didn’t respond, so Florian continued miserably, “This’ll be the longest we’ve been apart since... Well, since we met, really, we haven’t been apart at all. Except for the three days with the witch, but that was three days for him. It just felt like a few hours for me.”
Koji’s expression perked up with interest then. “Tell me about the witch. What was that like?”
The hag seemed like a safer topic of conversation, so Florian told him all about their travel through the Blight to find her and her lair: how her swamp had been protected from the Blight by an impossibly thick blanket of magical vines and leaves; how strange lamp posts had pointed the way; and how the shapeless water beasts that had protected the lamp posts nearly drowned him. He explained how they had to give something of sentimental value to even get close to her home; how her hut was built into a tree, but was magically much larger on the inside; and how she was invisible at first, forcing their eyes away from her visage through old magic.
Finally, he described Elodie herself, her looming size and unnatural proportions, big purple eyes and dark curtain of hair. But, he added, she didn’t look scary like a hag—just strange and otherworldly—morphed by the old magic that she worked with, but not corrupted by it.
“And she knew you were using old magic,” Koji said, and Florian nodded. They were straying into more uncomfortable topics again; but he had promised himself that Koji deserved the truth, and if he wanted to ask more questions now, Florian wouldn’t begrudge him.
“Yeah,” he said. “She brought me into this... I think she called it a liminal space. It was sort of like a dimension she created, where there was just... nothing. It wasn’t in time or in a place. It was just pure magic, I think. And that’s where she wanted to show me how to use old magic, and how she could see I was already using it. And we could see...”
He sighed, glancing away. “The... The fae spirit that was attached to me.”
“The one that’s connected to the Summer Queen.”
“Right.”
“What do you think it all means? That it’s connected to you, and now you’re doing all this?” Koji asked, looking at Florian with obvious curiosity. Florian grimaced.
“I wondered the same thing. I asked Elodie what she thought, and... I don’t know. She didn’t exactly have an answer,” he said. “It’s more than coincidence, but she told me there’s not really anything like... like fate or destiny behind it, either. She said that she could make predictions and see different possibilities for the future, but nothing was for sure. That Thaddeus being connected to me is probably what gave me my Changeling powers, but that alone wasn’t enough to put me on this path, I guess. It was my dad who wanted to do this, and I’m mostly just... following his instructions now. Most of the information we have is because of him, his research. I don’t think we’d be here at all if not for that.”
Koji’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry I never got to meet him. He sounds like he was a good man.”
Florian could only grimace again. His feelings about his father were still complicated, but that felt far too intimate to share with Koji, regardless of their current topics of conversation. “Yeah. I wish he was still here. It would make things a lot easier, that’s for sure.”
“So when do you think you’ll talk to the hag again?” Koji asked, catching Florian by surprise.
“I don’t... I don’t know. I wasn’t really planning on going there again,” he stammered. Koji frowned, looking for the first time dissatisfied with Florian’s response.
