Sol couldn’t stop the smile that came to his face. Her words sounded flowery and empty, but he believed she would do exactly as she’d said. The tiny cabin felt larger than the main room below deck, and he was glad he’d come back here.
“Was learning to wield magic a necessity?” she asked.
“Yes, and no,” Sol responded. “We were only useful to the Quotidian if our magic could expedite the speed of necessary work.”
“Why don’t the Quotidian use their own chaos magic to get work done?” Meena asked.
Sol noted that it was an astute question to ask. “Chaos magic must be powered by chaos, and most are not keen on inflicting pain upon themselves for the purpose of using their magic sustainably over the course of a day or longer.” Sol clenched his jaw. “They do relish using it in shorter bursts, though, when it is convenient to draw the chaos from someone else’s pain.”
“Do you remember learning magic?” she asked. He was thankful to move the conversation into a lighter area, whether she realized she was doing so or not.
“I don’t recall learning it,” Sol responded. “It was something that always was. It was in the tales my grandmother whispered as she rocked me to sleep. It was in the rules my parents enforced to keep us away from the notice of the taskers.”
“When you put it like that, it sounds so beautiful. Other than the taskers part, of course. Just that it always was. I always ... I never,” she stopped talking.
Sol waited for her to finish her thought.
“I always thought it was something to be scared of. A power that would destroy Iseldis and my family and even me. I just. I never thought it could be something different. I’m sorry.”
Sol nodded. She was right. She had been wrong, even if she had not been the one to twist the truth herself. “I don’t remember the first time I used the harmony within me to wield the magic, but I do remember when I discovered how it worked, I used it discreetly to do things I didn’t want to do, like clean the water pail or shake out the blankets.”
Meena smiled at his memory. “What fun things do you do with it now?” she asked.
Sol exhaled. It seemed it would be impossible to keep this particular conversation from becoming sad. “As soon as the taskers know you’ve learned to channel it, they collar you with a chaos powered gem so you cannot use your voice and therefore cannot access your magic.”
“Oh.” Meena looked down at her hands. “Aizel told me about that.”
Sol held his breath. He hadn’t meant to share that much, and he did not want to carry the weight of her sympathy or guilt or whatever the other emotions were that warred across her face.
“I’m sorry,” she said. Looking up, she added, “Not that I have any understanding of what that was like, but you did not deserve to grow up under such a cruel set of rules.”
Sol released his breath. He was neither offended by her words, or further hurt by them. “No one does,” he responded.
Her eyes opened a little wider. “Which is exactly why we are here.” She tilted her chin down in determination.
Sol nodded in response. He had put all his energy into getting to the fortress and now he was mere days away from arriving. He still needed to refine the final pieces of his plan.
First, he needed to get a layout of the fort, which hopefully would be easier to access than the palace in Chendas. The magic receptacle was probably in some sort of underground dungeon area which had limited access and only a select few of the soldiers would be aware of its existence and even fewer would know if its purpose. But it would be heavily guarded.
“What is our plan for destroying the stored chaos magic in Falqri?” Meena asked, interrupting his thoughts. “We have not discussed it in detail yet and we only have a few days left to know what we are doing. Shouldn’t we talk about it now while we are on the ship?”
Sol let her talk, barely paying attention. “I can’t make a plan until I see the fort. And it would be best not to discuss it. We never know who is listening.”
The princess glanced around the tiny room. “Alright,” she whispered. “But how will I know what to do?”
“What do you mean?” Sol asked.
“If we don’t discuss the plan, I won’t know what my part is.”
“You’ve already done your part,” Sol explained, confused at her questioning.
“We haven’t even arrived yet, though. What did you expect me to do once we got to Falqri?”
Sol did not have an immediate answer to that question. “I wasn’t expecting you to do anything.”
“Do you plan to do this entire thing by yourself?” Meena asked. “Do you know anyone in Falqri? Surely you’ll need help.”
“Yes,” Sol responded to her first question. “And no. This plan will most likely fail. I don’t think you realize what that means.”
