I’m so entranced by the flickering colours, I didn’t see the elven barmaid place my food on the table and slip onto the bench opposite me. Her tense stare weighs on me, my eyes flip to her before turning my head, I try not to focus on her golden eyes, alluring as they are. I force myself to look away to save from being enthralled.
“What are you?” she asks bluntly.
I stare at her, baffled. “Um… What am I? I don’t know about ‘what,’ but my name is Andi.” I rolled her strange question about in my head, what did she mean? I’ve never been asked such a bewildering question before.
“Sorry, it’s just I can sense your magic, it’s radiating from you, and as you can see, I’m an elf.” She pushes her hair behind her ears, pointing at the arch. “So… what are you?”
“What do you mean you can sense my ‘magic,’ I don’t have magic.” I feign laughter.
The elf gazes at me while her head tilts, holding out her hands towards me, then closes her eyes.“It’s oozing from you. You really need to learn some control.” A beaming smile spreads along her face. “If you’re worried that I’ll tell people, I promise I won’t. I just can’t figure you out. I’m Kali, I’m from an old tribe of elves called Skiah. Most of which have died out now.”
Shaking my head, I ask, “Skiah elves? Never heard of them.”
Kali’s head tilts subtly. “We don’t hail from here, we come from the mountains in the far east of Yiren. There’s only my sister and me now. I haven’t heard of any others in ages.” A wave of sadness washes over her, disappearing as quickly as it came.
Kali might know about the temple we’re heading for, but I don’t know her enough to spout all my secrets, especially after she just divulged one of my biggest. I make a mental note tomention it to Myles later, together we can come up with a conniving way of asking without revealing why we’re heading there.
Kali’s gaze makes me feel on edge; her gold eyes, sparkling in the sunlight, are wide and unblinking. I try taking a bite of my food, but I can’t with her watching me. I never could eat with folk staring, a quirk of mine I’ve never been able to get over.
“So… what are you? Come on, I need to know.” Kali’s hands clasp together in front of her, biting on one of her long nails.
I shrug. “I don’t know. I have only just found out about the magic. I know nothing of it, where it came from, why I have this specific magic, or how it works.” The air around me feels thin, making me lightheaded. “Maybe you can answer me this? How can folk track someone’s magic?”
“Easily,” she replies too quickly.
“Okay, have you heard of someone using an object to track it?”
“Are you being tracked?”
Taking a large sip of my coffee, I ignore the question. Kali’s eyes harden, scowling at me in disappointment. I don’t think I’ve heard the end of this. Changing the subject, I ask, “What do you know about the governor and his daughters?”
“You’re tutoring them, aren’t you? That notice has been up for so long. No one ever lasts. Those girls are mayhem.” Kali chuckles, pulling her blue knitted jumper up to cover her face, hiding her laughter.
My eyebrows raise. What have I gotten myself into here? She adds, “I’m sorry. Look, those girls have been left to run riot since their mother died a couple of years ago. The governor doesn’t know how to handle them. His house is a mess, he is a mess, and his girls are… well… unruly.”
Staring at my plate in front of me, my stomach suddenly feels like there’s a brick in there. How can I teach these girls anythingif they don’t want to learn or feel they don’t have to? I could just show up, ‘teach’ them, take the payment, and run. We’re not staying long anyway; it’s not as if what I do will drastically change their lives.
A voice shouts on Kali, she slides out of the bench and heads towards the bar, leaving me to my thoughts.
Thoughts that are still stirring in my head as I leave the inn and walk absentmindedly to the governor’s house.
The gates are already open or have been left that way since yesterday. Probably the latter. The governor seems to have lost his way since his wife’s passing. Kali didn’t say how she died, but by the looks of this house and the governor, it was sudden. I wander around the substantial yard, taking in my bearings. The garden is huge, with archways leading to other areas behind the manor, although mostly overgrown.
Dead flowers wither on the ground, the grass is knee high, and the trees are in dire need of a cutback. Under all the foliage, a paved path leads away from the house towards the woods, similar to the paths we made with Dad in our woods. The secret hideouts, Elana called them. We spent hours making houses for faeries or inns for bugs and insects.
I am curious to follow the hidden path, wondering if I would find a similar play area, but before I can, a high-pitched yelling drags me back to the present. Disheartened, I dawdle back to see what the commotion is about.
Megan and Eliza are standing beside a large tree with a rope swing tied to a branch, an old, threadbare rope. I’m surprised it’s still attached. Both have a grip on the rope as they shout and scream at each other, back and forth pulling and tugging until the rope snaps and both girls fall backwards, landing in a mud puddle. I resist the urge to laugh as I step out from my hiding place, and their heads turn as I approach.
“Oh no, what happened?” I ask, pretending I haven’t just watched the whole hilarious act.
“She did it,” they both say in unison, pointing at each other. I stand over them with my arms folded across my chest, frowning while slowly shaking my head.
“Well, it’s broken now. Doesn’t matter who’s at fault.” I reach out to help the girls up. Eliza takes my hand gladly as I pull her to her feet.Megan scoffs at me and pushes herself up.
“Go get cleaned up and I’ll meet you in the sitting room, I think it’s about time we start learning something, don’t you?”
I try to mimic Mum’s stern voice when we did something wrong. It must have worked as the girls stomp off in a huff, but at least they do as I say. I walk up the stairs to the front door. Governor Thran is slouched on a chair outside on the porch, watching the bustling streets, a bottle of brandy in hand.
