by Lisa Daniels
“But he told me to… stay...”
“Oh, if he gets angry, just tell him I told you to go. Don’t worry. Now, go. I have a ship to move and I’m not that great at multitasking.” Luan slid back onto her seat and resumed with her drawing, contradicting her previous statement.
Heart rate almost tripling, Kelsey made her way below deck, but not before she gave a last glance at the scenery around her. Fluffy, white cirrus clouds and a few gray, anvil-shaped ones, hinting at a storm.
She did know things. About how clouds formed, why snow fell, and the importance of good hygiene. But true… she didn’t know much about how life truly worked on the Six Isles.
And, they told her she was a witch. Not as an insult, but as a fact. A real, true witch, and no one up here would execute her for it.
She probably couldn’t tell her parents she was one, though. It’d break their hearts.
* * *
The journey to Kelsey’s new world went smoothly, as far as riding through a small storm went. When she’d approached Master Rus again, she’d been surprised at how calm he’d been. No anger for her deserting her station, no annoyance at her for explaining what Luan had said. No, he’d just been… calm. She still found her flinching in the wake of a potential threat, though. On her first night in Master Rus’ house, she had a nightmare, one that involved his smiling, affable features twisting into monstrous hatred, flames breathing out of his serpentine mouth, and a distorted voice that sounded more like Master Feylen’s, telling her she’d never run away, never be allowed to betray him.
She’d wanted to talk more to Master Rus, to get a better sense of him, but he left her almost instantly, needing to tend to police matters. His personal servants, of whom there were about four, smiled and showed her about the place, to the two bathrooms, the small kitchen and pantry, the dining room, the study room, and the three bedrooms, two of them being dormitories.
Smaller than Master Feylen’s home. More humble. The servants slept within two rooms on the upper floor, each with three bunk beds, speaking of a time when more servants populated the place. Kelsey was given a bunk all to herself. All the servants were women, which made Kelsey wonder if there was something else about the place she didn’t know.
No one seemed abused, or bitter, or cruel, however. They just were.
In addition to a new bed and new servants who treated her with interest and respect, Master Rus had left her in the attendance of two tutors. They turned up by the early afternoon, and hammered into her a mix of Isles knowledge and therapy.
They didn’t have therapy back in the Undercity. No one wanted to admit there was anything wrong with themselves. But the therapy here was deeply uncomfortable, always trying to force her to look through windows she didn’t want to look through. Telling her that everything she thought of was actually wrong, because she had allowed someone else to dictate her life.
When Perran Rus came back from work, he dropped in to talk to Kelsey about her progress—every day, for the next month. She’d gone from hard-working, hand-calloused servant who could never do anything right to someone who instead spent her days studying and being told to practice “positive” thinking. So, instead of thinking she was worthless, she needed to remind herself every day why she was blessed.
It was… strange, to say the least. And so, so hard at first. Every time someone looked at her with anger or impatience, she kept wanting to run away, or to have apologies streaming out of her mouth. She didn’t want people to hate her. Didn’t want to be confronted. Didn’t want to have to deal with the emotional battering ram every single day.
But she still kept going, out of that desperation to please someone else.
She didn’t exactly think she’d learned much more than she already did, but there came a day when she woke up and stared at the ceiling of her top bunk, a smile coating her face.
Ella and Ruby would be preparing her a hot chocolate for the morning, as they’d done for a solid three weeks. They always took care to leave the room quietly, so she didn’t wake up. She heard them leave anyway, but this was the first time she’d been able to sleep through their getting up and departing to the kitchens. Somehow, that felt enormous.
Like she trusted them enough not to do anything to her.
The other thing that cheered her up was that she wouldn’t be getting therapy or tutoring lessons today. No going through the wringer and coming out of it dried of tears and energy. Just a nice, normal morning, one day a week, on Azarus Isle’s rest day.
Right. I have to… do the positive thing. Her mind drifted over five positive moments in her life. Waking up of her own accord. Learning a Six Isles game which involved trying to navigate a board without being eaten by a dragon. Perran Rus smiling at her. Perran Rus buying her an expensive dress so that it’d be easier for her to remind herself that she wasn’t ugly or worthless. And remembering that Lord Feylen was in jail for six years.
Perfect. She took a moment after getting out of bed to wash and dress herself, marveling that she could actually spend time on this, and decided to wear the new dress in her collection. It was a pale yellow, and modestly covered up her front, the hem reaching past her knees and the sleeves going down to just above her elbows. The extra lining inside it provided some warmth, and she pulled on some white underpants which hugged her legs for additional warmth. Her posture was still bad, so she faced the bathroom mirror, trying to tuck her shoulders back, straighten her spine, and not look as if she were about to scurry away.
What a difference a month made. The shadows under her eyes weren’t so pronounced, and the permanent frown that used to wrap itself around her lips had faded in favor of a neutral expression, one twitch away from a genuine smile. Like her whole face had gained a lift. She enjoyed staring at herself in the mirror just to have the image of before compared to the image of today.
Perhaps something had changed.
Smiling came easier to her lips. She smiled at her own reflection before heading off to the kitchen, where Ruby shoved a hot chocolate in her direction. “You’re sure looking cheerful today,” Ruby said. Ella was holding a baby boy in her arms. He wore a pink dress and his hair was growing out. Pink was considered a masculine color, a muted version of red.
“Is that your son?” Kelsey asked, surprised because she hadn’t seen any hint of a baby before.
“No, he’s my cousin’s. She was busy today, so she just dropped off the baby to look after until then.” Ella cooed at the baby, who raised a pudgy hand to grab at her black hair. “Ah, don’t tug too hard...”
She said this so normally that Kelsey hesitated. “And Lord Rus doesn’t mind?”
“Of course not. We can offer the hospitality of this place to people in our lives. Besides… it’s not like he spends that much time here,” Ella said, now swaying her arms to try and lull the tiny human ball into sleep. “I’ll tell you once, a hundred times, a thousand times—Master Rus is nothing like that slimeball, Feylen.”
Suppressing the instinct to defend Feylen, Kelsey reluctantly nodded. “He’s a good man. Dragon. You know, I didn’t realize that dragons started off as humans.”
“It’s a power,” Ruby said. “Like your storm witch power. Seeing as we’re talking about that… how is your power getting on?”
“They haven’t found a storm witch to teach me yet,” Kelsey said. “So, I’m just working on controlling my emotions. They… appear when I’m not settled.”
“The sooner you learn, the better. A storm witch is super useful. We have light witches to create our light sources. Air witches to keep us safe from winds. And storm witches, who can summon storms and use lightning as a weapon. The natural energy of a storm provides a lot of money for people who use lightning rather than light witch powers. Usually, skyships have to go out hunting for storms so they can collect the lightning. But a storm witch…? That’s some big circs right there.”
It likely explained why Master Rus had some difficulties in locating a storm witch. He’d told he
r the last one to graduate from the Six Isles was living on some distant, small island, far away from here, where traders went for exotic animals and furs.
“You could just try to learn by yourself, too. I would,” Ella said, now squinting suspiciously at the baby boy, who had his eyes closed. “I hope you’re not tricking me, little wailer...”
Finishing off the hot chocolate, Kelsey wiped her mouth. “I’m not so sure. It seems dangerous. I don’t want to accidentally hurt someone.”
“So, just practice in a place where there aren’t many people,” Ruby shrugged, before she waved at the other two servants, Tia and Alice. The servants who slept in the other room grabbed drinks before hurrying off to their assigned work chores for the day. They only ever really talked to one another, maintaining a polite association with Ruby, Ella, and now Kelsey.
Which suited Kelsey just fine. Ella slowly walked out of the kitchen with the baby, and Ruby seemed quite content to sit where she was, making another drink for herself. Ruby did tend to spend a long time waking up in the mornings. A question sat inside Kelsey, one that grew with every day that passed ever since Master Rus had taken her out of Feylen’s home. Ever since she’d seen faint glimmers of disgust on his face when she cringed away from him, when she refused to look him in the eyes, when she spoke of herself as a burden.
He had genuinely gone out of his way to help her. She recognized that much. Education, therapy to try and make her question her own actions better. But with his help, she still couldn’t shrug off that look on his face.
She hadn’t imagined it. And she thought it related to why he spent little time with her, other than to ask her progress. Ruby might not be the best person to ask, but Kelsey didn’t exactly have other options, since her tutor and therapist knew next to nothing about Master Rus. “Can I ask you a question, Ruby?”
The dark-haired, dark-skinned girl raised her bushy eyebrows. “Sure. You can ask me anything, you know that.”
“I know.” And I’m grateful for it. “I was just wondering… about Master Rus.”
“What about him?”
Even thinking about asking the question sent a tremor of fear inside. “I was just wondering… why he helped me. I wasn’t the only servant in that place who was maltreated… but he helped me.”
Ruby shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you. He does it sometimes—just helps people out.”
“I could tell you.” A new, rougher voice penetrated the kitchen. Ruby and Kelsey turned, and saw a tattooed, short-haired woman swagger in through the door. Luan. “ ‘Bout why the dragon man goes around helping the little lost souls.”
“Skies,” Ruby whispered, placing a hand on Kelsey’s shoulder. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here for the storm witch.” Luan folded her black-sleeved arms, grinning as she took up a masculine stance. “We got places to be.”
Luan wore a sneer as Ruby left the room, glancing back every now and then with open hostility. Luan held out a hand to stop Kelsey following suit. “Nuh uh, girl. Looks like you’re already dressed to impress. You’re staying with me.”
Swallowing down fear, Kelsey reluctantly made her way back to the cupboards, distracting herself by making another drink. She already needed the bathroom as it was, but remembering what they said about the air witch—that she sucked the breath out of people’s lungs, that she retrieved “confessions” from criminals… Kelsey didn’t want to have to stare at Luan too much. Or give the woman an excuse to use her powers.
“Yeah, I’ll have a coffee. Black,” Luan said, as if expecting Kelsey to make something for her. Sighing inwardly, Kelsey began preparations for one. “Right, so before we leave, I can answer for you that little question you were asking the help.”
“Do you know Master Rus well, then?” Kelsey kept her conversation polite, her body guarded.
“Well enough. You’re not the only one he’s tried to save.” Luan stepped uncomfortably close to Kelsey, watching her prepare the drink. Her breath was practically on Kelsey’s neck. “He does tend to make the quiet, weak ones his pet projects.”
The words stung, and Kelsey couldn’t quite hide the tremor in her voice. “What do you mean?”
A brief pause. The hissing sounds of the kettle filled the room, as it warmed up from the stove fire. The kettle dangled from a metal bar above the fire.
“It’s a thing he does. Out of guilt. I may not know everything about him, but I do know that he used to have a sister. One that fell in with the wrong man. Sad, really.” Luan didn’t sound sad in her voice, which gave the story a cruel edge to it. “She was a dragon shifter, but she loved the man so much that she allowed him to grind her to a tiny, tiny point. Until she just didn’t understand the abuse, or didn’t want to understand it.”
A chill went through Kelsey. She turned briefly to face Luan, and the girl’s dark eyes were wide, and magnetic. Pulling Kelsey’s attention. “She was… abused?”
“Yes. He tried, you know. They say he didn’t, but from the time I’ve associated with him, I know that he tried sky-cursing hard to get her out of there. But once you get past a certain level of breaking down someone’s spirit, they’re gone.” She glanced towards the kettle. “Think it’s done, now.”
Hastily, Kelsey made it, her mind expanding from what Luan had told her. She didn’t know what to think or feel about it, so she said, “He helps people who are… abused… like his sister?” Handing the coffee to Luan, she watched as the air witch sniffed at it.
“Something like that. I imagine it gets tiring, watching so many people not stick up for themselves. Life’s already hard without making it worse by yourself, you know? So many people out there to put you down. Why do it for them?” She drank the coffee and let out a sigh. Draining it completely, Luan twitched her lips in an approximation of a smile. “Thanks. Come with me.”
Kelsey considered the words, her pulse picking up. Her trepidation around the air witch was drowned out by a new, growing curiosity. One that made her want to know just what exactly Master Rus thought of her. And by that extension, Luan.
She’d now figured out what about Luan scared her. The woman just didn’t care about softening her words. She was cruel. But not like… not like Feylen. “What do you think he thinks of me? What do you think of me?”
“Sure you want me to answer that?” Luan led her out, now walking towards the nearest sky docks. “Since, no offense, you are the victim type.”
Although Kelsey flushed at the statement, she set her jaw. “I want to know.” I’m just not sure if I can handle it.
“No, you don’t.” Luan said nothing more for a moment, and they continued walking across the cold, stone ground, nearing a huge, stationary ship. “I can see it in your face. You’re not ready.”
On the ship, called the Elegant, Kelsey found herself surrounded by people, deckhands in a hurry over preparations, and spotted two women sitting in the alcove, talking. Two air witches? Lord Rus was there, too, buried within a group of people, none of whom Kelsey recognized.
“What...” Kelsey began, but stopped when a grumpy-looking woman stepped in front of her, with a lock of blonde in her otherwise dark hair.
“This is the storm witch, Luan?” the woman asked.
“Yes… but she’ll need some practice,” Luan said. “Kelsey, this is Alex. Alex, Kelsey. Both of you are Undercity dogs, right?”
Alex’s lips twitched. “Hopefully not from the same kind of background I had.”
“You’re from the Undercity?” Kelsey raised an eyebrow.
“Straight from the jail, yes. Before that, I worked in a baby farmer’s house.”
Kelsey winced at that. She’d heard about baby farmers. They’d take an unwanted child for some coin. Speculation remained just as to what happened to the child after it’d been handed over. “My parents were clockmakers. They owned a shop.”
“How did you get up here? I was sprung out of jail before they executed me. Meridas over there—” Alex jerked a thumb over at a tall, regal
man, “wanted a witch to help heal his sister. And I was the one for the job. Life witch, at your service.”
Remembering from her tutor that there was a very prominent life witch active in the Six Isles, Kelsey nodded. “Oh! I’ve heard about you. You helped cure something very horrible, didn’t you? And you went on a journey to that place, Zamorka. With...” she hesitated. “Is this the same ship that went to Zamorka?”
“The very same,” Alex said. “Welcome to the Elegant.” She pointed over to the two women sitting in the alcove. “Over there are two talented air witches, Evelyn and Rukia. And there...” she pointed at a dark-haired woman who shared similar features with Meridas, “that’s Meridas’ sister, Vash. And his ex-wife, Natalie.”
There really were quite a lot of people here. Alex continued rattling out names, but Kelsey had phased out slightly, unable to concentrate. So many important figures here. So many people, some whom she had heard Master Feylen admire or insult. She remembered Master Feylen once wanting to try and buy Meridas’ pet life witch.
“Why am I here?”
She cut through the noise, and Luan simply pointed in the direction of Perran Rus. “You’d best be taking it up with him. I was just supposed to bring you here.” Before Kelsey could ask or beg Luan to stay with her, since Luan was the only familiar face right now, even if she happened to be scary, the witch strolled over to join the other two air witches in their alcove. Alex, meanwhile, had been swept up by Lady Vash, leaving Kelsey to pick her way over to Master Rus.
All the while, as she watched him, she thought about the sister he must have loved and lost. Someone who died. Details were hazy on the death, but it was likely related to the abuse she had received. Beaten to death? Suicide? She had a little window into Perran Rus’ soul, and it felt strange to be able to picture him in that light. Not as some police officer, or a dragon, or somebody who didn’t care. But as a man who had someone he couldn’t save.