by J E Mueller
My first meeting with someone who conquered a full curse was with a girl named Liza who wasn’t much older than myself. Her hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and her teeth crooked. She refused to wear anything but the simplest of gowns and loved nothing more than to sit in the sun and work on her cross-stitch. Often, she would speak with newer recruits of the Order, such as myself, about her curse and how terrible it had been at its peak.
Liza smiled sadly at me when Grace introduced us.
“Another new friend, Gracelynn?” Liza asked.
“It’s Grace,” she corrected. “And this is Key. She’s another crabby member of the touch base curse team.”
Liza nodded and set aside her cross-stitching for a moment. “It’s often considered a terrible team to join, being born with curses that can harm or kill with a simple touch, but I think differently.” Her voice was like honey.
“What do you think then?” I asked, surprised. Her words made me curious.
“We are the best team. There is not a temptation in life that will cause us to fall to those nasty nightmare bringers, those coal monsters that taunt and tempt,” Liza pointed out.
“That’s her name for demons,” Grace whispered.
“All of them can be defeated. We just need the right direction to get there,” Liza said with a smile. “And I know it’s hard. It’s the worst thing any of us will live through, but live we shall.”
“Go on, Liza, tell her,” Grace said, leaning against a nearby wall.
Liza shook her head. “Always straight to the point and missing the path.” She looked at Grace. “But very well, we’ll cut corners to the hardest part.” Liza turned her full attention to me. “My curse didn’t do much damage until puberty. It came and hit all at once. My touch would instantly kill. Barely a sound could escape their lips, it was so fast, but that was only if I didn’t catch their eye first. If I made eye contact with any soul they would turn to stone, but not your average stone statue.” She chuckled slightly. “No, so much worse. They looked perfectly normal. As if they were holding still for fun, but a touch confirmed they were stone.
“Everyone was lucky on that last part for a while. The first few that turned to stone unfroze after several hours of frantic worry… but the curse expanded and continued to grow. Hours turned into days, and turned into weeks. People were so afraid they would rather see me blindfolded and sitting still forever rather than risking me breathing in their general direction.
“My own mother finally turned on me and hoped that if I was stoned to death the curse would be lifted and free the remaining statues that seemed as if they were never going to recover. My only stroke of luck was that a healer from the Order overheard the plan and stole me away.” Liza paused for a moment before snapping out of her reverie. “I hear they all finally recovered, just as I did.”
“How? How did you beat all of that?” I was amazed and enthralled by her journey.
She shook her head. “To break the curse, you needed to understand what the core of it was. Once you know that, truly know what it was, then the rest came easily.”
Frustrated with her and her lack of a real answer, I didn’t speak with her again for some time. I didn’t care if her answer to her curse wouldn’t help me, I just wanted to hear how they could be cured. The conversation had left me with nothing. My curse was fire, caused by a demon bargain gone awry. What more was there to know? Clearly I was missing a piece of the puzzle, and it wasn’t one that could be found here. It felt like the answer was just out of reach.
By the time I reached the age of sixteen, I’d had enough with the Order of Reawakening. I had seen many gifts and curses and was only growing more frustrated with finding no answers of my own. There were curses cured by solving riddles or using opposite magic to break the spells. Many were destroyed by true love - those tales were the most heartfelt - but only caused me pain. Others were cured by simple and beautiful inner peace. None of those things I saw helped me, and I decided it was time to leave.
With the promise to return to visit friends I set out once more. This time, however, I had a better plan formed than when I had run away.
Instead of avoiding people, I began looking for work. I joined the migrant worker force and started looking for seasonal work with room and board. I cooked, cleaned, mended, tended shops, and learned whatever I needed to to get by in the winter. I listened to stories and tales and tried to find the answer to my life-long problem of being cursed. When a way to cure myself didn’t appear at the end of the cold season, I picked up my journey anew. During the nicer seasons, I traveled and did odd jobs. I tended to flocks, helped harvest crops, and kept up with market stalls.
Quickly I found my favorite village, where Kegan resided, but I never stayed in the same place for too long. There was no need for firm attachments. That lesson was deeply ingrained in my mind and heart. The only exception I made was Kegan. She wasn’t the hugging type of person. Instead, she respected my desire for distance, and my desire to continue to work in many different places. Aside from asking once as to why I was traveling, she didn’t pry me about my past and loved keeping things in the present. Part of me thought she knew something was up, but the rest of me was just glad she never seemed to care enough to ask.
8
When I awoke it was already dark out. For a moment I felt uneasy and had to think hard to recall where I was. Smells of freshly cooked food reached my nose and I wondered how late it was. I hoped I wasn’t leaving a bad impression with the VanEllens. Had it recently gotten dark, or did they just leave something over the coals for me? I glanced over at the water basin and saw it had fresh water. After quickly cleaning up, I made my way downstairs where the soft sounds of chatter could be heard.
Standing in the doorway to the kitchen, I could see Celia sitting on a chair crocheting in the living room. Alex, just out of sight, was saying something to her. Celia glanced up and smiled at me.
“Well, well, welcome down, sleepyhead.” She nodded towards the pot of soup over a slowly dying fire. “Help yourself and come join us. We were just discussing the short notice my sister gave for her visit.”
I nodded in response, seeing a free bowl and spoon laid out on the table. “When is she due to arrive?” I asked as I filled the bowl and went to sit.
“Two days. Plenty of time to air out the extra blankets. I may ask you to take the sofa or our spare cot while she’s here.” Celia continued her work on what looked like a small sweater.
“More than fine by me. A sofa is always a comfort when the ground is cold,” I replied as I ate.
“Where is it you’re from again?” Alex asked curiously.
“Just outside of Petal Lake,” I supplied. It was a small town just past the proper castle villages. I visited there a couple of times as a child.
“This is a pretty far journey from there.” He looked up from the book he was reading, a question in his eyes.
I finished my spoonful of soup before answering, “Yes, it really is, but going back to tragedy isn’t worth the memories. The last couple of years I’ve mostly been in this area, which is how I know Kegan.”
“Does that mean you’re likely to stay around if you keep coming back this way?” Celia asked with unhidden interest.
I wasn’t sure where she was going with this, “Maybe. I do like this area more than the others I’ve visited, but there is still a lot to see.”
Celia nodded, concentrating for a moment on her work. “Traveling is probably best when you’re young. Just don't be afraid to settle down. Traveling yourself to death isn’t worth it.”
“And your sister will say the opposite,” Alex went back to his reading.
“How she does it, I’ll never know,” Celia scoffed as she crocheted faster.
It was quiet for a few moments and I managed to finish my meal in peace.
“Why does your sister travel?” I asked. The thought of a traveling family member made it understandable as to why they’d be so willing to have a traveler living with them. Celia�
��s sister probably often depended on the kindness of strangers.
Celia didn’t look up from her work as she replied, “The short of it is that she’s a traveling physician of sorts. A few times a year she may send word and stop in if her destination is on the way. Sometimes she stays just a night or two, sometimes longer. Once she stayed an entire month.” She paused. “Of course I love my sister, I just want a little more notice and to know where she’s coming from.”
“That sounds reasonable,” I agreed.
Celia mumbled a sound of acknowledgment at my comment but didn’t continue.
“Aren’t you leaving out some of the important specifics?” Alex asked carefully.
“Only the ones that aren’t important,” Celia said, eyeing him carefully. “She can speak for herself when she gets here.”
“Fair enough.” Alex stretched as he got up, “I think this is a wonderful time to call it a night.” He left the room without another word.
Celia looked up at me when he was gone, “My sister is an oddity. We both are. As are you.” Her words took me by surprise but she continued before I could think of anything to say. “Nothing wrong with it. I’m going to keep pretending that my life is normal though, so ignore any of the nonsense that my sister brings. It’ll be swept out when she leaves.” Setting her work aside, she left the room.
Not knowing what to think of the strange statement, I took my gloves off and washed my dishes. The kitchen was otherwise clean so with my task done, and gloves back on, I went to bed myself. Her sister was an oddity? The thought circled in my head, frustrating me. She didn’t say it in any sort of mean way, just tired. As if she thought I’d understand right away what she meant, but I didn’t. What did that mean? Eccentric? Magic? Was she implying I was involved with either of those as well? It was hard to say, and meeting her sister was probably the easiest way to find out.
The next morning I was up and ready by dawn. Downstairs, Celia was already preparing breakfast. There were eggs in a basket, bacon waiting to be fried, and the strong smell of coffee slowly coming from the pot over the fire.
“You must be up before the sun,” I commented.
Celia had been staring out the window and turned to look at me. “Oh, um, yes. Couldn’t seem to sleep.” She yawned and stretched out, “The well is just beyond the back if you want to fetch a pitcher of water. Breakfast, then morning chores. Lots to do today.” She stared out the window again. “I think my sister’s going to be early,” she mumbled as she went to check on the coffee.
Grabbing the pitcher from the table, I made my way outside. The wind was blowing softly as the sun brought soft pinks to the sky. The air smelled of dew and in it, there was a feeling of magic. Shrugging it off I continued on with my task. There were likely plenty of people with magic in the area. A nice quiet village didn’t mean there would only be normal people.
The morning went by swiftly with all the chores at hand. Celia was driven by caffeine and some internal confirmation that her sister would soon arrive. By afternoon, the whirlwind of morning chores were done, but the dust created by the work from the shop gave me new assignments. Not finished with an unseen order in the shop front, Celia sent me out to get some things she needed for dinner. A few of the people in the market recognized me, and I quickly got to know the people Celia most frequently spoke with by answering questions of who I was and where I was staying. With all the extra conversation I was late getting back, and I was worried Celia would have my throat.
She didn't notice.
Surprised, I came to find Celia sound asleep on the sofa. Since she had her neighbor, Mariann, watching the shop I decided it was best for me to start preparing dinner myself. No one had instructed me on how the shop was handled yet, so I thought it was best to leave it to someone they trusted with it. Dinner was already going to be a part of my routine, so I began the preparations to cook. We had everything for a nice fish stew and leftover bread made great bowls and proved to be an easy meal. After I diced the veggies and tossed it all with the fish, Celia awoke.
With a yawn and a nod at me as I finished my task. “Alex should be about done for the day.” The light was already starting to fade, nudging at cooler weather to come.
As I stirred the stew the words she had spoken last night came back to me. Oddity. She said they were different, and I was too. Letting the stew be, I mulled over the implications once more. Nothing reasonable came to mind, so I continued with the few remaining dinner preparations, humming my favorite tune to myself.
Dinner was a fairly dull affair. I spoke of those I met at the market. Alex had finished a few commissions and some other one-of-a-kind pieces and went into great detail about the designs, clients, and the varying parts of each newly completed project. While he primarily made jewelry, his silversmithing did bring in requests for knives, daggers, and other small blades. Celia didn’t say much but asked plenty of questions to keep the room from getting too quiet. It seemed to me that she had much on her mind, and did not want to discuss any of it.
After dinner, there was more crocheting for Celia, and some reading for Alex. I glanced over the small collection of books and chose one to read for myself once the kitchen was back in order. It was well-read and I took great care with it as I began flipping through the dog eared pages and made up my mind to give it a shot. The title was intriguing, Once a Tempest, and I was quickly engrossed in the odd tale.
Alex went to bed first, barely making it up the stairs with his tired, sluggish pace. I would be surprised if I didn’t find him asleep in the hall with how exhausted he appeared.
I was going to ask Celia a question when I felt an odd tingling at the back of my neck. Celia looked past me to the door.
“I knew she’d be early,” she said while setting her work aside and heading for the door.
A few moments passed. From my spot I couldn’t see them come in. I turned to hear their voices, talking softly. They were much too hard to hear until they appeared in the doorway.
Twins. Celia had a twin sister. Magic filled the room.
Taking in the sight of the twins and the feel of their unmasked power, I noted that the only big difference was that Celia’s sister was slightly taller and had shorter, unkempt hair. I raised an eyebrow at them. “You’ve magic as well then?” I asked both of them. It was strange that I hadn’t felt it before, but if she wasn’t using it or hiding it, how would I know? My skill in picking up those signs wasn’t very well-honed and wasn’t one I had considered practicing. Maybe I should reconsider it.
Celia chuckled and sat on the sofa. Her sister joined her.
“She often doesn’t mention the twin part, nor the magic,” her sister told me with a smile.
Celia shrugged. “I speak often of my sister. Not many ask about our age difference and there's rarely a need to bring the magic up.”
Her sister just shook her head. “I’m Leia. I’m the only healer in the family, so if she mentioned that it wasn’t a lie.”
Waving off her sister's comment, Celia supplied an answer. “My magic allows me to know what a person is feeling. I can see the good and evil in a person and which is more dominant at any given moment. I can feel someone's emotions without ever seeing them. Being close is enough.”
“Sounds like fairly noble gifts,” I wondered if she had used that on me.
Leia laughed. “They are certainly seen that way now. She forgot to mention the sight. I see the past. She sees the future. Father cast us out, even though it was his fault. He made some sort of pact that caused us to have magic but the terms weren’t horribly against us. For a time, as I’m sure you can understand, we thought they were terrible curses only demons could use. We know better now. They are good gifts, and even better if used wisely.”
“He cast us out because he knew that we were aware of what he had done. Luckily, he didn’t kill us. There were so many possible futures at that moment,” Celia added.
Shrugging it off, Leia glanced at me with interest, “We were taught
at the Order as well. If you’re a seasoned wanderer with magic, you’ve been there.”
“I have.” I wouldn’t deny it to the one who could easily see my past.
“And what is your magic?” Celia asked.
“Unlike your oddity…” I said the words directly to Celia, trying to figure out what I wanted to say. I gave up. “I don’t really want to discuss it.”
Leia looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, “Your past can explain it.”
“My past is where it should be,” I replied carefully. I was glad they were choosing not to use their gifts and instead respected my privacy.
“Undoubtedly your future would speak of it as well.” Celia teased.
“Mages are the worst to have a nice conversation with.” I crossed my arms sternly. I knew they wouldn’t use their magic in that way. They would have already if that were the case.
After a few moments of silence, Celia started on a different track. “We spent almost a decade at the Order.” She mused, picking up and putting away her various mending and crocheting tools.
“We’ve seen and experienced so much,” Leia continued, focusing her attention on me. I could tell they were trying to convince me to tell my own story. Of course, they would likely understand, but I just shook my head at them as they continued. Too much had happened recently and it bit hard at my heart.
“Gifts,” Celia said, carefully spacing out her words. “Powers not in control. Curses.” Celia smiled. I remembered at that moment that she didn’t need to see the future. She could read my feelings and reactions to the words. That may not be a gift so easily turned off. I had a feeling that she had already learned my secret.
“Yes, fine. I have a curse.” I held up my arms and motioned to my appearance.
Gloved to the elbow and shirt covering the rest of my arm. No doubt they had seen others like me before at the Order. I closed my eyes and silently fumed for a moment. My cheeks were hot from frustration more than anger. There was no harm in them knowing. Actually, it was probably safer if they did know. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before looking at them again. It would be more to my advantage if they knew to keep themselves at a reasonable distance.