by Peri Akman
The man chuckled and began talking to himself, smoke swirling around him. Sennta patted Quinn on his back sympathetically.
From the smoke emerged a hand with a cardboard box, and what appeared to be brown mush. Sennta took it happily.
A short while later, another box emerged from the smoke, and Quinn took it gingerly.
“Trying to pay for street food with a wane. You’re hilarious, mate. You ever want to make a few more mistakes, you know where to find me.” The man cackled, sounding oddly evil behind the mask and the smoke.
Quinn looked down at his meal. The mush was composed of meat and beans and random vegetables. Underneath the mush were chopped fried potatoes. Quinn wrinkled his nose in disgust. It smelled weird, and it seemed to have some sort of milky fluid on it.
Sennta did not stop to eat the food, and instead made a beeline to get as far away from the smoke as possible. It occurred to Quinn that no matter how tough he had it, Sennta probably found it ten times worse.
Sennta continued to walk until they made it back to the apartment and proceeded to walk back up the stairs. Quinn followed, not too pleased to be following Sennta again. He felt like he was back in the hospital again, and, once more, Sennta was all too set and determined whereas Quinn was left floundering.
However, Sennta did not stop at their floor, instead going up a few more stairs before opening the door to reveal the rooftop. Up here, propped up, was a tarp and a chair, which Sennta sat down on without so much as an extra thought.
He motioned for Quinn to also sit down, kicking up a few dusty cushions he had lying around.
“Huh, wouldn’t the tarp get destroyed from the rain?” Quinn asked, almost curious.
In the softest voice Quinn had ever heard, Sennta replied.
“It’s waterproof.”
Quinn nearly jumped. He had been informed that Sennta was mute by choice but it was still… weird to hear him talk.
Sennta smiled awkwardly. “It’s quiet up here. So I talk.”
“Oh. Uh. Sorry if I was annoying in the hospital,” Quinn apologized.
“It’s no problem. You didn’t complain. That was good. You breathe heavily though. Distracting.” His voice was still incredibly soft; Quinn had to sit awkwardly close to hear him properly.
“Oh. I’ll work on that. But you were pretty awesome. You been doing this for a while?” Quinn asked.
“Since I was eight. Almost six years now,” Sennta explained.
Eight plus six. Fourteen. This kid was not only accomplished, but younger than him by a whole year.
Wait.
Eight?
“You hit maturity at age eight?” Quinn tried to stop from yelling, but his voice did rise.
Sennta smiled, and silently laughed. “No. I was a special case. I awakened early on. I would cry at the sound of textbooks dropping. I couldn’t eat the food if too many spices were used. When the sun was too bright I would have to stay inside or my eyes would start to bleed. They kept trying to figure out what was wrong with me, thought I might be autistic, but once they realized it was a side effect of my powers, they got me a master right away.”
“Are you?” Quinn asked, curious.
“Am I what?” Sennta asked, blinking.
“Autistic?”
Sennta did another of his odd silent laughs. “I don’t know. Once they realized there was a magical explanation, they stopped caring if there was also another reason. I sometimes… wonder… but I’m usually too busy to be introspective.”
Quinn nodded. “Sorry, I was just curious. It’s just weird to me, how accomplished you are. I’m fifteen and haven’t done anything. I keep worrying about having to go off and fight people, but I don’t think I have what it takes.”
Sennta picked up a piece of potato with his hands, covered in meat and dairy products, and ate slowly. Quinn mimicked his behavior.
It tasted okay. Actually, it tasted pretty good.
“You worry about fighting a lot,” Sennta repeated, his soft voice muffled by the food.
“I… yeah. Is that weird?” Quinn asked.
Sennta shook his head. “Probably not. For me, violence was never an option. I can’t even comprehend the idea of it well. One time someone tried to hit me—a drunk who was a bit too sick for her own good—and it didn’t even occur to me someone could do that. I stood there with a bleeding lip, wondering if it was an accident or if she thought I was a fly or something. So, I guess, to me it’s weird.”
“Oh,” Quinn muttered. Sennta had a point. For a guy who froze whenever violence happened, he sure thought a lot about violence.
They ate in silence for a few moments. Sennta chewed carefully and slowly. Kole was probably right. He could probably hear himself chew. What a nightmare. Quinn tried to make an effort to chew with his mouth closed.
“So, Sennta, how come… you aren’t super sensitive anymore?” Quinn asked.
“What do you mean?” Sennta asked, confused.
“I… uh… you said you used to cry if someone dropped a textbook, but in the hospital you were going around like it was no one’s business,” Quinn explained.
“Oh,” Sennta replied. “I wear ear plugs.”
He pushed back his hair, and sure enough, a pale white stopper was inside his purple-outlined ear.
“I also had a lot of training. I can focus in on things. I can… block out stuff if needed. The hospital is going to be loud and noisy. I know this. I can handle it. The sun up here doesn’t hurt my eyes because I make sure I look only in the shaded area. I usually have shaded glasses to wear. My last pair broke. Drunk woman from before,” Sennta rambled, but it was punctuated, thoughtful, like each word had to mean something.
Quinn listened intently. Would his own powers result in him having to drastically alter how he lived his life? Would he be okay with that?
Yeah. He thought he would.
He wanted to lament his own plight. Express his jealousy over Sennta’s skills, Sennta’s competency, but he stopped himself. It would be insensitive.
“You, Quinn?” Sennta asked suddenly. “You ask a lot. What are you like?
Quinn shrugged. “Just got out of the academy. Haven’t figured out how to cast any magical thing at all. My teacher is probably the smartest crazy woman I’ve ever met.”
“Well, before magic, you should learn how money works. And basic medical care.” Sennta seemed to have the slightest of smirks on his lips. “I can help you there.”
Quinn shoved a mouthful of meat and cheese-covered potatoes into his mouth. He nodded vigorously. Between chews, he mustered up the words, “Fine by me.”
Chapter Ten
A week passed, and then another. Time took on a methodical blurring Quinn had never quite encountered before. He was busy, exhausted all the time, and yet, oddly enough, awkwardly content. He still hated the hospital, but it became bearable. Quinn spent time meditating, expanding, and learning anything Sennta could teach him. He couldn’t do much at the hospital, but he was able to sanitize wounds and pass messages along. Sennta had also taught him bits of the hand motions he had been doing with Travitz before. It was called ‘sign language’, and apparently it was a great way to converse without speaking.
He also came to understand money. The red ones that had () engraved on them were geds, and ten of those made a shue, or a blue coin, which had a | symbol. From there the rhyming scheme was off, and it was maroon-copper-brown wanes, which had || symbols and were composed of ten shues. Then there were the golden hestes, which had the ||| symbol and were composed of ten wanes. Finally there were the silver coins, zales, each of which were equivalent to one hundred hestes. They had X symbols and were only frequently used by the extremely rich, or by banks. They all also had individual buildings or people on the back, but knowing those wasn’t required to deal in money.
That wasn't all, as some coins could actually stand for more. A ged with multiple () on it, usually in a vertical line, meant it was worth that same amount of geds. After the numbe
r five, it was often put in a much larger circle of some sort, or another design. It was all annoyingly complicated, but hopefully learning it a second time meant it would stick.
With this new knowledge of currency and trade at his disposal, Quinn was able to remember that the coin Asim had handed that waitress, so long ago, was a heste. No wonder she had practically bugged out.
He had taken to working the six hour shifts, and, although it was exhausting, it was by no means the destructive terror that had been the last third of that first thirty-six hour shift.
The sanitation department reported there had been monsters urinating in the water, hence the influx in infections. Luckily, once the source was located, the monsters were hunted down and driven back into the wilds, and the infections ground to a halt. Not only did Quinn have more free time now, but Sennta did as well.
Usually Sennta and Quinn spent their time off on the roof, chatting and learning about each other.
It was because of these conversations, and one other very important occurrence, that Quinn decided to have a talk with Kole.
Kole was busy, almost a bit too busy, the two of them rarely talking. Kole always made it clear that if Quinn wanted time with her, all he had to do was ask, and she’d take any time needed, but he had yet to follow up on that.
The night of the fourteenth day of Quinn’s time in Shorne, he motioned for Kole to talk to him outside. Kole sighed, but gave no indication of disagreeing, and followed him after grabbing her walking stick. The two stood in the stairwell for a moment, as Quinn tried to figure out the best way to tell her.
Luckily for him, he didn’t have to, as Kole was the first to speak.
“It’s a bit late for meditation training, Quinn,” Kole muttered.
“Actually, I don’t need that training,” Quinn said cheerfully.
“You mean you…?” Kole trailed off.
Quinn nodded. “Yeah. Broke the barrier on my break in the hospital.” He was practically beaming with pride.
“Quinn! That’s fantastic! And you did it without my instruction! Holy sh—Quinn! That’s amazing! Nice job!” Kole seemed incredibly impressed.
Quinn wallowed in pride for a moment.
“Also I should probably apologize.” Kole admitted.
This broke Quinn’s wallowing. “What?”
“If Sennta hadn’t been some special snowflake, you would have found out that most people get awakened about five minutes after they leave their academy,” Kole explained. “Most warlocks just activate your tattoo, force you to break the barrier, and be done with it.”
“Which you would never do,” Quinn murmured.
Kole nodded.
Quinn shrugged. “I’m awakened now, that’s all that matters. Besides, I do feel pretty awesome about doing it by myself. Plus, I probably could have done it a lot quicker if I hadn’t been so busy. But I do have another thing I need to ask you. Buying something.”
Kole made a movement that probably meant she raised an eyebrow. “What do you want?”
“Well, I searched the stores, but I can’t find… what I’m looking for.” Quinn felt awkward explaining this.
“Which is?”
“Shaded glass. For your eyes. Apparently they’re really fragile, really expensive and…” Quinn muttered something hard to hear.
“And?” Kole prompted.
“Sennta had a pair and they broke, and I think he and Doctor Travitz are too poor to afford another,” Quinn nearly blurted out. “But you’re not! You gave me a lot of money on a whim! You gave me mugging money! So…”
Quinn’s sentence stalled as his gaze dropped to the ground.
“They’re called sunglasses, and I know just where to find them. Come on!” Kole said cheerfully, even as her body language suddenly darkened. “Oh, dammit. Now I need to go down the stairs again. This is terrible. I’ll just jump out the window and heal my broken bones instead, that’s far preferable to stairs. Void, maybe I should just start doing that instead of walking in general.”
The next day, they both went went to the city early, before work started. Kole did not in fact throw herself out the window, which was a relief to Quinn, as he had nearly taken her seriously, but did spend the entire trip to the hospital moaning and complaining.
They left the Farcee district, and went to one that Quinn did not know the name of, but it seemed like an even nicer district than Farcee, certainly a thousand times nicer than the part of the city they had travelled through initially.
There was a small fancy store that seemed to sell monocles, and, sure enough, sunglasses.
“So, Kole, Doctor Travitz is… a doctor. Why do they live in a small apartment? I thought doctors got paid really well?” Quinn asked.
“They do. But they opted to live close, and a lot of property in Shorne is expensive. The mountains surrounding mean less usable flat land, and the constant monster attacks mean safe land is even more rare. Then, land that is flat, safe, and good for plumbing and all that jazz? Good luck,” Kole explained. “And then there’s the fact that Doctor Travitz does most of her work out of the goodness of her heart. She works more than what she gets paid for. What she can legally get paid. And the final fact is that since we warlocks are raised and protected by the government, it means that part of our paycheck also goes to the government. If you’re not good at legalese like I am, it can mean up to half of it disappearing. More if they think foul play is afoot.”
“That’s terrible,” Quinn muttered.
“Yeah. The upside is that it's impossible for her to be unemployed unless she wants to be. Some people in Shorne would murder for a consistent job. Actually, some people in Shorne DO murder for a consistent job. That’s their job. Murdering people.” Kole giggled at her own silly joke. “Personally I don’t think it’s worth it. Works a bunch of warlocks to the bone, but the good doctor actually disagrees with me, so who am I to judge her?”
“Doctor Travitz disagrees?” Quinn was surprised to hear this; they seemed to get along well.
“Oh yeah. We both agree the bureaucracy is terrible, but beyond that, she’s… well, she’s of the opinion that hard work is its own reward. Anyone complaining is just selfish. We also had a few fights on… slaving ethics.” Kole ended her sentiment rather bluntly.
“What… what do you mean?” Quinn asked.
Kole sighed. “I heavily disagree with her treatment of Sennta. It’s nothing… bad. There are way worse warlocks out there. Some who really get their kicks out of making their apprentice fetch their food and calling them ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ or whatever neutral phrasing is out there, and she definitely isn’t having a power trip…”
A sharp feeling of wrath spiked in Quinn. “She’s… she’s not abusing him, is she?”
“I… I mean, I’d call it abuse?” Kole said, her voice not as confident as Quinn was expecting, and oddly wishy-washy in tone. “Pretty sure if I called it that to her face she’d heal a clot into my brain.”
“You don’t sound confident,” Quinn observed.
“I know. It sucks. I made the mistake of befriending her before realizing I was going to end up judging her so heavily on her life choices. So now my brain wants to justify and give her a chance. It’s disgusting,” Kole muttered to herself.
“What did she do? Does she like, beat him or something?” Quinn pressed.
“Oh, no. No. She just… I haven’t seen this, but I’m pretty sure she dominates him when he has panic attacks. Makes him calm down immediately. Makes him get back to work.” Kole explained, clear venom on her tongue.
“That… doesn’t sound too bad. Isn’t that a good thing? Panic attacks kind of suck.” Quinn’s voice cracked as he suddenly found himself in an awkward position.
“She has no right to do that. Infringing on his will,” Kole snapped.
“But maybe he said it was okay? Like if he told her ahead of time—”
“He’s fourteen! He can’t consent to shit!” Kole roared in the store, garnering the attention of
everyone around them. She coughed awkwardly.
“We’ll continue this conversation later,” Kole whispered irritably.
Quinn nodded and picked out a pair of sunglasses that he thought Sennta would like best. The price boggled him, 12 wanes. He didn’t know why they didn’t just say “1 heste, 2 wanes” but whatever.
He ran some math in his head. 12 wanes was 120 shues. Which was 1,200 geds. That was 600 meals from that vendor.
That was… a lot.
He lifted them up. “Are these good?”
Kole nodded. “Sure. Whatever.”
“They’re kind of expensive.”
“You broke your barriers. Any price is fine,” she replied irritably.
Sure enough, when Quinn gave the glasses over to the salesperson, Kole retrieved the coins out of her own purse.
“Do you want it gift- wrapped.” Kole enquired, her voice dead and cold, with just a hint of edge.
“What?”
“Do. You want it. Gift-wrapped,” Kole snarled again, this time through gritted teeth.
Quinn blinked. She was scary when she was angry, sure, but the clash with her odd caring side was just bizarre. Actually it was kind of hilarious.
“Yeah. Sure. It is a present after all,” Quinn replied. Present. It was a present. He’d never given a real present before, not like this anyway. It was pretty exciting, come to think of it.
Kole practically chucked a coin at the poor soon-to-be gift wrapper, and shortly thereafter, Quinn was holding a box covered in bright gaudy wrapping paper and the prettiest, most perfect bow he had ever seen.
Once they walked out of the store, they had barely taken a step before Kole started her rant.
“You can’t consent to someone who has utter control over you,” Kole muttered angrily. “And she keeps him in this horrible hospital. If they just went to a less hectic city, he would be fine and not constantly over-stimulated! Or keep him in a room, and bring people TO him, so he’s not running around!”
“He doesn’t seem over-stimulated to me,” Quinn supplied.