by K W Quinn
“If you say so.” Reyah flipped her braid back over her shoulder to keep from tugging it. She didn’t want to show her mother any more than she had to.
“I do say so. My life isn’t fit for children, Doryu.” Lerae got louder, shouting right back.
“Please call me Reyah,” Reyah said with ice in her voice. “It’s the name I’ve chosen to use.”
“Fine. Reyah. I’ve been trying to make a difference in the world. Do some real good and—”
“And being a mother wasn’t good enough? Raising a child wasn’t noble enough for you?” Reyah leaned in, jabbing a finger at her mother.
“Noble or not, I didn’t make a value judgment on motherhood, only on myself. It’s a big job, but it wasn’t for me.” Lerae shook her head and paced a few steps. “Tarone always wanted to be a dad. He loved kids but never had the chance. When I found out you were on the way, I panicked. I didn’t know how to raise a kid. Tarone desperately wanted to. It made sense.”
“You didn’t give him any choice, though. You just dumped me with him.”
“I left a note.”
“You left me. A helpless infant.”
“I gave you life. You think pregnancy is easy?”
“I think you took advantage of Tarone.”
“I helped him. And you.”
“You helped yourself.”
“Yes. I did.” Lerae crossed her arms and stood her ground. She lifted her chin, and Reyah knew where she got her stubbornness from.
“But you checked on me?” Reyah sputtered. She couldn’t keep her anger burning with her mom answering everything so plainly. Why was this woman so agreeable, admitting her faults? “You could have let me know. You could have at least done that.”
“I didn’t want to confuse you.”
“You should have given me a chance!” Reyah shouted.
“You’re right.”
“I am!” Reyah shouted again. “I am,” she repeated but not quite as loud. She didn’t know where to go from here.
They stared at one another for a long moment. “So, what now?” Lerae asked. “You’re helping train the Mistwalker?”
Reyah grabbed her braid, then dropped it as though it were hot. “Not exactly. I was actually tracking him to collect his soul.”
“You became a Dragon?” Lerae gasped. “Tarone said he would never. How did you do it? Why?”
Reyah shrugged. “I was good at it. You left me with mercenaries. What did you expect?”
“I expected Tarone to keep his promise to teach you right from wrong. Tarone never took the wrong kind of job, but any job is too dangerous.”
“I thought you were checking up on me. Why is this a surprise?”
“It’s been a while,” Lerae confessed. “Look, I’m sorry I hurt you by leaving. I did what I thought was best. I’ve been trying to do my best. I thought you had what you needed.”
“Well, I’ve been without a mom for this long.” Reyah shrugged. It was harsh, but she wasn’t in the mood to be conciliatory.
“I’m not the mothering type, but maybe I can still be a friend,” Lerae offered.
“Maybe.” Reyah crossed her arms and took a deep breath. “So, you’re part of the resistance?”
“Yeah.” Lerae twisted her braid around her fingers. “Sort of a recruiter. I travel and try to find sympathetic individuals and then get them connected with resources and other people.”
“And you left me with the Earth’s Enforcers?” Reyah crossed her arms and watched her mother smile.
“I left you with Tarone. He’s been trying to bring them down from the inside for centuries.” Lerae arched an eyebrow. “I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”
“Is there anyone in my life who isn’t some sort of revolutionary double agent?” Reyah sighed.
“Art isn’t. He’s only a revolutionary.” Lerae shrugged. “He keeps this safe house for anyone who needs it, gives shelter, and helps folks get back on their feet. He’s a bit rough around the edges, but he knows more about these mountains than anyone, and he’s got a surprising skill set. He’s a good man.”
“Is he my father?” The words were sour in her mouth. Tarone was her father in every way that counted, but she wanted to know if Art’s blood was in her too.
“That biology would never work,” Lerae answered, shaking her head a bit too emphatically.
“We can’t have babies with humans?” Reyah’s brain spun forward to lives and futures she’d never considered but ached for now that she might not get to have them.
“Humans, sure. But Art is a Capricorn under some heavy Egyptian magic.”
Reyah nodded as though that made any kind of sense. Lerae scraped her boot in the dirt.
“Your father, the man that I . . . he was dragonkin, but not anyone that I’ve kept track of. It was just a thing that happened.”
Reyah’s head shot up. “I’m a thing that happened?”
“Not like that. No. You’re amazing. Pregnancy was a thing. You are a credit to Tarone.” Lerae’s dark eyes were wide.
“So Art is your what? Husband? Boyfriend?” Reyah hadn’t missed the way her mother’s face had softened when she talked about Art.
Lerae laughed. The change in her fierce features loosened one of the knots in Reyah’s stomach. “Not exactly. He’s more like my, well . . . do you believe in soulmates?”
Reyah froze. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Weird
“Two dragons?” Andy asked, following Cass into the house. Art shooed them along, then disappeared. Cass rubbed the back of his neck. It was so weird seeing another dragonkin. And Reyah’s mother. His future mother-in-something. Probably. Did soulmates get married?
“She’s scarier than Reyah.” Andy’s voice stirred Cass’s thoughts.
Cass nodded and walked to the living room in a daze. “She’s darker.”
“You mean morally or spiritually?” Andy ran his hands through his hair and dropped himself on the couch.
“I just meant, like, in color.” Cass settled in next to Andy.
“Keen observation.”
“Shut up. My brain is full.”
“I’ll bet,” Andy sighed.
Cass was grateful for the warmth pressed against him. Andy was all the comforts of home, a reminder of who he was while everyone else was stretching him into something else.
“So, soulmate, huh?” Andy said after a pause. They hadn’t had much time together up here in the mountains. Certainly not enough time to talk about anything significant. It had been a lot of training and a lot of Reyah. Cass felt guilty no matter where he spent his time. Best friend, soulmate, revolution. They were all important.
“Yeah. Weird, right?” Cass licked his lips.
“A little.” Andy pushed his hair back. “Honestly, I mean, I kinda thought I was. You know, like our moms. They seem like soulmates, right? In a platonic way, though.”
“You are, in fact, my best friend and closer to me than a brother,” Cass confirmed. “Reyah is totally different.”
“I hope so. I sure don’t want you looking at me with those gooey-smooshy faces and trying to kiss me behind the trees.” Andy snorted and shoved Cass with his shoulder.
“You’re just jealous because the object of your smoochy interest is off gallivanting with two other men.”
“Look, I wish I was with them. I’m not denying that. I’m a useless third wheel around here.” Andy shook his head and tucked his hands under his thighs.
“You’re not useless.” Cass’s hands made shapes in the air. “You’re learning all that stuff in the library. Planning out all the things I can’t wrap my brain around.”
Andy grinned. “You know, in the book on sieges, there was some interesting stuff on how to disrupt communications. Like, how are we gonna keep the Conglomerate from just calling for reinforcements?”
“Dude, I’m just learning how to move Water and make weather. The rest is up to you.”
Andy chewed on his thumb, nodding, but his
head seemed to already be back in the library, making lists of things. Cass poked him with his toes.
“Thanks for helping keep me sane between all this heavy-duty, saving-the-world stuff.”
“Is it going all right? You look flaming tired.” Andy was too observant to give the usual assurances.
“I can do some really cool stuff. Dual talents are awesome, and I’ve got this energy from Reyah, like a battery pack, but . . .” Cass stopped. Thinking it was fine. Thinking was safe, but if he said it, it was real.
“But what?” Andy was nice enough to keep his eyes on a neutral spot in the background.
“But I’m dangerous now.” If anyone could understand that, it would be a Fire. It would be Andy.
Andy shrugged. “I certainly wouldn’t want to be you right now. Which is also kinda weird. Growing up, I always wanted to be you.”
Cass turned to look at Andy, who was busy watching the floor. “I think you just wanted to live in my house, not live my life,” he said with a shrug.
“Maybe that’s it. Either way, you’ve got a flaming pile of work cut out for you, and I wish I was charming potential supporters with Dez.”
“So you could smooch her?” Cass ribbed.
“I wouldn’t say no,” Andy said with a smirk.
While Dez and the witches prepared their hidden groups of resistance fighters and gathered more people to support the revolution, Cass mastered his talents with Reyah at his side. Leaves dropped, sped along by the raging of Cass’s Air. The frustration and burden of being the Fate-bound Chosen One was fuel for the grueling exercises Art put him through every day.
He wanted to run away, snuggle up somewhere with Reyah, play games, and watch TV with Andy. He wanted to run off and join the witches. He felt he’d do much better spending his days talking to people and encouraging hope instead of being stuck in the mountains learning destruction.
He was good at it, though, and success was encouraging. The water in Art’s little lake froze, and Cass hardened too. He felt ridiculous most of the time, like having the title and responsibility of Mistwalker was some exaggerated game, but the storms he could create were real, and his desire to bring down the corruption of the Conglomerate was growing every day.
Lerae sent reports of how the underground resistance was working to be sand in the gears of the Conglomerate’s methodical and systematic selfishness. Workers were doing only exactly what they were specifically asked to do, following every bureaucratic bit of red tape they could find. Shipments of goods were “lost” or delayed. Cass was surprised at how many people they had inside the Fire’s law-and-order structures. There were lawyers, judges, police officers, and emergency workers using their skills and influence to subtly undermine the Conglomerate’s hold.
Reyah had accepted Lerae in a strange role that was neither mother nor friend. “Dez and Andy are enough mother for anyone,” she said over breakfast one day, and Cass snorted into his oatmeal.
“Hey, if you didn’t have me around, the two of you would spend all day spooning and not training,” Andy objected, waving a spoon at them both.
Cass raised his eyebrows and cocked his head in Reyah’s direction. “I mean, sounds like a good plan to me.”
“Any excuse to turn into an octopus,” Reyah said, shaking her head.
“Right?” Andy said, pointing the spoon at Cass. “He can’t sleep unless he’s in full squid mode, grabbing and hugging everything he can reach. And he’s so sweaty.”
“And I thought I was supposed to be the one with the higher internal temperature.” Reyah chuckled. Andy smiled and gave her a high five.
“You’re ganging up on me.” Cass pouted.
“Gotta keep you on your toes, Mistwalker,” Andy said.
“Stay humble, Chosen One,” Reyah added.
The teasing continued as they washed up, and Andy waved them out the door. They headed down to the lake. Cass threaded his fingers with Reyah’s, and they fell into step next to each other.
Art was sitting on his usual log, bundled in his parka and smoking a pipe. He’d embraced the rugged, mountain-man aesthetic with enthusiasm early in life, and now his middle years sat on his shoulders with well-worn ease.
“Snow is harder than rain,” he began.
“Literally,” Cass said with a nod, smiling in the face of Art’s exasperated growl. Reyah nudged him with her hip. He would try to behave.
“The more solid the obstruction, the more difficult to control with Air alone. You must reach into the Water to move each flake.” Art gestured to the placid surface of the lake.
“There isn’t any snow up there,” Cass said, looking up into the clear sky. Reyah pressed her shoulder to his.
“I think you’re going to make it snow,” she said. Art nodded, and Cass sighed.
“Of course I am,” he muttered, shaking his hands and taking up the stance Amel had taught him. He let his breath out slowly through his parted lips, letting doubt and fear out with it. That was the theory Amel used. Cass tried to focus, to feel the clouds, wispy and distant. The water in the lake stretched out before him and trembled as his breath became Air.
“Amel’s notes here say you have to condense the atmospheric particles? Press the clouds into snow. Why can’t he just say that?” Art grumbled, rubbing his beard with the heel of one weathered hand. “Cass, press the clouds into snow.”
He nodded and tried to do that. He could feel Reyah next to him, her quiet presence lending him her incredible strength. She shifted to stand behind him, moving her hands in the same patterns, an echo of his own movements.
The clouds gathered and became dense. Sweat beaded on Cass’s forehead, and his breath swirled in plumes that flew toward the sky. He trembled, and his arms ached. He condensed the clouds further, feeling the water resist. Still he pushed.
“Form flakes in your mind,” Art said calmly.
“Imagine lacy patterns and the happiness you feel when they fall, sweet and gentle,” Reyah whispered behind him. He thought of warm nights with cocoa and a fire, watching big, fluffy flakes fall. He imagined walking through the silent woods with snowflakes drifting down. He imagined the crunch of snow underfoot.
He closed his eyes and lifted his face. He continued to move his hands to the rhythm he felt in the beat of his heart and the breath in his lungs. Around and around, he turned the clouds, when he suddenly heard Reyah giggle. His eyes popped open to see soft, fluffy flakes of snow falling and clumping together. They landed on the exposed rock, joining the snow already on the ground.
He laughed, too, turning to hug her and spin her in the falling snow.
“Not bad,” Art admitted, a grudging smile on his craggy face.
Relics
Marv stepped out of his car and stretched his aching back. This wasn’t quite the cabin in the woods that he’d expected after the cryptic phone call from the witch. Much more like some rich eccentric’s summer house.
Snow glistened on the roof and bushes, aggressively cheerful. Marv pulled his jacket tighter around him. A crazy-looking van was parked off to the side, looking like it belonged on a beach somewhere instead of dappled with snow.
Marv had followed a set of directions to this house, instructions from someone who was going to help unseat the Conglomerate. He had run the names by some of his contacts, and everyone vouched that this Charly and Amel were trustworthy. Still, he was far away from home in the middle of the woods, in the mountains, and he was cold.
He’d heard of this Art before through friends of friends. Looking for Cass’s mom without telling anyone what she could do had led him down paths he’d never anticipated. More and more people were done taking things lying down.
Still, he wasn’t any closer to actually finding them. He was closer to freezing to death in the thin mountain air, though. Winter was the worst.
Looking at the house, he thought it was unassuming enough. This place was some sort of retreat house for people the Earth didn’t want around. Fae and others who wanted to sha
ke things up. Head troublemaker, that was what Marv knew of this Capricorn turned mountain man.
The man stepped out onto the porch, and Marv raised a hand in greeting. Art nodded and jerked his head toward the house, then disappeared back inside. Marv thought he still looked part goat.
Inside, he peered around, looking for his host. “Hello?”
“Kitchen,” was the only response.
“Kitchen. Of course. Why didn’t I think of that,” Marv muttered. “Oh, and where exactly is that?” He followed the sound and found Art sitting at a sleek, modern table, drinking a mug of something hot.
“Coffee?” he asked, gesturing to a pot on the counter.
Marv shook his head and pulled out a chair at the table. “I’m—”
“Mardav Rowan, I know. The witches told me to expect you. We’re waiting for everyone else to get here.” Art folded his hairy arms across his chest.
“Everyone else being?” The kitchen was empty, and there had been no sign of other people. Was this old recluse delusional?
“Min, for one. He’s bringing something the witches coerced him into giving up.”
“Ah, right. Will they be here?” Marv was looking forward to meeting them.
“The witches? No. They’re still working. But this is an Elemental thing.”
“Of course. And I’m the Earth representative?”
“Unless you have some other talent?” Art said with his wooly eyebrows lifted.
“No. Just Earth. Particulates, really. Dust, dirt, and such. My sisters used to tease me. Called me Sandy.” Marv realized he was rambling. Art’s face was impassive. “Who are our other Elementals?”
“Water is Dez, Air is Cass, and—”
“Cass? My Cass?” Marv gasped. “He’s here? He’s OK? He’s safe and here? When? For how long? What happened?”
Art shook his head. “Too many questions. Not enough time. But yeah, the Cass you know. Good work on getting them out of town, by the way. They’re lucky to have you. The revolution too. Your connections are really good.”
Marv swallowed the guilt in his throat. He’d only helped a little. He’d only saved Cass. Andy was still—