by RJ Crayton
I shook my head. I didn’t feel anything.
He smiled at me. “Your feelings toward Jasper are murky, but there’s definitely a kind of like there,” he pronounced as he stared at me.
I frowned. “I thought I kicked you out,” I said.
“You did,” he admitted, “just reading external signs now.”
I shook my head. He was incorrigible. “Just stay out people’s minds here. It’s not alright, okay?”
He frowned, but nodded. “This place is no fun.”
Well, that was the exact opposite of the attitude I wanted Nigel to have. I smiled and tried to offer some enthusiasm when I said, “I’m sure you’ll like Glyphs. I think you’ll do very well at it, and Master Shanzu is a wonderful teacher.”
A skeptical eye met mine. We were almost in front of the classroom. I realized that class would start soon. I wasn’t that keen on discussing Nigel’s observations about Jasper, so I took him inside the classroom and introduced him to Master Shanzu. I helped Nigel find a loaner ketesh, and even grabbed one myself and produced a rainbow glyph. It wasn’t that hard, but it looked pretty when the glyph sparkled in the air and then shattered apart, trailing a rainbow behind it. The rainbow tended to linger for a minute or two.
Just as Master Shanzu was about to call the class to order, Jasper arrived, carrying the memory orb. I thanked him, and he smiled and said, “Sure. Glad to help.” I saw no signs of what Nigel had proposed. Yes, Jasper liked me, but I didn’t think it was anyway different from how he liked anyone else. I paid careful attention to any vibe of the air, any changes, as Nigel suggested there were. But I felt nothing. Perhaps, though, Nigel was gifted with more than just the mind. Perhaps he was gifted with emotional magic, too.
I turned and left the room.
Chapter 9 - Father
I went back to my room, and Akilah’s absence hit me with vigor. She was gone, and the room felt very empty without her. It was as if not just her person left, but her spirit, too.
I felt a shiver as I unrolled my mat, sat down, and set the memory orb in front of me. I poured out the crystals on my mattress. There were several of them, all carved with intricate patterns. Most were clear and about the length and width of a finger. But two were rose colored, a light pink hue that shimmered in the light. I picked up one of them and immediately felt warmth travel through my hand. A warmth that seemed to fill my entire body, reminding me of love and happiness.
This was the one to start with. I placed the crystal into the slot at the bottom of the orb. With that, the orb spoke with my mother’s voice. “Memories for Dirah. Important.” I watched the little crystal ball fill with the memory. This one was of my mother’s face, and there was little background. She was staring right at me.
A crease marred her forehead and worry lines crowded her eyes. Before she spoke, she turned her head, and looked behind her, as if she thought someone might catch her. She swallowed, and the spoke barely above a whisper.
“Dirah,” she said, and I leaned in to hear her better. “I’m hopeful you don’t need to use these memory crystals, but I must be pragmatic. Pylum says there is a decent chance that things will not go well. An overwhelming chance, really. But I have made a choice to take the chance, as slim as it is, to save us all, knowing that it may only save you. If you’re seeing this, it means that my cousin was correct. But it also means that you are not within Zygam’s control. And it is important that you never be. These are my memories. Important ones for you to understand about your father and Zygam and the prophecy. I love you, Dirah.”
The memory faded into wisps of smoke, and then a new memory emerged. My mother’s voice introduced this memory. “The day I met your father,” she said.
Inside the ball was my mother. She was young here. I didn’t know her exact age, but she looked younger than she had in any other memories I’d ever seen. Perhaps she was in her teens. She appeared to be here at Hakari Ahet, sitting in a lower garden eating an apple. As she was eating, a rose floated over and landed at her feet.
Startled, she looked up and watched as another young man walked over. He had white skin, brilliant green eyes, blond hair and a kind smile. I did a double take as I looked at him, wondering if that were Zygam. It didn’t make sense, though. Surely, someone would have told me if Zygam was my father.
“A pretty flower for a pretty girl,” the young man said, kneeling beside her. “I’m Idris.”
“Fatima,” my mother said. “You’re new here to the temple?”
Idris nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I’ve come with my little brother.” Idris inclined his head in the opposite direction and there sat a boy intent in concentration as he levitated several roses in a perfect circle. The boy looked a lot like Idris. Similar skin and hair, and eyes the same piercing green. And I recognized him, even, in youth.
My mother looked at him. “He’s intense,” she said with a slight frown.
“Yes,” Idris said. “But everything here is new to him, and it makes him anxious. He deals with his anxiety by practicing, but he doesn’t get to know people.”
My mother smiled at Idris. “Clearly, you two don’t have the same problem.”
Idris shook his head. “I like people more than Zygam does, but it doesn’t mean he needs them any less. Can you do me a favor and say a nice word to him? He’ll like it.”
My mother nodded. “Of course, I’m glad to make everyone feel welcome. Including you. You don’t have to just look out for your little brother.”
Idris chuckled. “Ah, but it’s all I know, and I enjoy it.”
The scene dissolved into mist and as a new one materialized. I saw my mother in a beautiful dress that looked almost like a shimmering sun; each hue of the orb, from midday golden yellow to the orangish purple of sunset, represented on that magical dress. A tiara reminiscent of the sun’s spokes you see in children’s drawings, crowned her head.
Talitha was with my mother, wearing a simple white sheath dress and holding a bouquet of white roses. “You ready, ‘Tima?” Talitha asked.
My mother nodded. “Idris is my future, and my only wish is that mama and papa were still here to see it.”
“Papa would be proud,” Auntie said to my mother.
A moment later, my mother walked out into the garden and found Idris standing there. Next to him stood Zygam. They looked remarkably similar, but there was a kindness in my father’s eyes that didn’t seem there in Zygam’s. And while my mother seemed to only have eyes for her husband to be, I watched Zygam, and his eyes seemed dark and angry as he watched his brother marry my mother.
The scene dissolved yet again. This time it was a quiet room in the temple. A sleeping quarters. My parents were lying in bed together and my mother’s belly was round with pregnancy. My father stroked her tummy, and kissed it. He turned to my mother and said, “Are you sure you are alright with Kadirah? Your mother is gone, and if you prefer Iram…”
My mother shook her head. “I think Kadirah is a lovely name, and it has such meaning for you, Idris. I think our daughter would be proud to have such a beautiful name, especially if she’s as kind as her namesake.”
He nodded, and his eyes sparkled as he spoke. “She was the kindest woman I’ve ever met,” he said. “During the bad days, when mages from the Northland were hunted by those who disliked outsiders, she helped us. She kept me and Zygam safe, even though she was a salab. Even though our magic should have scared her. She couldn’t provide all, but she provided enough. She was brave and kind, and she helped us when we needed it most.”
My mother smiled, and put her hand atop my father’s on her belly. “You are kind,” she said. “So our Kadirah will be kind, too.”
He smiled and said, “She will be kind like you, too. It was you who helped bring us into the fold here at Hakari Ahet. Many saw danger in the strangers, but not you.”
“It was you who came to me,” she said. “I did nothing but accept.”
“And that, my love, is the key. So many choose not to,” he
said with a sigh, as he leaned back, pulling his hand from my mother’s belly.
My mother watched him for a moment, some internal debate playing out in her mind. Finally, she spoke. “Do not worry about Zygam so much. He is your little brother still, but he can fend for himself.”
“I know,” he said, shaking his head. “I just worry that he still doesn’t feel entirely accepted here.”
“He’s powerful, and he’s not like you. He’s intense in a way that can make people feel he’s putting on airs,” she said.
“I know, but that’s not him. Zygam is just invested in everything he does. Even when we were little, if he found something he wanted to do, he would spend hours practicing it until he perfected it. It’s just his way. I just wish people weren’t so bothered by it.”
My mother threaded her fingers through my father’s. “Zygam will be fine. And we’ll always adore him, right. And so will Kadirah. He’ll be her —what did you call it— an altab?”
My father chuckled. “An alab. It’s someone who looks out for you, who cares for you. The salabs use the word. A long time ago, it meant father. But now it is most often used for the second father, the one who loves and protects you when your father is not around.”
My mother nodded. “Yes, he will be her alab, but you will be around for a long time.”
My father kissed my mother, and then she laid her head on his shoulder, but instead of looking happy, he looked melancholy.
Another dissolve and then back in the same room. My mother is on the bed crying, and my father has his arms wrapped around her. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“You were pregnant, Tima. What kind of husband tells his pregnant wife he is dying if he doesn’t have to?”
I am shocked by the suddenness of this. I had no idea my father had been ill. My aunt made his death sound accidental.
“Master Hinto is an excellent healer, and Yaritza is an excellent apprentice. Surely, they can do something more for you.”
My father shook his head. “He has been trying, but the disease is spreading quickly.”
“You should have told me,” my mother said.
“Not when you were so happy,” he said. “Not when there was nothing to be served but to sadden you.”
“It would have served the need you have to share your burden.”
He shook his head. “Sharing a burden is best only when the person is able to bear it. I learned that with Zygam. I would never overburden you. Besides, Master Hinto is doing his best. But Ghazer is not something mages have ever been very good at curing. They will help as best they are able, and I have every reason to live, to stay with you and my beautiful Dirah.”
The scene evaporated, and my mother appeared again. She was in a light room by herself. She stood and walked to the door, but when she opened it, Zygam was standing there. My mother startled, placing a hand over her heart, and stepped back.
“I’m sorry to startle you, Tima,” Zygam said, his tone soft and kind. “I wanted to speak with you for a moment, without Idris.”
She nodded, and stepped back into the room. Zygam closed the door behind him.
“Idris told you?” she said.
“Yes,” Zygam replied, and then pursed his lips. “He seems defeated.”
“Ghazer is a very destructive disease for mages. My grandfather died of it when my mother was just ten. When it’s progressed as far as Idris’ has, there is little that can be done.”
“Little, but not nothing,” Zygam said, and he reached out a hand a put it on my mother’s shoulder. “Tima, surely you believe that he deserves every opportunity. Even when things were very bad for Idris and me, when they hunted the Northlanders here, he fought for us, he fought for me. Surely, you do not expect me to give up on him.”
She smiled, and chuckled. “You sound like him now,” she said. “Sometimes I think you two are so different, but it is times like these that you show you are every bit Idris’s brother.”
“He would fight for me,” Zygam said.
She nodded. “He would fight for anyone, but he seems resigned to this.”
“I blame your cousin.”
“Pylum?”
“Idris puts too much sway in the Seas of Time. He believes Pylum too much.”
My mother frowned. “The Seas of Time are a strong predictor of what will come. But Idris never told me he talked to Pylum about this. Are you sure?”
Zygam nodded.
My mother bit her lower lip, took a few steps back, and leaned on the wall. She closed her eyes and the room brightened a bit, not the entire room, just the parts around her. She opened her eyes and stepped away. The wall dimmed again. “I want what is best for Idris, for Kadirah, for our family.”
“Where is she — Kadirah?”
My mother laughed. “Idris is taking her for a walk in the garden. She’s too little to understand, but it gives him such joy, I never suggest she’ll remember none of it. Though I think he knows.” She stopped, choked up for a moment, and wiped away a tear. “He doesn’t think I see, but he makes memory crystals every night. I think they’re for her.”
My mother couldn’t control her tears and they flowed freely now. Zygam wrapped her in his arms, and held her as she cried. When she seemed to have composed herself, she pulled away and said. “I’m sorry, Zy. It’s just been such a difficult time.”
He nodded. “But it doesn’t have to be. There is an answer to this.”
“Healers have long since been stymied by Ghazer,” my mother said.
“But in the research I was doing, on prophecies, one item of interest keeps emerging. The Talisman of Elpida.”
My mother looked up at him, concerned etched on her brows. “That Talisman is dangerous,” she said. “It’s associated with the Prophecy of Light.”
“But that’s not the only prophecy it’s associated with, Tima. There are other prophecies, and lore that suggests it has magical healing properties.”
“Even if I didn’t believe the Talisman was dangerous, your plan still wouldn’t work, Zy. No one knows where it is.”
“There are clues,” he said, his eyes wide, imploring. “I can find it for him and cure him.”
“That could take months or years. He doesn’t have that long.”
“We could put him in stasis until I found it. The disease would not progress,” he said.
“Stasis is dangerous,” my mother said. “He might not even awaken. Even Master Hinto rarely uses it, and usually only for a few weeks at most.”
“I’ve been practicing it with small animals. I believe I have a way to work it so he could be safe for as long as it took.”
My mother took another step back from him. She took a deep breath, and said, “Zygam, I know you love your brother and would do anything for him, but this isn’t the answer. Idris doesn’t want this kind of solution. He doesn’t want you chasing after a dangerous talisman for him. He wants to spend whatever time he has left with us.”
Zygam’s eyes flared with anger. “How can you say that you don’t want to save him?”
“I’m not saying that,” my mother shot back. “If I thought there was a way to save him, I would do anything. But listen to yourself, Zygam. You’ve been experimenting on animals. You’re trying to track down a dangerous object on the hope that it cures him. And if you find it and it doesn’t, you’ll have spent months away from your brother when he wants nothing more than to spend that time with you.”
The scene dissolved again, and this time it re-formed quicker. My mother was in the healing room, Master Yaritza was holding her hand, and Pylum kneeled before her. “I’m so sorry, Tima. I didn’t want this to happen.”
“I don’t understand why he was even with you,” my mother said to her cousin.
Pylum grimaced and said, “I had security detail and he asked if he could tag along. Said he’d barely seen me recently. I told him sure.”
My mother stared at him through tear-soaked eyes. “But the explosion. What happened?”
Pylum shook his head. “I-I’m still not entirely sure. We were just doing a perimeter check. I saw something just outside the barrier. It looked as if it might be something from one of the salabs. It was small and round and I was walking over to check it out, when Idris shouted ‘No.’ Before I could react, he was beside me, shoving me away. He was trying to erect a force field, I think, when it exploded. He had started his shield. I could see the permutation of the air, but the thing exploded and then Idris screamed and …” his words broke off and he choked back a sob.
My mother started crying again, and Yaritza patted her back
A moment later, Zygam burst into the room, a ball of fury. “What happened?”
Yaritza stood and walked toward Zygam. Her voice was soft. “There was an explosion ...”
Zygam looked at Pylum. “What kind of explosion?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It was some type of trap. It may have been something the nomads leave to ward away evil.”
Zygam seethed. “I could have saved him,” he said, looking at Pylum. “I could have saved him.”
Yaritza took a couple more steps toward Zygam and took his hand, “Come, sit,” she said. “We can talk.”
He yanked his hand away from her. “There is nothing to talk about now.” With that, he exited the room, and the ball was mist again.
My mother’s voice spoke. “Those are the important memories for you to know about your father, myself and Zygam. The next crystal will show you the things that happened after your father’s death. They are important things for you to understand about your uncle. He is alluring at times, but not all he seems.”
That was it. The memory orb cleared and there was nothing in there but the refracted light of the room. I sighed as I looked down at the other rose-colored memory crystal. I suppose this was the other important one for me to see. More to understand about Zygam.
Part of me didn’t even want to see it. Part of me just wanted to see my father. I wondered why she’d spent so little time showing me his life. Showing me other memories of him. I sighed and pulled the first crystal from the orb.