Life Giver

by Lisa Lowell

  “How so?” Rashel asked simply. “You seem pretty careful, and you’ve not done anything wrong with your magic that I’ve seen.”

  Yeolani sighed in regret. “Magic here in the Land cannot be evil…at least when used by me and my friends. I cannot even lie to you. I’ve tried to cuss, but it doesn’t come out very well. Yet, because of my magic, I started a pitched battle in a city south of here and hundreds of people probably died because of my foolishness. I was only trying to help, but I ruined more than I assisted. Then I made the mistake of thinking I could walk away from my magic, leaving all the people alone and then I wouldn’t hurt things. That’s why the fairies gave me Nevai. They knew that having magic wouldn’t help me raising him, that I would have to come back to civilization in order to get help. They sent me to you. You, I can help and hopefully not harm with my magic.”

  “Then thank the magic that brought you here,” she whispered gently.

  It had been a tremendously long day, and they wordlessly agreed, now that the work was done, that they needed to go to bed. This led to an awkward silence until Yeolani offered to go back to his cavern, but Rashel rejected that. “Nevai will be up every two hours. We can take shifts. It’s always easier with two. You can sleep in my father’s bed…and take the first shift.”

  Yeolani nodded, numb with wonder at how he’d gone from a hermit in the mountains to a farmer with a family in essentially a few days. How had magic done this to him? As he moved to the bed and sat down to pull off his boots, he realized he still needed privacy, and he conjured a screen between the two beds and lowered the lamps in the windows.

  On the far side of the screen, Rashel’s voice was gentle. “Thank you, sir.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” he replied, and before he could cringe at how formal they were between each other, he’d drifted off to sleep.

  At dawn, after a night punctuated with Nevai’s interruptions, neither of them felt well-rested, but the day was calling. Yeolani’s mind dove in immediately. He repaired the travesty of an outhouse while he used it, contacted Marit’s mind in the cave far away, refreshed her food and water, and then checked to see if his milking system was working, all within minutes of waking.

  Throughout the day, he made a point of being seen out in the barnyard, lugging pails and such. The road just beyond the farm seemed well-traveled, and many people walking by must have heard about his purchase at the auction and waved to him. He mended the well at the same time that he climbed up on the cabin roof to scrape off the moss by hand rather than magic. Everyone who passed by would only see a farmer hard at work on his property and not think of the magic that went on elsewhere. The ground of the hay field was frozen right now, but underneath he easily surveyed it for noxious weeds and prepared its soil content with fish parts as he’d seen in Simten. The improvements wouldn’t be noticed until spring. He mended the fence by hand while he magically lined the inside of the well and dug it deeper in order to reach better water. The crumbling chimney he lined from within at the same time he physically cleaned it out from outside where everyone could see him.

  He also worked with Rashel, pressing cheese, feeding cattle, cooking meals, and bringing in stores, all while keeping an eye on Nevai and tending to his needs. It was an idyllic world Yeolani could easily fall into, but he knew it was just another kind of hermit-life he was creating, albeit far more rewarding than being alone in a cave. He knew a different, grander cave, the one from his dream, awaited his investigation and that he would need to find it.

  Then there was the girl. Rashel’s movements fascinated him, and he found himself staring rudely sometimes. He loved the play of her eyes, the flash of light against her shiny braid, or the wispy shorter strands that clung to her sweaty face as she worked. She was the first woman he had ever considered courting, and now, as a magician, she was out of bounds, he was sure. If he had found Rashel before Honiea came with her offer of magic, he would have quite likely not even touched his Heart Stone.

  Therefore, Rashel was dangerous.

  By dusk of his second day with Rashel, Yeolani felt satisfied that he had finished all he really needed to do to set the farm in order. Yet, he harbored a strange discontent. He wanted to speak with Honiea and Vamilion, and at the same time, he never wanted to leave this home again. Most of the vitally urgent needs on the farm had been met. Rashel had made bread for the first time, she claimed, in over a year because she now had the time and means. While she served the fine meal she had made, he shared with her the final plans for his departure. He must leave.

  “I’ve got to keep moving on, but I’ll be back every few days. I don’t want to leave you without a way to reach me. I have two things for you here.” He conjured a thick white candle and a muddy brown crystal shaft like the one he found in his dream.

  “The candle is to call Honiea. I’ve told you how she healed your brother. She is a magician of great power, but her best gifts are in healing. If either Nevai or you are hurt or sick, just light the candle and hold it up. She will come and heal you. She’s seen the baby already and will come instantly.”

  Rashel put the candle on the mantle above the fire for safe keeping and then nodded toward the crystal. “That’s not natural,” she observed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “I have,” he assured her. “These crystals grow like weeds in a cavern deep under the plains, of all places. I’ve seen them there, and they fascinate me, so I’m putting a spell on this one. It will work like the candle does for Honiea. I will come the moment you touch it.”

  “What if someone comes here, looking for you?” she pointed out logically. “I cannot call you and have you arriving magically here at the table.”

  Yeolani sighed, wondering about a solution, but before he could dredge one up, Rashel had her own suggestion. “I’ll delay, saying you’re in the forest cutting wood. That excuse works year-round, and if you always come in from that direction, no one can question you. Will that do?”

  “That’s right, you can lie. I’m jealous,” he observed with a chuckle. “I would have panicked and come in a flash of light if you touched the crystal. It’s a fine plan. I’ll be ‘cutting wood’ any time anyone comes by looking for me. And Rashel, please don’t hesitate to call for me. Before the flour runs out or you have to go cut wood yourself. I’ll try to return as often as I can, but really, until I develop a better way to travel than a tornado, it might be irregular. And there’s one more thing. Do you mind…do you mind if I listen in on your thoughts? I can speak with you from a distance that way. I will just want to check in on Nevai and if there’s something you need. I won’t go deep into your thoughts, private thoughts, I mean. At a set time, maybe?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, her eyes growing wide with wonder and a bit of fear. She had probably assumed he did this all the time, but the ethics of being a Wise One dictated when it was appropriate and when it was not.

  “Right now, I’m speaking to your mind and you could think your reply. What is Nevai doing right now?” Yeolani answered, his mouth not moving, just his thoughts shifting through her brain.

  Rashel’s mind flashed a thousand different emotions and images at him until she settled and looked over at Nevai. He’s sleeping soundly, she thought. I hope he starts sleeping through the night soon.

  “I do too, for your sake,” Yeolani said aloud, so she could recognize he had her message. “Is that too invasive?”

  “No,” she replied thoughtfully, “but I don’t know why. Why do I trust you? Is that magic also?”

  Yeolani shook his head, suddenly anxious to move on before he was tempted to stay longer. “No, I trust you too, and that’s strange. I shouldn’t trust someone I’ve only just met. It’s not in my nature. If it’s magic, it’s not my magic. Perhaps it’s the fairies at work again.” And that scared him, though he would not dare to say it aloud.

  12

  Answers and Questions

  This time he conjured a horse worthy of a king and rode as fast a
s he could across the winter plains, back toward the mountain cavern behind the waterfall. He wanted to get a distance from Rashel that would not bring her to mind where she might be observed in a stray thought. He wanted to shift his brain and his goals so the location for this next confrontation must be somewhere that didn’t bring that precious new world onto the stage of his mind. Besides, Marit kept sending him lonely thoughts, and he needed to settle her as well.

  With his faster horse, the trip to the cavern lasted only an hour, but Yeolani’s irritability with this form of travel also rose with every hoofbeat. There must be a faster way for a magician, less dangerous than a tornado. That might be a worthy goal in his Seeking. He added that to his other planned topics for this conversation. He had many, and if Honiea and Vamilion wouldn’t answer, he would simply have to find a way for himself. Right now, he had little patience for any of it.

  Marit greeted him heartily, and her pups waddled over with her to smell him. He cuddled the pups, getting them accustomed to human touch before their eyes opened. Marit allowed this as long as she received her share of the attention, and he told her what he had now planned.

  “I’m going to send you to look after Nevai. There’s a warm barn and the lady there, Rashel. She will be kind, but you cannot come with me, not with your puppies. Nevai will be there too, and I’ll need you to be sure he is watched. But do me a favor; stay away from the other dogs. You need not be a mother again, and I cannot have you so burdened with these little ones. I would like to take you with me one day.”

  Of course, the dog probably didn’t understand, but Yeolani said it anyway, wanting to verbalize his plans if only for himself. He would warn Rashel that she would be having guests of the canine variety in the morning, but for now, he would be entertaining others himself. He encouraged Marit’s family back into their nest for the evening and then surveyed the cavern. Magically, he set a fire, allowing the space to warm up, and then conjured furs as a seating arrangement worthy of the locale. Then, when all was ready, he brought forth a candle, lit it, and held it high.

  “And bring Vamilion with you, please!” he added, addressing the candle as well as giving it a mental shove, though he didn’t know if the call would work.

  This time it took a bit more time, but the two Wise Ones arrived in the same flicker of the candle, hand in hand. Vamilion looked around the cavern with a grim eye, probably distrusting the stone roof above him to remain steady, but Yeolani didn’t care. He greeted his mentors and invited them to sit.

  “I’ve got some questions, Wise One questions, and my next move will depend on what you can tell me,” Yeolani began, joining his guests to sit around the fire.

  “So do I. The baby?” Honiea wouldn’t be redirected. “You’ve settled that, haven’t you?” Her quick eyes probably noted that Nevai no longer resided here, and she made a curious probe at Yeolani’s mind, but he remained behind his shield and ignored her.

  “I need to know why I cannot lie anymore?” Yeolani bluntly asked. “I don’t dare tell anyone that he’s my son because he isn’t, and someone is going to string me up assuming that I’ve kidnapped this baby. How can I do this without lying? And why didn’t you tell me about this limitation before?”

  Vamilion managed to look sheepish at their omission. “It’s not something we come up against much anymore. Our dealings with people are usually truthful, or we can redirect questions. You, on the other hand, have been given something unique that people are going to question out of hand. Maybe it’s a blessing, to learn how to do the careful answers that your circumstances will require.”

  “But why can’t I lie? I can manage a curse, but even that was a bit of a push. What has happened to me?”

  “Wise One ethics are imposed by the Heart Stone, though you wouldn’t be given one if you weren’t basically a good person,” Honiea continued the explanation. “You can still kill, but only if it’s justified in the service of magic, protecting yourself or other innocents. You can also deceive a bit, disguise yourself and such, but that’s only to protect yourself or others as well. Just like giving permission for someone to call you by another name, you can certainly redirect their questioning. Not lying shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Yeolani sighed like an old man, beleaguered. “That’s basically what I’ve already done. I implied that the baby’s mother was dead and let them think that I was his father, but it was touch and go. If they suspected I wasn’t the real father, I would have to use magic to protect him and myself from a mob.”

  “And what were you doing that you needed to curse?” Honiea asked curiously as she nodded approval of his simple solution.

  Yeolani had thought through his careful questions before he invited his mentors to the cavern, and so he had a ready answer. “I was promising to help someone, and the magic must have taken it as an oath because it started putting me into the royal get-up. I cursed just to bring it back down, convince the Heart Stone that I’m a crude man and don’t deserve to be all gussied up that way. The townsfolk would have driven me out of the village if I hadn’t.”

  Vamilion only chuckled, but Honiea approved. “It sounds like you have a good handle on what the Heart Stone will impose on you.”

  Yeolani grimaced at the limitations but decided to leave that and change topics. “I have a better handle on the tornadoes,” Yeolani muttered. “Which leads to my next question about magical travel. I’ve found a way, but it’s blasted dangerous, and I don’t think it will meet my needs over the next few years. I’ve become a tornado and torn across the plains, but it’s not feasible to do when people are about, and it destroys things as I go. It will only be safe in uninhabited areas. There’s got to be a better way.”

  Vamilion nodded, considering his problem. “There is another way, but it makes me ill. Maybe it won’t for you. I can travel outside the mountains by forcing a magical leap. It’s easier if there’s a mind to latch on to; I reach for Honiea’s if she’s where I want to go. It takes a great deal of energy otherwise and is often not worth the disorientation afterward. I can teach you.”

  Yeolani nodded his gratitude for the additional training.

  “And then there are the Talismans as a possibility for travel. One of them may help you move about, like my candle does.” Honiea suggested.

  “Talismans? You mentioned them, but I don’t know what mine are or where to look.”

  “They could be anywhere,” Honiea warned him. “And if tornados are too dangerous, surely Owailion would have made one of your Talismans that will allow you better movement. Being the King of the Plains means you will need to interact with the people, and it will require a swift means of travel. You will find something.”

  “Where? I’ve barely been able to Seek, what with a dog and a baby and …and then my … my difficulty with being too flashy. I seem to either do too much magic or not enough. First, I destroy East, and then sitting in this cavern hasn’t kept me out of trouble. I need a balance.”

  “Perhaps finding your Talismans will benefit that as well,” Vamilion suggested.

  “Or maybe finding my Lady would help balance me more,” suggested Yeolani slyly, trying to not sound too eager. “The fairies who gave Nevai to me hinted that I needed to find her as well. I thought at first that I would be able to get her help with the baby, but ….but I don’t really know how to go about looking for her. How am I to know when I’ve found her?”

  It might have been his imagination, but Yeolani thought Honiea and Vamilion looked uncomfortable with his question. They glanced at each other trying to decide which of them was most qualified to answer him. Suddenly, Yeolani felt like he was six again and had just asked his parents where babies come from.

  “Come now, it can’t be that hard. You did find each other,” he pointed out just to make them suffer for not explaining this in the beginning, when they first trained him.

  Again, neither of them wanted to speak, and Yeolani began to suspect they were holding a private conversation, debating how, or even i
f, to answer him.

  “Well, then can I go and find someone I want to marry? There are plenty of very nice…”

  “NO!” they almost shouted in unison. “You cannot do that,” Vamilion continued in a more reasonable tone, but the bitter look of regret settled into every line of his body. “You must not fall in love with someone who is not a Wise One.”

  Yeolani for once held his peace, waiting for the explanation, for he had suspected this.

  Vamilion finally sighed and began what must be a difficult tale. “I told you that I had been a trader in my old life. Well, I also had a wife and two children before I stepped foot in the Land. Owailion found me almost immediately and insisted that I must touch the Heart Stone and become a Wise One. I presumed that it would be easy enough and magic would be nothing but a blessing. He tried to warn me that my wife would not be able to become magical with me and that I would have to leave her behind. I did not believe that magic would be so cruel to separate us.”

  “However, despite the warnings Owailion gave me, I remained devoted to her and used my magic to maintain our relationship, but it was awful. She aged beyond me, and my children drifted away, bitter that I was unable to remain their father. Magic told me Honiea’s name, and yet I refused to Seek for her. When I met her anyway, I gave her the Heart Stone, but I would not…could not break my vows and love for my first wife. I had to hold her in my arms when she died an old woman, and I was pretending to be her son. Such memories are not…it was not fair to either of the women that I have loved.”

  Yeolani let that message sink in. “And how did you know whom you were Seeking? You said magic told you?”