by Lisa Daniels
As the misery of the lesson wore off, Iris began to look at a few of the new pieces of cloth, and a shimmering lilac-colored material caught her eye. Holding the corner of the soft material in her hand, the young woman considered how good it would look as a new dress. The way the light shone off the lilac would be fantastic with her red-streaked blonde hair and blue eyes. She held it up, trying to imagine the style that would be the most flattering. Her mind raced through a number of possible designs, but it kept coming back to a soft spring dress that would flow beautifully when walking along the waterfront. Though she hadn’t intended to buy anything, Iris found herself buying several bolts of the material in different colors.
“Oh my, Iris,” the elderly woman smiled at the young woman’s enthusiasm, “I dare say you have something in mind for that. I haven’t seen you this happy since you first started working your magic.”
Trying to keep from making a sour face at the mention of magic, Iris felt a surge of annoyance. Her vision shimmered again, but she ignored it. Iris ran her hand over the fabric to collect her thoughts. “This material is fantastic.” She looked up at the vendor. “Where did it come from?”
“The deal with the druids in Marlyon has finally started to ripple out. I’ll tell you what, I may not agree with the druids on much, but there is no denying their amazing talent with fabric and color.”
Iris let out a low whistle, “This is the work of the druids? I had no idea.”
The seller nodded, her expression serious, “Of course you wouldn’t, dear. I was younger than you when their goods were banished. Those were some dark days indeed.” Her face brightened up, “That Queen Freya is really something. Nothing against the old king, but it would almost have been better for him to have passed more than a decade ago. Then maybe I could have retired and enjoyed my last years on the ocean.”
Iris leaned over and patted the woman’s shoulder, “I understand, but the selfish part of me is glad that it didn’t pan out. If Queen Freya had taken over five years ago, I would never have had the pleasure of getting to know you and your wonderful taste in material.”
The elderly woman laughed, “Ay, that is true. And if I am being perfectly honest, I have no desire to retire. It is nice dream, though. Such a lovely dream.”
“I’ll tell you what, Mrs. Sandalson. If you want to go temporarily retire to the ocean for a week or two, I would be more than happy to help you with the stall once my father gets back.”
Mrs. Sandalson laughed again, “You are talking about a vacation. It has been a while, so perhaps it is time. You had best be careful lest I actually start to make plans based on your whimsical promise.”
“Mrs. Sandalson, I will plan the vacation myself if you really want to go.”
“And you will expect a hefty discount in return.” She gave Iris a knowing look.
“A price you will gladly pay because you cannot put a price on the vacation of a lifetime.”
Once the material was paid for and packaged, Iris thanked the older woman and headed home. Her steps were bouncy as she swung the material. Rounding a corner, she ran directly into a man looking up at the buildings, a piece of paper in his hand. Iris flailed her arms trying to prevent gravity from dragging her down. The bag hit the ground around the same time she did.
“Oh, ow, ow, ow. I’m so sorry.” She was torn between the pain of hitting the cobblestones and the horror that she had literally run into someone. As her palms throbbed from the impact, a long streak of red passed over the head of the man. She stared up at it for a second, then her eyes met his.
“Are you alright?” The young man was very handsome with black hair and yellowish-black eyes that were looking down at her. The concern soon shifted as he looked at her and realized that she was fine. He looked like he was about her age, but his outfit suggested he was a member of one of the official organizations. Usually members had to be in their 40s, although as Iris knew from personal experience, there were times when orders and guilds would make an exception. He stretched out a hand toward her, an amused expression on his face. “You fall, and apologize to me for it. Sounds a bit off, but for next time, you may just want to pay a little more attention where you are going if you are moving at speed.”
She gave him a smile as she accepted his hand. As soon as his hand touched hers, Iris’s mind spilled into a completely different place. The world shimmered as red and black swirled around her. There were corpses and skeletons everywhere, and the world felt cold and isolated. Almost as suddenly as the images appeared, they disappeared as Iris felt her rump hitting the ground again. The man was looking down at her with a mixture of shock and fear. He quickly slipped a pair of gloves over his thin hands. “I am so sorry. I did not realize. I’m so sorry, madam.”
Iris simply blinked at him. He had let her hit the ground, and was now offering his hand again. Shaking her head, the young mystic pushed herself to her feet. He seemed eager to be of assistance, and the young man tried to help her up by wrapping a hand around her bicep. Shaking him off, she turned on him. “Look, I am sorry I didn’t see you, but that was just really unnecessary.” The world was shimmering around her, and she felt her heart rate increasing. She was starting to get concerned, but she knew that now was not the time to bring it up with her father. She channeled her anger into the look she gave the young man in front of her.
The man bowed low, “I am so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help you to show you my apology is sincere?”
“I don’t think so.” She tried to straighten out her dress. The man began picking up her bag, and with a wave of his hand the dirt and gutter water was gone. Her stuff looked good as new.
The man gave her a nervous smile as he handed it to her. “I hope that will help. I really am sorry.” With another bow, he turned to leave.
“Oh, you dropped this.” She leaned over to pick up his paper from the ground. The young man turned around and saw the paper in her outstretched hand.
“Thank you so much. I don’t know how to thank you enough.”
Iris began to feel better as the anger subsided. The young man clearly had not meant anything by whatever had happened, and it wasn’t like he had seen what she had seen. There is no reason to take it out on him, she scolded herself. “I ran into you, so why don’t we call it even?” It was one of the most bizarre exchanges Iris had ever had, which was saying something as the daughter of the leader of the merchant guild. She wasn’t even entirely certain the man was being serious. Although his demeanor was serious, she knew that didn’t mean much—she gave people that look all the time while laughing at them. Something was strange about his eyes, and the fact that the man could do magic, more magic than her, was definitely disconcerting. Guardians and assassins were the only men she had ever heard of being able to use any kind of magic. As the thought ran through her mind, Iris narrowed her eyes. Assassins had black hair, while guardians had white. “Wait, are you—”
“Thank you, madam.” He quickly bowed again, turned, and rapidly moved away from her. Iris considered following him because an assassin in the city couldn’t be a good thing. Then again, with the recent peace set between the mystic and druids, no assassin would be foolish enough to implicate the druids within the mystics’ capital city. Feeling a little uneasy about what had just happened, Iris bit her lip trying to figure out if she should follow him or go home. The way the world seemed to lose focus around her forced her to make up her mind. She knew that she had been away from home for more than an hour, so she would need to get home even without the strange visions. Realizing that she had no idea where the man had gone anyway, the young woman headed home, her mind replaying the encounter.
The miserable lesson was long forgotten as she stepped through the front door.
“Sorry I am a little late, but I am home. Are you ready to head out for a fantastic farewell dinner?” She placed the material down in the sitting room and headed further into the house. The sound of voices in the shop caught her attention, and Iris turned to f
ind out who was visiting. Her father should have closed up by now because he still had to pack.
Her father’s friendly voice stood out as she got closer, “I am so glad to hear things are going so well. You have such a harrowing story, I am most pleased that Caden was assigned to you so early on. There is no telling what would have happened in someone else’s care.”
A low voice seemed to rumble through the walls, and Iris thought she felt the floor shiver as one of the visitors spoke, “As am I. I shall forever be in our queen’s debt.”
A melodic voice echoed around her in a very feminine laugh, “I am just glad you have finally learned how to take care of yourself.”
Iris hid her smile as she strode into the room, “I believe every guardian knows how to take care of himself. It’s the mystics that are clueless.”
The young woman who had spoken just before she entered turned and gave Iris a shy smile. “You would know, wouldn’t you?”
“Not at all. Your ability to take care of yourself is directly proportionate to your magical ability. The greater your magical ability, the less competent you are about anything else.”
Iris’s father rolled his eyes at his daughter as the man with the low voice bowed, “I would have to say that I concur with that assessment. I have never met someone as talented as Callie and yet so impossibly unaware of how to keep herself from harm.” His short, white hair barely moved, and his yellow eyes shone as he looked first at Iris, then at the woman beside him. Iris noticed how his eyes softened as he looked at the woman, and for a moment she felt a twinge of something.
The black-haired young woman gave him a slap on his bicep, something even Iris would have been too intimidated to do. “If I recall, Caden, the number of times I saved you—”
“Was twice. Are we keeping score?” His eyes were playful as he looked down at her. For a moment, Iris half expected him to pull Callie into a kiss. Instead he settled for pushing a strand of stray hair out of Callie’s face, and Iris noticed his fingers brushed against her neck. Again, Iris was mesmerized by the interaction, but she wasn’t sure why.
Easton clapped his hands, “Well, if you two are quite done with your bickering, my daughter was about to take me out to dinner. If you two would like to join us, I would love to have some additional company. Iris’s quips have become increasingly crueler over the last week. She isn’t exactly pleased I agreed to go.”
Iris frowned, “It is only because I am going to miss you so much.”
“Yes, and now I would like to share some of that love with our new employee so that she can get accustomed to it a little faster.”
Callie and Caden laughed at the exchange as father and daughter had a short staring contest.
Iris gave a loud, theatrical sigh. “Fine, they can come, but I get to pick where, and you,” she pointed at her father, “have to promise to come back safely.”
He gave her a low bow, “As I have told you, I cannot leave you alone because there is no telling what kind of damage you will do to the guild and country if someone isn’t there to soften your wit.”
“I will be holding you to that promise.” Iris stomped her foot just like she used to do before she was marched off to bed. Her father chuckled. Callie and Caden quickly agreed to join them for dinner, and they headed to Easton’s favorite restaurant.
Chapter 2
What a Guardian Knows
The dinner ended up being a much livelier undertaking than the daughter and father had originally anticipated. With the addition of another mystic and her guardian, there was a lot to discuss, and most of it was enjoyable. Easton seemed to have an endless number of questions for Caden about his nearly twenty years away from Solona and how he had managed it. Iris knew that this was because her father was leaving the next day, and he was trying to get as much information about the outside world as possible. His nervousness about the trip was translating into a long series of questions that seemed to entertain Callie and make Caden feel uneasy. When Iris had first met Caden, she had felt incredibly intimidated. Now that she knew him a little better, she was very amused by how cute he was as he tried to get Callie to help him respond to the barrage of questions from Easton. Iris’s father wasn’t much taller than her, and he was very thin, yet he seemed to be scaring the seasoned guardian.
She leaned over to Callie as Easton pushed his plate out of the way, placed his elbows on the table, and leaned forward to begin a new series of questions about the druids. Her father was way off topic now because the druids were not part of the negotiations at all, and Caden did not have much experience with the druids, as he tried unsuccessfully to point out to the excited merchant. Iris smiled as she whispered to Callie, “It’s almost like watching a griffon being intimidated by a dog.”
Callie laughed, “More like an elephant being terrified of a mouse.”
Iris’s smile faded as she turned her face to Callie, “I will have to tell my father that you think of him as a mouse.”
“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like—” Callie looked mortified for a moment. Then Iris’s face creased into a wide grin. “Oh, right, you are messing with me. I don’t know how long it will take to get used to that.”
“I take it they don’t have much of a sense of humor in Sumaria.”
Callie opened her mouth to talk, then quickly shut it again. Iris could almost see the way her thoughts were spinning as the young woman considered how to talk about the place where she used to live. Finally, she shook her head. “There was laughter, but when you aren’t sure there will be enough food to eat for your family or when you don’t know when the government will shut down your village, it is difficult to find much humor during the daily routine.” She looked at Iris from the corner of her eye, “They certainly don’t have your sense of humor there. Not the Sumarians.” Callie seemed to have something on her mind with that last statement, but her friend was too entertained by the look of confusion that had creased Callie’s face.
Iris giggled into her hand, then tried to pass it off as a cough. “Well, I think you are acclimating nicely. So,” Iris knew she was about to ask a loaded question, but it was one she had waited a full month to ask, “what do you think of your homeland?” Her eyes took in the many expressions that passed over Callie’s face. She was fascinated by just how inoffensive Callie seemed to be in nearly everything she said. That didn’t mean Callie wasn’t incredibly blunt at times, but when socializing it was almost like the young woman always picked the right words to keep the peace. Clearly, she had not grown up in Solona.
“Um, well,” she looked at Caden and slipped her hands between her knees. Iris tried to keep from laughing at how adorable Callie could be, and how obvious she was. “I can’t say that I agree with a lot of the way things operate here. The government certainly isn’t as horrible as the one back… there, but I don’t like the way guardians are treated.”
Iris raised an eyebrow, causing Callie to start blushing furiously. “I mean, they are people too, not tools…” her voice trailed off.
Iris burst out laughing, “Well, gods bless you, but you are just quite a breath of fresh air.” She reached over and pinched Callie’s hot cheek. “And if I were at all prone to wanting a relationship, I would be incredibly jealous of you. I can see why you would throw tradition out the window for him.” She winked at Callie, whose face seemed to turn an even brighter shade of red. “But I have to admit, I am incredibly shocked that Caden reciprocated. He is somewhat infamous for being stony and indifferent to advances.”
A low voice cut into their conversation, “It is easy to turn down someone who feels entitled. It is something else entirely when you have someone who forces you to care as much about yourself, and is willing to die to make her point.”
“What?” Iris and Easton looked at each other, then at Callie.
With a shrug, she said, “I spent most of my life as an apothecary and don’t believe anyone is disposable.” She looked at Caden, “Well, maybe the Unwashed.”
It almost s
ounded like he was purring as Caden laughed. Iris noticed his hand move a little toward Callie, and it took everything she had not to lean over and see what he was doing under the table.
Easton’s attention was on what Callie had said. “Surely you never really had to worry about them. Caden is one of the best and longest-serving guardians. And if you didn’t know that you were a mystic, they would have had a difficult time tracking you down.”
Callie looked at her lap, “We encountered them, and it wasn’t something that I care to recount.”
Caden moved a little closer to her, and Iris got the impression it was an instinctive gesture; he was trying to protect Callie from something, even though there was no danger now. “Callie may not look it, but her talents are considerably greater than the Council realized when she was stolen from the kingdom. I do not know who her parents were, but she was able to reattach a man’s leg when she was 15.” He watched the reaction of the father and daughter, a thin smile on his lips. “When I say that she nearly killed herself, I do not mean with a sword or other tool. And she did it more than once during that first week when we left her village.”
Iris looked at Callie with awe. The young woman was nearly a year younger and yet clearly had been able to do far more than Iris had ever considered. Suddenly wanting to turn on lights and put them out seemed incredibly childish. She moved forward on her seat, “So what did she do? Conjure an Aeton? Electrocute one of the Unwashed? I know! Did she make one of them burst into flame?”
