Living History

Learning

I wake up suddenly when I feel Rhenyan's energy in my mind.

We're here.

That's all I get before I'm set down on my feet somewhat quickly. I stumble but don't fall. My dream had been so nice, so calm... this was not how it was supposed to end. I shake my head slightly and continue walking in Rhenyan's direction. Luckily for me, I am used to short naps and waking up abruptly, alert. Rhenyan may not think I'm capable of doing this, but I'm more ready than he thinks.

There's thick forest on both sides of the small dirt walkway I'm on. The sun has gone almost completely; the shadows that aren't blocked by the trees are long enough to disappear out of sight. The small sounds that reach me from the forest are somber, as if warning us that we're walking into a bad area. Up ahead I see nothing, but that seemed to be how it went with these two anyway. Their hideouts and meeting places always pop up out of nowhere, protected by magic, I presume until they decide to reveal it.

Where's here?

Rhenyan doesn't respond, just keeps walking forward. He reaches out and, just like with the blue backpack, when he clenches his fist, a doorknob appears inside it. Immediately the rest of the home appears. It's a small gray home made of painted solid wood. There's one door in the front along with two windows to the sides of the door, both of which have shutters closed. It, at least, looks a little bigger than the first place.

Rhenyan steps in and holds the door for both me and Auroya. Once inside, I hear him activate at least 4 physical locks, as well as two energy pulses that I assume are also locks. I glance behind me, unable to keep my curiosity at bay.

"Why so much security?"

"We're in an area that doesn't allow magic," Auroya replies. I turn back to her as she seats herself on a small couch in front of a TV. "We can't have a bunch of magical enchantments like we could out in the forest, so we have to go a little more on the mundane side for our protection."

"What do you mean, they don't allow magic?"

"It means this area isn't entirely magical, like you're probably used to. Your whole planet knew about magic. Not everyone had it, but everyone at least knew. Here, we're in a place where not everyone knows about magic. The term mundane is more true here than anywhere you're from, because the mundanes here are actual mundanes. They don't have or know about magic in any sense of the word. They're just... humans."

I sit on a stool in what looks to be the kitchen as Rhenyan walks quickly in front of me and into the back of the house. "And this is where Fernanda spends her time?"

Auroya smirks and shrugs. "She's still hidden, even with the restrictions. But yes, she seems to think she's a bit safer here. I suppose because if anyone were to attack her, there'd be more than just her security on them. You'd have all the law enforcement in town on them for exposing mundanes, trained or otherwise, to magic."

"Oh great. Of course she's got her own security too."

"Of course."

A door closes softly, and I glance back into the hallway. Part of me is extremely upset that he hasn't said more than two words to me; the other half is glad that he's maintaining distance as well. It's better this way, I tell my aching heart.

"Are you on first shift?"

She looks at me. Her expression is unreadable. "Yeah."

"How long until we see her?"

"14 hours. But it will take us an hour to get there on foot. You could likely sleep all the way until we leave otherwise."

On foot! I'm with the two most powerful people probably in all of existence, and we're still going on foot.