The Knights of Aragon

Chapter 43

"This isn't working!"

Goosey groans in frustration. I rub my temples in circles as I feel a new headache forming. I've been trying to teach Goosey the basics of sorcery and it's not been going as smoothly as I planned. I'll be heading north in four days! We cannot stay in this one spell for the duration of that time. "Goosey," I clench my fist, fighting for patience, "you've said that ten times since we started twenty minutes ago. Your focus is not on the spell, and it knows that." The day is quiet, tranquil, except for the fuming girl stomping her foot now and again. The shelter of the compound has kept the alterations that I set in place so far. "Can you explain it to me again?" I inhale and exhale. Was I like this too? If I was, I need to remember to apologize to them for that. "Feel the nature around you. The push and pull of its balance and refocus it to your hands. Mold it to what you want to happen." I cup her hands. "In this case, you want this tiny mustard seed to grow." Her eyes narrow at the poor seed. "Grow it, don't kill it!" I laugh, snatching the seed from her grasp.

Goosey let's out a frustrated breath. "It's not as easy as it looks, Val!" She's telling me. I had to do this exact exercise around her age. My problem was control. The first time I successfully did the spell, the tree plant grew too much, too quick. It crashed through Benwick House's ceiling. I couldn't stop it from growing. I couldn't stop at all. "You must let your power flow through you. Be the channel for the current, but don't force it." I place the seed on my palm and call on my sorcery. "Sino semen pullulare." I feel a familiar tingle within my fingertips as the seed trembles against my skin. Goosey holds her breath while she watches with wild fascination. I'm hit with a sudden feeling of seeing her before. Or, at the very least, the exact same wild look in her eyes. Almost like... as if, I've seen her do it before, even though I'm sure we haven't met before. Or then, either. The seed sprouts a baby stem with a baby leaf. New life. "New life." New beginning. "New beginning." I squat down to the earth and lower the newly sprouted plant into the ground. "It'll still grow without our influence?"

"Our power is not meant to control nature. We can give new life or accelerate its growth, but we cannot kill it or make it immortal. It is not our right."

I pat the ground evenly around the green stem. The lone plant sways with the wind as an unsettling thought nestles in the center of my attention. "May I ask you a personal question, Goosey?" She hums her yes while touching the small leaf with her finger. "Do you remember your mother? I know you must've been a small child when she disappeared." She sits on the ground, leaning against her left arm. The afternoon wind blows her light brown hair behind her. Vera made her a makeshift dress with old green curtains that she found in one of the many rooms inside. I'm one of the only ones that hasn't searched for new clothes. I thought, what's the point? It's not like I'll look any different. Unlike Goosey, my hair is tied in a knot with a big braid on the middle of my head going down to into the knot. With the wind blowing, I decided to keep it up.

"No, my mother died before their disappearance." That's news to me. I don't think I've heard Vera say that Goosey's mother died before their disappearance. "How did she die?" She squints up at the clear blue sky in thought. "I'm not sure. The others don't either." I scrunch my eyebrows together, confused at her answer. She smiles at my expression. "I've always had this feeling that she had died," she begins to explain to me, "Vera doesn't remember my mother being there the days before our family disappeared and neither does Gawain, but Boas and Beaufort remembered seeing glimpses of her on that day." The wheels in my head turn while she talks. What she's saying doesn't make sense. I still do not know the extent of her powers. If she truly does have some sort of sense or sight, then how can her mother not have been seen by some and be seen by others.

I am still assuming that Goosey's abilities are hereditary, therefore, one or both of her parents could've been like us: Otherwordly. "And your father? What of him?" Goosey absentmindedly plays with the grass. "I don't know about him either. Vera says that he died before I was born." It's becoming more apparent that Goosey's past is almost as mysterious as mine. The caravan people traveled all corners of Aragon. There isn't one single piece of land that they haven't cross to trade their merchandise. It is possible that I have met one of Goosey's ancestors. Maybe that's why I see someone else's face whenever I look at her now. I cannot be sure. "What about your parents? What were they like?"