Carnival Souls

Power and Control

He slipped out of the carver's house early, feigning a stomachache. Genzel watched him go with a suspicious frown. He knew, as Owen did, it wasn't possible to get human sicknesses in the spirit world, but he let it go all the same.

Owen went straight to the kitchen, his heart lifting when he saw Lira bringing a half-full plate of food back to the kitchen window. He hadn't seen her for days and he was momentarily stunned at the difference. She had lost weight so her cheekbones and wrists stood out more sharply than before. Dark bruises under her eyes stood out against her strangely flushed face. What was Bebinn doing to her?

"Lira!" he called as she turned. Her feverish eyes lit on him and he paused again at how different she seemed. "Are you okay?" he asked, forgetting why he had come to find her in the first place.

"Yes," she said shortly. Her fingers tapped rapidly against her thigh and her eyes flicked towards the door. "Did you need something?"

"I haven't seen you since-I thought something-have you been avoiding me?" he asked. He was strangely hurt that his guess seemed to be correct.

"I've been busy," Lira shrugged. Owen stared at her, a hot finger of anger trailed up his spine. What had happened to the Lira he traveled with to Zabaria's forest? That Lira was quick to temper, but not empty. Not like the girl standing in front of him

"Busy?" he snapped, trying to keep his voice down. "What about the riddle? What about home?"

"I'm working on it," she replied.

Owen crossed his arms. "Would you like to tell me what you're working on?" he hedged.

Lira shifted her weight. "I'll tell you when I've got something."

Disbelief stung like copper on his tongue. What had changed so drastically over the last week? He lowered his voice. "I need to do something, Lira. I'm going crazy. I'm going to the carousel tonight to work on the first part. Will you come with me?"

Lira looked back at him steadily. Her eyes were too bright, like the glint of light off metal. "I think it's best if we work along for a while." She side-stepped him and walked down the hall towards the staircase.

Owen watched her go, sliding one more rung down the ladder, his hands full of splinters.

#

Bebinn made Lira recount everything that had happened in the time that she had been left alone with the spirit. The witch watched her carefully as she described at length the details of the event that led to the immobilization of the spirit. Her eyes flickered from Lira's face to her hands to the violin on the ground. "Again," she said when Lira stopped. "From the beginning."

Lira swallowed and began again, knowing it was useless to argue. Then Bebinn had her start a third time, this time interrupting periodically to ask questions, usually about what Lira had been feeling at certain points. Then, Bebinn made her back track to her encounter with the kelpie. When Bebinn finally let her finish and fall into silence, Lira's mouth was dry and she swayed where she stood, not having been given leave to sit down.

After several minutes of Bebinn's brooding, she stooped to pick up the violin and handed it to Lira. Lira took it on reflex with hands that ached from the cold. Would she make her start playing all over again?

Bebinn walked around the cistern, her heeled boots clicking on the rock, studying the nymph before pausing beside Lira again. "How do you feel?" the witch asked.

Lira wasn't entirely sure what she meant. "Tired," she said honestly.

"No," said Bebinn. "How do you feel? About what you've done. Look at it and tell me how you feel."

Lira looked at the frozen water spirit. Despite her immobile state, Lira could still see awareness in the nymph's dark eyes; a burning pain and rage nearly pinned Lira to the opposite wall. A cold sadness prickled up Lira's arms, causing her to shiver. "I feel bad."

"Remorseful?" clarified Bebinn. Lira nodded. "Play something. Short," the witch instructed. Lira did as she was told and let loose a quick, trilling memory.

There was a sudden thrashing of water as the nymph whipped her tail and lunged at Lira with teeth bared. Her green fingers-which Lira now saw were tipped with sharp blue nails-closed on empty air as Lira stumbled backwards. The chain around her neck was the only thing preventing her from clawing out Lira's eyes.

"Interesting," said Bebinn, watching the exchange with curious eyes. "The music is the means, but you are the source."

Lira's head stuttered between the struggling spirit and the carnival master. "What are you talking about?" She flinched involuntarily, expecting a rebuke for her rudeness, but it didn't come. Instead, Bebinn turned to face her.

"Power and control are not the same thing. Power is influence and can be amassed and exercised to varying degrees. Control is a complete element. With the violin, you have power over the children you call here. But what you did to the spirit," Bebinn gestured to the nymph, "that is control. You wanted her to stop and you made her."

Lira felt her face crumple in confusion. She didn't understand completely where Bebinn was going and exhaustion and hunger were making her dizzy.

"With the kelpie, you wanted to save Owen, which necessitated that you have complete control over the horse. Here, you reached a breaking point that caused you to want to control the spirit so it followed your wishes without consideration of its own desires. It is a thin line and tricky to define. You can only do it with the help of music because music accesses both the brain and the soul, something very few things can engage simultaneously. And it seems you must be under some type of duress to access it."

Lira blanched. "Unless..." Bebinn's face creased in a nearly feral grin and Lira felt her stomach bottom out. "You can learn how to access it at will."

No. Everything inside Lira screamed but she bit down on her tongue until she tasted blood. She couldn't let Bebinn do this. She wouldn't. But she found she couldn't say anything as Bebinn said, "You have given me much to think about, dear. Thank you."

________________________

Sorry for missing the weekly update last week! I hope this makes up for it! As I'm sure you noticed, this chapter jumps back and forth between days. I would really appreciate it if you could let me know if it's easy enough to follow, to understand, if it flows okay. And if you do, thank you in advance!! I love you all :)