Half Magic | Book 2

Fifty Two: A Night of Stories

To say the elves's meeting room was in an uproar would be an understatement. To begin with, an angry fae is a terrifying thing. For a being so centered in explosive emotions, it's hard to control them when they lose it. And Nassir, had thoroughly lost it. As Schula and I each took one of his arms in an attempt to calm him down and hold him from lashing out, I appreciated how calm he usually was. For a fae, Nassir never lost his temper and kept a clear mind, which was impressive.

What is equally impressive, is the blind old fae's strength as he tore up the doorway, demanding answers from the already reeling Teyber, who was still trying to piece together details he could now say.

In the end a good number of green children, the scouts, came in to intervene the situation. Once Nassir calmed down and was ready to talk, the council of elves essentially banished us to Kalor's halls so they could sort out the mess, call in the Eidelhein representatives, and properly debrief Teyber two decades after the events. 

We were escorted to our rooms, though I believe it was more of a precautionary surveillance after Nassir's outburst. More than a few scouts were left at the entrance, spears at the ready. Once safely inside with the scouts out of earshot, I wasted no time in setting Lark's book on my bed and rushing into Nassir's rooms where Schula was already sitting with him, speaking soothing words and holding his hand in hers. 

"This feels wrong," I said, coming in and sitting on Nassir's other side. "I mean, I saw the vision she left. Lark was obviously in bad shape near the end, but did someone truly sabotage her mission?"

"I don't trust the elves, Kalor aside," Schula said. "I don't know, maybe it wasn't them. Maybe there was no sabotage. As Teyber said, they were chased and cornered all around the mountains by this man with dark sorcery, and that would drive anyone mad. But the warlock, I can't imagine why I hadn't heard of him before. Nothing like that is going to slip into the Winter lands with no gossip. I mean, a human?"

"I know what you mean," I murmured. "But we don't have enough details. I'll ask Teyber for a better description of what he looks like later. Right now I'm most concerned with getting back. I want answers, and I want to fix this barrier, and I want to face DuVarick for what he did to us. I don't care if he's a king, he's going to answer for his wrongs."

"I swear to the Stars above that if he knows who this Warlock is..." Nassir growled out, a tear slipping down his cheek. "Not even our bond can restrain me from him."

Schula's eyes widened a bit, then she slid her gaze to me. "It will be midnight soon. We fought and argued well into dinner time. I don't think we're getting any sleep tonight, but we can try to lay down and rest."

I looked around Nassir's room, he had taken his bedding from the bed and laid it on the floor, still not used to sleeping on something soft yet. 

"I'll be right back." I slipped from the room, ran to my own, and pulled off my sheets as well. Then I took Schula's. Carrying all the bedding we had access to, I came back in and began laying our things on either side of Nassir's spot on the floor. 

"Oh!" Schula understood. "Yes, we haven't slept so close since we stopped our travels. Let's try to calm down and tell stories like we used to."

Nassir let out a pained sigh. "I fear my heart is too heavy to tell stories tonight."

I came over and hugged him, then helped him to stand and move to the bed. "Then I'll tell some. I might have a few of Bryn's tales left that you haven't heard. He did tell me stories every day, you know."

Nassir's shoulders slumped, a tension releasing as he stood between me and Schula, walking toward his place on the floor and sitting down. "Thank you."