Alkimiya - A Fantasy Mystery Series

THIRTY~SEVEN - Morphed Magic

"What will you do first thing when we get back?" 

"Have a proper bath," Zenetra promptly answered.

James snorted into the corner of his pillow. "And after that?"

"Visit my father. The CF will force me to take time off to heal. It's standard protocol."

"And then?"

Zenetra lifted herself up onto her elbows. The necklace dangled over the pillow. "Remembrance gatherings, James. We will have many to attend."

James hummed. "No, thank you."

"It is expected of us." Zenetra studied the frown James' lips had formed. "Are you telling me you won't attend Captain Inglehart's gathering? I thought you liked the man."

"I loved him." James' voice was soft, his eyes glossy in the darkness. "I learned a lot from him, and I don't mean about flying. Living in the Hovels taught me how to be street smart. Captain Inglehart taught me how to succeed. We didn't know each other for very long—six months from a job before and a single week for this doomed expedition—but I didn't need a lifetime with him to know that I loved him."

Zenetra let that declaration hang between them. "Before, I believe you mentioned a sister. What's her name?"

James perked a little. "Rosemary. She's sixteen now. Skinny little thing. Well," he added hastily. "Not so little. She's almost as tall as me."

"And your parents?"

James rolled onto his back. "Leonard and Ginger."

When James did not elaborate, Zenetra chided him. "You know an awful lot about my family and my family's associates," she said, thinking of Governor Ewald. "Yet all I know about yours are names?"

She could see James shut his eyes and assumed that meant he preferred the topic close, but after a few deep breaths, he proved her wrong.

"Rosemary and I haven't much to do with them. We don't live together."

"Oh." Zenetra could not fathom living on her own. At Guild Square, she had Mr. Tedman, who she viewed as more of a grandfather than a butler. "Why not?"

"My mother's pride and my father's weakness tore our family apart."

Zenetra mulled over that answer. "Could you be more cryptic? I'm not entirely confused yet."

"Ginger Mortice," he said sourly, "is a rover from the Saavedt caravans. They travel mostly around the Kingdom of Marzhan, but after the War of the Prophet, they began to venture up this way. They sing a lot, those rovers. Sing and dance and drink their way across the Five Nations. My mother started performing in bars and taverns when she was young. Any place that would have her, really. The rover way is sharing and moving. My mother was never too fond of either. She wanted a big house with lots of windows, a garden of roses and herbs, and to be near enough to the beach to smell the salt on the breeze. The only way for that to become her reality was to leave the caravan. One day she did.

"When her caravan arrived in Bellman, my mother found a place to sing every night through summer. The caravan packed up in the fall to make their way south before winter but my mother stayed. She has a large family, all of them redheaded like me, but none of them could convince her to leave.

"It was in Bellman that she met my father. He threw money at her and made a big stink of how much he loved her. She thought she'd have it good with him. There was no way for her to know about the gambling. My father was on a lucky streak when they met. Neither of them had a clue about responsibility when they had me.