21: “It was just a kiss.”
Finally, here was something familiar. Caia felt her heart soar before settling into a smooth, steady rhythm as her hands moved over the piece of stone before her. It was a damn fine carving stone, looking to be made out white marble. Caia was told by Garrik when he let her into this room that it was intended to be used to carve an effigy of the goddess. There were already marks around it from where the project had been started.
That was before the sculptor died. This room had been kept tidy for five years, but no one had been able to come in and finish his work because no one else had the skills. Upon hearing Caia tell him that she was bored and wished she could do something, he had asked her if she would be willing to do some stone work.
It wasn't exactly art. The stoneworker needed to be able to create things from stone that people actually needed. However, in his workroom, Caia found all of the tools and instruments that she would need to create her art as well. Garrik told her that if she was willing to carve things from stone for the town, he would allow her to practice her art as well.
The effigy of the goddess, that Caia had found sketches of on the former stoneworker's workbench, was considered not her job though. That statue, though half finished and well within her ability to carve, she was sure, was not for her to finish. Garrik told her that the one who finished the statue had to be called to it by the goddess herself. However, if she wanted to carve anything else, the workshop was hers to use at will.
Besides that, Caia could begin making mortars and pestles, arrow heads, spear heads, stone hammers, stone blades, and anything really that was asked of her. If she was good enough – which she was – Garrik told her that people might request she make buttons, jewelry, and the like
He had left her alone in this room a few minutes ago. He told her that she should make herself comfortable as he went back to work in the temple. If she decided to agree to be the stoneworker for the town, then she would need to be blessed in the temple first. Sculptors were considered to be people of great honor here, as they were doing the goddess's work. If she was going to take over the last man's long empty post, she would need to be blessed.
She had been moving around his workspace, torn between yes and no.
She could say no. Garrik assured her that he wouldn't be angry, that no one expected her to do so. This was a responsibility and she owed them nothing. In fact, they owed her, he explained, for returning Caspian to them. If she declined this invitation, there would be no hard feelings.
If she said yes though, that would be a commitment. Caia couldn't commit to a place like this. She was still working out how to make that stone portal work again so she could go home. Of course she had to go home. She belonged back in her world where people wouldn't try to kill her. At least there, when she lost her mind, she would just be put in a mental hospital not a holy fire.
At the same time, all she could think was that she needed to do something. These last few days of doing nothing but listening to Elanil complain were wearing down on her. She missed home sorely, but she bet that would ease a bit if she was doing something familiar. And there was nothing more familiar to Caia than working with stone.
She had worked on commission before. True, she had never made a mortar and pestle before, whatever those were, but she bet she could learn how. Maybe even sculpting the old fashioned way, the only way she had ever known, would keep her mind sane.
Caspian hadn't given her back her dancing figurines. He wasn't mentioning them and neither was she, but she noticed that he had careful hid them away from her. She knew that he was just trying to keep her safe, but she couldn't help but resent him a bit.
It was only the tiniest bit. It barely even registered. Still, she felt it in a very dark corner of her heart, disliking him for taking what was hers.
She needed to sculpt. Maybe she could make a deal with Garrik that she would sculpt for them so long as she was here. That would ease her guilt for leaving when she finally returned home, and also keep her mind and hands busy.
“Excuse me.”
Caia looked up at the gentle call to see a young girl standing in the doorway that Garrik had left slightly ajar. She had opened it wider without Caia seeing and was shuffling her feet anxiously. She looked torn between coming further in and backing away apologetically.
So Caia smiled brightly at her. “Hello. I'm sorry, did you need something in here?”
“Uh, no. Not really. This is...This was my grandfather's workroom. I saw someone moving in here and, for a second, I thought...Nevermind. It's stupid.”
Caia shook her head. “It's not stupid. I'm sorry for intruding.”
“No, not at all,” she shook her head quickly, her shoulder length brown hair swinging around her face as she did so. “You're...Caia, right? The one who brought Caspian home.”
She nodded. “That's me. What's your name?”
“Vaeri, daughter of Odellia. It's an honor to meet you.”
Caia waved her hand at the formality. “Thank you for letting me in here.”
Vaeri smiled at her brightly and Caia smiled back. She was a young girl, probably not much younger than Caia herself, but still pretty young. She was tanned like she spent a lot of time outdoors, but her body was slight like it wasn't because of manual labor. Her dirty blond hair had been carefully swept up out of her face into a complex knot that Caia could never have mimicked even if her hair wasn't just a bob around her chin.
After a second's hesitation, Vaeri took a step inside. “So, are you to be our new sculptor? I heard last night that you have the skill for stonework.”
“Oh, you heard that, huh?” Caia looked back at the half finished statue. “I don't know. I mean, I would love to help, but I don't know how long I'm staying here.”
“What do you mean?” Vaeri looked curious as she stopped beside her. “Aren't you and Caspian, well, not betrothed certainly, but I had heard that you were...”
“I don't know,” Caia admitted. “I mean, I like Caspian, but I never intended to come here. I'm sure he never intended on taking me here either.”
“Oh, I'm sure that's not true. Caspian is very honorable. I'm sure his intentions are pure.”
“His intentions?” Caia laughed. “If your saying you think he might marry me, I can guarantee that won't happen.” There was no way that Caspian would put himself through that fiasco with Simone ever again. Caia was a time bomb waiting to go off in a horribly similar manner.
“Then...” Vaeri looked confused.
“I suppose that I'm going to go back home eventually.” Back to her cold, lonely home surrounded by her lifeless art that stared with unfeeling eyes. Back to her overbearing parents, now having to deal with the aftermath of disappearing for days on top of whatever damage that Caspian had managed to do while speaking to them. It wasn't appealing.
“They say that you're from very far away, so why don't you just stay? We'd all certainly like it if you stayed. I mean, you seem nice enough, there's no reason you can't.”
Caia could think of one. “I don't really want to think of it right now.”
“Oh, now I've made you upset,” Vaeri looked guilty. “Let me make it up to you. Have you eaten lunch yet? I was on my way to do so, I'll buy you something.”
Caia was hungry, and she did want to get away from this room for a while. The scent of stone dust was familiar and comforting, but she wasn't ready to make this decision yet. “I think I'll take you up on that. I haven't gotten used to the town yet, I'd like to see more.”
“Well then, you'll receive no finer guide than me,” Vaeri beamed, waving her forward as she moved towards the door. “I'm one of the people who clean the boardwalks. There's no turn or twist in this town that I don't know intimately. Have you have one of Folmar's pies yet? He makes the best meat pies and he's always happy to talk while you eat them.”
Caia had never had a meat pie before and therefor couldn't fairly compare Folmar's pies to any, however she had to admit that it was a great meal. She hadn't expected something so savory to be in a pie. It was almost like a potpie but without the vegetables and better than the microwavable meals that Caia used to buy.
Folmar, a rotund and booming man with cooking stains over the otherwise white apron stretched over his vast belly, was as happy a man as Vaeri promised. He served them up a hot and delicious meat pie to share then continued to speak with them as they ate it right there. He didn't speak about anything in particular, he just talked. He also seemed to be able to hold a conversation solely with himself because neither of them needed to take a break from eating to respond.
The shock came from hearing that happy, robust Folmar was married to crabby, grumpy Elanil. He just casually called her his wife while stuffing a pie for baking and Caia almost choked.
“You're married to Elanil?” she said in surprise.
“Aye, that's my sweetie.”
“Sweetie?” Caia repeated, unsure if she would apply that term to her. Sure, Elanil didn't mean much harm by her constant lecturing, but she was what no one would call sweet.
“Betrothed since birth we were,” he nodded, placing the top over the pie and carefully peeling away the excess. “She's got a right temper on her, but a better wife and mother I couldn't ask for.”
Caia, not wanting to think about that, turned to Vaeri. “Are you betrothed?”
“Of course,” her new friend nodded happily. “We're thinking of being married after this years winter thaw. His name is Kiirion, have you met him yet?”
Caia shook her head and Vaeri smiled as though she expected that.
“I'm not surprised. He's not terribly sociable, my Kiri. He works in the back of the cobbler's shop all day and enjoys painting at night. He's a dreamer at heart. He often writes poetry for me.”
“It doesn't bother you? Being betrothed?” Caia couldn't help but ask. She hadn't really wanted to ask Caspian anything about his betrothal and she was curious.
“No, why would it? Did your betrothal bother you? Is that why you ended it?”
“I wasn't betrothed,” Caia shook her head. “We don't do that where I'm from. I mean, it seems pretty simple compared to our method, but where I'm from people find their own mates.”
Vaeri nodded like she understood that. “I've heard of places like that. It seems awfully inconvenient. How can you marry someone if you haven't known them for very long? I've known Kiri my entire life and I'm only just now comfortable marrying him.”
Caia shrugged. “I don't know. I guess that's why there are so many divorces were I'm from.”
“A divorce?” Folmar made a sound of disapproval. “Dissolving the marriage is no way to deal with the problems in it. You have to work them out. I don't get angry and demand a divorce every time Elanil goes into one of her moods.”
“Elanil is always in one of her moods,” Vaeri laughed. “If you divorced her for that alone, you'd never have married her in the first place.”
Caia laughed gently along with Folmar's loud guffaw. “Aye, there is truth to that. But don't let a little thing like an argument stand in the way of a happy life. That's advice both of you could use from an old man. For Kiirion and Caspian both.”
Vaeri nodded but Caia blushed and shook her head quickly. “I'm not marrying Caspian.”
“A boy doesn't bring a girl home if he's not got intentions for her,” Folmar winked.
“He does if he has no choice,” Caia looked away, poking at her meat pie, no longer hungry. “It was either that or let me die out in the forest because I can't take care of myself.”
“Then the reason he was kissing you at the festival the other night was because you had fallen into the lake and needed breathing, is that it?”
Vaeri and Folmar laughed together as Caia turned, if possible, redder. “We're not betrothed to anyone, we can kiss each other if we want and not mean anything by it. There's nothing wrong with that.”
“Expect that's not like Caspian to do at all,” Folmar put the new meat pie into his oven and returned, slapping his hands together and sending out poofs of flour. “If he's kissing a girl, then that tells me that he's got intentions on her.”
“That's what I was saying,” Vaeri nodded quickly.
Caia shook her head. “No, that's not it. I mean, we're close I guess, but Caspian doesn't have any...intentions for me. It was just a kiss.”
“I remember when I used to have just kisses like that with my Elanil,” Folmar said, his eyes sparkling with knowledge that wasn't true.
“I have them with Kiri all the time,” Vaeri laughed.
Caia couldn't convince them, though she tried through the rest of the lunch, that she and Caspian weren't even lovers. They seemed convinced, and told her that the entire town was convinced, that Caspian had moved on from Rowan in the five years he had been gone and that she was the girl that had captured his heart in that time.
~~~~~~
Caspian hummed thoughtfully as he ran his hand over the cool stone. The circle of stones that had transported them here were cold and lifeless as ever. He knew better than to think they would activate for him, he wasn't an enchantress after all, but he had hoped there would be some clue here.
Caia needed to go back home. He had heard his uncle talking to her about taking over the stoneworkers shed and she hadn't looked disinclined to do it. It was exactly the worst sort of job that she could have here.
She needed to be back amongst her own people for other reasons though. He could sense her getting restless, unnerved. His home was just too different. As one who had lived in both worlds for a set of time, he could say that it would take years yet for her to get completely used to it. It had taken him months alone to get used to the way that everything in her world could happen with just the push of a button. How long would it take for her to become accustomed to the fact that everything here had to be worked for?
And when her mind was lost, he would rather her be back in her own world. At least there she could have medical treatment. It wasn't like mental patients there were given chisels or allowed to work with stone, she would cause no trouble there. He could take proof of Rowan's adjustment to their world as proof of that.
More than that, he hadn't yet gotten his revenge. Rowan still lived and, worse than that, she was living comfortably and happily. She had built a life of luxury and riches on top of the mutilated bodies of his parents; that was something he could simply not forgive.
So he had to return to her world, at least for a short time. He would be more prepared, he wouldn't let Caia talk him into coming with him. He would kill Rowan in her sleep if he had to. He didn't care how he did it, he just couldn't allow her to live.
The first problem, of course, was finding out how these stones worked. There were no obvious markings on them that he could read that might tell him how they functioned. They were so far from Galmora that no one even knew about them even if he was courageous enough to ask. They were clearly magical in nature, so either an enchantress or the goddess herself had to have put them here. He was leaning more towards the latter as this was Her holy land.
Though what she could have used them for he had no idea. What need would she have of visiting a world that didn't even know about her? Or was that not these stones purpose? Maybe the teleportation was a side effect of something that Caia and Rowan had both accidentally activated without meaning to do so.
Caspian had spent the better part of the morning clearing away overgrowth and debris from the stones since he had arrived. Rowan hadn't cleared it off very well when she had discovered them and five years was a long time in terms of plant growth.
So Caspian stained his hands green and brown as he cleared away wees, branches, bushes, and grass that was taking over. He kept removing until the stones were clear. It was completely on accident that he pulled up a weed taking the soil underneath with it and revealed a layer of stone matching the ones scattered about perfectly.
Then he started removing the dirt entirely. He got his arms, his clothes, and his face dirty and sweaty in the process, but after a few hours he stood back to look at his work.
The rings of stones were not, as he had though, independent of each other. They were all connected to one another on a sort of base plate that had been covered over with time. It was made of the same hard, unrecognizable material as the stones, but wasn't as smooth.
Here, finally, Caspian found the markings that he had had been looking for. He let his eyes travel over the designs, following the flow of markings carved into the base looking for some sort of pattern or central marking. He could find none. It was random.
It was also unhelpful. Though it did reveal a new side of the stones that he hadn't before seen, it didn't shed any light on what they were or why they were there.
However, the sun was beginning to set and Caspian was hungry and tired. He needed to return, listen to Elanil complain about his dirtiness, take a bath, and get some rest. He could continue trying to work out this puzzle later. He would probably even bring Caia along. She was the only one that had the power to make these stones work.
~~~~~~
Simone paced up and down in her studio. The shards of gravel and broken stones around her had increased because she couldn't stop breaking her creations. Her husband saw it as the temperament of an artist and just let her destroy as she pleased with an indulgent smile.
Not like she needed his permission. If he hadn't let her destroy his house, she would just have destroyed him then done it anyway. Simone was powerful. She had more power than anyone in this world could ever have. She wouldn't let him stop her from doing whatever she wanted or having whatever her heart desired.
And, at the moment, her heart desired only one thing: Caspian.
He was gone. The stones had glowed and must have taken him back to Galmora. That was the only place that Simone knew that they led to, the only other world that might exist. That little copy of her must have taken him there on accident.
He was beyond her reach then. No matter how she had tried, Simone had been unable to get the stones to take her back to the forests of home. Admittedly, once she had seen more of this strange world, she hadn't tried all that hard anymore. In fact, she had built the pool over the stones as her way of stating she had moved on.
Now the pool had been drained and the stones were exposed to the fresh air again. Simone hadn't walked down there yet, but she had made sure that she could at any time. The stones, despite her attempts to bury them in concrete, remained uncovered and standing proud. The base that she had discovered under them had been easily enough concealed, but no matter how much concrete was poured over the stones, it just slid off like the stones were resisting them.
For all she knew, they might very well be. If that damned goddess had put them there, she might have made it so that they couldn't be covered. Though why the goddess would have stones that could teleport people she couldn't imagine.
Which was all beside the point. She wanted Caspian back. In a way, she needed him back. It was a clawing, nagging need in her heart. He belonged to her. He had belonged to her since the day that she was born and would continue to be hers until she died.
And now he was probably back in Galmora with that copy of her. A little enchantress that had reversed her petrification with a touch, that activated the stones with a thought, who Simone refused to admit might be more powerful than she was.
She would return to Galmora, she determined as she walked to her window and looked down into the dry pool. She would go back, she would destroy that town if she had to, and she would take Caspian back home with her.
The copy though. She wouldn't give the copy the honor of being one of her sculptures, if she even could be. She was going to destroy that girl for daring to be near Caspian. Caspian was hers, and anyone that dared come near him faced her wrath.
Destroy Galmora, she smiled to herself. Destroy the little scared enchantress. Claim Caspian and bring him back here where he belonged. Simone had lived far too long denying who she was and what she could do, but no longer.
She was going to go back home and remind them all why they feared enchantresses.