'And now I have to stir?'
'No, to twist.'
'How?'
'With the spatula.'
'Which spatula?'
As I suppress a laugh, I look at Novak next to me at the table, listening to Alisha who is doing her best to teach Elien how to cook an egg.
'This,' she says as she hands the thing to Elien.
'And now?'
'Now make sure you get the flat side underneath, then twist it in a quick motion and make sure the yellow part stays intact.'
'Which yellow part?'
'Just the yellow.'
'Alisha, I can't see any color!' That is the moment Novak and I burst into laughter at the same time. My head falls into my arms on the wooden table, on top of the cards and documents we were looking at. Novak's hand squeezes my leg as he makes no effort to hold back his laughter.
'Oh shit, sorry, let me show you,' she continues, completely ignoring me and Novak.
Once my laughter subsides, I turn back to the papers in front of us. The map is filled with red dots, lines, and names. The list of one hundred is next to it, also full of red lines that have crossed out the 89 names or replaced them.
Micca is on the list instead of a magician, in the hope that it's enough magic.
'Actually, all the names lead in a line to the Blood Mountain,' Novak points out, pointing along the road through Runcast and the nymphs to the place where it all began.
'There's a nymph on it, right?' Alisha asks from the stove where Elien is still struggling.
'Yes, Narvi Monte,' is my answer as I take the list, even though I know the names by heart.
'Aren't nymphs sort of holy?' Elien asks, looking at the pan.
'We know very little about the nymphs. No one comes through Yin and Yang and the curse that has befallen them. Additionally, they do not come out of their territory themselves,' Novak explains as he brings the map closer to him.
'What curse?' Elien continues as he tries to scrape the egg off the pan.
'When the nymphs caught Yin and Yang, they made a deal with the gods. In order to receive enough magic to catch the two spirits, they gave away a part of their soul. From what we know, they cannot stand the sun, cannot have possessions, and things like anger, jealousy, and greed are forbidden,' Novak tells.
'But that doesn't make them holy, does it? Rather cursed.' Elien has managed to get the egg off in all sorts of pieces and thrown it on a plate.
'Because they made that deal, they are seen as the closest thing we have to the gods. We don't know exactly what kind of magic they have because no one can see it. It's a kind of legend,' Novak finishes his story before Elien nods and takes a bite of his burnt egg. Immediately, he spits the hard, charred thing back onto the plate.
'This is inedible,' he grumbles before throwing the plate back on the counter and sighing as he plops down on a chair next to me.
'So we're going to the nymphs, through Runcast, and then on to the Blood Mountain?' I nod approvingly, suddenly realizing that this will all come to an end. To all the murders, the travel, and the death.
It's not just me who seems to realize it, Novak and Alisha are also silent until Alisha asks the question that has been burning on everyone's lips.
'What happens next?' I sigh deeply and shrug.
'No idea.' Novak leans further back in his chair, and Elien is also silent.
'Are you going to take the crown after father's death?' Elien asks softly. I immediately shake my head.
'Absolutely not. I will never set foot in that hell again,' is my answer that I have thought about often enough.
I don't want the crown, even though I would be entitled to it after father and Christiaan's death. The burden, the problems, and the responsibility are no longer something I want in my life.
'Who will get it then?' Elien asks again.
'Automatically, the crown passes on to the heir, but in the absence of one, it is transferred to the head of the Dawn.'
'That means we're going to have exactly the same problem again,' Novak notes.
'No one would choose him.' Now it's everyone's turn to look at Elien in surprise.
'They want to remove him, they talked about it in the castle. The right hand of Christiaan was going to be appointed because he would tackle it. He always does everything that most people want.' It doesn't surprise me.
'It's a good idea. Diana is controllable from the outside. She's terrified of her reputation and that something will happen to her daughter. Her husband is the head of the Dawn, so it's not a crazy step to take,' I try to explain my idea, but no one is immediately convinced.
'Then we might as well not appoint anyone, because it's going to go to the head of the Dawn anyway,' Novak points out.
'No, no one would choose him.' Now everyone is surprised, looking at Elien.
'They want to impeach him, they talked about it in the castle. The right hand of Christiaan was going to be appointed because he would tackle it. He always does everything that most people want,' he explains.
'It's a good idea. Diana is controllable and afraid. Her daughter is her weak point, so she won't make any crazy moves, and her husband is too afraid to think for himself. This way you have control,' Alisha observes, which we all agree with.