I screwed up.

Not the first time I’d done so. Far from the last.

Yet somehow this time… this failure…

Bothered me deeply.

She sniffed, and the motion sent another tear to her hands.

I shouldn’t have bugged her about the truth.

I should have just kept my thoughts to myself. Guided her to the Lands of Power, and then finished the job.

It wasn’t like me to get so interested.

It wasn’t like me to get so bothered…

The way she cried was also bothering me.

It was quiet. Other than her occasional sniff, she made no noise.

Yet tears ran down her face.

And…

Glancing to my right, at the herd of small animals…

She hadn’t even glanced at them. Even though they were running around in the grass and shrubs. Playing with one another.

The small creatures were fluffy and green in color. Matching the color of the grass and shrubs they darted in and out of. Not too unlike the color of her eyes, hair, and horns.

For a moment they had stared at us, but lost interest quickly. We were floating slowly, and quietly, after all.

Watching one of the larger ones pounce on another, they squeaked with their little voices as they played.

Looking away from the little bundle of energies, I grimaced at the woman sitting across from me.

Her head was low and her shoulders lower. She looked… defeated. As if someone very important to her had just died in her arms.

All because I had confronted her.

All because I hadn’t been able to keep my doubts to myself.

Why had I said anything?

She should be watching those little animals with delight. They were an image of peace, here in a world of chaos.

Yet she wouldn’t even look at them.

With a slow hand she reached up to wipe the side of her face. Tearstains still remained.

The way she stared at her hands, going back to being still, upset me.

Why wouldn’t she argue? Why didn’t she just accuse me of being an ass, or something like it?

Other women of our kind would have.

They would have not allowed those tears to fall without reason. Without cause.

They would have made it very clear, that those tears had been my fault.

And they were.

I had no doubt.

But she…

She wouldn’t admit it.

Which somehow made it all the worse for me.

My earlier anger had long been abandoned. I wasn’t too upset in the first place. I just wanted…

What had I wanted?

The truth?

Odds were she didn’t know it herself.

Which may just be what bothered me the most.

I no longer cared if I was being used or not.

Escorting. Protection. Finding something in the Rift. Acquiring certain materials or even capturing unique creatures for study or sport.

I did a lot, under the label of Guide of the Rift.

More often than not, the people who employed me were…

Well, like Momma.

Cruel. Dangerous. Evil.

There had been a time when I had hunted those who I now take payment from.

But I didn’t care anymore.

So what did I care, if there were schemes or plots? What did I care if she was using me, or being used herself?

Why was I letting it bother me?

“Krift…?”

I blinked, and looked around. Was something wrong? I hadn’t smelled anything out of place…

There wasn’t. The trees were thinning, and the river was widening, but there was nothing strange. Some of those smaller animals were still to on the bank to my right, but they were harmless.

“Hm?” I looked back to her, and she smiled. Gently.

“You checked to make sure we were safe first,” she said, understanding.

“We are,” I said, wondering if she thought otherwise.

She nodded, and then took a deep breath. Her chest shook as her breath stuttered, probably from her emotions.

“I’m sorry,” she then said.

“For?”

“Going silent. Not saying it… not answering you, when I needed to most. I… I’m…” Staring in awe, I watched Mintmorency struggle to look me in the eye. She fidgeted, moving her hands as she tried to talk. As if she could grasp confidence right out of the air.

She was going to try.

Again.

Even thought it so obviously affected her. Even though she feared it so much… she was still going to try again, to tell me the truth.

And it was going to break her.

“My father was a brutal man,” I spoke up, stopping her from fumbling through her apology.

She went a little still, her eyes finally reaching mine.

“In more ways than one. Failure of any sort, no matter how small, or petty, was met with not just a beating but also a severe cost,” I said.

It was her turn to watch me as I made a fist with my left hand, and lightly thumped my cheek. As if punching myself.

“Beatings didn’t work on me, see? So his brutality had to extend past the physical. Instead of just breaking bone, he also took something from me that I cared for. Granted it didn’t happen often. I learned quickly, and even when I was young I was… well, still a riftborn,” I explained.

I continued as she grew more interested, “But as the years went by, and my failures started becoming few and far in-between… The beatings and cruelty became more severe. Then one day, I not only failed… I embarrassed him. Humiliated him. Not intentionally. I never cared for him, but I had no intention to ever defy or ridicule him. It just… happened. Out of my control.”

Mint was about to say something but I raised a finger and went on, “With that failure, instead of bludgeoning me… he beat a friend of mine. A friend who wasn’t as strong. Wasn’t as sturdy. And in doing so showed his brutality, not just to me but the whole world. My father didn’t touch me. Didn’t beat me. Didn’t even say a word to me. He simply… punished my friend. A friend that hadn’t even been involved in the failure. Hadn’t even been in the same city. A young woman got beaten almost to death, just because I called her my friend.”

Mintmorency’s eyes didn’t leave my own. They didn’t even blink, as I leaned back. The shoddy boat rocked, but was fine.

“What do you think happened, after that?” I asked her.

“After he beat your friend?” she asked softly. Her voice was low. A human may not have heard her.

I nodded.

“I… I don’t know.”

“I no longer had any friends,” I said simply.

She blinked, and I could see she understood.

“Not that I had very many in the first place. But the point had been made. From that moment on… Krift’s failures, weren’t just his own… they were shared by those around him. If he stumbled, so did you. If he failed, so did you,” I said.

“So people avoided you. Scared for themselves,” she said softly.

I nodded. “Was a good lesson. For others. For me. It was a great lesson for me.”

“Lesson…? What’d you learn?” she asked.

“That when I made a mistake, or wasn’t able to do what was needed… other people suffered. In ways that weren’t always readily apparent,” I said.

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Yes. That was what I meant.

A sound drew my eye from the worried woman, and I watched as a large six legged creature walked out from behind some trees.

Once I recognized the horns, I relaxed. And looked away completely from it once I saw it walk up to the river, lower its head, and begin to drink.

A harmless creature. More flesh and bone than magical.

“Don’t get me wrong, Mint. It’s a bad lesson. Good for a man like me. A riftborn, who cannot trust anyone. But for you it is not. Trusting others, and relying on them, and sharing the burdens of failures while also sharing the exploits of victories, is part of being alive. Part of being a power, or a human even,” I said.

She studied me as I spoke, and I hoped I sounded convincing.

I didn’t really believe in any of it myself, after all.

“Are… your trying to cheer me up,” she said gently.

“Is it working?”

“Not really.”

I nodded, and sighed. Of course it wasn’t.

Mint went to say something more, but finally noticed the creature drinking from the river.

Slowly floating past it, up close one could realize just how massive it were.

If she and I stood, neither of us would be half its size. Even if she stood on my shoulders, we’d not be as tall as it.

And it was bent down, drinking.

“Krift…” she groaned at the sight, her eyes going wide.

“It’s fine. They’re common here in the Rift. At least, in the parts not covered in snow,” I said.

She studied it, as it gulped the clear waters. Four giant eyes stared at us as it did so. All of them were different shapes. With different colored pupils.

“Is it… some kind of deer?” she asked softly.

“Similar, isn’t it? From a certain angle,” I said.

We finally floated past it enough, that she seemed to find that we were now a safe distance… for she took a deep breath and relaxed.

“Did you also miss those small rabbit like creatures back there?” I asked her.

“I saw them,” she said, still watching the drinking beast.

Hm.

Forcefully looking away, Mint looked back at me. I liked how she was noticeably struggling to do so. She wanted to stare at the deer creature longer.

“My mother. She was… cruel, too,” she then said.

“Yea?” I asked.

“Not physically. And… not to me. But to everyone else,” she said.

“Yea…?”

She nodded. “But she hid it. Never showed it. No matter what happened, or why. Even I had not noticed it, until the end,” she said.

Mintmorency smiled. Probably seeing the confusion on my face.

“My mother seduced Joseph. The man who I called father. Although my mother always hated it when I did,” she said.

“Seduced,” I repeated her word.

“When I was a child, we were in the capital. Near what would be our hometown. We were living in this little… restaurant. We lived in the attic. Mother worked there. I worked, too. I did the dishes mostly. In fact when I think back to those years, that’s really all I can remember. Long hours of cleaning dishes and bowls. Hearing my mother’s voice as she relayed orders, and drinks, outside,” Mintmorency said.

So this was how she was going to apologize? Telling me her life story?

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Would she cry again if I told her I didn’t want to know it?

That I couldn’t afford to know it?

Keeping my mouth shut, Mint sighed. “Then she met Joseph. I only remember him then from telling me to get out of the room. For obvious reasons. Not too long after, we moved to his home. In Fishk. Back then I had genuinely thought they loved one another, from the way they acted… today I know she had done it on purpose. Beguiled him, and everyone around him, like… like…” Mint went quiet, as I watched her search her mind for a word.

“So he brought home a pair of powers. What’d everyone else think of that?” I asked, stopping her from besmirching her dead mother.

“Other than Uncle Buth? Everyone was happy. They loved us. I remember finding it odd how quickly they had opened their home to us. How quickly we became family. It was almost as if it happened overnight,” she said.

“Humans can do that. It’s a survival trait, I think,” I said.

She smiled; her right eye squeezing as she looked at me. It made her look…

“The man who was meant to inherit the farm, originally, was the first born son. He and Buth went to the war, and only Uncle Buth came back. Joseph was the youngest, who had been too young for the war at the time… The oldest, the one who died in the war, was the one who Grandfather had appointed as the heir. A few years after we… joined their family, Joseph became the new heir. The new head of the family,” she said.

“Is that why he hates you? Your uncle?” I asked.

“No. Uncle Buth’s hate ran far deeper. Like I said, he hated us the moment we arrived. Because we were powers, I believe.”

“Can’t really blame him, if he had taken part in the war. We had been brutal,” I said.

Mint said nothing, but gestured at herself. “I also think we were a good outlet for his hate. After all, he left with the favorite son… came home alone. And was a drunk. A failure. Couldn’t work the farm. Couldn’t handle any problems. Was never willing to help… The whole family started to ostracize him. Ignore him, even. Joseph had two sisters. Both married early. And both husbands had beaten Uncle Buth on several occasions. Sometimes on the order of my aunts,” she said.

I rolled my eyes at the family drama, but remembered my own. It kept my mouth shut.

“Anyway, time passed. Fifteen years or so, was when my grandparent’s health started failing. Grandmother went first. Grandfather’s mind next. That was… a rough few years. A lot of drama,” she said.

“I’m sure,” I said.

“Joseph was a nice man. At least, to me. He never really… admitted to being my father, or acted it, but he was kind. And I do believe he sincerely loved my mother,” she said.

Mintmorency’s eyes went past me. Staring over my shoulder. She watched something for a moment, but didn’t panic or draw my attention. Chances were the deer creature had finally had its fill of the river, and was leaving.

“Then Grandfather died, and Joseph became the true head of the family. That was rough too, since he… wasn’t as good as he should be. He made a few mistakes, when selling some of the crops and animals. The first winter was also a little hard than usual since it had been colder than normal.”

“And?” I asked. I hadn’t meant to let it sound as if I was annoyed, but even I noticed the tone.

“And then the plague came. The first to die were the younger children. One of my aunts lost all but a young son. Five years old. Then she lost her husband too,” she said softly.

“Rough,” I said.

“It was. We woke up and she was gone. Everyone, the whole town, searched for her and my cousin but… One of the fishermen found her scarf. One she wore often, in one of his nets, a few days later. The family hoped it had simply fallen, or been misplaced, but…”

“She jumped in to the river? With the child?” I asked, trying to comprehend it.

She nodded. “I think so. I think the boy had the marks of the silver-plague on him, and she chose to jump into the river with him. Instead of watching him die a slow painful death. It must have just been too much, to lose everyone all at once,” she said.

“Must have been.”

“My other aunt, the oldest women of the family after Grandmother died, also lost a child. She became a lot nicer to me, after that. I think it was a way for her to get through it. Or maybe the loss of the girl, made her cherish those younger than her more?” she asked, as if I would somehow know the answer.

I shrugged, since I knew she really didn’t want me to try and give her an answer.

She was rambling. As she tried to tell me the real reason.

It was actually… a little cute, now that I realized it.

She was trying to trick herself into saying it aloud, by telling me everything else.

Not a method I’d ever use, or have ever seen used, but…

It looked to be working.

“Then, Joseph started…”

“Getting mean too?” I asked.

“No! No… sad. He got sad. Very depressed,” she said.

“Powers do that too,” I said gently.

“He… he started to get old. His hair started to go grey. He was starting to lose weight, a little too fast. His eyesight was going bad and other things…” She then sighed, as if she didn’t like remembering it. “And of course, neither me nor my mother looked any different,” she added.

“Ah.” I understood.

She nodded. “He was upset. He, of course, knew we were powers. The whole family did by then! But… he was watching himself age by the day, and mother was just as young and beautiful as when they met. He liked that, and bragged that she would always be pretty, but then it... Then it bothered him.”

Mintmorency shrugged. “My mother had played the perfect wife the whole time. Which was why I myself hadn’t started to realize until later. I had genuinely thought she loved him as much as he did her. But… as he grew more depressed, over his age and… Well, the lack of children… Speaking of that, you said Lena was a half? So humans and powers can indeed have children together?” she asked, suddenly switching topics.

“They can. I don’t know if it’s any easier or harder, than normal but… powers don’t have children easy. It can take years for a woman to get pregnant. Many years. So your mother going so long without a child isn’t that surprising, if it was only a few decades,” I said.

“I see… Mother had thought we couldn’t. She… was really proud of that. Very. He and Buth had been drinking, and complaining about her. She then teased him. About how humans weren’t good enough to impregnate a power. She… insulted him. In fact it had been the first time I had ever heard her do so, in front of him. Or anyone other than me,” she said. She had gone to staring at the packs between us. She was remembering the scene in her mind.

Humans did take such things very personally. If it had bothered him so much he had started to wither away from the depression…

“Buth didn’t like that at all. It caused issues. But… it had broken Joseph’s heart. Two days later, in the middle of a snowstorm, he left. No one ever saw him again, as far as I’m aware,” she said.

“He… left? Just left?” I asked.

She nodded. “Didn’t even take anything. We all checked. The money, his clothes, nothing. He must have walked out with only what he had on,” she said.

“Humans,” I said, shaking my head.

Mint smiled, as if she found my distaste amusing.

“Anyway… Father disappeared. Mother pretended to be heartbroken. In front of everyone. The whole town. We spent weeks looking for him. Me and mother even went to the capital, to search for him,” she said, smirking.

“You didn’t though?” I asked.

“She took me shopping.”

“Proud woman,” I said.

“Proud of her hate, Krift,” she said.

“Of the humans,” I added, understanding.

She nodded. “After that, a lot of her true feelings came out. She still kept up the act in front of everyone else… but when it was just us, me and her, she told me everything. Rambled on and on about how much she hated humans, and that town, and everyone there…”

“That’s not that surprising Mint. Considering the circumstances,” I said.

“I know. That’s why I didn’t let it bother me. It’s why I accepted it. And supported her, where I could. I just… treated her like a woman who had just been scorned. Left by her husband. Abandoned. I was careful with her,” she said.

“You’re a better child than I,” I said.

Mint smirked. “It was also when she started drinking. She’d gotten drunk a few times before, but nothing like this. It was horrible. Especially since I really needed her. With Joseph gone, and most the family dead, there were only a few of us left… and we had a whole farm to run. It wasn’t easy,” she said.

“Couldn’t the other men just take it over?” I asked.

“The only one left of age was my aunt’s husband. A hunter. He was a good man, actually. They’re the two I told you about before. How they were very good people. Honest, and kind,” she said.

“So? Give the farm to them,” I said.

“He didn’t want it.”

I blinked at that, and now was interested. A human man, not wanting riches? Or at least, riches to him.

“He loved his family. Dearly. He didn’t want to take up ownership of the farm, since it would have taken his time from them.”

“Huh…”

“Then,” she took a deep breath and sighed. “The plague returned. Not even a year later, everyone but my mother, myself, and Uncle Buth were dead.”

“That’s... a bad disease,” I said.

“We weren’t the only ones who suffered from it. Half the town died.”

“So then you sold the farm. Can’t say I blame you,” I said.

“No. That was a few years later,” she said.

“Oh?

She nodded, scratching her right palm. “Mother then got sick. Bedridden. It was sudden too. She went from being fine, other than a little too drunk a little too often… but before I knew it she was spending more time in bed than out of it,” she said.

I said nothing, since I didn’t know what to say.

After all, powers didn’t get sick like that.

“It was sad, Krift. My mother had always been bright. Even if it had been an act, she was always smiling. It broke my heart to see her sitting in bed, helpless,” she said softly.

“I’m sure.”

“Everything I know about powers, or heard about, was during those two years. She never told me anything, but Mother… she mumbled stuff. Or dropped hints, unknowingly. Her mind was always wandering,” she said.

“Did she ever say why she didn’t teach you anything?” I dared to ask.

“To protect me.”

I nodded; glad my assumption had been accurate.

“She made it absolutely clear that I should not learn anything about our kind. Even before she got… sick,” she added.

“Then why send you here?” I asked.

“She didn’t.”

The answer finally came, and I was glad she didn’t break or look away. She held firm, keeping her eyes on my own.

“In fact… a few times, while I sat with her, she told me to never come back. To never try. To abandon the blood of powers,” she said.

Abandon the blood of powers?

I kept quiet since Mintmorency had focused. Inwardly. And kept on talking. “She started to… talk to herself. She’d stare out her window, from her bed, talking aloud. As if talking to someone else. Spent the whole day doing it. Which was really weird, since there was a storehouse next to her room. She was staring at a wall, all day,” she said, smiling at the ridiculousness of it.

Insanity? An Invalid? Not an impossibility in a power, but rare. Very rare. And usually only followed a horrible event. Though her life may have been…

Before I could think too deeply on it, Mintmorency suddenly sobbed.

I went still at the sudden burst of emotion, as she covered her face with her hands. Weeping.

Gulping a dry mouth, I wondered what to say. To do. There were a few ideas, of course, but I wasn’t really sure which would work for her.

She wasn’t a normal power. Or a human. And if I wasn’t careful I’d just make it worse or…

Then before I could make decision, Mintmorency chuckled. The sound made me lean back a little as she wiped her face with her forearm, and smiled.

“Curse. She called me a curse. Whenever I went to talk to her, she’d talk to me… but she must not have recognized me. She’d call me Miss. As if I was a guest,” she said.

Glad the laughing was done, and the sobbing, I watched the young power shake her head. Tears still slid down her face.

“She’d talk to me as if I wasn’t there. And she’d call me a curse. That I was a cursed burden, which was why she was suffering. Which is why she had to live amongst the dirty humans, and even lay with them,” she said.

I see.

Feeling horrible, I looked away from her eyes. The pain in them was hurting even me.

After all it was my fault she was feeling such things.

She thought she had to tell me, to earn my trust.

Because of what I had said.

And now it was too late to correct her misunderstanding.

“She blamed me for everything. For having to hide. For the suffering. For the years wasted. Then… then…” Mint went quiet, and took a few moments to breathe deeply.

“Then?” I asked, after a moment.

“Then she said that the father would kill me. That she couldn’t go back, even if she abandoned me, because the father would kill us.”

Our boat rocked a little as I sat forward, staring into her wet eyes.

“That’s why I didn’t want to say it,” she whispered. “Because it means that even if I do find my family, they’ll probably just kill me.”

“What’d she say? Her exact words?” I asked.

Mintmorency looked away from me, to the sky and shook her head. But she told me all the same. “The father killed the brother. And maybe the son too. He’d kill her if he knew she was still alive… And would hunt her. So even if I left her behind, he’d not forgive me. All that I’d find back home is death. Death and decay,” she said, reciting words that most undoubtedly echoed in her mind all the time.

Incoherent ramblings. Of a broken mind…

Yet there was an obvious truth to them. A familiar one, too.

Power families sometimes broke like so. Destroying themselves from the inside. As if riddled with poison.

Maybe she hadn’t been captured at all, or left behind by the army, but rather had ran from our people on her own accord.

“And you’re sure she said this concerning you and… your home,” I said, thinking.

“Yes. When I noticed her mind really was failing, and she was dying, I asked her. Begged her, to tell me anything she knew. I wanted to know. Even though I originally hadn’t planned on coming here, then, I had still… wanted to know,” she said softly.

“Why’d you choose to come here then, if that hadn’t been your original plan?” I asked. “Especially if your mother’s final words were warnings, not blessings.”

For a few moments, I thought she’d not tell me.

That she’d bottle up again, as she had earlier.

Then she smiled. “Because I didn’t want to end up like my mother, of course?”

My fists clenched at the sight of pure sadness. Sadness that wrought the soul.

“I see,” I said softly.

I could accept that.

I agreed with that.

I understood that.

“That’s why I didn’t want to say it! Because it’d make this whole journey pointless!” she said, a little loudly.

Smiling at the anger, I was thankful for it.

Better anger than that horrible look of defeat.

“Pointless? I beg to differ. So what if your father wants you dead?” I asked.

“What…?”

“So what?” I asked again.

“So? So it means I have nothing! Not in the Lands of Man, or the Lands of Power! It means I’ll die if I find the one thing I want to find!”

Shaking my head, I waved her anger down. She didn’t like that, and actually grew a little angrier.

“Really, Mint. Trust me. Someone wanting you dead is far from that big of a deal. Jeez… here I was worried it was something serious. And all it is… is a family feud of some kind? Ha.”

“Don’t laugh! I’m putting my whole heart into this conversation!” She stood, and luckily for her the boat didn’t rock too much. She’d have fallen over, or out of the boat, if it had.

“And it’s a beautiful heart, Mintmorency,” I said.

Mint had opened her mouth, to shout again, but nothing came out.

I nodded. “Really. I mean it.”

For a long moment she stared down at me, and I watched the red face… which had been from anger, become a little…

A little more flushed.

Her green eyes darted around. As if she didn’t know what to glare at.

Me? The boat? Her feet? Maybe her own nose?

“Sit down Mint, before you fall out. Please,” I said, gesturing for her to do so.

“Ah… uhm…” She mumbled as she realized she was standing up, and then slowly sat back down.

With a sigh, I wondered what I was going to do with her.

So all it was, all this time, was that?

I had thought maybe she had known her family. And was keeping it secret, since they were powerful or poor. Maybe something unique, like a fallen noble household.

Or maybe that she had plans to kill them, or something.

To kill the ones who had abandoned her mother, and her, in such a foreign land.

Revenge. Plot’s nefarious.

Typical things for powers.

But, if the ramblings of an insane mother were to be believed… it was just the father being cruel? A typical family squabble?

“So, he killed her brother. Then the son… maybe your brother, then, if it was her son. So she ran from the army, with you… maybe even in her belly, to escape him. Maybe something had happened during the war. Some kind of family issue,” I said, thinking about it.

Maybe she had caught him with another woman, or doing some kind of act she couldn’t forgive and it just escalated into such chaos.

I wonder who it had been. Had I known him…?

“That was my thought. She ran from the army,” she said.

Hearing an odd crack in her voice, I glanced at her.

Her face was still deeply flushed. And was staring intently at her fingers on her lap. They were twirling around one another.

It made her green eyes look lovely.

“Then you might not even have a problem, Mint. Your father may have died in the war. Or on the return journey through the Rift. Thousands died, on the return voyage. Entire households are now empty, thanks to that single war,” I said.

She blinked, looking away from her lap and up at me.

“And take it from me, power households are… a little different than you’re used to. Depending on the structure of the family, and your bloodlines position in it, they may not even care anymore. Even if your father is still alive, there’s a good chance that peace can be negotiated. I wouldn’t worry over it too much, until we find out more information,” I said.

“Oh… uhm…” I didn’t chastise her for the wordless sounds, but I did nod my head.

“Really. Unless you know more? And aren’t telling me? This would be a good time to tell the rest, if you did,” I said, gently.

“No! Uh… no. I don’t. Other than more rambling my mother had done. But pretty much all of it had just been her complaining. About the weather, or the humans, or Joseph, the bed… or me,” she said.

For a moment I pondered her next move.

Once she was out of the Rift… she’d need to find her House. Her Crest. Then we could go about finding out which family she belonged to. Then where they were, or if any still lived.

A simple task for the right individual. Hopefully whatever family she belonged to, wasn’t too low on the societal ladder.

I didn’t want this woman to live a life of servitude.

Her vivid emotions were far too lovely to be wasted in such a life.

“Thank you, by the way. For telling me,” I said.

Mintmorency’s face which had somewhat returned to normal… promptly blushed again.