{-Demery-}
He sat the small bag down in front of Aither with a thump. “Here’s everything that was on that list. The rest of Olle’s money is in there, too. We were able to get them from someone in town, no one at the church involved.”
Aither looked oddly assured in the fact. It was the church—the same church that worshiped his might-as-well-be-mother, and would probably give him anything he wanted if they knew what he was. Why did not getting them involved seemed to bring him so much relief?
“Then it’s time I uphold my end of the deal,” he said. “Can you two head to one of those other tables outside? It’ll be better than talking about it here. I’m just going to give these to Olle and then I’ll meet you out there.”
Of course, he didn’t really wait for a response before walking back towards the rooms.
Koyana didn’t look to have any questions or opposition, and Demery decided it was better not to dwell on it… for now. They both walked outside to an empty table and waited in silence.
Aither returned a few moments later, having a thoughtful expression as he wandered to where they were and sat down.
“I don’t… actually know how much they’d appreciate me doing this, but I think that the two of you deserve something. Day thinks it’s better if you all know. We wanted to wait until they said it themselves, though I realize now that might take a while, and we don’t necessarily have that kind of time… So, I’ll tell you, but please keep it between yourselves, okay? It’s not exactly something we need to be letting the whole town know about.”
He took a deep breath. “Luckily, the basis of it is something you’re already partly familiar with. You live in a place where the Commandments are important to you, and a time where you can see how it influences people. It’s Orestis’s gift to mortals; stories to teach and guide them, tales to show what happens if they worship or oppose Him. Though, like everything else… things have gotten lost through time, what was clear before now taking longer to understand. It states that anyone who believes in Orestis and His works must abide by all the rules and all the teachings in it. But even in the beginning, suggestions turned into the only way. Metaphors or comparisons that have lost their meanings in the modern world have become solid truth. This way, the Commandments aren’t just used to teach and guide. It’s used as a way to hurt on the basis of the misconceptions mortals created.
“Sometimes, these wrongdoings can be corrected by observation—though it’s not something everyone will be so quick to accept. Magic is thought to be your way of becoming closer to the gods—a gift from Orestis to His faithful followers. So, for centuries, a lot of mortals thought that losing it must mean the person had done something wrong; that they had upset Orestis or another god, that this was their punishment. Luckily most churches have stopped teaching it in the past couple of decades. After all, your queen lost her magic—the same queen that’s probably one of Orestis’s most zealous followers. Most couldn’t believe that such a woman could have done anything worth such punishment, and they’re right. Yet there’s still some who cling to stories that have been proven false…”
Aither cautiously looked around before continuing. “There are plenty of people who still believe it’s a punishment, especially some of the people around where you live. And this is where our story gets a lot more specific. A little less than twenty years ago, a child was born that soon showed signs of losing her magic. She was hardly a year old so there was nothing that she could’ve done to ‘deserve’ it. Her parents were involved in the church so it couldn’t have been anything about them, either. Yet they came from a town that held a strong belief that someone had done something to deserve it—and that wasn’t the only problem.
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“It wasn’t like when an average person loses their magic; that’s something done once and never again. Hers was a gradual loss, one that’s slow enough to still technically allow her to use magic even years later. The townspeople thought it was a bad omen, a sign that keeping her around would never bring anything good. So, her parents sent her away to stay with her uncle and his family. A family that, for a similar yet different reason, was already subject to a bit of suspicion from their neighbors. It’s… probably not too hard for you to guess what basis they held for accusing Olle’s parents of heresy, then.”
The siblings were both quiet for a little while, taking in all the things they’d learned.
“That’s awful,” Koyana finally mumbled. “They’d really gone through all of that..?”
Aither nodded solemnly. “I’ve seen it more times than I’d like to admit—the lengths people will go to for what they think the gods would want. But there’s nothing any of us can do about it. The gods’ time of walking alongside mortals has long passed.”
“Is that why you didn’t want to get the church involved?” Demery asked. His tone showed he was largely indifferent to the matter at hand; no matter what the cousins had gone through, he didn’t see why they couldn’t have made that clear earlier. “Because of what they might end up doing?”
“They faced a lot of hardships after the death of Olle’s parents,” Aither sighed. “And the church was, unfortunately, almost always involved. It almost never ended well. If I remember right, the people around here are just as bad as the ones around where they used to live. It’s best to avoid a confrontation completely.”
“Why does it have to matter..?” Koyana questioned in more of a mumble. “They’re still the same as us. Anyone willing to actually spend time with them would realize that.”
“People will do a lot of terrible things, if what they think they’re doing is right,” Aither said. “You’re going to all be seeing that soon, actually…”
Demery knew that he wasn’t going to get an answer, but he still tried. “Are you going to tell us who we’re going to be meeting with?”
“I’d rather wait until all four of you are ready,” was Aither’s not-so-surprising answer. “Just give it a few days and I’ll be able to tell you. Until then, you can wander around town if you’d like or return to the inn. I’m going to try to do my best to help Olle and Evelina, but you’ll know where to find me if you need me.”
“Can’t we help?” Koyana offered.
“You’ve already helped by getting that medicine. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much more you can do. Evelina’s more comfortable around people she’s really familiar with, especially when things get like this.”
…
Demery didn’t see Evelina at all for two days; he’d seen Olle once, and Aither checked up on the siblings every now and then. When they were all together, they ultimately decided they’d give it one more day before they headed out. That day passed and it seemed like they were all itching to go by the time Olle went to settle the bill with the innkeeper.
Koyana looked nervous for once, alternating between looking at the ground and up at Evelina. Eventually she said what was actually on her mind: “Aither told us about what happened to the two of you. What really happened.”
Though Evelina didn’t show it, it was still clear that the fact bothered her. “Well, what do you think? Do you want to be around the two that supposedly bring bad luck wherever they go?”
“I think those other guys are jerks,” Koyana declared with some newfound confidence. “You shouldn’t listen to anything they say. They’ll get what’s coming for them when they meet Vriuh.”
Evelina blushed, if not just for a moment, before Olle walked back out of the inn. She took the opportunity to change the subject. “I hope it didn’t end up being too much…”
“He was able to tell that we were having some problems,” he remarked. “He was nice enough to only make us pay for one of the rooms.”
“Now that we’re all together,” Aither announced, “it’s time I tell you what we’re doing next. You’re all going to learn about the truth of your connections to each other… and about your parents.” He paused and let out a sheepish chuckle. “There’s still something I need to take care of, but I can do that once we make camp for the night. It shouldn’t take me longer than a day—you can keep traveling while I’m gone, I’ll be able to find you. I’ll have something to show you as soon as I get back.”