They already had plans to meet with each other; any trip they had all made to the border didn’t give them time to speak of more internal matters. The subject matter simply shifted from arguing about their regions to a discussion of the events that happened a few months ago.
He’d walked out to the carriage with the boys, but mainly to talk to the person who’d be looking after them.
“Thank you for being able to make the trip here on such short notice,” Imre said with a sigh. He stayed quiet even if he doubted Natheniel and Tavin could hear him. “Zofie isn’t feeling well so we couldn’t bring them to Qizar until this is over…”
Iris smiled. “You won’t have to worry about anything.”
“I’ll let you know when we’re done. I don’t want them to cause you any trouble.”
“It’s really not a problem. I understand that this is important. If you feel like you need to make it up to me, then have Samone greet us when we come back.”
Slowly, Imre nodded. “Alright.”
Iris took that as her sign to leave. She mumbled something to the driver before stepping into the carriage herself and riding off.
Imre chose not to focus on all the other thoughts running through his head and walking back to the castle. There was another exhausting mess he had to deal with before anything productive could be done.
He heard them all before he even got to the dining room.
“Can someone explain to me why the tynmir’s here? He’s certainly not going to be able to do anything.”
“Perhaps he’s here for entertainment. I let a traveling circus through once. They were quite fun to watch.”
“You would only say that until they burned the town with their magic. They’re dangerous. I don’t want to be near this one.”
“I doubt he’s going to do anything…”
“It might not look like it, but he’ll do it! He’ll kill us all in a moment and we wouldn’t even know it!”
“Don’t you think he would’ve done something by now if he really wanted to kill you?”
“I don’t want to—seriously, I don’t even know that kind of magic.”
“Right, like we’re going to believe a tynmir!”
“I have a name…”
Imre pushed open the door and held back whatever initial response he had. “Zulana, Tanavir, Abassi, please leave my husband alone. Enuolare, Samone, your help is appreciated but I don’t think it’s going to do much at this point.” He paused and looked around. “Do I want to know where Kiah went?”
“She was gone by the time I came,” Raisul remarked. “She’s probably getting drunk. She can’t handle any harsh topic without downing a pint first.”
Samone glared at him before explaining, “She said she was going to go get the reports of what happened. She’ll be back soon.”
Imre went on to address everyone as he walked over to his seat. “We’ll talk about the usual issues later, but there’s something else we need to get out of the way.” He took a deep breath and prepared himself for whatever was going to come next. “What happened to the Stones.”
“Skiá,” Onesa said bluntly, “that’s what happened to them.”
“An avoidable fate,” Tanavir muttered, shaking his head. “You know, if you listened to what I do, the whole kingdom could be better off. I say we take this as a lesson learned and adopt my ways of protecting against the Skiá.”
“Levi Asari alone is a city full of social people,” Samone pointed out. “I don’t think they’d take well to having to stay inside at nearly all times… or have their lands monitored like there were rebels there in the time before the Saint-King.”
Imre had little hope of proving anything to them until the last person in their meeting arrived. “Kiah, they could use some help understanding why we think it wasn’t just Skiá.”
She nodded, wandered over to her spot and sat down, then spread the collection of papers she had across the table. “It wasn’t really as general as it first appeared to be. We were able to talk with some of the servants who saw what happened. They specifically mentioned that the Skiá went for the well-known ones, attacked whoever looked like them and the ones who tried to help, but paid little to no attention to most of the servants or the adopted children. In every other case of Skiá attacks, there’s no pattern to who they went for. It’s worth looking into the fact that this wasn’t just a coincidence.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Zulana shrugged. “Perhaps it was the dreamer. That feather necklace alone can’t be enough to control his powers. Or, better, the dreamer in the estate.”
Dimas shook his head. “The Skiá Tavin encountered that night was probably because of Natheniel, but the rest couldn’t have been. Even if he’d taken off his feather necklace earlier, it was still close enough that he wouldn’t be able to do that kind of damage.” They’d known that Natheniel had taken off the necklace though never quite understanding the reason why; Dimas had checked on him after dinner and found the necklace nearby. Natheniel had gone back to wearing it the next day and there had yet to be a good time to ask about it.
“If Muriel’s powers are anything like Enebish’s, it isn’t strong enough to cause that kind of damage,” Enuolare said softly. “The most Enebish can do is attract Myaló when they’re in a bad mood or not feeling well. Usually all the Myaló leave when they get better.”
“Two years isn’t really enough time to tell, but Elena didn’t notice any Skiá-attracting qualities in Muriel,” Imre mumbled. “She can counteract magic like the Skiá can but that seems to be the full extent of it.”
“Thirteen years ago, you wouldn’t have brushed aside the possibility so quickly,” Mason remarked. “I’ve had my fair share of traveling before I took up this position. I learned the hard way that we mustn’t let emotional bonds get the better of us.”
“Yes, and also thirteen years ago, we knew nothing about dreamers,” Imre sighed. “We know a lot more about them now than we did then.”
“Though I still wouldn’t say we have a good understanding of it,” Abassi said. “I agree with Zulana, it must have been one of the dreamers. We don’t know everything that they’re capable of—we can’t even be sure that what they seem to be able to do is the only thing they do. Who’s to say Muriel didn’t get upset one day, sparing those who treat her well or might understand her plight better?”
“She never would’ve done that to Elena. The Stones gave her a home when she didn’t know who she was. I don’t think she ever could’ve mustered the emotions required to kill them.” At least, Imre would like to imagine she wouldn’t do it. She’d always seemed so content with the Stones, in the few times he saw her with them.
Raisul glanced at Kiah. “Perhaps there was something there that we’ll be able to brainstorm and come up with a culprit based off of?”
“Are you asking if there was writing on the wall in blood?” Kiah dipped into a much more cynical tone as she continued, “Oh, I don’t know, the bodies could’ve spelled something, if it wasn’t nearly impossible to tell that they were bodies.”
“You mentioned talking to the servants, but what about the adopted kids?” Zulana offered. “They could’ve seen something that may have given away who did it.”
Samone shook her head. “It’s hard enough to talk to any of them about it without sending them into a panic. Some of the kids would have had a better view of the beginning than the servants, but… we can’t question them in good conscience. Already some of them are resorting to other ways of dealing with the trauma…”
“What about the magicless relnar?” When Tanavir realized that wasn’t going to give him a response, he retried, “What about Lustris?”
“She left as soon as she realized what was happening,” Kiah said. “There may have been a Skiá following her, but when I talked to her, she wasn’t sure. Her goal was getting to the stronghold and telling us what was going on. There wasn’t time to pay attention to her surroundings.”
Mason then mentioned the name they all considered but only he was brave enough to mention. “And Tavin? He has the spirits of three of them. They may be able to shed some light on what happened.”
“I haven’t talked to him at all about it,” Imre admitted in a mumble. “It’s only been a couple of months since he got them and there’s still so much he needs to figure out. The last thing I want is for him to feel like we’re just using him…”
Enuolare took the moment to realize something. “Where are the princes now? They do know about this, don’t they?”
“They’re staying with Iris Shameer until we’re done,” Dimas explained on behalf of Imre. “This isn’t something they need to get involved in yet. In regards to both throwing around slurs and trying to find out who killed the Stones.”
Kiah changed the subject from there so they didn’t need to worry about that conversation. “We’ve been looking over the whole thing since the Lantern Festival. We’re still not sure how, but it’s possible that it was someone who only specifically mentioned the ones they knew. There’s also a chance that it was someone just wanting to get rid of the Stone bloodline, but it leaves a lot left unanswered; Tavin, even if he wasn’t there, would be dead, and Adrian and Naviya wouldn’t have been targeted and killed.”
“The Stones had countless ancient curses tied to them,” Raisul pointed out. “Couldn’t this all be as simple as one of them activated, unleashed all those Skiá, and killed them? The ones who weren’t directly involved in the Stones’ actions were spared.”
“Says the person with enough magical artifacts that could’ve done something like this and a good reason to want them dead,” Samone muttered. “One of them was going to replace you.”
Raisul was disgusted at the wrong thought. “As if I would touch those ‘artifacts!’ They’re carriers of curses, is what they are. I’m only keeping them to help keep the stupid of us from doing something dangerous with them. Were it up to me, I’d burn them all!” He paused. “Wait, without the Stones there to argue, I could burn them all…”
“You are not touching anything the Stones acquired,” Imre commanded quickly. He didn’t want the thought to dwell in Raisul’s mind for long.
“Of course, Your Majesty…”
Imre took a deep breath and reminded himself that there were better things to do than argue. “Does anyone else have any ideas?”
A collective silence proved nothing more was able to get done.
“Most of you have been traveling for a while,” he said. “I appreciate the time you’ve set aside to come here. We’ll all take some time to rest and come back here tomorrow. There’s still much more we need to discuss…”
There was a time where he was disappointed when they spent so much time debating but never actually gaining any new information. He’d learned to accept it, after a while, and simply be grateful that things weren’t worse…