TOBIAH

A few days later, we have stopped at the edge of some cabbage fields to catalog data and get readings. Ruin likes to use his magic sight—which is quite excellent—and I like to use my measuring tools that come from the university. Ruin tried using them, but it was quickly clear to me that they were too clunky for him. That surprised me—most human warlocks would bend over backwards to use elvish instruments, but… he is not like any warlock I know, let alone like any human I know.

This area looks like the readings are unusually strong and as I wander down the hill towards the forest, I wonder if I am misreading what I am seeing. I pause and turn to talk to Ruin, but he has stayed behind and that is where his guards are too. I watch him for a moment. The day is beautiful beyond compare—a perfect summer day with blue skies, the scent of green and flowers, damp earth that cushions one's steps, and not too hot and not too cold. Ruin is kneeling in the field, frowning as he feels the ground. I can feel him shooting magic down into it, obviously concentrated. I think about going back to him but decide against it. He looks busy and I need to do my own work.

Ordesh is somewhat weak in magic compared to what I am used to. Ruin mentioned that the Immortal Plains are currently around 92,000 particles per cubic foot. That's on the lower end, but it's the highest concentration they have. Outside of that magical place, readings are usually in the sixty thousands. Here, they are nearly eighty.

I contemplate the reason for this and head into the forest, not at all concerned for my safety. I can take care of myself.

My particle meter pings a few times and I can feel the spirits around me stir at my presence. They seem curious and even happy that I am here, but I ignore them. I learned long ago that no good comes from indulging that side of me. They want to be talked to, acknowledged, maybe even used, but I cannot bring myself to. Not anymore. I left that life behind me and would not really know what to do with them anymore.

I shake off the whispers and silently follow the trail before me. The human forests are much wilder and more beautiful than I anticipated. Elves sanitize everything, down to their forests. They keep them perfectly trim, and I had not realized how used to that I am until now. This human forest is perfectly ordinary. There are mushrooms, moss, and even poisonous plants. It is obvious no one has disrupted this exquisite homage to life in some time. The raw elegance of it makes me pause and I stop, looking around, something in me unraveling. The animals are not afraid of me, content in the trees and ground and suddenly my eyes are misting. I am overwhelmed. It reminds me of a time when—

"—Tobiah!"

I start and wipe my eyes, turning around quickly. Ruin is coming towards me with Shatterjaw and Greentree and he looks pissed.

"Oh," I posit, frowning. "What has happened?"

"Oh, my gods," Ruin rubs his face, stopping before me and glaring at me. "What's happened is that you wandered off and didn't take anyone with you."

I am sure that his glare scares his fellow men, but really… it is adorable and I try to seem contrite, but my smile betrays me, inasmuch as I fight it.

"Oh, Grand Maestro, I did not mean—"

"Oh, no, don't you dare!" He exclaims and pokes my chest, and it does funny things to my insides. "Don't you laugh at me! This area is full of dangerous things and don't give me that ‘only to humans' nonsense that you've been spewing! You haven't been here before. You don't know!"

I blush. He is right, of course.

"Right. Sorry. I was… following my tools."

I point west, in the direction I was headed. Ruin rolls his eyes.

"You don't need to tell me, Mr. Invincible," Ruin declares. "I can see it."

I blink at him.

"What?"

Ruin sighs and rubs his temples.

"You know warlocks have talents, correct?"

"Specialized magical abilities," I nod in affirmation. "I thought you were more… sensing things? I did not think you could literally see it."

"Well, I can," Ruin huffs. "I have Sight, so let's go, okay? Put away that thing. It's not helping."

I watch him for a moment, stunned.

"But…"

Ruin glances over at me.

"What?"

"That is… an astoundingly unique ability," I manage. "I have only known a few other people with it, and they were not… human."

He shrugs.

"I'm special. Let's move."

It takes me a moment to follow him, and I am even more intrigued now. What is he?

Ruin takes us through the wood, and I have a headache by the time we emerge on the other side. I did not expect there to be so many chatty spirits and apparently their voices are punishment. I am barely paying attention when Ruin stops walking, and I nearly run him down. I stop abruptly and look around, noticing a cave attached to what must be part of the mountain range in the area. He cocks his head.

"It's Dainamha," he says with a nod. "Strange to find an unmined deposit."

"‘Dainamha'?" I ask, my mind moving slowly. "I thought that was a type of human precious stone. I was not aware it had any magical properties."

Ruin makes a so-so motion with his hand.

"On a good day, it's like a magic booster. It's very rare and the crown owns every mine," he says and approaches the cave mouth, peering in curiously. "One of my jobs is to find uses for it, but honestly, it's best used in jewelry and weapons."

"Why have I never heard this? And why weapons?" I ask, baffled that the humans could keep such a thing secret. "Why are you not dominating the world with such a thing?"

Ruin smiles wryly.

"It is very volatile with a very short span of efficacy before it dies. It's been centuries and the best thing it does in the long term is make pretty necklaces. As for the weapons, the stones are a nice aesthetic."

He grins at me, and I stifle a groan of irritation. Humans are infuriating.

"Oh," I clear my throat and look into the cave. Incandescent midnight blue rocks that radiate magic wink back at me. "So, you mine them and then…?"

"Three days later, it's dead and basically a paperweight," Ruin says with a sigh. "Don't get any closer. It's not safe."

He turns away and looks to his captain who has said maybe ten words to me since I have met her. They seem to have a good rapport though.

"We'll send a hawk at the next town with the coordinates. Riverton, Kingston, you'll stay here until the king's miners show up."

Riverton and Kingston are two of Ruin's guards—the quiet ones that stay back and hardly say anything to him. They exchange a look between each other and then look at me before looking resigned and nodding. Shatterjaw looks ready to throw a fit of some sort, but Ruin holds up his hand and shakes his head .

"I know, I know," he says to her. "But imagine if we return and we didn't guard the mine."

Shatterjaw huffs and relaxes before nodding.

"As you say, Your Grace."

Ruin glances at me.

"Ready to get going?"

"Yes," I say and try not to nod—my head hurts too much and is much too full of new information to do that.

By the time we get back to the carriage, my headache is more like a headstab. Those spirits were so wild and most of them just wanted to play, but I could not indulge them and even if I did, it would become painfully obvious that I am not who I say I am.

Ruin speaks to Shatterjaw about something as I try to enter the carriage and trip horribly. Usually, I would catch myself, but now, I just faceplant like some pathetic mortal. Before I can gather myself, Ruin is helping me up, frowning in concern.

"What's wrong?" He asks and looks me over. "Fuck, you're pale. Are you sick?"

"Just a headache," I manage, hot with embarrassment.

Ruin nods.

"Dainamha can do that if you're not used to it," he offers with a frown and helps me inside. "I don't have healing magic, but I have some herbs."

I shrug. I will take anything at this moment.

Ruin straightens things out with the guards and offers me white powder in a cup of water. I drink it and fall asleep a few minutes later.

???

When I wake, we have stopped and my headache is gone entirely. The bench is unusually comfortable and I do not open my eyes just yet. Instead, I enjoy the soft, warm pillow.

Wait, soft? Warm? I open my eyes and realize, to my utter embarrassment, that I am cuddling Ruin's thighs like a love-sick lover. My cheeks heat up immensely and I sit up quickly, horrified. Ruin looks concerned as he gazes at me, his green eyes guileless.

"Hey, you okay? We just stopped at an inn," he assures me. "We'll have real beds tonight."

"Ah," I try to shake off the awkwardness of my cuddle. "Where are we?"

"Havengate. It's one of the biggest trading towns in Ordesh."

I poke my head out the window and look at the scene before us. Ruin is putting us up at The Golden Tail, an inn with smooth lines, gentle coloring, and excellent service. He explains that Havengate resides on the Ruthkarian River, a body of water stretching from Ordesh's eastern coast to its western. He says the river is beautiful in its own way—somehow crystal clear despite the industry of human towns. I find that curious, along with the thriving hub of the town itself. I am hardly used to so many people packed in one place. Humans are shorter lived, but their population is much higher than elves or fae as us immortals—or immortal adjacent—can only conceive every hundred years or so and twin births are rare.

I find it somewhat unsettling, to be honest, all these auras packed in a forest of masonry and carpentry with nowhere to expand but up. After my headache, I want some alone time and tell them as such. So instead of having dinner in the communal dining room, I lock myself in my room with a plate of vegetables and fruit and pull out my findings. The room that is given to me is extravagant for a human. It has a large bed with silk sheets and a navy wool blanket. There is a desk by the windows that looks down and out into the city and I rather dislike being on the third floor. A table sits in front of the blue couch with chairs on either side. I start up the fire in the fireplace and decide to change into my robe.

In true snobbery, I can only tolerate silken clothes. It is nothing against textures but my skin, like most of my people's, is too sensitive for something as coarse as cotton or wool. I slip off my dirty clothes and glance into the bathroom to see a large tub with various soaps lining the wall. I doubt it is anything particularly excellent, but you never know.

Despite the largeness of the room and the obvious display of wealth, it is nothing compared to the wealth of my people. It is entirely different when you are thousands of years old.

I settle on the couch and eat, thankful to be alone at last as I read. I absently use magic to pour myself a glass of wine before settling back and focusing.

The most curious part of my findings is definitely the Dainamha. I do not know how many mines there are or why the stone behaves the way that it does, but I do know that it could be a solution to our problem. I have been watching the magical disaster unfold for years and it is worse than I am letting on. I do not distrust Ruin, but I do distrust his guards and their possible reporting back to His Resplendence. I do not know what these humans are like and I have been in court long enough to know to be cautious. I need to know more about the Dainamha, but I do not know that Ruin will be forthcoming. I loathe to manipulate him and hate going that route anyway. Is there some way to prove my trustworthiness? Maybe raw honesty would do it, but I would rather have my teeth pulled out by a rusty plier, one by one. I have always played things close to the chest and I hope beyond hope that I am doing the right thing. I miss having someone to talk to about all my plans, the kind that build beautifully on each other, but I gave that up when I gave up my life.

I exhale and shift, looking at my notes again. Maybe—

Someone knocks on the door, and it startles me. My glass nearly goes flying and I barely manage to hold onto it. I allow myself a scowl and huff, looking at the clock. It is nearly ten at night and I still have not made any progress besides asking more questions and getting no answers.

"Tobiah?" Ruin calls and my annoyance falters as I get up. I suppose I do not mind being disturbed by him. "Hey. You okay?"

I bite back a scowl and stand, heading to the door. I open it a little more forcefully than is necessary and look down at him. He blinks and looks up at me, swallowing and his pale cheeks flushing. I am confused and then realize that my robe is displaying my chest. Ah, well. Humans and their modesty.

"Can I help you, Ruin?" I ask politely, amused.

"Uh," he shifts, glancing into my room. "I… wanted to see how you were after today."

I step aside.

"Please, come in," I say with a smile and he enters. That is when I realize he has a bottle of wine and two glasses.

He looks around with the cautiousness of a cat and I close the door.

"Nice place," he says after a moment and then heads over to the couch, eyeing my empty plate, wineglass, and stacks of notes. "Still working?"

"When am I not?" I ask wryly and sit down. "Do you… need something?"

Ruin reads a note, realizes it is not in Trade so he puts it down, and then glances up.

"I thought you might want some company. Since, you know, you weren't at dinner and I wanted to check on your headache," he says pointedly and makes himself at home in one of the chairs.

I frown and wonder if I have offended some human tradition.

"Oh. I am sorry," I offer. "I did not know dinner was required."

His brow furrows as he sets down the glasses.

"I guess… it's technically not," he says after a pause. "It was just… uh… weird."

"Weird?" I repeat, baffled.

Ruin scratches his head.

"Well, usually, when we stop in towns or cities, lords want to be shown around and try the best food, maybe go to a brothel or two and get so drunk they pass out in their rooms. I thought maybe you're really sick, but… you're up here… researching," he pours the wine, passing me a cup. "I'm just making sure you aren't worse or something."

I am touched by his obvious concern, but I cannot get sidetracked by sentiment.

"Believe me when I say, Ruin, that there are no lords like me," I say with a snort and sip my wine. "I prefer the forest to this nonsense, I hate meeting other lords, and I really do not have to go to a brothel to… satiate myself."

There is a pause and Ruin's blush deepens.

"O-oh," he stammers and drinks a little too much wine. "How… uh… are you liking Havengate?"

"It is dreadful," I say with a sigh and he chokes and coughs.

"What?" He manages, eyes wide and guileless. It is… rather adorable.

I smile softly.

"I am not used to so many people. I was all right in the capital because we were removed from the general population, but this… grates on me."

Ruin is puzzled at that and cocks his head.

"What do you mean? Is it your head?"

Again with the headache. My initial instinct is to protect elvish secrets. They do not feel like mine to give away. But I trust Ruin so I answer both questions honestly.

"I assure you, my head is fine. I just needed to lay down," I sip my wine. "And elvish cities are not so populated. An elvish couple can only have one child every hundred years, if they are lucky. To have so many people so close together is… disturbing."

I shudder at the thought and drink wine to steady myself.

Ruin's eyes widen.

"Really?" He gasps and I nod.

"Really. "

He sits back, looking befuddled.

"And here I thought we should be worried about elves coming over and conquering us all," his grin is facetious, but I do not laugh. He falters.

"That is a very real worry, Ruin," I say with a sigh. "Just as the fae are a worry. More so than the elves."

He frowns at that.

"The fae don't bother anyone. They just stay on their stupid island throwing their stupid parties with their stupid nobles and their stupid traditions."

I snort.

"If only," I say darkly, not at all drunk enough for this conversation and this human wine will not help in that department.

Ruin whitens and drinks more wine.

"You're serious?" He asks, cocking his head.

"It is not something you need to worry about," I say with a careless shrug. "Come, let us discuss something else."

He watches me for a moment and then nods.

"Okay. I've got a question I've been dying to ask you."

I raise an eyebrow.

"And what might that be?"

"How old are you?" He scratches his head. "I can't guess it, I think. You look… middle-aged."

This is a topic I do not like but it is safer than anything regarding the fae.

"Old enough that it does not matter," I respond with a sigh and sip my wine as I watch the fire dance.

"That… what doesn't matter?" Ruin asks carefully, almost as if he knows he is on shaky ground.

"Time…" I sigh softly. "… every day is the same and I do not count anymore. It is just depressing."

I finish my wine in one swing and, to my disappointment, but not surprise, it does not burn or make me dizzy.

"Wow," Ruin says after a moment. "That sucks. "

I jolt and look at him, startled.

"What?"

He smiles softly.

"I don't ever want to get old enough that time doesn't matter anymore—that life loses all its wonder. That's dreadful."

I just blink at him, humbled that he could say something so… profound and so pointed. He is 29. No one that old should be saying those things.

I set down my glass.

"You have a good point, Ruin," I say with a cautious smile. "Perhaps I am just jaded."

He snorts and stands, going over to the fireplace and leaning on the mantle.

"You? Reserved, grumpy, ‘I'm all business' you?" His eyes sparkle with amusement. "Never."

I huff.

"Humans," I grumble. "You all think you are so clever."

"Oh, no, none of that," Ruin shakes his head. "I know I am clever. Just like I know I'm the most impressive recorded warlock in history."

"Fair," I say, cocking my head. "I am not all business all the time. I just…"

"… don't know how to relax?" Ruin raises an eyebrow and swirls his wine.

"Yes, that."

I look him over and I could swear he is trembling. His cheeks are just a little too flushed too. All humor drains from me. Has he really gotten drunk already?

"Ruin," I stand up slowly. "Are you well?"

"Me?" He cocks his head. "Yes. We're talking about you."

"Ruin—" I start and then inhale sharply as he collapses, his glass shattering loudly as I catch him. He is burning like a great fire in my arms, and I pick him up and hurry towards the bed.

"Ruin?" I lay him down, touching his cheeks. "Shit. "

I do not know much about fevers or other human ailments. My kind rarely becomes sick like this and… he is mumbling something now, over and over. I am urged to listen, and his words cut into me like a knife. I stumble back, pale and shaky, utterly unsure of what to do.

Shatterjaw forces her way into the room.

"I heard—Maestro!" She gasps and hurries over to Ruin, cursing to herself. I bump into the couch, head whirling.

"What the fuck happened?" She hisses, turning on me. "Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"

Because I have.

I find my words quickly.

"We were speaking and then he collapsed. I am sorry, I do not know much about human illnesses," I stumble over my words, my mouth dry. "He… is speaking in… another language."

Drakkonic. But she cannot know that I know that. No one can. That information is so volatile that it could get us all killed.

"Another…?" She shifts and listens to him. "Oh. Balls."

"What?" I say and grip the couch so hard that it cracks.

Shatterjaw opens her mouth and then Pennbrooke enters.

"Sir?" He asks, cocking his head, his hazel eyes assessing.

"Get a healer. And hurry," she says urgently. The guard leaves in a rush and Shatterjaw turns back towards me.

"He'll be okay," she assures me. "One of his Talents is… uh… precognition. He just passes out like this sometimes, when he's having a vision."

It takes a very, very long moment for that to sink in. This young, skinny, wisp of a human is a fucking seer? And he spoke fucking Drakkonic.

"Excuse me," I say politely and stand up with as much dignity as I can muster. Shatterjaw watches me as I head into the bathroom, close the door, and then vomit my guts out into the elegant toilet.

It is going to be a long night.