The Witch of Storn

Chapter 19

  Rey was interrupted in the midst of her musings by a banging somewhere in the house. It was followed swiftly by muffled words and some more banging.

Zaria must be back already, she thought, proving to be right some minutes later when a knock sounded on the door.

“Girl? Are you awake?”

“Yes, you can come in…”

Rey trailed off as the door opened while she was speaking. Zaria entered, her arms full with a large basket. She set it down with an exasperated huff and rubbed her hands together, wrinkling her nose at the dust that fell from them. When she was finished with dusting off her hands she looked at Rey for the first time since she had stepped into the room.

“Heavens, girl! Why are you just sitting in the darkness like that?”

She took a step closer.

“Do you have night vision?” Zaria’s eyes narrowed as she squinted at the girl.

“No? Is that even possible?” Rey replied with some confusion. The older woman snorted, coming closer until she stood next to the bed, on the side closer to the window.

“Why didn’t you put on the lamps then?”

Rey’s brow wrinkled even more. “What lamps? I didn’t see any—“

Her words were cut off by the sudden existence of bright white light. She gazed up at the source on the ceiling in surprise, regretting it almost immediately when it ended up being too bright. While she closed her eyes tight and waited for her vision to adjust to the new conditions she heard a tsk and some footsteps. Then there were dull noises, all sounding like things being put down. She finally opened her eyes again, watching as Zaria took out the contents of the package and put them on the edge of the bed, where Rey’s feet didn’t reach. She worked in silence for a while as Rey looked on. When the basket was finally empty Rey asked the question she had been dying to ask for a while.

“How did you turn the lights on? I didn’t see any switches—knobs,” she added quickly when Zaria gave her a strange look. Her hostess shook her head and placed the now empty basket in an unoccupied nook. She turned her attention to the package-laden bed, answering the question as she sorted the bundles.

“You speak strangely, girl—“

“It’s Rhaenar.”

Rey shrunk back in her seat when Zaria cast a glare her way. She apologized quickly but Zaria waved it away.

“It’s fine, but don’t interrupt me again. Now, where was I? Ah, yes. You talk strange even for a Revonan. Or are you not one?”

Rey drew a blank for a moment, wondering what she meant. It came to her soon after that Rhaenar’s home country was called New Revonen, and its citizens were called Revonans. She nodded quickly but it did nothing to dispel Zaria’s look of suspicion.

“Hmm. I thought so, what with the hair and the clothes. You’re highborn, aren’t you?”

Rey nodded again, deciding there was no point in lying. She didn’t have anyone else right now, and she hoped she wouldn’t regret placing her trust in this grumpy old woman.

“To answer your question all I did was feed some aether into that rune over there” — she gestured at a glowing symbol on the wall, near where she had been standing before the lights went on, and it was so obvious that if Rey had been looking for it she would have found it instantly— “and the aetherglass does all the rest. Do you understand it now?”

A blank stare told Zaria all she needed to know. She sighed and waved a hand in the air.

“Never mind the lamps, just know that they’re there when you need them…of course, that only applies if you know how to use aether…you do know how, I assume?” she squinted at Rey as if daring her to say no.

Rey cast her mind back. Rhaenar had been a student at Cardinalis, a school for mages, or thaumaturges, as the highborn liked to say, so she knew a bit of magic.

It was just that—

“Err…if you’re asking whether I can use mana, I can. I have no idea how to use aether though…”

Zaria sighed, like she was weary of the world. Rey on the other hand didn’t know whether to be offended or meek. What exactly did Zaria want? Better still, who was she? Rey noted that as a mission: find out everything you can about your hostess.

“Mana is the same as aether, although aether is not mana. You should be able to use the lamps, but for now just call out whenever you need it on. I’ll turn it on for you.”

Rey nodded. She was glad she didn’t have to be the one turning on the lamps because she had absolutely no idea how to use magic or even do something seemingly as basic as feeding mana into a rune. This was another mission for her: consolidate all she knew and all Rhaenar knew. It was also important that she learnt how to use magic, even if she couldn’t remember Rhaenar being very good at it.

Zaria had gone back to her sorting after answering Rey’s question, and Rey was content to just watch for the moment. It was oddly soothing, watching the woman open packages, seeing what tumbled out of said packages, and following the woman with her eyes as she travelled back and forth between the shelves and the bed. Finally everything was sorted out and put in its proper place. Zaria cleared away the wrappings on the bed and tossed them in the basket. She turned to Rey after she looked around the room, seemingly satisfied with everything as she wanted it.

“So, Rhaenar, is it?”

Rey nodded once more.

“Would you like something to eat? You’ve been unconscious for a few days now, and I haven’t fed you anything but water and medicine all this while.”

With a start Rey realized that she was indeed hungry. She had been blaming her injuries for the pain in her stomach, but it had turned out to be hunger.

“Yes please,” she said so fervently that Zaria cracked a genuine smile for the first time since Rey had met her.

“Well then, I’ll go down and prepare it. Is it alright if I eat in here with you? I would like to talk as we eat.”

Rey saw no problem with that and she said so. It was in line with her plans anyway. She had a lot of questions she wanted to ask her hostess. Zaria left the room immediately she got Rey’s approval and Rey was left to her own devices for the moment.

She had a lot of questions for Zaria. The first on the list was where exactly they were at the moment. She had zero knowledge of this world’s geography but it would be nice to at least have the knowledge so if she needed to leave she’d know how to go about it.

There were others too, hovering around her brain, but she decided to leave them for the moment in favour of properly examining the room that was hers for the time being. She had already noted that it was well kept but didn’t look to be used regularly, and another thing she noticed was that it must have been on a higher level than the rest of the house. As the door shut behind Zaria earlier Rey had caught a glimpse of a wooden staircase descending from a landing just outside the door of her room. So the room was sort of an attic. Rey filed the information away and moved on to the rest of the room.

It was a little cluttered which wasn’t a big surprise judging by how her hostess seemed to be using it to store whatever she wanted. Rey wondered if it wasn’t a hassle though, for the older woman to go up and down the stairs every time she needed something. She shrugged, it wasn’t any of her business, plus Zaria seemed used to it. The bed in which she lay was at the center of the room with furniture and other objects arranged around it. Opposite the bed was a wall filled with shelves from top to bottom, and on the wall adjacent to it, on the right, was the door. It was a simple wooden door, made up of boards nailed together and there was a knob at the edge of it. Rey noticed a strange symbol etched into the knob. It looked like a cross with a snakelike curve connecting the top and bottom of the cross. Is that one of those runes she was talking about? Interesting. I wonder what this one is supposed to do. She guessed it was a rune that locked the door, but having no way to test out her hypothesis Rey put the thought away with a mental note to ask Zaria about it later.

Her eyes went to the wall again, moving past the door and onto the large wardrobe. It was almost as tall as the room, with only a little space in between the ceiling and the roof of the wardrobe. It was plain too, like the door, but it was painted white and seemed to be made of better wood than the door. As she observed the majestic object her eats picked up distant footsteps on the staircase. She turned her eyes to the door and waited as Zaria knocked once and let herself in immediately after.

“I forgot to ask, do you like your spice pies sour or sweet?”

Rey stared at the woman who now wore a scarf over her hair, keeping it tied back. Spice pies? What? She thought hard, but had to finally admit defeat when nothing came up from Rhaenar’s memories.

“I…have no idea what you are talking about,” Rey said finally.

Zaria stared at her for a moment and then she shook her head.

She said, “You Revonans have no taste.”

“Hey!” the protest was feeble. Rey chastised herself for not having any patriotic spirit but in truth she couldn’t be bothered. Her stomach had been grumbling while Zaria was downstairs and it did so again, causing Zaria to halt in her speech. She gave Rey an amused glance. Rey turned her eyes to the window, feeling her cheeks heat up.

“Never mind then. But which do you prefer, sweet or sour?”

“Sweet please,” Rey said, still with her gaze on the window. Zaria nodded and left the room again, closing the door softly behind her. Even after the footsteps had faded away her eyes remained glued to the window. It was certainly a nice one, wide and painted white. It had a seat attached to it on which a few potted plants sat, their branches directing Rey’s eyes into the brilliant night sky. Even with the lights that chased all darkness away the moon was still radiating a brilliant bluish light.

Well, Rey smirked, I guess I can’t use ‘once in a blue moon’ as an expression ever again. She wanted to get onto the window to see it properly, but a slight shift and the resulting ache reminded her that she wasn’t ready for anything besides rolling over and bringing food to her mouth. Speaking of food, where was Zaria?

The question was answered shortly after by the welcome sound of footsteps ascending the staircase. The door opened slowly. Soon after a tray laden with bowls followed, held up by a familiar hand, and then Zaria’s whole body appeared. She balanced the trays on her palms delicately, turning to the side a little to kick the door shut. Then she faced the room again, approaching the bed and setting the trays down gently. She wiped her hands on the skirt of her dress (even though Rey couldn’t spot any dirt or water on them) and pushed the round tray towards Rey. Rey pulled the tray towards herself, hiding a wince as she stretched past her body’s current limits. When Rey was settled with the tray on her thighs Zaria picked up the other tray, a square one this time, and got onto the bed, sitting just shy of Rey’s feet.

“Let’s eat.”

“Thank you for sustaining me,” said Rey. She had meant to say a simple thank you but the Revonan way of speaking had escaped from her lips instead. She guessed it was her new body taking over, automatically carrying out the actions it had been long programmed to do. It wasn’t a big issue right now, but Rey hoped as she got acclimatized to her new life she would have more control. All hopes of hiding her identity had vanished because her mouth had spoken for her. Only the highborn said thank you so extravagantly. The lowborn or commoners mostly just said ‘thank you for the food’, Rey recalled from Rhaenar’s – now hers – memories. She looked anxiously at Zaria, who only snorted, preoccupied with uncovering the dishes in her lap.

“Girl, it was obvious from the moment I laid eyes on you that you were a noble. No worries, I have no intention of selling you.”

Rey had nothing to say in response. Even if Zaria didn’t have the kindest of intentions she couldn’t do anything to defend herself. Even her life depended on the woman.

When there was no response Zaria looked up.

“You don’t believe me? Well I guess it can’t be helped. It is not the best idea to trust a stranger, even if they saved your life, so I am glad to see that you have some sense at least.”

“Hey!”

“You can rest assured; I am not in need of money at this point in time. But in a few months, who knows?”

Rey rolled her eyes at the smirking woman.

“Then I’ll be sure to leave as soon as I can.”

“Yes, yes, whatever you say.” Zaria waved her words away like she was swatting a fly buzzing around her head. “Are you not hungry?”

Rey pulled off the lids on the plates in reply. At that point Zaria had already begun her own meal, holding half a loaf of bread in one hand. With the other she tore off small chunks of bread and then dipped them in a bowl of some maroon-coloured sauce. Rey looked down at her tray; there was some bread on a plate accompanied by her own bowl of sauce right next to it, a bunch of mini-pastries on another plate, and finally a bowl of—

“Err, Zaria?”

The woman who was being addressed hummed, still focused on her food.

“What is this?” Rey waved her hand over the bowl in question. Zaria stopped eating, giving Rey a look.

“It’s yoghurt? I was under the impression that it was common in Revonen?”

“New Revonen,” Rey said. Then she slapped a hand over her mouth in despair. Why couldn’t she control her mouth? Fortunately Zaria just rolled her eyes and went back to her meal. Rey quickly followed suit, picking up the spoon that was in between a tablespoon and a teaspoon in size. She dipped it into the bowl of yoghurt and brought it to her mouth tentatively.

Her eyes widened in glee – it really was yoghurt! She had assumed every single thing in this new world would be different, but it was comforting to see that some things stayed the same. She took a few more spoons of the yoghurt before putting the spoon down. It was better to save it for last in case she didn’t like any of the other dishes.

She picked up one of the pastries and bit into it. It was filled with some kind of spicy filling, but there was a hint of honey somewhere in it. So these are the spice pies…

Rey tasted the bread next, dipping a little piece of it into the creamy sauce and licking the sauce off the bread. It was also sweet, but she had no other way to describe it, as it wasn’t similar to any fruits or foods she had tasted back on Earth. Now that she had gone through all the dishes, Rey chose the yoghurt as her favourite, unsurprisingly. The bread and sauce combination came a close second with the spice pies being last.

She ate with much gusto, and after taking the final spoon of yoghurt she stacked the empty crockery together with a word of thanks to Zaria, who was already done with her own meal. Her hostess nodded and took the tray off her, placing it on the floor behind the bed where Rey assumed the other tray sat.

Zaria straightened up and faced Rey.

“We have eaten, and now it is time to talk.”