Beautiful and Broken

5.

The next day he still wasn't in much shape to walk, but we were out of food, so I needed to do some hunting. I could have done it with a snare, but I couldn't help putting on a show. I've touched the ground, closing my eyes to be able to focus better on the small movements underneath. First there was only some grass growing, an apple seed from yesterday starting to germinate, a cricket stirring in its sleep. 

Then I've felt the heartbeat of something bigger. Another groundhog? No, a rabbit this time, hiding in its burrow not so far away. I've reached for it carefully through the soil, and stopped its heart with one swift wave of magic. Now I only needed to get it above ground. I've walked to its exact location, then touched the ground again, this time teaching the grains of earth above the rabbit's hole to be weightless, making enough of the soil levitate to expose the burrow, so I could simply reach down and grab my dinner.

"Your magic is different than anything I've seen before", he reached out with a peace offering nearing flattery. I decided to gracefully accept.

"Which part is different? It's all just magic to me."

"You are a Summoner and a Corporalki in one, and I'm quite sure you can be a Materialki as well."

"Um, are those your categories of Grisha? The ones who summon wind or others who heal or so on?", I asked. I knew they had them, but I failed to memorise which group did what exactly.

"Exactly. You seem to be all at once. Are your people all like that?"

"Our mages, yeah. We also have a population which doesn't use magic."

"And do they fear mages? Hunt you? Kill you?"

"Now that would be rude, wouldn't it. Besides, they get some good use out of us when there's a flood or a fire or a dry spell and their crops wither. We also fight for them in wars, though the last one was a long time ago. So it's to their advantage to be good neighbours."

"Your land is lucky. In Ravka, the hunt for Grisha stopped only a few generations ago. But I suppose they've told you that much about us before you came here."

"They did, though our knowledge of Ravka is rather obsolete, as relations between our countries are lacking. For one you've told me you're a general, and I don't know much about your army."

"Not a general. The general. Commander of the Second Army, the one composed of Grisha, only answering to the King of Ravka, at you service. But enough about me. Tell me about your magic."

"Right now? It only took me some hundred years to get a grasp. But the main thing is, magic is everywhere, in every living or unliving part of the world. You just need to reach out to it and it'll answer."

"What about merzost? The forbidden magic? To create something out of nothing?"

"Forbidden? We don't know of any forbidden magic. Of course, creating is the hardest, because you don't create out of nothing. You always give some of yourself in return."

"Intriguing. I would like to know more. What will you do now? Go back into the Fold and continue your research?"

"I've learned pretty much all there is to learn inside. But I could use some background." Maybe you could help me with that, I thought. Not that I could ask for it directly.

"Maybe I could help you with that."

Did I just meet the first mage in history capable of mind reading, I mused silently.

"So how did you do it? I mean, the Fold. You created it, didn't you?"

"It wasn't planned. I was angry. It... it was more like some external force using me to create it."

"A surge of power, uncontrolled?"

"Looks like you scholars have a better way to put it."

"And can you control it?"

There it was again, the change in his eyes and that gesture of raising his chin just slightly, as he did all the time I said or asked something uncomfortable.

"Do you think I would have these scars if I could?", he spat out. His effort to continue in a calmer matter was visible. "Are you looking for a way to control it?"

"It's part of my assignment to find out if it can be removed. But only to find out. The decision to change anything about it is not made by me."

"Your organisational structure eludes me. But I think we have a common goal, Altair, and we might get closer to it if you care to join me. Though I can't offer you a pleasant tour of Ravka, as currently we're in the middle of a civil war, and it looks like I've just become the traitor in hiding."

I wasn't sure of the diplomatic implications of aiding a party considered the traitor in a civil war of a foreign land. Also the Council didn't advise me on how much of Atlantis' knowledge of magic I was allowed to share with such an individual. Oh well, I wasn't sent here to worry about any of it. They wanted me to study the Fold. I am going to be studying it closest to the source.