Wisteria

Chapter IV

"No! It hasn't sunk in yet! What's going on?" I pleaded as we walked toward the hanger. "How did we get here?!"

"Asni," she said. I wondered if she even sensed the desperation in my voice. "We traveled by asni, what boranges would think of as teleported, by use of wists, what you thought was a marble."

Wait... Could it...
I was hyperventilating now as thought raced through my mind in vibrant colors.

"How- How do you know? How did you find me? How do you know that I'm like- like- you?"

"Well, first off you're not running, second you can see me, third you have the necklace, fourth--"
"This necklace?"
"Uh, ya."

My hand flew to my neck. I pulled the cursive W forward and looked at the gemstone in the middle. Suddenly my eyes shot up. Wisteria. What I had previously thought to be the brand, was now where I was unconditionally headed.

"But- How is this possible?"
"Long ago there were four wise scholars. They saw many things wrong with the world, evil and thievery, the sort. Being the highly skilled chemists, alchemists, botanists, and scribes they were, the four scholars developed the first wist. They believed it could be used to bring order and peace to the mortal world. They multiplied them and gave them different gifts. But the boranges took their invention and incriminated the first ryles, and tried to get them thrown into prison so they could take the invention as their own. At this, the scholars edited the wists and decided mortals could never again be exposed to such power. They made it so only themselves and their descendants could use the wists properly."

"So we are distantly related?"
"I suppose so, but that was so long ago that it could not possibly be traced. Except of course, by the blood of a ryle."

She smiled at me again.

Curious, it's like she finds this... funny.

"Well, let us go."

She linked arms with me once again, and took off at a brisk pace toward the hanger, all the while pulling me along. When I finally caught up to her quickening pace, another question came to mind. Before I could think twice I blurted out, "So, what do we do? As, you know, magical beings or whatever."

"Ryles." She added about two more syllables to emphasize her point once more.

"Okay, so what do ryles do?"
I was becoming short of breath, walking at a pace that seemed faster than a sprint.

"Why, we can do anything we please."

Could this girl ever answer a question?

"I me-an, how do we do... You know... Stuff!"
"Ugggg," she was still grinning cunningly though she fained annoyance, "The wists of course."

She's dodging my questions.

"Wha- ha Are the- ha How- ha Do- ha I- ha Ge- ha Them"

"I'm dreadfully sorry, but I must leave you off now," she said as we reached the hanger.

I looked up at the tall steel building and wondered how to get inside. I looked back at Cenchessa just to see the remainder of the blue smoke from her disappearance.

Unbelievable.

I found my way around the seemingly endless thirty-foot high wall of shining silver, or at least it would be shining. If there was one patch of blue in the sky.

My feet crunched on the dead grass and leaves. I finally turned the corner and peeked through the small window on an old gray door into the massive hanger.