A Rational Magic || ONC2022

Eighteen || Lifesaver

Lighting up a city is unsurprisingly difficult, even with magic.

"I think you're going to break something."

"Sorry," Cira mutters, trying to stay perfectly still where he is on my shoulders — which is to say that he fails miserably and falls right back down again. "This isn't going to work."

"Any better ideas?" Vaeri asks, tapping her foot. "Or should we just go and admit that we can't do this?"

"Vaeri—"

"I mean, she does have a point..."

And that's when the screaming starts.

Vaeri and Cira share horrified looks before glancing back at me, and apparently both coming to the decision that they should leave me at the lantern and investigate for themselves.

The silent decision, might I add.

I don't think following them makes any sense, but I do so anyway — at a much slower pace.

The elf twins (according to Kat, at any rate — they look nothing alike and have different surnames and don't have the same magic... but they're twins, apparently) are fast, and they actually know these streets well, but it doesn't take them long to stop dead in their tracks.

So I duck into what I think is an alleyway and listen rather than look.

Vaeri says something too quietly for me to hear, and then there's footsteps behind me.

Guess I was wrong.

When they've literally walked into me, that's when they speak.

"What are you doing here?"

"Sh!"

I don't know the voice, but apparently they know me. And even if they didn't know it was me, now they might.

"Fair point," the voice concedes, and then actually shuts up.

"Imagine this in the western districts," someone laughs coldly, someone Cira and Vaeri evidently recognise.

"This isn't funny, Felaern."

"Oh, I never said it was. I'm just saying, it must be real carnage over there."

"It's bad enough here! Oh, for Oserit's sake, give us a hand here."

Cira — at least I think it's Cira — storms off, leaving Vaeri and the Felaern boy alone. Then there's silence.

"Are they gone?"

"Hm?" I stick my head out onto the street again to see that yes, it is deserted. "Yeah, why?"

"Well you can stop hiding now?"

"I wasn't hiding from them! We're on the same side!"

"Do you actually want to find out what's going on or not? Lantana Aletris isn't very good at investigations, I see."

"How do you... never mind." He can probably read minds. "I'm staying back because I didn't think it was a brilliant idea to go running headfirst into danger."

"I can, if you're really asking."

"I was not asking if you could read minds."