Midnight Wonders

4.2.2. Infants in Their Cradles

"Oh!" said Emma. "Wait—Luc?"

"Emma?" Luc put a hand on the wall to steady himself, not sure if he felt more lightheaded from bumping into her or from bumping into her. "What are you..."

"You..." She seemed just as much at a loss of words as he was. "You called me," she said finally. "I got your voicemail."

Luc winced. He didn't remember what exactly he had said, but it must have been incoherent ramblings. "You found your way here?"

"You did mention the green hill," she said.

"How did you get in?"

"How did you get in?"

"I followed Kay—I followed someone else," said Luc. "Otherwise I never would have even known there was a way."

"Kay?" said Emma.

Luc blinked at her. "Do you know him?"

She paused. Slowly, she said, "Yes."

Luc stared at her. She held his gaze coolly, a steeliness he hadn't quite seen on her face before. It was startling, almost. He wondered when he had come to think of her as someone he knew, without even thinking of how much he knew about her. "Are you from here?" he said carefully. "Under-The-Green-Hill?"

Emma broke her gaze, looking down at her hands. She held no phone to fidget with. Her nails were scraped clean of any color. "Yes."

Luc didn't know why he felt more bewildered knowing Emma was from here than he had felt when he'd discovered that here even existed. It wasn't as if she had ever lied or hid anything. It had just never come up. He'd never pried into her personal life. She had never asked much of him, either, at least not to his face. He didn't know what she and Cora spoke about in their own privacy. It was their own privacy. "Oh," he said. There was just nothing else to say.

Emma sighed. "It's not very important right now. Well—about Cora—"

"Oh!" Luc said. "Did you hear she was at the Yew too? Have you found her?"

"I heard she was at the Yew," said Emma. "But I haven't been there yet."

Yet? "But isn't this..." Luc stopped himself. He'd known something was not right. He wasn't sure why he hadn't thought to question it. He kept thinking it would somehow right itself. That it would somehow all make sense eventually. "This isn't the Yew."

"No," Emma said, giving him an odd look. "This is the Sycamore."

The Sycamore. That was where Kay was from. Of course he had a room here. Luc should have been able to figure it out by this point, but instead he was running around in an unfamiliar place like a fool.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Luc didn't want to know how he looked right now. At this point he felt as if he could count more of Kay's lies than his truths. It wasn't that Luc was particularly upset about him, he just felt a bit...disappointed that he was not worth being told the truth. There was only one major thing which had not been validated or denied. "About the debts," he said, and Emma started a bit, as if she hadn't been expecting that. "I know everyone owes each other when they interact." A stray thought suddenly occurred to him. "So I do owe you for the time you spent with Cora?"

"No, of course not," Emma said, looking confused at the change in topic. "Debts only hold weight here, in Under-The-Green-Hill. Not outside. Look, you're all free. Spending time with her is worth any amount of my time."

"Oh," said Luc. He had no reason to not believe Emma. "Well, Kay says he's the only one I don't owe anything to. I suppose...it's because he's a knight? Is that true?"

"Did he say that?" said Emma. "It's not exactly true. You still owe knights; it just depends on what they want back. Sometimes gratitude is enough, which might feel like nothing to you. It depends on how much they do for you, too. How much has he done for you?"

"He brought me here," said Luc. "And he got me this." He pulled on his cloak. "And gave me food. And a room, for a night—sorry, for a time. And a horse. And a wisp." He paused. That seemed to warrant much more than gratitude.

"Well, it's Kay," said Emma, as if Luc was supposed to know what that meant. "If he thinks your gratitude is worth it, then it is."

So he hadn't necessarily been lying about that, at least. Luc thought it would have been much easier for Kay to tell Luc to thank him every time he did anything than phrase it in a way that seemed like Luc owed him nothing. What if Luc hadn't been grateful? What if he had been grateful but hadn't expressed it? Would just feeling gratitude be enough?

Luc tried to focus his thoughts. He'd sorted out that matter with Kay...somewhat. He still didn't know why Kay had brought him here, but it wasn't as if Emma would know that. The more pressing issue was Cora. "If you're here to look for Cora," said Luc. "Why are you here? At the Sycamore?"

"It's only a stop," she said. "The Sycamore is on the way to the Yew."

Well, then, that answered both questions. Luc wondered why Kay had to be so irritatingly ambiguous all the time. He could have just said it was a stop. He remembered Kay said he knew someone who could navigate the Yew. Perhaps they were just here to fetch someone.

"I'm waiting for someone," said Emma, and Luc started at how it sounded as if she had read his mind. "Someone who can help us get in and out of the Yew easily."

Us. She had already factored him into her plan, which in one sentence sounded a hundred times more organized than whatever Luc had been planning. What had he been planning? He hadn't planned anything. He had been relying completely on Kay. "Then I should tell Kay I don't need his help anymore?" said Luc. "Unless you want his help?"

"You don't want his help?" she said. She played with her hair. It wasn't curled. He wondered how long she'd been in Under-The-Green-Hill. She was here already. How had she gotten here before him? Then he remembered that if she was from here, then she was used to not sleeping, at least not as often as he had to. She might have taken a different path, too.

"If it's...if it's not needed, then I should relieve him of service so he can go help other people," said Luc. "I'm sure there are others who also need help." He wasn't sure why he was asking Emma. If he wanted to let Kay go, then he could just go and do it himself; it wasn't as if he needed her permission.

She had the same thought. "It's up to you." She paused. "Kay might not want to go to the Yew, though. He'll go if you ask him to, but..." Emma shrugged.

Luc was curious, but it felt too much like prying, and if he wanted to know he could ask Kay himself. "All right," he said, making up his mind. "Do you know how to get back to the main hall?"

She did, and led him there. He tried to memorize every turn and corner, but it was addling his mind. Was the Sycamore also supposed to be a labyrinth?

"Oh," he said, as they found their way back to the main hall. It was less crowded than before, but the sound and sight of other people were somewhat more comforting than the emptiness he had felt roaming the halls by himself. "I was told that the king wants to see me later. Or, he is going to see me later. Do you know what that's about? Does he do that to every guest?"

"Probably because you came with Kay," Emma said. Luc supposed that might make him stand out among other guests. The people picking peas had made it seem like going around with a knight was a big deal. "I'll find you later; I have to check my mail and see how long we have to wait before we can go to the Yew." She gave him a reassuring smile. "We'll find Cora. Promise."

"Thank you," he said, and it was only as she was leaving that he realized he had not told her where she could find his room. Well. He'd just tell Kay, and seeing that Emma knew Kay then she could ask him where to find Luc. He wondered how well she knew Kay. How well Kay knew her. What did they know about each other that Luc did not?

Luc walked down the hall Kay had indicated earlier and found the penultimate door to the left. He knocked.