Kile of Zumada

26. A Conundrum

They were left alone in the dark, the whole building having powered down now. Lija created a flame in her hand and guided them both outside, where Kile once more collapsed on the sands.

"This was useless," he said. "We came all this way and even the Architects don't know!"

"I'm sorry," Lija said.

The wind howled, blowing bits of sand around the cracks of the parched earth.

Alora was frowning, "c'mon, we can't just give up!" She said, "VICA said she didn't know if they did it, but they must have. If they hadn't stopped Wild Magic completely somehow, then it wouldn't have been lost to our histories," she reminded.

"Then where do you suggest we start?" It was an accusation.

Alora raised her hand to say something, but no words came out. She hung her head, Kile's cheeks streaming with tears.

"Borxite," Lija suddenly interjected.

"We know about Borxite!" Kile said, "we already know it can't do anything!"

"No," Lija corrected, "it does something. You said so yourself. Maybe enough of it can do something? Or maybe a Chaos Bound could use it as a catalyst to suppress your powers? Whatever the case, Alora's right. Wild magic went away. If the Architects can do it on a world scale, then you can do it on a small enough scale that you can control it."

What do you want, boy? Control, or removal?

'I don't even know anymore...' he admitted.

"That's right!" Alora pushed her hands together in front of her with a bright smile, rocking on her heels. "And you know where we can find a great supply of both Chaos Bound and Borxite? The Fan!"

"That's literally on the other side of the world...but okay."

He rubbed the tears from his eyes. Yes, they weren't out of leads yet. Lija sat down on an old tree stump from what had once probably been a mighty and strong oak, now dead from the ravages of millenia. Alora went to their cart and lifted off the protective tarp, and grabbed the pocket mirror they had been given.

"At least we have a ride," she said.

Kile's eyes went wide. In the commotion and strain of the desert he had totally forgotten about the Magic Mirror they had been given to get them out.

She gently tapped the mirror, and a moment later a face came into view. A young man with blue eyes, tan skin, a blue nose patch and black dreadlocks peered at them.

"Sister! Hello! I wasn't expecting your ca-" he suddenly paused, his eye peering close to the mirror for a moment before he burst into laughter. "Ah! You're not Lois! You must be the children she told me about! A pleasure to meet you!"

"The same," Alora said, "my name is Alora, and these are my friends, Kile and Lija," she pointed the mirror at them so he could see them and he gave a nod.

"Yes, yes, I was told there would be three! Fantastic! Well, any friend of Lois is a friend of mine. A pleasure to meet you, cousins! My name is Peblo, I'm a water caravan trader! I'm told you are all at the edge of the world, eh?"

"That's correct," Alora said, turning the mirror back towards her. "We're hoping to get to the Fan, if that's possible?"

"Completely, completely! It's a little out of my way, but not too far, actually. I'll drop you at the Anarch City, then I can go down the Spine River like I normally would. Of course picking you up is a bit out of my way too, but that's okay!"

Kile nodded, "we'll have to pay you back,"

"Don't trouble yourself, cousin," he said, "I have spare time and plenty of food and water! There is just one problem though,"

"And what would that be?"

"You'll have to signal your position to me," he said, "The Ruins can be quite large."

Lija immediately stood up, stepped away from the perch she had been sitting on, and pointed her finger at it. A massive blast of fire erupted from her finger, a ball as big as she was, lighting the stump on fire and creating a thick, black smoke.

"My goodness!" Peblo laughed, "yes, that will do very nicely! Give me about an hour, I should be close enough to see it by then and I'll contact you when I can!"

And true to his word, Peblo and two other Tenmen were there a little over an hour or so later. They stayed inside one of the fallen out building to keep out of the sun while they waited.