A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 4 - Hitting The Road

The safest route to Nileau was a long one, and would take a number of days.

Aedis would be lying if he said that he was excited. He and Chip had both decided that it was safer if he didn't Weave the whole group straight to the palace. Passing through the Ether Veil, even for so much as a millisecond, was far too big of a risk when travelling with someone who could not control their own absorption of Ether.

If they took Honey—Aedis was trying to get used to the name—through the Ether Veil and directly to the palace, there would be nowhere safe for her to dispense of the excess power, and that was if she survived the trip.

She was like a magnet. Aedis could feel it any time he was near—the pull, attracting the Ether he naturally made and taking it as her own. He didn't particularly mind. It didn't hurt, nor did she take too much, but it was strange.

He'd once had Chip manipulate his Ether—when they'd first met—but it was different. When Chip manipulated his Ether, he still felt it around him, in the air, loose and tangible. When Honey took his Ether—that was different. It was drawn to her, like she was gravity to it. It was drawn to her, before disappearing, and becoming her own—a moth to a flame.

It was how he knew that she'd been standing behind the door of his study for the better part for ten minutes.

"You can come in." He said from where he sat at the desk of his makeshift office.

It was really just another cobble walled room of the fort, falling apart in some places, but fit enough for a desk, chair and fireplace which cackled and dimmed as Honey entered the room.

Aedis eyed it warily, before his attention turned to the emaciated form in the doorway.

Zemira had given her a haircut, straightening out the perimeter, but insisting that she kept a couple inches of the light brown.

Honey had been unsure of it at first, holding the tips between her slender fingers with a doubtful grimace, but over the day it had grown on her.

Zemira had also insisted on cutting some of the hair around her face to "frame it." It was short, about eyebrow height, but it was another thing she found she liked.

"Your hair looks nice." Aedis said absently, turning back to his pages.

"Thank you..." Honey replied awkwardly.

All four of them had decided to put some distance between themselves and Honey—she was supposed to be a stranger. That was, after all, what they'd told her.

It was proving difficult for all of them, and so Aedis simply avoided eye contact, aimlessly flipping through the papers messily strewn about his desk.

Honey awkwardly cleared her throat.

"I— I was wondering..." She got out, before her eyes darted away from his form and went to the strings of her cloak, where her slender fingers fiddled.

Aedis waited, until she took a sharp inhale, and looked up at him determinedly.

"Zemira said you may be able to explain my... abilities to me? At least how they work." She said. 

Aedis' mouth fell open. He hadn't been sure what it was she'd planned on asking, but that certainly was not it.

Closing his mouth, Aedis stood.

"Well..." He began, but paused, not sure where to start. "What exactly would you like to know?" He asked after spinning to face her.

Honey seemed caught off guard, and Aedis immediately felt bad at having put her on the spot.