|Mianite| The Missing Woman

[Chapter 26] Portals

[Alva's Perspective]

The next day I was going to visit Waglington, when I noticed a new structure in one of the mountains near by.

"Hello?" I called out, wondering who was building it.

"Oh hello Alva," Declan appeared from the entrance just above the staircase. "Please, come in."

I smiled and followed him in, along a bridge between the two mountains, into the main part of his house.

"So what do you think?" He asked.

"I think it's wonderful." He beamed at my approval. "It's like something out of a fairy tale."

"Well I wouldn't go that far." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Nonsense! Just look at that bridge, and all of those vines. It's amazing!" I thought back to his old house. This was definitely an improvement. "What about the library though? It's so far away now."

He sighed. "I gues I'll just have to dig another tunnel. It shouldn't be that hard..."

I thought for a moment. I didn't want him to have to go through all that trouble. He was probably just doing it for me anyways, though I knew he'd never admit it. He had no use for that library. I'm the one who knew they had their entire family history down there, even if most of that family was gone.

"I have a better idea!" I said suddenly.

"What?"

"Well I spent yesterday with Jordan helping him make a portal system," I said. "Why don't we do that between here and the library?"

"Well that sounds like a cool idea," he said thoughtfully. "But do you know how to set up the portals or..."

I frowned. "You don't trust Jordan, do you?"

"I'm sorry Alva," he said, not meeting my eyes. "It's just... My whole life I've been raised not to trust followers of other gods. At one point in history my position as priest was to connect the mortals with all three of the gods. But that's been... Bread out of us I suppose. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"But you trust me, don't you?" I asked.

"I..." He tried to figure out how to defend himself. "I suppose, but that's different!"

"How?" I asked. "If I were to formally follow any god it would without a doubt be Ianite." I ignored the longing in my stomach the thoughts of her caused. "So how am I any different from Jordan?"

"I... Y-you're a part of the royal family. A royal family once fully supported by Lord Mianite. I swore my loyalty to your parents and that loyalty follows through to you. I might not like Andor; perhaps his father spoiled my opinion of him, but I still helped rescue him. Who do you think told lieutenant Al to go have drinks with Sonja the night he gave them the informant about The Inertia? Or even asked Lady Ianite to send the coordinates of her resting place?"

He sat down on the couch. Clearly this was taking a lot out of him. I sat down next to him.

"So why do you still not trust Jordan? Even if he isn't the same Spark Plug in that old photograph, he's still Ianite's champion! And he really is trying to be some kind of a replacement dad for me. Guard Tom certainly trusts him, and he used to work at The Inertia!"

"Well I guess you do have a point," he said smiling slightly.

"Three actually," I said jokingly. I punched his arm lightly and he just smiled more "Gods, were you even listening? Anyways, I'll go tell Jordan. I ought to go see him around now any ways, we had plans for lunch."

"Alright." He seemed sad to see me go, but I thought he overall looked a little less glum and ridged than he had before.
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"I..." I stammered. "I think that was me."

"You made an end portal?" Jordan asked, shocked.

"I... I guess so."

We stood there and stared for a moment. Personally I still wasn't sure what had happened. I told Jordan about Dec and the library portals, then I asked about Ianite again. He hadn't seen her since yesterday and I was thinking about how much I missed her and wanted her to come back to me.

And then suddenly there was a portal on his front lawn.

I didn't know how one was supposed to react in such a situation.

"That's..." he started to say. Weird? Worrisome? Freaky? "Awesome!"

"I..." I still didn't know what to do.

"You know..." Jordan took out a pair of the large pliers I had seen Tom use when there was an end portal in his house. Had I done that too? What had I been doing to cause it then... Jordan Interrupted my thoughts with a clinck as he picked one of the portal sections up. "We could pull some ridiculous pranks with this!"

I just smiled at him. He always knew how to find the bright side in an odd situation.