Kingdoms Rise

Eleven

Everyday for the past two weeks Mae's routine had been the same. She'd dress in her training leathers, make her way to music room and sit with Cadfael, then training with Vesta was always a joy. When she was doing none of those her nose was stuck in a book, anything bit of information she could glean about seers and their history.

All the accounts were mostly the same, the same histories. And none of them had any information about how to control a seer's powers. She had read the history about seers so many times that she could now recite it from memory, with minor changes in detail.

It was beginning to become frustrating, not being able to find answers.

Gwendolyn came to her room as she poring over another a book that contained the same information she had already read.

"Fallon has requested a word with you."

Mae closed her book and sat forward, "Why, has something happened?"

"All I know is that he wants a word a with you, and I'm here help you get ready."

Mae nodded and let Gwendolyn get her ready.

She wore a sweater and wool lined pants, it was still cold in the castle next to a fireplace, the cold seeping through every possible crack. Gwendolyn braided back her hair, a few blood-red wisps framing her face.

Mae walked to the drawing room alone, the only sound the silent pad of her boots against the marble floor.

She pushed open the drawing room doors, and was met by two plush chairs seated in front of fire place. Fallon took up the chair on the left, leaving the one on the right for Mae.

As she took her seat and servant came in, bearing a tray of tea. Without saying anything, Fallon poured them both a cup as the servant scurried away.

Mae took a sip of her tea, "I need more sugar."

Fallon laughed and gestured to the little bowl of sugar. Mae scooped a generous amount into her cup. "Better?" Fallon asked, amused.

"Mm, yes." It warmed her as she drank, even more so as she sat by the fire. She inquired over her cup, "Why did you want this meeting?"

"Because I thought it was time that I share with you everything I know and what I have found."

Mae drained the last of her tea and poured herself some more. Fallon took that as an invitation to continue. "The night I got to Vianna, your parents told me one word before we left. Sicilia. At the time I didn't know what it had meant, it could have been a name, a place, anything.

I did some research on Sicilia, it took me a long time to figure out what Sicilia meant. She's a water nymph. It took me from the day you got here to today figure that out. I poured over books day and night when I wasn't attending festivals or meetings, every free chance I got was dedicated to finding that answer." His grip tightened on his cup. Mae thought he'd break it.

"Sicilia. A water nymph. Where is she?" It was a lot for Mae to take in.

"That I have not been able to find out." That bothered him. She didn't that well, but she could tell that it bothered him that he didn't know.

"What does this nymph have anything to do with me?"

"There was little information on Sicilia in the book that named her. But what I found was that she is able to keep a Faerie's magic, unable to wield it, though. She can't take magic as she wishes, it must be traded to her, typically magic for something of immense value— "