Fire's Mage (Book One) Kyoko of Fire Country

Chapter Forty-One

Stanley knew he should feel guilty about the fact that he was still lying to Winston's face, well, not lying since the man hadn't asked him about the attack on Fuar. Not only that, but he didn't feel as guilty about lying to Mrs Doiteain about the details of the mission, when he knew should.

But he didn't feel that guilt anymore, and he doubted he would feel it again. Not any time soon, not when it was working out so well in Ice's favour. He didn't doubt that Kyoko would find a way to remove Oiche is Dorcha and free the Ice King.

Now that was something he felt guilty about, what made him wish that she was a few years older. He worried about her, which he thought was fair.

She was a year older then his own grandchildren, three years younger then Cecily and Edward. Who were also his grandchildren, since Jakob had named him their Godfather, along with Ashley's.

Shriya seemed to have the same problem, she seemed torn about how to treat her. There were times he watched as she tucked Eliana in at night, before turning to do the same with Kyoko. Then she would pause and her hands would hover her shoulders, like she had remembered that she wasn't the child's mother, that she couldn't stop her from putting her life on the line.

It happened to him, when it had been his turn to tuck Eliana and John in. He had done the same thing, wondered the same thing and something clinched his heart as he remembered.

It was his fault.

"Grandfather!" John said as he walked past Winston, Sheikh and Adrianne were still sparring close to the water's edge. From how wet Adrianne was, he guessed it was a spar to push the other into the water.

He did use the word 'spar' loosely, since Sheikh seemed bored of the whole thing, almost as if he wasn't giving it his 100% and was waiting for her to catch up.

"John," Stanley greeted waving his man to stop working for their lunch break. The only thing he did these days was design the bridge and bark instructions if needed.

"Is something wrong?" Jakob asked as he walked up, they usually had to have lunch sent to them. Since they were the ones who had arrived before everyone else. Make sure the tools were in one piece, that the area was safe to work on and that everyone was in place.

"Do you think they'll be gone one day?" John asked them, handing him the basket. Both of he and Jakob sat down, John sitting in front of them.

"Of course," Jakob told him, while Stanley nodded his head and picked out his lunch. "Hope's an important thing to keep, if May and I have another daughters. We'll name her Hope, if she's a set of twin girls. We might name one of them after Kyoko."

"Dad wasn't able to," John told them.

"Something's brought this one," Stanley said, giving him the third lunch that Shriya had packed. Maybe she had seen that John wanted to talk about something. "So what's wrong?"

"How strong are Mages?"

"Kyoko?"

"Yes. She thinks she can take the dragon down."

"Of course she does," Stanley softly told him, making sure that Winston couldn't hear him. "She already told me she wouldn't stop until the dragon was gone from Ice, until we were free."

"She already saved me once," Jakob told him.

"So how strong do you think they are?" John asked again, looking at his lunch and at them. Rich from Anabelle's fields, she had a bunch of ducks roaming them, looking for bogs. During the dry season, she'd usually had duck for sale.