Peacebringer

Chapter Thirty One- Havi's Encounter

Havi passed the gateway to Stone Creek and continued down the pathway that Finn had said lead to Asha's home. He was relying off a crudely drawn map and Finn's haphazard descriptions, but he assumed he was close. He was actually surprised that Finn had managed to keep his secret mission a secret.

These woods are nice, he remarked to himself, listening to the pleasant sound of the creek in the background. The leaves were definitely shades of orange now, and the forest looked like it was on fire.

He turned the last corner and approached farmland. Finn had said it was the house with the "obnoxious rooster on the fence," but Havi assumed that was just an exaggeration. Finn kind of resembled an obnoxious rooster himself at times. Maybe he was just competitive.

But then, sure enough, he saw a quaint little house that had a rooster sitting on a fence in the garden, and he appeared to be munching on a cornstalk.

As he approached, the rooster stopped munching and started at him intentionally. It's mid-afternoon, Havi thought. Surely he won't-

Claude the rooster let out the loudest crow Havi had ever heard. Just as Havi was removing his hands from over his ears, a woman emerged from the house.

"Who are you?" She asked, a bobbin of thread still in her hand. Havi also noticed it must still be attached to something. The end of the string was still clearly attached to something inside the house.

"I'm Havi...nice to meet you."

"Am I supposed to know who you are?" she sounded mildly irritated. Just the tone of voice alone would have made Havi sure that she was Asha's mother, but the physical resemblance was uncanny. Even though Asha's skin, hair, and eyes were all lighter, the shape of their faces was almost identical.

"Uh, no." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "I'm actually a friend of Asha's."

Now her face transformed from mild irritation to a mixture of relief and anger, which Havi had not previously thought was possible. Then it was just anger.

"DID YOU CONVINCE HER TO LEAVE? WHO ARE YOU? WHERE IS SHE?" Havi had also never thought that a thread bobbin could be threatening.

"NO I'M SORRY, I WAS JUST SENT TO TALK TO YOU!" He yelled back with his hands raised defensively. "I promise, when you meet him you can yell at Finn all you want. He's the one who convinced her to join the resistance!"

"My daughter, in the resistance?"

"Um yes, she's actually quite amazing," Havi said while lowering his hands.

Asha's mother stood there for an uncomfortably awkward amount of time before finally speaking again.

"Would you like to come in for some tea?"

"I...what? Tea?"

"Yes. Tea. I feel like you have a lot of explaining to do and this would be better done at a table with some tea."

"Well...um..yes. Yes, tea would be fantastic." Havi rubbed his hands together. Asha's mother turned and stepped inside, winding the bobbin as she went. Havi was caught off guard with how direct she was, but realized that maybe tea would be a good idea.

Havi followed, noticing signs of Asha immediately as he entered the doorway. He could see what must have been her room at the end of the hallway, a book sitting on the bed and children's drawings pinned to the wall in the hallway. There were books everywhere. Asha had mentioned that she liked to read with her mother, but Havi didn't realize just how much. Once he reached the kitchen, he noticed a small portrait sitting on the table.

It was clearly a professionally done painting, which was very odd for someone living in a farmhouse. It was small, and had a detailed picture of a small child, a baby, and a man and a woman. Looking at the baby, Havi could tell it was Asha. The baby had her big hazel eyes and light brown curly hair.

The woman was clearly Asha's mother, with her close cropped hair. Havi guessed that the man was Asha's father. He had a vibrant red beard and head of hair. It was only the other child Havi was confused about. Asha had never mentioned siblings.

"Is this you and your family?" Havi asked.

"How much do you know about Asha?" her mother countered.

"Uh....I guess not very much."

"Sorry," the woman said quickly, having finally filled the teapot and set it to boil. "I need to have a very serious talk with Asha about that picture."

"That's...okay..." Havi didn't want to pry, but it was a very odd thing to say. Has Asha seen this picture before? He thought.

"So my daughter is in the resistance. How is she?"

"She....." Havi faltered, not sure what to say. "Did you know that she's a fire spinner? Well, I mean, she didn't know. But anyway she is, and she's fantastic at it."

"I knew."

"You...you did?"

"Of course. I mean I didn't know, I just knew. Maybe it's a mom thing, Maybe it's a fire spinner thing. I could sense it, even when she was an infant. Her father never knew."

"Her father, who died? Or at least disappeared?" Havi did know that much about her. He realized in hindsight that his comment was rather insensitive.

"That's what I need to talk to her about." Asha's mother bit her lip, much like Asha did sometimes when she was thinking. "Asha's.....not who she thinks she is."

Havi took another look at the portrait, not sure what Asha's mother meant.

"Asha's father isn't missing or dead," she said slowly. "He's the King."

The kettle whistled to signal it was boiling as Havi sank into a chair. Asha's father was the King?

"Then Valda...." He started.

"Her older sister."

"That certainly explains a lot."

"What do you mean?" Asha's mother poured the tea into two mugs.

"She and Valda have been sharing quarters at the resistance base. They get along so well and seem so similar." Havi stared into the mug that Asha's mother had given him. It was full of Sayreenian red tea. "I think Valda was actually starting to notice."

"I wanted to take her too. My husband's advisor told me and Asha to leave once we both realized she was a spinner, but there wasn't enough time to get Valda too. He already was starting to lead attacks against the spinners and other magic users, and we felt it wasn't safe. Imagine, not knowing your own wife and child possessed the very abilities you were trying to get rid of! Then he concocted that ridiculous story to justify getting rid of the fire spinners and explain our disappearance. Probably didn't want the public to know that his wife had left him."

Havi paused mid sip. "Actually, according to Valda, he really does believe that you died in that fire. He might not have any idea that you are alive."

Now Asha's mother looked confused. "He didn't make up the story then? The fire spinners definitely didn't actually burn the castle. They're not as hot-headed as some might think."

"Who was the advisor?" Havi leaned forward. "Valda has mentioned a really nasty lady called Darkwater."

Asha's mother nodded slowly. "Yes, she was the one who advised us to escape."

"What if she was also the one who came up with the story?" Havi said, his face suddenly falling with the realization. "What if she told you to leave and then made up the story to get the King to take more action against the spinners? Valda said Darkwater seems to hate spinners more than the King."

"Then we need to get to both Valda and Asha." Asha's mother, the queen of Karda, said. "If that's true, who knows what Darkwater might be planning next."

Havi nodded. It already sounded dangerous, and Asha's mother still didn't know about the prophecy. They set off back to the resistance base at once.