The Children of Nihon (BOOK TWO)

Chapter 23 - Sorceress

"How could you keep this from me?" Orì raged. "You have been lying all the time! Does my mother know? Did you tell her? Does Master Zbgi know?"

Ami's efforts to appease her fell on deaf ears, Orì didn't even turn to look at him. Her eyes were wide with anger and despair, and a kind of bitterness that Sofia felt she understood but couldn't name the reason for.

"You act as if I was so bad, as if magic was terrible, nothing but tricks and lies," Orì went on, unable to stop herself. "And all this time, it has been you who has held all these powers. I should have known! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know," Sofia said.

Orì stopped in her tracks. They had been shown to a room at the back of a large wooden building where they could spend the night and get settled in, at least for the time being. Nobody had said anything about how long they should or could or maybe even had to stay, or what would be expected of them if they did. But instead of settling in or resting, Orì had been pacing around the room as if it was a cage.

"Of course you knew! Is that why we are here? Did you know that Antibe would be here? Was this your plan all along?"

"What are you talking about?" Sofia said. "You wanted to come here. You said to trust Inaan."

"Did I?"

Orì's eyes were now filled with tears. Ami didn't understand what was going on anymore. The Bayla, who at first had rubbed its head against Orì's legs to try and comfort her, was now crouching in the far corner of the room with a worried expression on its feline face. Shudders rippled over its fur.

At first, Sofia had barely listened to Orì's rant. She had been too overwhelmed and confused herself to focus on anybody else. The word was echoing through her mind. Sorceress. If ever she had craved for a complete explanation of a word and all its hidden meanings, distinctions and consequences, it was this one. It felt heavy and intangible at the same time. But now, Orì's overflowing outburst of emotions felt even more urgent than her own, or at least something that Sofia might be able to deal with directly.

Interrupting her stream of accusations, questions and general distress, Sofia stepped into Orì's path. She put her hands on her shoulders, and before Orì could shrug her off, she pulled her into a tight hug.

Orì struggled against her.

"I didn't know," Sofia said. "I'm sorry."

Orì kept squirming for a moment longer, then she went still and silent.

They stood there for a while. Orì didn't return the hug, but she didn't fight it any longer.

"Why are you sorry?" she said eventually. Her voice sounded small.

Sofia shrugged.

"I just am."

She couldn't put it into words. More than that, she didn't think it was a good idea, or even helpful in any way to Orì to say it out loud. But she knew how Orì was feeling, and she knew that even though her anger didn't make any sense, it actually made a lot of sense, because she would have been feeling the same way. Jealous. And small and insignificant. Invisible.

She had felt like that herself when Antibe had first singled out Orì, when she had known who she was, who her family was. Even though it had been dangerous, Sofia would have preferred to be the one in the spotlight. And now she was. Part of herself wished it wasn't so, but another part was almost relieved. She was no longer invisible.

"I always knew," Orì said. "I knew. It came so easy to you. I told myself you were just talented, but I knew that couldn't be all of it."