The Heir Of Ice And Dusk

Where I learn how important words are

"You're wearing your pink shirt again," I told Edgar as soon as I saw him.

"Well," he replied. "You're wearing a red dress."

"It's a tunic," I pointed out. "And it's neat."

"Really? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

"I have," I replied. "And I think it looks very grunge."

Edgar did not comment, which made me ask whether he got the reference. 

"So, how was the trip?" I asked.

Edgar must have visited Brady and Vitaly to join me. And the reason why he'd gotten my invite at all was that I'd let it slip to Vitaly, before I went, that I wanted Edgar to join me as soon as I knew I made it there alive. I hoped they had taken their time to explain to him what was happening.

"Brady and Vitaly have been kind," Edgar replied. "They told me everything. Then I stepped on the magic circle and... here I am."

I smiled slightly. "Do you know why I'm here?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied sternly. "But... I do not know why I am here."

"I think if I have to find out more about how to break the curse, you should be here."

"It makes sense," Edgar reasoned out loud. "Do I get a tunic too?"

The Tamed Lion entered the room in that very moment. It occured to me that she had probably been eavesdropping. "As a matter of fact, you do."

She made a tunic appear out of nowhere. It was yellow, with gold patterns woven into it.

"I'm sorry Edgar," I joked. "They must have run out of the pink ones."

"There's no reason why he should wear pink," the knight said. "The colours of the tunics have meaning, you know."

I looked at my red tunic. I thought of the strange words the knight kept saying about my family.
I couldn't help but be reminded of Ana's words.

Even I could not predict, that the initials P.M.W. belonged not to a Winter, but to a Summer.

Edgar asked the knight for a room where he could change clothes privately. I wanted to tell him that we had been through so much together that we were past that. But we weren't. I knew that if I had seen him with only his underwear on my heart would skip quite a few beats.

"So, do you have any ideas for breaking the curse?" Edgar asked me when he was back. The gold of his tunic looked perfect next to the colour of his skin. I tried not to stare.

"Since I can't trust my powers anymore in the Aether realm, and I don't know how they work here, I want to try out new spells. You know... making spells up."

"I'm not sure that would work out," Edgar said. "But it might. If you must know, my father spent quite some time in China when he was young."

"Why?" I asked.

"He wanted to know if he could develop powers, since he was a hybrid. I assume you know how that feels like, since you used to think you were powerless growing up."

The few memories I had of Edgar's father were not particularly kind. I did not like the idea that we had things in common.

"When he was there," Edgar explained patiently. "He learned about the chi. He studied it from a great master, from the Mei family.

Humans who learn the act of mastering their chi are similar to Enchanters, in a way. Are you familiar with it?"

"Yes" I replied. The topic had always fascinated me, and I was glad Edgar and I shared a common interest. Also, I thought about the Zoroastrian Magi that Advi mentioned. Some humans could do stuff that seemed magical, though they were not like us. But it was not to say that they didn't come up with any good ideas about it.