Keish- June 25, 2004

June 25, 2004

Arri, what happened?  I know something is wrong, but I can’t tell what.
Did you intend a calling spell?  It came through quite clearly, but it was a wordless call, so all I know is that you’re upset.  I felt some shift in power and balance right before your call, so I’m sure that is what upset you, but I can’t discover anything else on my own.  My magic is strong, but the spell I would need to use requires a stabilizer.  Before what happened in the cave-- when I had the extra magic-- I could have done it myself, but I don’t want to risk it.  Everyone is gone for the morning and if I overdraw I could be unconscious for quite a while before someone finds me. Jace may never forgive me.
I’m going to have to ask Imato to help.

Arri-
I hope what Keish is doing helps.  I think she underestimated Imato’s strength-- I fear they’re both going to be fairly weak when this is over.  Whatever they’re doing, the spell holding them is very strong.
If I didn’t know they were still working the spell, I’d be far more worried.  They’ve been sitting, unmoving and unresponsive, for quite some time now.
And in the meantime, I wait.  I dare not leave the room, and as there’s nothing anyone else can do either, I don’t call for anyone.
A few days after the wedding, Keisha explained that her magic is stronger and more focused if I am with her.  I don’t understand why, bit if it’s true I cannot risk disrupting the spell.  I could lose both my wife and my best friend.
So, I hope you will forgive the liberty, but while I wait I will find comfort in the task of writing, as Keish so often does.
Of course, until something happens I have little to say.
I did want to thank you for being such a wonderful friend to Taty.  She needs more friends as sensible as you.
I worry about her-- I can’t seem to stop thinking of her as the little girl who hid behind me everywhere we went when we were children.
I like to think that you’re there for her to hide behind, even though I know she’s long outgrown the need to hide.
She enjoys her lessons with Brynn, though she seems to think astrology without magic is a waste of Brynn’s time.  I don’t think she actually wants to take a position as an astrologer anywhere, but Brynn also teaches good sense.  That’s more valuable all around.
I find myself missing Liop as I write this.  I love Taty, but I’d have enjoyed having a little brother as well.  I’ll have to work out a way to spend time with him in Rousha next month.  He may be a scamp, but he keeps things interesting.
Did he tell you that Imato and I took him riding the day that you, Keish, Taty and Gretel were out doing “girl things”?  He’s pretty good.  Of course, that could have something to do with the running dialogue he kept up with Sprigs the entire time we were out.
Keisha and Imato are starting to stir.
I’m sure Keish will want to finish this letter herself.
--Jace

June 26th
Imato and I are fine, but I was too tired to write last night.
Since I know this letter will not reach you before you leave, and I’ve done what I can to help you, I’ll put down what happened yesterday before sending it.

I burst into Imato’s room (well, the guest room he’s using) within seconds of his return.
“Something’s wrong.  Arri is upset-- she sent out a calling spell-- but I don’t know what’s wrong.  There was a shift in power.  It might have something to do with Liop.  I just don’t…”
Imato grabbed my shoulders.  “Slow down, Keish.  I can’t understand you.  What’s wrong with Arri?”
“I don’t know.  That’s the problem.”  I was yelling, but I couldn’t seem to calm down.  The panic I felt in your call had taken hold of me.
Jace must have just returned home and heard me yelling because he suddenly appeared at my side.  “What’s wrong?”
Imato looked relieved.  “I don’t know-- maybe you can get some sense out of her.”
Jace wrapped his arms around me.  I calmed some and was able to speak more clearly.  “Something is wrong in Rousha.  Arri sent out a call-- a note of pure panic-- right after a shift of power.  We need to find out what’s happened.”
Imato looked stricken.  “If I leave now…” he began.
I cut him off.  “No!  That will take too long.  I already have the spell set up.”
“Then why haven’t you cast it?!”
Jace put a restraining hand on Imato’s arm, but I was too wound up not to answer.  “Let’s review the history of unprepared attempts, shall we?”  I ticked them off on my fingers.  “I was knocked out, I was knocked out… and I was knocked out!  Yes, I could do the spell myself, but the information will probably not be as helpful in three days when I wake up!”
Jace pulled me in tighter to quiet me.  “She does have a point,” he said to Imato.
Imato sighed.  “Well then what are we going to do?  There’s no one here to help you.  Can’t you use the mirror like you did when you were trying to decide what that pitcher was?”
“I plan to use the mirror, but I don’t have an object like the pitcher to focus this spell on.  And you’re wrong about there being no one to help me.”
Imato’s eyes grew wide.  “You’ve got to be kidding.  I have almost zero magic!”
“It’s not a matter of power, it’s a matter of control.  Besides, it’s not as though you haven’t been experimenting lately.”  He paled slightly, but I wasn’t about to pursue it.  “We could stand here debating magical theory and our relative strengths all day, or you can come help me so that we can help Arri!”
His shoulders slumped a bit.  “Alright.  What do you need me to do?”
I led them both to our private sitting room where I had set the mirror on a low table between two chairs.  I had Imato sit across from me, then turned to Jace.  “I need you to stay.”
He nodded and pulled another chair closer to mine.
Imato looked like he wanted to be ill, but the determination in his eyes was unmistakable.  “What do I do?”
It was odd explaining his role to him.  Everyone sees and feels magic a little differently.  Eventually, though he understood what I needed.  I would cast the spell, but then Imato would stabilize and loop the power so that I could work within it.  Since I wasn’t sure what had happened or even if I’d be able to reach you with a normal divining spell, I would have to manipulate the spell as we went along.
When I was sure Imato was ready, I took a deep breath.  Jace gave me an encouraging smile.  I closed my eyes and began the spell. When I had it, I looked at Imato.  He nodded and we both looked into the mirror.
You would think, with how many times I’ve had a problem with this level of divination and how many changes I’ve made that I would be prepared for anything.  Especially with a second magician stabilizing the spell.
But I wasn’t.
I was standing in front of Trena.  And yet, I wasn’t.  My body was clearly and firmly still sitting in my chair-- holding both of Imato’s hands as he sat across from me.
“Keish, what..?” Imato said.
I held up a hand to silence him.  I wasn’t sure what was happening myself.
Trena rumbled a greeting.  “Keish.  And you’ve brought Imato with you.  How pleasant.”
“I’m… not sure how this happened,” I said.
“Jezreel’s talent was connections between places, Ellean’s was connections between people,” she replied, as if that explained everything.
“I was seeking Arri.”
“She was just here.”
“Please, Trena.  What has happened?  Arri’s call…” I faltered.
“Was no doubt unintentional.  That’s part of your magic, not hers.”
Imato was growing impatient.  “Your explanations tell us nothing,” he snapped.
“Lose your temper, lose your spell,” Trena chided softly.
“Imato, please,” I said, “if you lose control I don’t know what might happen.”
“Quin’s son comes into his own at last,” Trena said.  She seemed more curious about Imato than what we were asking.  She also seemed weaker than when I last saw her.
“More riddles,” Imato muttered.
“Riddles?  No.  Surely you must see what’s happening.  You are most certainly your father’s son and yet you are a Brio.  Do you not understand your magic at all?”  She clicked her claws against the stone.  “I’ve always thought it amazing how Brio women manage to marry men with magic-- even when the magic is dormant and unknown.”
I furrowed my brow.  “But neither Papa nor Uncle Quin…” I began.
“No?  Look deeper, Keisha Nerys.”
Suddenly, I could see it, as though they stood in front of me and I could look through them to their core.  Uncle Quin’s quiet protectiveness-- what made him an excellent soldier.  Papa’s soothing effect-- on Mother and on me, but also in meetings with the King and his other advisors.  And Jace-- the clarity of a spell if he’s near.  The level of magic that I can only seem to attain with him by my side.
Imato.  I could clearly see the power within him expanding.  The strength I didn’t realize he had holding my own spell steady.
And then I saw Liop-- and I nearly lost the spell completely.  I never thought the fairies would take him.
Imato gasped behind me and I knew he had seen it also.
Trena looked sad as the vision faded and I could see her clearly again.
“Can you take us to him?” I asked.  My voice sounded far more calm than I felt.
She shook her head slowly.  “You are not here, child.  Ellean’s gift was never physical.  You have a connection with me, so we can speak, but only Arri can physically visit me.  And Nysa, of course.”
“She’s going to the fairies,” I whispered.
“It is her choice.”  This seemed aimed more at Imato than me.
“What can we do?”
She gave me a sad smile.  “Something you have no talent for, I’m afraid.  Wait.”
I was crying, and there were tears in Imato’s eyes as well.
“Is there nothing else?” Imato asked.  The pain in his voice caused my tears to run even faster.
Trena considered briefly.  “There is something you can do, Imato, but I do not know if you have sufficiently accepted your own magic.”
Imato’s eyes blazed with strength.  “I will do whatever I must.”
She nodded.  “Yes,  that is the way of your magic, after all.  You will have to open the connections for him, child,” she said to me.
I nodded, realizing what she likely had in mind.
“You have your father’s protective spirit,” she told Imato, “but you are a Brio, so you can access that power consciously though Quin cannot.  Keish can open the connections, both to Arrietta and Liop, and through her you can cast your wards over them both.”
His confidence wavered.  “I am not strong enough to set proper wards.”
As he said it, I realized something and snorted.  “The ward you cast on your room was strong enough that now no one can enter.”
“But that was Liop’s magic.  And alchemy.”
Trena chuckled.  “No, Liop’s magic is why you cannot enter.  It’s your ward keeping everyone else out.  You are a Knight of the House of Brio.  Arrietta set a powerful charm on you when she knighted you thus.  Your magic responds to danger all the more strongly when it is a danger to your House.”
Imato looked to me.  I nodded.  “You are strong enough.”
“Okay.  What do we do?”
I turned to Trena first.  “I’d rather not have to start the seeking over.  Will it work to do it from here?”
She shrugged.  “It’s only a slight alteration.  Just remember you are not physically here.”
I nodded, quickly assessing what I would need to change.  I briefly explained what I would do to Imato and helped him with how to cast the ward around someone else through me.
Then we got started.
I sought Liop first.  I can’t sustain a spell of that magnitude forever and seeking you is easier.
The connection wasn’t as solid as I’d have liked, but it was enough to see Liop.  I couldn’t hear him, but it seemed like he was chattering on about something.  I got the feeling he was giving the fairies a hard time, which made me smile a bit.
Imato set his ward quickly and efficiently-- I could learn a lot from his control.  And it was far stronger than I’d have thought Imato capable of if you’d asked me last week.
I could tell it worked, not by Liop’s reaction (there wasn’t one) but by the change in the bustle around him.
As hard as it was, I let the connection fade and focused on you instead.  As the connection between us is already quite strong, it opened immediately and very clearly.  I actually had to pull it back a bit, because you were in full gallop atop a black horse I didn’t recognize and I worried that if you felt the link you would tumble off.
Once again, Imato was quick and decisive-- his ward not at all diminished by having been cast twice.  I was surprised you didn’t seem to feel it-- you practically glowed once it was set.
I let the link go and we were facing Trena again,
“You’re almost out of time, child.  If you want to ask your question you’d best do so quickly,” she said.
I felt silly asking it under the circumstances, but I did anyway.  “You said Brio women always manage to find men with magic-- that’s what went wrong with Phyfe isn’t it?”
“Keish!”  Imato really should have ceased being surprised by my impropriety a long time ago, but he was tired.
Trena chuckled.  “Magic does have a tendency to weed out the suitors who don’t have any.  I suspect that, without the attachment to Arri, magic will not continue to find Phyfe quite so… interesting.”
I nodded thoughtfully as the cave and everything in it seemed to dissolve.

As I began to stir (back in my own sitting room) Jace rushed to my side.
I waved him off.  “Help Imato.”  I was tired, but at least I’ve done that kind of thing before.
Luckily, Jace is fast.  He caught Imato just before he hit the floor.
I was exhausted, but Imato was weak.  I should have fed him more of my power.  When it comes to protection, his spells are impressive, but he doesn’t have the same reserves of power that you and I have.  Besides, helping hold the divining spell steady wasn’t a protection spell.  (With practice, he could build up more of a reserve, but outside of protection he still won’t be as strong as we are… and our protection spells may never be as strong as his.)
Combine all of that with the fact that he’s never been involved with spell casting that extensive before and he was in pretty rough shape.
Gretel came in just then.  “Imato!” she gasped.  “What happened?”
Jace eased Imato down onto the floor.  “Stay with him.  I’ll need help to get him downstairs.”
Gretel knelt next to Imato as his eyelids started to flutter.
Jace came and scooped me up out of my chair.  I started to protest, but he silenced me with a light kiss.  “No.  No arguments.  You held that spell for longer than was probably prudent, even with Imato helping.  Gretel and I will see to him.  I’ll have Malia bring you a tray, but you’re staying in bed until morning.”
I was going to make some comment about having a bossy husband, but I was too exhausted.
Jace and Ryland carried Imato downstairs and White took over from there.
This morning Jace went to check on him at first light while I slept until Malia brought be a breakfast tray.
“Imato is fine,” she told me.  “Master Jace said to make sure you knew.  He’s already up and about, though he’ll not be sparring today.  Is there anything else you need, Mistress?”
I had her bring me my writing things and I’ve been writing this in bed all morning.
I wish I knew where you are right now, but even I’m not foolish enough to attempt anything for at least a few more hours, even if a link with you is easy.
I don’t know how long you will be gone, but I want this to get to you quickly, so I’ll post it now even though I’ve not had a letter from you.
Be safe.

Love Always,

Keish

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