My ears came forward. I knew that name. The Makdaw was a legend in certain circles. So many stories existed about him, so many myths. Anything from him being one of the terran gods to him being an ordinary healer that got really good at what he did. He was a murderer in some circles, a savior in others, and just a plain bastard in others. I was never sure what to think about them, had never met the man myself. I glanced at Rod for a second, who had become passively uninterested and was studying the kitchen.
Then again. Rod and I had similar miscellaneous legends in our pasts. Most of them wildly inaccurate. Probably why I never believed the stories.
I gave a short nod. “Alright. Makes sense. Jake wasn’t willing to storm the house of a legend without some serious backup…and even then. So he had to wait for you to come out with the sword.” I thought a moment more. “...which still doesn’t answer my question as to why he had to wait for Layla to come out of the house instead of finding some other way to get the sword. Are you the only one who can carry it?”
Layla shook her head. “No…I…I wasn’t actually supposed to have it at all.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “Uncle Wolf said I wasn’t ready. Just…kept saying it.”
Not ready…Something nagged at me. “Hey. Get the sword out for a moment.”
Layla stared at me. I nodded at the table. “Come on. No one’ll take it away from you right now.”
She gave me a weary look, but went ahead and drew it. Placed it on the table. I took a deep breath and shifted up, bones snapping and popping as I assumed a more humanoid form. Layla stared at me and even Rod gave me an…odd look, like a mix of curiosity, consideration, and a little hesitation. I guess he hadn’t seen this form in too long. Maybe he was just worried about what I was thinking about doing.
“Well…no time like the present,” I muttered. I looked at Layla. “Let’s try adding some truth to the equation, shall we?” She hesitated. I could feel the objection before she said it, shook my head. “Don’t worry. I don’t think you’ve lied since the church. But…eh, just watch.”
I closed my eyes. Truth. I needed Truth to see it. Honest assessment of myself, then.
I was a liar. A killer. And a contradiction. Because the truth was, I was becoming…attached to the kid. I wasn’t sure how or why. But she was growing on me like a fungus that I didn’t mind, and in fact…I shook my head. Truth was, I wanted to find out more about this because I didn’t want to see her dead like my sister.
I could feel the fire on the other end of those thoughts. Symbols began to lace across my arms, burning through my skin and fur and racing to my fingertips. It was just a little. Just enough. I opened my eyes and reached out towards her sword.
And I felt it. A magnetic pulse, something with a will and magic of it’s own pushing back against me. But it was stronger on one arm than the other, the pressure uneven. The sword itself was chattering on the table, glowing with blue light, but the pressure wasn’t coming from it. I glanced over, tried to follow where the resistance was coming from.
Layla pushed back into her chair, hands grabbing at her own hair with her eyes squeezed shut, legs pushing and bracing against the table. Like something was screaming inside her head. I lessened the fire, the pressure, and her tensions eased a little. Glanced at Rod, who was blinking in the light of Truth, himself.
Damn. Damn damn damn.
I pulled the flames in, let them go until there was only the red symbols glowing against my skin. I could still see it though, like smoke coming off the pair of them. Layla didn’t know. Rod definitely would have known. He grimaced at me with a ‘why-did-you-do-that’ look on his face. Layla remained in her huddled, braced form.
I took a deep sigh. This…wasn’t the greatest news.
Rod leaned against the table for a moment before getting up.
“No you don’t,” I snapped, pointing at him. Shifting back down, I trotted over to him and lowered my voice. “The hell?!”
“That’s my line,” he snapped. “You didn’t tell me you–”
“Oh don’t give me that,” I growled. “You knew about my hidden abilities. I know you, you know about everything one way or another!!”
“Not everything, it seems,” he said, glancing at Layla. “You gonna tell her or should I?”
I snorted at him, clapped my jaws for a second. “You stay here. Not finished.” Then I trotted back over to her. Nudged her with my nose for a second. “...Layla?”
She managed to peek an eye open. “Wha…what was that?” she squeaked. “Why did you…your hands…and then…”
I nodded. Took a breath. “You remember what Rod told you about the Keystones?” She nodded. “Right. It’s a very long story. But they’re not just legends. And I know because back on my home world…I was the one that discovered the Keystone of Fire. It bonded to me. And I ran away from it for a very long time. But the Keystone, my Keystone, is powered and fueled by truth. I use truth to make fire. I show truth to others. I thought…I thought your sword had a Keystone in it, so I was working to find the truth of it. But…Layla, you were the one that reacted.”
She stared at me.
I waited another moment. “Jake’s looking for the Keystone your father left behind. I feel that much is obvious. And…my truth tells me that your father somehow gave you his Keystone.”
She shook her head. “I…I don’t…why…what?!” Tears were beginning to form. “But I’m…I don’t…I’m nothing special, I’m just…and he’s…!” She was crumbling from the information. I waited a moment before resting my head directly on her lap, pressing her into a sitting position. Then I shoved my face and chest against her, head between her head and shoulder. It was the most generous thing I could do, really. I wasn’t a big hugger, but she needed a way to calm down. To think.
Her hands slowly wound their way across my fur and feathers. Then gripped me hard. No tears now, not even a whole lot of shaking. “I know,” I rumbled. There was probably just…a lot for her to process. Holder of a legendary, mythological item. More powerful and important than you can imagine. Knowing that said importance is the reason you’re feeling betrayed and your life has been threatened.
All things I went through after discovering Alma’s flame, to be honest. As soon as I emerged from the cavers with the sash, the Onishiki that lived in the caves tried to murder me. Not even because they thought I would bring about an apocalypse, nothing so grand. They were just mad that a half-blood like me had found an item of power. That was really and truly it.
More flashes of death, fire, guilt. I had run from truth too long. Reasserting it was…painful.
Finally, her grip lessened. I gave a gentle lick against her cheek and then withdrew. She wiped her eyes for a moment. Looked down at her hands.
“How…” she whispered, voice cracked. “How didn’t I know?”
“Your father hid it well.” We both turned to Rod. He had watched the entire thing in thankful silence, his eyes nearly cold and calculating as he studied her. I let off a short growl and the coldness drifted, although didn’t quite disappear. “What?” he asked. “He must have. We didn’t know it at the time, even Jake didn’t seem to understand what happened. He must have thought somehow Glidon hid the keystone in his sword. Must have thought it one of the components during the forging or something. We would have no reason to think he’d have the ability to transfer the keystone to…” he shrugged. “Well, to a person. I didn’t think there was any research…then again, I don’t have access to as much Elvish research as I’d like.” He sort of drifted off into muttering to himself.
“Don’t think you’re off the hook,” I growled. “You neglected to mention you’ve got Keystone powers too.”
He stared at me. Probably debating if he was going to lie to me about it or not. Then heaved a small sigh.
“Some version of me did, sure. I didn’t know until I started hearing the ringing just now. I swear on all my lives.”
I grumbled, but didn’t press. Usually Rod didn’t bring his other lives into it. Usually he didn’t swear ‘on’ anything if he was lying and he knew it. Was gonna have to trust him on that. At least for now.
