Rebel Children

Rose resisted the urge to yank her hood up as they walked around Brimsey. She knew the odds were very slim that anyone would be able to recognize her on sight but having been away from towns and cities for so long, she felt a little exposed walking around amid a bunch of people. And she was a little huffy because Tobias had banned her from the rebel meeting. But she also glanced around and took in the town curiously. It was sort of nice to walk around among everyone else like a normal person; it could very well be the only chance she had to do so. Before long she’d either be queen or she’d be dead. Which was a gloomy thought that Tobias didn’t like her bringing up, but Rose wasn’t under any delusions about the fact that Lorena could kill her.

“I guess you haven’t been in town much,” Eli said, watching her look around with a combination of interest and wariness. She let out a sheepish laugh.

“I didn’t think it was that obvious,” she said.

“People don’t normally look quite so fascinated by Brimsey,” he chuckled.

“I have been in towns before. I mean, I’m not completely a weird forest person,” Rose said. “But we’ve been in the woods for a while now, and in the place you found us for months. And I could never come any further than the outermost border, because Tobias is…”

“A private person?” Eli offered. Rose laughed.

“I was going to say overprotective and deeply paranoid, but your way is much nicer,” she replied and Eli’s lips twitched up into a crooked smile.

“He clearly cares about you,” he remarked.

“He does,” Rose agreed fondly. “And he’s a very good man. He’ll do what he has to in order to protect the people he loves. I suppose you two are alike in that way.”

Eli was so startled he nearly tripped, his face flushing crimson. Rose put a hand on his arm to steady him, smiling dryly.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I seem to have a habit of making you uncomfortable.”

“What? No. No, you don’t make me uncomfortable,” Eli stammered, face still red. “I was just… testing to make sure that stone was really loose.” He grimaced and Rose nodded politely.

“Of course,” she said. “And you did a splendid job of it, too.”

They continued their search for the elusive drunken mage, and Rose noticed a small stone memorial for victims of the plague. It had been one of the first things unleashed by her dark magic after she married King Dominic. It had begun just after she started using magic to drive him insane, and so there’d been no one to offer any help to the people falling sick or the people they left behind. Rose had been little then, spending most of her time hiding from her stepmother and her father who wasn’t acting much like her father anymore. She’d heard talk among the castle servants from her hiding places, about how in some places they’d had to throw bodies into mass graves and burn them.

“The plague years were rough,” Eli said quietly, noticing her sad look. Rose just nodded, though she didn’t really consider the plague years ended. Lorena herself was a plague. She shook off the gloomy mood that was trying to bring her down, focusing her attention back on the task of finding Edgar Moffet.

“You say this Edgar guy used to live in the capital,” she said. “Do you have any idea how long ago that was?”

“I don’t know exactly, but it was a very long time ago. Frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if Edgar had been there to see the capital built, he’s so old.”

Rose snorted and then giggled. As long as the mage hadn’t been in Lumafell any time recently, then he probably wouldn’t recognize Rose. Of course, Eli had said he was also a chronic drunk, so maybe he wouldn’t recognize her even if he had seen her before. She was about to ask about that when they happened to be passing a tavern, and someone came stumbling out of the door and ran smack into Rose. She jumped back with a small yelp, Eli catching her arm before she could topple over backwards.

“Well, you wanted a mage,” he said. Rose studied the wizened man with a long gray beard who had almost mowed her down.

“I see what you mean about him being there to see the capital built,” she said in a low voice. Eli looked amused.

“You don’t really need to whisper,” he said. “Edgar doesn’t have the best hearing. Do you, Edgar?” he added, raising his voice.

“Eh?” Edgar turned to them, squinting with unfocused and bloodshot eyes. “Oh, is that you, Ellis?”

“Eli.”

“Whatever.” The mage squinted a little harder. “And who’s the girl there that almost knocked me over? You’re not seeing a prostitute in the middle of the day, are you?”

Rose felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment and Eli grimaced faintly.

“No, Edgar. She’s just a friend.”

“Oh, is that what you’re supposed to say these days? Hardly seems any point in sanitizing the terminology, if you ask me.”

“For fuck’s sake, Edgar.”

“To clarify,” Rose spoke up before Edgar could continue. “You ran into me and almost knocked me over. My name is Rose, and I need to speak with you for a few moments, Mr. Moffet. If you please.”

“If you’re hoping to solicit me, lass, you should know I’m not as spry as I once was.”

“For fuck’s sake, Edgar,” Eli repeated, grimacing again.

“Mr. Moffet, I am not a prostitute,” Rose said, feeling a little awkward since she had to practically shout the words. “And for the record, if I was, I highly doubt you could afford my rate anyway.”

Eli shot her a sideways glance, looking both amused and surprised.

“I just need to speak with you for a few minutes,” Rose continued.

“Well, fine then. Come on.”

Rose followed the old mage into a deserted side alley behind the tavern.

“So what’s so important, that you had to drag me out of the tavern?” he grumbled.

“I did not drag you anywhere,” Rose told him. “Again, you ran into me.”

“Agree to disagree.”

“I need your help.”

“My help,” he repeated.

“My aunt is a healer, and she’s taught me virtually everything she knows about healing magic. But I need training beyond that. I need to learn other kinds of spell casting.”

“Do you now? And why would a young girl need to know other kinds of spell casting?”

“Because we live in dark times, Mr. Moffet.”

“Well I suppose we do.” The mage snorted. “You should know that people don’t do things for free in dark times.”

“I can promise you that once you’ve helped me as much as you’re able, you’ll receive more than adequate compensation.”

Rose didn’t elaborate on how she would do that, aware of Eli standing slightly behind her and not sure how much she could really trust Edgar.

“You can place a binding enchantment if you’d like,” she added. “To ensure that my promise is kept.”

“I may take you up on that,” Edgar grunted. “What did you say your name was? Lilac?”

“Rose.”

“Whatever.”

Somehow between his drunkenness and bad heating they managed to make arrangements for her to meet with him in a couple of days, and then she and Eli set out back to his house.

“I warned you he had no filter,” Eli said apologetically.

“He certainly doesn’t,” Rose laughed. “I can handle it. I’m not as fragile as I look. Thank you, for helping me find him. You’re really under no obligation to help me so much.”

“It’s not a problem,” Eli said, looking shyly at the ground. The sky had become overcast while they were talking to Edgar, and they hadn’t quite made it back to Eli’s house when there was a boom of thunder and the first few drops of rain fell.

“It’s going to start pouring,” Eli said. Rose nodded, brushing some raindrops off her face.

“Then we’d better run,” she said calmly. “Race you.”

“What-“

She grinned wickedly and gave him a light push so he was off balance as she took off up the street. The rain intensified and she still got a bit drenched before she scrambled up onto the narrow porch, laughing. Eli caught up to her a few seconds later, pushing wet hair off of his face.

“What took you so long, slow poke?” Rose teased.

“You are a dirty little cheater,” Eli said, but he laughed when Rose grinned. They stood on the porch while Rose watched the rain.

“My mother loved the rain,” she said after a moment. “She could watch it for hours. She would grab my hand and have me jump in puddles with her.”

“She sounds nice,” Eli said quietly. They were quiet for a few minutes, until Charlie’s friends showed up looking like drowned rats and Eli glared at them.

“We’re not staying long,” one of them said hurriedly. “We’re just getting Charlie.”

They were also throwing curious glances at Rose, who pretended not to notice. Eli finally rolled his eyes and went inside to call for Charlie.

“So you’re really not afraid to stay here?” one of the boys suddenly blurted. Rose looked at him blankly.

“Beg pardon?”

“Well, you know. Because most people in town are scared of Eli. Aren’t you worried about staying here with him?”

“As a matter of fact, no,” Rose replied firmly.

“But don’t you know he was poss-“ The boy who’d been talking broke off as his friend elbowed him sharply. Eli was stepping back out onto the porch, and the two of them edged slightly away but one of them glanced briefly at the bit of Eli’s scar that was showing and Eli noticed, and could probably figure out that he’d been a topic of conversation. Charlie came outside a moment later and Eli reminded him to stay out of trouble before the three boys scurried off. Rose noticed Eli try to adjust his sleeve a little to hide the possession scar and she felt a pang of sympathy that people were always looking at him sideways. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I should probably go inside,” he muttered.

“Eli, wait,” Rose called softly. He paused and she took a step closer to him.

“I just wanted to tell you, that this doesn’t make you bad or scary,” she said, gently pushing his sleeve back up to reveal part of the scar. “I’m sorry that you had to endure a possession. It must have been terrible. But you should know that there’s a difference between something that happened to you, and who you are. The scar is just a mark left by a bad experience. You take good care of your brother and help strangers when you have nothing to gain from it except intrusive house guests. Who you are is very sweet.” Rose bounced up on her toes and kissed his cheek before letting go of his arm and stepping back.

“We should probably get out of the rain before we catch pneumonia,” she said, pushing the door open. “I can already hear Tobias’s lecture.”