Chapter 13
Scrying for Signs
The Dreand Sea formed one of the borders that screened the Immortals' Circle from the rest of the Mirror Realm, forming an elongated, roughly four hundred mile border of varying width. It was about seventy miles at the widest point and a mere twenty at its narrowest. Carey had settled some ten miles inland from that narrow point, so the distance to cover while flying back had been relatively minor. Still, it had taken them two hours to cross the twenty miles of sea due to the freak storms that formed over the sea, created by the mystical currents in the Immortals' Circle. These storms had to be evaded, at all costs.
Like Pecos Bill—who had mapped the area at great risk to his life—some Etti and Dait had a knack for seeing the freak storm developing early on. Those brave souls dared to cross the sea by air on their winged-horse and hippogriff mounts, hoping to bring back sacks full of the extraordinary bounty the sea yielded on the immortal side of the shore. That was how a Dait fisherman had found Crystal, and after a brief stopover at the hamlet on the mortal coast of the sea which served as little more than a staging area for the fishermen skilled enough to brave the danger, she had been taken to the Dait village where Eriya and Naria lived. That village—which Wolfe had been able to see up close due to a brief landing to drop off the cat-girl twins and the Abraxan—lay less than a mile and a half from Carey's new hilltop home. Beneath her home, a small warren-community of Berbols was situated, of which Crystal and Holly's friend was a member. One of its entrances lay only a stone's throw away from Carey's home, and the young Berbol had almost immediately disappeared inside after they'd landed, barely stopping to say goodbye to her friends. Wolfe had a feeling that his presence had been unsettling to her.
"Nice place you have," Wolfe said, while he glanced around the almost perfectly circular room that formed the cottage's living area. The only deviations were the three holes that accommodated the shuttered windows, two arched doorways that led to other chambers, and the chimney column, which seemed unusually wide for the elaborate fireplace. It had firedogs resting on the stone slab that formed its base, and an cast iron fire-back protected the wall from the heat. For insulation, animal skins covered the thick stone walls, and the stone floor was almost completely covered by a carpet woven from plant fibres.
The furniture was sparse, with five three-legged stools shaped like capital D's surrounding a rectangular table, and three bean-bag-like lumps for lounging in front of the fireplace. The design of the table and stools was reminiscent of the Viking style, especially in the complete absence of nails in their construction. Nevertheless, by working with angles and carefully carving the leg holes for a snug fit, they retained remarkable sturdiness. Master Lei had pointed similar pieces of furniture out to him while making a point about being inventive when certain materials were hard to find. There was also a handsome iron-hinged trapezoidal chest, about five feet long, four feet wide at the bottom and three feet wide at the top, and three feet high. The image of a dragon type unknown to Wolfe was carved into the side facing the room. Looking up, Wolfe saw that there was a timber ceiling under the thatched roof, and he guessed that the thatched layer served for additional insulation. He also caught Crystal peeking at him through the gaps in the railing of the wooden platform that made up the second floor. She flashed him another shy, heart-warming smile before ducking away.
"It's even more beautiful in spring and summer, when the flowers are blooming," Carey replied, and beckoned him to follow her into the adjoining chamber, which turned out to be the kitchen. There were another two hearths, also with overhanging chimneys, firedogs and fire-backs like the one in the living area. One of the hearths seemed dedicated to holding cauldrons and cooking pots, for it was equipped with a chimney crane that could swing pots into position. This crane not only turned, but was also able to raise and lower the pots with ratchet style levers. The other hearth seemed dedicated to roasting, and was equipped with spit-dogs having several hooks at varying heights to adjust the meat's distance from the fire. There was also a clockwork-jack, a spit-jack that could be wound like a clock and allow the spit to turn for a predetermined amount of time, as well as a smoke jack, which was a spit-jack equipped with fanlike paddles that were pushed by the rising hot air, thus turning the spit in that manner. Finally, there was an over-door in one of the walls, and a small door beneath it that served for the passage of the fuel source.
With a gesture, Carey summoned a small caldron off one of the shelves and sent it floating across the kitchen. It finally settled under a water pump, which immediately began to pump water into it by itself. Then Carey summoned a pair of dead birds resembling Jungle Fowls and removed all their feathers in one go with another gesture. It was like she was directing an orchestra, gesturing wildly as knives, jars with spices, wild potatoes, carrots and dried vegetables, and mortars for crushing spices flew around before landing on the large table in the middle of the kitchen to do their work like invisible scullions.
When the knives were chopping carrots and vegetables, and mortars were grinding spices a few minutes later, Carey sat down on a stool and gestured for Wolfe to do the same. A pair of mugs and a tea kettle flew off a shelf. The kettle and mugs passed by the water-pump to be filled and rinsed respectively, before settling down on the table in front of its two occupants. Carey waved her hand over the kettle, and a moment later steam was billowing out of the spout. Then she filled the mugs before throwing one tea-leaf in each. Wolfe found this a bit odd, since to his knowledge tea was usually made with crushed leaves and several leaves were needed for a cupful.
"So exactly why did you need my help, Max?" she asked. When she'd landed on the beach after her bout of foraging in the Mirror Realm, he'd introduced himself and immediately announced that he needed her help. She'd asked him to fly home with her and her children in order to discuss it, and though he normally would have been reluctant to risk wasting so much time, he'd decided to go along with him for his daughter's sake.
"I'm looking for an evil man who has escaped into the Mirror Realm. He had my wife killed and our unborn son cut out of her womb. My son survived, because my wife had been far enough along in her pregnancy. But he still has my son." He paused to gauge her reaction, and saw a disturbed frown appear on her forehead.
She nodded. "I see."
"He has a very fast means of transportation, and there is no way for me to track him by conventional methods. I … or rather … Harry, has been told that Nalhati have powerful scrying techniques."
Carey's eyebrows went up in surprise as she heard Wolfe use the caretakers' proper name, and it was a while before she replied. "I'll help in any way I can. You'll eat with us and spend the night here. Tomorrow I'll take you back into the Immortals' Circle to seek counsel from the elder Nalhati."
The muscles in Wolfe's back, which had been taut with the stress of uncertainty, slackened with relief. He hadn't expected her to refuse, but lately he had learned to assume the worst "Thank you. If there's anything I can do to repay you…"
"There might be, but it wouldn't be right to ask that of a friend of Harry's. He looked up to you, you know."
"So … I've been told," Wolfe replied hesitantly.
"This troubles you?" Carey asked, having sensed the tension in his reply.
Wolfe shook his head. "It's just that I've done some things that I'm not proud of. My zeal in hunting my enemies made me lose sight of who I am."
"But you found yourself in the end."
"It isn't over yet," Wolfe said gloomily, feeling a sense of dread slowly creeping back into his heart. As if she'd been able to sense that, she immediately reached over and caressed his cheek, and all ill feelings drained away as her skin touched his.
He remembered that treatment from the shared memories with Harry. However, now there also appeared a reaction on her part, as a look of recognition crossed her pretty face. "I know that something significant happened in your realm, something that brought about Korumu's demise, but also cost Novoridu his life. Is this why you have some of Harry's essence, and some of Novoridu's?"
Wolfe nodded. "I can imagine it being a bit of a shock to meet a person with pieces of other people's essence."
"That wasn't what surprised me."
"Wasn't it?"
Carey shook her head. "This may come as a shock to you, but you're Crystal's father."
Wolfe was surprised to hear that, but Nalhati had many abilities he didn't know about. "I know I am. Holly told me some things on the beach, and I put two and two together. How could you tell?"
"Because I saw your essence when I touched you. A child carries half the essence of each parent into her mystical signature, and I recognised yours from Crystal's." Carey paused to take a sip of her tea.
"She looks a lot like Moira, before Moira transformed herself while attempting to achieve immortality." Wolfe closed his eyes to better visualise the way Moira had seen herself in her own mind. For some reason, her self image had never adapted to her outward appearance. He kept at it for a while, and when he opened his eyes again he saw that Carey was busy tossing chunks of fowl into the already boiling water.
Silently drinking his tea—realising as he did so that the single leaf in the warm water had been more than enough—he was content to watch her bustle about the kitchen, which, upon reflection, seemed to be very elaborate for a small cottage. To his shame, that wasn't the only thing he noticed. At some point she had discarded the poncho she'd been wearing after the kitchen had heated up. Harry's memories hadn't prepared him for the sight of her in real life.
It was like being in the presence of a Veela, but far more subtle and less mind-numbing. He could easily block the Veela Charm. Yet whatever attraction this was, it seemed to seep through the tiny fractures in his defences. Not that he felt like throwing himself at her feet. He was in perfect control of his mental faculties, but for whatever reason he couldn't fight the attraction she was exerting. The brief sense of guilt that flashed through him was absorbed by an unseen force, as was the worry he felt about that. Fortunately he had enough control to confront her about it.
He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude, but do you possess some power that attracts men?"
The pink tinge she already had on her face due to the heat coming off the fires deepened, and the way she lowered his gaze guiltily answered the question for him. A heartbeat later he found the attraction fading.
"How did you know?" she asked, her quiet voice barely carrying over the cracking of the crackling of the flames. "You weren't supposed to be able to tell."
"Maybe it's an side-effect of the Novoridu's imprint, or perhaps my Incubus blood." Wolfe frowned. "But why were you trying to seduce me?"
"Men like you and Harry are very rare, and I find myself drawn to you."
"You hardly know me."
"I can sense these things, Max. You and Harry are two of a kind, and … well …" Her blush deepened even further as her sentence faltered. Then she seemed to gather her courage before continuing. "I can tell that you still love your dead wife just like Harry loves his Ginny, and that that's why you fought so hard to resist my … call of seduction. I'm sorry, it's my vice." She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor, looking quite forlorn. Then she raised her eyes to meet again. "But please don't think badly of me. I am not in the habit of doing it. Indeed, I haven't done it since Harry. It takes a great man to draw my attention."
Wolfe didn't know what to think of that confession. "You used your power on Harry to get him to sleep with you?"
"Yes, but that isn't why he slept with me. He resisted, just like you. In the end he did it by his own choice."
Not completely trusting her word, Wolfe quickly scanned her thoughts. Not only did he find that she'd told him the truth, but he also felt her intense loneliness, and he berated himself for intruding into her thoughts like that. He genuinely pitied her for that. "I'm flattered, but I can't indulge you. I'm sorry."
"Was your wife a jealous woman? Do you think she would begrudge you my companionship, even in death?"
Wolfe hesitated for a bit, wondering whether or not he ought to tell her about the torturous situation he'd been in before Galatea's death. Then, deciding that it would be as good a distraction as any, he spilled his guts to Carey, even telling her about the child Heidi was almost certainly expecting, and that both Heidi and Ginny had had a vision about it. And she turned out to be a very good listener.
When he was done, a small smirk appeared on her face. "I just remembered, your Heidi is the one who looked like Harry's Ginny so much."
"Yes, she does." Wolfe laughed, remembering the behavioural similarity Heidi and Ginny had displayed during his visit. "They are alike in more ways that just looks. Had they been raised in the same circumstances, I think they'd have been even more alike."
"Like you and Harry."
"You have no idea how close Harry and I came to growing up as stepbrothers. My great-grandfather wanted to train Harry like he trained me, and wanted to kidnap Harry out of his Muggle relatives' home. I'm glad he didn't, though. His training would have taken away some of the purity Harry needed to destroy Voldemort, since the sword of Godric Gryffindor could only channel the necessary magic properly if wielded by a soul unwilling to embrace corruption. I was taught that resorting to dark means is okay … sometimes. Good thing Harry wasn't." He sighed at the memory of his well-intentioned but misguided mentor. "So, what's my daughter like?"
While she cooked, Carey guided him through a summary of the first six years of his daughter's life with remarkable accuracy, illustrating his daughter's character with several anecdotes about things she'd done from toddler-hood until her current age. Crystal seemed to have a fiery spirit with a bit of a vindictive streak which could have come from either him or Moira. But there were also hints of a protective and nurturing personality, because she kept bringing injured animals into the house for Carey to heal. Much to Carey's dismay, some had been quite dangerous and fierce predators. But all of them were quite docile in Crystal's presence, and Carey told him that she was quite certain that Crystal had a strong affinity with beasts.
Their dinner became a drawn-out affair, since Holly kept quizzing him about the Earth Realm, and Harry, until Carey finally silenced her, having sensed Wolfe's reluctance. Not that he hadn't wanted to talk about it, but talking about it would greatly have increased the odds of him mentioning that Harry had reached the Earth Realm safe and sound, some seven-and-a-half years ago. Keeping her ignorant was crucial to the developments in her future … and his past.
Now, reflecting on those thoughts as he absently watched Holly and Crystal splashing around in a metal tub and lather each other's hair with some sort of lemony-smelling homemade herbal shampoo, he wondered whether her future self had recognised him when saving his life after the destruction of Korumu's Stone. If she had, it meant that she'd kept quiet then for the same reasons he was keeping quiet now. Any knowledge on his part that he'd end up in the Mirror Realm and meet her, might have led him to wonder why he'd go to the Mirror Realm in the first place. He knew himself well enough to know that he wouldn't simply have assumed that it had happened on a possible Mirror Realm expedition. No … knowing the future would have thrown his life into disarray for certain.
Still, he couldn't help wondering how Holly and Pecos Bill had known where and when to find Harry to make their nick-of-time rescue possible. Accessing Harry's memories for the umpteenth time, he combed through Holly's testimony for clues. The way she had described things to Harry while he was being nursed back to health in Merlin's dwelling had suggested that it had been an incredible stroke of luck that they'd been at the right place, but more importantly, at the right time. The odds were simply astronomical! Would one of the Nalhati in the future have told her? That didn't make a lot of sense, since the Nalhati had denied being able to see into the Forest of Reflection. He briefly pondered whether they might have lied about that to Harry, but a subtle sense of indignation from within provided by Novoridu's essence convinced him that they had indeed been truthful. Wolfe's mind set aside Harry's memories and went back to the scheme he'd used to save Harry's life.
In order to complete the causality loop, he had dropped a Cauldron Clone in Harry's place. Could it be that fate meant for him to save Harry's life again, indirectly, by completing another causality loop? He was the only being in either realm that he knew of, who could tell Holly exactly where and when to save Harry, since he shared Harry's memories. The situation was so eerily similar to the one Harry had found himself in at the end of his third year at Hogwarts. He'd waited, expecting his dead father to show up and save his life, until he realised that must have saved his own life and acted upon it. Wolfe wondered whether he had to wait, since there was a slim chance that Holly and Pecos Bill had indeed happened on Harry's location in time and space by a sheer stroke of luck, or if he had to act and somehow convey the proper knowledge to Holly.
After internally debating for a while whether or not to do anything, he decided to postpone that decision for a while. Instead, he scrutinised his current surroundings on the platform that basically made up the second floor of the circular dwelling.
The extra width of chimney he'd noticed earlier was explained by the presence of a small fireplace on the platform. The extra mass had been solid rather than hollow to provide the base of the fireplace, but from the platform on up the chimney was completely hollow, channelling the smoke from the fire downstairs right alongside the smoke generated by the small fireplace. This fireplace, carefully constructed not to allow any glowing embers to spatter out onto the wooden platform, wasn't equipped for cooking. Instead, it seemed meant to provide heat for the immediate vicinity, as well as heating the underside of a small water reservoir that probably served to collect rainwater running off the roof. A pipe ran from the reservoir to a water-pump, which Carey had used to fill the bathtub with heated water. The house was really quite ingeniously constructed and he doubted that Carey had done it herself, based on what Harry knew of her. It had to have been someone with knowledge of architecture, something that he didn't imagine coming with the 'caretaker of the wildflowers' territory.
The other furnishings consisted chairs of a large king-sized four-poster and two smaller beds. A hammock that didn't look like it was normally there had been hung from two overhead beams. Wolfe guessed that was where he would be sleeping.
"Max?" Carey's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. As his eyes gained focus on reality once more, he saw his daughter standing in front of him. She was done bathing, and was wearing a night-dress now. She regarded him with large, inquisitive eyes as she held out a wooden hairbrush to him. "Would you brush her hair?"
He turned to Carey, who gave him an encouraging smile while holding her own daughter's foam-mouthed face firmly in place as she scraped a primitive-looking but functional toothbrush over her teeth. So he reached forward and lifted his daughter to set her down astraddle one his legs. Then, remembering instructions his sister had given for brushing his niece's hair, he gently began brushing the slightly damp hair starting on the inside at the nape of her neck, careful not to rip through the tangles. With every brush the scented shampoo wafted towards him, filling him with a mild feeling of euphoria akin to being in an oxygen rich environment. It was like he'd truly taken a deep breath for the first time of his life.
As he continued to gently run the brush through her light-brown hair, Wolfe also wondered why his daughter was so eager to bond with him. Children had always tended to be intimidated by him, including his nephew Charlie, who had inherited the Mind Reading gift from his mother. So it couldn't be the fact that he and Crystal had linked minds when they had met. But for some unfathomable reason, she seemed to have taken to him immediately. He was actually disappointed when Crystal slid off his knee and skipped over to Carey to get her teeth brushed too.
"Would you like to bathe too?" Carey asked him as she began brushing Crystal's teeth. "Harry told me about modesty, so I could get you a screen. Of course, the girls have never seen a human or Etti man naked before, so I can't be certain that they won't try to sneak a peek," she added teasingly.
"All right," Wolfe consented, feeling that he ought to grab every opportunity to take a bath since there was no telling how long he might go without one after tomorrow.
x
The long day in the Immortals' Circle must have tired the girls out, because they'd been fast asleep by the time Wolfe had stepped out of the bathtub the previous evening. He and Carey retired not too long after the girls, after discussing their time of departure from Carey's home, and where they would go to seek counsel in the Immortals' Circle. They had settled on asking Wesdagor—known to non-Nalhati as the caretaker of the ponds—for his help, since scrying was known to be his strong suite.
Wolfe felt his hamster-form self being lifted out of the pouch Carey had placed him in, much sooner than he'd expected. She had suggested that mode of travel, for even though she was mortal now, she was still a full-blooded Nalhati and could plough through the freak storms instead of going around them. She would have been forced to do that if he'd accompanied her in the form of a griffin or some other flying animal, and she would have had to fly much slower as well, since no magical or normal flying beast could match the blistering speed of the angel-winged Nalhati. He returned to his normal form as soon as he felt the ground under his little paws, and immediately noticed the kind-looking old man he knew from Harry's memories.
"So nice to have visitors other than my immediate neighbours again," Wesdagor said happily. "It also gladdens me to see that part of Novoridu still lives on, in such a worthy individual too," he added, eyeing Wolfe with a fair amount of satisfaction.
Carey had to touch him to find out about the same thing, but this elder Nalhati had been able to tell by only looking at him. Wolfe suspected that their skill and power increased and sharpened with age. Just as he wondered whether Wesdagor would be able to detect Harry's essence, the old Nalhati continued.
"I must say, I had hoped that you would come to seek my counsel. When Harry came to see me, I knew that there was someone other than his Twin Flame whose fate would be entwined with his through time and space. But I am sure you are starting to realise that yourself."
"You knew he was here?" Carey asked, evidently surprised.
Wesdagor nodded. "As soon as he entered our domain, owing to the presence of Novoridu and Harry's marks." Then he turned to Wolfe. "Unfortunately, your quarry had no such links to me, and by the time I was able to discern his alignment through other means, he was already beyond my sphere of influence," he added, regret etched on his features. "He seemed to be aware of the fact that my kind wouldn't react to him favourably."
Wolfe's heartbeat quickened into a that of a ancient African war dance. "Which way did he go?"
"If you join me by the pond, I will be able to do much better than merely telling you which way he went. Another bit of good news I have for you is that I also gained an impression on your son. He's in good health, and as of yet uncorrupted by his captor. I've also sent out warnings to the beings living in the area where your quarry seems to be headed. Perhaps they might make your task a bit easier."
"You might have endangered those beings," Wolfe said darkly. "Yamato himself might be unimpressive, but he can rely on many powerful gadgets."
"My probe revealed that, which is why I also told them to be extremely cautious. Now, take off your glove and put your hand in the water, where it is swirling," Wesdagor said. He had cast a spell on the pond, and part of the water's surface near the edge had begun to swirl because of it.
Wolfe removed his glove and placed his hand in the icy-cold water. It first nothing happened, but after a few seconds he felt some kind of energy crawl up his arm. It lasted for about a minute, after which the sensation disappeared.
"You may take out your hand now," Wesdagor instructed, and Wolfe complied. The moment his hand left the water the swirling stopped and that part of the pond's surface became like a mirror.
Yamato's malicious face appeared on it half a heartbeat later. It looked like he was piloting the craft he'd entered the Mirror Realm with. Then the view shifted to a toddler wearing a shabby romper suit he was outgrowing very quickly. Wolfe was shocked to see how much his son looked like him. People had often told him how much Robert looked like him, but compared to Westley, Robert looked like Galatea.
Wesdagor muttered some more words under his breath, and the image transformed to show the outside of the craft. It looked very scarred, and two of its legs were missing. "It looks like his ship has been damaged while he through the Fiery Peaks of Quala." Then the image shifted again, turning into something very similar to the images provided by orbital eyes. Yamato's craft was represented by a miniature, though exaggerated in size, since the image covered too large an area for Yamato's craft to be visible.
"How tall are those peaks?" Wolfe said, immediately noticing the size of the volcanoes.
"Nearly as tall as the Immortal Peaks that surround Forbidden plains and the Forest of Reflection," Carey said.
Wolfe frowned. The mountain Harry had climbed to reach the Forest of Reflection had been about six miles high. But even if the Peaks of Quala were nearly as tall, surely Yamato's craft would have been able to easily clear them. "How did Yamato's craft get damaged? I'm sure his craft could have reached orbit, in the Earth Realm."
"The Fiery Peaks are magical mountains capable of spitting debris up to three times their own height. I believe your quarry didn't know that, and flew over the peaks with a margin he deemed safe but really wasn't." Wesdagor said.
"And my son nearly paid for his mistake," Wolfe grumbled. Still, his son was all right, and Yamato's craft had taken damage. He'd have to halt somewhere to repair it, giving Wolfe ample opportunity to catch up. "So, I can fly over those volcanoes safely if I fly beyond their spitting range?"
"Yes."
Wolfe stared at the image in the pond, imprinting it into his memory. The miniature craft symbolising Yamato's craft was flying over an fork in a narrow river, still headed what would have been south, in the Earth Realm.. Beyond that, Wolfe knew he'd be on his own. He'd have to do his own detective work to see which way Yamato had gone. He sighed. "Too bad I can't talk to anyone who might see him passing by. Harry got Novoridu's affinity to learn languages."
Wesdagor got a twinkle in his blue eyes that strongly reminded Wolfe of Aberforth Dumbledore. "I believe I have means to remedy your inability to converse with the natives of this realm."
x
Foxfur: To answer the question you asked in your Chapter 11 review, it was your guess that the baby somehow had a power that saved Wolfe. And to answer the question you asked after Chapter 12, yeah, Holly was withholding information.
Starwest: Thanks for reminding me about the twins. Disclaimer: The names of the cat-girls have been borrowed from Escaflowne.
hootild: It is sad, itsn't it?
blah29: I'll try to keep it coherent.
Saint Mike: I love doing that.
Gogirl: Not one of the first three reviewers, for a change. Anf FYI, my fic isn't a paradox, since the causality makes perfect sense. In Termninator, the SKYNET project was based on the arm and the chip of the first Terminator. But if the robot hadn't been sent to the past, there would have been no SKYNET. The cause is the effect, which doesn't make sense. And it isn't even a paradox, but simply a badly thought-through plot device. Most people didn't notice because Arnold was so cool.
Furioh: No, it isn't the case. Re-read Chapter 25 of Existence after Life and Chapter 19 of Mind War. It should explain why Holly was 18 or 19 when she came looking for Harry in Mind War.
Athena McGonagall: Good to have you back.
Fragarch: I'm sure you did.
bane: A change in behaviour is only called "out of character" if there is no explanation for that change. Near death experiences tend to have a profound impact on people's psyche. If you don't believe that having a chat with the god of magic was enough to change Wolfe's outlook on life, nothing will please you.
Shalli: Crystal isn't a super-child.
The Keymaker: I am proud to mention that lately I've gained the ability to actually plan things a bit in advance.
Lady of Masbolle: No, Ron isn't going to have any children by different women. As for Ginny, in Chapter 12 she'd barely been fertilised. The baby was nothing more than a lump of cells.
Lipton: No, it wasn't just you. Hugh Jackman rules!
Elric Magus: Yes indeed.
lluvatar: Here you go.
Dhasku Alidath: Cool pen-name. Don't be a lurker. ;-)
Chloe Black: Re-read Chapter 25 of Existence after Life and Chapter 19 of Mind War.