That didn’t narrow it down. Maybe she meant all of me. Ember cleared her throat. “The root as in my magic?”
“Yes.”
“You can help me get my magic back. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
A barking laugh escaped the fae girl, and she clapped a hand over her mouth before pulling herself together. “No way.”
“Do you accept?”
“Yeah, I accept!” Ember grinned and spread her arms. “What do I have to do?”
“Follow us.” The woman turned and walked fluidly back through the buildings toward the side of the valley filled with temples.
“Just follow. Yep. I can do that.” Her fingers trembled in excitement, and she swiped the wrong command on the crawler’s control panel twice, nearly throwing herself from the machine in the process before she sent the eight-legged O’gúleesh wheelchair scrabbling after the olforím.
When they emerged from the cluster of white stone buildings, Cazerel turned away from his conversation with his warriors and raised a hand. “Healer. Are you enjoying Nor’ieth?”
“Ask me when I come back, Chief.” Ember waved at him and quickly looked for the olforím woman leading her across the valley. “But I have a feeling the answer’s gonna be hell, yes.”
“I’ll come with you.” Cazerel handed the drinking gourd to one of his warriors and stepped after the crawler.
“I got it, Cazerel.” Ember tossed her hand in the air and didn’t dare look back at him. This feels like a one-shot deal. Don’t wanna screw it up by getting lost. “Don’t need a bodyguard against my own magic, thanks.”
The raug chief stopped and blinked at her in surprise.
“Let it go this once, huh, Zokrí?” Lumil took a crunching bite of a round green fruit that sprayed purple juice and red light as she chewed. “The fae girl’s stronger than she looks. And how bad could it be? I mean, really. We’re in Nor’ieth surrounded by olforím. None of this is supposed to exist. Doesn’t leave a lotta room for foul play, know what I’m sayin’?”
“No.” Cazerel blinked again and stared after Ember and the crawler, lurching across the valley. “I do not.”
“Well, trust me. She’s fine.” Lumil bit into the fruit again, then stared at it and shook her head. “Man, these things are delicious. You try one yet? No? Well, damn, Chief. Forget the fae and grab yourself one of these. I’m tellin’ ya, they don’t grow stuff like this anywhere but here, I guess.” Munching happily, the goblin woman stalked away to join Byrd in front of a huge basket of food grown in Nor’ieth’s soil.
Cazerel scratched his head, grunted, and rejoined his warriors.
* * *
Ember’s heartbeat pounded in her head as magic thickened around her. All this power in one place? If this doesn’t help me at least a little, I don’t know what will.
The olforím woman led her through different temples scattered across the valley, where the sounds of the old-school village—the singing, conversation, and raug laughter—were almost inaudible. Birds twittered in the trees lining the outside of the valley, and then the woman stopped and faced the fae girl.
“Your contraption must remain.”
“Oh. You know what?” Ember slapped the sides of the crawler and spread her arms. “I’m done with the contraption anyway. So as soon as I figure how to get out of it. Whoa.”
White light engulfed her. The olforím woman smiled gently as she flicked her fingers away from the crawler, and Ember rose slowly from the seat depression before floating through the air toward the temple behind her guide.
“Okay. Kinda silly of me to think I’m the only one who can levitate myself.” Ember tried to keep her arms relatively still, but hovering five feet above the ground made her flap her arms awkwardly as if that would keep her from falling. You’re making an ass of yourself, Em. If she can move you around and be graceful about it, you can take it gracefully and act like you know what you’re doing. You’re a fae, for chrissakes.
So she focused on her thin shadow creeping across the white floor of the temple. The olforím woman lowered her gently to the cool stone, and Ember cleared her throat. “Thanks. That was helpful.”
The tall, thin white-glowing magical stepped in front of the fae girl and dipped her head, clasping her three-fingered hands in front of herself again. “When you find what is already yours, take it.”
“Okay. What am I looking for, exactly?” Ember glanced around the empty temple and raised an eyebrow. “Because believe me, I’ve already tried everything I could think of to…and she’s walking away. Got it.”
Ember shifted her hips and grabbed first one shin, then the other to pull them toward her in something resembling a cross-legged position. So, I’ll sit here and look for what’s already mine. Excellent plan. If I had any idea what that was.
A soft rustling sound on her right made her look over her shoulder. “Oh, hey. If you came to watch the fae show, I don’t think there’s… Wow. What is that?”
Two other olforím floated across the temple floor toward her, smiling and gazing at her with creepy light-blue eyes that never blinked. One of them held a silver pitcher and a small silver cup, and the other carried a small basket of O’gúleesh produce.
Ember glanced at the hems of their robes and pressed her lips together. They have to be floating like I used to. I can’t see their feet, but those are definitely shadows.
“For you.” A woman with a thin, intricate tattoo snaking up the side of her neck in faint violet ink knelt in front of the fae girl and set both pitcher and cup on the temple floor.
“Thanks.” Ember stared at the magical’s luminous eyes and couldn’t think of anything else to say. When she stood, her compatriot knelt in front of Ember as well and set the basket beside the pitcher. He dipped his head and gave her a gentle, knowing smile before rising again in one fluid motion. “This is a lot of food.
