The Wizard's Terrarium

Chapter Five

Falling Rain sat primly on a bench in the courtyard of Newcomers Square, enjoying the gentle breeze that rustled her fur. The sun was just rising in the east, highlighting purple bands of clouds with gold. How could Six think they really lived inside a bottle? What magic could be this convincing?

But then she remembered what everyone had seen that day: the sky had warped, like curved glass, and a large reptilian face had appeared and spoken in a booming voice.

Since then, a growing sense of unease had overcome the city. There were some who believed that the face had been some sort of deity, despite Six's protestations that Agast was nothing more than a wizard. But wizards were just a legend in this world, remembered and spoken of but never seen. They might as well be deities.

Meanwhile, Six had been insistent that he escape this so-called Bottle World, to the point where he spent nearly every waking moment planning and scheming, trying to find a way out. Falling Rain couldn't understand why he was so determined to return to the outside world. By his own accounts, it was a chaotic mess of violence and lawlessness, of nations rising up and conquering one another. It made no sense.

If she were honest with herself, though, there was a small part of her that understood. Something was missing. Falling Rain had been a shrine maiden of Bast, once, and she could almost remember that feeling of divine love deep in her soul. But it had been gone so long, she wasn't sure if she had only imagined it. If Bast were real, she was nowhere to be found, not in this Bottle World at least. But would it be worth leaving the peace and tranquility of Arcgate to seek her?

"Falling Rain."

She turned, saw Six Candy standing there. Was that a flicker of surprise in his eyes? She smiled at the thought. But then she frowned when she saw the woman standing beside him. She looked almost like a human, but with pale skin and paler hair, and glittering amethyst eyes. "Who is this?" Rain asked.

"Falling Rain, meet Nenth. She's a friend of mine."

The two women nodded their heads slightly, but kept their eyes fixed on each other. "Pleased to meet you," said Rain.

"Likewise," said Nenth, stiffly.

"I take it you plan to come with me," said Six Candy.

"Indeed," replied Falling Rain. "As your designated world guide, I plan to keep you safe and out of trouble."

"What about your Welcoming Committee duties?"

"They will wait for my return. Besides, you are one of only two newcomers who have not been resettled. Seems like a good use of my time to support you in whatever endeavor you embark on."

"Well, Maurice is coming with us as well, so I guess you've killed two birds with one stone."

Falling Rain had already known that, but she decided not to mention it. Instead, she grinned and said, "I thought you two weren't friends?"

Six Candy shrugged. "That was before I needed him."

Falling Rain had a hard time believing the Cat Burglar was as careless and carefree as he pretended to be. What's beneath that mask of yours? she wondered. What drives you to do what you do?

"So, where are we headed?" she asked.

"Onderberg," said Six Candy. He looked around. "Thinking of which, have you seen Jaap? We were supposed to meet here before we left."

Falling Rain shook her head. She was still puzzled by the unlikely friendship between Six and the Melesi engineer. She figured Six liked having someone intelligent enough to match his wits with, but other than that she could see nothing they held in common. "I'm sorry, no."