One Between the Stars

Chapter 35

 Ionia didn't even realize that she had fallen asleep in the library until Carson woke her up. She jumped, blinking, and looked up to see the familiar man, blonde hair rather tousled.

He was looking at her with a rather amused expression, though she wasn't sure why.

"You know, a bed would have also been a nice place for a nap."

She wanted to wrinkle her nose at him, but couldn't hold back a yawn. "Guess I was more tired than I thought."

Carson cocked his head at the book in her lap. "What's that?"

"Oh, thank you for asking," she said, perking up. "It's called a book. It has these amazing things called words on them, and they tell a story - "

"You're far too sarcastic for your own good," he said, rolling his eyes as he sat down beside her.

"The best people are," she said, marking the book. It hadn't been terribly interesting; a work of nonfiction some scientist had written, chronicling his experience with a quite mundane species of bird. She supposed that was why she had fallen asleep. "How'd you find me?"

"That strange girl told me you were here," he said, and nodded to a place at the top of a banister, where Nimue was scanning the shelves with a pile of books in her arms.

"That's the Matron's daughter," Ionia said. "Nimue."

"Is she?" Carson asked. "Well, I can see where the Matron gets her warm smiles from."

Ionia laughed.

Nimue noticed them and waved, then started down the stairs. "Elyna, I see you didn't like the book I gave to you."

"Um, it wasn't - "

Nimue laughed. "You fell asleep reading it. Ah, well. Maybe I can do with just skimming this one." She took it from where Ionia had set it aside and placed it atop the others. "Are you two ready for the grand tour?"

The two nodded and together they started walking the palace, Nimue narrating along the way. Ionia instantly realized why this girl was chosen for the task; she had a natural ability to make anything and everything sound interesting and whimsical. Her soft, drifting voice had an almost lyrical quality that made it so easy to get captured in the story behind a painting, or in the telling of how certain structures were built.

"Our planet has long been the source of our endurance for generations," she said, tucking her hands into her robes. "When we fled the Magic Purges, our strength and much of our numbers were stripped away. A warlock's power is connected to his or her state of being and mind, you know. You take away his physical strength, or his joy at seeing his comrades wiped out, and you have a race of people who cannot fight. So we fled."

"So it depends on emotion?" Carson asked. His hands were folded behind his back. "Your magic, that is."

"No," Nimue said, her eyes wandering, as if she were only half paying attention to the conversation. "Emotion is an unconstant thing; while perhaps children let their power run rampant with their feelings, they learn in time that emotion is a fragile and fleeting thing, not to be trusted with such great power. Instead, through training, they learn to channel it through something more substantial. We call it Anima. It's our being, our existence."

Ionia furrowed her brow. "You channel your magic through your body?"

"No," Nimue said, but didn't elaborate. Ionia decided to let it slide because in all honesty, the ways of the warlocks weren't very relevant to her in any case.

"Anyway," Nimue continued on, "We spent a great time in cruiser ships, traversing across the galaxy, looking for a solid place to make a new home. Merlin was able to find a place for us far away from the eyes of other planet kingdoms and nations, on a rather deserted and rocky place that we named Caerleon." She stopped, and Ionia and Carson came to stand by her as she pointed at a painting hung up on a wall. It was enormous, the height of the entire wall, and depicted a large planet in its center, half of it dark and rocky, the other colored brightly with blue and green.