The Hanes Enigma

Chapter One - Commensuration

Etney Adara

Four Years Ago

I bite the inside of my lip nervously. Next to me, a willow tree groans and creaks in the wind, personifying my anxiety.

He's late.

He's never been late before. He's always bang smack on time. Within the minute, even! But I summoned him hours ago and there's still no sign of the gangly witch.

The cold of the wooden bench I am seated on is finally starting to get to me, and I rub my hands together, cupping them around the small flicker of warmth that I have just created.

"Can I share some of that?" Namjoon jogs up to the bench, sitting next to me.

I smile and nod, pushing my still closed hands out towards him. He gingerly hovers his own over mine and I chuckle slightly. "You can touch my hands, Namjoon."

He blushes slightly. "Right, thank you." His frosty hands cup my own and he sighs gently, clearly comforted by the warmth.

"Why are you late?" I frown slightly, still concerned.

"I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be!" He looks up at me, panicked.

"I don't mind, Joon. I just want to make sure you're okay." I shrug slightly, looking away.

"Oh.. Really?... I'm okay. My Keeper sent me out pretty urgently.. I only had a few hours this time, so..." He purses his lips.

"Have you told her yet?" I frown. "Do you even know what you're going to say?"

"I have no clue. And quite frankly, I'm shitting myself about it." He glares at the frost-tipped grass. "I only have a week left. Before she'll tell me to kill someone again. I... I can't kill a person, Etney. I just... I can't..."

I see panic and a threatening wetness in his eyes and I press my palms together, quenching the flame, before cupping my hands around his and warming their backs. "I wish I could help..."

"Why? It's nothing to do with you..." He frowns.

"No, but.. I don't know. I actually give a shit what happens to you." I shrug and he smiles slightly.

"Thanks..."

I chuckle at his gratitude.

"What would you do? If you were me?... Who would you give up?" He looks pleadingly into my eyes, wanting an order. Wanting to not have to make the decision himself.

"If I were emotionless, I'd put it into a table to see which is worse. You have three options: obey, offer your first-born's servitude or face the consequences. If you obey, you'll be forever mentally scarred and probably cause a lot of harm to the world. My guess is that the Clanless won't ask you to kill evil people... So we can safely say that should be crossed out. If you go for suffering the consequences, then your whole family dies and you go to jail for their deaths and every single crime you've committed for the Clanless. So that should be crossed out too, right?" Namjoon nods and looks away disappointedly.

"So that only leaves one... Give up my kid." He gris his teeth.

"Your father tried to hide you, and that clearly didn't work. So, I guess the best you can do is hope to raise your child with enough advanced warning and as good a moral code as yours that they only do the minimum that the Clanless ask of them before also giving up their future child. Maybe if the cycle goes on forever, none of you will end up killing anyone."

"But what if we can only do that a certain number of times, or something?! What if my kid is the last one and I could have prevented that." He slides his hands out of mine and lets his head fall into them.

"Well, there is another option..." I mumble. His eyes dart to meet mine, hopeful. "Don't have a kid..?"

He gulps and then blinks at the ground. "Right..."

"But like I said before, that's if I were emotionless. What I'd really do is ask my father. I'd try to find out everything that he knows. Sometimes I think that if everyone good shared their information then we could have the upper hand on the evil..." I shrug and curl my knees up to my chest.

"So, talk to my dad." Namjoon nods contemplatively.

"That's what I'd do." I shrug again.

He bites his lip and then turns to face me. "So my task?"

I blink at him confusedly. "Task?"

"Well, the reason you summoned me." He frowns, equally as confused.

"Oh! Right... Well... I just wanted some company..." I look away, embarrassed.

"And you chose me?" I feel him shuffle slightly closer and I keep gazing at the willow tree.

"Sometimes, even if they're friends or family, royalty can get a little suffocating..." I sigh and he places a hand over mine.

"It's good that you have me, then." I turn back to face him and return his friendly smile.

"Yeah, it is." I bite the inside of my lip and quickly reach into my pocket, pulling out a small wad of cash.

"Etney..." He frowns as I hand the usual amount over to him. "No."

I frown too. Does he want more? Is this not enough for him anymore?

"You're not paying me to hang out with you. I feel bad enough that you pay me at all." He places it back in my hands and closes them over the porous paper.

"But I summoned you. I took you out of your life to come and see me, I can't just expect that from you..." I frown.

"Okay.. How about it starts to work both ways?" He bites his lip nervously.

I blink, not understanding.

"I mean, I won't ask you to do anything! Just.. You know... Hang out..." He blushes slightly and I smile.

"You want to summon me?" How quaint.

He shrugs. "You're nice to me... I consider you a friend at this point..."

"The stones don't work that way. It's all to do with Kalama status. Obviously, mine is quite high, and yours is... Well, non-existent..." I chuckle awkwardly and he nods, looking away. "But if it did work, I'd come if you called..."

He pauses and then turns back to me. "How long have you got?"

"I need to be back before sun-down. Why?" I tilt my head at his excited smile.

"A book I was reading mentioned a human device that I've been thinking of getting... The issue is that no one else I know has one, so I'd only be able to communicate with myself..." He looks away, immediately embarrassed.

"And you want me to get one with you?" I smile lightly.

"Well, we can't write to each other.." He shrugs, still incredibly anxious for my answer. "This way, we'd be able to contact one another equally..."

"I like it. Sounds cool." I grin and he lets out a breath I didn't even gauge that he was holding. "Do you know where the nearest human town is?"

"You've never been to one?" He gapes at me and I shake my head. "Wow... Well, Crenford is kind of an in-between town. There's pretty much equal human to magick, so that might be the best place to start. I don't want to overwhelm you with a city-centre of anything."

He chuckles and I blink at him, not getting the joke. He just smiles and takes my hand in his, pulling me to a bus stop.