“Ah, thank you.  I do love tea.”

“It’s Chamomile.”

“It’s good, thank you.”

“No problem…So.  What did you come to talk about?”

“I was wondering what you could tell me about the Attuned.”

“Why would you ask that?”

“She told me you could explain why she betrayed the rebellion.”

“She…told you?”

“She said I would know you by that necklace- she said you always wear it.”

“…are you here to kill me?”

“What?  No, of course not.  Why would you think- wait, did- does she want you dead?”

“I think you should go.”

“No-”

“Leave me.”

“Hey- wait- I don’t- she doesn’t- I don’t think she knows where you are!”

“Get out.”

“Wait!  I…I fought her before…I probably will again.  She doesn’t know where you are… I wonder if she’ll ask.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not how you do it.”

“Tell me what you know.”

“No.”

“Then I’ll tell her.”

“You- Don’t- Get back in here!”

“Are you going to tell me?’

“…yes, yes, fine.  I… I knew her, back before she was the King’s.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her name was Alisa.  She was, she was a witch- a monster.  She was born from her mother’s dead body-”

“I know how witches are born.”

“Yes, yes, of course you do.  Well, me and her and some others, we were all…together.  We’d all been wronged by the King- my wife was killed, by house burned- you understand, the King- the King’s guard were… crueler then.  We all lost something.

or her it was her father.  She was a witch, so her mother was already dead-”

“Yes, I know.”

“Well, they killed her father- the guards did, I mean, after she showed magic.  We all saw it, and so of course she was a monster and I don’t think she ever I mean we were all-”

“Just tell me how you knew she had magic.”

“…It was our midsummer festival.  Everything was a little hazy, everyone was well and drunk- not the little ones, of course, but the adults, we were all, or at least most of us.  I certainly wasn’t alone in it, you understand, and somehow, the town hall- that was where we all were- it was suppertime- it caught on fire.  The whole hall, just…

We all ran out, went for the buckets and shovels to help fight the fire, but before we could really get anything started, we heard a child, screaming.

All the mothers double-checked their little ones, and then Mara screamed- she was the butcher’s wife.  Terrible, fragile thing, really.  You know, she used to-”

“What happened then?”

“Well, the smith had to hold her back from running back in- she had three other little ones to look after, so of course she couldn’t go dying to save one baby.  He was easily strong enough to do it, too- big fellow, Brent.

But Alisa, no one thought to stop her, so she ran right in, fast as you can imagine.  And after a little bit, we heard the child stop its shrieking, and we all thought that both were dead- we all watched like if we looked hard enough we could see them, fallen inside.  And we did see something- we saw her there through the flames.  She was holding the baby in her arms, and she was walking- just, just walking, out to us.

Then, there was this awful crack, and a beam fell, right over her.  Mara screamed- you understand, she’d been screaming the whole time- and loud too- but this time, this time she was sure she was to see her little one die.  It was an awful sound- I didn’t think the little thing had it in her to make such a strong scream.

But Alisa, she just held up her hand- straight up, like this, see, with her palm towards the sky, and that beam stopped in the middle of the air, and she walked out- no faster than she had been, mind you- right out to us.

Mara grabbed her baby, once Brent let her go, and then Alisa let her hand down, and that whole blazing building just fell- collapsed in on itself, like- like- well,

Alisa just sort of stood there for a moment, but then the guards went for her- she was a witch, you know-”

“I know.”

“Well, she ran off, and of course they couldn’t keep up with her- they were wearing heavy armor- all the guards did back then, so she ran off into the night, and that’s all any of us thought we’d see of her.

Well, two nights later, she shows up at my back door, wearing her father’s shirt like a dress, and she was starving- poor thing, I gave her some food, let her sleep in my own bed- I kept watch all night for soldiers.  The next morning, she tells me her father was dead and her house was burned, and she didn’t know what to do.

I… she reminded me of myself, I suppose- all alone and without a friend after the soldiers took everything from her.  She wanted revenge, and so did I, so I took her to the capital.

We met others along the way- Jack, Rookie, Lawr.  They were good boys.

Rookie died when we passed through a town and one of the guards recognized Alisa.  He made sure she got away, but he was injured, and they… they got him.  They... they… they killed him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“He wasn’t old enough to die, especially not like, not…”

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine- I mean… It’s not fine.  But… I, I reckon he was the third person she killed.  After her mother, father, it was him.  She seemed real torn up about it, and I didn’t realize it then, but she was, she was a monster, you understand.  It was her fault.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I am.  Just, I saw the guards as we went into the town.  I… I wish I had realized they were there to stay the night- I thought they were just passing through.

Just got something in my eye, see.  I’m, I’m fine.

But it was her fault.  She ran- she should have helped him- should have been able to do something more.  That was why we- I mean, it wasn’t the only reason- I mean, she was a monster, you understand?”

“…”

“Look, we got into the capital, and things went south fast.  Jack got killed, and I got captured.  Alisa and Lawr got away, but… I saw what the King could do when she tried to fight him.  And he was so angry when he found out she had gotten away.  So when he made me the offer, I just… I just couldn’t… She was a monster…”

“What offer?”

“He told me that if I gave her to him, he would give me a full pardon.  I could go with a fortune, and he would never pursue me.  All I had to do was give her a few drops of a potion he’d made, and bring her to the castle courtyard.

So I did it.  I slipped the potion into her drink that next morning, told her that we were going to rescue Jack- she hadn’t seen him die, you see- and we went and the King came out and, well, she could barely raise a shield for me when he sent out a blast towards us.

And when she realized she couldn’t fight him, she looked at me.  Just looked.  And all I saw was that little girl whose father took such care to learn to braid her hair.  She told me to run, but the King told her that wasn’t necessary- that I’d taken his offer.  And she had to ask me what that meant. 

I told her that I was sorry.  That was it.  I just said, ‘I’m sorry,’ and that was it.  I should have… I should have told her…

But, but then the King told her he had warned her we would turn on her, and then she just, she just…fell, like that town hall had.  And he went up to her and knelt down in front of her, and then he pulled her over and held her, and he told me to go, and so I went.

I didn’t think he’d take her in.  I hadn’t thought he would.”

"Then… you thought he- he’d kill her?”

“…”

“You thought he was going to kill her?  You gave her to die?”        

“…”

“How old was she?”

“…eleven.”

“Ele- oh my… eleven years old?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“You can tell her where I am.”

“What?”

“Tell her I’m here.  Tell her she can do what she wants with me.”

“I don’t think-”

“I won’t fight, not that I could do anything against her now, but I won’t anyways.  She can have me.”

“…All right.”

“Good.  Good.  Go on then.  Go find her, tell her.  I’ll be right here.”

"All right.”

“Yes…”

“Thank you for the tea.”

“It’s Chamomile.”

“Yes, it was good.  Thank you.”

“Goodbye.”

“Good…Goodbye.”​