“Not that I am aware,” Yannoma said. “Those of us who survived the Great Betrayal went into hiding. Our focus was on survival, and none of us wanted records that might reveal what we were.”
Cormal flinched. No, they certainly wouldn’t want that.
“It also didn’t entirely matter to us. Yes, it could help our children. But it wasn’t useful tous.” She shrugged. “We’re practical, more than anything.”
Perian was staring at her. “That’s why you worked together to seal the breaches.”
Yannoma nodded.
Slowly, like he was still shaping the words as he said them, Perian continued. “Because neither group could do it on their own. You needed something physical—the elements—with the Life Magic.”
She was staring at him like she didn’t understand the question, but she agreed, “Yes, they had to work together.”
Perian pointed at Kinan. “So… what would happen if we used both Magics on Kinan?”
Stunned silence met Perian’s question.
And then the room erupted. Brannal finally sent a gust of wind around the room to shut them all up.
“We have to work through this logically,” Brannal said sternly. He turned to Yannoma. “I believe you have the best knowledge of the breach.”
She half inclined her head and half shrugged. “I was deemed too young to be involved directly.”
Perian almost fell out of his chair. “Wait, wait. Are you saying you werethere? I thought it was a story you heard from your parents who heard it from their grandparents or something.”
The Great Cataclysm was more than three hundred years ago.
“I was not present during the working itself,” she said serenely, like she hadn’t just shocked them all. “If I had been, I would probably be dead. A few of us were too young to help—but not so young that we didn’t sneak out to watch. Which is how we survived.” Her smile was arctic. “We were hidden when they came for everyone.”
“I won’t let that happen again,” Kinan said fiercely.
Cormal was immensely proud of him and a bit terrified at the same time. It was clear that Kinan would always fight for what he believed in.
“Regardless,” Yannoma continued, looking as though she was making a deliberate decision not to think about the past, “I don’t have more information to offer you. I don’t know how the Magics were combined, nor if what sealed a breach between worlds could be used on a human.”
They knew very little, really, but it was clear that Cormal wasn’t the only one to feel a thrum of excitement at the idea. It had seemed as though they were completely out of possibilities, and then Perian had produced another one.
He smiled at the other man, and mouthed “thank you” when their eyes met. Even if it turned out not to work, Cormal wasgrateful for the suggestion, because it showed they were still trying.
Perian smiled back, the warmest and most open smile he’d ever directed at Cormal. He knew even this moment of accord wouldn’t erase the past, but it was another reminder that Perian was actively choosing not to hold it against him.
“But he can’t touch anything,” Molun was saying as Cormal began to pay attention again. “I mean, I can douse him in water as often as you want, but it won’t do any good. The elements can’t touch him.”
This caused a momentary dip in the mood, but Brannal was more contemplative. “Our shields are our elements without being our elements in the traditional sense.”
“But what would we do with that?” Molun demanded. “Wouldn’t he just go right through?”
They all turned to look at Kinan. He blinked.
“Uh, I don’t know. I’ve gone through everything else.” He straightened his shoulders. “But I won’t know unless I try, will I?”
That was patently true. He rose to his feet, and Cormal sprang up after him.
“Allow me.”
Kinan nodded, so Cormal reached for that well of flames inside him. He focused on summoning a shield that was a head taller and a head wider than Kinan. It sprang into existence a few feet ahead of him, glimmering an opalescent shine that leaned towards red.
“Go ahead, when you’re ready,” Cormal told him.
