“Truly?” she pursued, staring straight into his eyes in a way that made him uncomfortable. He had to still the urge to squirm. “I fear either that you are lying to yourself or that it is just as I’ve said. There is nothing I can tell you, Summus.”
Cormal clenched his fists. “Whatever you think of me, the Prince deserves our every consideration.”
“Yes, he does,” she agreed blandly.
Cormal gave up. Why was everyone impossible?
The afternoon, thank all the elements, was less frustrating. The Prince showed up to the research session, just as he’d said he would, and he thanked everyone for all their help.
“I heard there was a bit of a mutiny yesterday,” he said with a smile.
The Warrior Mages squirmed en masse.
The Prince laughed. “No, no, I don’t blame you. I’ve never seen so many people reading so many texts written in the Old Tongue, and I remember cramming before my tutor quizzed me. Just one more test, I was sure, and then I would finally get to thegoodbooks.”
A ripple of laughter.
His face was open, the good humor evident. “Alas, I’m not sure those really exciting books exist except in my fevered imaginings. I’m afraid it’s possible that every single one of these not-always-exciting texts will fail to yield the results that we’re hoping for. But I appreciate so very much your willingness to keep looking at them.” He smiled at them, his expression painfully earnest. “Just, if your eyes go cross-eyed, take a break. Go find a snack. Grab a cup of tea. Come back to it when you can. I think we all know this is going to be a long task. It’s asking a lot of you.” The Prince held his hands palm up, his expression rueful. “I’m afraid these are rather useless for flipping pages. But Summus is going to help me out today so that I can do a little reading of my own. Thank you for trying. It means a great deal to me.”
He smiled again, and then went to sit down at the chair that Cormal had pulled round to the table he was sitting at facing the Mage Warriors.
They’d converted a training room for this task. Cormal supposed he didn’treallyneed to be at the front of the room like he was watching over the Mage Warriors at the series of long tables as if he expected someone to sneak in a novel instead. Oh, well.
There was a logbook to mark what had been read so it could be set aside to be reshelved and a new book selected. The last thing they needed to do was reread the same texts and risk missing others.
Cormal wasn’t sure he’d ever been in a room with so many Mage Warriors who were so quiet before. It was actually a bit disconcerting. There was plenty of learning required to control a manifested element, of course, but this was a group of people who’d chosen to become Mage Warriors, not Mages. They weren’t as interested in simple learning and experimenting withtheir element. They were Warriors—only they’d now been given the task of reading for hours at a time.
But it was for their prince, and especially after Prince Kinan’s speech, they seemed extra willing. The man was right in front of them, needing their help.
Cormal wished it was practical to get more people to help them, but not everyone knew the Old Tongue, and there was a risk that those less well-versed in magic might miss something essential.
“Thank you,” Cormal said quietly, as he saw the Mage Warriors get to work with more gusto than they’d displayed in days.
The Prince offered him a small smile.
“Out of curiosity,” Cormal said, “Why can you sit on the chair? Why don’t you pass through it?”
The Prince let out a slight laugh. “I have no idea. Solid objects are… sort of solid for me?” He made a face. “It’s hard to explain. I think some of it is habit—I think the chair will be solid for me, and it is, just like the ground is. If nothing were solid, would I sink down to the center of the earth?”
He looked bemused rather than horrified by that idea, thankfully. Cormal supposed that he’d had a lot of time to think about it.
The Prince continued, “I usually use doors because that’s what I’m used to doing. But if I want or need to, I can go through a door or wall, or through a person. It feels weird, though.”
“Weird how?” Cormal asked, wondering if there were any clues in what the Prince experienced now.
“It’s… uncomfortable,” the Prince said after a moment. “If we try to touch, it might feel to you as though I am simply not here, but for me, it is clear that I’m passing through something… else. I don’t know how to describe the feeling exactly, but it’s not particularly pleasant. I prefer not to do it if I can help it.”
Cormal nodded slowly, not sure whether this got them any further ahead. “Does it feel different going through a person than an object?”
The Prince nodded.
“How?”
“I have no idea,” he answered promptly.
Cormal raised an eyebrow.
The Prince let out a huff of breath. “Truly, it’s like trying to explain what an apple tastes like. It tastes like an apple!”
