Chapter Ten
“Iwanttotestsomething,”Jerahsaid,breakingthesilencebetweenthemastheysatacrossfromeachotherinthelibrary.FlorianhadbeenreadinganotherbookthatJerahhadgivenhim,buthelookedupwithasurprisedblinkatthedeclaration.
“Test something?” he repeated nervously, setting the book down. Jerah's often-cheerful face had an unexpectedly serious expression when their eyes met.
“I want to see if we can replicate that reaction you had the other day,” he explained. “When we were talking about the Summer Queen.”
Florian shifted uncomfortably. “Why?” he asked. They still had no idea how or why Florian had known about Soleil’s lover, or why remembering had brought him to tears. The moment was strange to say the least, and he wasn't exactly eager to try and get it to happen again.
“Because it could be important,” Jerah said. “If we can figure out what, exactly, caused you to react in such a way, it could give us some kind of insight. Florian, I've spent the last twenty years chasing down every lead and scrap of information I could find on anything having to do with Soleil or the Golden Arrows. If there's something going on here that could help, we need to know.”
Florian sighed. He still didn't want to try, but he knew that nothing he said would dissuade Jerah, so he might as well go along with it.
“Okay,” he relented, setting down his book with a sigh. “How are we gonna do this?”
“Excellent,” Jerah said with a pleased grin. “Well, I was thinking I could just read off my notes about Soleil, and see if you feel anything, or maybe know anything about it, the way you did before. So tell me if you feel anything, or if you think you might know something before I say it.”
Florian gestured for Jerah to continue, and his father pulled a notebook from the stack of books and papers on the side table next to him, flipping through until he seemed to find what he was looking for.
“Here we are,” he continued, then cleared his throat. “All right. Soleil had been Queen of the Summer Court for nearly eighty years at the time the Nova Blight first occurred. Before that she had been princess for around a hundred years, under her parents King Elio and Queen Milena. She was unmarried, but as you and I know, she did have a human lover, a human man. Whose name…” He paused, glancing up at Florian. “Was...?”
Florian blinked. He had feltsomethingdistantly at the mention of Soleil's name, a little thrill of emotion he could not quite place; but that very well may have been his own reaction. But the man’s name? Had Jerah mentioned a name before? He tried to think of it, but couldn't come up with anything.
“I don't know,” he finally admitted. “What was his name?”
Jerah grimaced before confessing, “I don't know either. I wanted to see if maybe you did.”
Florian scowled. “You're playing around.”
“I thought it might work!” Jerah protested, laughing. “Alright, alright. Here: Soleil ruled for nearly eighty years and was generally considered a fair and just queen, overall well-liked among her people. There were no major conflicts between the courts during her rule. Her main point of criticism is that she was flighty and prone to leaving the court on a whim without telling anyone. She was rarely gone for long, but it happened enough that she was known for it.”
“Hmm,” Florian sighed, frowning. “That almost makes me feel... Irritated. I don't know why.”
“Irritated at Soleil? Or at what I'm saying about her?” Jerah pressed, but Florian could only shrug. The feeling was distant enough that he couldn't tell.
“I don't know,” he said, shaking his head. “It's not very strong. The feeling's already gone.”
“How about this, then?” Jerah said, looking back down at his notes. “While she was known for being a powerful magician, no major innovations or discoveries were made during her rule. One must wonder if she was undisciplined or simply unlucky, but either way it seems she was marked by a waste of potential. While it seems likely she figured out a way to bring a human into the Veil, her discovery was not shared, and no humans have been brought to the Veil since.” He paused, and looked back over at Florian. “Anything?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“The Seven Golden Arrows of Soleil,” Jerah continued, sighing as he read from his notebook. “These are powerful magical items created, presumably, by Soleil herself as a countermeasure against the Nova Blight she unleashed on the Summer Court. After the first attempt at containing the Blight failed, the Arrows were scattered and the Blight radius expanded exponentially. The Arrows have been tracked to many locations around the world, several of which are inaccessible except in certain shifted forms. Many have increased magical phenomena occurring in the area, suggesting an overabundance of power influencing its surroundings.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Florian said with a scowl. “You said they're inaccessible unless you're shifted? What does that mean?”
“Worried about it already?” Jerah said with a bemused grin, which only made Florian frown harder. “Yes, some are quite difficult to get to unless you're able to fly or go deep underwater. For those we'll need to enlist the help of other shifter clans, but that's a bridge we'll cross when we get to it, so I wouldn't worry much about those just yet. Many will still be reachable on our own.”
“Do you not want their help? Wouldn't something like this be a group effort? Everyone would benefit from it, after all.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Jerah replied, a bitter laugh escaping him. “The other clan leaders have proven to be... rather single-minded in their focus of keeping their homelands safe. While neither are outright hostile, they aren't exactly eager to help, either. Or, at least, they weren't when I first enlisted their help to get me to the hag, before you were born. They helped only begrudgingly, and weren't impressed with the outcome. Of course, this was twenty-something years ago now, so who's to say if they feel the same way. Either way, there are quite a few that will be easier to get to that I figure we can tackle first.”
Florian nodded thoughtfully, and Jerah’s eyes crinkled as a soft smile spread across his face. “You've really given all this a lot of thought, haven't you? You seem invested now.”
“Well, yeah,” Florian stammered, looking away. “I'm here, aren't I? No point in staying around for all this if I wasn't going to commit to it.”
“You sound like your mother,” Jerah chuckled, and Florian's heart ached at that. It was his own reaction, certainly, and not whatever strange residual effect that Jerah had used his notes about Soleil to fish for, so he let himself feel it for a moment, before letting it pass.
“Anything else about Soleil?” he asked, gesturing at the notebook, and Jerah sighed.
