Page 28 of A Spark So Bright
She was on her hands and knees in his home, her fingers pressed against the polished stone floor. Breathing hard, she looked up at him through the tangled locks of her hair. "You'd make those sounds too if you endured what I did."
One of his too arched brows lifted even higher. "I suppose you are right."
She pulled herself back together, knowing that in this place, there was also no time for weakness. She had a job. Translations, learning, trying to figure out what this elf wanted from her when the rest of the world seemed to be falling down around her ears.
Rhydian continued on as though nothing had changed. Only she could see there was a different set to his shoulders. He was practically vibrating with some energy that she knew was about to burst forth at any moment now.
"I'm in Trollveggen," she finally said, wondering if that was what had gotten him all excited. "I don't know if you're aware of the place."
He whirled. The fine white robe he wore spun around him in a graceful arc as he became more animated than she had ever seen him be before. "I know! Can you believe it? I remember making them all those years ago. I breathed life into a few of them myself, but I never thought those beings of mud and fur would create what they have managed here."
She blinked a few times. "You made them?"
"Yes, yes. Elves created slaves out of creatures they thought were barely sentient. But look at them now! Look at the kingdom they have built. The fortitude it took to pull themselves out of the bestial and into the... the..." He seemed to struggle for the right word. "Into enlightenment, I suppose."
Rose was having a hard time following. She reached for the book she usually translated but found it hard to even think about translations when everything else was happening.
"Rhydian?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper. "Am I safe here?"
He reached for her, grabbing her hands with his own and squeezing them tightly. "Safer than you have ever been. And just think of all the raw magic here. All the learning that can be done. You are in the belly of the beast now, Rose. I am thrilled that you have found yourself here. The research we can do together is unlimited."
"Research?"
"I haven't known what ever happened to the trolls. No elf ever has. But to know that right now, no matter what happens, you and I can learn what has happened to the creation of the elves? You and I are going to write a book about it. And that book will be recorded for the ages. Finally. You, Rose, have helped me discover my life's meaning."
She wasn't sure that was why she was here. But Rhydian was happy, and that always made her happy as well. He enjoyed learning. So did she. Learning had given her a safe space all this time and... if that was what it took, then that was what she would do.
For however long she had.
Rose wavered between the real world and the illusion in her mind. Here in Trollveggen, it was easier to waltz between the worlds, allowing her soul to drift from her body.
Rhydian taught her a new skill. She could see through the veil of this world and the one she had created in her mind. But she couldn't stay in one place while she did it. She had to wander.
No safer place could exist for her to walk through the worlds, either. The trolls were all very aware of her. Where she was, how far she had gone, and they pointed out her direction to Gunnar often.
For the most part, her troll guard was very good at finding her. He liked to know where she was. He was awfully attentive, even though she rarely spoke to him at all. He had made a vow, and he intended to keep it.
Sometimes that made her feel a little guilty.
Sometimes it didn't.
Rose was done pretending that she was anyone's toy. She was going to do what she wanted to do, and that was research. This life had never been for her, anyway. She'd been at a disadvantage from the start.
So she wandered. She learned. She found all the magic in Trollveggen that others couldn't see, and she recorded it. Not the locations so that others might find it, but what the magic was.
Like the deposits deep in the roots of the glowing blue trees. Not the yellow or green ones, only the blue. It was a deep pool of magic that spread out far below the roots and seemed to come from the mountain itself. Rose often disappeared into the forest so she could lie upon the ground and watch the swelling waves below the roots, following the magic up into the bark of the trees, out into the leaves where the color glimmered at the tips.
Her favorite was the deep green magic that she could sometimes see in the rocks. Rhydian claimed those were stones that had once been used in many magical spells, often worn around the necks of elves strong enough to harness the raw potential there.
She spent so much of her time wandering that sometimes she lost herself. It was easy to wander around the streets of Trollveggen. The grid made a lot of sense once one got to know it, but sometimes she wandered a little too far and did not know where she was. Like now. There were a lot of places here that she hadn't been, and Rose wasn't sure she was somewhere safe.
That was all right, though. She didn't mind the risk too much.
At least until she heard his voice. Rose was halfway through recording a document about the rocks and the color variances of the power she had seen inside them when she heard him.
Gunnar's voice had been cutting through a lot of her research lately. He didn’t care that her soul had wandered far from her body, or that he could have just ordered her to go somewhere safe. He always seemed to want to talk to her. To get through the oddity of her disappearances and force her to listen to him.
Sighing, she put down her quill and looked up at Rhydian, who was currently at his own desk. "What does he want this time?"
