Episode 95 Outsmarting the Magic
Outsmarting the Magic
Rominy just wants to gather Elowyn in his arms. She was so strong in the heartlanding. Vibrant.
Breathtaking.
How can she still be so ill here?
But Tharios said she would make it through this, and Rominy holds on to that.
“Do you wish to hold this conversation in private?” Tharios asks as he moves back to Rominy’s side of the bed.
How Tharios thinks he’s going to outsmart the magic of the heartlanding is hard to imagine, but Rominy gives him the benefit of the doubt as thoughts of his last moments with Elowyn flit across his mind.
He’d rather not talk about that to everyone in the room.
“If that’s all right,” he says quietly, and Tharios nods.
“I’ll go find Mother and Father. Let them know you’re doing as well as can be expected,” Arisanna says.
“Thank you, Sanna. For being here when I needed you.”
She tucks her loose hair behind her ear and nods. “If you...if you need to talk...”
She doesn’t finish her thought, but he understands.
And she understands how broken he is without Elowyn. How hard it is being awake while she slumbers. How much he wants to send everyone away and curl up beside Elowyn, as if his presence and touch might draw her back to him sooner.
Arisanna and Cerian let themselves out of the room, and Elowyn’s father hovers near. “I’m here to talk as well, Rominy. I have felt what you feel now. You are not alone.”
“Thank you,” Rominy says. “I...I may take you up on that.”
“Any time, you send someone, and I’ll be here. All right?”
Rominy nods as he struggles to control his emotions, and Elowyn’s parents soon join Arisanna and Cerian in the hallway.
“I’m not heartbound,” Tharios says as he pulls up a chair, “but I’ve studied the heartbinding a great deal. I’m also a safe person to talk to. Anything we discuss here will stay between the two of us. Now, I’m going to ask some simple questions. I want you to try to answer them.”
“All right.”
“What is your full name?”
His name? Rominy frowns, but he answers. “Rominy Everen Gerault Berinell Montarac, Prince of Nunia.”
“And how old are you?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Are you bound? Married?”
“I am.”
Tharios studies him carefully as he speaks.
“And what is your binding partner’s name? Your wife?”
“Elowyn Montarac? Elowyn Westaria Montarac? I’m not sure I know the answer to that.”
Tharios smiles. “That’s fine. Now I want you to lie to me.”
“Lie?”
“Yes. Do you have a sister?”
This feels wrong, but Rominy pushes the lie out. “No.”
“Where do you live?”
“Wolbourne.”
“Where does the heartlanding take you?”
Rominy hesitates for a moment as he thinks of a lie, but when he tries to say the untruth, it gets stuck in his throat. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“It’s fine. I had my doubts that would work. We’ll have to try something else.”
“Can I just try talking? Sometimes, it lets me say certain things if I’m careful how I word it.”
“Please, proceed. This is all fascinating to me.”
Tharios is as curious as Elowyn is, isn’t he? He just has more patience about finding the answers he’s looking for than she does. He must read all the books and tell her what he learns.
“Elowyn...” Rominy struggles to push out the words. “Nope. Let me try again. Time is different in the heartlanding. It lets me say that.”
“That’s a well-known facet of the heartlanding,” Tharios says. “It’s something I already knew. I wonder if that makes a difference.”
“So if I tell you things you already know...”
Tharios’s excitement grows. “Yes. Let’s give that a try.”
“All right. Let me see. You’ll have to piece everything together.”
Tharios leans forward and nods eagerly.
“Elowyn loves water.”
It worked.
“So your heartlanding takes you to water?”
Rominy tries to answer, but his words stick. “Sorry, I can’t—”
“No, no. Keep going.”
What might Tharios need to know?
“Um. Elowyn struggles to be patient. She hates waiting.”
Tharios’s smile grows, and he gestures for Rominy to keep talking.
“But she’s fierce and stubborn. She doesn’t give up easily.”
“Good. Is she thinking clearly? Is she herself? Do you see any of her symptoms seeping into the heartlanding?”
Rominy weighs his words before responding. “Elowyn is brilliant.”
How can he imply Elowyn was tired but is better now?
“The night she got sick in Wolbourne, she was tired,” he says. “More tired than she should have been.”
A wrinkle appears on Tharios’s forehead. “So she is feeling the effects of her illness even in the heartlanding?”
When Rominy tries to answer directly, he can’t, and he sighs.
“I understand,” Tharios says. “Keep talking.”
Rominy looks at Elowyn. Her skin isn’t as deathly pale as it was. Maybe he can use that. “She seems better now.”
“In both places?”
Rominy doesn’t even try to answer directly this time. “The heartlanding mimics reality...but it’s better in a lot of ways.”
And worse, but Rominy leaves that part out. That would just confuse Tharios.
“So she’s not as tired as she was? Don’t say anything if that’s right.”
Rominy keeps his mouth shut, and Tharios nods in relief.
“Good. I’ll be honest with you, Rominy. If she was feeling the effects in the heartlanding, she was as close to death as I feared.
Physical ailments in the real world shouldn’t affect the heartlanding, according to every account I’ve read and everything I’ve gleaned from my mother and father.
If she was more tired than she should have been, it was because her essence was struggling to hold on. ”
Rominy’s heart pounds at Tharios’s words.
Breathe, my love.
Elowyn’s voice echoes in his head, and he takes a deep breath.
“You’re doing well,” Tharios says softly. “And she’s past the danger now. Hold on to that.”
“If it happens again, what do I do? Should I make her—” His words cut off, and he groans. “When people are tired, sometimes they go to bed early. But usually they wake up. No one wants to sleep if they don’t know they’ll wake up.”
Hopefully, that wasn’t too confusing.
“I don’t know,” Tharios says. “But usually, sleep helps. Did it seem to help if she slept in the heartlanding?”
At least Tharios understood his question. Rominy doesn’t want to push Elowyn to sleep if there’s a chance she won’t wake.
He thinks back over the past few days and searches for the right words. “It’s normal to grow tired throughout the day and wake with more energy.”
He sounds ridiculous, but at least they’re communicating.
“Then yes,” Tharios says. “When she’s tired in the heartlanding, encourage her to sleep. It may be the heartlanding’s way of giving her breaks from the energy required to maintain the bond between you.”
“Wait, so I shouldn’t be there? I thought—”
“She needs you, Rominy. The heartbinding knows what her body can handle. If it was best not to let you meet, you wouldn’t have. The heartbinding wouldn’t have allowed it. Trust it, all right?”
Rominy nods in relief. He’ll have to take Tharios’s word for it.
“Now, I have to ask,” Tharios says. “What did you believe you did to hurt Elowyn before you woke?”
For a moment, Rominy just stares at Tharios.
“This is a safe place to talk, Rominy.”
Glancing away, Rominy holds back a nervous laugh. This won’t be awkward at all.
“Elowyn is beautiful. She’s difficult for me to resist. No. That came out wrong. I mean, it’s true, but I make my own choices. I—”
“I understand what you’re saying, Rominy.
When I told you not to light her on fire, I wasn’t sure if that should include the heartlanding or not.
I’ve read nothing one way or the other to indicate whether the effects of accessing fire magic in the heartlanding carry over to the real world.
I need to see if I can get any information from my father about that.
That said, Elowyn wasn’t in any sort of distress when you woke, and I was monitoring you both closely. ”
“Please tell me you’re saying it’s all right to set her on fire in the heartlanding.”
Tharios chuckles. “I will speak to my parents. They might have a better grasp on this. But I haven’t seen any evidence to indicate otherwise. I didn’t observe any spikes in her fever while you were with her, for whatever that’s worth.”
Rominy nods. “That’s worth a lot. Not that we...I mean, we tried not to...” He huffs in frustration and leans his head against the wall.
“I understand. I want to get some food and water in you. Let you walk around for a bit when you feel up to it. But if Elowyn hasn’t woken in a few hours, I’ll help you sleep again, and I’ll try to have a better answer for you, all right?”
“Thank you. For everything.”
“It will be all right, Rominy. Hold on to that. I’m going to give you a few minutes to yourself while I speak to my parents and scrounge up some food for you. You can talk to Elowyn if you wish while I’m gone.”
“Can I touch her? Hold her hand?”
“She’s still warm but no longer burning. Just be gentle. I’ll be back soon.” Tharios lets himself out, and Rominy gazes down at her.
It will be all right.
“I’m here, El,” he whispers as he carefully reaches for her hand. Her flesh is warm but not too hot. “I’m being strong like you said. At least, I’m trying.”
What can he say that will comfort her? If she can even hear him this time.
Thoughts of her words on the deck of their sailboat fill him. The way she nestled against him while he sang to her. How she asked him to sing if he woke without her.
“I can do that,” he says before letting his voice quietly fill the room.