The Ether Witch

After hearing the astonishing news of Eli’s parentage, Tam excused himself to retrieve a bottle of moonshine and two cups.

When he passed by Jeong who was seated around the fire with five other travelers, the future duke happened to overhear him exclaiming very loudly to those joining Jeong for a drink that he was capable of spitting fire. Tam briefly slowed down to try and assess whether Jeong was in need of an intervention…

However, upon being spotted, the boisterous Zinferan called out to him.

“Ta– Mr. Voll!”Jeong belatedly remembered to refer to Tam by his alias. “Where are you off to?”

“Just having a drink,” Tam retorted briefly while inching away.

Unfortunately, Jeong noticed the second cup Tam was holding and instantly his face broadened with a grin. “Aaah, Mr.Voll, it’s wonderful you and your wife still enjoy sitting and having a drink together! Isn’t it wonderful, Song?” Jeong nudged one of the other travelers that was seated beside him in the ribs. “This friend of mine and his wife are inseparable.”

Tam stared at Jeong’s smug, glassy gaze for a lone beat, and during that beat he decided that the next morning he was going to find two pans and beat them together to wake Jeong up.

Just as he was about to turn and resume his journey back to Eli’s spot on the rock, his revenge plan set, the fluttering of a skirt drew his eyes, and he found that she had instead returned to the camp.

“I’m tired. I think I’ll head to bed,” she informed her employer quietly.

Tam’s expression gentled, and he was about to say of course she should get a good night’s sleep, when Jeong decided that he also needed to be a part of the conversation.

“Mr. and Mrs. Voll! Heading to bed after all? Don’t worry! I set your sleeping rolls up in the tent with Luca, so you’re aaaall set!”

The slow speed with which Tam and Eli rounded on the Zinferan left lots of time for Jeong to repent and maybe feel a little guilty for what he had allegedly done.

But when they both faced him, glaring daggers, it was evident he was feeling nothing but the highest form of glee.

“My lord…” Eli ground out while trying to keep her voice down. “Is he serious?”

Tam didn’t respond, as he slipped his head back into his tent, and squinting in the low light, peered at Luca’s sleeping form close to the lantern, and then, gradually, as his eyes adjusted… He did indeed see two bedrolls side by side.

When he pulled his head back out of the tent, he didn’t need to say anything.

Eli could tell by the look on his face the answer.

“I’ll speak to him about this tomorrow morning,” Tam murmured as an apology. “Right now if I say or do anything it’ll seem strange to the other travelers.”

Unable to meet her employer’s gaze, Eli ducked into the tent without another word.

Tam returned his attention to Jeong who was giving him the thumbs up while the rest of the men he drank with all turned and shot Tam encouraging smiles.

The future duke looked to the sky once more and wondered how it was possible that there was someone else in the world that loved tormenting him seemingly more so than his sister did…

Stepping back into his tent, Tam found that Eli was already dragging a trunk to lay between her bed roll and his.

“I’m sorry. I obviously had no-”

“I understand, my lord. Thank you for agreeing to talk with Jeong in the morning,” Eli interrupted briskly as she worked.

“Er… I was going to say I can just leave and fall asleep by the fire outside instead. I can say I’m just there for a drink.”

“It’s fine,” Eli snipped.

Despite not having the most well-rounded of social experiences growing up, Tam knew better than to believe someone when they said ‘I’m fine’ in the same tone Eli had just used.

“It’s alright, Eli, I’m not going to make you-”

“It’s fine! It’s probably safer this way!”

The extent of Tam’s wisdom on how best to navigate the situation had been exceeded.

“So you… want me to stay…?”

“It’s fine!”

“You keep saying that, but it really doesn’t sound-”

A muffled moan followed by the rustling movement of Luca rolling over in his sleep interrupted Tam.

Once Tam and Eli had waited long enough to ensure that Luca truly was asleep, Eli returned her attention to climbing into her bedding.

Moving uncertainly, Tam lowered himself down to a single knee, and half crawled, half slid over to his own bedroll.

Once he’d situated himself, and lay staring up at the tent ceiling, he realized then that his heart was pounding.

It was loud… and it was fast… Was it always that fast?

“Why are you risking getting involved in Zinfera’s politics? His Highness really only wanted us to be gathering information,” Eli asked quietly in the dark, making an excited rush surge from Tam’s stomach.

Godsdamnit this crush is something. Maybe it’s because I keep learning more about her and it’s all so… different? Surprising?

“My lord?”

“Ah,” Tam coughed. “I’m interfering more because… I only promised not to do anything if I found the dragon, and if I simply report everything as it is right now there is too much uncertainty for it to be useful information. If I change things I can report more, and… besides. Everyone kind of expects that my family would do some amount of meddling.”

Despite Tam not being able to see it. Eli shrugged and nodded beside him.

It did make sense.

The two fell back into a moderately more amicable silence.

“Do you happen to know why Bong reacted the way he did earlier?” Tam wondered aloud.

“Not really… He might just be disturbed by what is happening in his kingdom. I didn’t even know that the traders were coming so far inland to take over villages… It really does show how unstable Zinfera has become,” Eli theorized as she gripped and relaxed her hold on her blanket.

The night air was starting to chill the tip of Tam’s nose, and he knew that if he were to turn onto his side and pull the blanket up over it he would be able to be warm through and through in no time, however he was a little reluctant to stop talking with Eli…

“Have you ever met Lord Harris before?”

“Once. A long time ago… Back before I was adopted by the emperor.”

“I didn’t know he’d ever gone to Zinfera.”

“He didn’t. We went to Sorlia. We visited briefly… Back after my brother was born, my father paid for my mother to spend a summer there. As a thank you of sorts.”

“You have a brother?” Tam turned his head, expecting to see Eli’s profile, but instead finding himself staring into the scratched leather of one of his trunks.

“I do. Chul. And then I have two sisters… Chul will be… twenty now,” Eli recalled after taking a moment to think about it.

Tam found himself at a loss for words.

To think she had an entire family that wasn’t in poverty… They were nobles. And they had simply handed her off.

“They sent you away… Just because you were a witch?”

Eli didn’t reply for a long time, and when she did, all she said was. “Good night, my lord.”

And Tam could tell that while she was trying to sound polite and unbothered their betrayal had hurt her horribly…

That same unpleasant agitation Tam had felt earlier when talking with Eli down by the river started shaking his insides, making the future duke feel far more awake than he had just moments before.

Gods… if my father heard this I’m relatively certain he’d offer me up on a silver platter to officially make her family…

The thought brought a measure of giddiness to Tam, prompting him to give his head a shake.

As if I should even be thinking about that… I need to first figure out how the hell to father a seven year old.

Despite this very down-to-earth thought, Tam found that the rest of the night was a fitful one as his mind raced with the information that he had learned about his assistant, and how he could help her build the happy life she deserved at long last, while also being a good father to a child who, he still wasn’t sure, but who could be the devil.

***

The rest of the journey to Junya was, thankfully, uneventful. The day following the robbery attempt Bong was back to his usual self– particularly after getting to witness Tam awaken his brother after a night of heavy drinking by bashing together two steel pans he had borrowed from another group of travelers.

The younger Ryu brother had taken the impromptu wakeup call all in stride, and bore his scolding from Tam later on looking perfectly contrite.

That said, from that night onward, the sleeping arrangements had never changed… It really did make the most sense that Tam and Eli be in the same tent to avoid anyone becoming suspicious.

Though he didn’t allow himself to even think about what would happen when there was an actual home to sleep in where beds became a factor…

As the carriage started to pass by more trees and rice fields, the city gate pulled into view. A large bell hung over the road, while massive trees that had been stripped of their bark made the pillars. A ribbon of white plaster walls wrapped around the north side of Junya, and went all the way down to the sea on the south side of the city.

“I rented us a home in a respectable area. Not in the most expensive, or popular, but it’ll only have residential traffic which will help things stay private,” Bong explained, jolting Luca awake– the poor boy had fallen asleep leaning against Tam’s shoulder.

“How did you find this residence?” Tam questioned while pretending not to be aware of the patch of drool on his shirt sleeve that Luca was only just noticing and starting to blush about.

“One of my sister’s former tutors lives there, but my father invited her to our land to visit, so she agreed to let us use her house in exchange,” Jeong jumped into the dialogue while perking up when the city wall could be seen from the window.

Tam nodded. “We’ll settle in for tonight, and tomorrow I’ll go to the records library to request information about the stars, and introduce myself. Lord Kim loves knowing about everyone and everything according to your father, so I’m sure he’ll approach me quickly. After the library I’ll hang around a few of the tea shops you told me about and start to become familiar with the area. Eli, you’re fine organizing a tutor for Luca?”

Eli was in the middle of bowing her head dutifully in response, when Luca turned abruptly to Tam.

“I-I don’t need school! I… I just go with you to study the stars!”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that, Luca. I have to do more than just research constellations… Besides, if you want to help, it’s best to learn lots of things so you know what to do in all kinds of scenarios!” Tam encouraged brightly. “I know it might seem like a lot at first, but trust me, once you start learning, you’ll find out you have all kinds of interests and things you love that otherwise you’d have no idea about.”

“But-”

“Luca, I’m sorry, but this is non-negotiable,” Tam cut the boy off firmly, while reaching up to muss his hair.

As it turned out, Luca’s hair grew incredibly quickly, and so it was already almost the same length it had been weeks before when he’d first appeared on the ship, but at the very least he looked better fed, and his long hair was cared for as it should have been.

Turning to his best ally, Luca tried to plead his case. “Jeong, don’t you think that-”

“Sorry, Luca,” Jeong shook his head. “It was my idea, remember? You know I’m on your side, but on this matter, your father is right. You need an education.”

It was the first time Tam had ever seen Luca scowl, and he found that rather than feeling angry or exasperated by it, he was biting back a laugh.

Tam looked at Eli, who was watching Luca with equal astonishment.

“I promise I’ll find you a great teacher,” she reassured calmly.

“My mother said I was smart enough…” Luca said under his breath, his heel tapping the back of the carriage bench irritably.

“You can be smart but not knowledgeable,” Eli argued back. “Don’t you want to understand what your father does so you can help him?”

Not having a retort to such a sound point, but still feeling displeased over having to be made to study for hours at a time, Luca sulked in silence.

The adults all shared knowing looks in the carriage, just as the sounds of Zinferan guards asking their driver questions reached their ears.

Reaching over, Jeong tapped Luca’s knee. “Cheer up! This afternoon I’ll take you for the street vendor snacks! I’ve been to Daxaria, and I can say with certainty that they can’t compare even a little bit to what Zinfera sells! You like dumplings, yes?”

Sensing that he was being bribed and distracted, Luca gave a reluctant nod.

“Wonderful! Now what about dumplings, filled with berries and cream?”

Luca sat perfectly straight. “Berries and cream? You aren’t fooling me?”

“I would never!” Jeong slapped a hand on his chest in mock indignation. “I haven’t even mentioned the flavored whipped creams!”

Luca’s jaw dropped open, and as was becoming the norm on the trip, everyone’s mood started to lighten when they had the excellent distraction of a child getting to experience the world for the first time.

It gave them all a sunny disposition as they passed under Junya’s great bell, even though they knew the coming months would bring no small amount of stress, and excessive work.

Ah, well. Maybe they would all make a point of having tea with Luca to remember the simple happy pieces of life.