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The face of Ezair and Chai as they tried to take in all the wonders and mysteries in the efrit’s tent was priceless. They no doubt had questions of their own, but first it was up to us to explain ourselves. Nazrik put on water for tea and reignited the hookah, playing the host while we told him about conspiracies, traps and chasing people around the streets. It sounded almost unbelievable how little time had passed since everything went south. The role of speaker shifted around as we cut each other off, like three overly excited children venting their woes to an adult.
“I’ve heard plenty of nonsense during my time, but yours is too perfect a noose to be fake. It takes talent to end up in such a mess, you know,” he said, when we finished.
“Do you think we aren’t telling the truth? You? The one the whole of Kahlaran considers a fable?”
“Please,” he said, lowering his eyelids, dimming the lanterns and coating the tent in a mysterious shadow. “I am a fable.”
I rolled my eyes and looked at Ezair. “When I told you that efrits are theatrical, this is exactly what I meant.”
Ezair looked uncomfortable. His gaze wandered from the fire djinn to Chai, who absently stared at the exquisite collection of obviously magical trinkets and at Nazrik’s sharp jawline.
“Are the tales they tell true?” Ezair asked.
“Depends on the tale. I can’t give you bottled lightning, but I have other trinkets that might help.”
“Speaking of which, you said you’d show me some,” I said.
“I did, but I think I’ll leave it to the young lady,” he said, pointing the hookah’s mouthpiece at the three objects still lit by lantern light.
Chai straightened up. “You mean... me?”
“I know a mejai when I see one. Every glimpse you take is as if you’re trying to figure out which one does what. Go on, try them out.”
Chai got up with so much restraint it was obviously fake. I didn’t judge. In her place, I would have cheered like a kid in a toy bazaar.
She walked to the dazzling golden scarf and wrapped it around her neck, then took a deep breath and... the scarf drifted down onto the carpet.
Chai was nowhere to be seen.
I leaned closer to catch a glimpse of the girl’s transparent figure, but I couldn’t even smell her scent. She wasn’t invisible; she was gone. “Where is she? Can she come back?”
Nazrik stood up and picked up the fabric and strolled around with it, almost dancing, with wide motions of his arm.
I saw Ezair grasping his dagger with one hand, and even I waited with bated breath.
“Nazrik, where is she?”
“You’re ruining it with such impatience,” the efrit said, taking the scarf from his neck and swinging it like he tried to shake something off. The thin fabric spread out in the air, and among the ruffles, Chai appeared, utterly dazed.
“This trinket requires two users. A mejai to blend with the fabric, and a handsome stranger to wear it and look dashing,” Nazrik said. Chai was still under the spell’s influence as she sat down, unable to utter a word, but with sparkling, excited eyes.
“How was it in there?” I asked.
“I’m unsure. I wasn’t inside it. It was like I was the scarf.”
I nodded. It was a spectacular object, perfect to get her in somewhere with no one noticing, but I wasn’t sure we needed that.
Nazrik, meanwhile, continued the show with the ring, putting it on and pulling a round flute from... somewhere. He started playing a tune with one hand, while his other thumb gently turned the ring in one direction. The music turned softer with each turn the ring did, eventually fading completely mute, even though Nazrik was still playing.
He lifted the instrument from his mouth and wrapped it into his clothes—which meant it had pockets in some otherworldly way—, then clapped twice, but even that had no sound. He took off the ring and clapped again, nearly making me drop the hookah’s mouthpiece from the sudden thundering noise.
“This saved me from many unpleasant situations. It’s also quite unique. I understand that it affects the air around its bearer and needs no mejai to control it, but not much else. It’s a different, ancient form of magic that works on its own, so use it on your own account. But this one...” he said, holding up an ornate medallion. “This is one of my favorites. May I ask you to help me, young man?”
A reluctant grimace ran over Ezair’s face. I was about to scold him for ruining the show, but he eventually walked up to the efrit.
“What do I do?” he asked.
Nazrik gave him the necklace and held out a hand in front of him. “Give me your palm and think of someone. Picture them in your mind, like you’re trying to paint them.”
Ezair put on the necklace and took the efrit’s hand, following the instructions. A strange shivering engulfed them, obscuring our view for a moment, then it disappeared just as quickly – revealing Nazrik holding hands with the Viper’s blonde Chiefling.
It was perfect to the last detail. The height, the scar on his face, only his eyes looked different, but it was so minor a difference that nobody could spot the trick.
“It’s remarkable,” I said. Ezair examined his face in one of Nazrik’s many mirrors, caressing the scar on his cheek and fondling his blond hair.
“How do I change back?” he asked. Even his voice was different.
Nazrik didn’t answer for a while, just kept staring at Ezair in Hain’s form, examining him from head to toe. He even muttered something, but I couldn’t quite catch what he said.
“Nazrik. How do I change back?” Ezair repeated louder.
Nazrik shook his head and blinked. “My apologies. Take my hand again, I’ll take the visage back from you.”
Ezair quickly clutched the efrit’s fingers, then shook his head, trying to forget even the memory of being Hain. I couldn’t blame him for that.
“Who is that man you chose?” Nazrik asked, but Ezair just pulled faces.
“Hain,” Chai said instead. “The second leader of a Kahlarani mercenary guild, as I’ve learned recently.”
“What? You know him?” I said. Ezair mentioned him quite a lot in his story at the ruins, but I never thought Chai could recognize his face.
“He frequents the Velvet Lotus,” she said. “But Sheen never mentioned he was a Viper.”
“He does? Thank every god he wasn’t there when Ezair got stabbed. If he saw us then...”
“Don’t worry, he’s never there for long. Only hops in to check up on his sister, but I don’t think they are that close.”
I blinked.
“Sis... Ah. I see.”
I was a moron. Of course, they were related. Their hair, their eyes, even the bossy attitude they spoke in... But if Chai knew, then it wasn’t hidden from Aylea either, which meant Ezair’s offer was nothing spectacular. Was it possible that the Mother accommodated him out of sheer kindness? She would never confess it even if she did, so it remained a fascinating mystery.
“I should have guessed, but... Ezair, how can Irshan let his daughter work as a courtesan?”
“Well...” Ezair said, trying to get a grip on things. “I’m not sure Chief Irshan is Sheen’s father. Hain got the color of his hair from his mother, and Vanadna wasn’t exactly a model for humble housewives.”
“You put it delicately, young man,” Nazrik said.
Suddenly, all three of us had our eyes fixed on him.
“You... How to put it... Knew her... close?” I asked, looking for the politest euphemism.
The efrit didn’t answer. He just blew little hoops of smoke and grinned, but that was enough.
“So, after all this, what do you plan on doing?” he asked, to shift the focus from himself.
I leaned back. I was utterly tired from the journey and the waves of emotion from the past hour, so I wasn’t in a state to make plans.
“As for myself, I plan to finish my tea. Everything else comes later,” I said.
Ezair leaned forward, knitting his fingers together. “We can’t say you didn’t provide us with tools. We just have to put the mosaic together to reveal the whole picture.”
“Rushing is an ill wind, especially with a yann at your side,” Nazrik said. “I suggest you take your time.”
I looked at Ezair. He showed no sign of fatigue, but determination worked wonders, and I... I was worried about him, as hard as it was for me to admit.
“He’s right. You didn’t sleep last night, nor in the saddle, and we won’t have the time for it tomorrow.”
“We don’t have a plan yet,” he said.
“We’ll work it out, Ezair.” Chai intervened, touching his shoulder gently and looking into his eyes. “You’ll be no use to anyone if you drop dead from exhaustion. Sleep.”
Ezair, surprisingly, didn’t object. His head dropped to his chest, falling back on the pillows, helped by the mejai’s thin arms.
“Apologies. If he proves an inconvenience, we’ll carry him elsewhere,” Chai said to Nazrik, but the efrit just waved.
“He can stay. You couldn’t find a better place. An Ramash won’t move for a while.”
“Well, at least he listens to one of us.” I scoffed.
“People usually listen to magic rings,” Nazrik said, blowing another smoke ring. “I haven’t seen such a subtle application in this century. Nice work, young lady.”
Chai blushed, but she remained true to her mother’s heritage and only straightened up like a queen. At that moment, I was endlessly jealous of her.
I took the mouthpiece from Nazrik to hide my face behind the smoke, hoping that they wouldn’t notice. I didn’t want to feel that way. I didn’t want to be mad at Chai for being better than me, but I couldn’t help it.
Nazrik, however, looked at me with a smile, as if he perfectly understood everything. A heavy atmosphere wrapped around us, and in this silence, his glowing gaze became increasingly irritating.
“What?” I said, after about a minute of him staring at me.
“So human. I don’t think you have spent that much time here, yet you already behave like them.”
“I live among humans, like an ordinary person. What else am I supposed to be?”
“You’re not supposed to be anything but what you choose. That’s the beauty of it,” he said, looking at a lantern. “Everyone lives through it differently. You think like a human. Some think like gods, building a cult around themselves, some try to do good... Oh, but I’m jabbering again.”
“If I had djinn powers, I don’t think I’d make perfumes, believe me. I like your life.”
I wondered how he had lived through the change. What made him deal in wishes and dreams, wandering the continent with the traveling city, listening to people’s most secret desires, while history passed him by.
“Your mindset is wrong.” Nazrik shook his head. “You’re holding yourself captive.”
This again.
My teeth clenched, but I couldn’t start yelling at him the way I had with a certain someone way back.
“Ezair said the same thing. But no matter how flowery you put it, I am a captive,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself.
“You will be, as long as you think you are,” Nazrik said, while the smoke pouring from his mouth drew ornate patterns in the air.
“That’s easy for you to say. You had magic right away. I can’t even do that,” I said, pointing at the smoke swirls.
“You’re wrong,” he said. “When I arrived, I was just like you. Bitter. Resentful. Angry and broken. Because I thought the punishment was unfair.”
“Why? What are you here for?”
“I tried to help. Fight for those who didn’t dare, but I lost.”
It sounded very mysterious, but I understood his feelings. “I’m sorry. How long have you been here?”
“As humans count it, a thousand and thirty-six years.”
I furrowed my brows as I tried to calculate how long ago that was, but it was very difficult to match the time at home and here. It didn’t matter as much there, and if I had to guess, neither the length of the days nor the seasons were the same. I tried to remember events and guess my own age, but it remained that – a guess.
“That... wasn’t that long ago. For a djinn.” Suddenly an idea surfaced in my mind, so I took a long look at Nazrik again. “Are we talking about the third major efrit rebellion that ended in the southern wasteland?”
“They call it a rebellion now? In my day, we called it a fight for freedom,” Nazrik said, in a passionless voice.
“Don’t tell me... It was you! You ignited that whole thing! The martyr that gave his life in the end, becoming a fable in two worlds, an inspiration for many. For me, among them,” I said. “You are the reason I got involved...”
The man scratched his chin, as if embarrassed. “And you claim we are theatrical. Watch out for the compliments. I’ll blush.”
“Wait. Stop. I lost track,” Chai said, raising her hand as if she were in school.
I hesitated for a moment. Putting these things into words she could understand was a daunting task, but I owed her this one.
“Well, should I start at the beginning?”
Chai firmly nodded, so I tried to collect my thoughts.
“It all started ages ago, long before I was born, when the efrits were sentenced to live underground.”
“Underground? Why?”
“Others found it hard to coexist. Just think about it. An efrit could walk past a forest filled with earth djinns or a marid river and destroy the household of dozens.”
“Earth djinns live in the trees?” Chai said.
“They live in the soil, but they love the trees above. They consider it part of their home. But that’s neither here nor there, what matters is deep under the earth, efrits don’t threaten anyone. Sadly, they are obsessed with the Sun, so it’s unbearable for them.”
“We believe our kind came from the Sun,” Nazrik said. “It gives us our strength. We can survive in the rivers of fire underground, but not many are content with just surviving.”
“And when the oppressed had had enough, they rebelled,” I said. “They did this three times, but all failed. Nazrik led the last rebellion, so they sent him here as punishment.”
“What happened to whoever led the first two?” Chai asked.
That I didn’t know, so I just looked at Nazrik.
“I believe he was the first to arrive here, in the Old Garden,” he said. “The first djinn among humans. But I have never found him, and many believe me a fool for even looking.” His gaze turned to me. “Why do you know so much about this?”
“I wanted to ask the same thing,” Chai said.
There was no stopping now. I had to tell everything, even though the memories were bitter and painful.
“I watched as the third rebellion failed. There’s nothing yanns hold more important than freedom, so it was painful to see efrits struggle for it. My kind forbade involving ourselves, but I just had to do something. So, I... I stole a weapon of mass destruction from the king of marids.”
Nazrik almost choked on the smoke. He was coughing and trying to breathe, talk, and regain his dignity, all at the same time, which was an impressive feat. “That... explains a lot.”
“Was this weapon that powerful?” Chai asked.
“Well, yeah. It could unleash a lightning storm, killing hundreds of marids.”
“Lightning,” Chai repeated.l, putting two and two togethet. “So that’s where it came from.”
“Well, yes. I tried to get it so the efrits had a base for bargaining, but I failed. Someone turned me in, and they were waiting for me when I tried to pass it over. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Nazrik said. “I learned a long time ago that you can’t help the unwilling. You better steal for someone who wants you to, too.”
“I’m not stealing anything unless I must. Which is a shame, because I loved doing it, but it’s better this way.”
It was intoxicating. The excitement of diving to the seabed, dodging every trap and guard and snatching their most hidden treasure, it was a feeling I could never forget.
I sighed. “Not that my body could do any such things now, so luckily, it’s out of the question.”
“If you say so,” Nazrik said, turning away theatrically.
“You disagree?”
“There are solutions to everything. Sometimes you just have to find the loopholes, as people say. The little gaps where the magic breaks, the prince becomes a thief again and the book closes. Then take advantage of those cracks. If you can do that, the bottom of the sea isn’t much of a challenge.”
“Everyone’s so mysterious and poetic these days,” I said, sitting back next to Ezair with my eyes closed. My head was buzzing with these new things, and I didn’t want to decipher another riddle. I was sure there were loopholes, but I didn’t see them. “But I guess it’s because you think I have to figure this out on my own, am I right?”
“You are. Not just because you can learn something, but because there are forces that don’t work unless you find out how they operate on your own.”
“We’re not here because it’s easy, are we? Chai, did you find your dropped jaw?”
“Well... It was an instructive conversation, that’s for sure.” Chai nodded like a pupil at her tutors.
Nazrik reached the end of his self-control at that point and burst into laughter.
“Welcome to a world of djinns and spirits, young lady. I promise you shall never get bored.”
Chai smiled. “I’m sure no man or woman alive knows more about djinns than me now. I have a feeling it will prove useful one day.”