The [Temporal Thinking Space] activated with a faint pop, and everything froze. The sound of the water disappeared, the trees stopped rustling.

  Laryn rose from his position on the bench, leaving Kenna staring off into the space where he had been sitting. He looked down at her for a moment, scratching his head.

  “Is everything okay?” Adi asked, appearing nearby. “The two of you are getting quite close and friendly on that bench, I see,” she said, folding her arms and cocking one hip. She raised her eyebrows. Her antennae rippled accusatorially.

  Laryn lifted his hands defensively. “I sat first. She sat by me,” he said.

  “But you chose that narrow bench,” Adi replied, brows knitting together. “With hardly enough space for two to squeeze together.”

  “Come on,” Laryn said. “Isn’t this what you told me to do? I’m trying to get to know her better.”

  Adi nodded and waved dismissively. “I didn’t mean… like that,” she said.

  Laryn flushed. “That,” he said, ”is not what I was trying to do.”

  “Whatever,” Adi said with a pout.

  “Hey, don’t get all moody on me,” Laryn said. “I wanted some space to think for a second, it’s not fair for you to barge in here.”

  “Think about what? What are you doing with your [Temporal Thinking Space] anyways?”

  “Well, I just… I haven’t been so close to a woman since being with Elena back in Eltar, and the moment just got to me and I needed to take a little breather. I needed to think. Isn’t that what this space is for?”

  “It is,” Adi said. “It’s a good use of it, I suppose.”

  “Thanks. I’m glad I have your approval,” Laryn said wryly. “Didn’t know I have to ask permission.”

  “You don’t,” Adi said.

  “I meant to ask her about that knife, and where she comes from, and what she’s doing here,” Laryn said, “But I haven’t been doing a great job of that. I’ve just been talking about myself.”

  “Ah, you’re doing fine. Sometimes you have to open up a little. Just remember, keep asking questions.”

  “You’re right,” Laryn said. “I should ask her more.”

  “By the way, that party that you’re planning sounds like a good idea,” Adi said. “But aren’t you missing something when you’re talking about getting together and getting drunk? That doesn’t sound like a party to me. You need some music.”

  “Music?” Laryn said. “That’s a good point. It’s too bad nobody has any instruments.”

  Adi clapped her hands, smiling brightly. Her wings fluttered. “I know a secret,” she said. “I’ll tell it to you, but you have to promise to be very nice to me.”

  Laryn raised his eyebrows. “What is your secret?” he said.

  “Promise first.”

  “Fine, I promise,” Laryn said. “What is it?”

  “Well, I happen to know that Gall has a lute, and he sneaks away and plays it quietly sometimes.”

  “Gall does?” Laryn laughed. “But he’s so… Gruff, and… serious all the time.”

  Adi fluttered, a twinkle in her eye. “He pretends to be,” she said. “But he has a lute, and he’s good at it.”

  “How do you know?” Laryn asked.

  “It’s convenient that I can be invisible,” she said. “And he’s pretty good. I like listening to it, but he must be pretty shy about it since he’s keeping it hidden. So be careful how you approach it. And don’t tell him I’ve been spying!”

  “Thank you, Adi. That’s great to know,” Laryn said.

  He sat down, back on the bench, and dismissed the [Temporal Thinking Space].

  “Uh...” She looked slightly confused for a moment as the world resumed around her.

  Laryn shifted. “Tell me about your family?” he asked. “Your father sounds like an interesting man.”

  “He was,” Kenna said. “He did his best. And I appreciate him for that.”

  Laryn looked for another question that might elicit more information, and Kenna leaned back and shifted slightly.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “You are right, you know,” she said. “I wasn’t born cooking or washing clothes. My father was a—well, let’s just say a very successful man in our kingdom, and I had a lot of things given to me growing up. I really like living here, though, working with my hands. It feels like I’m accomplishing something. It feels like I’m getting something done.”

  Laryn nodded. “I suspected it. You’re too good with organizing and leading people. Even someone who was born with a natural ability doesn’t have the skill that you have without having practiced it. And nobody gets a chance to practice it unless they’ve been born in a noble household.”

  “That’s…” Kenna blushed. “It’s that obvious?” she said.

  “I don’t know. It was just a suspicion,” Laryn said. “I don’t know if I would have noticed it if I hadn’t been born in a palace myself.”

  Kenna seemed to relax a little bit.

  “So, how long have you been here in the wildlands?” Laryn asked. “And why did you come here?”

  Kenna leaned forward, slouching her shoulders and resting her chin in her hands as she stared at the ground.

  “I didn’t really mean to come here. I was more just trying to get away from something,” she said. “I arrived in Jardensvale several months ago, and it’s been a whole different world here for me.”

  “So you knew Jarden?”

  “Our [Ruler]?”

  “He was Coril’s brother, right? I’ve always wondered what happened that night.”

  Kenna nodded solemnly. “That was a terrible night. The void pouring in. Screams as people died. Coril helped us get away, but… He said Jarden was killed before he had a chance to fight back. When I saw Coril he was covered with blood. He said it was Jarden’s, that he’d tried to save him. But he didn’t seem distraught… He was… Giddy, almost.

  “I was with the first people who saw him, and he said that he happened to be out for a walk, and ran to Jarden’s home when the screaming started. Gall swears he heard them arguing in Jarden’s home before the attack started.”

  “You think Coril killed him,” Laryn said. Not a question, a statement. “Tasam said the same to me.”

  Kenna nodded slowly. “I wasn’t around for long, but there was always a tension between the two of them. Hela swears that Coril longed to be [Ruler] himself.”

  “I witnessed that,” Laryn said. “I had to deal with it. Do you think he… brought the void somehow? He was a cultist?”

  “I don’t know,” Kenna said. “Maybe it was a stroke of luck that covered up his murder. Maybe he took advantage of the void attack. Maybe he didn’t kill his brother at all.”

  “I’m sorry to bring up such sad memories,” Laryn said.

  “Sometimes I feel like all my memories are sad. But no, that’s not true. I was happy for a while, living in Jardensvale, with Bram.”

  “Your husband?”

  “No. He was a friend. He died, not long ago.” She laughed pain away, wiping a tear from her cheek. “See what I mean? They’re all sad.”

  “But you liked Jardensvale, for a time?” Laryn said. “How do we recreate that here for you?”

  “It’s the smallness of the work, I think,” Kenna said. “Using my hands to do a task, drawing in my focus… everything that seems important fades away, and what matters now is so different. There’s a kind of happiness in honest simplicity.”

  “I know what you mean,” Laryn said. “Working with my hands… or wielding my sword… it’s like a meditative experience. All the cares of the world fade away. All the problems that I don’t know how to deal with just seem to not matter anymore. I can forget about them totally as I go into the flow of pivoting through each of the stances—the blows, the parries, the counters, the strikes. Each form has its own feeling and, you know, overcomes everything else, and the world zooms in until it’s just me and my enemy.”

  He trailed off and glanced at Kenna. She nodded, showing that she understood what he was trying to say.

  She reached over and tapped the his life finger, the pale strip where his ring used to be.

  “I was married once,” she said. Her mouth moved, but she didn’t continue speaking. A pained look crossed her face.

  “It’s okay,” Laryn said. “You don’t have to tell me any more about that… if you don’t want to.”

  She frowned apologetically, and Laryn changed the subject.

  “How about that party?” he said. “You think you could be ready to do it tonight? What we need is a good event to bring everyone together and help everyone feel like they belong here. There’s been so much upheaval and change for everyone over the last few weeks that we’re all a bit on edge.”

  Kenna perked up and nodded, wiping dampness from her eyes. “I think so,” she said. “Tonight. We’ll have to start getting ready.”

  “A good party needs people, food, drink, and music,” Laryn said. “You think we can get all of that together?” he asked.

  “Music?” Kenna pressed her palm to her forehead. “We can have food and drink and obviously people, but I hadn’t thought about music. Perhaps we can all just sing songs around the campfire or something.”

  Laryn shook his head and cocked an eyebrow. “Hmm. Well, maybe I’ll be able to help out on the music front. But don’t say anything to anyone. This is a secret.”

  Kenna’s eyes widened, and she smiled broadly. “You’re a musician?”

  Laryn laughed. “No, no, of course not. Not in the slightest. But I have a suspicion about someone who might be, and I’ll have a word.”

  “That would be amazing,” Kenna said. “I’m so excited.” She clapped her hands together.

  Laryn grinned. He leaned back and looked out over the Ebil River, and Kenna mirrored his movement. They both sat quietly together for several moments.

  For the first time since he had activated the Kingdom Core, Laryn felt a sense of peace. Thinking of activating the Kingdom Core made him again think of Keldin’s body lying cold and dead on the beach, and he suddenly felt a rush of emotion, which he tried to hide.

  He kept putting off finding time to mourn for the loss of his brother. And he was going to continue to do it. Keldin wasn’t gone. Laryn could still bring him back. He just had to grow the kingdom.

  Kenna sprang to her feet. “Well, if we’re really doing that tonight, then I’d better go get things ready,” she said. She turned to go, and then turned back.

  “You can really find some music?” she asked, brushing curls behind her ear.

  “I might be able to,” Laryn said, “but I make no promises.”

  “You’d better.” She flashed him a smile and then turned and hurried away down the trail.

  Laryn leaned back on the bench and looked out across the water for a moment longer. He sighed.

  He tried so hard to give his counselors an effective list of priorities, and yet here he was, chatting with a woman on a bench and planning a party. He needed to make himself a list of priorities to make sure that they were keeping things on course.

  As the [Ruler], his work mattered the most. He rose heavily, and headed back toward the kingdom core. He would spend some hours sifting. Every hour that passed, he was an hour further from Keldin. He couldn’t close that gap yet, but he could at least slow it down.