The Fateful Heart

Evaline smiled, ignoring the girl's challenging eyes.

"To prove my magic, think of any memory you're okay with letting me see. I'll be able to see that memory as if I were seeing it through your eyes at that time. When I'm finished, everything will be the same for you, but you may feel the same emotions you felt at the time of the memory. And I'd be able to tell you the events of the memory to prove that I've seen it. If you have paper, I can even sketch a person out to prove that I've seen their face, if you want."

She paused, silently taking a deep breath.

"But first, you'll have to trust me," she said gently. "Just enough to let me access your memories. Otherwise I won't be able to see anything."

The girl met Evaline's eyes, like she was trying to discern if what she was saying was true, and if Evaline could be proven trustworthy.

"That doesn't sound real," the man started saying. "I've never heard of magic like that before."

"She's just making it up," the woman echoed.

"Seems like an awful lot of trouble to make it up if she can't prove it," the girl said quietly.

"...Okay, but we're keeping out eye on you," the man said to Evaline. "If for a second you look like you're going to hurt her, I will not hesitate to crush you and bury you in the earth, where no one will ever find you again. You and your 'escort.'"

The girl nodded, like she agreed with what he was saying, but a small smirk started growing on her face.

"I think I have a memory in mind," she said. "Do it."

Evaline quietly laughed. Nervously. The casual threat of death was just what she needed to confidently go through with this.

"Okay," she said quietly, hesitantly lifting her hand. "Close your eyes and think through the memory. I'm going to touch you to establish a connection. Just on the forehead."

She slowly reached out, wary that the other two mages were watching her every move.

The girl nodded, and let Evaline touch her forehead. Then, she closed her eyes.

She was in a small desert town. Dusty, short buildings with flat roofs, and a group of kids laughing and playing in the street, kicking around a dirty brown ball. The girl was sitting on a front porch, watching them with her chin in her hand, and scanning the street. It was a dull day, and she was bored, watching her siblings play with the neighboring children. She had to do that, as the oldest, but it wasn't a fun obligation.

The sound of pounding hooves drew her attention to the end of the small road, where a woman came riding in quickly.

"Get out of the road!" she shouted to her brothers and sisters.

Without even looking in the direction of the incoming rider, the children scattered like glass on a hard floor, running to opposite sides of the street.

The rider drew the attention of some of the adults, and her parents, who stepped outside their front door to stand with her on the porch. She'd gotten to her feet now.

They watched as the rider slowed in front of their simple wooden sign for their town, and the tall lamppost beside it. While still atop her horse, she pulled out a hammer and nailed a piece of paper into the wood with three loud clangs before she tucked the hammer away and clicked the reins, leaving as soon as she came.

The girl looked back at her parents, and they nodded for her to go see. It had to be an announcement of something important.

As she darted for the sign, her siblings started crowding behind her, like ducklings following a mother duck.

When she reached the post, she looked up to see a wanted poster.

Tiberius Hemming. Wanted alive, for 25,000 gold. A man who greatly resembled the "Roan" Evaline introduced.

The memory came to an end, and the girl met Evaline's eves with a knowing, mischievous smile.

Evaline usually spent some time to collect herself before retelling the memory, but when the memory ended, she immediately glared at the cheeky-smiled girl.

It took everything in her to not take a card out of James's book and be sassy with her.

"Okay, I can explain," she said a bit curtly, eyes admitting defeat. "You're right, Roan's name isn't Roan. But I am a mage, and we are passing through. We mean no harm."

The man and the water-mage looked confused.

"Wait, did it work?" the man asked.

"I didn't see anything," the woman replied.

"That's not how it works," the girl said, still smiling with self-satisfaction. "She definitely saw the memory though. Otherwise she wouldn't have said that."

The girl got to her feet with a little giggle.

"She's a mage. A weird mage, but that's definitely magic," the girl said, looking to the man with a nod.

"So she was lying about the escort, but not about her magic, huh," the man concluded.

"What a twist," the water mage woman said dryly.

The man took a step back, and with another stomp of his foot, and this time an upward movement of both of his arms, Evaline was lifted out of the ground, to her feet, and all evidence of a hole beneath her settled away.

"So who's your escort really?" the man asked.

James, still submerged in the ground, tried to fight against the earthly restraints. The man seemed to sense that, and with a slide of his foot made him sink just a little deeper. Now, only his eyes showed. And the top of his head, of course.

Evaline breathed a sigh of relief when the girl verified her story and she was let go. But each passing second resulted in more doubt cast to James than her, and when she looked back at James, he was only seen from his eyes up. He couldn't breathe.

Evaline no longer held back. The panic rose up at the back of her throat.

"Okay, okay," she said quickly with a wavering voice and panicked eyes, hands out in front of her. "His name is Tiberius Hemming. He's a wanted man, but he's not a bad man. He's my friend. We're traveling companions. We really are traveling north. He doesn't hurt me, and he won't hurt you, either. Please let him go."

"I knew it!" the girl exclaimed. "So he is that super wanted criminal guy. Everyone was talking about him for so long. He's wanted for so much money."

The man looked from Evaline to the top of James's head and narrowed his eyes at James.

He hummed, and with a small movement of his hand, brought James's head above ground.

James let out a growl of a sigh through his nose and blinked slowly before he spit out a chunk of dirt.

"So what's a criminal wanted for treason want with a mage?" the man questioned.

James looked up at him. "We just found each other," he said. "She was running, I was running, and it made sense. I believe turning any of you in would be a great injustice. And frankly, doing so would only get me caught. So. If you can overlook my crimes, I'll overlook yours. How about that?"

The girl, the earth mage, and the water mage all looked amongst each other, sharing silent communication with their eyes. Then they all nodded.

"Well you should've lead with that," the man said, before stomping his foot hard against the earth and shooting James up onto the surface, gracelessly. James caught air and landed on his butt.

Elliot, who had been standing behind them - practically anchored during the interrogation, as his lead line was still held in James's buried hand - reached down and sniffed James's face.

James sighed.

The water mage woman finally put her water away, capping her canteen shut, and the little girl looked pleased with herself. Meanwhile, the man looked like he was mulling something over.

"So... memory mage, huh?" he said, turning to Evaline. "That's new. Must be a super rare bloodline."

"I once heard of a time mage," the girl chirped. "Could be similar."

The man shrugged. "Well, sorry for scaring you. We didn't know you were one of our own." He held out his hand to shake. "Truce?"

Evaline didn't even bother hiding the giant sigh of relief. Finally. It was over. They turned out okay.

"Yeah," she said softly to the man at his comment of her coming from a rare bloodline. "Something like that."

She was about to take the man's hand to shake, but her brain lagged as she finally sunk the girl's words that she knew of a time mage. It was possible that Evaline was probably the only 'memory magic mage' that existed in Nye, but she also assumed she would be the only person in Nye with time magic as well. Why didn't James tell her? Did he not know?

She furrowed her brows in thought, distractedly shaking the man's hand anyways.

"Did you say you met a time mage?" she asked over to the girl, still shaking his hand.

The girl turned to Evaline. "Oh, no, I just heard of one once. But I never met them," she said.

The man stood there with his hand extended for a moment, but the moment Evaline looked to get distracted, sighed, and awkwardly pulled his hand away.

"My name's Elrick," he said.

"Oh, and I'm Odeta," the girl said.

The water mage stood behind them with her arms crossed, still looking at James with suspicion.

"Raya," she said.

"It's nice to meet you, Evaline," Elrick said with a smile. "And again, sorry about the scare. You can never be too careful out here."

"Oh," Evaline said quietly to Odeta, then realized that she was no longer holding Elrick's hand.

She glanced back at James and saw that he was petting Elliot with his usual unreadable, blank face.

"It's nice to meet you too," she said through a smile, turning back to face everyone. "I'm just glad we're okay."

She paused, unable to swat the lingering thought in her mind.

"And actually, I... well, if we're being honest now..." She looked away and nervously scratched the back of her neck.

"I'm also a time mage. That's why I asked. I didn't know there were others like me." She paused. "And I didn't lead with that because it's not exactly something I can show you."

Odeta stared up at Evaline with starry eyes. "You're a time mage?" she said with a beaming smile. "Oh, that's so cool. You'll have to tell me all about it."

She reached out to grab Evaline's hand, starting to lead her forward, but then paused in her steps and looked back at Elrick.

"We are taking them to camp, right?" Odeta asked.

Elrick glanced back at James and nodded. "Of course," he said, looking over to Evaline. "All mages are family."

Odeta took that as a cue to drag Evaline forward, and Elrick followed beside them, while Raya dragged behind. She stood with her arms folded, and still kept her eyes on James, who started leading Elliot after the others.

While the others were just a few feet ahead of them, Raya whispered to James, under her breath.

"You better watch your back," she said.

James looked over to her, meeting her eyes.

"I don't trust you for a second," Raya hissed. "If you show even the slightest hint that you might be using Evaline, or tricking us, or if it looks like you're going to hurt anyone, you won't have to worry about getting caught by the kingdom. Because you'll be dead."

James nodded graciously.

"Thank you for the warning. I'll be sure to heed it," he said, and then he continued to follow the group. Raya stayed behind him, presumably to keep an eye on him.

Evaline smiled at Odeta's request to hear about her time magic. It was refreshing to hear someone sound excited about her seemingly mundane power.

Then they mentioned something about a camp. She glanced back at James again, but once again, didn't get anything of sustenance. Not even a glance back.

"Oh, I don't think that will be—" she began, but was interrupted when Odeta yanked her forward.

Well. Guess they were going to a mage camp, then.

Odeta let Evaline catch up to her speed and swung their hands back and forth between them.

"When did you realize you had magic?" she asked. "I was 13 when I discovered mine, which was only about a year ago. I can manipulate fire, but I'm not any good yet. Elrick says I have to stop trying to force it and just let it flow but I don't know what that even means."

Elrick, who was walking beside them, sighed. "It means you're trying too hard."

"That doesn't sound like a real thing," Odeta countered. "I thought I was supposed to try hard. What do you think, Evaline?"

It was strange to be accepted into a group so fast. Evaline still barely knew them, and although she did get a feeling that they trusted her, she didn't quite trust them.

"I was twelve when I discovered my... magic," she said, barely catching herself in time to say magic instead of power. "As for advice to manipulate fire..."

She tried to reflect on her experiences with someone she knew who could manipulate fire.

"I think you'd need concentration, but not deep focus, if that makes sense. Just enough concentration to know you're manipulating fire, but not putting all your energy into it."