65. Problems of the past

It wasn't long past sunrise high above the passages of the Stone Circle, but as Ada wound her way through the underground, she could hear the distant clamour of voices. The scent of sulphur hung in the air, and from the corner of her eye, Ada thought she saw brief wisps of red smoke, or glimmers like the umbre rock beneath her boots was punctured with glass.

But Ada's mind was elsewhere. With each turn of the passageway, she went over a different line from Raeph's past, trying to match his story with the snatches of Wysthaven's history she had heard before. Everything was out of order, and went back in time further than she could fathom. She knew now that the fae had once dealt with humans, though they had been cruel and spiteful. Yet when Ada had come from the Wystwood into the city, she had been looked at with shock, and horror, and fear. She knew that above the Stone Circle, the Lady held reign with chains of iron, and magic had all but disappeared from the fae city of Wysthaven.

Ada's feet had moved before her mind could follow, and instead of walking towards Hester's infirmary, she slipped through a crevice in the rock and stole into the library. It was just as she had left it, books with blank leather spines stacked thrice her height and more. Shadows lurked between sparks of sage-light, like magic given form, ready to seek out any book she wanted.

Though there was one book out of grasp, its cover gilded gold, and its back held by an old man's wrinkled hands. Edmere sat alone a short distance from Ada, courted by swirling embers of sage, his eyes as pale as paper in the low light.

"I find that sleep is often the first to go when one's mind is full of other matters," he said.

Ada didn't reply, only allowing him a brief nod of her head.

"Of course," Edmere went on, "solace can always be found within the pages of a book."

He set the Gilded Book down beside him, and it instantly seemed to slip away into the shadows, gold fading into empty air. Ada tried to keep her face carefully blank. She knew Edmere couldn't have found the book in the library, as she had left it the night before on Hester's table. Although if the fae knew that she had left the Stone Circle, he was managing to conceal his expression in the lines of his face.

"I've been thinking about what you told me," Ada said. "About summons and wishing wells. You brought me all the way here, even though only a season ago I thought faeries and magic were children's stories."

Edmere sat silently, his fingers turning a golden ring that he wore today on one hand.

"What became of humans and fae in our past?" Ada finally asked. "Why am I even here to begin with?"

"You are here to return magic to Wysthaven," Edmere replied simply.

"But is that even a good thing?" Ada thought of Raeph's brother, driven to madness and soaked in blood.

"It is the greatest thing I know." Edmere's hands had stilled on his ring and his eyes appeared ghost-white in the cold library. He held Ada's stare for a long moment, then sighed a weary breath, as though there was an ache in his bones that ran deep into the marrow. His fingers returned to their fiddling. "I know you must not have received an easy welcome in Wysthaven, and doubtless, your people also have dark tales of the fae folk.

"Yes, we once made dealings with humans. But no, we did not inflict the horrors upon you that you may believe. Our relationship was prosperous, with humans giving us substances not readily available in our world, and likewise, we returned your gifts with magic."

"But magic always demands a price," Ada finished.

"Indeed," said Edmere. "One cannot control the desires of another. We can only learn from them, if we are wise. And I believe that every one of us has the capacity to learn. If magic is to return, then perhaps, so can our contact with your world. Together, we can create a new form of magic, which does not harm, but blesses those who seek it."

Ada considered Edmere's words, and saw the flicker of hope alive within them. But in the shadows deep beneath the earth, all she could picture was the greed and desperation magic had wrought, both in Wysthaven and in Little Crestbury.

"But that doesn't explain the fae's dislike of humans," Ada said. "You were always the ones who held the most power. Why break contact to begin with?"

Edmere shifted in his seat, and the gold ring came to a rest at the base of his finger. "Power is only ever perceived through the eyes of the vulnerable. Do human, too, not possess power? Can you not touch iron and resist its burn? Or make a dealing, only to go back on your word? The power of fae is easy to comprehend. But humans, you like to conceal your power behind shrouded words and actions."

The old man fell silent, though his words lingered in the air, as if unfinished.

Could magic truly make a world a better place? Ada couldn't answer such a question, and didn't want to be the one made to decide. But even though she couldn't place her faith in magic, she could in people.

"If you actually believe in a future where both human and fae can help one another," Ada said carefully. "Then let us start here and now. Help me find my friend taken by the Hounds, and I will put every effort into returning magic to the city. Be that with the Saltsworn's name, or any other method possible."

Edmere regarded her. "I agreed to consider the matter of your lost companion, were you to discover further information."

"I have it," replied Ada. "She is held in the Hounds' Barracks, where there will be a banquet on the night of the Harvest Moon."

"A dangerous place to be at a dangerous time of year," Edmere mused. "Far more dangerous, I expect, to enter as a human."

Ada didn't deny it, but she also didn't withdraw her offer.

"But I suppose, if you must go, then entry will be found." Edmere stood, smoothing the creased shift he wore as a nightshirt. "Yue shall accompany you. If there is anyone of us bold enough to approach the Barracks, it is her."

Ada stilled, feeling a grimace turning the corners of her mouth. But before she could suggest another idea, Edmere continued.

"Go there and find your friend. Then return to me, but only when you have retrieved the name of the Saltsworn."

Ada understood his meaning: that this would be the last piece of help offered by the Stone Circle. Edmere hadn't moved, but sage-lights drifted away from him and towards the crack in the rock

"Breakfast will soon be laid out," he said. "You should go. I am sure you are hungry."

His pale gaze didn't waver, so Ada turned away first. She slipped through the wall and walked as calmly as she could away from the library, unable to remove the cool feeling of Edmere's eyes upon her back.

Ada found that she was hungry when she reached the dining hall. The long room was packed with fae, and Ada kept her face lowered as she skimmed between the tables. She spotted what appeared to be a plate piled with thick, caramelised pastries, and ducked around a pair of chattering women to grab one. The pastry was soft and sticky in her hand, but instead of coming apart in buttery flakes, a brown liquid oozed between her fingers.

"Ada!" someone cried, and she turned to see the two fae women glaring as Armestrong barged between them. "Graces be good, girl! Disappearing like that before any of us had woken. You could have left a note, nobody knew where you'd gone off to!"

Ada opened her mouth, but Armestrong's attention had turned to her hand. She wrinkled her nose. "Stars know the food down here is close as gets to swill, but they've at least got better than boiled mushrooms."

Armestrong led Ada further into the room, where people had thinned into smaller groups. Some sat together, eating their breakfast, while others gathered around to talk in quick and heated voices.

"What's got everyone so excited this morning, I've no idea," Armestrong complained, swatting the mushroom from Ada's hand and pushing a number of bowls towards her. Ada gave her thanks, spooning a purple preserve onto some porridge as Armestrong cleaned a spoon for her on the corner of her apron.

As she ate, Ada looked around the room, her eyes coming to rest on a small group of children. They had gaggled around Lark, who was strumming a simple tune on his lute. Ada couldn't hear his songs, but she doubted that they were innocent nursery rhymes as the children screamed with laughter at the end of each verse.

Her eyes widened when she saw Yue sitting nearby, smiling along with some of the older fae gathered amongst Lark's growing audience. It was an odd expression to see her wearing, and Ada felt slightly guilty knowing it would be gone as soon as Edmere told her she would be accompanying the bandits to the Barracks. She wondered how often there was occasion to laugh within the Stone Circle.

Lark eventually spotted her, and he came over to join Ada and Armestrong, setting down his lute on a pillow he must have smuggled out of Hester's infirmary.

"See?" he said to Armestrong. "I told you she couldn't have gotten far."

Armestrong gave a huff, watching Lark shove a handful of berries into his mouth and pink juice dribble down to his chin. "Try telling that to Min."

Behind them, the group of children were dispersing, some offering Lark shy smiles as they passed. Ada peered between their oversized shoes and unravelling jumpers, expecting to see curly hair and large, brown eyes. But soon they had all gone, and Min was nowhere to be found.