After her next shift at the library, Thaddeus had tentatively extended an offer for her to join him in getting a drink. Rue was skeptical of the offer, and while part of her instinct was to question why he’d bother, the other part of instinct was simply just excited. Rue had not had friends before, not since she was a very young girl, and Thaddeus’ kindness was admittedly intoxicating.

  Thaddeus himself had mostly talked about family, but Rue realized he rarely talked about friends. She was wary to assume he was lonely, but she did find it an oddly pleasing fantasy to imagine he was just as lonely as she was. After the first incident of attempting to ‘prank’ him, she had shifted into a quiet and passive presence around him, letting him lead with his eagerness to teach her.

  As they walked from the library and Rue donned her scarf and her newly acquired gloves, which were an insulated darkly lacquered leather, Thaddeus noticed the new addition. “Nice gloves,” he commented, leaning in to peer. “They look really nice, actually. Is that why you asked to get paid sooner?”

  Rue shrugged, glancing down at her hands, flipping them over in inspection. “They weren’t as expensive as you’d think,” she said. “But yeah. My other pair was falling apart.”

  They walked quietly for a minute as Thaddeus led her towards the tavern he had in mind. He broke the silence first, in a soft voice. “I’m not really supposed to do it for free, but…If you want, I could place a heat rune wherever you’re staying. Just a simple one, for the winter.”

  Rue pursed her lips. She had steadily found space at an abandoned building in the poverty-stricken section of town, Snake’s Way, with the likelihood of affording a space of her own seeming to get slimmer and slimmer. It stayed fairly warm with many bodies within, and usually a contained fire to help stave off cold air.

  “Why aren’t you supposed to do it for free?” Rue questioned.

  “It’s a highly coveted skill, Rue. Runic mages almost purely serve the King’s court, or very closely to it.”

  Rue made a face. “What happens if someone is born a runic mage? Who is gonna stop them from doing anything?” Her gaze shifted up to the sky as she heard a flutter of wings. A crow had launched into the air, and landed into the rafters not far ahead, cawing obnoxiously. Rue grunted, pausing to pick up a stone from the road.

  Thaddeus paused with her. “It’s very rare to be born outside of bloodlines. It’s fairly important for those families to have children, to pass along the blessings,” he explained. “...What are you doing?”

  As soon as he asked that, Rue hurled the stone up at the crow. It missed, and the crow didn’t bother to move from the perch it found. It cawed louder, sounding as if it were laughing at her.

  “Rue! You’ll hit a window, stop,” Thaddeus cringed as the rock collided with the side of a building, then fell two stories down.

  Rue was scooping another stone up. “It’s annoying!” She huffed, rearing her arm back for another throw. “These birds are everywhere, they don’t shut up.”

  Right before she could release the likely-poorly-aimed stone, Thaddeus managed to snatch it from her grasp.

  “Hey!” She whined in protest.

  “Seriously Rue, you can’t just throw rocks. Not even at birds.” He glanced back at the crow as he tossed the rock away. “Crows aren’t really that common here. The pigeons are far more annoying.”

  “Pigeons aren’t near as annoying,” Rue grumbled, giving up on her mission. They started walking again, and the crow continued to cackle. “Bullshit they’re not common. I never saw them before, but they’ve been everywhere since I’ve come north.”

  Thaddeus hummed softly, glancing at her. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Have you ever tried…Talking to one?”

  “I’ve yelled at them plenty,” Rue frowned. “But I won’t be talking to them, no. They don’t listen. They’re just birds.”

  As they walked, the crow seemed to follow. Thaddeus kept his head craned up, watching it as they went through the streets. “They’re impressively smart birds,” he commented. “How curious. This one does seem to be following you.”

  “They’ll all follow me. I told you, they’re everywhere.”

  The two reached the steps to the tavern, a combined inn, and went up through the door. Thaddeus looked as if he wanted to say more, but he held his contemplations as they entered and approached the bar-style counter, with a door that led back to what smelled like a kitchen. A young woman, who looked generally around Rue’s age, greeted them with a big smile. Rue had come here once while looking for a job, and it hadn’t been this woman who she spoke to, but an older man who seemed far more gruff.

  “Hi, Thaddeus!” She greeted him before looking at Rue. “And hello, Thaddeus’ friend!” She had a wide smile, everything about her warm and inviting, honey-golden eyes glinting behind glasses frames. She was short and plump, with long black hair pulled back loosely, some still spilling out around her shoulders.

  “Evening, Eira,” Thaddeus greeted back warmly. “This is Rue. She’s working at the library with me.”

  Rue raised a hand, flashing a short wave before it dropped back to her side. She looked above Eira, where a menu was posted. It looked caved in wood. She stared at the jumble of letters, head already hurting as she tried to apply her lesson to read them, though they hadn’t exactly gone over tavern drink and food yet.

  “Can I get an ale?” Rue asked, pretending as if she were reading it off, and hoping it was on there. It’d be weird for a tavern not to have an ale, she was fairly certain.

  “Of course you may,” Eira nodded. “Anything for you, Thaddeus?”

  “A glass of white wine, please,” he said. Eira disappeared back towards the kitchen, and Thaddeus looked to Rue. “You should ask to work here,” he murmured quietly. “Eira and her father are good people.”

  “I already did,” she responded flatly. “I’m guessin’ it was her father who said they didn’t need any help when I asked.”

  “Ah,” Thaddeus frowned. Eira came out shortly after, so he said nothing else. He handed her payment, and assured Rue that her drink was covered. She grumbled at that.

  “I can pay for my own stuff, you know.”

  “Consider it a work bonus for being a good student.”

  “I’m a good student?

  “...For being an alright student.” He laughed softly, and Rue couldn’t help but break her grumpy composure to laugh as well.

  Someone else came in after them, and busied Eira. Thaddeus and Rue moved on to the sitting area of the tavern. Rue hadn’t actually seen it yet, and she was surprised to find it unlike any tavern she’d been in. The air was thick with incense, which burned in bowls in two or three spots. It was a medium sized space, clustered with couches and chairs, most cushioned, around tables. Curtains draped over some sections, offering moderate privacy.

  Rue inhaled deeply, and then the soft sound of music hit her ears. She didn’t see anyone playing an instrument, and it was very quiet.

  “Where’s the music coming from? I didn’t hear anything outside,” she commented as Thaddeus led them to a small, private sitting area, partially curtained off.

  “It’s just a memory cast,” he explained. Seeing her blank, waiting expression, he cleared his throat, sitting down on a couch. Rue stared at the spot beside him, then to the adjacent couch, and sat there. “Sorry. I guess I don’t really know…What isn’t used outside of the city. Uhm, memory casts are runic inscribed to capture sounds. The sound can be activated to play over and over until it is deactivated. In this case…” He tilted his head, listening. “...It’s a violin, I think.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Rue appreciated that he didn’t give half-answers to much. Thaddeus had a habit of overly-explaining things, and she wasn’t sure if he was doing it to try to benefit her, or if it was just him. She had a feeling it was just him.

  “That doesn’t seem like it should be possible,” Rue mused, though she heard the music clearly enough, with no other possible means of playing. She had been faced with multiple new things, a magical technology that defied her ability of understanding, even when she experienced it. Many, if not practically all, of the seemingly impossible things seemed to be centered around the ability of runic mages, which was even more difficult for Rue to understand.

  “It’s a novelty for the most part,” Thaddeus said. “They can be useful for passing along urgent messages, but the resources to make them mean that letters are more of an economical choice.”

  Thaddeus had explained that runic mages were connected to the threads of magical energy itself, and could direct the flow of it to perform certain tasks that sometimes overlapped directly over the unique abilities of other magics. The flow of magic could be directed to perform abilities and tasks that other abilities couldn’t come close to replicating. Rue had seen several different applications: Casting light, raising and lowering temperatures, locking and unlocking doors, the lift within the library, which she still couldn’t wrap her head around, and now this memory cast concept.

  Because runic mages had such a wide range of skill, they were usually recruited by the court for work. They were not required, but without guidance, the skills of a mage were nearly impossible to learn. They had to learn the written runic language that directed magic, and then how to imbue their own energy into the flow. The more powerful of a rune, the more energy it drained from the mage, and it could be anywhere from hours to days before they were strong enough to work another rune.

  If they overextended, it could mean death.

  Rue found it utterly fascinating, and admittedly she was quite jealous of Thaddeus.

  “This might be a silly question,” Thaddeus said slowly, breaking the silence that they had spent listening to the music and sipping drinks, while Rue had been lost in thought. “But do the birds…I mean, ah, the crows. Do they ever sound like they’re talking to you?”

  Rue looked at him, brows creasing slightly. “No,” she said reflexively. “I mean, maybe sometimes. I think it’s just how their sounds…You know. Sound.”

  This earned a smile from Thaddeus, but she realized he had a serious expression about him. “I’m not going to judge you ill,” he said. “I’m quite serious. Do they sound as if they might be speaking?”

  Rue chewed on the inside of her cheek, then nodded meekly after. “...I only ever noticed it when I began my journey here,” she said. “There were a whole flock of them. They followed me. Haven’t seen that many here, but they’re still everywhere.”

  Thaddeus thought this over, looking down at his glass of wine. He tilted it in a slow circle, and Rue found herself watching the shift of the liquid surface, a hazy beige in the low, reddish lights of the tavern.

  “I don’t want to jump to any conclusions,” he started slowly, “but there is an interesting phenomenon with animals. When a person possesses the ability to communicate with animals, through inherited or new magic, the associated animals are sometimes drawn to that person. The more intelligent the animal, the more likely they might try to communicate without prompting. Have crows always been drawn to you?”

  Rue was taken aback by all of this. She sat up on the couch, which was difficult with how she sunk into the ample cushion.

  “No, I…I don’t think so,” she murmured, shaking her head. “I’ve rarely ever seen them.”

  “They’re not the most common in this region. They’re quite common in the Xassough Empire, far west of here. Perhaps you never got close enough with them. Crows are considered one of the more intelligent birds. Though…I will say, it would be odd if only one type of bird was affected.”

  “Are you saying I’ve got the ability to speak to crows?” Rue questioned, unimpressed, staring hard at Thaddeus. His eyes widened at the intensity of his gaze and he quickly shook his head.

  “I don’t know! Maybe? You could always seek a priestess of Aukinok. They have the ability to see afflictions, including of the soul, in which they apparently see threads of magic.”

  Rue scoffed as he explained. She had learned some of this already, upon her own visit to a temple and absconded with some stolen coins from their donation pot. In fact, she had been back twice already to do the same. That first visit had already brought her face to face with a priestess.

  “I’ve already done that,” Rue said, earning a surprised look from Thaddeus. “And she said I had nothing.”

  Thaddeus appeared disappointed. He leaned back, some of his quiet excitement leaving him at once, enough to deflate him. She hadn’t realized he was so excited until the deflation.

  “Really?” That sounded even more disappointed. “I guess that it was a bit of a stretch, wasn’t it? Sorry. It’s not like speaking to birds is that exciting, anyway, it just felt like I was solving a mystery of some kind. The better answer is the most reasonable. Just a bit of coincidence.” He at least tried to save her the humiliation she felt by way of his reaction, but it didn’t help much.

  “We can’t all be special,” Rue said stiffly. She changed the subject, and admittedly hoped she was aiming for a weak point of his. “Since it’s so important to keep bloodlines going, how many runic kids you got running around?” She had meant to control her tone a bit more, but it came out with the bitter edge she felt.

  Thaddeus winced. He took a long sip of wine. “None,” he answered, with a sigh. “I’ve been unsuccessful in that department. The department of getting married in the first place, specifically. My life doesn’t leave much room for that.”

  Rue glanced around them, at the very cozy atmospheric room. “Yeah, you seem pretty busy,” she said with a pointed look.

  Thaddeus cleared his throat. “I usually come here alone,” he defended himself. “You just seemed like you needed something nice tonight, too. I wanted to ask you a few things as well, and…It seems better here, instead of while we’re working. More than about the crows. That one sort of happened on the way here.”

  Rue frowned, eyeing Thaddeus warily. In general, she did trust him more than most had a chance to get to. Knowing he had brought her here with the intention of trying to get her to answer questions elevated a lack of trust to his intentions. She took a pull of ale, chasing the sensation of clouds within her mind. “Get on with it. What do you want?”

  “You don’t have to answer anything. I’m just trying to be a friend,” Thaddeus seemed to sense the brittle thorns forming around her in the moment, using a careful tone. “I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

  That word did catch Rue off of her guard. Friend. Her focus became sharper, in spite of the attempt to cloud it with drink. She said nothing, and so he continued to speak.

  “Rue, do you…Have somewhere you’re staying? Somewhere safe.”

  “Of course I do,” she answered immediately. “Do I look homeless to you?”

  Thaddeus frowned, with a deepened concern. “Yes,” he answered honestly. His voice was much softer than Rue’s.

  The incense within the building suddenly became thicker. It felt heavy, clouding her lungs and restricting them. She felt it then, the cracks that had been forming ever since she had seen herself within that mirror. Her body felt grimy and dirty, her clothing ripped and stained. Her gaze upon Thaddeus’ own was cold and inhuman. He isn’t looking at me with concern. It’s pity. It’s always been pity.

  She downed the ale and set the empty tankard upon the low-riding table between them with a thud that sounded loud against the relatively quiet backdrop of music playing. Thaddeus flinched. It was subtle, but she was certain she saw it. The thick air was too much, and she needed to get away.

  “Rue?” Thaddeus said as she stood. He stood too, and reached out to grab her wrist, trying to stop her. Though she wore her robes and the leather gloves, his fingers hit the narrow window of exposed skin between the two. “Rue, I’m sorry, this isn’t my business. I’m just concerned for you. I want to help you, only if you would accept it. I’ve never done something like this, I mean - I don’t really have many friends, I’m not sure how to have this kind of conversation.”

  His words washed over her, her body frozen, rigid in the few seconds that passed with his ashamed, awkward explanation. She heard very little of it.

  Rue was not very fond of being touched.

  She had always been hypersensitive to touch. The briefer it was, the less it upset her, but anything prolonged felt like she was being electrocuted. It was always a jarring sensation, not one that was necessarily painful, but it was raw. Thaddeus’ touch was unbearable. It was electrocution, and it ripped right through her, striking what felt like her very soul, and setting it alight. It was enough that her head swam, her vision sparked and the room was gone, and she could only see a sheet of blinding, colorless light. She could not breath, she could not move, his words became wind.

  It faded so fast that the return of the tavern induced another, much more sickening, shift of reality. Her ears rang, and then she was bent over, vomiting on the table.

  “Rue? Rue, by Gods, are you alright? What’s happening?” Thaddeus’ voice peaked through the ringing, followed by the rush of her beating pulse in her ears. She could feel herself shaking. She did not look, but she could practically feel a hand hovering over her bent back, torn between trying to comfort her and the realization that his touch had affected her.

  The fear of another touch, even through clothing, sent Rue bolting before she could make the effort to imagine doing so herself. She lunged over the table, her tankard and his unfinished wine sent careening to the ground, and fled without abandon. Several people appeared in her peripheral vision, all going ignored. The door was there, just ahead, opening up on its own as if it knew she were flying for it. No, not by itself, by a person on the outside step who failed to move as she flung outwards, shoulder colliding with their chest, sending them to the ground as she staggered, then continued without a glance back.

  Cold air wrapped around her body, but it was aflame, wrapping her tightly and branding every inch of surface upon her skin.

  Her ears still rang and pulsed and pounded. There was maniacal laughter, somewhere. Everywhere. Nowhere.

  Rue just ran.