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The next morning, I headed for town.  I knew as soon as I stepped foot into the town square that I was unwelcome, but I didn’t care.  I didn’t stop until I’d reached the gates of the palace, and there I made my request.  I needed to see Azar.  Tae had sent me.

This request got me inside sooner than I’d expected.  I was led through the palace, and soon enough, I was standing in the throne room.  Queen Edan was seated on her throne, and she was staring down at me with a glint in her eyes.

“Tae sent you, eh?  Who is he to you?  How do you know he exists?”

I blinked up at her. “I met him in Eira.  He told me to come here.  Said you’d know where to send me next.”

She ground her teeth. “What proof do you have that he sent you?”

I held up my pendant. “I have these.  They’re half the runes, I think.  I need to find the other half of them.”

She stood from the throne and walked down the steps in front of her before taking the pendant.  She counted the gems before handing the pendant back to me.  She crossed her arms and looked down at me.

“What are you looking for?”

“I need to find the next mystic.

“There’s a monster on the island of Kiran if that’s what you’re looking for.”

I smiled. “Yes, that is what I’m looking for.  Thank you!”

I was about to turn to leave, but she spoke again.

“How is he?”

“Tae?  He’s doing very well, I think.” I glanced up at her. “Who is he to you?  He never said what your relationship was.”

“He’s my brother,” she admitted.

My eyes widened. “Oh.  Well, he’s doing great.  He runs an inn.”

She smiled and nodded. “Good for him.”

I did leave then, walking down the steps from the gates I’d never passed through once I was outside.  I’d never seen this side of the city.  There were fishing docks out here, and many, many boats.  I needed to go to Kiran.  I pulled out my map.  It was just about directly north.  I could see its large volcano from where I was standing, and I cringed.  Kiran wasn’t exactly the kind of place you wanted to just walk around.  The volcano erupted often.

“Excuse me, sir,” I tapped a man on the shoulder at the docks. “Are any of these boats headed to Kiran?”

The man smiled down at me.  I could tell he was getting up there in age, but I couldn’t tell how old he really was.

“I’m headed there in a few minutes.  I have goods to deliver there.  Would you like to ride with me?”

“Could I?  That would be awesome!”

“Of course!  Get on.  We’ll be off in a moment.”

Indeed, we were.  I’d never been out on the water before.  Really, I’d never been anywhere near it.  The ocean was quite aways from the little hut I’d spent the majority of my life in.  I stared down at the water rushing past as the man rowed the boat forward.  It was fascinating.

“Do you live in Aine, sir?”

“Oh, no.  I live in Joash.”

“Ah.  What’s your name?”

“I’m Blaze.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Blaze.  I’m Odelle.”

“That’s a lovely name.  What business do you have in Kiran?”

“There’s something I need to collect for someone there.  Will you be going back to Joash when soon?”

“As soon as I drop off my deliveries, yes.  Do you plan on staying in Kiran tonight?”

“No,” I admitted with a shake of my head. “I have to head somewhere else.”

I couldn’t remember the name of the other island for the life of me, and it felt odd to pull out the map in front of this man.

“Have you ever been out of Aine?” Blaze asked, picking up the conversation again.

“No, never.” At least not to any islands, that was.

“You should come to Joash sometime.  We have a little farming village on the island.  It’s quite peaceful, I think.”

I smiled. “I’ll come sometime.  Have you been to the other islands?”

“Only Kiran and Maccoy.  The rest are too far away for a man like me to travel to.  As it is, I rarely go to Maccoy anymore.”

“And Kiran?” I asked.

“I can’t keep myself away,” he admitted. “My lovely Kenna is the chief of Kiran, and I must see her every chance I get.”

I smiled.  He was reminding me of the way my father used to talk about my mother.  We were nearly to Kiran now, and I knew this conversation was over.  I didn’t have time to ask questions, anyways.  The sun was nearing its peak in the sky, and I had no clue how long it was going to take me to find the next mystic.  This volcano was huge, and I was imaging it was not going to be an easy climb to get anywhere on it.  On the other hand, I also had to worry about the volcano exploding.  I wasn’t sure how that would affect me, but I did know it was something I didn’t want to happen.

As soon as Blaze docked, I was off.  I got a few odd looks from the people living on the island, but I didn’t have the time be concerned about that right now.

Climbing the volcano was even harder than I’d initially anticipated.  The rock was sticking out every which way, and there were places where hot lava was streaming through broken rock.  I almost wanted to touch it.

I found myself climbing for a while more.  There was virtually nothing on this volcano besides rock.  No living creature of any kind, and certainly not any plants.  Just rock.  Thick, black rock.  There was no way there was really a mystic up here.

The farther I climbed, the more I realized that I was getting hot.  This was never a feeling I’d experienced before.  No matter how hot it had been, no matter how many plants wilted under the sun, I’d never felt hot before.  But standing up here, something just felt off.  I could only assume it was the heat causing me to react this way, because this was just like the legend I’d heard of the volcano when I was a kid.  My father had said this was the only place any Chandian could feel heat.

Frankly, something about that seemed wrong to me.  I’d never heard such a thing about Albians and their cold climates, so why could we be affected by heat?

I had half the mind to turn around and head back down the volcano when a heard a voice ringing in my ears.  Or were my ears just ringing?  The tone in which the voice spoke was so low I almost couldn’t make out any words.

“Odelle, I’ve been expecting you.”