Page 26 of Iris of the Crowned Flame

Juniper smiled at him. “Thank you, Spencer. I prefer to be called Juniper. You appear to have this gift of sight, though it’s quite unusual that it chose you. Lyla said it was a haze that you see around people. Is that right?”

Spencer nodded. “Yes, I do. Why is it unusual?”

“And what does my haze look like?” She ignored his answer.

Spencer stared at her for a moment, looking around her body. “Your haze is a light blueish gray color. It reminds me of the first snowfall over an evergreen forest.”

She nodded. “Good, yes, that is how my haze should appear. Do you actually see the forest, or what gives you that impression?”

Spencer shook his head. “I don’t see an actual forest; it’s just a swirl of colors in vague shapes that evoke that kind of memory for me.”

“And has this perception improved? How old are you now?”

“Yes, ma’am, it has been getting stronger in the last few years. I’m 25. Why do you ask?”

“Over the last 5 years, would you say?”

Spencer’s eyebrows came together as he answered, “Yes, yes, around that time is when it started giving me more details.”

“OK, right on time then.” She took a sip of her tea.

“I’m sorry, on time for what?” Spencer glanced at me; wewere both cautious about how she wasn’t really revealing much. Hopefully, this would change soon.

“I’ll get to that in a moment. How much do you know about the hazes that you see?”

“Not much. My mama has a similar gift, but she sees it only on certain people. As far as I know, she’s only seen it on me and on Lyla. She tried to get information when she saw mine and found out that her gift was telling her we were going to be change-makers, but she didn’t really learn much more, at least that she’s told me. I see it on everyone, so surely, it’s not that I am seeing change-makers, but I don’t know what it means. I have learned that they move and react to emotions, so I have been trying to understand that to help me predict how people will behave, but that’s about the extent of my understanding.”

Juniper nodded, accepting the answer. “I can clarify some information here. This type of gift usually goes to women, which makes your powerful skill interesting. I just received word before you two arrived that the Oracles of the Gelid will send down three acolytes to guide you two this winter and teach you about what this means, and hopefully help you prepare. Spencer, you’re one of the competing princes, yes?”

He nodded. Juniper turned to me, grabbed my hand, and demanded, “You must choose this man. The other two may be fine, gentlemen, but Spencer is by your side. He will guide you through what is coming, and you need his sight.”

Her ferocity was jarring. It left me startled.

“I’m sorry. Can you explain more? What’s so important about choosing him? Why are the Oracles also coming to guide me? He’s the one with this gift, not me. And how did you already get word back from the Oracles? It was just yesterday that you sent your letter, wasn’t it?” I glanced at Spencer, and I could have sworn I saw the emerald color in his eyes swirl with glitter again.

“Oh goodness, I just realized how this all must seem. They taught you two the wrong history.”

She released me, standing stood up and moving to her deskto grab two books along with a plain satchel. “We don’t have time to read through these books, so I’m going to advise you two to read them on your own time. But these documents hold the genuine history of the Oracles of the Gelid, a history that would scandalize Elthian and Vondalonian historians were it to come to light. You must protect this information. There are many lives that would end if these books get into the wrong hands. The Oracles are the last remaining religious order that communicate directly with the Gods, and this realm does not want to hear their Word.”

Spencer and I each reached out for a book, and Juniper placed the satchel on the table between us. The books appeared old but had no titles or markings on the covers. Elthas had many religious groups that all claimed to hear from the Gods. Because their beliefs always conveniently supported whichever side of the current political issue they favored, I never paid much attention. I had never been much into any religious system, as I had seen none that impart more wisdom than the others.

“Thank you, Juniper. What can you share with us?”

Juniper wasted no time sharing.

“The Oracles have guarded knowledge of a magic long believed erased from this world. According to them, this magic wasn’t erased, but we were blocked from sensing or manipulating it because of the way we abused it. What official historians don’t share is that long ago, before the Last Great War, we had full access to magic. Men and women could use it freely, and they mostly did. Unfortunately, some people’s greed led them to use magic destructively to gain more power than they deserved. They became rulers in many of the old countries, or they worked with the current rulers to corrupt them, and they created many inequities. The world became dangerous, and many smaller wars waged on in attempts to stop this greed. Eventually, The Last Great War came, and nearly erased humans from the lands using weapons that caused death and destruction on a scale we can’t imagine today. The Gods attempted to intervene to stopthis greed and the tragedy of their destruction, but humans fought back.”

“Eventually, of course, the Gods win, because humans can never win against the Gods, and our punishment resulted in the Gods stripping magic from us. They provided a pathway for magic to be restored, one that would allow people to prove that they have developed systems to encourage altruistic use of magic, to prevent the destruction and power struggles that had plagued us. The Gods provided a prophecy. I can’t quote it exactly, but they told us that when we have proven that people are ready to have magic restored, they will provide one last test for us and restore magic if we succeed. The Oracles have maintained the texts that wrote this prophecy and have been the ones that tried to guide us back to that.”

She paused here, to allow us to take this all in. We didn’t learn this history. Magic was just considered silly stories shared with children to entertain them, not genuine history.

“OK, so if the Oracles want to restore magic, why have the previous leaders in Elthas shunned them to the mountains?” I knew the members of the Council and most of our past rulers had been power hungry. I couldn’t understand why they would have tried to avoid this power.

“Restoring magic requires acknowledging that men and women are equals in all ways. Men are not yet ready to give that up, and with this many years since we have lost magic, they choose to live without magic rather than acknowledge that the Gods’ version of equality is far more giving than what we have present. Their individual power is more important to them than the collective.”

“How many men on the Council are aware of these prophecies? What about Father?” My mind swirls with the implications of what she shares. Yet, it all makes so much sense. I wondered if Mother had been working towards equality for this very goal.

“All Councilors are educated on the prophecies. Whether they believe them is an entirely different story. Your parentswere as well, and so were the leaders in your government, Spencer. The past generations have smeared the reputation of the Oracles and create religious confusions with all the other sects they have started. They did their jobs so well that most who learn of the prophecy think it’s nothing more than a fairy tale. The King was especially resistant to these ideas.”

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