Over the next few days I was too busy trying to get my life into order to spend any time with Kyle. He helped the whole time, but there was just too much to do. It didn't help that some people were starting to change their minds about what they wanted.
Jer and the others had gotten Linn back easily. She was a little shaken from Dryyen trying to sacrifice her, but otherwise she was all right. When I found out that he had gotten a hold of her because he had promised her some nice food I made her promise me that she would never go with a stranger like that ever again. I didn't tell Jer about it though, because I knew he wouldn't take it well.
Marina had picked up a follower, the boy who had tackled me on the way to Sweetwater. His name was Yttre and he had been Dryyen's apprentice, but he didn't seem to have much in the way of common sense or magical ability. He called Marina "Mama," and she seemed to know him very well. I tried to find out what there was between the two of them, but neither one would tell me.
She spent most of her time during those next few days talking to him. The few abilities he did have were stolen from other people, using the dark sorcery that Dryyen had taught him. He didn't seem to understand that stealing other people's abilities was wrong, and he insisted that he wasn't being bad. He said it wasn't fair for some people to be born with abilities and for others to never have the chance to do those things, even if they worked really hard. Marina was having a hard time trying to make him realize that his thinking wasn't right.
When she wasn't trying to teach Yttre morals, Marina was talking with Father Betral. She really seemed to enjoy her conversations with him, and I started to wonder if she was thinking of hating men just a little less because of him. She eventually decided that she didn't want to go back to her world. Instead she was going to stay at the orphanage and teach sorcery, the good kind, to the children there. She claimed that the best way to protect the children from evil sorcery was to teach them good sorcery, and Father Caleb agreed with her.
Tevald became Marina's first student. He was fascinated by the idea of learning yet another way to do magic. Marina was more than happy to teach him, since once he learned enough he could help her to teach the children, the same way he was helping teach the normal classes already. He tried to convince Father Betral to give him a staff and teach him to use that as well, but Father Betral refused.
Akito went back to his world the day after Dryyen's death. He would barely talk to any of us that night, and he seemed sad. I got the feeling that he wasn't sure if Kyou was still alive before he left, but I couldn't get him to tell me whether I was right or not. He told Kyle that he should go back home just before he left, but he didn't press the matter.
When I asked Kyle what he was going to do he told me that whatever I chose to do, he would follow me. He didn't care whether he got back to his world or not, and, to be honest, that made me happy. I was glad that he wanted to stay with me, because I wanted to stay with him. After he answered my question, I told him so.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do though. My first instinct was to stay at the orphanage and continue to learn to use the staff from Father Betral. That would be safe, and wouldn't cause Kyle, or anyone else, to worry. The problem was that I was curious about what Dryyen had said to me about my parents.
I wanted to find them. He had said that they were treated like gods on their world. I knew they were out there somewhere, and I had a way to get to the world, eventually. I wanted to find out more about myself, and what I couldn't remember. To do that, I would have to give up the safe life to look for them.
Father Betral agreed with me about finding my parents. He told me when I asked him about it that it was about time for me to go out on my own. He said he would always be there for me, but that I needed to make my own life for myself. He thought that trying to find my past would be the best way to start.
In the end, I decided to stay at the orphanage a little while longer before setting out to find my parents. I wanted to rest, and the orphanage seemed to be the best place to do that. I could prepare to leave during that time, and when I felt ready I would go. I knew Kyle would be with me, and that was what really mattered to me.
That night that I finally decided, Kyle and I went to sleep in the same bed, as we had every night since the first one in the inn. There was no sex involved, just the warm, comforting feeling of having someone else there. I wasn't sure if there ever would be sex. We hadn't talked about it, and I didn't particularly care.
As I drifted off to sleep I went immediately into a dream. There were four women there, wearing hooded robes made of shadows. I couldn't see their faces, or even their shapes, clearly, but I knew they were women. They watched me for a few moments in my dream before one of them spoke.
"By all rights we should be ripping that boy away from you," she said. "But we have decided to let you be."
Then the women faded, to leave the old, familiar spider web of worlds.