Dear Zann,

The next day I returned to the Wizards Council hall and presented Rheux and Sandavin with a sealed note from Ambe. They opened and read it, and put it away without reaction. Sandavin said, “I’m going to make preparations for Ambe. Can you deal with Ybel here?”

Rheux nodded. She was just a little bird, but I thought there wasn’t a lot of enthusiasm in her nod.

“Deal with me?” I asked her. We were in the same bureau they had questioned me in before.

“We’ve been looking for this woman Wande,” she said. “Not that we’d never cheat anybody, but we don’t do so for no good reason. We have been looking.”

“And you haven’t found her.”

“No. Nor her daughter.”

“What does… Does that mean she’s dead? She and Jhus?”

“No. If they were merely dead, we would have discovered that. It means that there’s something confounding our magic. They could be on another plane of existence. They could have travelled a great distance from the city, farther than they could have had time to travel. Or, more likely, they’re in some relatively nearby place but some kind of other magic interferes with our spells.”

“Like if they’re prisoners of someone,” I suggested.

“That’s one possibility. But then, there are places where such spells are blocked and it has nothing to do with anyone who might be there. Some chambers of this building, for instance. Your people might be in such a place perfectly innocently.” There was a dish of seeds on the table and Rheux pecked at them.

“So what do we do next?”

“I don’t like to send you away unsatisfied,” Rheux said. “But Sandavin and I have done a lot of spellcasting looking for Wande and Jhusdhe. We tried all the conventional spells and then we tried some special magics that often help us scry people or things who are magically warded. I believe that’s a fair exchange for your delivery of two messages.”

I didn’t answer.

“I do have one last thing I can give you, though. We did a card reading for you, in case the gods and spirits had any advice for your search. Card readings are vulgar and unreliable, but at least they’re also difficult to interpret.”

“Thank you?”

“You are welcome. The substance of the card reading is this: that your path should lead you next out of the city, to a crossroads that has something to do with your family.” Rheux cocked her head to the side and looked at me.

“And what do I do there?”

“If I knew, I would already have told you. I wish you good fortune in your endeavours and I hope you find your missing people. We can do no more for you. Please return Sandavin’s charm before leaving us.”

Love,

Ybel