Ishtar

“Why,” asked the boy that Cay and I had saved.

Sitting across from him, I was grinding the cayenne pepper in the mortar bowl, that Raiju had got me last week from some traders, under Sister Maria’s watchful eyes. I would be sprinkling this onto new bandages to speed up the boy's healing, but for now I was just grinding them while making sure that the boy didn’t do anything stupid like try to burn down the makeshift tent that we had made while he recovered.

Annoyed, he repeated, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you save me? Why are you helping me?”

“Why not?”

“Because people don’t do that! You had nothing to gain!”

“You talk weird for a kid.”

“Yeah, well, you act weird for a kid!”

After an awkward silence developed so I asked, “What’s your name?”

“Why?”

Ignoring him, I said,“I’m Ishtar, but Cay calls me Ish. Also, You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I just want to know the name of the person I saved.”

For a while, I didn’t think he would answer, but then he answered, “Gabriel. My name is Gabriel.”

I smiled and said, “Like the angel that Sister Maria was telling me about.”

                                                                       ***

My reminiscing was interrupted by Gael’s physical manifestation appearing and asking, “Child, how is it that you have managed to get confined in some form not, once, but twice in less than three days?”

At this, I glared and retorted, “Like you're one to talk. You say you’re my protector, but not once did you appear! You’re all bark and no fang!”

With annoyance plain on his face, Gael said, “There was a reason for that.”

“Then what?...Well I’m waiting, Gael. What reason could there possibly be for you not to have come out when I needed you?”

“Loki.”

“And what, pray tell, is a Loki?”

“A raven.”

For three full heartbeats, I froze as I processed his answer and then I exploded, “A bird?! You did not come to my aid because of a bird?! Have you gone senile?!”

“Me?! senile?! Child, I do believe you have finally gone mad! Do you have any idea what that bird, as you so aptly put it, has done?!”

“How could I? Ever since we have arrived here, you’ve been keeping secrets! If you want me to trust what you say, then Tell. Me. The. Truth!”

Gael sighed then said, “I cannot.”

“What do you mean-”

Gael’s ears perked up as he interrupted, “Quiet child. I hear footsteps.”

He then got ready to pounce and I got into a crouch so that I would be ready to take my frustration out on whoever had arrived as an unknown man appeared.

The man seemed to be in about his mid-thirties. The most remarkable thing about him were his eyes. They were the same bright green that mine were. Other than that, there was nothing remarkable about this stranger. He was average in height, his shoulder length blond hair was messy and a little dull, his face looked as if he hadn’t shaved in days and was otherwise quite ordinary. It was neither hideous nor handsome. His build was also ordinary. It wasn’t overweight, and it wasn’t overly muscular. Even hs clothes-brown slacks and a black t-shirt-were completely ordinary. Average. That was the only word that could come to mind when I looked at the stranger. And yet, it was this seemingly average stranger who put a look of utter shock in Gael’s face.

The man stood there and said, "Long time no see Gael.”

Incredulously Gael said, “Jamie? You’re alive?”

“Of course. Do I look like I’m that easy to kill?”

Gael only stared blankly at this “Jamie” person that Gael seemed to evidently know and not tell me about.

“Ok, stupid question, but I’m not the same person that I was back then, but since you are really here, am I right to assume that this is that idiot's brat?”

Gael awkwardly nodded.

“So where is that dumbass of a brother of mine?”

At this, my eyes widened in shock. Gael always told me that all my blood relatives were dead. The closest thing I ever had to a parental figure would be Raiju so this was odd.

But, before I could say anything Gael answered, “He’s dead.”

“So he did all that only to end up croaking early...Then again, he always was a fool.”

Annoyed, I said, “Excuse me, but as lovely as this conversation is, it would be a thousand times more wonderful, if someone would please tell me just what is going on and just who  are you, anyway?”

He smiled wryly as he said, “Yes, that would be helpful, wouldn’t it?”

I felt my eye twitch in distinct irritation before he continued, “Very well. I am James Saoghal. Physician, magical human, and, evidently, your paternal uncle.”

In shock, I said, “Come again?”

He sighed and said, “I know that half of you is from my stupid brother, but the other half is from her so I was hoping you would have a little more intelligence.”

Gael asked, “How did you even know we were here?”

He smirked, “Let’s just say that a little birdie told me and I was curious enough to come over and check the accuracy of their words.”

Gael muttered a curse as I asked, “Are you here to bail us out?”

He answered, “I am not like your father, bound by some ridiculous honor code to aid any who hold some relation to me. Nor am I like your mother and Gael, filled with a desire to help you out of some unnatural attachment to you. If I help you, I would want something in return.”

I asked, “And what is it that you want?”

“Could I not ask you the same thing?”

I glared and he continued, “Gael would never willingly return here so that would mean you dragged him here, but from your reactions, you don’t know anything. So that leaves only one possible conclusion: There is something here that you want.”

As he talked, I’m pretty sure that if looks could kill, he’d be dust by now from how deeply I was glaring at him. It took him all of five minutes to figure out why I was here. This made me reassess my first impression of him. He may look normal, but his mind was anything, but. Blood relative, or not, I would have to be on my toes around him.

Trying to change the topic, I asked, “Are you going to answer the question, or not?”

“...Very well, I will propose a deal. In return, for freeing you and allowing you to continue your search for whatever it is that you seek, you are to live with me, learn control, and give me free labor.”

“Excuse me?”

“According to the police, you are here for destruction of private property and last night, a tree suddenly sprang up from nowhere. It is bothersome that one of my relatives is the cause of such an accident because of their lack of control. You will live with me because I want to make sure you do not destroy anything else. As for the last, I’m short on hands and I’m sure that there is something useful I can find for you to do...Now, do you accept?”

I thought of how close I was to Gabriel and of how I couldn’t let my pride get in the way of finding my little brother.

These thoughts led me to smirk before I said, “Interesting...I accept.”

My “uncle” then said, “Excellent. I’ll go get the police to release you” before walking off.

Gael walked next to me and whispered, “Child, are you sure you want to accept?”

I whispered, “Is he evil?”

“In my memories, he was always good natured, but that was seventeen years ago.”

“Then it should be fine, unless, of course, you are ready to talk about what it is that I’m missing.”

Gael grunted, “Very well. I will accept your decision, but please remember what happened the last time you put your trust in a stranger.”

I replied, “I won’t forget” as he morphed back into my tattoo.

When Jamie returned with an officer, he undid the chains that for some reason, I could not break out of no matter how hard I tried and I took Jamie’s hand to help me stand up after sitting for so long. Just before we exited, Jamie handed me my bag and sword back and as we left the station, the dawn greeted us.

Jamie led us around to the back of the station where those horseless carriages that city-dwellers called “cars” were. He went to open the door for me and must have seen my look of hesitation because he asked, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to get in?”

“Can’t we just walk?”

“I live on the other side of the inner city and am not abandoning my car out here.”

Muttering something about city-dwellers and their strange attachment to mechanical devices, I reluctantly got in and then proceeded to give a death grip to the seat as he drove on. Don’t get me wrong, I loved speed as much as the next person, but there was something so unnatural about riding inside something so cold and lifeless. Even Cay’s cloud was made of water-something alive-, but this was just cold metal and what’s worse was that it was closed off, so I couldn’t even feel the wind around me like when I rode Gael or was on Cay’s cloud.

I was not sure how long I was in that death trap, but when we exited, I had never been so relieved in my life to have my feet touch the Earth. I made a mental note to never get in one of those things again and scanned the area for one of those “apartments” or “houses” that city-dwellers lived in.

When I didn't see anything except a giant, grey, cathedral, I asked, “Where do you live?”

He pointed at the cathedral while saying “there” before a young man in his twenties came rushing out. He had the look of a warlock with long, braided, ice blue eyes and hair, but wore a white coat, like in the pictures of doctors I’d seen, over a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

He went straight for Jamie and said, “A huge batch just arrived. Some of my people are back with a huge amount of prisoners from one those fucking Callistos’ encampments.”

I asked, “Callisto? So it isn’t out of the ordinary for them to try to pull dirty tricks.”

Distinctly ignoring me, the young man continued, “I’ve called some of my people, but we need all the help we can get so please hurry inside.”

You know, I really did like to think I was a reasonable person, despite what Gael would say on the matter, but in less than three days, I had been arrested twice, nearly killed, nearly raped, spent a night of interrogation in a dirty jail cell, not even fit for the rats that occupied it, and I had just found out that my so called protector is keeping secrets from me. Suffice it to say, it was not my week and now this person was blatantly ignoring me.

I decided to get his attention the old fashioned way and kicked him in the shins. Even with bare feet, I knew I was strong as seen from how quickly he got on one knee.

Angrily, he glared and said, “You dirty little urchin! How dare you!”

I thought, do all the men here have twisted personalities, or is it just me

I smirked, “Urchin? Would an urchin know about herbs and surgery? Just who do you think you’re talking to?”

In shock, Jamie pointed at me and said, “You know medicine and surgery? Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

I shrugged, “You never asked.”

Incredulously, Jamie asked,“Where and how did you learn such a thing at your age?”

“To answer your first question, the Outlands. There isn’t an herb or plant out there that I don’t know about and I started doing surgery at eight because of how often those two would get cut up and hurt. As to how, the answer is Sister Maria.”

At this, both the young man and Jamie said, “Sister Maria?”

I answered, “Yup. Now, where am I sleeping so I can change and start helping.”

Jamie answered, “Michael, show her to one of the guest rooms and I’ll check on the patients.”

Michael nodded dumbly before obeying my uncle’s-God it felt weird to use that word- orders.