39 Questions and Answers

"You're settling in well," Alistair said when Elloreah joined him for their first meeting. It was just after breakfast. She still wore the soiled work clothes she had borrowed, dotted with horse hair, despite her efforts to brush the worst of it off. Her feet ached, her toes pinched in the pointed toed, heeled boots she'd borrowed from Margaret.

"I'm surprised a noble's daughter is so well accustomed to the work," Alistair commented.

"Marian, my caretaker, didn't feel the need to treat me any differently than her own children. I learned to work."

Alistair nodded, content with that answer. "It was much the same when I was a boy. We were expected to work, to know the value of work. There are so many now among the Tutelar who grew up as nobility, with servants and people to attend to their every need. This, though, is why I respect both Sitala and Mingan. They know the reality of life, despite their relative youth among many of the higher ranking of the Tutelar."

"I thought a connection to the land would be important to all Mythics, no matter what world they hail from."

Alistair shook his head, smiling. "It should be, but it's not. Many only know how to pull the power from the land. It is a tool, a source of power to manipulate. Those who truly understand the Earth, the land, are truly the strongest of us all."

She took this in, considering how he'd mentioned Mingan and Sitala in his assessment of those he thought were of value, whose strength and potential mattered.

"Alistair, if I may," she asked hesitantly. "I know what John is. And I have an idea of what you are. But Mingan, he is part wolf, and yet not. And Sitala, his sister, I had thought she would have a link to an animal as well. There is nothing wolf like about her at all."

"You are correct, she is most certainly not a wolf."

"She is a seer, and Mingan is a… a…" She caught herself before letting her knowledge of his healing abilities slip. "A shifter, but how is it that their abilities are so different between close blood relations?"

"I will explain it all to you, my dear. First, I would like to know, since you suggested you had an idea about my own abilities. Tell me, what do you suppose I might be?"

Elloreah smiled at this. She'd gotten hints of his power, and the knowledge of what he must be, grew with each passing moment she spent in his home.

"A god," she said simply. "A rather old one, if you don't mind me saying. Much of your power is drawn from those around you."

Alistair chuckled, delighted. "You do have quite an intuitive gift. I'm glad to see that the restrictions of this realm have not compromised your abilities entirely."

Elloreah shook her head. "I think that it is the freedom to use them here, the lack of restriction. I know I must use my abilities with care, but back home, the consequences were dire. While at the ranch, my abilities were painfully strong, overly acute."

"I see. But they do not feel so any longer?"

"No, sir, I believe your very presence helps to balance my abilities. That is what made me suspect your power. Only a god would have such command over others. And it's not command, exactly, just influence. You have long been a leader of both mythics and mortals."

Alistair nodded, clearly pleased with her observation. "I shall tell you my story in the future. But for now, let us focus on that of the natives of this land."

"Are you not a native of this land?" Elloreah asked, puzzled.

"No."

Elloreah nodded considering, "But Mingan and Sitala are? Native to this land, I mean?"

"Exactly. And as such their powers are more pure and powerful thanks to their connection to this land. Sadly, though, many of their people have been forced off their lands and killed off."

"Why?" Elloreah asked, an old, ever present fear rising in her. It was the sort of fear that weighed over her people, the constant and urgent battle against the Shadowlands. Had a similar war happened here?

"This land and the one in which I originally settled are separated by the ocean and developed independently for most of this world's history. They were primarily hunters and gathers, many living in small tribes. It was a favorite land of the wild fae from your home to take refuge.

"When this land was discovered, colonized, and eventually conquered, both the native mortals and Mythics suffered. They were not only invaded by the mortals looking for land, but the Mythics of my own countries were looking to escape from the growing number of mortals in their own lands, hungry for every bit of wilderness they could find.

"When I anchored myself to this land, as so many did, we took from those already here. They are few and far between now, those old gods of this world. Mingan is from one of those lines."

"That still doesn't explain exactly what he is," Elloreah protested.

"Mingan is touched by a wolf spirit. The spirit of the wolf resides in him, and he, when he chooses, can bring the wolf from the spirit world into this one. When he does so, he gives the wolf a physical form."

Elloreah shook her head, "I am afraid I do not understand. How can… he shift and not shift, or change from a spiritual being to a physical one, or vice versa?"

Alistair stood and went to the wall of his study, lined with books. He skimmed over the titles, taking one down before proceeding.

"This world is split, the spirit from the earth. Your lands are one with the spiritual and physical. The magics course through your world, are at the surface of everything, ready to be drawn upon."

He shook his head, smiling sadly. "Here, the source of magic, the spiritual realm is only loosely connected with the earth. Instead of the magic being something that pulses and courses, one with the air, the water, the land, as it is in so many realms, the magic of this land takes a certain amount of effort and skill to tap into. Otherwise, you are only drawing on yourself. I'm sure you feel the backlash from using your own abilities."

He'd made his way to her, book in hand.

"Certainly. I have noticed that it takes quite a toll on me, more so than I ever encountered at home," she responded, standing.

"Exactly. Mingan, though, can shift to his other self almost as if it were nothing. While a werewolf would experience pain and hunger associated with their change." He held out the book to her and she took it. "Read this, it should help familiarize you with the sources of power of this world."

"Thank you. I will," she said, running her fingers over the well-worn bindings of the old book, and settled back into her seat.

Alistair had made his way to the large window that overlooked the swath of green that was his land.

Elloreah began to wonder if she had been dismissed when Alistair spoke again.

���You have more questions."

Elloreah let out a nervous laugh. "I cannot help but wonder, what of Sitala? She is a Seer, but is she a shifter as well?

Alistair shook his head. "No. Nor is she connected with a wolf as Mingan is. Sitala's spirit animal is the spider. She can touch on all the strands of fate, feel the vibrations as a spider in its web. While they are connected and communicate, the spider is not so strongly linked with the physical and has no need to use her body other than as a mouthpiece."

Elloreah considered this for a moment before speaking. "What of Mingan? You mentioned he is from a powerful line. Surely he is able to do more than shift to a wolf form."

Alistair steepled his fingers and leaned back in his chair, considering her over the tops of his fingertips. "Mingan does as he wishes," he said, and then fell silent.

Elloreah waited with determined patience. She didn't dare let on what Mingan had revealed to her about his healing abilities, and she couldn't help but wonder what else he kept hidden.

She could see the cogs turning in the old god's mind as he contemplated what to tell her. This piqued her interest even further. She'd felt power within Mingan, that was undeniable. If his powers resided in another realm, then there was no telling how vast his abilities were.

"I will say this," he said finally. "There are many who hope that Mingan will come into the power that his father did."

"His father?"

"His father was the Wolf God, one of the great heroes of this land."

"Mingan is a god, like you?"

Alistair shook his head. "No, not like me. He has the potential to be something much greater."