"You're absolutely sure?" Roland looked carefully at his young brother-in-law.
They sat at the kitchen table together. The children had told their versions of the story, with clarification from the adults who were present, but Gabriel had hung back and raised his eyebrows significantly.
Finn had found a game for Victoria to play with the children before coming back with tea for her husband and brother.
"Yes." Gabriel answered with a firm nod. "It was Gwen's voice, and the anomaly was definitely a portal to Faeland."
"But such a small one… Why would the Fae do that when they can so readily move between worlds?" Finn murmured.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Roland turned to his wife.
"The day you came back from the dead. And I didn't see her, really. Not to talk to. It was like a sparkle, an image. When we first got reports about these things, I wondered if it might be Fae, but this activity makes no sense." She frowned.
"This seemed larger than what I've heard about before." Gabriel insisted, holding up his hands to demonstrate. "About that big. If I hadn't been to Faeland before and heard Gwen's voice, I probably wouldn't have known it was a portal, or where it was to."
Roland assessed this new information, adding it to what he already knew.
"You'd better tell him anything else now," Finn advised her brother. "He's about to take a walk to try and think everything through."
Roland looked at her in mild surprise. He'd just been considering that very thing.
"Am I so predictable?" He asked.
"Only to me, my Love," She smiled. "Be back in time for dinner."
Roland took a deep breath.
"I don't have anything else to add. I'd better get back and see if I'm needed at home." Gabriel stood from his chair and downed the rest of his tea. "I'll collect Victoria on my way out."
"Thank you for your help, and for being there for the children," Finn hugged her brother and kissed him on the cheek. "They are always happier after your visits."
"I do what I can," Gabriel hugged his sister back, shook hands with Roland, and headed to the door.
"Maybe later..." Roland began.
"Yes," Finn replied, with her eyes sparkling.
"I CAN'T be so predictable that you know what I was about to suggest," He complained.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I promise to act surprised tonight when you want me to retell the story in full of the last time I saw the Fae." She peered at him innocently. "Now go, before the thoughts burn a hole in your head and all fall out."
He chuckled and kissed her tenderly before heading out the door and into the streets. His personal guard followed at a discreet distance. He hated the imposition, but he was king, after all. And Commodore. And… whatever Klain thought he was.
Too many titles.
It was strange enough to the people that he continued to live among them instead of moving to one of the grand houses in the finer part of Klain, or even building a palace. He conceded regarding the guards for his family just in case the Void ever got spies into the city again.
He corralled his thoughts back to the issue at hand. Confirmation that the anomalies were indeed portals was helpful. He would have hunted one down himself if he could have been confident he'd see one.
But they were rarely spotted. More common, now that people knew others had seen the 'sparkles' and that it wasn't a mirage. At first, no one wanted to admit to having seen one for fear of being labeled hysterical.
The reports had been compiled as best they could be. Eyewitness reports were marked on maps loosely, since the village people and farmers often didn't know how to read a map or pick out exactly where they had been or what they had seen.
The surveyors had been a huge project, and now Roland had almost a fully-completed atlas of their world, with consistent methodology and instruments to make sure everything properly fit together.
The slapdash best-efforts at compiling inconsistent maps had resulted in something mildly helpful but hardly accurate at all. The world was much different than the old maps indicated. What one man measured as miles and drew in finger-lengths on the page, another man might have drawn at half or quarter scale and called something else entirely.
Roland inhaled deeply. The surveyors had also been instructed to note any anomalies they personally saw, the locations, duration, and any other details. The first few surveyors back had done a bit of a rushed effort, or had particularly easy and flat landscapes to look over. With this last piece of the map filled in, hopefully some clues would become apparent.
With the destruction of the ancient portal-makers, everything had calmed. He had thoroughly investigated his wife's report of Naomi's bracelet exploding into a portal in his pantry around the same time.
The bracelet was a gift from Caspian, who had gotten it from a merchant in Klain. The man was tracked down and bewildered by the investigation, explaining that he had nothing similar to the strange jewel. He hadn't bought it anywhere, but merely found it in his garden after killing one of the wretched moles that had been wreaking havoc on his carrots!
Eventually the Council came to the conclusion that one of the moles that had been invading the tunnels had actually stumbled across one of the portal-makers, but been killed before it had escaped to bring it back to the Void.
When Roland destroyed the rest of the items, it must have reacted to that event by exploding into many other portals at once, shifting through each world represented before finally dissipating.
For years, nothing. It was peaceful. The kingdoms began to recover. Many hundreds of children were born of Rhone/Cetoan marriages, helping cement the alliance between them as Roland took over as leader of both.
The anomalies had not yet upset the populace. So small and bright and brief, like fireflies that were gone before a person could get closer, and seemingly more common out in the wilderness. They were more a topic of curiosity and gossip than anything else, which was why he so badly needed information on them.
The edges of a dream hung on his memory once more. It was frustrating.
He paused, realizing that without purpose, he had ended up at the library. He glanced back at his guard, who had nonchalantly paused to examine some wares on a street vendor's cart.
Roland sighed and headed inside. The library assistant Simone should be working on the map consolidation with Shayn. Perhaps there was some helpful tidbit he could glean from their progress to make everything make a little more sense.
The library wasn't particularly busy at the moment, but the noise of arguing permeated the air. That was unusual. The workers typically kept their voices at a whisper, along with the patrons.
"You impugn my skills, boy? I've been working on maps since before you were born!" An older man was yelling.
"Using outdated methods and tools," Came a calm reply. "I just asked the question about whether it was possible that you slipped into some old habits?"
Roland raised his eyebrows. It appeared Shayn was having some sort of disagreement with another surveyor.
"Can we quiet our voices?" Simone was standing between them next to a table looking irritated beyond comprehension. "We can take this matter to the Council since there is no agreement and–"
"Take what matter before the Council?" Roland asked, gaining the attention of all three. One paled, one sighed, and the third squeaked.
"Your Majesty, I didn't mean, that is-–" The older man, who Roland now recognized as one of the other surveyors, stumbled over his words.
"No need for formalities. What seems to be the issue that would require the Council's attention?" He asked kindly.
The two other men glared at each other, so Simone finally spoke up.
"I was working on aligning and consolidating Shayn's maps with the library's atlases and the other surveyors' work." She spoke clearly, but softly. "There was a significant discrepancy at the border of Shayn's map and Walter's. Since Walter lived nearby, I thought it might be helpful to have him come and see if we could figure out the source of the problem."
"And you were unsuccessful." Roland finished with a slight grin.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Simone ducked her head.
"Explain the discrepancy to me," He phrased it as a suggestion, but the way they jumped, it must have come out as an order.
"It's just here," Simone traced her finger on the border between two overlaid maps. "On the older maps, and on Walter's, this area is flat, with a stream running across it, here. But where Shayn's map picks up the area, there is a rock formation, and no stream."
"Curious. And none of you has any explanation for this strange thing that doesn't involve accusing the other of incompetence?" Roland kept his eyes on the map but the other men squirmed.
"It seems not," Simone winced. "I was going to suggest to the Council that an expedition be sent to clarify the matter."
"That seems an excellent solution, Simone." The monarch replied.