Toil and Trouble: 6

                                    

                                              


                          
            
                          
Jay was waiting for me down in the Waymastery Station. I don't suppose anybody else calls it that but me, but it's what it is. Unprepossessing, for all its exalted purpose: just a tiny room in the cellar, unpainted and virtually unfurnished. There's an ancient henge under the floor, and that's what Jay uses to whizz us about. 

                          
He had a small shoulder bag with him, which he opened when I came in. I took a peek inside, and saw a cloth-wrapped bundle snugly nestled within.
                          
'Bill?' I ventured.
                          
'Bill,' Jay confirmed. 
                          
I patted the bag I carried over my own shoulders. 'I've got your stuff.' Change of clothes, life-saving magickal artefacts, the usual. Indira had dutifully packed up his personal things and left them out for me, while Jay was off securing the book. I could well imagine his task was not an easy one; nobody wanted to see Bill go, and he had to try to squirrel him away without anybody noticing besides. Anyone but Val, that is.
                          
'Ready?' I said, watching Jay's face. He looked worried. A heavy frown creased his brow, and he couldn't stand still.
                          
'Absolutely,' he said, fidgeting with the strap of his bag.
                          
'Except?'
                          
The frown deepened. 'I'm worried about Indira.'
                          
'She'll be fine. It's not like there's an army of orcs marching upon the House, or anything.'
                          
'I'm worried about what happens to her if anything happens to me.'
                          
Oh. 'Er, that's a bit doomy,' I tried. 'We're not in mortal danger.'
                          
'Then why the Sunstone?'
                          
'Bill is in mortal danger.' I said this in a whisper, hoping that the book was too well wrapped-up to hear me. 'We aren't.'
                          
'She's shy. It's hard for her to manage without me.'
                          
'Even for a week or two? She needs to stand on her own feet sometime, Jay, or she'll never be independent.'
                          
He scowled at that; I'd irritated him. 'Let's go, anyway.'
                          
'If I may be permitted my opinion,' said Bill, his voice doubly muffled by the cloth wrappings and the bag. 'The little Spellwright is in no danger, either of harm or mortification.'
                          
'How do you know?' said Jay snappishly. 
                          
'She and I have had conversation together. I found her to be bright-minded, and more resilient than elder brothers are inclined to imagine.'
                          
The fact that Bill and Indira had been chatting together was news to me, though perhaps not to Jay, for he just gave me a sideways look and then went on with his preparations to leave. 'I hope you're right,' he said to Bill. I have no idea what he does when he's making ready to use the Ways, so I just stand back and try to keep out of his way.
                          
A breeze picked up in the room, and began to build. 'Off we go,' said Jay, and held out a hand to me.
                          
I took it. Since I met Jay, I have had a little practice at travelling the Ways. Enough to know that it is a disorienting experience, and can leave a person feeling unpleasantly shaken up in the middle. It appears to have an even greater impact upon Jay, but he went about his work with an enviable composure, and betrayed no further signs of unease.
                          
I do wish he had warned me before departure, however. Last time, we had waited until the Winds of the Ways had gathered themselves to quite a height before we set off. This time, the breeze had barely doubled in strength. There I was, tranquil enough yet in the expectation of its being a few more minutes before we would be going anywhere—