Peric thought about what Meriwether had said, trying to get his mind around the fact the worlds could talk to themselves. “How do you know that?”
“I’ve been a Moonjumper in more than one life, although I was never a Council Moonjumper, and I’ve connected with several worlds, including a number of the Gaeloms, Raenarin and Siaral. They know what I am, they know about the lives I’ve lived, and that makes them comfortable enough with me to talk about things they may not talk about with other Moonjumpers. Although I know they’re slowly getting used to the way that Moonjumpers do connect with them, because that was something they never knew would happen, even though they can talk to themselves about things.”
“Maybe they couldn’t tell themselves because it wasn’t something that did happen for some reason.” Peric shrugged. “If Emrys, and other people, are travelling through time then they’re all going to have an effect on what happens in the future, so for the worlds there are always going to be things they can’t be certain of due to the time travellers.”
“You make a good point.” Meriwether smiled. “We’re going through another time of change now, Peric, because the number of true Moonjumpers that exist, and the worlds are entirely certain what’s going to happen. They knew it was coming, but there are so many things that could happen and so many people who could have an effect that until certain decisions are made they don’t know which of the possible futures is going to happen.”
Nodding, Peric picked up one of the pastries that still sat on the table and nibbled on it. “How many possibilities are there?”
“Probably more than I’ve been told exist.” Meriwether rubbed his antlers again. “Probably more than the worlds know exist. What you have to remember is that some of the future worlds can’t connect with the past worlds because things have happened to affect the connection. There’s a future Athare that can’t connect with our current Athare due to something that went wrong on that world when the original Moonjumpers were named demons by the Council and hunted down. From what I’ve heard there are very few Moonjumpers there and things are very different.”
“How do you know about that?”
“Over the years I’ve met hundreds of travellers and some have come from other versions of our world. I wouldn’t be surprised if travellers go the other way too, which would make it even harder to get back home.” Meriwether sighed. “Getting back home is the most important thing to every unexpected traveller, but for most of them it’s impossible.”
“I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I found myself on another world unexpectedly. I hope I’d deal with it better than the majority of people but I have a feeling my focus would be on getting back to Sheepshank and the people I care about.” Peric smiled. “To be honest I think that must be the hardest part about travelling to another world unexpectedly. I can’t imagine my life without Bertram and my family being there for me when I need them.”
“The travellers do have my sympathy. I know what it’s like to leave behind everything and move on, because dying is the ultimate way of leaving people behind, but sometimes I get so angry with them. They cling onto the past, onto things they’ll never going to get back, and never bother to come to terms with what’s happened to them. In the end they have no choice but to make themselves a new life, yet they seem to spend so much of their time comparing it to the life they were planning on having on their home world, which makes things difficult for the children they have.”
“Lucille said that it’s often later generations who leave the settlements behind, because they want to make a life for themselves on their new world.”
“She’s right. It does happen, but the problem with being born and raised in settlements full of people who are unhappy with what’s happened to them is that they don’t really know what’s outside the settlement. Some Moonjumpers spend their time in the settlements teaching the children who are born within them about the world they live on. Most of the settlers don’t appreciated it, but their children do, because it helps them understand why their parents are so bitter about what happened to them. I have found that a lot of children born within the settlements are born with the ability to travel between worlds, although it’s different to the ability that the first natural Moonjumpers have.”
“How is it different?”
“The first children born within a settlement can travel back to their parent’s home world, or worlds if their parents come from two different places. Their children can travel to the world or worlds that their parents can travel to. Sometimes it means the ability to travel back to Gaelom is passed from one generation to another, while others gain more worlds with every generation. I think that is occasionally the reason the second or third generation chose to leave the settlement, because it means their children will be able to travel to more worlds than they can.”
“Does the Council know about it?”
“No, and everyone knows to keep it to themselves if they have the natural ability to travel from one world to another.”
“Natural Moonjumpers evolved originally because the worlds wanted them.”
Meriwether nodded. “With every year that passed more and more Moonjumpers were being born, but the majority of them didn’t join the Council. Everyone was always wary about the Council’s choice to permit the existence of the Moonjumpers, especially as they knew it wasn’t really possible to control them, so it wasn’t exactly a huge surprise when the Council turned on them. There is an Athare where the Council turned down Riordan’s plea to allow the Moonjumpers to exist and that Web is a very different place to this one.”
***
Nodding, Lucille was once again grateful that Peric and Bertram had wanted her help with the investigation, because the more she talked to the mouse the more she needed to help the people who had been affected by the counterfeiters. “Can you talk to everyone you know and tell them that I’m around if they need to talk or want any help?”
The mouse looked at Lucille. “Why do you want to help us, Moonjumper?”
“Quiar chose me. It took me a while to accept that, but now that I have I want to be more than just a Moonjumper to you. I want to become friends with the people of this world, I want to get to know as much about you all as possible, and I want to protect you as much as I can from the Council.” Lucille bit her lip. “The Council wouldn’t be happy if they knew about my choices, but I’ve realised that the Council aren’t really all that important.”
“Okay, Moonjumper, I’ll pass on your name to the people I’ve mentioned and let them know that you want to meet people who have been affected by the counterfeiters in some way.” The mouse smiled at her. “There are a lot of people who want to meet you, because of what you are and who you came to Seahorse Port with, so you’ll probably find that people have already asked Meriwether to pass on their name.”
Lucille ran a hand through her hair, thinking. “I wonder if Meriwether has a big enough room for me hold a gathering.”
“He probably does. The Sleeping Chimera is more than just a bed and breakfast.”
“I did notice that there weren’t many customers.”
“When you get to know Meriwether you’ll understand why, plus there are a lot of bed and breakfasts in Seahorse. The Sleeping Chimera is quite a long way from the market, which is one of the main draws of the city, so the majority of people choose to stay in one that’s closer. Being on holiday gives you a chance to be lazy.”
“True. Have the counterfeits affected how many people travel to Seahorse for a holiday?”
“I have noticed a change in the number of people walking through the market, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that fewer people are choosing the travel here. It just means that the market is slightly less of an attraction and a lot of the change could be due to the residents not shopping as much within this part of the market. They chose to go to one of the ends, where the majority of the stalls sell every day items.” The mouse looked sadly at his charms. “Once charms were seen as every day items and I don’t know how much the change is going to affect me in the future, when the counterfeits are no longer a problem.”
“Is there anything you could do to counteract the effects?”
The mouse stared at Lucille and she couldn’t help thinking that it hadn’t thought of something like that. “I don’t know. Some of my customers have been talking about herbal remedies for things such as insomnia, which means it’s likely they won’t need the charms they bought before, so maybe I could look into the idea of selling some of those herbal remedies.”
“There are always options,” Lucill said, smiling. “Work around the counterfeiters and do everything you can to stop them from doing as much damage as they wish to. I know that it’s going to take a long time for things to get anywhere near normal once the counterfeiters are stopped, but you don’t have to let them win.”
“Having someone like you will help,” the mouse replied, sounding hopeful for the first time. “We only know the ways things are done on Quiar. As a Moonjumper you’ve seen how things are done on other worlds, which could be a wonderful inspiration for us during our time of need.”
“I’ll be glad to help in any way I can. When I get back to the bed and breakfast I’ll have begin writing down some of the things I think will help you the most, but I want to spend some more time exploring the market first.”
“There are a couple of stalls you’ll want to visit. An aardvark three stalls up will be happy to talk to you about the problems they’re having with the counterfeits, because I know he’s been affected worse than I have, and then there’s a koala six stalls up from the aardvark. She’s been thinking of moving on again, even though she was hoping that Seahorse Port would be a good home for her and her family, but the counterfeits have been causing her some real problems.”
“Thank you.” Lucille smiled at the mouse. “I don’t know if you’d be comfortable telling me, but I’d love to have a name I can give them if they ask who sent me.”
“Moonjumper, before I spent this time speaking to you I wouldn’t have been comfortable giving you my name. I had no way of knowing if you were just like the other Moonjumper or not and it’s been lovely to find out that you really are different.” The mouse reached out and picked a charm off one of the racks. “I’m Adva, Lucille. I can honestly say it’s been a pleasure to meet you, Moonjumper, and I hope that you can help with the counterfeit problems. You’ll be accepted no matter what happens, because you’re trying to help us, which is unusual for a Council Moonjumper.”
Feeling a little unsure Lucille accepted the charm Adva held out and smiled once more at her. “Thank you for your help, Adva. I really do appreciate it and I promise I’ll do everything I can to solve the counterfeit problem.”
As Lucille made her way to the stall that Adva had told her to go to Lucille knew she had no choice but to solve the problem. Charms were a form of magic used on almost all of the worlds, because they were something that could be used by people with no magic, and if the counterfeiters managed to sell their wares to another world it would have a huge effect on everything. The thought of someone doing something so wrong filled her with dread, but she wasn’t all that surprised. Walkers, and demons, had been solving problems that might affect the other worlds for as long as they’d existed, knowing that they were the only protection the worlds had from something like a counterfeit ring.
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.
