This is a story of long ago. No, I do
not know how long – what? No, I was not alive then. This is the
long ago. There were dragons then. Yes, yes, I know there are dragons
now but these ones were old and terrible and the story is not about
them after all. It is not wise to tell stories about old dragons in
case they might be listening. No, your grandmother is not a dragon.
Who told you – never mind, never mind.
Stories grow in the telling, and never
in ways you can predict. But this: this is a story of the long ago
when the cities and towns of men – and there were far fewer cities
back then, with towns huddled about them for protection – and they
were small fitful sparks that burned against a sea of darkness and
change. Not all the Between-folk had gone Between yet and – oh,
yes. Well, of course there were monsters. What would any
self-respecting story be if it didn’t have at least one monster in
it? In those days there were more monsters than their were heroes to
slay them.
Perhaps it is true, as some have said,
that any time that needs heroes is a terrible one. I couldn’t say.
But there were terrible monsters, as I have said, and – no, your
Aunt Jurin is not a hero. Having sense enough to marry a Minotaur is
just having good sense. Heroes don’t have that, or there wouldn’t
be so many famous last stands. Every song about a hero becomes a sad
song in the end. They don’t sing sad songs about your Aunt Jurin.
Well You’re a little young to heard the songs they sing. But
they’re not sad ones.
Now, then. In this long ago time, there
lived a young man named Toth. Yes, I know that’ s your name. I was
there when you were given your birth-name name. And if you keep
interrupting. I’ll be giving your your death-name in about two
minutes. Now where were we? No, don’t remind me. Toth. Even then,
it was a very plain name and Toth was a very plan sort. Young, but
not too young. Friendly, but not too friendly. He was kind, though
never to the point of foolishness. Everyone liked Toth, but no one
thought too much of him. Certainly, they never thought he could be a
hero. And he was not, for all that he had a secret. Oh, all heroes
have secrets. Why do you think they travel so far if not to escape
their secret?
Toth was a magician who had no wish to
learn magic. He could call the seasons out of order, learn the true
name of even those things without names. But while his wish was not
to be a magician, his desire was another thing entirely. He fell in
love, which was uncommon in those days. Oh, people married but it was
all arranged. There simply was not the time – and it was not safe –
to fall in love. If Toth had been a magician, this would of course
have never happened. One cannot be a magician and love anything more
than the magic. But even so, he fell in love and tried to hide it
even more than he hid his magic.
He tried too hard, as many are wont to
do. People began to wonder why Toth was so ordinary, you see. The
effort he had taken to be so was noticed, though not yet understood.
But people began to notice other things. How nothing ever went wrong
for Toth, not even once. So they called for a mage-seeker to come to
their town. Oh, they had mage-seekers then, but they were not the
kind we have now. They sought to help mages.
The mage-seeker ran away. Of course no
one knew Toth was the cause of that, not then, but everyone began to
wonder about each other. What kind of magician would hide their
magic, they wondered. The drought of the last year was brought up in
many conversations, though not the plenty of the two years prior to
that. Every ache and pain was discoursed at length and trust was in
even shorter supply than truth. And in time, Toth’s loved asked if
Toth was the magician. And Toth told him yes, because Toth was in
love but his loved – well, he smiled and demanded things from Toth.
Some of them Toth had never even heard of, so terrible were they. No.
Not your brother. Well. Probably not.
Toth refused and fled the town. Yes, I
know the hunt can send out dogs on those who run. In those days their
hunts could send out cats as well but everyone assumed Toth had fled
with magic and set no animals upon him. There are many stories told
about Toth after that, but the only one that everyone agrees is true
is that he met a dragon, and in the due course of time she bore him a
son. That Toth dared to love again. Well. What magician has loved
once, let alone twice? He trusted her, and this was a very brave
thing. Whether she broke the trust, who can say?
She died before Toth did and he made
the rainbow to honour her. It was his only act of magic. Oh, of
course. I imagine there were others. Spells to silence young children
would be a fine start. But this magic was real the way others were
not, and it lasted in ways that magic cannot last. All magic is
tricks in the end, after all. But not that spell.
Did he love again? Well, some say the
mage-seeker sought him out and they lived together in the fullness of
time but I distrust stories that must have happy endings. Perhaps he
died, or did not, for who can say with magicians? But his son never
died and learned enough from his father to fall in love as well.
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