It was late morning when Talia and Damon found Evanora sitting on the edge of the Silver Flame fountain and staring at the water.
Evanora had breakfast in her room, so they didn't see each other since the last night's ceremony that ended with Evanora collapsing.
"Good morning", Talia wished before asking, "How are you feeling?"
Evanora raised her head to see Talia and Damon approaching her. "I'm good. Thank you. How about you?"
"We are alright.", Talia responded.
"I'm sure you have questions about what happened last night.", Evanora said.
Talia was glad that she didn't need to beat around the bush. That was one of the reasons why she wanted to talk to Evanora. "Yes. What can you tell us about it?"
Instead of answering, Evanora eyed Damon suspiciously. "Are you sure he is fine?"
Damon hid his displeasure behind a frown. What did she mean by that? He was not defective, alright? But he also remembered that due to a nasty spell he forgot about Talia, so he didn't voice his complaints.
Talia responded, "Damon's body is fine. Your healers confirmed it after breakfast." Talia forced him to go for a checkup. "The one thing that stands out is how from Damon's point of view, the ceremony lasted only a second or two."
Evanora looked at Talia. "And you?"
Talia felt discomfort while remembering the void in front of her where Damon was supposed to be. "For me, it felt like a long time. The energies intensified my senses, and I could feel everything except for the space where he was. It was like he was not there. It was like… the space where he was, was not there. Do you know what it means?"
Evanora shook her head. "This is the first time I've heard of anything like it. But we can always look into our old records. Maybe we can find some clue."
Talia wanted to agree, but she could imagine that witches had a lot of records. How long will that take? As much as she was hungry for answers, she didn't want to spend her vacation buried in old parchment and deciphering faded scribbles. And also, what if this was a ploy to keep them there?
"Do you know what's the source of your power?"
Evanora's question pulled Talia out of her daze.
"The source of my power?", Talia asked, unsure if Evanora's question was directed at Liseli's existence, or maybe at her bloodline.
Talia had no intention of revealing anything about Liseli, and she didn't know her mother, but she could bring up her father.
"My father was Valerian Moonrider. He was the next Alpha of the Midnight Guardians pack, but due to unclear circumstances, he disappeared, and his sister took over the pack."
Evanora was curious. "Unclear circumstances?" She noticed that Talia forgot to mention the second source of her gene pool. "Who was your mother?"
"I don't know who my mother was. I was a baby when my father left me with Axel's parents and said that he had something urgent to handle. That was the last time anyone from the Midnight Guardians pack saw him."
"I see", Evanora said absentmindedly and stood up. "I will leave you…"
"Wait!", Talia exclaimed. Did Evanora really think that she can leave just like that? "About the portals…"
Evanora frowned. "I still didn't recuperate since last night and I want to rest. Let's talk about it later."
Talia couldn't believe this! Was Evanora trying to dodge talking about the portals AGAIN? She steeled her resolve to use her last resort. "You owe me a favor. I lit up the flames in this fountain and you said that you will fulfill my request. We had a deal, right?"
Evanora's expression stiffened. "Right."
"This is my request. I want us to talk about what is needed to create a portal."
Evanora stared at Talia like she was growing a second head. "Are you sure you want to use your favor for a talk?"
"An honest talk.", Talia clarified.
Evanora narrowed her eyes. "If one uses a deal, witches can't lie. We will stay within the confinements of the deal or suffer serious consequences. That's how things work."
'Yeah, right', Talia thought. They will stay within the confinements of the deal, but they will also use ambiguous terms and scheming to make it work in their favor.
At the thought of ambiguous words, Talia got an idea to prevent those by being specific.
"I won't insist that the portal should be opened. But I want us to discuss ways how it can be done. I am confident that Yasmin, Cornelia, and Amelia are only the first witches to have soulmates outside of this realm, and there will be many others. With our increased collaboration, a portal would be convenient for everyone. At the end of the talk, if we establish that we can create a portal to connect the Silver Flame Coven with the Dark Howlers pack, and you are not willing, I want to hear why. That's it."
"That sounds like a good deal to me.", Yasmin's voice drifted from the side.
Talia turned to see Yasmin and Axel walking toward them.
"I am also curious about the portals", Yasmin said. "You don't mind if we join, right?"
"No", Evanora said, surprising everyone present.
"No, for which one?", Damon asked. The meaning could be, 'No, I don't mind if you join', but Evanora's stern tone was more like, 'No, you can't join.'
Evanora looked at Talia. "If Yasmin is present, we won't be having that talk."
Talia was surprised by the blunt rejection. But then, Evanora said that she was not lying so maybe this was normal. After all, Evanora is the high priestess, and she didn't need to sugarcoat her words.
Yasmin couldn't believe this. "What is so important that I can't hear it? You know that I can just go to our archives and dig out the information myself."
"You can't", Evanora said stiffly. "Information about portals is not there."
"Where is it?", Yasmin asked. Did they have a secret library or something?
Evanora shook her head. "No one knows. When your aunt Summer left with her group to investigate portals, they took everything written we had. They didn't return and we never found any trace of them."
"So, if you don't have any documents, how are you going to tell me about portals?", Talia asked.
Evanora tapped her temple, indicating that she has the information in her mind. "One of the first spells I mastered was committing things to memory. I practiced by going to the archives and memorizing whatever I could get my hands on."
'The witch is lying!', Liseli growled in Talia's mind. 'If she memorized whatever she could get her hands on, why did she tell us to check the archives for clues related to what happened last night? Or should we really believe that she memorized only portal-related things?'
Talia had to agree with Liseli.
'Let me force my way in and see what she has in there', Liseli growled and Talia panicked.
'If you force your way in, she might become an imbecile. How will we explain that to other witches? What about Yasmin?'
'No one will know that we did it', Liseli said smugly. 'Think about it. Can we trust the words that come out of that old hag?'
