5

5.

Viserys and Daenerys were struggling to keep up with my pace. I wanted to sprint home but I wouldn't leave them undefended when they had already escaped death once tonight. I reached down and picked up Daenerys, Viserys looked like he might object but his eyes flicked to my now dark staff and he silently increased his pace to keep up with me. After an eternity of dark streets and water where my mind was going through everything that could have happened to Maggie we reached my island. I had given Maggie a pentacle like my own and I had done the spell enough that sensing it was easy. The pull was in towards the courtyard, still holding Daenerys with Viserys at my heels I entered it drawing in power just in case.

The courtyard was dark, the moon wasn't out and the ever present clouds dimmed the stars. There was just enough light that I could see Maggie was sitting on the edge of the central fountain next to someone I didn't recognize. Looking around the rest of the square showed it was deserted although I could see lights in a few of my neighbors windows. I walked towards the two of them, setting down Daenerys. "Maggie what have I told you about talking to strangers?"

"Not to! But she knew my name and yours, so she wasn't a stranger." Maggie seemed calm, the first year we'd been here she'd been nervous around anyone she didn't know and had flashbacks to her time with the vampires. The woman rose to her feet and turned to face me. She was tall and slender, dressed in a dark cloak but the most striking thing was her mask. It was red, looked to be made of lacquered wood and hid all but her eyes and mouth. The shock of seeing it made me call Maggie to my side. She came quickly, there had been enough close calls that she recognized when it was necessary to obey without question. Feeling somewhat more secure with all of the important parts of my life behind me I continued to inspect the woman. She had smiled a little at the urgency of my voice but now what I could see of her face was as blank as the rest of her mask.

"You daughter has a fitting name, Warden."

When the last word left her lips I reacted. I had been on edge ever since the earlier fight and her knowing things she couldn't scared me. My staff blazed with power as I pulled water from the fountain drenching her and then I ripped the heat from it, encasing her in ice. "You are going to tell me where you heard that name" I spat out.

"Maegi? It means wise surely a traveler like yourself would know that." Despite being covered in an inch of ice and minutes away from hypothermia her voice was calm.

I stared at her, with her frozen time was on my side and against one woman who would be shivering too much to hold a weapon for the next hour I wasn't worried about her physical threat. Her knowledge though, everyone who knew that was in another world and Maggie knew not to tell stories about me. "Right now I'm considering why I should let you live, perhaps you could help your case."

"Is it the act of the wise to destroy what you don't understand? I am here merely to see the new voice in the chorus."

"Fewer metaphors will increase the odds of your survival." The woman still hadn't betrayed any emotion past her first smirk. "Tell me your name and how you heard about us." I demanded. This conversation was not going how I expected, the power I'd thrown around should have been enough to cow anyone here and the mask wasn't like anything I'd seen or heard of.

"I am Quaithe of the Shadow, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, and your coming shook the world as far as Asshai. Even now you change the tempo with your rescue of the dragons." She had nodded towards the children as she said the last but I was more focused on my Name. She had said it perfectly but there was no power behind it. For a woman frozen in ice she had an annoying way of retaining the upper hand.

"Well Quaithe" I started but I was interrupted.

"Who are you talking to?" Daenerys asked as she peered around Viserys, I looked back at her incredulously, then turned back to Quaithe. Who was gone. Right. The only evidence that she'd been there at all was Maggie's equal confusion and the ice leaving a hollow exactly matching her contours. I swore and looked again with my Sight the courtyard was empty except for us, Maggie looked like she always did, beautiful and shining with her power. I turned to scan the rest of the area, Viserys and Daenerys looked much the same as normal except their silver hair and purple eyes blazed and they each held a jeweled rock in their hands. I pulled back, letting the sight go and exhaled.

"Sometimes in the dark you see things. I think its time for all of you to go to sleep, we'll go to the bank in the morning."

Maggie and Viserys looked indignant but Maggie was still worried about the vanishing woman and Viserys was probably a little scared of the hallucinating wizard. They followed me into our home and I sent them upstairs trusting Maggie to figure out the logistics. I reset the house's wards and added a bit more power to them than usual, Quaithe's little trick had spooked me more than I'd like. It had been two years where the only magic I'd seen was mine and Maggie's, losing my uniqueness along with her strange awareness of my old world was a rude shock. There was plenty of magic claimed around here but I'd never seen any proof, the true magic was always far away and on the edges of maps, in Asshai, Qarth or north of the wall. I had assumed it was just ignorance leading to superstition when I first arrived but I had been preoccupied with survival. Looking back now I felt as foolish as the police officers who only saw what they wanted. There was clearly power in this world and I needed to know about it. It certainly knew about me.

The kids all woke up early, Daenerys had spent the night in Maggie's room while I let Viserys use mine. I slept in my desk chair all night, partially for fear of Quaithe coming back but more for the gangs who might be hunting the two children. After a quiet breakfast I took them along with Maggie to the Iron Bank.

It was a rare sunny day, the bright light seemed to wash away the night's terrors and the three children were having fun playing tag as we walked along the canals. The fishermen were already returning with the day's catch and there was a flow of dark dressed men along our route. I kept a close watch on all of them, even though in the daylight along these streets the worst there could be were pickpockets and the bankers and the merchants paid for guards to discourage them. We went into the lobby of the bank flagged down a teller and went up to meet with Noho. The two kids clearly recognized him and relaxed. "Excellent work Dresden,I trust there were no complications?" Noho was writing something as he spoke and barely looked up.

"The competition showed up, said something about the Stag King but they weren't too much trouble." Noho paled but continued to write as if nothing had happened.

"That's unfortunate, but it was anticipated. I'll have your fee deposited in your account with the thanks of the Iron Bank. Is there anything else?"

"It's more of a general knowledge question. I encountered someone else claiming magic during the search, is there anywhere that the myths and rumors about it are recorded."

Noho stopped writing and steepled his hands. "Magic, I do not know about. What I do know is that there is a group of respectable men who seek the truth behind the superstitions of the world. Johannes Bille, who you met, is a member. He might be persuaded to let you attend some of their meetings."

I thanked him and said goodbye to the children. They were more sad to see Maggie go than I, but seeing an adult they knew had calmed them. We walked back towards our island with Maggie still in high spirits. I bought us both some sugary treat, almost like a cinnamon bun but different in a way that could probably be blamed on not having healthy American chemicals, and we watched the city bustle. I was worried though. Back home I had access to more information than most and with my own innate power I could judge what risks I ran and usually come out on top. Here I had nothing. My magic worked the same and I had thought I was the only one but that was clearly not the case. Looking back I didn't even know if Quaithe was threatened at all by me, was she ever there or was she able to project an image across the world? The shape she'd left in the ice seemed to indicate she had a physical form but magic was a function of belief and if I meant to freeze all the water around a person and not in them I might be able to, even if the person strictly speaking wasn't there. I missed Bob and even Lash, I really had been spoiled for supernatural knowledge.

It was a dilemma and while Maggie was cheerfully oblivious I knew it would eat away at me. Luckily I was in funds for quite awhile thanks to the Iron Bank so I had time to research what I could. Sadly there were no public libraries in Braavos, books were expensive and not for the hoi polloi. Johannes's group was probably my best bet for the time being unless I wanted to hang out with drunk sailors and try to sift the truth from the lies and rumors.

We returned home and Maggie went out to meet with her friends before their lessons. I went up to my lab and started to work on my new white wood staff. I couldn't wait for Maggie to be ready, if there were supernatural threats out there I would be as prepared as I could be and a properly attuned staff would be needed.