“Plus! How am I ever going to keep this form for the entire trip? It’s not like I can lock the door and change. There isn’t room for me in here.” Edwyrd was looking very sweaty. While it was quite warm and stuffy in the room, it was not that hot to Rupert’s mind. Edwyrd sat down on the middle bunk, hunched over due to the upper bunk. Rupert crawled out and joined him on the bunk. He didn’t have to do more than bend his head.
“Maintaining this form isn’t exactly easy on the best of conditions.”
“I know,” Rupert said, “but don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
“For five days though?” Edwyrd said. The two sat quietly on the bunk for a few minutes, each lost in his own thoughts. “So. I told them I was an animage. What’s an animage?” He looked over at Rupert.
“Um.” Rupert hedged. “I’m not completely sure.”
“Not sure? What do you mean not sure?”
“Well, I am a kid you know. I can’t know everything.” Rupert said with mild exasperation. “All I know is what I’ve picked up from rumors. They’re not exactly common you know.”
“Unlike wizards or demons.” Edwyrd commented.
“Well,” Rupert admitted, “O.K. I guess to be fair, in the general population, wizards aren’t exactly the most common profession, unlike smiths or cooks. Demons of course are very rare.”
“We just seem to hang out with the wrong crowd.” Edwyrd smiled at the boy.
“Yeah, looks that way.” Rupert smiled. “So for all I know animages may be as common as wizards, but I don’t really think so. For one thing, they’re not particularly popular.”
“Why?” Edwyrd asked with some trepidation. He felt a moment of dread that he’d gotten himself stuck in another position where everyone would hate him.
“Well, I don’t mean they’re hated or anything, just not really trusted. It’s partially for some stuff way back in history, and partially because of the rumors and legends about them being able to do things to people’s minds.”
“Do things to people’s minds?”
“Yeah, you know, read minds and such, implant commands and thoughts.”
“Telepathy and mind control?” Edwyrd tried to clarify the details.
“Uh-huh. Course wizards can do the same stuff and no one really cares because they gotta do it with spells. If they use a spell, then they gotta be saying something or waving their hands, so you know they’re up to something. Animages, on the other hand, don’t have to do anything. Actually, if I were to believe the legends, animages can do a lot of things similar to wizards, maybe only not so flashy or complex. But, they just do it with their minds. They don’t need spells as frameworks for magic, they somehow manipulate it directly with their minds.
“Kind of like a demon,” Rupert added, suddenly, as if the thought had just come to him.
“So they’re like psionicists, of some sort?” Edwyrd asked.
“They’re what?” Rupert looked at him. “I don’t know that word.”
“Uhm, psychics? individuals with extrasensory projection, telepathy, teleportation, that sort of thing.”
“Psychic? Well, maybe, but psychics are usually Seers or such. Although come to think about it, there does seem to be some sort of overlap. A lot of animages supposedly also have or had second sight. Some of them can also heal, like Healers. Maybe there is a connection.” Rupert stared down at his feet, thinking.
“I don’t know,” Rupert finally spoke up, “Jenn would be the one to ask. She probably studied this stuff.”
“Well, since I’ve already told her I was an animage, I don’t think it would look too good to ask her.” Edwyrd said wryly.
“Yeah. I guess.” Rupert chuckled kind of softly. He appeared distracted, as if his mind were elsewhere. He bit his lip and looked over at Edwyrd.
“Tom,” he said suddenly very serious, yet almost hesitant.
Tom waited for the boy to go on, but he just looked down at his foot and continued to bite his lip. “Yes?” Tom asked, prompting the boy to go on. He didn’t know what the boy wanted, but it seemed important to him.
“Tom, why did...” Rupert stopped suddenly and looked the other way. “Never mind.” He shook his head. “It really isn’t important.” He stood up suddenly. “Let’s go up on deck and get some fresh air.” He opened the door and looked at Edwyrd.
Edwyrd wasn’t really sure what had come over the boy. Obviously he’d been about to ask something and changed his mind at the last moment. He wasn’t sure if he shouldn’t pursue it. It had seemed pretty important to the kid. He didn’t know, maybe Rupert just wasn’t ready to talk about whatever it was. Whatever the case, it did cause Edwyrd/Tom a bit of concern.
As they emerged on deck, the ship was just clearing the last of some buildings on the edge of the city, preparing to exit the river gate of the city. Actually, the docks hadn’t been anything like Edwyrd had expected. Instead of a being in a harbor, the docks were in a small river that ran through the town. The river exited the town through some large river gates and then the river almost immediately fed into the sea.
