Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
It was hard to imagine that being true…yet it was.
Most of the room winced again, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see the deputy trying not to smile.
I wasn’t sure what Kenzie was thinking, but he kind of looked disappointed in everyone too. But no matter what was going through his head, I knew he was frustrated about something completely unique, and I couldn’t wait to hear about it later.
“Now. While you all think about a few logical questions you’re sure we need to know about, I am going to ask Toman if he thinks we should visit or if it would be safer for all involved if we don’t go through the portal.” Boyd’s logical point stunned the room and mouths dropped open right and left.
Kenzie was right.
We needed cartoon effects going off around everyone because light bulbs and floating question marks around everyone’s heads would’ve made it a lot more interesting.
So of course, I had to share the image with Daddy.
I could feel little shakes running through him like he was trying not to laugh, but his bored and slightly disappointed expression never changed. It was funny until he sent back a mental image of my red bottom.
Oops.
He was still silently laughing as I stopped teasing him but for an entirely different reason that time.
He was such a brat.
When everyone stayed silent, even Kenzie, Boyd turned to Toman, who seemed to be finding the chaos fascinating if I was reading his expression right. “From our point of view, we need to understand where we came from. We were cut off for so long that we don’t know the history or culture of your people any longer.”
Heads started slowly nodding and even Toman seemed to understand where we were coming from. “Yes. Your people have…”
He paused, looking at Wren, who happily supplied an answer. “Diverged. We diverged in a yellow wood and we’re happy for taking the path less traveled.”
Half the room looked confused and the other half giggled, so it was clear who’d needed to memorize that poem growing up.
Toman was on the confused team until he had a light bulb moment. “Ah. Yes. We have similar literary pieces to memorize.”
Boyd wasn’t going to let us get too far off track and brought us back to the main point. “We don’t know enough about our history and we’re not sure what information is fact and what’s a myth. From what our ancestors passed down, most of the people trapped here were young. They adapted and thrived. We’re proof of that, but a lot was lost and we’d like a chance to gain back that knowledge.”
Toman nodded slowly, letting Boyd get his explanation out and probably vent too. When Boyd and everyone else went quiet again, Toman met each person’s gaze and seemed to be doing his best to look calm. “Your people have thrived and are very different than ours, but being different is not a bad thing. It was not expected that most would survive, so we had no idea what to expect on this side of the portal.”
Judging by Toman’s personality, they couldn’t have expected anything like us.
“The isolation changed things, and also the humans that we married and grew up with shifted how we would’ve behaved and how we would’ve seen things.” Boyd shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “The indigenous people living here accepted us, as well as the first settlers to this land. The different culture and even living in a society that doesn’t use magic changed how we evolved. But we would like a chance to get to know where we’ve come from.”
“The shifters have shifted.” Kenzie’s whispered words made me want to smile, but everyone else pretended not to hear him, so I had to ignore it too.
“That is all very logical and what we hoped to find.” Toman took a breath and let it out slowly. “It was asked if I am a soldier or specialized hunter. I am not. I am, however, a leader on our version of your council.”
Great.
They’d sent through a politician.
“My education, however, seems to be closest to what you would call an anthropologist.”
Even better.
They’d sent through a politician who thought we were cavemen.
Half the heads in the room cocked and I couldn’t tell if they didn’t know what an anthropologist was or if they were confused about something else. I didn’t ask, though, because I wasn’t trying to make anyone feel stupid.
“I have been granted the authority to invite a delegation if you were found to be safe and we could communicate clearly.” Gesturing to himself, he shrugged. “We did not know the spell we had for absorbing language would work.”
Made sense.
Wait.
“There’s a spell for learning a new language?” Boyd asked the question at least half the room was confused about.
Toman glanced around, looking confused too. “Yes. We did not know how much your magic would have changed and if it would still work. I was glad to see that while the…”