Flux

leaned his elbows on the waist-high wall and stared off to the north. There was nothing to see except fields and an occasional stand of trees, but somewhere—several days’ journey in that direction—lay Donghe.
    Miner sat up and then rose and stood beside Ennek. “Have you made up your mind?”
    Ennek still stared at the horizon. “I can’t impregnate her.”
    “I know she’s not…not to your taste. But perhaps if you tried to lie with a woman you’d find—”
    “Not that. I didn’t mean that I couldn’t perform. I could always think of you; that never fails to work for me, even at some damned inconvenient times. Sometimes on the Eclipse I’d be above deck, tying knots or somesuch, and I’d think of you down in our little room, curled up with a book and with the tip of your tongue sticking out the way it does when you concentrate…. No. I’d have no difficulties there. I mean I can’t have a child with her. I won’t.”
    “I…I enjoyed being a father,” Miner said sadly.
    “I know. But this wouldn’t be like you and Marsa. I mean, it’s not as if I plan to stay around and help raise it.”
    “So it would be like me.”
    “Miner, Akilina doesn’t want a child. She wants an heir , someone to take over her domain. And there’s nothing wrong with that, I expect. It’s been a guiding principle in my family for many generations. But…I don’t know what the offspring of two wizards would be. I believe that if the child did not possess magical powers Akilina would reject it completely. But if it did—that would be even worse! What would it become, raised by someone like her? What would it be capable of doing someday under her tutelage? I can’t be responsible for that!”
    Miner nodded. “So then you’ll go to Donghe.”
    Ennek rubbed his hands over his face. “Gods, I don’t know.”
    “When you deliver her message, perhaps you could try talking some sense into the king. Maybe you could convince him to follow her rules without having to resort to destruction.” Ennek looked at him as if this thought hadn’t occurred to him. Miner patted his shoulder encouragingly. “You could do it, En.”
    “Why would a king listen to me?”
    “Loads of people would listen to you if you tried.”
    Ennek shook his head, but he looked thoughtful. After a few minutes he said, “It’s worth a try, I expect.”
    “Of course it’s worth a try!”
    “All right. But if it doesn’t work…. Miner, I will not let her hurt you.”
    “How many people would lose their lives—or their livelihoods, at least—if you destroyed that port? I’m not worth that.”
    “You are! You are to me. You were worth every one of those blasted pirates and you’re worth every soul in Donghe.”
    “Am I worth you ruining yourself? Becoming…like her. Like Thelius.”
    “If I become like them it’s nothing to do with you.” Ennek’s fingers clawed at his own chest. “It’s in here. Thelius awakened it, but it was always there. It would be so easy for me to become like them. That storm I brought on the pirates, I told you, I enjoyed it!”
    “But you had regrets after.”
    “But I still enjoyed it at the time! And not just because I was angry at them—hell, I came close to drowning you along with them! It was such a brilliant feeling, all the power coursing through me, so much control over other people’s fate. It was like being a god.” He turned suddenly and strode to the opposite side of the roof. So quietly Miner could barely hear him, Ennek added, “It was a feeling a man could easily get used to. Could easily crave.”
    They could have shouted for Akilina then and told her that Ennek had made his choice. But perhaps Ennek was in no mood yet to speak with her. He remained at the south end of the roof, his arms propped on the wall, his face stony. After some time Miner brought him the jug of water and Ennek drank. Miner had a few sips as well. He picked at the food but he wasn’t really hungry, so he replaced the lid and set the bowl down. Then he simply sat on the blanket, hunched in on himself, for what felt like hours.
    Eventually, out of boredom and for lack of anything else to do, Miner pulled his knife out of his bag. He used the point of it to cut fine little lines in the roof’s stucco. It wasn’t as easy as the pencils and paints he was accustomed to, but he could make basic shapes, and so he traced a flower like the ones he’d helped Yuening pluck, and a bird with a forked tail, and a