“We’ve always wanted to travel to other worlds,” Michael said. “We’ve dreamt
of it since we were kids. Not much to do around here that we haven’t already done, you know.”
“So you want me to come with you, because you’re too lazy to have ever learned to cook or sew,” Kari asked.
“Yes ma’am,” they replied. “Did we mention that you’re freakishly strong?”
“And, well, it wouldn’t be the same without you there to boss us around,”
Michael said, sounding as though the words were being pulled out of him through unspeakable torture.
“We hate to admit it, but we kinda need you,” Jonathan sighed. “You’re the smart and responsible one.”
“But don’t let that go to your head,” Michael put in quickly.
Sighing, Kari thought it would be wonderful to leave the place between worlds
where she’d grown up. She would like to meet people she wasn’t related to for a change.
And perhaps the man she’d always dreamt about sweeping her off her feet, and carrying her away into rather embarrassing childhood fantasies, would make his entrance into her life at long last.
“How, exactly, do you plan to leave this place? We’re outside of time and space.”
The twins looked at each other again.
“Did we mention how smart you are?”
“Oh, that’s just beautiful,” Kari planted her fists on her hips. “You want me to do all the work for you, don’t you?”
“Don’t you always,” Michael asked.
Kicking him in the thigh, Kari gave Jonathan a kick as well, for good measure.
The two of them seemed to share the same brain most of the time anyway.
“There’s only one way out of here,” Kari explained.
The twins sighed deeply in unison, seeming to deflate somewhat, their wolf ears drooping forward.
“We were afraid you’d say that.”
“Dad can’t keep us here forever, you know,” Kari said. “He knows we’ll have to go live our own lives someday. If we tell him it’s time we left, who is he to stand in our way?”
“Didn’t I tell you she was smart,” Michael said.
“I believe you did mention something to that effect,” Jonathan nodded.
“So, we just go to mom and dad and tell them we’re leaving for untold
adventure,” Michael asked.
“And who said I’m going with you?”
“You wouldn’t let your poor brothers starve to death would you,” Jonathan asked.
“Couldn’t find my own tail without you,” Michael put in.
The two of them hugged each other, shaking with mock fear and whimpering.
“You’re both pathetic,” Kari could feel a dull ache beginning behind her temples.
They were actually painfully stupid sometimes. “I’ll come on one condition.”
“What’s that,” they asked.
“I’m in charge,” Kari said with a sharp nod of agreement with herself.
Ever since she was young she’d known that her older brothers were completely
hopeless without her. She was the responsible one, always taking care of them. If something horrible happened to them, it would be her fault for not being there to protect them. She’d always taken the responsibility of keeping them out of trouble. She lived for their grudging appreciation for all she did for them. If she didn’t have anyone to watch out for, she didn’t know what she’d do with herself. If she didn’t go with them she’d become unimportant and superfluous.
“Well that’s a given,” Jonathan said.
“It’s not like you didn’t take charge the day you were born or anything,” Michael agreed. “Bossiest infant ever!”
“Business as usual,” they replied together.
“And what’s this I hear about leaving,” their father, the Northern Sage, stepped out of the grass as if by magic, causing all three of them to jump. It was creepy the way he seemed able to sneak up on them anywhere.
Looking extremely guilty, the twins scrambled to their feet, one to each side of Kari. Sighing, she eyed them. They were just plain useless! The second their father raised an eyebrow they started cowering. Some men they were, leaving their little sister to fight their battles for them. Oh well, she was the one that had demanded to be in charge after all.
Never actually believing that the day would come, Kari had often thought about leaving home, and setting foot on another world. She’d always known it would have to come sometime, but she’d never gotten around to it. There was always something to hold her back. She’d wanted to leave with Mera, but she hated to leave responsibilities behind. She couldn’t abandon her useless brothers. Just thinking of all the trouble they’d get into without her was enough to keep her home. She was sure they would have been long gone by now if they weren’t so inept at generally everything.
Their father scratched at the stubble on the side of his face making a rasping sound as he regarded them.
“Should I even bother asking what the two of you are up to all the way out here,”
he asked the twins.
“Planning,” Michael said.
“Conspiring,” Jonathan agreed.
“Oh, and what were you conspiring,” the Sage raised an eyebrow.
The twins each put a hand on Kari’s back and pushed her forward.
“Ask her, she’s the boss.”
Kari rounded on them and gave each one a heavy swat for good measure, before
turning back to her father.
“Well, I was coming to get them to help me dig in the east field, and they sort of dragged me into their plans to leave. I couldn’t let them go alone. You know how pathetic they are without me.” Kari felt her face color a bit and she looked down at her feet. “And I’d kind of like to leave too, I guess.”
“Have you chosen a world then,” the Sage asked them.
“That’s the thing,” Michael said.
“The thing, indeed,” Jonathan agreed.
“There’s a billion worlds out there.”
“A billion adventures to be had.”
“A billion people to—”
“Oh, don’t start that again,” Kari interrupted.
“So you want to be able to travel between worlds at will,” the Sage asked.
“Yes sir,” the twins replied in unison, giving him identical snappy salutes.
“Kari,” the Sage asked.
“I suppose.”
The Sage drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was afraid of that. As your father, I want to give you what you want, but as the Northern Sage, I can’t just give it to you. I have rules to follow.”
Kari nodded, not liking his tone of voice, and where the conversation seemed to be headed.
“Any person is allowed free passage from one world to another through my realm once if I approve of their intentions,” the Sage said. “However, you ask for the ability to travel from world to world and that is a very difficult thing to provide. I have the power to grant any wish, but doing so comes at a price of equal value.”
“And what might that be,” Jonathan asked, not sounding quite so irritatingly
gleeful anymore.
“I will give you these,” the Sage held up three purple crystals on leather cords.
“With these shards of the Gate, you can travel from any world to any other without seeking the Gate itself and passing through here. The price for this ability is threefold.