She hit the ground with an enunciated thud. Nimith wanted to make sure his point was not only heard, but felt.  “You don’t go throwing fucking stones into crevasses around here. Things sleep down there. Bad things. Things that were forced to go to sleep. And I’m not here to save you if you wake something up.

Seconds before she had been following behind. The upward climb was becoming burdensome. Her mind wandered as she watched her hiking boots mechanically land one in front of another and her mind begged for a diversion.   “ Nimith , Look!” she said as they finally made it to the inner side of the canyon.  The air was different here.  The smell of moss and fungus… where the sun doesn’t visit.  “Look!” she said again.  Finally, he turned to her.   “What? what is it now?“ he replied.     She pointed at the rush of water coming over the top of the cliffs…. the water making a prismatic spray across the cliffs as it headed to the depths below.

“It’s beautiful, don’t you think?  How it just happens in nature?” she was in awe, so his response was a little disappointing.    Nimith started in on one of his rants “It’s a ward…. It’s not natural…It’s like a signature on a painting.  Some magister included it in his incantations.   Basically, telling everyone else that “I did this”.   It’s magical hubris.”    Until about three weeks ago Aylin’s only familiarity with magic had come from a Brit kid with a scar on his face and a series of books.  Now she was hiking along a mountain trail with some 40ish drunkard that could make fire dance at will.  He was always condescending…always right… always Nimith.

What kind of name is “Nimith” anyways? … sounds like some kind of cream old people use for arthritic joints. Actually, saying this in her head made her laugh through her nose.  She tried to envision a radio spot where they were selling “Nimith cream” and it even made her laugh more audible.  The sudden snort of laughter made the middle-aged sorcerer look back to see if the “pain in the ass” was having issues with the altitude.  “You OK back there?    You need another pinch of these herbs?”  She couldn’t tell if he was concerned or annoyed but was never going to admit that she had just made fun of his namesake.  Plus, the last time she took a pinch of his “herbs” should couldn’t shit right all week.   “No, I’m fine… I was thinking about the Magister who made that ward.  Back where I’m from throwing out a big prismatic rainbow is a pretty big statement too” At that, Nimith stopped.  He turned with a perplexed look on his face. “I thought you said there was no magic in your world.  Only slight of hand and two-bit illusions… how is someone making a prismatic rainbow and not using magic?”    “Never mind” was her response. “It’s not magic.  But at certain times it requires a lot of glitter”.     This was her way of diffusing the subject with abstract humor.  It was her coping mechanism.  Aylin was certain that part of the genetic code passed down from her father was that of humorous deflection.   Anything serious can be deflected with the proper joke or one liner.   Thank you, Carl.

The path ahead widened considerably and the marked “trail” followed closely to the edge of a crevasse.  Looking around she could tell Nimith was focused…tense.    Aylin could see strange fossils embedded in the rocks.  Things that had been dead for millions of years only to leave their ghosts in stone.  She had seen many like these before in school and when her father took her to the Escalate petrified forest in Utah.  Things stuck in time.    She stayed far enough away from the edge of the crevasse to not warrant concern.  Her feet making that…thud…thud…thud of an uphill climb and her thighs were starting to protest.   “Nim, I need a break… can we stop? “she said aloud.     Nimith never broke stride  “ no…not here…never here.”       Aylin was almost ready to use the “I gotta pee” card to stop this fun train but opted against it.   She thought to herself “at least he hasn’t called me “Pain in the ass” yet today”.  So, she trudged on.   Then something occurred to her, “I wonder how deep that crevasse is?” ….. Aylin reached down and grabbed a stone the size of her fist and tossed it to her left.