"No, nothing like that. My parents died, when I was young."
There was a long pause. "I’m sorry," he said. "That must have been hard."
Turning, Ella looked at him. He said it with such sincerity, she knew he meant it.
"How old were you?" he said.
"I don’t know, only a babe, I suppose. I’m not sure. My father was killed in the Rebellion. My mother died too. We managed to survive. A man, loyal to my father, he raised us."
"He must have been a good man."
"He was, I guess. He was very old. He died, not long ago."
"It sounds like you’ve had a tough time."
Ella shrugged. "Life, I guess. As my brother says, you learn from your mistakes and you move on."
Ella didn’t know why she was opening up to this stranger. He just seemed interested. He seemed to care.
"What’s your name?" she said.
"Killian."
"Killian. That’s a strange name." Ella put her hand to her lips. "Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude."
He smiled. "It’s the only one I have."
For some reason, Ella smiled along with him, lost in his eyes for a moment. Killian’s smile grew broader. "And your name is…?"
She blushed, breaking eye contact. "I’m Ella."
"Ella," he said. "That’s a beautiful name. It suits you."
Ella changed the subject. "What do you do, Killian?"
"Do?"
"For work or study. Are you a student at the Academy? I don’t think I’ve seen you before."
"Me? I represent a wealthy merchant, from outside Altura. He seeks goods in far lands, to trade in his own land. I find them for him. But enough about me, you said you had a brother?"
Killian asked Ella more questions. She found herself talking more than she had in a very long time.
With winter fully settling in it grew dark earlier, and Ella knew she should head home. It was so nice to talk to someone though, someone who really listened.
Ella chose the path, picking some of the most elaborate river gardens to walk past, pointing out some of Sarostar’s more impressive features. The pair drew closer to the Crystal Palace as they chatted. Ella intended that to be the final piece on her spontaneous tour.
"Do you know the names of the nine bridges?" Killian asked.
"Of course! We just passed the Tenbridge. I don’t know why it’s called that. Back downriver are the Singer’s Bridge, Lord’s Bridge, Skyway and the Winebridge. Ahead we have the Long Bridge, Saimon’s Bridge, the Runebridge, and Victory Bridge."
Ella gestured to each in turn, although she could only see the Tenbridge behind her and the Long Bridge coming up ahead — a massive span seemingly of one block.
"The Long Bridge was built by the builders, from House Torakon, many years ago. That was before the Rebellion, of course. We had to study the bridge from a mathematical point of view. It would never stand without the runes."
It seemed dangerously thin, which gave it an otherworldly aura. Ella could only imagine what the cities in Torakon must look like.
They then passed Saimon’s Bridge, a sturdy construction of stone, lined on either side with statues of scholarly-looking men.
The river glistened in the afternoon sunlight. It gurgled and splashed beside them, gentle, but with enough of a current that Ella wouldn’t have wanted to fall in.
Occasionally boats passed them, graceful vessels constructed of pale wood. They bobbed in the current, now and then turned deftly by the oar-strokes of their operators. So absorbed was Ella that it took a moment for her to realise that Killian had stopped when she began to climb some steps. She looked back down and laughed at Killian’s expression. He stared ahead with an incredulous gaze.
The steps climbed up and up, and then abruptly terminated — vanished, into thin air. Killian looked on in disbelief as Ella smiled, and took another step into nothingness. He winced. Obviously at any moment he expected to see Ella fall through the air, to hear the splash as she smacked the water from such a height.
Instead, Ella took another step, and looked back at him. "Come on, this is the way to the Crystal Palace. If we take much longer the people on the boats will laugh at us." She smiled to take any sting out of her words.
Killian stood on the last of the stone blocks. Ella looked down at her own feet. She could see the water far beneath her, could make out every crest and foam. While she watched, concentrating, looking for something to mark out the bridge, she suddenly saw the glowing runes. They appeared, and then disappeared, so that she wondered if she had really seen them at all. Then she saw them again, faint symbols that glowed one moment and vanished the next.
Ella smiled encouragement. Taking a deep breath, Killian took a step onto the Runebridge. He half stumbled, so prepared had he been to fall down to the deep water below. He looked up at Ella in astonishment.