Chapter 10
"There's so much we don't know about the multiverse," Dani said, chewing at the end of her pencil. Her cup of tea sat untouched on the table. It had probably gone cold. Dani hadn't touched it since they'd sat down. Instead, she'd started to scribble in her notebook, mumbling about the various theories she had.
Blanca didn't pay much attention. Dani was always mumbling theories and Blanca had no desire to know any more about the multiverse than she already knew. Unfortunately, the reality stone had given her more information and she wasn't sure what to think about it. It was a good thing Master had called for that break.
She took a sip of her tea, mind stuck on one thought. Strange had destroyed his entire universe. It didn't seem like it had been deliberate, but the universe was gone all the same. Intention did not matter.
Still, even knowing this, Master had let him into the temple, had let him near the apprentices - and now some of their questions made sense-, and had introduced him to them. She wouldn't have done that if there was any danger. But he destroyed a universe. Would he destroy theirs too?
The tea tasted very bitter on her tongue. Her stomach rolled. It was the very thing that the Order sought to prevent. What had happened to them in that other universe that they weren't able to stop him? Had they agreed with him? Their Order was very tightly knit. One did not survive the things they did without coming out of it with some very strong bonds. However, that did not mean they didn't have their disagreements. Like now.
"Dani, this is not a good thing." Blanca said. "Our universe could still be destroyed."
Dani looked up at her, pencil splashing into her tea. Absently, she took it out.
"The very authority of Reality told us it wouldn't, Blanca. It's talking to us. There's so much we can learn."
"It's not our Reality."
Dani snorted. "I don't think the principles of Reality are that different between universes."
Blanca conceded the point, eyes dropping down to look at her empty cup.
"That still doesn't mean that we aren't in danger."
Dani groaned. "We're always in danger, Blanca. We're sorcerers. That's the job."
Blanca sighed into her tea and let the conversation lapse. The sound of scribbling lingered between them for a while. Blanca sipped her tea even though it was bitter, mostly out of habit, until it was empty.
"More tea Blanca?"
She hadn't heard anyone come over and looked up to see Oben holding a teapot. There was a plate of biscuits on the table. Dani had already taken one and it was crumbling into her cup as she wrote.
"Please"
Oben refilled her cup and took a seat. Blanca sipped at her tea. It still tasted extremely bitter.
"It's overbrewed."
Oben shrugged and took the cup from her. He took a sip.
"Just needs some honey. Wong brewed it, but I am not surprised he let the leaves steep for so long."
Blanca groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. They snagged on a few tangled curls and she had to tug them out, grimacing at the black strands that got snapped off. Wong never overbrewed tea unless something had him extremely distracted.
"Figures Wong is involved in this. Why am I not surprised."
She took a biscuit. It was gingersnap, her favorite.
"Wong is involved in everything. It's his nature."
"I thought he was in denial about that," Dani said, looking up from her notes. She took a sip of the cup in front of her and immediately spat the liquid back into it. "Ugh."
Blanca let her gaze drift to the rest of the room. Masters Yama and Hamir were conversing quietly on the other side of the room. Karl was staring at his tea as if it held answers. Master Amr, like Dani, was writing. It looked like a list. Then, she spotted Wong sitting in a corner and staring at nothing.
She pushed her chair back and stood. Oben and Dani looked at her, confused.
"I will talk to Wong," she said, tone flat.
Oben searched her face and whatever he saw in it made him frown.
"Is that wise?"
She closed her eyes for a moment and sucked in a breath. Oben was most likely picking up on her anger.
Out of all of them, he knew her the best. Yes, she was angry, but, she was aware of herself enough to know that beneath it lay fear. There was a bit of awe too. Why wouldn't there be? An aspect of the universe had decided to talk to them.
Her heart pounded in her neck and she let out her breath. Her teeth clenched and there was a tremble in her knees.
"Probably not," she said, forcing calm into her voice. "But I have to talk to him. He has answers."
She walked over to Wong without waiting to hear what Oben would say next.
Wong looked up when she loomed over him and raised an eyebrow. The table was empty. No cup of tea or teapot in sight. Worry sliced through the fear. Wong always had tea when things went wrong. Always.
She yanked out the chair and nearly fell into it.
"What's wrong?"
"Many things," Wong replied.
Blanca frowned at him and grasped his hand. His pulse was fast, his palm a little sweaty, and his hand shook in hers. There was a dark look in his eyes. She'd seen it before when he was throwing around destructive spells in the advanced spell practice area. They had been quite creative. She'd never seen a water droplet explode like that before. He had been angry then. He was now.
"Why are you angry?"
"Why are you?" He asked in reply.
"Anger is often a substitute for fear." Their Master had said once. She was right. Blanca was afraid. Wong, being involved in this, was probably terrified.
She sighed, pushing back the memories of a town collapsing into nothing as she drove up the hill, of peering into an endless void.
"Okay," she said. "Walk me through it."
He walked her through it and the anger whisped away.
Over the course of her fifteen years as a sorcerer, Blanca had seen more fucked up things than her hometown falling into a dimensional void. Reality being split apart, she could handle. That was just dimensional rifts on a larger scale. Half of all life in the universe, however, was a lot to comprehend.
Wong didn't tell her all the details of course. She knew he was hiding things, but Wong had stated that even though the memories were his now, there were still parts that weren't for him to tell. Blanca didn't need them. Wong was good at explaining the shape of things and gave people enough information to come to a conclusion.
Blanca's conclusion was that she was still afraid. This was nothing new to her. She had been afraid for fifteen years and she would be afraid until her death. It was just common sense when working with powers greater than oneself. But that didn't mean she would stop.
The sorcerers, who had sealed the rift that had taken her hometown, offered her a place to go. She had just dropped out of college and had been coming home to rethink her life and choices. But then she had driven up that road and her life changed. She did get a chance to rethink her life and choices, several actually, but Blanca knew she would choose this again and again. The sorcerers had given her the tools to help people, to help herself. She would always be afraid, but now she knew how to fight. She could protect the people around her now when she couldn't before.
Wong also wanted to protect. She could hear the feeling in his voice whenever he talked about Strange, along with the constant undercurrent of fear. Wong's fear was not for himself.
She squeezed his hand.
"What are you protecting him from?"
Wong laughed and she saw several of the other masters turn to look at them. The fear was in his laugh too. She'd laughed like that often in the beginning and the laughter had quickly given way to tears. She heard that edge in Wong's voice now.
"Himself," Wong said. "Other people, the universe, take your pick. There is a lot that wants to harm him and now a lot more will want to because he has the stones."
Blanca felt like she had been dumped in a frozen ocean. Her breath caught in her nose; goosebumps broke out on her skin.
"Stones? He has more than one?"
Wong swallowed and his eyes slid away.
"I was not supposed to tell you that. "
Blanca started to stand. Wong's grip on her hand tightened.
"The wards. We have to strengthen them. That much power-"
"They have been strengthened," Wong said. "That was the first thing the Master did."
He paused and patted his free hand in the air.
"Sit down. I was not done."
Blanca sat and he told her the rest of it. The facts, his theories, his thoughts. She realized Wong was rambling. He never rambled. Wong always took the time to think, to formulate his words carefully, but here he was pouring everything out.
At the end of it all, Blanca's tentative second conclusion firmed. She had become a sorcerer to protect people from the threats around them. She trusted Wong and her Master's judgement. They hadn't let her astray yet. Strange was not an intentional threat. He had the potential to become one yes, but Wong had described a man trying to recover from the consequences of the choices he had to make and who was trying to be better. Now that their Master had introduced him, he was part of the Order now. Blanca would protect him like she protected everyone else.