"Do you believe in magic, Ranger Will?"

Will sat, rendered speechless and silent on the steps of the dais. He refused to look at the King, only at the window behind him, where he could see the trees swaying in the wind. It was a hypnotic sight, so ordinary and serene. Calming for him and his mind, which had just been turned upside down. Not that I believe what he says. Do I think he's lying? Does his story even make sense?

The King had backed off after Will's realization and was now pacing across the top of the stairs, directly in front of the throne. "I hesitated to tell you about this because I know you do not believe me. I saw it, in a vision, that you would not believe it. I am a fool to have thought you ever even had a chance. But I told you anyway. Do you want to know why?"

Will had no answer.

"Because I was hoping that you, out of all people, would believe because you had seen it." The King threw out his arms in what seemed like disbelief. "You witnessed an act of power before your very eyes, one of the few ordinary people in this world to see it. I hoped maybe you would not immediately dismiss it like you just did." He let his hands fall back to sides, his head tipping down towards his chest in disappointment.

Without warning, Halt's voice rose unbidden in the back of Will's mind. It is always better to stay open to possibilities than to assume something isn't real. "I was taught by someone much more knowledgable than me, to never dismiss something I'd never seen for myself. Since I haven't ever seen this power before, I cannot say I believe or disbelieve in it."

His brow was furrowed, Will's words didn't seem to comfort him at all. "But you did see it! And you still reject it! I should have known..." He ran his hands through his hair, pulling on the roots with his small hands so hard some of hair might've fallen out.

"King Carr, I'm sorry, but I truly don't know," Will's voice careful and soft. His thoughts were still a wreck, a tumble of tangled strings he could not hope to sort out at the moment. But he was confident of one thing: that he could fill in a few more of the holes in the story the King was trying to tell. A story that made more and more sense, even if he was a bit insane. "Back to your story. Are you implying that a druid tribe, that worships and does the bidding of a fire god, can manipulate fire using their... powers?"

He was still angry, but now it morphed into a strange glee. "Precisely, you saw it, as I said before! Do you remember the flames? What were they like?" He was excited now, like a child opening a present. He turned toward Will and the glow was back in his eyes, piercing beams of light coming out of his silhouette by the window. "Those powers are very rare, even among the most devout and powerful druids. I have never seen one, even though I dream one day I will. To see someone blessed so richly by Esus, is a miracle. Describe the fire."

"Esus?"

The King rolled his eyes. "The name of the fire god, of course. Who else?"

"Oh, sorry." The King never told me that, even though he seems to think he did. He's almost off the rails, but not quite. Will blinked and flashed back, albeit reluctantly, to the burning inn, to how the smoke and flames curled up through the floorboards, seeming to have a mind of its own. "Everything burned quickly, they spread faster than any fire I've ever seen. Nothing could put it out, my cloak burst into flames instead of smothering it."

"It burned quickly? That's it? There must be more, it's a wondrous power! What else did you see?" The King's hands twitched toward Will, and he imagined him grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him in close enough to smell his breath, shaking him like a rag doll to extract answers to his rapid-fire questions.

The image startled Will enough that the answer came out with a stutter. "The smoke, the way it rose and moved. It was like... like fingers. The flames, too, they reached for me. I thought it was just another strange hallucination..."

The King laughed gleefully, clapping his hands delightedly together. "Amazing, truly amazing! Glorious, the power of the gods is unimaginable!" Will could have sworn his eyes were glowing. "You are blessed, too! The gods giving you the privilege of seeing this, you are chosen!"

"Chosen...?" Will was overwhelmed, and the King was getting more and more unpredictable and volatile by the minute. Is anything he's saying true? I genuinely can't tell, this all feels like a crazy dream. "King Carr, please, I don't understand. Can you just, answer me this? Who did I see, in the fire? You asked me when we first came here, who I saw. I still don't know."

The King seemed to mellow, if only for a moment. "Why, you saw a druid, one blessed with power of Esus, manipulating the flames. They probably did not expect anyone to still be inside the building, alive at least. You were very lucky." He sat down again, this time next to Will. "Reaching out to you may have been an invitation to become a sacrifice. It is said that a willing sacrifice is the sweetest and most satisfying to a sacred being, especially on thar revels in destruction and rebirth like Esus. They wanted to see if you, in your disillusioned state, might go willingly to please him."

Will shook his head. "Thank god I didn't. I never thought..."

The King peered at Will, cocking his head again. "You thought it was someone you knew, didn't you? You recognized them, that's why you need to know so desperately."

"H-how do you know that? How do you know anything about me?" Will recoiled, genuinely scared.

"Remember, Ranger, I'm a Seer. A retired one, maybe. My visions are rare and weak, not easy to interpret any more. But I saw you and this mess we're in. So I know a few things. Not all, but some." His cocked head made him resemble an owl. This was not a reflection of his shrewdness or his size. Just the strange glowing eyes and oddly angled head.

Will scowled at both his answer and his odd resemblance to a bird. "I'm still not convinced it wasn't just a strange vision made up of smoke, this could all be nothing..."

"Who did you think you saw, Ranger Will? I'm curious." That's not a good enough reason to bear my soul to this wack job.

The King, seeing Will's hesitation, scrambled to find a good reason to press Will into divulgence. "It could be a part of the power of the druid who is causing these fires. You must tell me so that I can confirm it."

Will swallowed hard, and gave in. "My wife. I thought it was her."

The King only nodded without any reaction. "It is interesting that you saw her. Perhaps the power of fire manipulation includes visions, images in the fire designed to draw the viewer in, to their death."

Will blinked a few times to get the strange images out of his head. "I hope not."

The King stood abruptly. "We're finished here, I think." He started walking up the stairs and past the throne, heading for a side door on the wall. His tiny legs striding furiously as he tried to exit the room with some dignity. He turned over his shoulder with his hand on the knob. "Oh, Ranger Will, one last thing. I trust you will keep this secret?"

Will raised an eyebrow. "King Carr, you know full well I can't do that."

He waved his hand one last time. "You can tell your Princess, and your Ranger friend. Tell anyone in high places you think will keep the secret with you. But do not let this spread among the common folk. It is a closely kept secret in Celtica that druids have powers, and it was a secret here too. Both I and the druids would like it to stay that way." His eyes flashed dangerously. "I told you this information out of the goodness of my heart, so that you may stop these fires. But I am also trusting you with a very important, sacred, and ancient knowledge of my country and its people. Don't break my trust." He turned on his heel without waiting for a reply and the door shut behind him.

Will stood, his head spinning in the sudden silence of the hall. He walked slowly towards the double doors at the other end. The room stretched out in front of him, and he felt like he would be stuck there, walking towards the doors and never reaching them for an eternity. His hand on the cool metal knob shocked him back to reality, and as he pushed the doors open, Gilan hopped back a full meter to avoid getting knocked flat on his face.

"Will! What did he say?"

Will squinted at Gilan, overwhelmed with the brightness of the sunlight, the thoughts and questions still swirling in his head, and Gilan's sudden badgering. "He said a lot of things, Gilan. Where would you like me to start?"

Gilan put a consoling hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, Will, I'm just curious. I tried listening through the keyhole but you two talked too damn quietly."

Will glanced over his shoulder and saw that Cassandra and Horace had gone inside, so only Alyss was left, sitting on a bench. Her head snapped around quickly and their eyes met, hers asking many questions. He only nodded and smiled softly.

"You look like you've been run over by that tiny King's wagon. Or that you saw a ghost. Actually, both."

Will knew that voice anywhere.

"Halt?" Will turned toward the source of the voice, and sure enough, leaning against a pillar, tucked into the shadow, was Halt.

"Seriously though, are you alright?" Halt strolled over at a leisurely pace, an eyebrow raised in his characteristic expression. "You really look terrible. What happened in there?"

Will smiled thinly and grasped Halt's hand in a firm handshake. "I got run over by the King's wagon, Halt, you're absolutely right."

"Well, would you look at that, I can read minds, specifically yours." A ghost of a smile flitted across Halt's face. "What will I do next, tell the future?"

The smile dropped off Will's face like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head.

"Something like that."

Halt noticed the change, and then narrowed his eyes, genuinely worried about his former apprentice. "Will, you should probably tell us what's happened."

Will nodded. "Get ready, it's about to get very, very strange."

Halt's face was serious. "It's that bad?"

"Worse." 

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A/N Hope that clears more things up! Again, sorry if this isn't perfect, it's a really tough conversation to write. Any questions at all, comment them here and I'll answer ASAP. 

What's your MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator) type? I'm an INTJ ;)