Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Best Friends
The day passed more quickly than Mia expected; Her declaration of friendship between the two of them seemed to have eased Ford’s tension somewhat.

His sarcastic comments noticeably increased in frequency, but she’d promised herself she wouldn’t mind.

The terrain changed, and Mia became frustrated. The pull took her to the very edge of a large crevice.

“Hmph,” She grumped at her magic. “That’s not terribly helpful.”

“What’s not?” Ford seemed unamused by her habit of talking to herself.

“I need to change what I’m looking for,” Mia explained. “I guess… I need to look for the best and safest route to the cave entrance?”

As she concentrated on the concept, the invisible pull she felt began to move, taking her around the canyon instead of directly into it.

“Ah, that’s better!” She grinned and tugged on the reins. Henry obeyed her instruction, glad to not be standing quite so close to the drop off.

“How did you figure all this out?” Ford asked as Harper carried him alongside Mia.

“Like all magic users do–trial and error,” She explained evenly. “You should hear Grandma’s stories of when Uncle Trace was figuring out his magic!”

“Oh?”

“This raving, babbling toddler would burst into her dreams and change everything to candy!” Mia laughed. “He gets mad every time she talks about what a cute little dream-wrecker he used to be. It would wake her up at night, and she thought it was her own strange mind at work for quite a while until it started happening to Grandpa too!”

Ford stared at her for a moment. “I suppose your magic was not so upsetting as that.”

“No, not at all. I’d find the cookies Mama hid from me, but nothing too mischievous.” She grinned.

“And your grandparents?” Ford questioned next, “I imagine a toddler who can be uncontrollably loud and one who can make insects do what they want would be awful.”

“They weren’t born with powers,” Mia shrugged.

Ford glanced at her. “Oh?”

“Mmhmm,” She concentrated on the path ahead. The rocky terrain made her loosen her grip on the reins and let Henry pick his steps more carefully.

“When did they get them? And how?”

Ford had fallen behind as the path down into the canyon narrowed and Harley moved into a following position.

“I don’t know exactly how,” She responded, closing her eyes. “It was a year or two after my missing memories. I remember them being surprised that their powers were ‘back’, but I didn’t know what that meant at the time.”

The flood of new memories had been a lot to process. She’d been using conversation with Ford to minimize dwelling on the more traumatic parts too much, but honestly, fitting these fractured pieces into the rest of her life’s timeline was changing a few things as she thought about them in context.

“Do you know what it means now?” Ford asked quietly. Mia sighed.

“Not entirely, but I do think it has something to do with what was missing. After we left the cave, we went to stay with my aunt, my mother’s sister, for a couple of weeks. We didn’t go straight home. Mama, my brothers, and I stayed there, without Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, or Uncle Trace and Aunt Annie.

“They all stayed behind at the cave… well, Papa made sure we were safe, but then he went back? He said something about getting firewagons…”

Some of the memories were still hazy, but Mia thought she had most of them now.

“What else?” Ford prodded, and Mia glanced over her shoulder.

“You seem very interested in all this,” She observed drily. “I’m sure it’s because you’re eager to help me work through my childhood trauma.”

Talking about it with him was actually very helpful. His interest was probably self-serving, but that meant he listened very intently. Nothing she said on this topic was met with derision or open disbelief.

She didn’t even fear talking about the parts where she was trapped, since he’d been through something much the same. She felt like she had a very sarcastic, bitter, yet handsome kindred spirit to pour out her troubles to.

But not all of them. His life had been much more difficult than hers, overall, so she shied away from complaining about things he might consider trivial.

“I want to know everything about the cave,” He told her, “and about magic. It’s very rare in Foundrel. Since you know more than I do on both those topics, and you obviously like to hear yourself talk, why shouldn’t I ask?”

“You think I like to hear myself talk?” Mia pulled on Henry’s reins as they reached the base of the gorge and turned a heated gaze on her traveling companion.

“You said I should be honest,” He defended himself. “Not sugarcoat things.”

“I did say that,” She narrowed her eyes. “But I also think I said something about not going out of your way to make the other person angry.”

“You have a nice voice, why shouldn’t you like to listen to it?” He rolled his eyes, and Mia bit back a sarcastic retort that would only serve to escalate the argument.

“Again, you don’t have to be mean with your snark.” She tried to speak more softly than she wanted to. “If you think I talk too much, you can kindly tell me that you would prefer quiet to conversation for a time. You don’t have to insult the very sound of my voice with your sarcasm.”

“Insult?” Ford looked at her like she was stupid, and she bristled further.

“Yes, insult. Implying I talk too much, and then in trying to get out of it by sarcastically saying I have a nice voice. That’s mean, Ford. Friends don’t try to be mean to each other.”

“I wasn’t being mean,” Ford glared back at her. “You told me to say what’s on my mind. Are you wanting out of that so quickly?”

“You’re not listening–” She complained.

“No, you’re not listening,” Ford frowned back at her.

“Fine!” Mia threw up her hands. “Go ahead, I’m listening, say whatever you want to say, insult me as viciously as you’d like, as a friend. I’ll take whatever it is. Here’s your chance.”