Ebudae by John H. Carroll

The
performers had enough of Ebudae’s coin left from lunch that day and
dinner the night before to pay for their meal.
    “I can’t believe how quickly you learned to
juggle,” Aphry said to her. “You have a natural talent for it.”
    “I have long, dexterous fingers.” Ebudae
watched Juggles moving a coin through the fingers of one hand while
he ate with the other. He was always doing something with his
hands. “Oh! That reminds me. I have something for you, Juggles.”
She reached into one of her pouches.
    “Something for me?” he asked, surprise
evident in his raspy voice.
    “Yes. I thought of it when we were working
with the coins yesterday.” Ebudae took out a silver coin a bit
larger than the silver pieces that had paid for their meals, but
not as large as gold coins. “Here. This is for you.”
    He took the coin and studied it for a
moment, examining the tree on the front and the building on the
back. He moved it between the fingers of both hands. “It’s very
nice.”
    Ebudae was a little hurt that he didn’t
understand it. “It’s not a normal coin.”
    He smiled appreciatively. “Thank you. I
don’t remember the last time someone gave me something. I will
cherish it.” It was the longest sentence any of them had heard him
say, evidenced by the looks of shock on everyone’s faces.
    Ebudae sighed and slumped her shoulders.
Then she held out her hand. “Give.”
    “Well, it seems as though it was a fleeting
memory,” Glav said with a smirk.
    Juggles put the coin back in her hand
reluctantly, confused by her actions. Ebudae felt bad, but she had
to show him what the coin did so he could appreciate it. She
flipped it through her fingers a couple of times and suddenly two
coins appeared in her palm. The gasps of surprise pleased her. She
flipped it through both hands and four coins appeared. Then she
made two more appear. That was too much for her to handle and one
of them dropped to the pillow underneath. Instead of panicking, she
dropped another one onto it and the two coins melded into one. Then
she dropped the others onto it, making each one meld into the
original coin.
    “How do you do that?” Juggles asked,
hesitantly touching the coin.
    “It’s a magical coin of course,” Ebudae
explained. She picked it up and tossed it straight up into the air.
The coin separated into ten at the height of the throw and then
came back together until hitting her palm and merging into one.
    “That has to be the best trick coin I’ve
ever seen,” Glav stated, leaning forward for a closer look.
    “It’s not a trick coin, it’s a magical
coin,” Ebudae corrected. She looked at Juggles. “Would you like to
know the secret to making it work?”
    He nodded slowly, his eyes wide.
    “It has to be a key word,” Glav
suggested.
    “Nope. It’s something entirely different,
better than a keyword.” She gave him a sly, secretive work. “And
I’m not telling you.” Ebudae grabbed Juggles’ sleeve and led him to
the other side of the tent behind the changing room.
    To be on the safe side, she cast a spell to
prevent anyone from hearing the secret. Juggles’ eyes grew wide
when Ebudae’s hair blew softly around her face at the gathering and
releasing of energies.
    “They can’t hear us now,” she explained.
Holding the coin in her hand, she pointed at the building side.
“This is the secret entrance. Before you begin, enter it with your
mind.” Ebudae flipped the coin to the tree side. “The branches are
how many times you can duplicate the coin, fourteen in all. Just
break off a branch each time you want a new one. You have to move
your mind fast, like when you’re juggling multiple objects.”
    Juggles was dumfounded and stared at Ebudae
with his jaw open. She took his hand and put it in his palm. “You
can do it. I know you can,” she encouraged. He looked at the coin
for a moment before getting his concentration. Ebudae knew he
understood when surprise lit across his face. “There you