Lillian's Folly – Chapter 1
AN: This is a story from the True universe started by Wolfpyre and Ashleyder1. I have permission from both of them to use their characters True and Rhianna. I wasn't going to write this story but Ashleyder encouraged me to go ahead – so here it goes.
I also used a mixture Cherokee and Welsh words – I had trouble finding all Cherokee translations – so if you'll just indulge me.
True was sitting in a tree by herself. For once, she wasn't in trouble. It was the summer, school was out. She was lonely. Rhianna was off working at the clinic for Nathan. Creed was off on a hunting trip with his pa. True was bored. A bored True was never good. Her mind drifted to the workhouse she landed in when she first came to this time. She only spent a few weeks there before she escaped and landed here with this family, such as it is. She thought of the various children and wondered where they had landed over the year she had been here. She remembered a little carrot topped girl, Lillian. True had shortened her name to Lily. Every older child at the workhouse had a younger child to take care of. True's was Lily. When True met Lily she was only 4. She would be 5 by now. True knew she was from a different time, probably from the same time as True and Rhianna. She really hadn't had a chance to figure out exactly where Lily was from. Lily never spoke, but she had a clan marking, only it wasn't a clan marking she recognized. Funny, True had been so hell bent on getting away that she hadn't even thought of Lily in all this time. True felt a little guilty, she probably should have tried to take Lily with her, but True had been afraid that Lily would slow her down. She remembered that red haired little girl standing with her thumb in her mouth, holding some kind of stuffed something in dirty raggedy clothes.
True was lost in her own mind when she suddenly heard, "What are you doing up there?" True startled, she almost fell out of the tree. She looked down and saw her cousin. "What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" sneered True. She hated that Rhianna was able to sneak up on her without her knowing it.
"Well, your surely in a foul mood," noted Rhianna.
"Well yeah, if you had someone sneakin' up on ya, ya'd be pissy too," shot back True.
Rhianna gazed at her cousin skeptically. "I wasn't doing anything but coming to find you. Vin was looking for you."
"Shit, what does he want, now?" fumed True.
"I don't know." Shrugged Rhianna. "He said something about stalls and horses."
"Aw shit, I forgot." True muttered.
"Well, I would get to it if I were you. He looked none too pleased." Rhianna shielding her eyes from the sun and looking up into the tree.
"Heh, afore we do that, wanna go swimmin'?" asked True.
Rhianna shook her head, "Really? Vin won't be happy."
True scoffed, "Aw, he'll never know and we'll be back and I'll get my chores done all before he knows. He's headed out to the reservation, he won't be back until tomorrow."
Rhianna grinned, "Well, what are we waiting for?"
True grinned and hopped out of the tree. "Heh, did I ever tell you about Lily?" True asked her cousin.
Rhianna shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Who's Lily?"
"She was a girl from the workhouse." True continued.
"Rhianna stopped walking and placed her hand on True's arm. She looked into her cousin's eyes and saw something, she wasn't sure, sadness, something. "What about her?"
"I shoulda takin' her with me when I left." True stated resolutely.
"Why?"
"I dunno. She was little. Like 4 or somethin'. She wasn't from this time. I'm not sure if she was from ours. I don't know. She jus' didn't belong, ya know?" True asked.
Rhianna sighed. She wasn't sure she liked where this was going. She knew True well enough to know that this was definitely leading up to something. "What made you think about her after all this time?"
True shrugged her shoulders, "I dunno. But I need to find her." Little did True know, Lily was in her mind begging True to find her.
Rhianna sighed again. How in the world were they going to find this little girl. When True got something stuck in her mind, she wouldn't let go of the idea until it was played out. She was sure to get dragged into it. Rhianna decided not to worry for now, they were just about at the water hole. She shucked her dress and started toward the water.
"You're goin' in, in your drawers?" snickered True.
"Well, contrary to your ruffian existence, I'm not about to swim buck naked in the watering hole. Anybody could walk up." She huffed.
True snickered again. "You're such a freakin' sissy. Who the hell's all the way out here? Ain't no one here but you and me." True scoffed as she stripped. "Ain't like you got anythin' to show any how," she teased.
"Imshee!" Rhianna hissed as she followed True into the water.
The girls dove in. They swam and splashed and played. Rhianna figured they had been swimming at least an hour. "Come on, we better get back before Chris comes looking for me and you still have to do your chores." Rhianna motioned True out of the water.
"I ain't ready to git out yet," True replied as she ducked under the water and swam away from Rhianna.
Rhianna huffed. "Come on True, if we don't get back soon, someone is going to come looking for us."
"Oh come on, it ain't like we was told we couldn't go swimmin'." True yelled from her spot in the watering hole.
"It aint't like you had permission either," a deep voice said.
"Oh shit!" thought True.
"Oh shit, indeed," thought Rhianna as she turned around to see her guardian standing there with his arms across his chest glaring at her.
Rhianna stepped slowly out of the water and looked at her guardian. "Chris, you never said I couldn't go swimming."
Chris eyed her. "I never said you could. Didn't Vin send you out here to find True?" he asked.
"Well, yes, but.." Rhianna started.
"Get dressed." Chris interrupted.
"Chris…"
"NOW!"
Rhianna turned and hurried to obey. She didn't think Chris was really that mad at her, she didn't actually disobey him or Vin, she just took her sweet time doing what she was asked. She knew that she better just get to it to avoid any further consequences. Immediate obedience and lots of 'yes sir's' usually worked.
Chris turned to the other wayward little girl in the watering hole. "True Tanner, you best get your behind out of that water."
True looked up at Chris and was wondering how she could talk herself out of this one. "I ain't got nothin' on. I cain't get out with you standin' there."
"You ain't got nothing I ain't seen before little girl, get out NOW!" he growled.
True's mouth kicked in before her head, "I ain't doin' it. You gotta leave first."
Rhianna gasped. What in the world was her little cousin thinking?
Chris rubbed his forehead, he was so glad True was normally Vin's problem. "Little girl, if I have to come in and get you, you are going to be mighty sorry."
True's bottom lip puffed out in pout.
"Get out now!" shouted Chris.
True jumped. "Ok, ok, don't get your britches in a knot," she muttered. She didn't think Chris heard that comment. After a hard swat to her naked behind, she realized he had.
"OW! What the hell was that for?" she said angrily rubbing her bottom.
"Get dressed or that swat's gonna be a warm-up." Chris growled.
Wisely True didn't say anything else. She just dressed as quickly as she could.
Chris surveyed the girls, "Ya'll both get back to town and get your chores done."
All the way back to town, True couldn't get her mind off of Lily. It's as if someone was pushing on her head. It started to hurt. True was getting more and more frustrated. "Damn it Rhianna, get the hell out of my head." True hissed to her cousin.
"I'm not in your head." Rhianna said giving True a shocked look.
"Bullshit, I can feel you pushing." True hissed again.
Chris eyed the whispering girls. "There a problem?" asked Chris.
"No, sir!" they said in unison.
As they reached town, True gave her cousin a hard push that sent her sprawling in the dirt. True laughed, "Cain't walk on your own two feet, huh?"
Rhianna glared at True. "I..am..not..in..your..head!" she seethed. As she picked herself up off the ground and dusted off her dress. Since her underclothes were wet, she was just making herself a mud covered mess.
True laughed. Chris turned around to see his "daughter", at least that's how he viewed her, a med covered mess and her cousin laughing. "What's goin' on?" he barked.
"Nothing." Rhianna said, "I just tripped. I would like to go to the bath house," she said as she turned and starting walking toward the bath house. She would settle up with True later.
"Rhianna?" Chris questioned sternly.
Rhianna sighed as she turned around, she was dirty, she was annoyed and Chris sounded mad, she just didn't want to deal with it. Knowing that she was walking a fine line, she turned to her "father", "Yes, sir?"
"Bath house, chores, and boarding house."
"Yes sir." She said resolutely as she resumed her walk toward the bath house.
True snickered and started to walk toward the stable. She was hoping to escape Chris' notice before he realized she had left.
"True?" he asked, a warning in his voice.
"Yeah?" she said as she turned toward him.
"Yeah?" he asked as he crooked a finger and motioned him toward her.
True swallowed, she knew Chris was on his last bit of patience, "Yes, sir?"
"Stable, bath house and then your room."
"Aww, Chris…" she started to whine.
"You need help obeyin' me?" asked Chris.
"Uh uh, no, sir," she said backing away from Chris, "I got it."
Chris smiled at her fleeting form headed toward the stable. "Those two are going to kill me," he thought.
As True walked toward the stable, the pain in her head was increasing. She just heard the words "Help Lily," being chanted in her head over and over again. She dragged herself to her horse's stall. She leaned on her horse, and petted his nose. Vin had given her a horse and she had named him "Wind", only in the language of the people, Gaoith, she called him Gao for short. She cleaned up his stall after a few moments of rubbing his nose. All she wanted to do was get a bath and go lay down, her head was killing her.
By the time she got to her room, tears were streaming down her face. She hated having someone in her head. It was driving her crazy. She thought maybe she was going crazy because of the guilt of leaving Lily behind. She wanted Vin. He would hold her and tell her that everything would be alright.
Rhianna walked by True's room and heard True crying. As mad as she was at True for pushing her in the dirt, she didn't want her cousin to be upset to the point she was crying. She pushed open the door softly, "Ennolid?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"I shouldn't have left Lily." True sobbed.
Rhianna raced to her cousin's side. "Why is this Lily all the sudden so important to you? Why are you so upset?" Rhianna asked as she cradled True in her arms.
"I dunno." True sniffed. "I can't get her out of my head. I jus' keep hearin' 'Save Lily' 'Save Lily.' Over and over again."
Rhianna sighed. "Ennolid, I promise, I'm not in your head. I don't even know Lily."
True looked at her cousin, "Well if it ain't you? Who is it?"
Rhianna thought for a few minutes. She started slowly. Way in the back of her mind, a memory was trying to rise to the surface, but she couldn't catch it just yet. "Tell me about her, tell me everything you remember."
True's sobs had calmed down to slow hitching breaths. "Well, she came to the workhouse a few days after me. You know every kid had a littler kid to take care of. They gave me Lily. She was maybe three or four. I don't know cuz she never talked."
Rhianna nodded her head, encouraging her cousin to continue. "Didn't you say you thought she wasn't from this time, but maybe our time."
"Yeah, but it don't make sense," said True. "Why would they send her here? I 'm here, cuz I got caught. But she's just a baby, she didn't have no markings for being caught. Besides even the clan doesn't send 'em out that young. You're here because you're lookin' for me." True was shaking her head in disbelief.
Rhianna was starting to get a funny feeling in her stomach. She needed more details. "True, why do you think she was from our time?"
True took a deep breath, "Cuz she had a belly button ring and a clan marking. Only I ain't ever seen a marking like that, it was different."
"Different, how?" Rhianna pressed.
"You know how ours just goes around our ring?" True started.
Rhianna just nodded her head.
"Hers was a ring around her belly button, but it went all the way up to here." True pointed to the place between her breasts or where her breasts would be if she had any.
Rhianna took a breath, "Did it have a pattern like ours?"
"Yeah, it was like thorns in the circle and then single like up to a bird. It must of hurt like a son-of-a-bitch when she got tattooed. I mean she was just a baby Rhianna, even the clan doesn't tattoo until we're six."
Rhianna searched her memory, it was so familiar, yet she couldn't quite grasp the memory. Then it clicked! "True, did she have red hair and green eyes?"
True looked at her cousin curiously. "Yeah, how'd ya know?"
"I think she's ' ion.'"
"What?" asked True. "What the hell's that?"
"Pure, she's pure, she's one of the First Ones, one of the original clans."
"What?" scoffed True. "There ain't been any of those forever. How'd she get here?"
"Well, I don't think she's from our time. I think she's from the time of the First One's. Her clan, Sabhac died out a long time before we were even born."
"Seabhac clan, she's from the Hawk clan? They've been dead forever." True looked at Rhianna with disbelief.
"I know, but what if the Observers sent her here for a reason during her time. If our time can go back in time, maybe the First Ones could to."
"I thought that was invented in our time?"
"Don't believe everything you hear." Rhianna said.
"Why would they send a baby like that? I'm mean what could she possibly have done to get sent here."
"I don't know," said Rhianna shaking her head. "I can't imagine how someone so young could get sent here."
"Think maybe she got her by accident, like she got into the transporter by accident?" asked True.
"I don't know if by accident or someone sent her here on purpose." Rhianna said grimly.
"On purpose?" True said incredulously. "Why would someone said a baby like that on purpose?"
"Well, maybe to protect her or protect someone else. You know the story goes with the Seabhac, they could transport themselves and others, like a hawk flying in the wind. I've also heard stories that they all had many gifts, not just one and the royal family had the gift of teleporting as well as mind control. That's why they are gone in our time, the whole idea of mind control was abhorrent to the Observers."
"Ab..what?" asked True.
"Abhorrent? It means horrible, the worst of the worst."
"Mind control? You mean like whatever is in my head givin' me a headache?"
"Yes, I mean exactly like that."
"You can do that," countered True, "and you ain't Hawk."
"Yes, I know. But we never know. We may have some Hawk blood in our line somewhere. "
True sighed. "I gotta find her."
"Yes, you're right. She may be in danger. She may need us to….."
"Who may need you to what?"