THE HIGH LORD'S FAVORITE

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nothing at all. If you recognise something from somewhere else, don't own that either. This is just for fun.

Those of you who have actually read the wonderful books by Trudy Canavan will noticed that there are some passages that are taken strait from the book. Some of them I modified to fit my version of the story, others I did not because I could not have written them better if I tried. And of course some of my own stuff.

Rating:M

Summary: The story starts after Akkarin takes Sonea as his favorite. This is AU, I found Sonea to be a little soft for someone that grew up in the slums, so I changed that a bit. Hope you enjoy it.

- italic mental communication

italic flash backs

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT

Sonea remembered something Cery had told her once. If she became as skilled with her magic as with her blade, she would be running this place in no time. She had to laugh at the thought. There was only one giant obstacle, Akkarin. But there were ways to defeat a vastly superior and powerful opponent. One only needed to be smart about it. And intelligence was not something she was lacking.

From the moment she had begun her classes she had absorbed everything. But also began to do something more. She began to think of other ways this knowledge could be applied, searching for ways He may not have thought of.

Knowledge was power, and she needed an advantage. She needed to use magic he knew nothing about. And the only way to do that, was to learn the basics and push forward from there. But she also needed information. If only she could read his mind, know what he was thinking without him knowing.

And that had given her an idea. Today her class was finally learning how to mentally communicate, as well as how truth-reads worked. After she had succeeded in her first attempt to mentally communicate, her teacher had quickly moved on to another student. Sonea quickly began rethinking the lesson, but soon her thoughts drew back to the day Akkarin had read her unwilling mind. She knew the body had a barrier, like a wall. But Akkarin had passed it as though it had not even been there. Sonea began thinking of ways he could have done that. The barrier was a wall, but walls did not stop everything from coming through. And if a wall could be breach then... there would be nothing to stop an invader. A chill went down her spine, was this how black magic worked? She remembered Akkarin's hand on Takan's arm, blood flowing between his fingers. But what had he done to Takan once he had broken his barrier? Somehow, by breaking the skin, one was able to take another's energy. That was frightening.

But back to breaching mental barriers. How could she read his mind? Sonea began thinking about how physical walls worked. So many times she had heard the Healers speak of the natural barrier using the analogy of a wall. Walls let water and wind seep through, yet stop people. Sonea began examining these possibilities. Thinking on how she could have her mind act like wind and water against a wall, while keeping in mind the strange sensation she had felt from Akkarin's mind-read. Sonea was so deep in thought that she did not realise her teacher had returned to stand in front of her.

Suddenly Sonea found herself looking at herself. But the perspective was from someone looking over her, someone standing by her desk.

- Something is not quite right, she has been distracted all morning.

Sonea heard, she also felt complicated and conflicting emotions. Emotions that were not hers, she realised. Sonea suddenly realised she was not in her own mind. As quickly as the realisation came she found herself staring at her teacher, his hand was on her shoulder.

"Is everything alright Sonea?"

Sonea blinked a few times.

"Yes, sorry my lord."

"Very well, then go ahead?"

"My lord?"

"Call me mentally Sonea."

"Oh."

- Lord Fendal?

- Very good Sonea.

"Now, High Lord's favorite or not, I will not have you daydreaming in my class."

"It won't happen again."

"It better not."

She glanced Regin's smug expression from the corner of her eye. Great! Maybe she should work on that problem before she tried tackling the problem concerning Akkarin. One problem at a time right? Or not. Maybe she could practice on Regin... Yes that was a brilliant idea, and now she had accidently learned how do do something new, the only question was, could she do it again? But more importantly, how far could she push it?

Over the next few weeks she practiced her new mind-reading technique on Lady Tya. Although she felt bad using the librarian in this way, it did help her fine tune the skill. Sonea could now enter a mind and stay there, and simply watch without even being noticed. She had tried the same technique on other magicians, as well as some novices by pretending to bump into them or something along those lines. It had now become second nature to her. The more disturbing thoughts she had heard though, were Regin's during his regular ambushes. Although he would not kill her, she knew that if there was an opportunity for him to seriously harm her and get away with it, he probably would. But still she was reticent in fighting back. Unlike Regin, she didn't want to harm anyone, well except Him.

And so she continued to use the passages. But it was only a matter of time before Regin figured out how she was avoiding him. And so Sonea began wondering if it would be at all possible to read another's mind without having to touch him or her at all. Theoretically, she believed it should be possible. Maybe if she married the ideas behind mental communications, and reading minds...

Regin had ambushed her once more, and he and his gang were stunstriking her. She felt herself becoming weaker and weaker. Sonea thought of calling out for Lorlen, he had offered his help after he had found her staggering in the hall after the first time these attacks had begun. But she thought otherwise, Akkarin would find out, and she didn't want him to find out, she didn't want His help. But as she was thinking of calling out, she looked at the tallest novice, and suddenly found herself in his mind. It only lasted a moment. And a moment later Sonea was completely exhausted and they were leaving.

Once she was certain they were not coming back, Sonea managed to sit up. She smiled and began to laugh.

In the next weeks that followed, Sonea continued to practice her new discovery. Unlike the previous level to this new power, she had much more difficulty making it work. The person needed to be in her sights and looking at her. This would not do. But Sonea realised that if she could master it this way, she could then take the principle and try another technique, one that would not require her to be locking eyes with her target.

She was pondering that same question as she walked in the hallway of the University. When suddenly, she felt someone grab her from behind and twist her around. Without thinking, she grabbed the arm that had wrapped itself around her neck, and with her hand followed it to the masculine hand. Finding the pressure point, she squeezed, while with one leg kicking the man between the legs. After which she twisted, bringing the man's hand behind his back. Her attacker soon found himself lying flat on the ground, arm behind his back, her knee in the middle of his back, keeping him down. Sonea suddenly recognised the man who had attacked her, and promptly let go of him and stood up.

"Lord Yikmo! I am so sorry. Why did you do that? I could have killed you!"

"I doubt that. But I believe I may have found the source of your problem Sonea."

"I have many problems Lord Yikmo, which one are you referring to?"

"Your Warrior Skill problem. From your reaction just now it's clear that your first response to an attack is physical. You learned how to fight in the Slums, didn't you?"

Sonea nodded wearingly.

"Did you have a particular trainer?"

"No."

Lord Yikmo frowned.

"How did you know what to do?"

"I grew up in the Slums my Lord, if you do not know how to fight you do not survive."

"Street fighting. I see. Defensive maneuvers. Little wonder you use it first. It's what you know best, and you know it works. We have to change that."

He waved a hand gesturing for her to walk with him.

"You have to learn to react magically rather than physically, Sonea. I can devise exercises that will help you do that. I have to warn you though, this kind of relearning can be quite slow and difficult. Persevere, however, and you'll be using magic without thinking by the end of the year."

"Without thinking?" Sonea frowned, without thinking got people killed.

"I know this is contrary to what your teachers say. But this is because most novices are too eager to use magic. They must be taught restraint. You, however, are no ordinary novice, and so ordinary teaching methods can be disregarded."

"How did you know that I didn't think of using magic first, but changed my mind?"

"You reacted too quickly, which suggest you were acting on instincts. And by your statement, you were quite prepared to hurt me also."

"Well no one that sneaks up from behind and grabs you is up to anything good."

"True, and few would condemn an ordinary man or woman if he or she killed another in self-defense."

Sonea winced at his comment.

"But if a magician kills a non-magician, it is an outrage. You have the power to defend yourself, so there is no excuse for killing. No matter what your attacker's intent. Not even if the attacker is a magician. When confronted with such an attack, your first reaction should be to shield yourself. And that is another good reason to change your first reaction to a magical rather than a physical one."

Lord Yikmo looked at Sonea, who gave him a defeated look. Smiling, he put a hand on her shoulder.

"You're not doing as badly as you think, Sonea. If you'd struck out at me with magic, or simply froze or screamed, I would have been disappointed. Instead you kept calm, reacted quickly, and succeeded in throwing me off. I think that's an impressive start. Good night."

Sonea bowed and watch him walk away. You have the power to defend yourself know, so there is no excuse for killing. But her instinctual reaction was to kill and it had kept her alive. But she was a magician now, and battles would now be fought with magic, not fists.

tbc...