If you haven't read Tamora Pierce, get Sandry's Book and look at the map on the inside. Should help. LOL! No, really. And a Bag is a Money Bag ... what thieves call rich people. I love Briar! =) (The fictional character, of course. No offense to the FF.N author, of course. *grin*)
Um, one more thing. I have this idea ... would anyone be interested in starting a Tamora Pierce authors discussion list?? *smiles* I did it for Harry Potter, but I think with this BRAND NEW section (I'm sorry to sound so self-centered, but I really am proud and happy that I suggested this section and made y'all happy, no I'm a Northerner), a discussion list would be so COOL!! We could eventually have all the authors on it, and ... anyways, I'm getting carried away. Tell me in your reviews if you'd like to do it, and name ideas, or whatever! I'd just love to host one ... in fact ... I'm getting the account right when I wake up in the morning *wink* ... I just need a name. And all the Tamora Pierce author's willingness. Wow. I bet I could find incorrect grammar in there somewhere ... anyways ...
Prologue
I love the sea. I have always loved the sea. Maybe I minded being poor sometimes, but even though we barely scraped enough together to live even with Mother's hunting and Father's fishing, I never felt poor when I was with the sea and it never hurt as much as people said it must. And here on the Stepping Stone Islands, I got plenty of the sea.
I also got plenty of Janaal and Sotat arguing over which country should own us. I was on the side of the man they called Sharprick, the one who said maybe it was time for us to be our own country. They laugh, but Irod and Qalai are not so large and the Battle Islands are neutral in the case of any war, and they have their own government, which is essentially their own country.
Sotat would have nothing of it, still trying to prove themselves better than Janaal after the single battle of the River Spiwa (spy-wah), which forced the Sotatese to not even take water from their own long, long river until the troops finally managed to drive Janaal out. Still, twenty years after the fact, they are looking for a reason to get Janaal back, and taking the Stepping Stone Islands for their own would be the perfect way to prove their superiority.
I joined the Sharprick Resistance, and wore a blue kerchief 'round my arm always to signify that I supported them, even if it was rather dirty. Mother said it was the best she could do, and soon we all wore filthy blue on our arms. However small, however poor, I was willing to fight.
Against who, I had never specified, and had avoided thinking of it almost unconciously. The answer provided itself quite easily, though, two months after my family "joined" the Sharprick Resistance. The unlikely neighbor - Emelan.
Chapter One
The mages came, dressed in blue, straight to my - our - front door. They knocked, acting like they were used to a dwelling that looked as though it were made of toothpicks. Not that I had ever seen a toothpick. Only heard of them, when the village thief-boys told me tales about how Bags ate.
"Hello," one of them greeted confidently. "I am Dedicate Spring." She had long auburn hair that must have gone down to her waist and far past when she had it free, but it was constrained in a thick knot near the top of her head. While very fashionable (I supposed), to me her hair looked like it was extremely anxious to get out of its bonds. Her dark green eyes looked as though she held some kind of secret. The other mage, beside her, was small and as un-intimidating as Dedicate Spring was imposing. His sunstreaked brown hair was untidy, and his big blue eyes were the kind that the Bag schoolgirls in the village would die for. The thing I noticed most about both of them, however, is that they were clean. They smelled of lovely herbs and flowers in a mix I tried to recognize as they stood looking at - I realized with shock - me, but I couldn't.
"Welcome," I announced, a little unsteadily, throwing a glance at Mother. She gave me a tiny smile. The warm outside air breezed in a little as Father entered with a large bag of fish, head down and muttering.
"That's thirteen mackerel, two cod, a jellyfish skin for sale at the market ... oh, I'm sorry!" He dropped the bag as he spoke. Dedicate Spring smiled, and picked it up to hand back to him.
"Greetings. I am Dedicate Spring," she repeated. "And this is Dedicate Robin. I trust we are not intruding?" Her eyes had switched to Father when he entered, but now they rested comfortably back on me. I squirmed under her gaze.
"This is Killarn," Mother said, putting away her fragile homemade bow and gesturing toward my father at the same time. Strangely, he bowed. I'd never seen him do it, and I watched with interest. By noble standards, it probably would have been seen as a horrible bow, I guessed, but he only shook a little, in my opinion.
Mother, who had walked over while I was watching Father bow, put an arm around me. "Our daughter Meria," she said, and smiled down at me. I couldn't guess why everyone seemed so calm. Maybe it was the effect Dedicate Spring seemed to be having over everyone except me, clearly the topic she wanted to discuss. I wasn't happy with that.
"And I am Dedestri," Mother finished. The introductions took longer than I'd thought, it seemed. Dedicate Robin looked bored. I tried to catch his eye and wink, but he wouldn't look at me. I wished Dedicate Spring shared his feelings.
"We have come, as I can see Meria has already guessed," Dedicate Spring began as if we'd been friends for years, "for her." She chuckled a little. "Full Circle's been trying to track the magic that's been rippling in this direction for months."
"Magic? Rippling?" asked Father, looking stunned. Dedicate Spring smiled, again.
"Waves," she said, a little dreamily. "Big waves. They appeared in the water first, near Nambar Island, and some dedicates thought that the feeling of strong magic in the waves was directed from there. Then it became apparent, however, that the waves were definitely headed here. Right here." She looked at me searchingly. "To you."
"Me?" I whispered, bewildered. "No, no, not me." I turned to look at Mother, who only glanced at Father and winked. Father grinned, sure of himself again at last, and Mother hugged me.
"We knew it, darling," she told me. "We knew someday that Sadraya, bless Her power over the seas, would answer our prayers. It has happened." Dedicate Spring smiled. Again. And Mother didn't sound like Mother at all. She sounded like some crackpot priest.
"What is going ON?" I yelled. Somehow I couldn't whisper anymore, because the event had enlarged itself, and no longer was whispering important enough for this moment.
"Dear child," Dedicate Spring said softly, fondly, and she touched my cheek: her hands smelled like herbs and flowers again. Rosemary? No. Jasmine? No. "You are coming with us." Sage? Definitely not ... wait. Her words sunk in.
"I'm WHAT?" Mother was smiling, yet tears were running down her cheeks. Father had sat down on the floor and bent his head low, I couldn't see his face.
"You're coming with us. Meria," she still remembered my name, it took months for the village thief-boys to get it right, "you are a mage. You are coming to Full Circle Temple to study wave magic, for you have it in large amounts. You have something special with the sea, especially the waves ... and ... and ..." Dedicate Spring suddenly looked extremely excited. "Sound waves! Light waves! You could do anything, devote yourself to any element ..." Here she suddenly seemed to remember where she was, as Mother and Father and I were all looking at her in puzzlement. "Never mind that now. But Meria, there's so much for you to learn! At - at -"
"Thirteen," Mother supplied through her tears.
"At thirteen, you're so behind! No offense meant, of course," she added hastily, now she was really excited, her calm seemed to have vanished and escaped, like I wished her hair would do, "but we've got to start teaching you. If your parents will let us. Please," she added forcefully, in the direction of my mother and father. Father rose, face a little pale. Mother's face was still wet.
"Of - of course," they answered together. I hugged them both, out of impulse, I suppose.
"My parents," I said slowly when I'd finished. "Will I ever see them again?"
"Naturally," Dedicate Spring responded, her calm gradually returning (I hoped), "as it is Full Circle Temple's general policy to provide for the parents of our students if need be, I will see to it personally that they live comfortably wherever they choose. I would suggest a nice wintery place in Anderran, just over the border, they're good friends of Emelan's ..." She seemed to rethink this likelihood as she looked out the door again at the sweltering heat and the radiant sea. 'A nice wintry place,' I thought, stifling a laugh, half-delight, half-amusement. Mother looked at me, guessing what I was thinking.
"Well, never mind that now," Dedicate Spring said, ears a tinge red. "Can we leave at first light tomorrow? Full Circle will be expecting us, and I am needed to oversee the Water dedicates as soon as possible."
Mother nodded. Father looked concerned. "I would offer a place to sleep," he started uncomfortably, "but mages such as you deserve more space and finery -"
"Don't worry about us," Dedicate Spring said. Yet another smile. "We'll sleep outside. I haven't slept by the sea under the sun for a long, long while."
It was only after Father and (I figured) Dedicate Robin's snores filled the quiet night air that I realized he hadn't spoken at all.