Full summary: three years after Darian's tale a girl appears in Valdamar. With her comes new questions and dangers. The Companions only choose people that are good of heart and only Choose when there is a need. What kind of need is there going to be when a this girl is perhaps more powerful then the great Vanyel? Watch as Sacha's story unfurls and she sinks deeper into intrigue and danger.
A/N: This is a repost, and a rewrite because it seemed to go too fast, of the story. I had a severe case of writer's block and it just kept staring at me so I took it down. Then I got into my Harry Potter fic and this one just sat there staring at me even more. (can stories stare?) Anyway when I looked at it just now I just knew that I needed to change some things so if you read it before you might want to reread it. I can't promise that I'll be updating quickly on this one but I've got the next couple of chapters typed I just have to go back over them and I know how it ends sort of its just getting there. Wish me luck.
Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once because I found it no where in the agreement thingy that you have to disclaim every chapter. I am not and most likely never will become a famous author so all characters that you recognize are the property of Misty L. and I seriously doubt that she would want my van that is the shop…. again or this computer since it's eight years old or my collection of figurines and books. Though she is welcome to my future student loans should I ever have to go that desperate.
OH and before I forget again
/this is thought-to-thought speech/
'this is personal thought speech as in when someone is thinking to themselves'
"And this of course is usual speech"
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Chapter 1: The First Steps
The day was extremely warm; the guards were alert, but relaxed. They were guarding against people coming through the palace gates; they were not guarding against people Gating in, that was someone else's job. Despite these safe guards, in a very quiet part of a remote garden in a corner of the palace, a small gate opened. A young woman stepped through, she was a tiny thing, not malnourished but she hadn't seen a good meal in days it looked like. She seemed to be around 13 years old but her eyes had seen more than any normal, well-raised thirteen year old, more even then most street urchins had seen. She had long almost white, blonde hair that was slightly disheveled, like she had not had the time to brush it in the last day or so. Her eyes were a piercing blue, streaked with sliver. In her arms she carried a large cream-colored cat with reddish markings on his face, tail, and legs. The cat's eyes were also an intense blue, but his had a mysterious sparkle. Anyone who had met the resident ambassador from Karse who saw him would know that he was a Firecat, an avatar for the God Vkandis.
The girl turned and looked back through to where a white not-horse, a companion, stood /Venir please make sure that Myke hunts and doesn't pine too much, I don't know how long that this will take. /
/ Of course, Chosen. Be careful not to get caught. / The Companion, Venir, sent a wave of concern with the message.
/ I will dearest, quit trying to baby me! I have been sneaking around for eight years now./
With that the gate closed. / Well Nashir, we're here; lead the way. /
The Firecat jumped gracefully from the girl's arms and started walking towards an open door, one which apparently led into to the palace. The girl followed quietly as he led her through the halls, finally stopping at a door in the foreign diplomatic wing. /He stays here Sacha. Open the door quietly; Altra says that he is asleep in a chair/ Sacha opened the door. As Nashir said he would be, Karal was asleep in an over stuffed chair; in his lap was another Firecat. /It is a pleasure to meet you Sacha I understand that the Sunlord has sent you here to heal Karal's eyes. You must hurry though, his wife, Natoli will be back soon. This will be quite a surprise for the both of them without you being here. /
/Of course. You must be Altra, his guardian and eyes. I will do my best, but this is the first time that I have done something like this on a person. I have only ever healed animals before. /
/ Your best will suffice. /
The girl inclined her head respectfully. She then put her hands over Karal's closed eyes, not quite touching him. She closed her eyes and from her hands a green glow emitted, and spread over the boy's face. Slowly, the faint scars around his eyes faded and disappeared. She flinched when his eyes snapped open a few moments later, but continued. Altra started purring and slowly the boy's eyes closed again. The light began to fade and finally disappeared altogether. When it had completely disappeared the girl opened her eyes, only to loose her balance for a second.
/ Will he remember that moment when he awakes, Altra? /
/ No I will make him forget. Hide! Natoli is coming down the hall. Into the closest now, both of you! /
Sacha and Nashir sprinted to the closet and closed the door just as the main door opened to let in an attractive young woman.
"Karal wake up dear you wanted to go out riding when I got back. Karal what is it dear what is the matter?"
"I…. I.. I can see Natoli. I can see!!"
From their hiding place in the closest Sacha could hear the chair flip over and much laughing and crying. She smiled to herself.
"Altra did you have anything to do with this?"
/ No but Vkandis decided that you had earned it as a reward for all of your hard work to unite the countries, you also did not indulge yourself with self pity, and soon you and I may have to be apart from each other for extended periods of time. So not it is only a reward, but a necessity. /
"What do you mean a necessity? Is something going to happen?"
/I can't say any more. I am sorry Karal, just take it as a gift that it is. /
"You know that I will. Come on, lets go tell Elspeth, Darkwind and…. and well everyone else we know!"
"As you wish my dear," said the ecstatic lady.
Sacha waited five minutes before she tentatively Sent, /Can we leave Altra?/
/ Yes just be careful./
/ Thank-you. /
/ Go. Quickly. /
Sacha and Nashir slowly and quietly found their way back to the garden that they had gated into. Once there Nashir jumped back into Sacha's arms.
/ Ready?/
/ As ready as I ever am for this. So when will you tell me why the energy must come from me? /
// Not for a long while and even longer if you keep persisting with your asking. Now relax and let me in./
With that Sacha closed her eyes and visibly relaxed. As soon as she had done this, a gate appeared, growing just big enough for her to walk through.
On the other side were not the woods that she left Venir in. / Where now? /
/ Just one more, a distant cousin of yours even./
/ Who?/
/Healing Adept Firesong. He to is a descendant from Vanyel./
/ Should I be worried? /
/ No just be cautious of what you say to him. Tell him nothing about your heritage or too much about your powers you will meet later on.. He may guess some of it but you must keep the truth from him. /
/Why though? I don't understand all this. First Venir comes then you say we have to run around and do all these things, not that I mind healing people and all but still. What is the rush? Not to mention that Calin up and left in the middle of the night saying only that his tribe called for him to come and train. /
/ You must find out on your own. Now would you just walk through before you tire yourself too much youngling. /
Sacha stepped through thinking to the cat in her arms, / You're younger than me actually. / The cat just gave her a look as they stepped an ekele, a tree house, on the edge of the "cursed" Pelagir Forest in north Valdemar. Seated on a soft looking couch was the famed Firesong, looking quite stunned. He quickly regained his composure, and started gathering lay lines.
"Calm down Adept, I'm not here to harm you. Please let go of the lines."
Nashir jumped down from Sacha's shoulder. /She's telling the truth /he sent/ you can trust her. She is here to help you, to Heal you. You can either receive this gift, or you can offend your Star-Eyed by trying to strike her down. Whatever happens, she will not be harmed. I will not allow it; now relax./
Firesong looked from the Firecat to Sacha and said, "You have a very protective friend there. Even if I had not met a Firecat before I don't think would want to mess with you."
"He is protective but then he has been a good friend for many long years. My name is Sacha as you may have guessed the Star-Eyed one sent me to heal you."
"Heal me how?" inquired Firesong, "I am well."
"Ahh…but your face," Sacha said, having seen the problem as soon as the two had arrived, "would you be against never having to wear a mask again? The villagers must cringe whenever they see you. Some must even try to provoke you into a fight with them," she knew human nature very well, Firesong could never live a normal life if he had to go everywhere with a mask on. "Also, do you not want to never again have to remember to put one on when you are called to an emergency?" with each sentence Sacha took a step forwards until she was two feet away from the sofa. Firesong, on the other hand, had a look of amazement and hope mingled with surprise and doubt. "Well elder?" Sacha quietly whispered and inclined her head slightly in respect.
"I…. I .. yes I would like to loose these masks. But I have some questions for you first," he was the great healing adept Firesong, and he was not going to be duped by some girl. No matter how enticing her promises.
"That is fine. We will have to wait for the other member of this household anyway."
"Why is that?" inquired Firesong.
"Because while the Star-Eyed wishes to reward you, she knows what a peacock you are, and she said that I should take the image of your face from the memory of someone close to you," she stopped for a moment, "This person does know you from before, right?" at Firesong's nod she continued, "So that you cannot make yourself better looking than you were," Sacha ended with a charmingly innocent smile. "So what else do you want to know?"
"The Gate you came through did not leave the usual side-effects of Gates how did you do it?"
"That you'll have to ask Nashir that, and if he tells you tell me. He hasn't even told me," she said smiling at the cat. "Do you mind I've already healed one person today," she finished gesturing to the couch.
"Not at all. Let me get some drinks. Anything in particular?"
"Just water, thank you," Sacha said easing down onto the couch, "Your couch is very comfortable, which just goes to show that you are the peacock I've heard you are."
"Now, now, that's not true! There are other reasons to have a nice large comfortable couch." Chuckled Firesong.
"Mmm, I see. If I didn't not know better I'd say that you were flirting with me!"
"You are a very funny child." He laughed. "You look Tayledras are you?"
After looking at her cup for a long moment she glanced at him and said, "Yes but let me just say that, that is a very long story with many complicated details."
"We have time before Silverfox returns from his outing." Firesong said sitting back and relaxing.
"Fine but remember I warned you and you must not interrupt," she said looking at him sternly. He nodded and settled in more. Nashir jumped to her lap for support. "There are many things in which I can not tell you but I will tell you what I can. Some children dream that they're some long lost child of royalty, I actually am. You see in Valdamar and many of it's surrounding countries, sometimes if one king or queen is unable to bear children than a secret pact is made. This happened during the reign of Queen Janice, the Valdamar queen. The Rethwellan king could not help conceive children, so they asked Janice and her consort, Malkin, if he would consent to be a body father with the Rethwellan queen. The two countries were allies for a long time, and so of course, they agreed. As a result, they ended up with a half-Valdemariean King. One of whose grandsons was very…free with himself. He liked certain ladies in the town. One of these ladies bore my grandmother.
"What about your mother? You say that Nashir has been your friend and protector for a very long time, what happened to your mother? Firecat's and Companion's alike do not take children at a young age without a very compelling reason."
She gave him a look, reminding him of her request before she continued, "She died giving birth to me and my brothers and sisters."
"Brothers and sisters! What do you mean, Sacha?"
"You see my parents where having trouble having life births, all of their previous children had been still born," she explained, "so they went to a cheap mage to get a tonic to help with this problem. The tonic worked a little too well you see. My mother had seven of us, besides me there are three identical triplet girls and three identical triplet boys. It's a miracle only Mother died during birth. The even stranger part is that I have the power of seven medium gifted people."
"No," Firesong scoffed, "I would have seen it from the start."
"Yes," Sacha said, "you see when I was young Nashir taught me to shield so that my gifts don't show, or only show a little." Seeing that Firesong still looked skeptical she added, "I see you don't believe me." Sacha then stood up, "I'm going to drop my shields, you may want to dim your Mage Sight so you are not blinded." 'He is so confident he it will be nice to see him surprised.'
Firesong could see her visibility relax. "Oww okay I believe you put your shields up!" as Sacha put the shields back up he shook his head some to try to clear out the spots in his eyes, "I'm glad that you didn't come in blazing that bright, I might have attacked prematurely. Your stronger than me doubled."
"I get that a lot, just don't make that mistake again. Nashir always says, "'Remember you are not always right.'"
"I have been trying to tell him that for eight years now, and he still doesn't listen to me," a tall long haired man said as he walked into the elekle, "Hello I'm Silverfox, since you are sitting on the couch I assume that you're welcome here.'
"Hello, I'm Sacha, we've been waiting for you."
"Sacha…doesn't that mean defender, helper of mankind? "Silverfox shrugged, "Why were you waiting for me anyway?"
"Yes it does. We were waiting for you because the Star-Eyed sent me to heal Firesong's face, but so that he can't try to make himself better looking than he was, I'm to use the memories of someone close to him. She knows how much of a peacock he is," Sacha smiled as she explained this to the newcomer, much to Firesong's chagrin, "So what do you say, will you let me into your shields long enough to get a good picture of him from before?"
/ Of course you can dear. You need to be Healed as well though. Why will you not accept help child :
/ I will in the fullness of time but first I have work to do. Now if you will lower your shields or just project an image of Firesong to me /
They both closed their eyes and as she received an image from Silverfox she turned towards Firesong. / Relax let your shields down don't tense up otherwise I might hurt you. Nashir could you try to keep him calm please. /
Nashir who had leapt down and had been watching from a darker corner to see how his charge was handling the situation came out and sent/ As you wish. You are getting better at this child / With that he jumped up into Firesong's lap and started to purr.
Sacha then put her hands over Firesong's bare face as she had done with Karal and again a green light emitted from her hands, growing in intensity until it was almost blinding. The scars started to glow slightly then faded slowly. When the light faded away to nothing Sacha collapsed. Luckily Silverfox was right behind her, and was able to catch her. Barely.
"Well ashka it seems that you are not the only one that does not know their limits" Silverfox chuckled looking down at the unconscious girl.
"It may be a part of all healers," muttered Firesong as he felt his face. "Is it really all gone ashka? Is it?"
"Why don't you go and take a look while I get her more comfortable"
/ We will not be able to stay long she can rest when we get back /
/ Back where Nashir? / asked Silverfox
/ I will wait until Firesong returns before I tell you that /
Silverfox laid Sacha down and made a very exasperated sigh, / just like an avatar, no matter what form your in you always seem to be cryptic :
/ Thank you/ the large cat Sent and started grooming himself.
Firesong then walked back in the door still looking slightly stunned. He shook it off when he saw Sacha draped on the couch and said, "I over heard you mindspeaking what is it that you want to tell us?"
/ First you will see us again but you must act as if it is the first time that you have met us. Second you may be called upon to help her at times. Every now and then she has nightmares concerning her previous life. Do not ask her questions about it she must accept it and ask for help first. /
/ Is that what I Felt when I first walked in? I can tell that she is deeply trouble by something and cannot come to terms with it. /
/ Yes, now don't interrupt again she will not sleep for long. Third, don't ask too much about her Gifts she does not know much about them. I am only allowed to teach her so much at a time and soon she will arrive in Haven. She has been Chosen. She also as a bondbird from a previous passage through the Pelagirs. As well as a kyree that has attached himself to her before I even met her. /
/ It is odd how she has two avatars looking out for her can you tell me more? /
/ Actually it is three with Myke, her bondbird. The Star-Eyed one sometimes guides her through the bird. Other than that no I cannot tell you anything else. Mostly because I do not know. /
/ Can you tell me how you made that Gate? / asked Firesong, / I did not even know it was there until you walked through it. /
/ All I can say is that it is a wild gift of hers that she doesn't even know of yet. I'm not suppose to tell her until she absolutely needs to know. Ahh she is waking up /
"Ohh I hurt. How long have I been out? Did it work?"
"You probably hurt because you are having a reaction headache. Less than a candlemark, and yes it worked extremely well. Thank you." Firesong smiled down at her.
"Yes thank you," agreed Silverfox stroking his lover's hair. "His new look should be a surprise to those that see him"
"Speaking of which someone is coming down the path. Nashir has told me that he has told you that the next time we meet to act as if we have never met. If anyone asks how you were Healed just say that the Star-Eyed One sent someone. Which she did of course. I will see you soon I hope."
With that Nashir jumped up into her arms, she then turned, a Gate appeared as it had done before and she stepped through.
"Who do you think is coming ashke?" muttered Silverfox nuzzling Firesong's ear.
"I believe that it is my father. It will be a surprise to whoever it is." Firesong whispered back."
And on queue his father did walk in. "Son, have you felt any fluctuations in near by lay lines? asked Starfall, closing the door. Then as he turned he saw his son's face for the first time. "How… how… how did this happen."
"Apparently the Star-Eyed One decided that I deserved a gift for something or other. I was told not to say more."
"We must celebrate" Said Starfall as he turned to leave. Before he had cleared the door he over heard Silverfox say, "I guess that our private celebration must wait then. Let's get you dressed up or do you remember how?" he finished coyly.
"Oh I think I remember, I just might need some help to undress later."
"I might be able to help with that."
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A/N: So for those that read the original sorry if you're confused or anything. I just figured that there was a little too much about Sacha in the first chapter for there to be anything new later. Most of what you read before will be there but other things I've come up with as well.