A/N: Okay, so I know that I messed with Tamora Pierce's timeline in a big way while writing this, completely not taking into account Alanna and George's children, and probably massively messing up with which generation is which, but in the end, I don't think it matters that much, really. The plot stays the same. Ish.
Alanna of Trebond and Olau sat on the wall of Pirate's Swoop, watching the sun set over the water. She sighed, enjoying this quiet moment in her hectic life. She heard someone come out onto the deck, and then her lover, Baron George Cooper of Pirates' Swoop, came to stand behind her.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said.
"Nearly as beautiful as you," he said, sitting down beside her. She smiled at him and he gave her a quick kiss. Then she just leaned against him as they watched the sun sink lower and lower, seeming to go into the ocean. Just as the last bit of the red sun disappeared under the water, the sky flashed a brilliant white. The lovers jumped to their feet, drawing swords. The last time they had seen that, it was because the Divine Realms were opening to let creatures through. They looked around. "Look there!" George said, pointing into the sky. Alanna squinted and saw something slowly falling towards them in a blur of pale silver. They watched it fall, alert for a trap, or a trick, alert for danger of some kind. But as the object fell closer, they saw that it was a person, a very small person, gliding slowly downwards. Finally, the figure landed, awkwardly, falling over.
As it stood, they saw that it was indeed a child, a small girl, maybe three years old. She had dark brown curls falling over her shoulders and down her back, and slightly tan skin. She was wearing a loose dress of palest silver, more like a piece of cloth wrapped around her a couple of times and tied clumsily over her shoulder. The dress fell to her knees, revealing the girl's bare feet. She looked up at them defiantly, pushing her hair out of her eyes. George started. Her eyes were a brilliant, gleaming amber color. Alanna, however, knelt down.
"Who are you?" she asked the child. "Where did you come from?"
The little girl just looked at Alanna for a moment. Then she said. "Kyarri." She said it with the voice of a regular small child, who hadn't quite mastered a language yet. Then, she sat down and began to cry. Hesitantly, Alanna walked over to her and drew the girl, Kyarri, into her arms, talking to her, trying to soothe her. Eventually, the girl cried herself out and fell asleep in Alanna's arms. Alanna looked up at George, who was watching her and the girl.
"What now?" he asked.
Alanna looked down at the child in her arms. "We put her to bed. I'll look after her for tonight. After that…I don't know. I'll figure it out later. What I'm wondering is where did she come from?"
George looked at Alanna for a minute, and then pointed at the sky, deadpan. Alanna grinned a little. "George, I swear, if I didn't have her in my arms, I'd swat you right now. You know what I meant."
"I don't know, lass. Maybe we'll ask Numair, he'd find it fascinating. I'll ride over there first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, we should all go to bed." Alanna nodded and got up, careful not to jostle the sleeping girl, and went inside through the door George held open for her.
The next morning, Alanna woke in George's bed. He himself was gone, but a flower sat on his pillow, where she saw it when she opened her eyes. She smiled to herself as she sat up, sniffing the flower's sweet scent. Then she remembered the girl.
She got out of bed and pulled on her clothes, then went into the small room next door where she had left the girl. She opened the door quietly, in case the girl was still sleeping, and slipped inside. She saw that the girl, Kyarri, she'd said, was not sleeping. Instead, she sat in the open window, on the wide ledge, looking out at the sea, combing her fingers through her hair and singing quietly. Alanna listened, trying to see if she knew the song.
The girl's voice was eerily beautiful, and sang words in a different language, one that Alanna didn't know. The sound sent chills up Alanna's spine. The song trailed off and Kyarri turned around to look pleadingly at Alanna. "Hungry," she said. Alanna laughed. Whatever this girl was, she at least was human enough. The woman walked over to the child, who raised her arms, the universal signal for 'pick me up'. Alanna complied, lifting the child and balancing her on her hip. She was surprised by how light she was. Even though the girl was young and slender, she should weigh more than that. But no, she was well-fed enough, her bones weren't sticking out or anything. Alanna wondered at this as she carried the girl down to the kitchens. The cook looked surprised to see the child, and no wonder.
Alanna didn't know what the girl would eat, so she asked the cook for some fruit, a bit of bread and cheese, and some almond cakes, as well as a mug of tea for herself. In just a couple of minutes, the cook brought a tray to the door with everything Alanna had asked for, and a cup of water. Alanna thanked her, then took the tray to the deck outside, where she took her tea every morning, preferring not to eat breakfast. She sat Kyarri down at the small table with the food in front of her, then Alanna sat in another chair and watched the girl. Kyarri wolfed down the fruit, then the bread and cheese. She stopped when she got to the almond cakes, drizzled with honey, sniffing them curiously. She picked one up and took a careful little bite. She chewed it and swallowed, then took another. "Yum." She said, and Alanna laughed again. By now, she was pretty sure the child was harmless, if not entirely human. Kyarri ate both of her almond cakes, then drank some of her water. When she finished, she started to get down out of her chair. Alanna saw that the girl had honey all over her face and hands. She picked up the child, then got a damp cloth. She wiped the honey off of her face, then grabbed one of the girl's hands, and began to wipe it. Then she stopped.
"Goddess," she breathed. The girl had silver fingernails, like the silver claws of the Immortals. She looked at the girl's other hand, then her feet. All her nails were the same bright silver. She and George must have missed it last night, in the dim light. She looked at the little girl. "What are you?" she asked. Kyarri just looked at her with those golden eyes, puzzled. Alanna shook her head and finished cleaning the girl.
"Down," Kyarri commanded. Alanna placed her gently on the floor. Kyarri walked out of the room, with a kind of grace and coordination that even Alanna, with her limited experience with children, knew was strange for a child her age. Alanna followed. The little girl wandered through the castle, looking at everything with a vague air of curiosity. Alanna followed, as they made their way from room to room. As the child peered over the back of the sofa in the drawing room, Alanna heard voices outside. She looked out the window to see riders, her husband and Numair, clattering into the yard. Alanna held out her hand to Kyarri. The little girl reached up and took it, and they made their way downstairs and outside.
Hours later, Numair, George, and Alanna sat, once again, on the deck, watching Kyarri. The girl sat on a blanket that had been laid out for her, playing with a rag doll that one of the maids brought her. She looked for all the world like a normal little girl, not at all like she'd dropped unexpectedly from the sky, and had eyes and nails like an immortal. Numair ran his fingers through his hair. "I just don't know." He said for the hundredth time. "I just don't understand it."
"It's okay Numair. Maybe Daine will know something." Alanna soothed her friend. "You said she was coming soon, right?"
"Yes, she just had some business to clear up with Tkaa; she'll be here any time now." Numair said distractedly. He was staring off into the distance now, his mind clearly puzzling through the enigma that was Kyarri. Just then, Daine herself came through the doorway. She was a young woman, about seventeen, with smoky brown curls and blue eyes. She came over and sat down in the empty seat next to Numair.
"You said you needed me for something?" she asked. Alanna explained what had happened, starting with the night before and ending with then, including the fingernails and the lightness. "Hmm…" Daine thought about this. Then she looked at Alanna. "Will she come here and let me see her?" she asked.
"Probably," Alanna answered. "She seems to like people. Kyarri." She said. The girl looked at her. Alanna beckoned, and Kyarri came over, cradling her doll in her arms.
"'Lanna?" the little girl said questioningly. Alanna looked at Daine.
"She's trying to say my name." Alanna said, in response to Daine's look. Then to the girl, "This is Daine, Kyarri. Go say hello." The little girl looked at Alanna reproachfully. "Go on." Alanna urged the girl, pushing her slightly towards Daine. The little girl shuffled over to Daine and looked up at her. Daine held her hand out to Kyarri, and Kyarri nodded, letting Daine pick her up. Daine settled the girl on her lap. She inspected the girl's fingernails, then her eyes. She lifted Kyarri gently off her lap, then set her back down, testing her weight. Then, she closed her eyes and sank quickly into meditation, sifting through Kyarri's body with her mind. After a minute, she opened her eyes again. She set the girl on the ground, and she ran off to play with her rag doll again. Daine looked at the others.
"Her bones are hollow, like a bird's. I don't what to make of it."
Numair watched the girl. "She seems perfectly harmless." Just then, Kyarri perked her head up, listening, it looked like. None of the others could hear anything. Then she dropped her doll and got up, running for the stairs. Just before she reached them, a small, silver-grey dragon came out. Kyarri stopped in front of it, chittering excitedly. The dragon replied in whistles and squawks and clicking noises. The four adults watched, fascinated, as the dragon and the girl appeared to converse in a foreign language, completely impossible for any of the others to understand. After a minute, she took the dragon's paw and led her over to the adults, still chattering away. She pointed at them each in turn, and it looked like she was explaining things to the dragon. Then the dragon shook her head, apparently correcting her with a series of whistles.
"Kit?" asked Daine. She was talking to the dragon, Skysong, better known as Kitten or Kit, of whom she was caretaker. The dragon looked at her, and clucked impatiently. "Kit!" she said. The dragon voiced a series of clucks and whistles at her. Daine rolled her eyes, and looked at the others. "She says that she wants to talk to her wind-sister."
"Hm," Numair said.
"What will happen to her?" Alanna asked. "I can't take her. I have my duty to the crown. Neither can George, he doesn't know the first thing about children." She grinned at her man, and he elbowed her. Kit whistled some more at Daine.
"But Kit, who'll look after her?" Daine asked the dragon, and Kit replied. "You're right Kit, I suppose we could do that." She looked at the others. "Kit says that Kyarri should come live with us. I'm home often enough these days, and there's lots of servants who know about that sort of thing." She looked at Numair.
"It's okay with me, I suppose." He looked to Alanna. 'And when we're not home, maybe she could stay here at the Swoop?'
"I have no problem with that," Alanna said. "George?"
"Sounds good to me." His voice still held a trace of that broad, lower city accent.
"Then there it is," said Daine. "We'll take her, and we can look after her."
And so it was settled, the fate of Kyarri, as she showed her rag doll to the young dragon with no clue what lay ahead, and only the foggiest remembrance of what lay behind.
A/N: I swear it gets better. This is just the beginning, some explanations that needed explaining so that everything that happens later makes sense. Some stuff happens in Chapters 2 and 3, but it really takes off in Chapter 4. So please read, review, and stick with it.