The Refugees
Author's Note: I do know that this story could never have happened, but I was just very fond of the main character. Arenne was brave enough and strong enough to flee to the land of an ancestral enemy, and admit that everything she was ever taught was wrong. And I also like Lanai. She's cute.
And if you think that that is unlikely in a twelve year old girl, stuff it.
*
Arenne was cold. She pulled her ragged cloak tighter about her, and hugged the sleeping form of her sister closer to her chest. Arenne wished she, too, could sleep, but she was wise enough to know that giving in to her exhaustion in this snow would be suicide.
It would not have been very hard to make a shelter amongst the copse of pine trees; even someone as unskilled as twelve year old Arenne could do it. But her little sister, Lanai, had told her not to.
And that was where the matter ended. For when five-year-old Lanai instructed her to do something, Arenne obeyed without question. It had been on Lanai's orders that the two had fled Karse the previous month.
Lanai had awoken Arenne shortly after midnight, and told her with an adult seriousness and absolutely no fear, that in two weeks, at the feast of the children, both she and Arenne would be taken away and burnt. There had been no question in Arenne's mind that her little sister had been correct; every year the girl had lived in fear that her secret would be discovered. For Arenne could feel the slimy touches of the priest's minds as they stared at her, and had pulled her own witch powers back in terror as they passed.
And Lanai was different enough already to warrant attention from the priests; instead of the tradition dark hair and eyes, and olive tinged skin that almost all Karsites, including Arenne, shared, Lanai's hair was white, her skin, too, and her eyes were a pale, pale blue like a dawn sky. That is what gave her the name Lanai; in the Karsite tongue, it meant 'snow'.
The snow fell, and Arenne was so cold, and so tired. The last month had been harder than any other in her life. The pair had left their isolated farm that very night, with only the clothes on their back and as much food as they could conveniently carry. Arenne had spared only a fleeting thought for their parents; Lanai was and always had been far more important to her.
The pair had moved at night; a time no one else would brave. Lanai had told them when the demons would strike, and where; where bandits hid their supplies of food, and when to hide from Karsite soldiers. Without Lanai, and her strange precognitive power, Arenne would not have lasted that first night.
With her exhaustion, malnutrition, and the draining effect of the cold, it was hardly surprising that Arenne did something incredibly stupid. She fell asleep.
*
When Arenne awoke, she was warm, and leaning on something far more comfortable than the scratchy pine tree of the previous night. Lanai stirred in her arms, and wriggled free of her sister's grasp with a crow of delight.
Arenne sat up, and watched, bemused, as Lanai danced upon the pristine blanket of untouched snow. "I knew it, I knew it!" she chanted as she skipped around in a circle.
"Knew what?" Arenne asked her.
The girl stopped in front of her sister, solemn blue eyes wide. "This is the one we've been waiting for," She said enigmatically. "He'll help us."
Confused, Arenne turned around, and stared into the amused sapphire eyes of a glisteningly white horse.
:Companion,: It corrected her. :Not a horse, a Companion. And not an 'it' either.: No thought Arenne dazedly. The voice was definitely masculine. :I am Natan,: The Companion told her. :And the little Seeress is right; I have come to help you. I Choose you, Arenne.:
"You - what?" Arenne asked dazedly.
"He Chooses you, 'Renne." Lanai explained patiently. She crept up to her sister and whispered in her ear. "He's a dead person."
:I Choose you,: Natan repeated. :You and I are Bonded now. I will take you to Haven. You will learn to be a Herald. You will help people, and make their lives better.:
"I'm going to come, too." Lanai asserted.
:Of course, little Seeress.: Natan assented. :You are the one who brought my bonded to me. How could I possibly refuse?:
Lanai tapped Natan's nose. "You're silly." She informed him, and placed her arms around his head, kissing him between the eyes. "You're my friend." Natan let out a whuffling laugh, and appearing to take that as an invitation, Lanai climbed onto his broad neck, just in front of the elaborate saddle. "Up!" She instructed, and Natan rose gracefully to his feet. "Get on." She ordered imperiously. "We're going to meet the queen!"
Amused by Lanai's childish assertations and instructions, Arenne tried to pull herself onto the saddle. She managed on the third try.
"Are you a Hellhorse?" She enquired calmly once she was firmly ensconced in the saddle. Lanai leaned back against her.
:Your people call me that.: Natan admitted. :Do you mind?:
"I just fled Karse, in danger of my life." Arenne pointed out. "They were going to burn me and Lanai alive. You saved me from freezing to death, and you are taking me to somewhere safe. I think I like you more."
"Can we go now?" Lanai asked beseechingly. With another whuffling laugh, Natan began to move, taking Arenne and Lanai into a new and different life.
*
Alberich was grooming Kantor. Suddenly the Companion looked up, strangely alert.
:My brother's on his way back.: The stallion informed his Chosen.
Alberich smiled. Until recently, he had not known that Kantor had any family, but then Kantor had let slip the fact that Natan, his much younger brother had gone out to Choose. Kantor still had a 'listening' attitude, so Alberich waited wordlessly.
:Yes, he's at the palace gates now.: Kantor continued. Then - :Ah - I think you should go meet them.:
One of Alberich's dark eyebrows shot up. Normally it was not his job to greet the new Trainees. He observed this to Kantor, but no more information was forthcoming. With a mental groan at the perversity of Companions, Alberich put down the brush and mounted. Kantor was bare back, but this was no problem to the once-Cavalry captain of Karse.
As he neared the main gate into the palace compound, Alberich saw that he was not the only one alerted to the arrival of the new Trainee; Teren, the Dean of the Heraldic colegium, was also riding out to meet them.
Natan came into view, entering and riding up to the two Heralds. Unexpectedly, there were two figures on his back, an older girl who Alberich judged to be the Trainee, and a young girl, presumably her younger sister.
Then he saw the elder one's face, and froze with shock. The girl was Karsite; and in spite of her strange colouring, the young one had the same sharp features and pointed chin. While he was speechless and shocked, Teren spoke.
"Welcome to Haven," he said gently. "What is your name?"
This was directed to the older girl, but she looked dreadfully confused. She glanced down at Natan, and her expression cleared. "Arenne," She said simply.
"And who is this?" Teren asked, smiling at the little girl seated before her.
Again it took a moment to answer before the little girl chirped. "Lanai," Alberich started: the girl had just identified herself with the Karsite word for snow.
"And why have you come with Arenne, Lanai?"
Arenne looked utterly helpless. Acting on his suspicions, Alberich stepped forward and repeated the question in his native Karsite. The girls expression became one of great relief, and she answered in a flood of words that possibly only a native speaker would make sense of.
"I caught some of that, but not much." Teren said, alive with curiosity. "They're Karsite? You'll have to teach them Valdemaran."
"Yes," Alberich replied. "They fled Karse a little over a month ago. The young one, Lanai, has fore-sight; they both would have been burnt except for her vision."
Teren shuddered. He would have asked more, but Lanai spoke up. "We're traitors now, like you, Alberich." Alberich felt a slight chill. He had not identified himself to them, much less told him that he was the Great Traitor. Obviously the girl's Fore Sight was uncannily strong.
Teren spoke slowly in Karsite; like all Heralds, he had learned the language as part of his studies. "We will give you a room that you may share until other accommodations can be made. If you come with me, I will show you."
Lanai stared at him. "He talks funny." She observed critically. "Will you come with us, Mister Traitor?" She enquired of Alberich.
"Lanai!" Arenne scolded, blushing slightly. "You shouldn't call him that!"
"But that's how he thinks of himself," Lanai objected mutinously.
"I'm sorry, sir," Arenne apologized. "She doesn't mean to be rude."
"I know she doesn't," Alberich agreed. "Yes, Lanai, I will come with you. I will have to teach you to speak Valdemaran." Alberich slid from Kantor's back. Once he was on the ground, Lanai stretched out her arms to him in a mute appeal to be lifted to the ground. Arenne watched in amusement as he uncomfortably performed this service for her. Arenne joined them on the ground.
The three Companions moved away; Natan informed her they were returning to their stable, as was he. Then Arenne took Lanai's hand and followed the two Heralds into a new, and wholly unnatural way of life.
Author's Note: I do know that this story could never have happened, but I was just very fond of the main character. Arenne was brave enough and strong enough to flee to the land of an ancestral enemy, and admit that everything she was ever taught was wrong. And I also like Lanai. She's cute.
And if you think that that is unlikely in a twelve year old girl, stuff it.
*
Arenne was cold. She pulled her ragged cloak tighter about her, and hugged the sleeping form of her sister closer to her chest. Arenne wished she, too, could sleep, but she was wise enough to know that giving in to her exhaustion in this snow would be suicide.
It would not have been very hard to make a shelter amongst the copse of pine trees; even someone as unskilled as twelve year old Arenne could do it. But her little sister, Lanai, had told her not to.
And that was where the matter ended. For when five-year-old Lanai instructed her to do something, Arenne obeyed without question. It had been on Lanai's orders that the two had fled Karse the previous month.
Lanai had awoken Arenne shortly after midnight, and told her with an adult seriousness and absolutely no fear, that in two weeks, at the feast of the children, both she and Arenne would be taken away and burnt. There had been no question in Arenne's mind that her little sister had been correct; every year the girl had lived in fear that her secret would be discovered. For Arenne could feel the slimy touches of the priest's minds as they stared at her, and had pulled her own witch powers back in terror as they passed.
And Lanai was different enough already to warrant attention from the priests; instead of the tradition dark hair and eyes, and olive tinged skin that almost all Karsites, including Arenne, shared, Lanai's hair was white, her skin, too, and her eyes were a pale, pale blue like a dawn sky. That is what gave her the name Lanai; in the Karsite tongue, it meant 'snow'.
The snow fell, and Arenne was so cold, and so tired. The last month had been harder than any other in her life. The pair had left their isolated farm that very night, with only the clothes on their back and as much food as they could conveniently carry. Arenne had spared only a fleeting thought for their parents; Lanai was and always had been far more important to her.
The pair had moved at night; a time no one else would brave. Lanai had told them when the demons would strike, and where; where bandits hid their supplies of food, and when to hide from Karsite soldiers. Without Lanai, and her strange precognitive power, Arenne would not have lasted that first night.
With her exhaustion, malnutrition, and the draining effect of the cold, it was hardly surprising that Arenne did something incredibly stupid. She fell asleep.
*
When Arenne awoke, she was warm, and leaning on something far more comfortable than the scratchy pine tree of the previous night. Lanai stirred in her arms, and wriggled free of her sister's grasp with a crow of delight.
Arenne sat up, and watched, bemused, as Lanai danced upon the pristine blanket of untouched snow. "I knew it, I knew it!" she chanted as she skipped around in a circle.
"Knew what?" Arenne asked her.
The girl stopped in front of her sister, solemn blue eyes wide. "This is the one we've been waiting for," She said enigmatically. "He'll help us."
Confused, Arenne turned around, and stared into the amused sapphire eyes of a glisteningly white horse.
:Companion,: It corrected her. :Not a horse, a Companion. And not an 'it' either.: No thought Arenne dazedly. The voice was definitely masculine. :I am Natan,: The Companion told her. :And the little Seeress is right; I have come to help you. I Choose you, Arenne.:
"You - what?" Arenne asked dazedly.
"He Chooses you, 'Renne." Lanai explained patiently. She crept up to her sister and whispered in her ear. "He's a dead person."
:I Choose you,: Natan repeated. :You and I are Bonded now. I will take you to Haven. You will learn to be a Herald. You will help people, and make their lives better.:
"I'm going to come, too." Lanai asserted.
:Of course, little Seeress.: Natan assented. :You are the one who brought my bonded to me. How could I possibly refuse?:
Lanai tapped Natan's nose. "You're silly." She informed him, and placed her arms around his head, kissing him between the eyes. "You're my friend." Natan let out a whuffling laugh, and appearing to take that as an invitation, Lanai climbed onto his broad neck, just in front of the elaborate saddle. "Up!" She instructed, and Natan rose gracefully to his feet. "Get on." She ordered imperiously. "We're going to meet the queen!"
Amused by Lanai's childish assertations and instructions, Arenne tried to pull herself onto the saddle. She managed on the third try.
"Are you a Hellhorse?" She enquired calmly once she was firmly ensconced in the saddle. Lanai leaned back against her.
:Your people call me that.: Natan admitted. :Do you mind?:
"I just fled Karse, in danger of my life." Arenne pointed out. "They were going to burn me and Lanai alive. You saved me from freezing to death, and you are taking me to somewhere safe. I think I like you more."
"Can we go now?" Lanai asked beseechingly. With another whuffling laugh, Natan began to move, taking Arenne and Lanai into a new and different life.
*
Alberich was grooming Kantor. Suddenly the Companion looked up, strangely alert.
:My brother's on his way back.: The stallion informed his Chosen.
Alberich smiled. Until recently, he had not known that Kantor had any family, but then Kantor had let slip the fact that Natan, his much younger brother had gone out to Choose. Kantor still had a 'listening' attitude, so Alberich waited wordlessly.
:Yes, he's at the palace gates now.: Kantor continued. Then - :Ah - I think you should go meet them.:
One of Alberich's dark eyebrows shot up. Normally it was not his job to greet the new Trainees. He observed this to Kantor, but no more information was forthcoming. With a mental groan at the perversity of Companions, Alberich put down the brush and mounted. Kantor was bare back, but this was no problem to the once-Cavalry captain of Karse.
As he neared the main gate into the palace compound, Alberich saw that he was not the only one alerted to the arrival of the new Trainee; Teren, the Dean of the Heraldic colegium, was also riding out to meet them.
Natan came into view, entering and riding up to the two Heralds. Unexpectedly, there were two figures on his back, an older girl who Alberich judged to be the Trainee, and a young girl, presumably her younger sister.
Then he saw the elder one's face, and froze with shock. The girl was Karsite; and in spite of her strange colouring, the young one had the same sharp features and pointed chin. While he was speechless and shocked, Teren spoke.
"Welcome to Haven," he said gently. "What is your name?"
This was directed to the older girl, but she looked dreadfully confused. She glanced down at Natan, and her expression cleared. "Arenne," She said simply.
"And who is this?" Teren asked, smiling at the little girl seated before her.
Again it took a moment to answer before the little girl chirped. "Lanai," Alberich started: the girl had just identified herself with the Karsite word for snow.
"And why have you come with Arenne, Lanai?"
Arenne looked utterly helpless. Acting on his suspicions, Alberich stepped forward and repeated the question in his native Karsite. The girls expression became one of great relief, and she answered in a flood of words that possibly only a native speaker would make sense of.
"I caught some of that, but not much." Teren said, alive with curiosity. "They're Karsite? You'll have to teach them Valdemaran."
"Yes," Alberich replied. "They fled Karse a little over a month ago. The young one, Lanai, has fore-sight; they both would have been burnt except for her vision."
Teren shuddered. He would have asked more, but Lanai spoke up. "We're traitors now, like you, Alberich." Alberich felt a slight chill. He had not identified himself to them, much less told him that he was the Great Traitor. Obviously the girl's Fore Sight was uncannily strong.
Teren spoke slowly in Karsite; like all Heralds, he had learned the language as part of his studies. "We will give you a room that you may share until other accommodations can be made. If you come with me, I will show you."
Lanai stared at him. "He talks funny." She observed critically. "Will you come with us, Mister Traitor?" She enquired of Alberich.
"Lanai!" Arenne scolded, blushing slightly. "You shouldn't call him that!"
"But that's how he thinks of himself," Lanai objected mutinously.
"I'm sorry, sir," Arenne apologized. "She doesn't mean to be rude."
"I know she doesn't," Alberich agreed. "Yes, Lanai, I will come with you. I will have to teach you to speak Valdemaran." Alberich slid from Kantor's back. Once he was on the ground, Lanai stretched out her arms to him in a mute appeal to be lifted to the ground. Arenne watched in amusement as he uncomfortably performed this service for her. Arenne joined them on the ground.
The three Companions moved away; Natan informed her they were returning to their stable, as was he. Then Arenne took Lanai's hand and followed the two Heralds into a new, and wholly unnatural way of life.