Standard disclaimers apply. "His Majesty" refers to the King of the Rogue, while "The King" refers to Jonathan. Bitebone is in fact the God of housecats, as seen at www . tamora-pierce . com/gods.htm (take out the spaces)
We all knew it would end someday. Just not so soon.
The Gods had forsaken us. The animals knew it first. My cat Dusty told me that she could no longer feel Queenclaw and Bitebone. She didn't eat that day, or the next. On the third day, she was gone, along with all the other animals in Corus. Lorasu, the woman in charge of us little ones in the Rogue, was overheard telling His Majesty that Stefan, Daine and someone called Onua could no longer feel any kind of link with animals. I was a little bit happy to hear that, because from what I understand, they have the same kind of magic that I do where they can talk to animals, and I was so scared when I couldn't feel anything. It was nice to know that it wasn't just me. If only that had been the least of our problems.
Three ships came in from the south. The people on them were the only living Carthakis left. They told stories of how the animals had all left, and the ones that stayed had gone mad. Crops were failing, no matter how much care was given to them, and people with the Gift were feeling weaker and weaker. A month later, it was worse here. Everyone with the Gift, including the King, had fallen gravely ill. Five hundred people throughout Tortall, all of them Gifted, died the next week. Only three people with the Gift survived in the palace. The King, his Champion, and Master Numair recovered after a long time, but their children...none of them survived. Two months later, a plague had struck, and there were only a thousand people in all of Tortall and the surrounding countries still living. It seemed like such a big number to us kids, but if we had known there used to be ten thousand at the very least...
The Lioness came out today. She tried to reassure us. It couldn't be the end, not so soon. They weren't preparing to give up without a fight. She also said a few other things, but I couldn't hear over the crowd. She had given us Hope. As long as we could fight, we could live. I went to an abandoned house nearby to think about what to do, how to live. I stopped daydreaming when I heard footsteps, and ran to hide in the shadows. It was the Lioness, who apparantly didn't want to be seen. She sat down on the floor and just cried, sobbing so loudly I was scared someone would hear her, crying more tears than I thought was possible.
That was when I knew. It was our time. The Gods hadn't forsaken us. They just couldn't control Her. Uusoae, the Queen of Chaos, had won, and a new Era was beginning. She was getting rid of us, as if we were nothing more than pests.
Ignorance is bliss, supposedly, but I'm not so sure. Would I have been happier if I had been unaware of what was going on? Of why we were all dying? I do know one thing. I was only ten years old, but I was no longer innocent, no longer pure. That 'inner child' adults talk about? Mine was gone. I was forced to grow up in such a short time.
And the moment I knew all this was when the Lioness cried.
Please forgive me if this is TOTALLY un-canonical. I haven't read Trickster's Choice yet, so I don't know anything about that, and I'm just re-reading Emporer Mage for the first time in a while, so I may have forgotten some stuff. I happened to read a line in the book where Alanna told Daine to leave before she started crying (at the scene with Varice's cake). I just suddenly thought...if Alanna of all people just broke down sobbing, what would go through someone's mind? How could they still have hope after seeing her cry like that? And all of this just popped out of my head. I'm in the mood for angst at the moment, so sorry if this is too depressing.