This is my first Lirael fanfiction and I would appreciate if you would review it! J
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"Mummy, what's this?" asked a dark haired five-year-old girl, pointing at her mother's bedstead. "Those are my bells, honey," replied her mother, who had the same dark hair. "Bells?" the little girl asked. "For what?" Her mother smiled knowingly and tousled her daughter's hair. "You'll know that someday, but not today." The child was about to pop another question when a member of the Royal Guard came into the room. "Milady," he said, bowing to the woman. "The King and Queen would like a word with you." The woman, who displayed across her chest that she carried the bells of a necromancer, rushed to the doorway. "You stay here, Sanar." The little girl nodded vigorously. "Me 'n Berel can play," she said, motioning to the guard, who jumped a little at the thought of it. "Milady, I—"
"You are a member of the Royal Guard, aren't you? Then stay with Sanar until I get back." The guard mumbled some obscenity and sat down with the little girl. "Oh goody!" she cried, not even noticing her mother walk away.
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"Lirael," said the Queen, smiling at the corners of her mouth. "I've been wanting a word with you." Lirael was always happy to talk with the Queen, her half-sister, Sabriel. "Sabriel," she nodded curtly. Sabriel's dark hair was tossed about her shoulders. "Perhaps we should discuss this with Touchstone as well."
"What's it about?" asked Lirael curiously. She was only twenty-seven, and the forty-six year old Sabriel was much wiser.
"Sanar's upbringing," she said calmly. "Vara," she said, turning to a female bodyguard. "Will you summon the King?" Vara nodded and walked away. "I suppose we should wait for Touchstone. He'll want some say in this," said Sabriel.
"What do you need to talk about Sanar for?" asked Lirael suspiciously. Sabriel always meant well, but it was a widespread fact that the females of this family were known to be very bossy. "Actually, Ellimere might do well in hearing this, too," mused Sabriel. "Perhaps we should invite Sam and make it a family reunion," muttered Lirael under her breath. Sabriel heard, however, and laughed. "No, we needn't invite Sam. Or Ellimere, really. It can just be you, me, and Touchstone."
At that moment, Touchstone came out of his quarters, still buttoning up his shirt. "Ah, Lirael, you're here. We wanted to talk with you about—"
"Sanar's upbringing, I know," said Lirael, and at the exact same moment Sabriel said, "Sanar's upbringing, she knows." They grinned at each other and Lirael glanced at Touchstone, silently asking him to complete his train of thought. He was taken aback by the seeming telepathy between them so Sabriel continued. "If she is to become the Abhorsen one day, we must do something about it soon. My suggestion is that she go to school in Ancelstierre. Wyverly—"
"I don't want her in Ancelstierre. It's too far removed from everything: magic, family—"
"Dead," said Touchstone dryly. "Look, I don't like the fact of Sanar being separated from you, either, but Ancelstierre is the safest place for her to be, at the moment."
Lirael's golden fingers wrapped around the folds of her surcoat. The coat was decorated with the Stars of the Clayr and the Keys of the Abhorsen: the surcoat of a Remembrancer. Her nephew, Sam, had made the hand for her after…but it was not the time to recall such things as Orannis. He, after all, was in the past. Sanar, however, now lay in the present and future. "What if she's a Clayr?" asked Lirael desperately. She did not want Sanar going into Ancelstierre, where so many bad memories lay…
"She cannot be a Clayr," said Sabriel dismissively. "If she was, there would be no fifty-fourth Abhorsen. The line of the Abhorsens would simply die out, unless her child was an Abhorsen, but the Blood does not often skip generations." Lirael bit her lip. Secretly she knew that Sanar would become the Abhorsen, and that she would never gain the Sight. Lirael might have been a Daughter of the Clayr, however Sightless she was, but Sanar was a Daughter of the Abhorsen. "Very well," choked Lirael. "Sanar will go to Wyverly."