Alright, this is my first attempt at a Keisha'ra fanfic. I love the series and am saddened at the ending it left with. So this is my continuation of where Wyvernhail left off. So, I really hope you enjoy. Please review! I do not own the Keisha'ra, just a few noncanon characters.
Sive Shardae
A position I never wanted. Tuuli Thea, the hawk queen to the avians. My neice, the title seems so odd, considering Oliza is my senior, has run off with her she-wolf mate. The wyvern left me and her cousin, Salem, the Diente to the serpiente, holding together a society on the brink of returning to violent war. I don't understand her reasoning any more than the people of Wyvern's Court do. However, I must retain my avian reserve and be strong. Danica, my much elder sister, has retained the position of Tuuli Thea thus far, for which I am grateful for. A Tuuli Thea doesn't rule without an alistair, and after Prentice's attempted assassination of Salem Cobriana, I am left with a bleak future making a choice of a new pair bond.
"Shardae?" A voice from behind me calls. I shake my head, denying the unspoken query to follow me. I was staying in the Court, I didn't need a shadow. I found myself wandering the serpiente side of town. It was relatively festive. Hai had just revived Salem from a coma no one thought he would recover from. The sight of a hawk wandering their side of town made many nervous. I ducked into an alley way between a shop and a home, leaning in the shadows. Here I let my reserve drop. I allowed myself to feel the terror of responsibility. I mourned the loss of my pair bond.
I jumped as a pair of slender, yet muscular arms went around my waist. Despite being raised with serpiente culture in mind, this act was a little more than casual and I found myself blushing. Instead of pulling away from the cool arms, I leaned back into this mystery male. A serpent would not think less of me for my unseemly display of emotions. When I had cried myself out, I heard a simple, soft whisper in my ear.
"Whenever you need me, I'll be here." The cool arms were gone in an instant and by the time I returned myself to enough composure to turn around, the serpent was long gone. I shook my head. How he would know when I was here? I moved easily from the alley and back into the streets.
"Shardae!" a voice called and I turned in time to see several of the Royal Flight landing in their demi forms. "We've been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been?" Andreios, the leader of the Royal Flight. I turned from them.
"I was out for a walk in my home." I responded tartly. I continued walking, tailed by the guards. Serpents glared at the avians and ducked out of their way. I sighed and looked back at them.
"The Tuuli Thea wishes to speak to you." I felt myself nod as I shifted to my golden falcon's form. Letting out a hawk's cry as my powerful wings took me to the Rookery. After finding my feet, I made my way easily through the twisting halls to the main library where most meetings were held. My sister stood near a window and her pair bond, the previous serpiente Diente, Zane Cobriana, was at her side. I announced my presence and saw her jump startled. Salem and Rosalind waited in a corner of the room, speaking lightly to Salem's other cousin, Hai. I nodded in greeting to the trio before turning back to Danica.
"I was informed that you needed to speak to me, Shardae." I said respectfully. Danica sighed, obviously uncomfortable with the formality between family. She spent far too much time with the serpiente.
"Yes, Sive." I, myself, was not unused to both avian formality and serpent casualness, and did not betray any reaction. She smiled softly. "I cannot be Tuuli Thea forever. I don't wish to rush you, Sive, but you cannot take the position from me without an alistair. Not too soon, as I said, I don't wish to rush you. However, I feel it would make our people more comfortable for you to chose an alistair sooner rather than later." I balked. What my sister was saying was the very thing I was just dreading. I simply nodded, allowing no emotion to display. Danica looked between Sive and I. "The next thing I called you both here to discuss is how our lands will be ruled. The serpiente must be ruled by the Cobriana and the avians must be rules by the Shardae, but if you return to your respective lands, then all that we have worked to build with Wyvern's Court will be ruined." She looked at us and we both nodded.
"That being said, I think it would be best for our people if you rule here together." She sighed. "It's never been done to have two ruling families together. However, you two were raised together and I believe that makes all the difference."
Salem opened his mouth to protest. "The serpiente won't take kindly to having their lives ruled by a hawk!" He said, annoyed. Zane sent his nephew a look, which silenced any more of a tirade. "I didn't mean anything against hawks." He backtracked.
"We realize that neither side would like for the other to control it, but that will be what's so new. To blend the cultures, you will have equal power in Wyvern's court. Excepting nest justice, criminals will be held to a standard set for both species by both species. Oliza was such an even blend of both cultures, it was difficult for her to see where each would bend for the other. You two were raised primarily avian or serpent. You do know those limits. We want to begin the end of the segregation." Zane explained. Salem listened intently before he and Rosalind nodded.
"Rosalind and I will debate how best to go about it, with you of course." Salem said. I echoed the response before excusing myself. I flew hard and fast back to my alley, huddled in a corner this time. I was unsure whether I wished for the unknown serpent to find me, but find me he did.
"Crying twice in one day? You betray the fact that you've been raised around serpents." I heard the smooth voice. "Shall I keep you company, Shardae? I ask only that you do not look at me for now." He whispered in my ear. Once more, the near contact made me blush. I tried not to think that this serpent had touched me more in this day than my alistair had in our years together.
"You shall, but serpent, call me Sive." I whisper back. His body, not cool per say, but the temperature of the air around us, pressed against my back. He chuckled lightly.
"Forward for a bird." He chuckled. He shifted slightly. "Would you like to talk about what troubles you then, Sive?" I felt myself smiling softly.
"I know nothing about you, Serpent." I retorted. He chuckled once more before shifting again.
"To spoil the secret this early? I suppose I could tell you something. I am a mamba, born here in Wyvern's Court. I am twenty to your sixteen. Does that suit you enough to speak of your problems, Hawk?" He challenged. I felt myself laughing despite the avian reserve I have been raised to exhibit. "Ahh, you birds are so much lovelier when you do not hide yourselves."
"Danica, my elder sister, is tired of ruling, I suppose. She's making a push for me to decide my new alistair soon. I've just lost Prentice. How can I find someone to know me as he did? Someone who won't retort a call for attention as me 'acting like a dancer'?" I ranted. The words flowed easily from my mouth. "How can they ask a mere sixteen year old to rule a whole culture?" I cried out. A cool hand rubbed my shoulder, not romantically but more than a friendly gesture again.
"It's not fair, little hawk." The mamba said. He continued to rub my back gently. "Responsibility often falls on those who least want it. Just a month ago, you thought the most you had to worry about was being a figure head to the avians. Now you have to deal with ruling them." He said. "It's a lot to make anyone take on so quickly. Salem, despite his self proclaimed hedonistic dancer lifestyle, is still six years your senior. He is far more ready to rule than one young girl like you." I nodded slowly. "I promise that when you are here, with me, you are not heir to the Tuuli Thea, you are just Sive." I leaned back into the cool body, wondering what the avians would do if I announced a serpent as my alistair just as my sister had twenty-one years before. I closed my golden eyes, dreaming of feathers and the open sky.