"So, it's Midwinter Holidays." Richenda announced. Meryl sighed and glanced up from her book at Richenda who had just flopped down gracelessly beside her.
"What are you planning to do?"
"I don't know Richenda, my family is having a get together and there is no more room at the house so I will be staying here at the Collegium and visiting them all about Midweek. As for the rest of my time? Who knows what I will do with it."
"Oh, that's good. Now I'll have someone to keep me company over the holidays." Richenda said, relief in her voice.
"Don't you have family to visit?" Meryl asked curiously, hoping for some details of Richenda's life before the Collegium.
"Nope, none to speak of. It's at times like this that I envy your huge family." Meryl was silent, she still didn't know the story of Richenda's choosing, and it didn't look like it would become known to her any time soon.
"Trust me if you knew them, you wouldn't be so quick to say that."
"If you say so."
"Hey, why don't you come with me when I go visit them? I'll need someone to keep me sane." Meryl said in a burst of inspiration, eager to help her friend.
"Really? It would be okay with your folks?"
"It's not like they'll care. Aunt Amy is organizing this get together and she thinks I walk on water. Are you sure you want to come? Last chance to back out."
"I'm sure. Thank you Meryl."
"No problem. That's what friends are for, right?"
"Right."
"But in the meantime, what do you want to do? We have weeks of no classes, homework or schedules." Meryl took up the subject of finding something to occupy their time. The Collegium was quite empty and Meryl hardly knew what to do with herself.
"I got it! Let's get our Companion's and go shopping!"
"Richenda, I don't have any money."
"Sure you do, all of us trainees get a little stipend of pocket money, and I took the liberty of picking yours up for you. Catch!" Richenda threw a fair sized purse at Meryl. With one hand she reached up and caught it.
"Nice catch. Weapons work must be paying off." Richenda was referring to Meryl's almost instinctive knack for catching and throwing knives.
"Must be. Thanks for telling me about this. Tell you what, let me finish the last few pages of my book while you go get some food from the kitchen then we can meet up ready to venture into Haven." Suggested Meryl.
"Sounds good, see you then." The two girls bid each other farewell, each eager to stave off the boredom which had descended upon them.
Within the hour, Meryl was seated upon Kylira, with her best friend on her own Companion and heading into Haven for the first time in what seemed forever. They rode through the winding streets, enjoying the relatively warm winter weather. They both knew it wouldn't last. Soon they approached a market in the section of Haven whose residents weren't insanely wealthy or dirt poor like the unfortunates who lived by Exile's Gate, but somewhere in between. Richenda and Meryl heard the market before they saw it. Vendors and merchants cried out their wares, everywhere there was good natured haggling going on. Most everyone seemed to be in a jovial mood.
"Hey, Meryl, look at these knives!" Called Richenda. Meryl walked over. The knives were pretty. She picked one up, excellent balance. If she didn't know this was second hand, she never would have guessed. Pretty and practical. She immediately desired it. Meryl considered buying it, but thought again when she saw the price tag. Meryl moved on.
But Richenda didn't. When Meryl wasn't looking, Richenda bought the knife at half the price the price tag proclaimed it to be. Meryl gave up to easily. Richenda thought. But then again, Richenda was pretty sure Meryl had next to no experience when it came to bartering and haggling over prices. Unlike her. Richenda shuddered and pushed that memory away. Determined to enjoy Midwinter holidays.
While Richenda was buying Meryl that knife, Meryl had found a lovely braided leather bracelet complete with a complicated looking knot as a centerpiece. Meryl knew Richenda would love it, considering her passion for knots and braiding. Meryl glanced down at the lovely intricate Companion hair bracelet Richenda had taught her to make. Where had she learned all this? But if Richenda didn't want to tell her, she wouldn't press the matter. Despite her curiosity. She didn't want to damage their friendship.
Soon the two were mounted on their Companions again. Meryl was relieved that there were hardly any horses here. She was quite proud of the fact that she hadn't flipped out when they passed a horse bearing a harried looking man. Meryl may have gotten over her fear of Companions, and squished down a little of her fear of regular horses, but she was by no means free of her entrapping phobia.
"Ready to head back to the Collegium?" Asked Richenda.
"Yes."
"But first, I got you a pocket pie from the kitchen. That should warm you up." Richenda handed over a wrapped up meat pie.
"Thank you." Meryl broke it in half and gave the other half to Kylira, who loved pocket pies. Richenda did the same with her Companion.
They started on their way towards the Collegium. That sense that Meryl now knew to be her gift of Foresight came on all of a sudden, like her stomach had suddenly dropped down to rest in her feet. She swayed in her saddle but righted herself soon after. The feeling only came when something would happen that could endanger her or her Companions. She took a deep breath and prepared to be hyper-alert. When riding down a nicely paved road, lined with houses of extremely well to do merchants, Richenda suddenly stopped.
"Meryl." Said Richenda in a frightened voice. "Duck."
"What, why would I-" Meryl's confused answer was cut off by the whooshing of an arrow just grazing the side of her cheek.
"Ah!" Yelled Meryl.
"Follow me. Now." Said Richenda fiercely. Her Companion started running, Kylira immediately took off after her. Meryl could only hold on tight and hope she wasn't hit by the whizzing arrows flying around them. They left that road and the barrage of arrows stopped, but their Companions kept on running and didn't stop till they reached the Collegium. In the stables as they got off their Companions, Meryl whirled on Richenda.
"What the hell was that about?" She cried.
"I'm sorry." Said Richenda, for once looking cowed. "I- I didn't notice what street we were on. I thought after all these years he would have forgotten about me." She explained as she leaned against Gjerah's flank. Her Companion snuffled Richenda's short hair.
"That doesn't explain one bloody thing!"
: Calm down chosen. Mindspoke Kylira. Meryl took a deep breath.
"I promise, I'll explain everything. Just promise you won't tell anyone. Even my Companion doesn't know about this. Well she will soon enough." Richenda added sullenly.
"You have a huge secret about why someone wants to kill you, which your Companion doesn't even know about? And you don't want me to tell anyone?" Meryl asked incredulously.
"Please, Gjerah's giving me a tongue lashing as well. You both will find out soon enough. Just- please, stop." Meryl only nodded. Quickly grooming their Companions.
Richenda led Meryl to her room.
The two girls sat on Richenda's bed. Meryl pressed a finger to the small cut on her cheek. It had already stopped bleeding. She glanced in curiosity at Richenda's room. It had the same furniture as her, only Richenda's room looked more lived in. Half-finished bracelets were scattered in an orderly mess. Her books were lined up neatly and in the corner on-top of her desk there lay a small flute.
"I didn't know you played the flute." Said Meryl, for want of anything better to say.
"I don't play so much anymore. Brings back memories."
"Of what?"
"Do you want me to tell you my story or not?" Richenda reached under her mattress and produced a tarnished silver locket. Inside, there was a small painting of a stunning woman with deep green eyes.
"She's beautiful." Breathed Meryl.
"I know." Richenda said with a hint of pride in her voice. "She was my mother."
"That's not hard to believe. What happened to her? How did you get this painting?"
"I'll get to that. Be quiet and listen if you want to know my story at all. Only Gjerah, and now you will actually know the full story."
"I'm honored" Said Meryl sarcastically.
"For starters, I painted that painting from memory as soon as I arrived here at the Collegium."
Meryl gasped.
"You painted this? It looks so life like!"
"Seems like I have a knack for painting. The locket was my mom's. It's the most precious thing I own."
"A knack? Only a knack? If you can paint like that, you don't just have a knack for painting."
"It's beside the point."
"Well then, what is the point?"
"My mom, Ollen was a serving wench at an inn in a village just on the border of Valdemar, near the forest of Sorrows which people say used to be haunted. One day, a merchant was travelling through the area and stopped at the inn where Mom worked. His name was Karlen Clinch and what he wanted, he got. Clinch fancied himself destined for great things, so naturally everything he wanted he should get. Clinch was ruled by his passions. And one of his passions was beautiful women."
"Oh no, I think I see where this is going." Interjected Meryl, no sarcasm this time. Richenda glared at her and Meryl shut up.
"Clinch saw my mom and immediately desired her. Mom was no whore, so when he caught her alone in the stables, taking care of the horses because the regular groom was sick, he raped her. I accidentally saw the scars he left, they weren't pretty. Anyways, Karlen Clinch carried on his merry way, leaving Mom behind, broken and pregnant. Nine months later I was born. Our village was small, and soon it was common knowledge how I was conceived. Did the villagers have any pity for mom? No, they shunned her, called her a whore, a slut. Their scorn carried over to me. The bastard child of the village. I was excluded from the other children's games, always on the verge of our close-knit village. Mom died when I was five and it fell to the village to care for me, the unwanted child.
"I slept at the temple in our village where I would get the mandatory schooling when I turned seven. The priestess there cared for me. When I was eight, the village put me to work. I was the lowest of the low, and I had to do what anyone commanded me to do, or risk getting a beating. At first, their scorn hurt, but after a while, I stopped caring. If they wouldn't see the truth that I was just as worthy of respect and decency that is afforded to true born people, why should it bother me?
"When I was ten I ran away, attached myself to a merchant's caravan heading towards Haven. I was the servant of the merchants, it was the only thing I knew how to be. In return I had shelter, food and an occasional ride in the bed of a wagon. My mind was full of half formed plans. At Haven, I knew it wasn't safe for a young girl to be wandering about by herself, lest what happened to mom happen to me. So I cleaned myself up as best as I could and went looking for work. All I knew was drudgery, so I went all the way to the houses of the well to do merchants to apply for a job in the kitchen there. I was accepted. At first I washed the dishes, day in and day out, after a month, I began to be sent on small errands to the market. Buying foodstuffs. Soon I was the regular runner when it came to buying food. I was always joined by a burly teenage boy who never spoke and helped me to carry the packages. Half a year passed, I didn't even know the name of the man who employed us all. I was soon to find out.
"Imagine my surprise when I found out I was indirectly employed by Karlen Clinch himself, now one of the most well to do merchants in all of Valdemar, my father. Coming to the kitchen one day, Clinch saw me. He came close to me, eyed me like a prize cow.
"You remind me of someone I knew long ago." He said. A leer was splayed on his stubbly face. I shivered.
"After your work is done, I should like you to come visit me in my chambers. Hmm?" Said Karlen Clinch. Warning bells were ringing in my head. I was eleven and was pretty sure what he intended to do to me. But, driven by a perverse need to see the man who had sired me, I obeyed. Sure enough, he tried to take advantage of me. Pressing me against the rough wooden wall, I was frantic for a way out.
"Stop!" I cried. Clinch paused his groping for a moment.
"You can't do this."
"Why not pretty miss? I am master here. I can do as I wish."
"Well you can't do this to me because- I'm your daughter." I said desperately. A thoughtful look came over his face.
"Was your mother by any chance a pretty serving wench with deep green eyes and simply amazing golden hair?"
"Yes." I replied desperately, a faint, but fierce hope igniting within me.
"Ah, I remember, she was a fine one. You're her daughter. So what? Now I can have the pleasure she gave me all over again." He said, shrugging his massive shoulders. Tears streamed down my face. But I couldn't, wouldn't give up. Lunging for the fireplace poker, I intended to stab him with it. Anywhere, I didn't care about the consequences. Anything to get him off me. But instead I knocked a burning log out of the fireplace. The rug immediately caught on fire.
"You fool!" Cried Karlen Clinch. When he was distracted, I tore out the door and through the halls. Intending to escape. Escape I did. The whole top floor was soon a burning inferno. It would have spread, but for a lucky rain which started to fall. Ever increasing in its intensity. Stupidly, I stood there watching. Karlen Clinch came storming out of the house and marched up to me.
"If you ever come anywhere near me, I will kill you. If you even come within spitting distance of my house. I will tell the archers that are part of my private guard to shoot to kill. You hear? Even if you are in the company of the bloody Queen of this kingdom, I will kill you. Understand? I do not forget. Now leave my presence." He told me in an intense voice. I ran into the night. It's been almost four years since that day, I cut my long hair. Made an effort to disguise myself. I thought he had forgotten me. It was stupid, the man remembered one of many women he raped over fourteen years ago! I'm so sorry Meryl that I brought you into danger. This is why we can't tell the guard what happened today. I would have to explain my part in the struggle. And a man as powerful as Karlen Clinch could twist the truth into his favor. Even though I'm now a Herald trainee. There would be severe repercussions. Gjerah just told me to tell Dean Teren about this, but I'm too scared. For now, can we please keep it that all anyone knows is that I lived on the streets by myself after my mom died. I'd like to keep it that way.
"I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore. I'm a bastard and an indirect murderess. I happen to know that three people died in that fire. I'm a horrible person."
Richenda started to cry.
"We have to tell the Dean. Kylira says the same thing." Said Meryl fiercely, but not without kindness. "But maybe, we can keep it between only those who need to know eh?" Richenda nodded.
"Gjerah is says the same thing. Apparently, attempting to kill a Heraldic trainee is a crime punishable by death."
"Really? That's great! I mean, um, now Karlen will be brought to justice!" Meryl exclaimed. Richenda snickered through her tears.
"But wait Meryl, I don't have any proof about what happened all those years ago. That's part of the reason why I never told anyone. Who would believe my word against a man as powerful as Karlen Clinch?"
"Maybe back then, but now, you're a trainee. And- wait, Kylira is telling me something." Meryl reassured, then cocked her head in the position she always put it in when listening to Mindspeech.
"Kylira just said that Heralds will always accept the word of Companions. Gjearh and Kylira will back you up, plus apparently, Heralds can accept memories as proof. No clue how they do that. But it's true. So we can go talk to the Dean?" Meryl reported.
"Yeah. Besides, we kinda have to. Gjerah already said that she told the Queen's own Companion Roland. We both have to meet the Dean after dinner."
"Okay."
There was an awkward silence.
After a while Meryl asked.
"So, what did you after you ran away from Karlen Clinch?"
"I was a beggar for a while, I would play my flute. I used my developing gift of empathy to garner sympathy from passersby."
"Wait. You had the gift of empathy at eleven, for three years received no training for it and it didn't drive you mad?" Asked Meryl incredulously.
"I can only project feelings. Not receive them. Unlike others with empathetic gifts, I can't feel the emotions of others very well. But I can make them feel what I want them to feel. That gift came in handy during my begging days. Only now at the Collegium, did I recognize how I was misusing my gift for all those years. So in answer to your unspoken question Meryl. No, I have not made you feel any emotion that is not your natural reaction to this current situation. It would be very unherald like." Meryl couldn't help it, she let out a small sigh of relief. Richenda smiled.
"For a year I lived off of the money others gave me in pity. Then, at twelve, I got a job working at a tavern. Just like my mom. When I was fourteen, Gjerah came along and chose me. So here I am, a heraldic trainee. It's still hard to believe it's real."
"I know what you mean." Said Meryl with fervently. Richenda was obviously done with feeling sorry for herself and discussing not so great childhoods. That is until, their meeting with the Dean.
"Now, how about we go find some dinner. Listening always makes me hungry." Said Meryl.
"Everything makes you hungry Meryl." Laughed Richenda, drying her tears.
"Too true, Richenda, too true."