(A/N: Thank
you all for the wonderful reviews. I'm trying to add in a few more character
flaws *apart from the fact that she
hates her lot and life and is trying to be as rebellious as possible about it*
If you haven't read Tamora Pierce books before, this may be a little confusing,
but try to hang in there. I know it sounds a little strange that everyone knows
about her , but if you aren't home-schooled, then you know that gossip flies
fast. Thanks Again~ Theola Black)
Nadia spent the next couple of hours
fiddling with the new instruments; for once she wasn't in the mood to play.
Tessa, ready to plunge Nadia into the task of finding a husband, eventually
shooed Nadia out of her chambers to go look around. A grumbling Nadia shuffled
out of her room.
* * *
Daine stumbled into hers and
Numair's rooms, exhausted with the effort of magically healing to animals in
one day.
"Daine?" Numair called from his
workroom. When he didn't hear an answer, he strode into the living quarter,
catching Daine as she began to collapse.
"What happened?!" he cried as he
propped her up on a sofa.
"Nothing much, I just healed two
animals, one after another, so I'm a little tried," she said sheepishly.
Numair glared at her, and began to
reprimand, "Why in Mithros's name did you do that! You know it's bad to over
tax your magic. What if you had…"
"Numair," she cut in, " could you
stop lecturing me for five seconds?" she paused, he shut up. "Today while I was
letting a seagull go on the southwestern wall, the gates used by noble families
started to open. I remember Raoul saying that he had a niece coming in from
Willowmeadow, and sure enough the carriage had the Willowmeadow coat of arms on
it. I waited to see what the girl looked like. When she stepped out of the
carriage, I saw her gift shining from her. She was totally covered in silver
light."
Numair leaned back in his chair,
propping his chin on his fist in deep thought. Finally he spoke. "Daine, I
don't think that girl has the gift…"
"Then what did I see? It certainly
wasn't wildmagic!"
"If you'll let me continue?" he
inquired, and it was Daine's turn to be quiet. "Good. Now, remember when I
first told you about you wildmagic?" Daine nodded. "Now, I told you that there
are many different kinds of wild magic, some are even elemental. It
looks like," Numair said with a slow forming smile, "you have spotted someone
with another kind of wild magic."
* * *
Conan of Windy Pass rushed down the
halls of the palace. He had a class on magic that he would be taking with the
squires and pages, and if he didn't hurry he was going to be late. As he turned a corner at top speed, he
crashed right into a small girl with light red hair.
"Watch where you're going!" Nadia
(who was now very frustrated at having lost her way in the castle's many
corridors) yelled at him. Seeing the hurt and embarrassed look on his face she
put a hand over her eyes and rubbed her temples with her thumb and pointer
finger, while taking in a deep breath. "I'm sorry," Nadia whispered softly
while helping him gather up the books he had spilled. "I'm new here, I'm lost,
and my temper has never really been great."
"That's okay," a very red Conan
said, picking up his last book and depositing it in a bag slung over his shoulder.
"I'm Nadia of Willowmeadow, and you
are?" she said, shaking her hand in kind of a circular motion, as to coax him
into giving her a name.
"I'm," suddenly looking at her, he forget
his name. "I'm, uh, late for class," he said, taking off at a run. "Maybe I'll
see you later."
Nadia watched as his bright red hair
swept around the corner and sighed. She could see that it was going to be hard
to make friends around here. After a
few moments she diverted her attention back to finding a way out of the castle.
* * *
Nadia nearly screamed. She had been
looking for an exit to the gardens, or anywhere outside in fact, and the loud
bell chime told her that she had been at it since nearly two o'clock. Nadia leaned against the wall and tilted her
head back to look up at the ceiling. For a few minutes she just stood there, breathing slowly and steadily,
then moved over to look out the window. The Window! In sudden inspiration,
Nadia sized up her small body and the window- she could fit through, and she
would be right in the gardens (a great spot for meditation). Peering up and down the hall to make sure
nobody saw her, Nadia boosted herself onto the window ledge, swung her legs
around to the other side, gave herself a push and—fell six feet to land in
ankle deep mud. As much as she hated to act like a court lady, Nadia pulled her
feet out of the mud and wrinkled up her nose as she looked down on her
seemingly ruined boots she was wearing.
A snigger came from behind a hedge.
"Who's there?" Nadia called out angrily, it certainly hadn't been her day.
A blonde haired, blue-eyed girl in peasant
clothing sauntered out from behind the shrubbery. It was apparent that she was
a gardener, for there was dirt all over her fair colored hands.
"What's a lady like you downing a'
dropping from windows? Did someone who was a' tired of your flirting push you
out?" she taunted in a northern accent.
This was, of course, the straw that
broke the camel's back.
"Well excuse me," sneered Nadia
(note: Nadia usually got along okay with servants before this), "You seem
rather quick to judge. Which is rather astonishing, for someone of such low
class. Shouldn't you being doing some kind of chore?"
The Lady of Willowmeadow then
stalked off about fifty feet, where she collapsed into a heap behind an oak and
buried her face in her hands, crying (though not shamelessly). It was just too
much.
"M' lady?" questioned a voice from
in back of Nadia. She spun around- it was the servant girl. "I'm sorry to be
upsetting you an' all. I meant no harm. Please try to see it my way, m' lady.
Just this past week giggling young women have rained upon the palace. Even
servants get testy. Y' must admit, y' looks just like the rest of the
flirtatious young women."
"I'm sorry for snapping at you,"
Nadia apologized, thinking all the while that she had been doing that a lot in
the past few hours. "Why don't you sit down?"
The servant hesitated. "I'm not sure
if that'd be right, you being nobility and all.."
"Please spare me!" cried Nadia. "If
there's anything I want right now, it's not to be reminded of my status."
The servant smiled as she sunk to
the ground in folded legs. "Well, you seem normal, or abnormal, enough. I'm
Luna," she said.
"I'm Lady Nadia," Nadia replied with
a smile. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to find friends after all….