Edited on August 24, 2014. I'm currently working through this story and making slight adjustments to the story in order to fix certain inaccuracies that started popping up later in the story.
I own nothing of the Black Jewels Trilogy or any following novels. All rights go to Anne Bishop. Thanks for reading!
BJT:ANW
Chapter 9
Later that afternoon, the pair of Witches returned to Karla's mansion after another hour of talking over Arina's situation. When they returned, they finished up Arina's last lessons just in time for dinner, where they rejoined rest of the girls and Karla.
"So we'll all go shopping in Hayll tomorrow afternoon," Karla was saying as they walked through the door into the large dining room. The older Queen looked up at the pair as they entered, and smiled in welcome. "I was just telling the girls the plan for tomorrow," she told Jaenelle. She pushed a newspaper in Arina's direction as the younger girl dropped lazily into a chair. Curious, she picked it up.
Hayll News. Simple and direct, easy to understand. Arina smiled slightly. According to Jaenelle, who learned it from Daemon, Hayllians were anything but simple and direct. "What's this for?" she asked Karla, idly flipping through the pages.
"Advertisements," Karla replied tartly. "If you're shopping, then you should think about what you are going to want to get, and see what is available, and if there are any bargains."
"That's brilliant," Arina exclaimed, looking up.
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to look through it after dinner," Jaenelle said, clearly amused. In response, the newspapers were accordingly vanished and attention was turned to the food being placed in front of them all.
The main subject being discussed around the table as they ate was the letters that had come from everyone's families the day before. Despite the fact that they would be returning to their homes in a few days, the letters had come and filled everyone in on the recent news in the various territories. Arina suspected it was so that the boys didn't have to spend so much time telling them what they missed, if the girls could read about it instead. If so, they were going to be disappointed, because the girls were coming up with more questions based on what they had found out so far.
Arina listened with interest as Lauranna and Astira discussed…something…in a language that she could understand about one in every five words of, if only slightly. It was a beautiful, lyrical tongue, and she was reminded, not for the first time, of the Dea al Mon's resemblance to the Elves of her old world. She wondered in private amusement if there had been a time when the Realms had connected to Earth, and if the Children of the Wood had been seen. She wouldn't be surprised, she concluded. Every time she had seen Chaosti, she had thought of Legolas from the Lord of the Rings. She ducked her head to hide a smile, wondering what reaction they would have if she lent them the trilogy.
"What is so funny?" Astira asked, noticing her interest.
"Just…something. Maybe I'll tell you sometime. You were speaking in your native language? What is it?" She deftly changed the subject, voicing her curiosity.
Lauranna and Astira exchanged glances, then Lauranna spoke. "Yes, that is our language, but," she waved a hand vaguely. "We don't have a name for it, so much. It just is, you understand?"
Arina nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I get that." She paused, and then asked hesitantly, "Can you teach me? It sounds so beautiful, and I've always been good with languages, so I'll pick it up quickly," she added. She smiled wryly. "Maybe it's a Witch trait or something. But I would absolutely love to learn," she said sincerely. It might even be pretty easy, since I could already understand some of it, she thought. Clearly, Tolkien's Elvish was similar to their language, and she had taught herself Elvish. It should be simple to learn a language when she had actual teachers. It seemed strange that the Elvish was so similar to their language, though, when Tolkien had supposedly made up the language on his own, but there you go.
Astira and Lauranna both proved more than thrilled to teach her. "Farostel will be so jealous," Astira noted with a wicked grin. "He'll want to help teach, too. Poor thing," she said, mock sympathetic.
"Do you want to learn Eyrian as well?" Rillian asked, leaning forward while everyone laughed. She guestured to Lillian. "We'd be happy to help as well."
Rather than answering, Arina looked thoughtful, then asked, "How many languages are there here?" She mentally noted both the Dea al Mon and Askavi—or Askavi Terrielle, she corrected herself—as having unique languages. Well, the Eyrians had their own language.
"Well," Alexandra said calmly, putting her fork down and wiping her hands absently on her napkin, "There are those two, then there's the Old Tongue, Scelt, plus, let's see…" she trailed off, tapping her fingers on the table as she counted silently. "Nine, no ten others. If you're good with languages, how many can you speak now, from your old world?" The blonde girl asked curiously.
"English there is the Common language here, so that's one," Arina replied, grinning. "Then Latin, French, Spanish, German, Russian, ASL—American Sign Language—" she clarified the acronym at the looks of confusion on everyone's faces. "Greek, Italian, Japanese, Cherokee, Mandarin, Cantonese, Egyptian and Bantu, plus I taught myself Elvish, a fake language. So in total, that's—" she counted quickly. "Sixteen in total. Damn, that's a lot when I look at it like that."
"Wow," Emerald agreed, looking slightly dazed. The others all looked shocked as well, and Jaenelle raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah," Arina muttered, shaking her head. Then she shrugged. "I was bored one day, so I picked up my Mother's Spanish book. After that, it all just kind of snowballed into my learning as many languages as I could. It was a challenge. On the bright side, it led to my school scholarships, and those probably saved my life." She ignored the winces that the others made at the thought. "Learning languages is fun," she concluded with a small yawn. "So I would love to learn as many of the languages here as I possibly can."
"A fake language?" Jaenelle inquired.
"Yeah, Elvish is from a series that I really like. It's for the Elves, a race that didn't exist on Earth, but Tolkien, the author, invented a whole language for them. As in, a very detailed, actual language. It's kind of amazing."
The girls all stared at her. "Wow," Emerald repeated.
BJT:ANW
The group of girls moved out of the dining room at Karla's urging, and they settled down in one of the drawing rooms, curling up in chairs and on couches to talk. The two adult women left, talking quietly to themselves about some healing brew that they were working on.
Titian laid out her newspaper on the ground in front of her and opened to the ads. "It looks like there are a couple of good clothes stores, she mused, flipping through the pages. "One's even having a sale—bonus."
"Farland Books has a branch," Rose added. "They also sell music spheres, and other things."
The room quieted down as everyone turned their attention to the pages, occasionally mentioning some stores if they looked interesting. Arina looked with interest at the ad for Farland, wondering if they carried Jared's Journal, the book Lucien said was one of his favorites. She flushed slightly, but moved on quickly, hoping no one noticed. She certainly didn't think she needed any clothes, not with everything she bought before she came here plus everything Jaenelle and the other women had given her. Antique shops—and how old would something have to be to be considered an antique by people who lived to be 4000, she wondered—and knickknack shops were noted at the bottom of the last page, but they were the ones that she was most interested in. Calling in a highlighter, she circled each of the ads before turning the page to see what was next.
Houses for sale.
Arina froze, and felt a surge of interest and hope. A house. Somewhere she could live and make her own, not having to rely on Jaenelle's generosity, somewhere just for her. She had not expected this blast of longing, of desire. Oh, yes, she wanted this.
"To bed, girls," Jaenelle's voice said from the doorway. Arina jerked up in surprise, Augustine yelped and fell of the couch from where she had been balanced on the edge, and all the girls made various sounds of surprise. "It's already midnight, and you still have packing to do tomorrow, and finishing up your last lessons. You need sleep."
Arina turned to look at the clock, again surprised to realize that it had been so long. She had thought that it had only been an hour, not three.
"Bed." Jaenelle said firmly when no one had moved. "Now."
At that exact moment, Emerald yawned widely. She blushed hotly, but everyone admitted that they were tired and went away to bed without further complaint.
Reaching her room, Arina slipped into a pair of soft pants and a sweatshirt before crawling into the huge bed. Even in springtime, Glacia nights were very cold, even with the thick quilts on top of the bed. The silver eyed girl called in the blanket that she had taken from Lucien, inhaling deeply. After a hesitation, she also called in the letter that he had sent her, blushing slightly.
Almost despite herself, she had started to soften toward Lucien; there was just something about him that—how did they say it—sang to her.
She flipped the letter open and read the beginning lines for the fifth time, "Dearest Arina." She smiled softly, feeling somewhat silly. His handwriting was amazing, flowing and elegant—if she didn't know better, she would have thought it was a girl's script. She suspected it was because of Prince Saetan, but knowing Jaenelle's husband, it could easily be his father's influence. Whatever it was, she certainly appreciated it. She returned to the letter.
"It's been rather quiet here at the Hall since you have been gone. We're all so used to having Rose around, and there's almost always another one of the girls with her visiting. It's strange, having both her and Mom gone. I know that Dad is starting to get very grumpy, but don't worry about it—he knows and understands that you need her more right now. That doesn't mean he has to like it, and he's been taking it out on us and Uncle Lucivar, when we are on the practice fields. Of course, Uncle Lucivar just beats the crap out of him, so it isn't so bad. It's almost like the time when Mom went over to Shalador Nehele, in Terrielle. Dad isn't allowed in Terrielle, so she went with Uncle Lucivar and Aaron—Aaron because his cousin is the Queen there. The three of them were only in Terrielle for a week, but Dad was tense by the time that they got back. Only, it was worse than now, because Dad and Uncle Lucivar have terrible memories in Terrielle—it's one reason why Dad isn't allowed there anymore—and they treat Terrielle as enemy territory.
I hope that you are finding what you went looking for. And please don't listen to anything my sister tells you. I'm sure most of it is an outright lie, and the rest of it she told wrong anyway. There was this one time…"
Arina stopped reading, leaning back on her pillows and grinning to herself. It was so sweet of him to write the letter. He shared a lot of stories about his past, something that she knew next to nothing about, and reminded her that he really cared about her. She absolutely knew that no guy back on Earth would have even thought about writing a letter. Hell, they wouldn't even have bothered to call, probably.
Arina took one last, long look at the letter before carefully folding and vanishing it. She turned her attention to the newspapers again, determined to finish before one in the morning, if at all possible. Flipping rapidly through the pages, Arina turned to the housing section again, then quickly checked the clock. It said that it was already 12:25; her eyes narrowed slightly as she calculated how long it should take.
She looked over the first page. There were several townhouses available in Hayll's capital, Galidah, she noted. The pictures showed tall, thin buildings closely packed together. Arina shook her head slightly. First of all, she needed more space than it looked like the town-houses contained—particularly if she was right and most of the teens started staying with her a lot—and she didn't want to be living in the middle of a city. She didn't think she could tolerate living among that many people for an extended period of time. So in all, townhouses were out. Digging a sharpie out of one of the bags by the bed, she crossed out townhouse on the first page. That left only two more ads on the first page, both of small, almost cottage sized houses near the city. The same exact qualifications as before disqualified these as well. Arina crossed them out and turned to the next pages. Unfortunately, they only contained townhouses and flats in the capital and other cities, and more small houses scattered around the city areas. She groaned as she crossed them off. It was on the fourth and fifth—and final—pages that she really struck gold.
Older houses out in the country side, and huge sprawling mansions with estates around them were peppered around the pages. Arina studied the offerings hungrily. This was what she needed, and she felt a thrill in looking for her own place.
Some of the houses were very old, and many of the estates were in a state of disrepair, but that would be easy enough to fix, she was sure. But many were large and often beautiful, and she could see potential for so much in them.
Still, she frowned to herself. She had been hoping that one of the houses would stand out to her, would call to her in some way so that she knew that she should look at it. But none of the houses seemed special—they were beautiful, and she could tell that some of them would look amazing with some effort put in, but she didn't know if it was worth it to go and look at them. Then again, it was a bit of a foolish hope, she supposed.
Her eyes quickly scanned the pages again, and she paused. Then she shifted the pages and looked intently at an ad that she had somehow overlooked before, and almost missed again. Even now as she stared at it, there was something around that ad that almost made her turn away and forget about it. She tilted her head to the side in curiosity, and reached carefully for her Jewel, then focused on the ad again with the Red.
There was, she decided after several minutes of careful probing, at least three layers to the odd web woven around the ad. The first one was to divert attention from it, the second to hold the other parts of the web in plays, and the third…the third was something that drew in a certain kind of person, and allowed that person to see through the first enchantment. At least, that was Arina's impression of it, and she could easily have been wrong about it. She wondered what it was about her that drew her in—because she was definitely caught.
The ad was very sparse, to be sure. Starfire Manor, For Sale to Someone Deserving, it read across the top in small print. Then below that were directions on how to get to it, in even smaller print. Those small three lines were the only things in the entire ad. No pictures, nothing else at all. Arina stared at it in shock, unable to believe that there really was nothing else.
After a moment, she climbed out of the bed with a shiver, and padded across the room to the desk on the other wall. Sitting down in the chair, she called in a frame and spider-silk so that she could weave a tangled web. Starfire Manor, or maybe just the ad for it, called to her in some way—and she needed to figure out why.
BJT:ANW
The next morning, Arina opened her eyes at six sharp, despite the late night. Habit from getting up for school every morning and getting up to get out of the house and away from her 'family' even now kept her on an early to rise schedule—besides, while she might grumble in the mornings sometimes, she usually enjoyed them, particularly when she was the only one awake. It was an incredibly peaceful feeling.
The young Witch got quickly out of bed and headed straight into the bathroom to take a shower. She wanted to look as nice and professional as possible, so she took extra time to wash her waist length hair very well. Once she was out, she used Craft to dry and straighten her hair, leaving it loose and flowing down her back. She applied mascara, eye-liner and lipstick quickly before going back into her room to get dressed.
Having never liked the kind of girls who took hours to pick out clothes, it only took a minute or two for her to find a dress. She chose a pure white sheath dress, falling to mid-thigh and clinging to her every curve. With it was a black over gown, made of a silky mesh like material that was woven much like a web, with open spaces everywhere. It tightened around her breasts and hips, but was still loose enough that the sheath was necessary. There were pearls sewn into the hem of the over gown, and held it down. After carefully dressing to make sure that her hair and makeup were not disturbed, Arina returned to the bathroom to put on jewelry.
All of the teens from the Realm had given her something as a welcoming gift, so she had quite a bit to choose from. In the end, a golden belt, set with a beautiful grey stone called earth's moonlight went around her waist—a gift from Farostel. Rose had given her a golden circlet for her head, set with a ruby stone on her forehead, and an anklet from Daemonar completed her ensemble. Moments later Arina rushed out of her rooms barefooted, barely pausing to grab a black bag with the newspaper and a pair of heels.
Knowing that she had to hurry if she wanted to get this done, Arina reached out with the Red to find Karla and Jaenelle as she went in the direction of the breakfast room. She found them in the gardens just as she reached the room.
Thankfully, none of the other girls were awake yet, or at least not in the breakfast room, so Arina quickly grabbed a bunch of muffins and pastries, wrapped all but one and put them in her bag, and left for the gardens after only a few minutes, eating a blueberry muffin.
She reached the garden just as she put the last bite in her mouth, and wove through the paths in the direction of the older Queen's voices. She turned a corner and found both Karla and Jaenelle sitting and talking quietly in a pavilion. Jaenelle looked rather grumpy, but it was pretty early. Arina took a deep, calming breath before moving to join the two.
"Hello, my dear," Karla greeted as Arina climbed the steps. "You're up early today."
Arina shrugged and smiled in response. "Habit," she said lightly. "And hope, I guess. When I was going through the newspaper last night I found the housing section." Arina paused, and Jaenelle and Karla exchanged looks of surprise. That wasn't what they had expected. Arina pressed on. "I want to have my own house—something that I can choose for myself to really represent my new life. So I looked through it."
"It's an understandable desire to have your own place," Jaenelle said slowly. "I myself have my cabin, for instance. But do you really need a house? And in Hayll?"
"Yes, I do need my own house. You've been very kind to me, but I couldn't make myself live off of your hospitality, and I'm fairly sure that I have enough marks to afford my own place, or at least the down payment. Besides, I want one. I can't explain it. And as for it being in Hayll—I think it's the best option. You are living in Dhemlan, and Lucivar is in Askavi, and that only leaves Hayll as a long lived Territory for me to make a home in. You're nice people, but I don't want to be that much in your shadow." Arina smiled wanly. "Besides, this way I'm not moving into any of my friends Territories, so none of them can claim favoritism."
Karla had to laugh. It was a very accurate statement, and she had very good points. "I assume you found something." It wasn't a question.
"Yes. It's called Starfire Manor. And I wove a tangled web last night, and I saw myself going there, and…there was so much joy that I could feel. I have to go, I know it. Please, may I?"
Neither woman was enthusiastic about it. "Alone?" Karla said skeptically. "I really don't think that's the best plan, Arina. You are still very new here, and—"
"I know that," Arina interrupted desperately, "But this is something that I have to do alone, I can feel it. Besides, I'm not exactly defenseless; I did take on Lucivar and held my own for at least ten minutes."
"Your web told you that you have to go alone?" Jaenelle interjected.
"Not in so many words," Arina said reluctantly. "But I couldn't sense anyone else around me, and I could feel that I was alone."
"You are going anyway, no matter what we say, aren't you?" Jaenelle said finally, her voice flat.
Arina met her eyes squarely. "Yes," she said, equally firm. "I'm sorry, but I just have to go."
Jaenelle sighed in defeat, and then gave Arina a sharp look. "Alright then. It's never been wise to ignore a Black Widow's feelings. Here is what is going to happen. You can go, if you contact me when you arrive, and tell me how long it will take you. You will also tell me when you leave. You must be back here by two o'clock at the very latest. If anything—anything at all happens, then you call for help immediately."
Arina nodded quickly. "I can accept that," She said quickly. "Thank you, Jaenelle. Thank you so much." Reverting to a seemingly younger age, Arina leaped to her feet and hugged Karla and Jaenelle before rushing out of the garden in the direction of the landing webs. Behind her, Jaenelle laughed and called after her, "I'll explain to the girls. Have fun!"
Arina almost crashed into Emerald and Augustine as the three of them turned the corner at the same time. The girls all blinked at each other for an instant. Emerald and Augustine were both just noticing the rather formal clothes that Arina was wearing when said girl rushed off with a quick, "I'll talk to you later!" thrown over her shoulder. She felt a little bit guilty about leaving the girls like she was, but she was sure that they would understand after she explained why later that evening.
Moments later she had caught the Red Wind and was rushing south toward Hayll, excitement thrumming through her veins. As she traveled, Arina pulled out muffins and systematically started devouring them. It continually amazed her that she could just eat all day and not gain a pound—if anything she could lose weight!
It took a little over three hours to get from Glacia in the north to Hayll in the far south, but she was also riding a dark Wind and was pushing as hard as she could. Arina suspected that it should have taken her longer, but her desperation to get there quickly pushed her faster. As she neared the landing web closest to the manor, Arina calculated that she would only have less than two hours at the manor before having to leave at about eleven.
She soon reached the landing web, and dropped off. The heat was the first thing to hit her, pressing on all sides without warning, and she glanced around with a gasp of surprise. She was standing in the center of a small clearing, surrounded on all sides by a massive jungle. Humidity hung in the air, and the warmth and heat felt wonderful after the chill of Glacia. She hadn't realized how much she disliked the cold until she was standing in the tropical warmth. Arina sighed blissfully, tilting her head back and closing her eyes as she turned her face to the sun. Around her were the sounds of the wind, the humming of insects, the roar of a waterfall—very close—and in the distance, shrieks of larger animals.
After a few minutes of stillness, Arina pulled herself together and started walking along the path that started at the web. It was a walkway made of a strange white stone, rubbed smooth by age. A little bit ahead of her was a sharp turn in the path, and as she reached it and turned, she stopped dead.
Ahead of her sprawled a huge lawn. The grass was dotted by massive trees, which were in turn surrounded by flowers, or sometimes even covered with vines. The white path meandered through the grass and trees until it reached a large circle drive.
Behind the drive was the Manor itself. It was built of the same white stone as the pathway, on a much larger scale. The pale stones gleamed brightly under the sunlight, almost dazzling in its brilliance. The building was large and sprawling; it distinctly reminded Arina of the Tudor castles in England on Earth. There were several turrets, and huge windows could be seen almost everywhere along the walls.
As beautiful as the building physically appeared, the best part to Arina was the way that it felt—welcoming, and homelike. There was a definite feeling of joy in the air that Arina could have sworn was directed at her. The girl's eyes drifted over the Manor with a wistful smile. Off to the right side she could see a stable, and the room had several flat parts—in one of them she could see what looked like a greenhouse, and at least two other rooftop gardens from where she was standing.
Starting to move across the lawn through the grass, Arina continued to drink in the surroundings. Along the edge of the building was a line of ash trees reaching up to the second floor windows. Around the edges of the Manor she could see a sudden drop off, and realized that the estate was build on the edge of a cliff. A thrill ran through her. There was a river rushing on the left side of the manor next to the jungle edge, the source of the water she had heard earlier. The end of the river plunged off the cliff, and she realized why the river had been so loud—it was right there.
After almost five minutes of slow walking, Arina had finally reached the huge doorway. Nervous now, she knocked almost hesitantly on the door. Realizing that no one would be able to hear the knock over the noise of the waterfall, she gathered her wits and pounded on the door again.
A minute or two passed before Arina faintly heard footsteps. The door glided soundlessly open, and an imperious, elderly woman stood in the entrance.
"Welcome to Starfire Manor," the woman said calmly. "Please, come in." the woman stepped aside to let the girl pass, and closed the door behind her. Arina started slightly as the sound of the waterfall almost entirely cut off. Turning, the woman guided Arina through the large, sunlit entrance hall and into a small parlor, then left her there with the assurance that she would notify "the mistress" of her arrival, and fetch some tea and snacks.
Overwhelmed, Arina barely managed to nod before the woman left the room. Sinking down bonelessly onto a sofa, she looked around the room. In a sharp contrast to the outside of the building and the entrance hall, this room was darker; painted a dark, midnight blue, and the furniture made of dark woods, it had a very soothing effect after the brightness outside. There was still a measure of brightness in the room—a cut crystal vase filled with orchids stood on a little table under a window to the side, throwing sparkles on the wall.
Arina adored the room, and the mansion as a whole. She couldn't imagine living anywhere else after being here, it called to her so strongly.
She turned back to the door at the sound of pattering footsteps in the hall. The door opened again, and Arina, expecting the housekeeper, blinked in surprise at the small, elegant, grandmotherly type woman now standing in front of her.
"Well, it's about time that you got here," the strange woman said chidingly. "I've been waiting for centuries, my dear."
Arina's jaw dropped in outright shock.
"What?"
BJT:ANW
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