A/N: Yeah! A new reviewer! Keep it up people! Remember how lonely the little review button gets...
Part 1 ch 11
It was New Year's Eve at the Academy. The Cat had left a couple of days earlier which allowed Raye to relax a bit.
Jack and the other Animal workers were sleeping, even though they didn't have to work the next morning (another of the motions pushed through by the Vizier). They still took the opportunity to rest throughout their brief holiday. However, about a quarter of an hour before Midnight, Jack awoke drowsily to a gentle tap on his shoulder and his name murmured.
"What do you want?" he asked his redheaded "friend" grumpily
"It's new year in a few minutes." Raye replied in a whisper. She had a candle in one hand, but what he hadn't seen was that it was set into a sort of cupcake.
"What's that?" Jack asked
"Oh, it's for you. A peace offering." She said casually, holding out to him. They'd had a bit of an argument a little while ago, right after Charlane had appeared, which had been another reason why she had been late. Jack had lashed out angrily at her (somewhat out of hurt and somewhat out of jealousy) and she had snapped back. But they both knew that each was the only friend the other felt they could count on. That position on Jack's part however had been jeopardised recently by Liir's appearance in the girl's time schedule and (even more recently) Annette's.
Reaching over, the Donkey blew out the candle, a silent agreement to put the argument behind them and go back to being friends, leaving them in the moonlight shining through the hole in the roof. Raye smiled and sat back against the stall wall, getting herself comfortable.
"So, any New Year's Wishes?" she asked. The Donkey grunted in a definite negative
"Lurlinemas?" she prompted. He shook his head as he replied
"I gave up on wishes a long time ago; you never struck me as the wishing type either."
"I'm not." Raye informed him with a shrug "It's more for fun, and to say what you really want or want to happen with the safety net of the knowledge that it won't happen. So," she finished, "What would you wish for?"
Jack mulled the thought over in his head for a while
"Other than freedom?" he asked, the girl nodded. (That was a given) The Donkey sighed "To see my family again, and to see…to see my…my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend? You've been holding out on me. What her name? What's she like?"
"Her name is Mirisee. I haven't seen her in over a year. We were going to be mates, but then I was sold here. There was a Pigeon friend of hers who relayed messages for us, but he left a few months ago."
"I'm so sorry." Raye breathed "The atrocities going on here, its so…wrong!"
"Hey, you aren't half bad as far as humans go. But hey, you aren't getting off Scot-free, what's you wish?"
Raye seemed to take forever in answering, in fact before she did, the sounds of partially drunken men cheering "Haa-p-py Newyear!" (pronounced like that in those slurred syllables)
"Happy New year." Raye told her companion with a smile.
"You too. Now what's your wish?"
Once again she took a while to mull her thoughts over, but when she finally answered, he was a little perplexed, and more than a little dissatisfied
"To escape." She murmured almost inaudibly, her pale eyes had a faraway look behind her glasses for a little while before she jerked a little and seemed to come back down to earth
"I have something to show you tomorrow, but I'll let you get your rest now." She said as she started to get up, only to swiftly crouch as a bunch of the drunk human workers ploughed in loudly and clumsily. They startled Jack too, and he jerked his head in the direction of his hay pile for her to scoot under. He then positioned himself in front of it and feigned sleep so that when the intoxicated foreman came looked over he just saw a Donkey sleeping in its stall.
"Perhaps you should stay here for the rest of the night." A Horse said after the foreman had gone, craning his neck over the wall of the little stall as the teenager began to get out of the hey pile
"Sorry?" she asked quietly, surprised
"Touching a student, even a scholarship one, isn't allowed--but in their state, who knows what they might do." A Cow said from across the aisle, "You're safe with us."
"Any child of such pa-" an Ox started to say but was cut off as the Cow kicked him "Of such pa...tience!" he recovered, "Of such patience, yes, ought to be encouraged." He finished, though Raye hadn't missed that little slip. However, for the meantime she let it go and laid her head back in the straw. Many of her fellow students would have found it scratchy and uncomfortable, but to her, it was a reminder of home and someone she loved, and who loved her and had protected her in their own way… …
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Liir couldn't remember the last time he'd felt able to talk to his mother so freely. She'd changed so much over the last few months! Or was it that he had changed? It could have been that she finally saw him as worthy enough to be a little more honest with, or maybe he was a little more willing to open up to her after being without her blunt, straight foreword lecturing, or rather (now that he thought about it) attempted guidance. Perhaps a bit of both, or maybe he was just noticing how much she was trying now. Whatever it was, the two of them spent that New Year's Eve in her Tower room with the Monkeys, conversing to each other by the fireplace.
"So Liir, you're having fun at the academy?" she said in a still somewhat awkward attempt to break the ice.
"Yes."
"You also seem to be doing quite well. Your marks haven't been this high since your second year of primary school, though I have to admit I wish you were a little more well-rounded in that area." She said as she stroked Chistery's head gently. The ancient Monkey was sitting in her lap like a small child with his arms around her neck.
"Well, I can't really take the credit for that. A classmate was the one who actually got me to sit down and work on things."
"Yes you mentioned a study partner in your letters, but you didn't say a name." Elphaba remarked as she took a sip from the drink at the little table beside her chair.
"Oh, Rhonaraye." Liir replied as he sipped his own warm beverage. The Green woman froze a moment and then replaced the mug slowly
"Really? Rhonaraye…sounds like you could get Nari out of that."
"I guess you could." Liir shrugged
"You don't remember Nari?" The teenager shook his head, "Your imaginary friend? Good Grief, you only stopped talking to her about 4 or 5 years ago."
"What?" Liir asked, then sputtered, "Y-you…"
"Yes I knew you talked to her when you thought no one was listening in your pre-teen years. I'm not that hopeless I hope." She informed him, smiling a little at his flush, "Don't be embarrassed." She said frankly, though her tone didn't comfort.
"So…" her son said after a few minutes awkward silence, desperately looking for another topic to discuss, "How many Monkeys are flying around now?"
"A little more than 3 dozen the last time I checked." Elphaba told him, "One of the females is going to have another soon though, Chistery's great-grandchild"
"They don't seem to live as long as other Animals." Liir commented
"That's because they are on the cusp between Animal and animal, thanks to your beloved grandfather." She said bitterly, though while Liir noticed the edge in her tone completely, and actually acknowledged it for the first time, he let it go and they continued their conversation with surprising ease.
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Lurlinemas passed without anymore fuss than was normal, though it was on that day that Rhoaraye took the opportunity to show Jack what it was she had been waiting to discuss with him.
"Look at this book." She said, carefully removing a time-worn volume from her bag. It was an ancient, but sturdy book with a brown leather cover that was bound with golden yarn. There was a strange set of runes written on it and some kind of jewel set into it that was surrounded by a circle that resembled the root or bark of some sort of tree. The pages were yellowed with age, but in amazing condition. "I took it from the Library."
"You did what?!" Jack asked incredulously. Raye NEVER broke rules involving the Library, and broke only the ones that prohibited her from talking to, or being friends with him.
"I couldn't help it, it was like, it was like it was calling me or something. I kept dreaming about the shelf I found it on and the back of my head, it was like I could hear these whispers, these-these echoes until I picked this up. I don't think anyone knows it was even in there. I can't find it on the Library book Catalogue." She said quickly, a little surprised at herself.
"What's in it?" the Donkey asked after a minute or two
"I'm not sure. It's in a strange language, the characters look like runes of some kind…" she said as she opened the book to show him. Jack's eyes widened
"I can't read myself, but all the Animals know what magic runes look like."
"Can you read it?"
"Didn't I just say I couldn't? Animals are forbidden to read past a certain level. Besides, its not in Common tongue, that much I can tell."
"I know, but…I can, a little anyway, if I really put my mind to it."
"You can read this?" the Donkey asked incredulously
"Didn't I just say that I could?"
"Alright, alright, what does it say?" Jack pressed, his curiosity eating at him now as he leaned his neck over to get a better look at the words.
"It not in common when you say the words, but I'll try." She cleared her throat, "Ata naetuiem mei-orons ka tumae Grimmerie..." She murmured "This is the mage Grimmerie. Use it well." She translated, a distant look in her eye
"Wait! Raye, the page! Look!" The Donkey exclaimed, bring her attention back to the task at hand. The runes were changing, rearranging themselves, shifting, appearing and disappearing, forming new words and symbols. Again the human read them out in the language first and then translated them in a strangely distant voice, as if it wasn't her saying the words that translated the cryptic into common, but only within her mind this time, since she wasn't sure she had fully understood it this time.She stopped and shook her head, closing the book with a thud. She was breathing deeply and quicker than normal.
"I can't do this." She breathed, more to herself than to her companion
"Do what? What does it say?"
"Never mind." She said abruptly, ending that conversation.
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Winter vacation was over far too soon in the student's opinions as they returned for second term. On the first day back, Liir and Annette found their-dare they say it –their friend outside the Library…with a Donkey.
"Rhonaraye Throular!" Annette trilled "What are you doing with that creature?!" The redhead jerked and leapt to her feet, holding something behind her back.
"What are you two doing here?" she demanded, slipping whatever it was into the bag over her shoulder
"What are you doing with that-that Donkey?" Annette shrilled again, though Liir hadn't missed that little thing with the book and the two met each other's gazes challengingly
"Jack is my friend." Rhonaraye replied coldly "If you can't accept that, too bad for you, but he has been my only friend all year, I'm not about to ditch him for the sake of your image."
"I see." Annette said, an almost thoughtful look crossing her face before she turned back to her prickly friend. "I guess we'll have to manage."
That caught Rhoaraye off guard enough that the blonde managed to skip over and link arms with her, dragging the taller girl off. She looked over her shoulder at Jack, who shrugged and then let her roommate drag her off.
Sorcery class was not the most…relaxing class. Morrible seemed determined to force Raye to perform spells from a piece of paper.
"Say the words!" Morrible commanded
"I can't!" Raye exclaimed. Her previous attempts were evident by the scorch marks on the walls "I'm not good at this kind of magic! Maybe I'm not that powerful."
"Nonsense, give it one more try." The little woman hinted. The girl sighed
"Aviantarae ta-tum a-tum nos-tae a-tum » she muttered, and this time the little globe of light formed and merely danced around the room for a little while before halting in front of her. Morrible straightened with a smug smile on her face.
"You see, you can do it." The Press Secretary said smugly "You shouldn't hold yourself back." Just then the bell rang to go to the next class. Raye slumped in relief, her head going to rest on her arms which were leaning on the table.
"Thank you!" she hissed to herself, jerking when she felt a hand on her shoulder
You alright? Liir 'asked'
"Get out of my head." She muttered.
"Aren't you going to rush to class like you normally do?" he inquired verbally
"Free period." She replied in a grumble
"Really? Us too." Liir said brightly as he and Annette sat down beside her. She then got up and walked out of the room, but they followed her.
"I see, it's an antisocial mood today." Annette said absentmindedly as she practically had to run to keep up with Rhonaraye's long, powerful strides, but nevertheless continued chattering at her "I mean ever since we started planning that dance you've been more moody than ever!"
"I think its Madame Morrible she doesn't care for." Liir said offhandedly. She threw him one of her chilling glares and continued down to the Library. They still followed her.
"Why are you still following me? I'm sure you have other friends that are just dying to bask in your glow!"
Liir shrugged "It's a refreshing change sometimes." At that the tall girl laughed
"Now I have to admit, I never thought I'd hear that from-" she was cut off by a whole gaggle of fans…friends…groupies…what did one call them?
With a roll of her eyes she pushed through the large doors to the library, found her little out-of-the-way corner and cautiously took out her book.
"What do you mean?" she hissed at the Book, opening opening it. She had plenty of time, the free period she had today was the last one of the school day, (which ended at around 3:00) and the library didn't close until around 7:00 or 8:00.
She needed to ensure that she had plenty of time, she could so easily get lost in the pages of this text. They were both terrible, and wonderful; frightening and comforting. How could one book stir such conflicting feelings within such an opinionated individual? She could go on an on within her mind, but concentrated instead on the strange runes…
Reading it was somewhat difficult. She had to move slowly, feeling like she had when she'd attempted to read a 410 pg classical novel when she was 6. She'd possessed a reading level of someone 5 years older than she, but not 11 years-the level that the book had been. Rhoaraye smiled to herself at that memory. One of her guardians, a very wise and intelligent Goat, who had conducted her education until her arrival at the academy (He'd once told her that he had been a professor at a University in the past) hadn't allowed her to give and had assisted her with the words and phrases she didn't understand. Another of her three guardians had made everything seem okay whenever she felt upset or lonely, she missed all of them.
Well she thought to herself, coming back to the present, You aren't a child anymore, and its time you took care of things yourself, so stop grumbling and work at it. So one meaning or language or equation doesn't come to you easily? This is life! It isn't simple, or easy or fair. So get down to it and concentrate!
The girl then proceeded to immerse herself in the runes as she slowly uncovered the mysteries it held.
At around 4-ish, Liir managed to give his 'friends' the slip and made his way to the library, during which he ran into the Donkey, Jack.
"Oh. Hello Jack." He said as he passed by him. The Animal stopped and turned slowly
"You were talkin' to me?" he asked disbelievingly
"Yes, I was. Have you seen Rhonar-" he stopped, that did sound a little too much like the long form of 'Nari', "Have you seen Raye?"
"She's still in the library."
"With that book she tried to hide?" Liir inquired. Jack's eyes narrowed
"You aren't as dumb as you look, or sound, or act for that matter." He said more to himself then the boy, who in the meantime bridled at the comment
"Watch your tongue Donkey!" he blurted out before he could stop himself, regretting it immediately, "I'm sorry. Watching my mouth, its taking some getting used to." The Donkey shrugged and continued his walk.
Liir entered the Library quietly and went over to the corner where he knew he'd find the feisty Red-head.
"Still reading that?" he asked, causing her to startle almost out of her chair. When he managed to catch her at a VERY rare moment of speechlessness he continued quickly,
"Have you made any progress on that?" when she still didn't answer he took out something from his bag and putting another, very ancient-looking book on the table in front of her "Because I can't make heads or tails of the one I found."
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From that day forward, Liir and Rhonaraye spent and increasing amount of time together with those two books, Jack was often present as well, but Annette was not.
Raye found it hard not to be jealous of the boy who could read his with such ease!
"Oh come on!" he exclaimed jokingly when she mentioned it in passing, "I gotta have something! You've got the power, intelligence and 'presence'! Not to mention the strength to be your own person."
"What makes you think I'm my own person? Just because those who influence me aren't the same that influence you?" she inquired
"What's that supposed to mean?" Liir asked, confused and a little concerned now.
"Nothing."
"I know you better than that by now…"
"Who says?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Lets drop this topic now." She said, "Can you read this passage? It's tricky." Liir recognized the diversion on her part, and opened his mouth to protest, but then he caught the look on Jack's face and the Donkey shook his head and chose to let it go. She had been putting up with quite a bit recently, finally having allowed her roommate to slowly 'make her over', more out of a desire to get the pesky social butterfly off her back, though she did look quite attractive actually. She did have another reason that Jack was aware of, recently she had tested out a spell, a small one, and the result had been an improvement in her eyesight, meaning she no longer required glasses. Annette's little makeover provided a good excuse to stop wearing them.
"Liir," Raye asked after a moment's silence, "I think I've found out why this Grimmerie chose you."
"Why?"
"Well, there's more then one kind of magic-user, right? Well, I think you might be an Oracle."
"A what? I am not a fortune teller!"
"No, no you idiot! Those aren't real Oracles! From what I understand of this, an Oracle, a true one that is, is almost as rare as a mage, they can tell the future, but also have some regular skill in Wizardry-or witchcraft-depending on the circumstances of course."
"You think?" Liir asked
"Darling! Oh Liir!" a familiar voice called excitedly as Annette skipped up the hill to under the tree that they were seated under. It was now spring and quite pleasant outside. Before she reached them they slipped their books into their bags.
"The Wizard has sent for us! All of us isn't that exciting?" Annette squealed as she wrapped her arms around Liir in a hug. Morrible was close behind her.
"Yes, my dear, it is. All three of you are to go see the Wizard."
"My Grandfather has sent for us?" Liir asked, "He thinks we're ready?"
"Yes! We're leaving within the next two days and spending another week or so on the road sight-seeing! Isn't it exciting?!" Annette cried. Liir laughed and hugged her tighter, though Morrible noticed that their classmate wasn't as thrilled. She got to her feet quietly and attempted to slip away, except that the Magic "teacher" followed her.
"Aren't you excited to be granted an audience with the Wizard? It is quite an honor." Morrible inquired
"It's just that…" Raye began, a thousand retorts had come to mind immediately but she had controlled her tongue, "It's just that I-I don't think I'm ready." She stammered
"Nonsense." The Press Secretary pooh-poohed before trotting away.
That night Annette was woken up…by her roommate of all things. Normally Rhonaraye was a very quiet sleeper, but not for the last little while. She'd been having some sort of dream repeatedly, but this time she was talking in her sleep.
"Farro…Farro no! Ralima! Dr. Dillamond! Run!" she moaned, tossing and turning, "Not again…no…leave them alone!" she hissed. Finally Annette got out of bed and walked over to the red-head, shaking her in an attempt to wake her up.
"Throular! Throular! WAKE UP!" she cried. Finally the other girl jerked awake with a gasp, drenched in a cold sweat. For a few minutes she was silent, wide-eyed with remembered fear from the nightmare.
"Sorry." She said after a little while, "I didn't mean to wake you."
"What were you dreaming about?"
"Nothing for you to concern yourself with." Raye replied
"Please Raye," Annette said, "I'm your-or at least, I would like to be your friend. You see me and Liir as people, not prizes or ladders. That's why we like you."
"Please don't go sappy on me. It doesn't suit you."
"Alright, don't forget that we're leaving tomorrow."
"How could I?" Raye muttered ruefully.
Okay, time to answer reviews!
Boston Blue: Yeah! A new reviewer! Thank you for leaving a message, I'm glad you like it so far. As to your question-patience
Cohen101: I'll keep the cliffy suggestion in mind. As to what vers its in, well itss upposed ot be musical, but since I haven't actually seen the musical (Wikipedia discriptions and little clips from music vids on Youtube are wonderful) and I have read the book...well you can see where the mixture is coming from.
Crazyhomeschooler: I'm glad you are enjoying it and think you are awsome for reviewing and leaving questions/comments/opinions/concerns. Thank you very much (Cohen too on this) as for your question...patience.