NEW AN: I'm home FINALLY and now I edited stuff. Let's forget all that mobile madness.
Owls:
thanks to pasy95 for following!
Huh (guest): Why yes, I am going to finish this. Eventually. For now, expect weekly updates. It's a long story.
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Sîrya stood silently outside the Queen's tent, steeling her nerves before stepping inside. The encounter with Silena scared her, and she knew they would have to take a different tactic with this girl. She understood too much; she was too observant now.
She was just like her mother.
Sîrya pushed away those thoughts, locking the confusing feelings away like she always did. The Queen was lounging on her couch, listening to some advisor, but when she saw Sîrya she waved him away.
"Sîrya, darling, how lovely to see you. How is the training? Will the faeyling be joining us soon?"
Sîrya bowed in greeting, before standing erect and nodding. "The faeyling will arrive in four days, my queen. She is almost finished with her sparky training for the year, and she is progressing nicely with her faey training."
"Good, Sîrya. May the moon-"
"Actually, my queen, I was hoping I could ask you something," Sîrya interrupted, and Queen Valaina paused, surprised. Her Nikerym had never interrupted her before. Slowly, she nodded. She would forgive the lapse if it was important.
"My queen, I believe we are making a mistake withholding information from the faeyling. She's growing suspicious of our intentions, and I fear she will refuse to train. I wish to teach her her family lineage, so as to show her that she truly belongs in the clan. Perhaps then she will feel more accepted and be more willing to help us in our time of need." Sîrya fought to keep the pleading tone from her voice. Even if Valaina did not, Sîrya understood that to fight the iron sickness, they would need every bit of help they could get.
"But she does not belong in the clan, Sîrya. She isn't full blooded like the rest of us. She will always be weaker, she won't live as long a life as us and she is more susceptible to being controlled, and most especially, she will always be weakened by love. She doesn't belong in this clan, Sîrya, not now, not ever." Valaina's tone was sharp, and she leaned forward on her couch, staring her most valued advisor in the eyes, challenging her. For a moment, the room was filled with tension, then Valaina leaned back once more, the picture of regal ease. "Besides, Sîrya, the girl is a mistake an old queen made that became useful again."
Sîrya nodded slowly, a boil of emotions churning behind her mask of indifference. She bowed, not trusting herself to say anything, and turned to leave the room.
"Continue as you planned, Sîrya. May the moon guide your path," the Queen called, silently gloating.
"Of course, my queen. I must obey the throne. May the stars guide you home," Sîrya said stonily.
But as she left the tent, her back still straight and her head still high, it was clear to all that though Sîrya had been beaten this time, she was not broken yet.
Three days before the end of their fifth year, the five fifth year girls sat on a bed in their dorm with a parchment and quill and plotted. Lena sat at the foot of the bed and all four others stared at her as she fiddled with the crystal necklace around her neck.
"Alright, I guess I'll get this out of the way then. Lena, why the bloody hell do you want to go back to training with the faey?"
Lena sighed. "They're my blood family, Lils. They aren't perfect, but they aren't what we've always thought they were. And I want to find out who my parents are. They have those answers. No one else does."
"But Lena, if your father isn't faey, then isn't there another person out there who might know? It takes two, you know," Josie said matter of factly, but Lena shook her head, frustrated.
"What if he doesn't know about me? What if he didn't know she was faey? My mother, whoever she was, could have made him think she was human too. My father could've been young and foolish and thought he was just having a fun one night stand or something."
The other girls nodded, seeing her point, and silence fell over the group once more.
"I know you think you have to do this," Mia started, and the other girls turned to look at her. Though quiet from the start, when Miaspoke, she was often right. "But I also think that you shouldn't do this alone. Teach us what Sîrya is teaching you. Helps us to understand that they aren't just creatures that aren't to be trusted. Just talk to us."
Josie and Mary nodded their agreement, and Lily and Lena made eye contact, a silent conversation ensuing. Finally, after a few seconds, Lena nodded.
"I promise I won't shut you out again. I'll do my best to stay in touch as often as I can during the summer and when I get back I'll tell you everything. Deal?"
Lily scribbled it down on the parchment, then passed it around the circle for them all to sign.
"We're all holding each other to it, then. No secrets."
With finality, the girls nodded, then headed down to breakfast.
It was twilight when Tamaran found Sîrya meditating in the forest. The hum of the forest filled his ears, and he softly sat down across from her, waiting for her acknowledgement. It was a few moments before she opened her eyes.
"I heard about the argument," he started, casually pulling out a moonstone and smoothing its edges with bark.
She nodded, lifting her hands from where they were buried in the grass.
"For the first time, I do believe I know what fear tastes like. It's an odd taste, and I do not like it."
"I did not know you could ever know fear, Sîrya. This means we must be in very deep trouble, if even you are worried." Tamaran's brow furrowed with concern. "What are we to do about this, Nikerym?"
Sîrya's fists clenched. "For three hundred and forty two years, I have served the throne. I have outlived three queens, and I have even survived my sister's terrible reign. But this is the first time I have felt close to failure, Tam, and I do not like this. I do not like this at all."
He nodded. "How can we convince Valaina to change, though? She is drunk on power, and we have no way of disobeying her. If you cannot disobey her, and we gisir cannot disobey you, then how can any of us break free of her hold?"
Sîrya met his gaze fiercely. "My vows are to protect the throne, not necessarily the queen upon the throne. The magic that binds me allows me to disobey orders that are not for the good of our people. And if she harms a member of our clan unprovoked, then she will be the threat to the throne, and I may be able to present a challenger."
Tamaran nodded, approving of her plan. "But who? Who would dare to challenge Valaina?"
Sîrya smiled. "The faeyling, of course. If we out her on the throne, then she can save us from the Iron Sickness, just like the prophecy says."
Tamaran cocked his head to the side. "It's a risky plan, Sîrya. But if it's to work... It might be time to tell the girl of the prophecy."
Ok now I can edit this:
Gisir: warrior
Nikerym: the captain
