Authors Notes: All right hehe here's the
deal. I'm sorry I didn't comment sooner but I kept forgetting, and, well, I'm
lazy. ( As for this story, I've been very, very busy.
I graduated high school and things have been just a bit more than psychotic. I
might be really slow-as if I haven't been already, right?-but I'll try to keep
up with it. As for Devon...she doesn't hate Firesong, just strongly
dislikes him; he's acting just like a snob. I know I wouldn't like him right now.
He's very...certain of himself and she dislikes that. Never fear, she won't
kill him...After all, you'd be surprised what you can live through...(
As for everyone else; please review! I really like to hear that people like my
story (or don't) and when I see reviews I think, "wow
someone is actually reading this! I'll get the next chapter up fast so they'll
do it again!"
* * *
It was to sudden warmth and a gentle rocking sensation that Devon awoke. It was a very
slow process; Arden had really knocked
her out. As she came around, she realized someone must be carrying her. She
fought the darkness that threatened enticingly to suck her back down, focusing
instead on the faint sound she knew must been footsteps. At least, she couldn't
think of anything else the rhythmic crunching might have been. It was a slow,
drawn out sound, as if the person was fairly tall and walking a bit quickly.
Come
on, girl. This is just like one of those
trances Master Don had you go through in Karate! Concentrate and pull out!
Now that she thought about it...it was rather like Master Don's trances. So Companions use the whole mind over matter
technique? And their Chosen had no clue at all, probably because they did not know
any better. After all, a psychiatrist does not let you know when he's going to
try reverse psychology on you. You either know or don't. Well, this just keeps
getting interesting. I'll have to remember that; maybe I can use it myself on
them if I have to...
By
now, she'd succeeded in cracking her eyes open just a bit, but it was better
than nothing. She felt as if there were loony toon
anvils hanging on her lashes, and she was the Coyote, trying to push them
aside. Needless to say she did not exactly savor the feeling. But the more she fought
against those anvils, the easier it was for her to open her eyes, and the
clearer her head became. It was as if she was in quicksand before, and someone
had thrown a rope around her waist and she was slowly but steadily being drawn
out.
It
took a few minutes more of struggling before she was able to blink her eyes
slowly open, and then they wouldn't focus. Devon concentrated on
blinking a few time to get her eyes to focus, when a deep, soft voice startled
her, actually making her jump as she felt the chest she was held against
vibrate.
"You
really should rest. Your Companion just may leave a nice hoof print or two on
my rear, you know." There was a small chuckle as she jumped, during which
she felt his arms tighten slightly. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to startle
you."
Devon blinked several more
times before she was able to raise her head from it's
comfortable perch against his shoulder and make her eyes focus, and when they
finally did she felt a shock run through her entire body at who was carrying
her. It was the boy she had nearly run into! He looked down at her face as she
stared at him, and she noted in a detached sort of way that his eyes were a deeper amber than hers, nearly brown in color.
"That's
quite all right. I just didn't know you were aware I was awake." She
smiled tremulously up at him. Gods, she thought in awe, he really does look an
awful lot like Greg. If it weren't for the eyes--and the fact that Greg was a
little shorter--they could have been twins. "I can walk now; you don't
have to carry me."
The
boy smiled charmingly at her and gently settled her onto her feet, keeping one
hand on her arm and her other on her back lest she lose her balance. She
wavered only for a moment before her karate training kicked in and she caught
her balance. "I'm sure you already know, but I'm Devon Laureate." Devon paused, positive that
this boy would recognize the hint for what it was.
"Oh
yes, it's all over the palace. I'm called Kris." Kris said, removing the
hand behind her back and simply looping her arm through his before setting a
much slower pace than he'd had when he'd been carrying her. She'd been walking
smoothly, but this revelation made her stop dead in her tracks, forcing Kris to
stop as well. He looked at her with a politely inquiring expression on his
handsome face, but said nothing.
"You're
Kris? As in Selanay's twin son, Kris? Brother to
Lyra, named after Herald Kris who died on Ancar's
command?" Devon knew she was close to babbling, but she
couldn't seem to stop herself. Kris blinked at her for a moment before he spoke
his expression sharp, as if looking for a hidden motive.
"Yes,
that would be me." He paused for a moment, as if unsure of whether or not
he should continue. "Not many people know I was named for Herald
Kris." Devon started to get them walking again, but he gently held her
hand on his arm and stood still, ensuring she could not go anywhere. Devon swallowed softly then
steeled herself for a response; she was nowhere near ready to talk about how
she got here, and to tell him how she knew he was named for Herald Kris would
lead into that.
"I
think you underestimate how quickly gossip travels. What I repeated was merely
rumor that has not yet been silenced. When you answered my question with an
affirmative, you simply confirmed rumor to be truth. People assumed that when Selanay named her son Kris, it was after her beloved
friend, as well as trusted Herald." Devon smiled uneasily and
shrugged slightly. Kris hesitated again, as if unsure of whether or not to
believe her. Before Devon could begin to panic, a nudge to the small of
her back sent her stumbling forward, trying to regain her footing. As soon as
she did--which was fairly quickly, even by Kerowny's
standards--she whipped around, already in a fighting stance, before she even
knew what it was that had touched her--and came face-to-face with a very amused
Arden.
"Arden! Didn't anyone tell
you it isn't nice to go around scaring your poor, unsuspecting Chosen?" She put her
hands on her hips and mock-glared at him, all the while sending him a wave of
gratitude through their weak link. She noticed another Companion with him, this
one a mare--which was snorting in a way remarkably like human laughter. As Devon turned to look behind
her, she saw why. A much-disheveled Kris was sprawled on the ground, looking
very much like he'd just been thrown off a horse. She couldn't resist laughing
at the forlorn expression on his face as he stared up at the other Companion.
He looked, for all the world, like someone had just
shoved him naked into a ballroom full of people and locked the doors behind him
to leave him with a suddenly silent, watchful crowd, complete with burning
cheeks and ears.
"Honestly,
Alina, was that really necessary?" Kris asked
mournfully, which made Devon laugh even
harder--and caused Kris to blush even more. He honestly looked as if he were
about to explode.
"I'm
sorry," Devon said, trying to control her laughter. "I know it
really isn't nice to laugh, but the expression on your face..." Still
giggling, Devon offered him a hand to get to his feet. Kris gladly
accepted it, and looked vaguely surprised when she pulled him to his feet with
relative ease.
Kris'
Companion stomped her foot daintily as he brushed himself off, snorting softly.
Devon had no doubt she was
reprimanding him for something. "I know, Alina!
I'm getting there, honestly." Kris muttered, picking a clump of grass from
his hair. "Devon, this is my Companion, Alina.
Alina, this is my new friend, Devon, who I'm sure you've
heard of by now." Devon wasn't sure why, but
she felt a slight pang at the word "friend". Maybe it was the fact
she'd been so terribly close to Greg, but she had the feeling it went deeper
than that.
Suddenly, a girl who had to be at least three inches taller than Devon
came running over, looking impatient. She was tanned, probably from working out in
the sun, but her hair was white, and her eyes an icy blue. Her entire attitude
toward Kris spoke miles. She passed Devon with barely a glance,
standing right in front of Kris. "Kris! I've been looking everywhere for
you! We have court in less than a candlemark and
you're not even close to ready!" She whipped around abruptly to face Devon, who refused to take
a step back even as the girl came right up in her face. "I'm Lyra. I can
take you to your room as Kris gets ready." With that said, she took Devon firmly by the arm and
started off at a rather swift pace that would have left anyone even slightly
out of shape breathless. As it was, Devon was slightly out of
breath herself, still not recovered completely from her injuries, though well
on the way thanks to the Healers. She looked once back over her shoulder to
wave at a startled Kris.
As
soon as they were out of earshot, Lyra rounded on Devon, her eyes narrowed to
slits. "You stay away from my brother. I don't care for dancing in
diplomatic circles when it comes to people like you. I'll be blunt with you; I
don't like you. You walk in the palace as if you own the place and pretend to
be blind and deaf to those around you-until Firesong shows up, and then you go
and hit him, unmasking him in front of people. That's an extremely embarrassing
position to be put in when you've hidden your scars for so long. And poor Talia
on top of it! She had to face down an entire Council of people who are now
doubting her because you did not let on you understood our language! They hold
her at fault for not realizing, because it is her job as Queen's Own to look
for the hidden signals. You hold yourself as if you were the Queen herself, and
then I turn around, and you're making calf-eyes at my brother! I will not mend
his broken heart after you discard him like a broken toy! You will tell us
nothing about yourself, but immediately dive into our political circle and snag
the most prominent member, and I know you're going to wring him out like a
sponge until you have all the information you can possibly get out of him. I
will not have this going on right under my nose, so it stops here and now,
before it has the chance to properly begin."
Devon stood quietly through
all this, throwing up walls to hold herself back, portraying no emotion
whatsoever. Calf eyes, she thought. Honestly. I was not making calf eyes.
She could almost see the girls concern for her brother and the rest of the circle.
She would make a wonderful queen someday--but that day was far off, and she had
much to learn before then. Instead of yelling and screaming and going into the
tantrum that Lyra obviously expected, she faced down he girls angry accusations
with cool, thoughtful words, putting just enough emotion into them to be read
as sincere. "I am not ready to speak of myself yet, and when I do you will
all understand why. As for your brother, I did not know who he was until he
told me only a few moments ago. I see him as a potential friend, and little
else. He reminds me of one of my very best friends' back home, whom I know I
will never see again. I have reasons for my actions, Lyra, which will come to
light when I explain where I am from and such. As for discarding your brother
like a broken toy--that is something I simply would not do. Not to him or any
Herald, or anyone else for that matter. What do you think I am? Some kind of monster? I assure Arden would not have Chosen
me were that the case." She stood impassively, waiting for the axe to
fall.
"I
don't know what you are. You won't
tell us, remember?" Lyra said bitterly, her eyes scalding. Devon smiled faintly, she couldn't pass up a chance like this. She could
feed Lyra the chorus of a song from Legally Blonde quite beautifully--some
words slightly altered, of course--then stalk off to find a room. They were in
a main hallway, pages flowing freely about them, taking care not to jostle
either of the two stopped dead in the middle of their paths.
"I
am everything that I would want to be. I have confidence in its security. I am
a voice kept waiting to be heard. I'll shoot the shot-bang-that you hear 'round
the world." Devon had held arms up as if shooting an arrow right at Lyra's forehead as she said the word bang, making the girl
take a startled step back, and now she closed the distance between them to
whisper in the girls ear as a page skidded to a stop to keep from crashing into
her. "I'm a one girl revolution." Devon smiled sweetly, knowing her eyes were sad as she took a step back
and gently caught the arm of a passing servant. "Excuse me, but could you
take me to Herald Teren so I might find myself a room here?" The page
nodded in shock--everyone in the hallway had either stopped or slowed down
while she sang the chorus softly, and they now watched her as she walked away,
following the page. Devon could feel Lyra's
eyes burning holes in her back as she walked off, ignoring the girl completely.