Note: The jean and striped dress outfit that she wears is not as horrible
as it seems. Really. It actually looks quite good. Truly,
Note: I know Tomora says 'you know' 'like' and 'ain't' a lot, but I swear she's not a valley girl or had a country accent. It's all in the tone of voice, but you can't hear it because, well yeah, it's typed, sooo, cope with it.
Author's Note: Wow, long chapter (not that any of them are short). But it's useful, it fills some things that may have appeared to be plot holes to you. There are still more, but all shall be answered eventually. If there are any you are really confused about, ask me in a review and I'll try to put it in the next chapters.
Author's Note: Why do I even bother with 'Author's Note:'s, anyway? So far only three people who aren't personal friends have reviewed.... So, basically, I'm talking to myself, right? Like your going to answer... No body has asked about plot holes I put in there on purpose, or found any I may have over looked. The only constructive criticism I've gotten so far is that the first chapter's confusing. Which is actually a good review, but it was by some one I see about once a week. I would make it less confusing, but I just don't want to. To me, it takes away from the story. I think the reason is because nobody likes to read really long fanfics. I don't, not really, though I do anyway. My solution? Um, no solution. I could try fixing it, chopping up the chapters to make them shorter, make them require less thinking. But what do I do instead? I make the chapter longer by renting that it's too long. I did, however, leave the scene where she brings her horse to Tortall for another chapter, because this one was getting too long. By the way, I may sound bitter, but I'm not. I really don't mind that I don't get that many reviews. I just like to talk and pretend that somebody cares. So if you haven't already stopped reading this Author's Note to read the chapter four, I suggest you do so now. It's right there
\/
__________________________________Chapter 4: Arrival at the Castle_________________________________
. Tomora enjoy the trip to the castle. It was long, but it gave her a lot of time to get to know her new parents. Though she lived with them for about three months, she really didn't see them all that often, until they started to help her study the fighting arts, and then they usually didn't do a whole lot of talking. It was a weeklong journey. She like going through all the towns, listen to any history of it that George or Alanna knew. She learned things about Alanna life that weren't mentioned it the books. And she learned much, much more about George, because truly, he didn't take up a big part of the books, and his past was hardly ever brought up at all.
As they traveled through Corus and up Palace Way, Tom remembered the last time she had been here. Living as a merchant, seamstress apprentice, healer, wrangler, and other assorted jobs. She had never gotten to see the castle. She wanted to meet Jonathan, but she'd been unsure. She didn't know what to say to him, how much to tell him about herself. In the end, of course, she never went. She wasn't used to being unsure or shy about anything. She was very outgoing and demanded much attention. She didn't like the feeling. She eventually lost interest in investigating the castle. Now she was excited, but couldn't stop the butterflies from rummaging around her stomach. She heard her stomach growl, and barely contained her laugh. She managed to make no more of an outward showing of her amusement than a smile.
George looked over at her. "What are you smiling about?" He asked in almost exactly the same way her parents in America did. He inquired because he and Alanna had come to know that, even though she looked quite pretty when she smiled, she rarely did. She hardly ever really laughed either.
"Nothing."
George shrugged.
As they went over a hill, the Palace came into view. Ahead of her was the city gate, carved with thousands of figures and trimmed with gold. Through this gate, Tomora suspected from the books, the Royal King and Queen would be there. She took out the first book of The Song of the Lioness quartet, and compared the palace in the picture to the one that lay before her. They weren't very similar. Alanna drew her horse closer to Tom's and peered at the book.
"Is that that book about me?"
"Yeah, one of them, anyway."
Alanna hesitated, then asked, "May I see it?"
"What? Oh, yeah, of course. Wanna see what else it says?"
Alanna smile in humor a little bit, and gave a word in agreement. She only looked at it for a moment, flipping through the pages, before she handed it back to Tom, saying "Very funny" in a bit of a more hurtful tone than she intended and pulled her horse away from Tomora's.
Tom was baffled by the comment, and pulled her own reins, steering her chestnut stallion to close the gap between Alanna and her. "What's wrong? What'd you read?"
"Nothing. It's blank." Alanna said, suggesting with her voice that Tomora had done it on purpose.
"What?" It took a moment for Tom to understand that she was talking about the book's text. She flipped through it and said. "No it's not. Look."
"I don't see anything."
"Really? I wonder what magic is keeping it from you and why."
Alanna stared a little at her, and said, somewhat quietly, "I didn't consider that."
"Oh, you thought I was trying to trick you? No, I can still read it fine. Hmm. Oh well. I can read it to you some time later, if you want."
"Nah." Alanna answered, though see seemed like she would prefer it if Tom did. Wait, 'nah'? Since when does anyone here say nah? Besides her, of course. Maybe her personality rubbed off again, it did often, to all people. She was like an infection.
Three days later, they were at the castle. There was a get-together in the late afternoon for everyone to meet, though really that was pointless because they'd be spending eight years together. In the morning, the training master meet with all the would-be knights to explain the system and rules, what they would need to provide and what would be provided for them. In her case, though, she's be meeting with the king, too. It was because she was three years older than most.
She walked down the Great Hall, into the throne room. How cliché. She walked the red carpet that must have been twelve feet wide. It had gold stripes, about six inches wide, on each side of the carpet, about four inches from the sides. She was escorted by Alanna, dressed in her golden chain mail with a purple tunic cut to fit her feminine figure over it. Everyone dressed up for the festivities.
Tomora herself was dressed in her version of simply. She had medium blue bell-bottoms on, made off think, sturdy denim. They went down a little low, so over it she had a striped dress. It went to the middle of her thigh, and had tank-top straps. The stripes on it were miss-matched, being different widths and were burgundy, navy blue, forest green, and an off- white. Under that she had a white tank top. She got plenty of weird looks from the guys walking around in tunics that looked to her like short dresses. They were either showing off their hairy legs, or they had hose on, leggings. To say the least, she returned their odd looks. She couldn't blame them for giving her ridiculing looks on her out-fit, though, as she would have gotten them in America too. She had a very unique sense of style. She of course had on her blue-tinted glasses, with matching blue eye shadow, as well. All her hair was back except two sections of bangs, one on each side, staying in place by the rim of the glasses and going down to her jaw. Also, underneath her jeans, tied around her knee, was her sacred rag.
When Tomora and Alanna reached the end of the guard-lined carpet, Tomora's thumbs thrust through her front belt loops, under her dress, they met eyes with King Jonathan. Tom snorted as if something about him was funny.
"This is Kind Jonathan, Tomora." Alanna said very officially, even if it was evident she didn't want to be.
" 'Ello and wud'up t' ye, your highness." Tomora answered, to relieve the feeling of formality.
The black haired man looked completely baffled, but, though dignity, refused to ask her to repeat herself.
"Jon, this is my daughter, the one I told you about." Alanna said, agreeing to Tomora's unspoken wish and speaking casually. Jonathan knew about her because her mother and him spoke many times using magic, mirrors, and fire on the trip to the castle. He knew all about Tomora's adventures and unuasual origin.
"Hello, Baroness Tomora of Pirate's Swoop." Jonathan said, holding a hand out for her to kiss.
Tomora arched an eyebrow over the rim of her glasses and said, "No thank you."
"Tomora-" Alanna started in a voice that gave warning as Jonathan withdrew his hand.
Tom interrupted her, already knowing that Alanna was going to say that that was no way to greet the King. "Uh-uh. No. I don't have to use manners until some one teaches them to me. That's why I'm here, right? So I ain't kissin' anybody's hand, so they better keep them to themselves." She ended with a little shiver, as if of disgust.
As she expected, Alanna sighed. Surprising her, though, the king did to. " Your going to be another one of them, aren't you?" He said, finally dropping the formality. Tomora nodded, though she didn't fully understand what he was talking about. "Alright. So you've decided to take after your mom. That's no surprised, because you obviously have her attitude. Except she had the sense of when it's better to keep your opinions to oneself. Well, most of the time. While you obviously lack this quality."
Jonathan expected Tom to bristle at this. She didn't. Alanna, however, did.
"You misjudge me, your Highness." Tomora said, startled that those formal words came so easily to her mouth. "I know and understand perfectly fine when to keep my thoughts to myself. Actually, I have more sense than most. The difference is simply that I choose not to. Only three times have I ever restrained what comes first to my mind, and that was only 'cause it was an emergency. I'm not going to change myself because things would be less stressful that way."
"She's going to be a hard one to break, Your Highness." the other man said.
"Good luck, haMinch."
"Excuse me!" Tomora said in a very demanding way that caused Alanna to put a hand on her shoulder to silence her. It didn't work. "I *am* still in the room you know. Don't speak as if I'm not!"
Alanna gave the king a sort of pleading look right before Padraig said in a very dangerous voice, "Alright, Tomora, your first etiquette lesson starts now. Don't raise your voice to some one of higher nobility than you."
Tomora looked as if she realized that she should apologize, but just couldn't bring herself to do it. The king decided to move on. He signaled the training master to proceed. Lord Padraig continued with his speech.
"Are you sure you're up to this? Girls are more emotional, they aren't as strong. Training will be very hard on you, and-"
"Oh, do, not, ev'en-start!" Tomora said slowly, each syllable seeming it's own sentence. Alanna thought that she was going to far. She moved forward and strongly grasped Tom's shoulder, pulling her back. Tomora jerked out of her grasp, which wasn't easy. Resisting the urge to rub her soon-to-be-bruised shoulder, Tomora continued full force. "Do not give me that crap. 'Oh, well, your just girl. You're useless for anything but popping out babies. I'm a man. I'm strong and tough and never say what's on my mind or show my feelings! I'm a male and I'm better than you because I can pee standing up!' Uh-uh. No, your not." Tom said, using a voice to imitate the nobleman. She was pretty sure that she saw them all flush. There was a dangerously dead silence.
After a pause, Jonathan said in a friendly voice, "Alright. Your sure about it then."
Tomora calmly nodded her head. To the other's in the room it was amazing how quickly she calmed her apparently fake fury.
"Okay, next are the rules. Now, don't bristle up. You won't be given any special privileges. You'll be treated just like everyone else."
"Then what's there to talk about?"
"Well, there are still rules. You cannot fight with your peers. You will be expected to finish all your work within the given time limits. If you do not, you will be assigned more work as punishment. You are obligated to help any noble who asks for assistance. If they comment that you have not, then you'll be ask a valid explanation as to why from your teachers. You'll attend your training classes in the morning, and scholarly classes in the afternoon. You'll study as a page for four years, and then, if your teacher's think you're ready, you will become a squire and may have a knight ask you to serve him. Do you understand these guidelines?"
"Or her."
"Pardon me?"
"And may have a knight ask you to serve *him or her*."
"Yes, I suppose that's right. Now, there are a few more rules. You cannot bathe in the swimming pond at he same time as the boys, of course. You may not have a man in your room with the door closed. It must be open at all ti-"
"Oh my gods, you are *such* a hypocrite!" Tomora said, amazed on how her one time favorite fictional prince had turned into such a stuffy king. She wasn't sure that hypocrite was exactly the word she was looking for, but she couldn't think of a better word. "'Okay, you're going to be treated like everyone else so here's a list of special rules for you.'"
"I know it may not seem fair, but these rules were set for a reason."
"Yeah, because you wanted the boys to feel better about being boys and not having to bide by those rules. If the boys are uncomfortable with me bathing in the same pool, they can leave."
The king started to say it would be unfair to the boys if all them had to leave because of her, but she wouldn't hear it. "Don't worry, I ain't gonna go bathing in the same pool as the boys. I'll listen to that rule. But what's with the 'no boys in your room with the door shut'? That's crap! The boys can have all the court ladies in their room that they want! You certainly did! Lady Delia, the nut job, and mom here." She jerked her thumb behind her at a very red Alanna, making Jon- uncomfortable, to say the least. Lord haMinch, however, seemed amused.
"It doesn't make any sense. Why can't have males in my room? Not that I'm going to be doing any of *that* in there, mind you. But still..."
King Jonathan sighed. "I'll take the matter up with the council, alright? But until then, bide the rules."
"Yeah, okay. I'm okay with that."
"Now, things may be a little tougher on you- No, no, don't interrupt me, not because your a girl. It's just because your a bit older than most boys when they come here, so you'll be older than the rest of the first years pages."
Tomora hadn't been paying full attention, so wouldn't have interrupted him anyway. She hadn't caught him saying that. But she did catch him saying 'most boys' so corrected him by saying, "a bit older than most boy *or girls*."
"Yes. Any protest with that?"
"Nope. Not at the moment, anyway."
"Thank the Gods. Melianne will escort you to your room and to get your clothes." He said, gesturing to a serving lady behind him.
"Great, thanks Jon." Tom said, and was lead away by Melianne. As Jon rubbed his temples in a way that said he was too old for this and Alanna was apologizing to him for her rude daughter, Tomora called back the them, "Oh, and King-y? Kudos for changing the lessons around, I think having fighting lessons in the morning is much better than in the afternoon, like when Alanna and you were training." She turned back around and Alanna followed at a distance. Once the door had closed and the king was alone in the room with the duke, he said quietly to the closed door, "Glad I meet your approval."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Melianne unlocked Tomora's door. Tom walked into the was-just- cleaned-for-the-first-time-in-a-long-time-so-it-still-smells-dusty room. Of course, it had stone walls, floors, and ceilings, like the entire castle, but that was to be expected. As Tom dumped her load of a weeks worth of a page's uniform, gold tunics and scarlet hose, on her new bed in the center of the room, she scowled at the ten-foot-high ceilings. Not only was it a waste of space, she just didn't like big spaces. They gave her the feeling that she was being watched. She was like an anti-claustrophobic, if there was such a thing. She examined the bed. Made of wood. Simple, *thin* feather mattress that wouldn't do much to soften the hard wood beneath, and a hand quilted, uh, quilt, on top. Well, yeah it was hand quilted. It's not like they had sewing machines around here.
The room was pretty big. It was, like, thirty-feet by fifteen feet. The bed wasn't actually in the center, but it was perpendicular to the center of the thirty-foot wall opposite the door, which was in the corner on the wall. Her lioness mom was already in the room, roughly opposite the bed, digging in Tom's new dresser, unpacking for her. To the right of the bed was a door leading to the fifteen-by-ten foot privy, with a sink, bath tub, and a built in stone bench with a round wooden thing covering up the hole that she was supposed to use as a toilet. Eww. She didn't even *want* to know where that hole lead, though she could imagine.
[Author's note: Diagram of room available if you e-mail me]
Melianne took her absence and left Tom there with her mom. She sighed and walked over to help her unpack her things. her eyes did a quick analysis to make sure everything was there. It was.
"Your father will be here shortly. You going to be okay?"
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, you going o be away from home for awhile..."
For once Tomora didn't interrupt, but her effort was in vain because Alanna couldn't think of anything else to add to the sentence. After realizing this, Tomora said "I'm a big girl now. I don't mind being left all on my lonesome. Remember, I lived here for three years before finding out that I had parents. It's just like camp, or a dorm room, just there's no roommates to bug me."
Alanna shrugged as George came in carrying packages- no, wait, parcels. Was there a difference? Who knew? She could figure it out on a rainy day, right after she found the difference between a book and a tome.
"What's all that? Everything's here already, isn't it?" Tom asked. She would be disappointed with her sense of organization. Not that she was a very organized person, but usually she could look at a pile of junk and know what's there and what's missing.
"You don't think we'd send you to become a knight without making sure you're well outfitted for it, do you?" Alanna asked.
"I wasn't expecting anything... And I would think you'd have given it to me if you *were* going to give me anything."
"No, we decided to wait until now."
"Whatever."
"Don't act too grateful, now. You'll embarrass us." George said sarcastically.
"What should I act grateful for? You haven't given me them yet. And for all I know they could just be garbage. They're wrapped, so I can't see them."
George laughed but Alanna had an indecipherable look upon her face.
"Should we give them to her, then, Dearest Lioness?"
"I'm not so sure now, if she's going to have *that* attitude..." The woman he addressed said. Tom was happy to note that it was in a playful way, not a hurtful one.
"Oh come one- You know I'm just kidding. Don't be insulted..." Tomora said. She *had* been acting some hat rude lately, and she didn't want people that she was always like that. Especially not Alanna or George. Or Jonathan.
The first of the Tom's gifts baffled her. It was a simple clay pot, flat, with cool looking lettering painted along the outside. All in all, it was neat, but she didn't understand why they gave it to her, she had expected a tool to help he with her page training. Upon opening it, she found a few coins. Before she could even say thank you, her mother explained the gift to her. She told Tom that every once in a while, coins would appear in there. At first Tom didn't understand, but then she made out that it was like an allowence. When her parents felt it was due, they would put coins in to a dish that mirrored this one that they had at Pirate's Swoop. Once they closed the lid, the coins would disappear from their jar and appear in Tom's jar. Alanna warned her that it didn't work when Tom's jar's lid was off, and also mentioned that it was best to take the coins from her jar as soon as possible, because it helped the spell work truer. If it was too crowded in the jar, then when new coins try to settle on the bottom, they'd have to overlapp with the coins already there, melding togher or exploding. The jar wasn't made for that. Also, and more realisticly, when they put new coins in the patnerring jar, then closed the lid so the contents of their jar would trade places with Tomora's, Tom would get the new coins, but George and Alanna would get the ones already their. Tom was to check the contents often.
"What happens if I happen to be oppening the jar at the same moment your transferring coins?" Tom asked.
Alanna shrugged. "Then the coins won't teleport, they'll just stay in my jar until your's has you lid on." Tom nodded. This made sense. She took the coins and placed them in her pocket.
George and Alanna gave her another package then. When she opened it she found some of her mother's patent 'Bruise Balm'. Tomora laughed and thanked her. The next was a knife with a black leather hilt that Tomora recognized to be the really high quality raven whatever kind that her mom (at least she was sure it was her mom, but technically it wasn't said so in the book...) gave to Kel. She examined it. Indeed, it was a very fine knife. The hilt was soft and felt as if cushioned underneath to making it more pleasant when holding it tightly for a long period of time, though she couldn't think of a situation where you'd have do that and would actually care about comfort. It also had texture on the hilt to insure a good grasp, even if your hand was a little sweaty. It was like tread on a hiking boot or tire.
Of course, the hilt wasn't the only good part. The blade was nicely balanced and shaped, and looked razor sharp. Actually, razors could be dull, but this knife's edge look like it would have a long life span before it would need sharpening with the whet stone that also came with it.
She enthusiastically thanked them both. She loved it, and realized what it must have cost.
The last (and largest!) of her gifts was a good sturdy looking saddle made of leather and a light wood, accompanied by saddle bags, and a pad and blanket for the horse's comfort. She accepted these completely gratefully.
"And of course, you may choose any of our mare's or stallions for your own. We should've had you choose while we were still home, but we brought the best three with us on the journey here, anyway." Alanna offered.
"Oh, thanks, but no. I'm going to bring one of my horses' from home, if that's all right? You do have great horses, though, I see George hasn't lost his eye for horse flesh."
"Of course that's alright."
After a bit more talking, George left the room. Almost immediately afterward, Melianna made her reappearance. As Melianne took some of Tom's things to have them freshened out; de-wrinkled. The equivalent to throwing something in the drier. It was a good thing, because many of her clothes had gotten mussed in her travel bags.
Suddenly her mom turned to her with a more serious face: they'd been laughing at something a moment ago.
"Tomora? You- Your thirteen now, right" she said, not really a question. She knew Tom's age. " So you've- uh, you've already started getting your cycle, right?"
Tomora would have blushed if she was the type, but she wasn't. "Yeah, of course." She said instead. She felt awkward because Alanna felt awkward. Normally she never would feel so uncomfortable. Actress as she was, though, neither Alanna or Melianne picked up on her feeling.
"Right. So you have a necklace? "
"What? Oh, a pregnancy charm? I don't nee-"
Her mom interrupted her, handing Tom the golden chain that Melianne handed to her. "I know, I know. But you never know when you might change your mind. Just take it." Alanna said hurriedly. She seemed to want to end the conversation as soon as possible. Tom took it and shrugged. She had always pictured it as the [male] O- symbol and the [female] symbol O+ combined, joined at that circle.
She was pleased to see that she wasn't far off. It was combined at the circle, but also on the, uh, stick. O+ It looked like an arrow. She forced her face to stay still, though she wanted to smile at her joke. It couldn't possible look good to her mom and her, uh, servant or whatever, if she smile after receiving such a 'gift'.
The Melianne came to her holding a pair of blunt looking scissors and a brush. Tom shied away from these. "What are you doing?" She asked, somewhat alarmed.
"Relax Tom, she's just going to cut your hair."
Tom grabbed her shoulder long hair. "Don't you dare! I've only cut my hair once in my entire life. I *like* my hair!" She exclaimed, not actually alarmed, just being dramatic.
"You can't expect to last long with hair like that. That's the first thing people'll grab in a fight." Her mom explained calmly.
"Too bad. If they're going to sink to that level, so will I. I'll just kick 'em in the nuts."
Alanna gave her a look.
"Oh, come one, let me keep it. If it's that big of a problem I'll cut it all off, okay?"
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you."
"Deal."
After a little while, right before Alanna was going to go, she looked at and studied Tom. Tomora simply stared back at her worried expression. Why was she so worried about her? After a moment, Alanna said, "Wasn't your hair much darker when we meet? And Curlier? And your eyes a bright green?"
Tom looked at her wavy, medium brown hair. "Oh. Yeah. My hair was just died, tinted really, and slightly permed. How it is now is it's natural state. Well, if I let it dry naturally. If I comb it while it's still wet after washing it, then it's straight, not curly. Mostly. It's because the top layer of my hair is straight, and the bottom is curly, so if I brush it, it's half curly, half straight, but if I don't brush, the straight hair is stuck to the curly hair by the water, so it's curled, liked it is now."
"Ah. And your eyes?"
"My eyes change depending on what I'm wearing. They don't change to match, they just change. They should be soft green or yellow, right?"
"Yeah, they're green." Alanna thought for a moment. "Why did you ask where your features came from then?"
Kenret shrugged. "Well, I wanted to know where my curly hair came from, and until about a week or so ago, since my tenth birthday, my eyes had been the same green, so I thought maybe that that was their natural color, and my eyes only changed in the other world, because of a side affect of being in the wrong universe or something. Also, I found it strange that you were my real parents, 'cause I look *just* like my mundane parents. I never thought it possible to be adopted."
Alanna continued unpacking her stuff in silence. She looked lost in thought. Tom was thoroughly confused.
[Author's Note: Okay, I admit it. I wrote that scene, then I decided to make her like me, and have freaked up hair a changing eyes. I didn't want to undo everything I wrote, and some people already red it, so, uh, yeah. I made up an excuse. Actually, my eyes haven't changed for quite some time, and it's really sad. I loved my eyes..]
Soon after this, both the maid and the Lioness retreated from Tomora's presence. She was left to turn this drafty castle into a home. A friendless, family-less home. She sighed. you'd think maybe that would bother her, make her lonely, but truly, it didn't. She was always a loner. But it didn't bug her, she chose to be that way. She never knew why, but solitude was what made her happy.
She looked around her room. Better get busy. She opened a portal home, still baffled and almost upset that she had such a strong gift. It wasn't really fair. Alanna and Thom had to have the strongest. That theirs was made a spec in the shadow of her upset her: It totally butchered Tamora Pierce's whole world. But she understood as well. She needed her gift. How else could she live in two worlds? Realizing that the swirling tunnel of voided existence was just sitting in front of her, doing who-knows-what to reality, she stepped through, placing the proper time-holding spells as she went.
It was night in the "real" world. It was dark, but since she was so close to the closet, she could use her Gift. Because the portal had meditated in the closet for ten years, each day a portion of Alanna's gift being given to it so it could become closer to being complete, a ambiance aurora of magic had radiated off of it. It reminded her of the Demon E(a/r)th, no, wait, X(a/n)th from Piers Anthony's 'pun'-ish Xanth series. Currently, the aura reached to about five feet from the door.
She did use her Gift just then, to light a candle on the small round table near the closet that also was home to a digital clock. The glowing red letters told her that it was about ten o'clock.
As she held the candle by it's glass container, she made her way to the corner of her attic. There she expected to find, and did find, two small, eight-by-six carpets; one light blue, the other light pink. Not exactly stylish, but warmer, more comfortable, and easier for the eye to look at. She spread them out near the door to the closet. Then she headed for her bedroom.
From there, she took a small, heart shaped, whicker chair that was panted white. She also had a small white whicker mirror, and a large, round head board for her bed. She took the mirror, but not the head board. Her bed in Tortall already had a nicely stained wooden headboard attached to it.
Next, she took the denim looking comforter and her pillow. It wasn't real denim, just a soft cotton made to look like it. She loved it. The sheets on her bed matched her carpets, one pink, one blue, so she decided not to take them. She headed then to the linen closet, and she took from there a set of white sheets that look good with the denim things.
She dragged all this up the attic stairs and tossing them on the rugs, then she went back down stairs. From the bathroom, her bedroom, living room, kitchen, and the garage, she received a large number of candles. Almost all on them were burnt down to the point that most would consider the useless, but not her family. She also seized from the garage a pack of thirty emergency candle in a blue cardboard box. They got several boxes of these a long time ago, but she didn't know where from. She didn't think they paid for them, though, so it was from a friend or something similar.
She took all this to her pile in the attic. She wrapped the glass ones in her comforter to keep them safe. Then took all the corners of the rugs in her hands, making a basket out of it all. Then she looked at the clock as she limped it all to the closet. ten-thirty. That took to long. Then she stepped in, activating four spells at once. One to carry her to her other self in her room in Tortall, one to stop time in the world she was coming from, one to activate time at where she was going, and one the *copy* everything she was holding, so that she'd have one set of it in each realm. She'd have to remember that, just as she had to remember the time.
She needed to remember the time because when she left Tortall to stay in the real realm for a week, she'd have to leave at about the same time, in order not to screw up her sleeping cycle to much. If she left the castle when it was night and she was tired, but she showed up at her house when it was morning, she wouldn't be able to sleep until night fell there, and that could be a very bad thing.
The reason she needed to remember that she duplicated things because next time she came home, she would be tripping over a large pile of junk.
Back in her new room, she set things up, put her new things away, decorated. The she dawdled and vegetated until lights out. By then the butterflies were back. The next day would be her first. But she couldn't figured out why she was nervous. What's the big deal? After all, she'd just be making her first impression on the people she'd be spending the next eight years and more with.
Note: I know Tomora says 'you know' 'like' and 'ain't' a lot, but I swear she's not a valley girl or had a country accent. It's all in the tone of voice, but you can't hear it because, well yeah, it's typed, sooo, cope with it.
Author's Note: Wow, long chapter (not that any of them are short). But it's useful, it fills some things that may have appeared to be plot holes to you. There are still more, but all shall be answered eventually. If there are any you are really confused about, ask me in a review and I'll try to put it in the next chapters.
Author's Note: Why do I even bother with 'Author's Note:'s, anyway? So far only three people who aren't personal friends have reviewed.... So, basically, I'm talking to myself, right? Like your going to answer... No body has asked about plot holes I put in there on purpose, or found any I may have over looked. The only constructive criticism I've gotten so far is that the first chapter's confusing. Which is actually a good review, but it was by some one I see about once a week. I would make it less confusing, but I just don't want to. To me, it takes away from the story. I think the reason is because nobody likes to read really long fanfics. I don't, not really, though I do anyway. My solution? Um, no solution. I could try fixing it, chopping up the chapters to make them shorter, make them require less thinking. But what do I do instead? I make the chapter longer by renting that it's too long. I did, however, leave the scene where she brings her horse to Tortall for another chapter, because this one was getting too long. By the way, I may sound bitter, but I'm not. I really don't mind that I don't get that many reviews. I just like to talk and pretend that somebody cares. So if you haven't already stopped reading this Author's Note to read the chapter four, I suggest you do so now. It's right there
\/
__________________________________Chapter 4: Arrival at the Castle_________________________________
. Tomora enjoy the trip to the castle. It was long, but it gave her a lot of time to get to know her new parents. Though she lived with them for about three months, she really didn't see them all that often, until they started to help her study the fighting arts, and then they usually didn't do a whole lot of talking. It was a weeklong journey. She like going through all the towns, listen to any history of it that George or Alanna knew. She learned things about Alanna life that weren't mentioned it the books. And she learned much, much more about George, because truly, he didn't take up a big part of the books, and his past was hardly ever brought up at all.
As they traveled through Corus and up Palace Way, Tom remembered the last time she had been here. Living as a merchant, seamstress apprentice, healer, wrangler, and other assorted jobs. She had never gotten to see the castle. She wanted to meet Jonathan, but she'd been unsure. She didn't know what to say to him, how much to tell him about herself. In the end, of course, she never went. She wasn't used to being unsure or shy about anything. She was very outgoing and demanded much attention. She didn't like the feeling. She eventually lost interest in investigating the castle. Now she was excited, but couldn't stop the butterflies from rummaging around her stomach. She heard her stomach growl, and barely contained her laugh. She managed to make no more of an outward showing of her amusement than a smile.
George looked over at her. "What are you smiling about?" He asked in almost exactly the same way her parents in America did. He inquired because he and Alanna had come to know that, even though she looked quite pretty when she smiled, she rarely did. She hardly ever really laughed either.
"Nothing."
George shrugged.
As they went over a hill, the Palace came into view. Ahead of her was the city gate, carved with thousands of figures and trimmed with gold. Through this gate, Tomora suspected from the books, the Royal King and Queen would be there. She took out the first book of The Song of the Lioness quartet, and compared the palace in the picture to the one that lay before her. They weren't very similar. Alanna drew her horse closer to Tom's and peered at the book.
"Is that that book about me?"
"Yeah, one of them, anyway."
Alanna hesitated, then asked, "May I see it?"
"What? Oh, yeah, of course. Wanna see what else it says?"
Alanna smile in humor a little bit, and gave a word in agreement. She only looked at it for a moment, flipping through the pages, before she handed it back to Tom, saying "Very funny" in a bit of a more hurtful tone than she intended and pulled her horse away from Tomora's.
Tom was baffled by the comment, and pulled her own reins, steering her chestnut stallion to close the gap between Alanna and her. "What's wrong? What'd you read?"
"Nothing. It's blank." Alanna said, suggesting with her voice that Tomora had done it on purpose.
"What?" It took a moment for Tom to understand that she was talking about the book's text. She flipped through it and said. "No it's not. Look."
"I don't see anything."
"Really? I wonder what magic is keeping it from you and why."
Alanna stared a little at her, and said, somewhat quietly, "I didn't consider that."
"Oh, you thought I was trying to trick you? No, I can still read it fine. Hmm. Oh well. I can read it to you some time later, if you want."
"Nah." Alanna answered, though see seemed like she would prefer it if Tom did. Wait, 'nah'? Since when does anyone here say nah? Besides her, of course. Maybe her personality rubbed off again, it did often, to all people. She was like an infection.
Three days later, they were at the castle. There was a get-together in the late afternoon for everyone to meet, though really that was pointless because they'd be spending eight years together. In the morning, the training master meet with all the would-be knights to explain the system and rules, what they would need to provide and what would be provided for them. In her case, though, she's be meeting with the king, too. It was because she was three years older than most.
She walked down the Great Hall, into the throne room. How cliché. She walked the red carpet that must have been twelve feet wide. It had gold stripes, about six inches wide, on each side of the carpet, about four inches from the sides. She was escorted by Alanna, dressed in her golden chain mail with a purple tunic cut to fit her feminine figure over it. Everyone dressed up for the festivities.
Tomora herself was dressed in her version of simply. She had medium blue bell-bottoms on, made off think, sturdy denim. They went down a little low, so over it she had a striped dress. It went to the middle of her thigh, and had tank-top straps. The stripes on it were miss-matched, being different widths and were burgundy, navy blue, forest green, and an off- white. Under that she had a white tank top. She got plenty of weird looks from the guys walking around in tunics that looked to her like short dresses. They were either showing off their hairy legs, or they had hose on, leggings. To say the least, she returned their odd looks. She couldn't blame them for giving her ridiculing looks on her out-fit, though, as she would have gotten them in America too. She had a very unique sense of style. She of course had on her blue-tinted glasses, with matching blue eye shadow, as well. All her hair was back except two sections of bangs, one on each side, staying in place by the rim of the glasses and going down to her jaw. Also, underneath her jeans, tied around her knee, was her sacred rag.
When Tomora and Alanna reached the end of the guard-lined carpet, Tomora's thumbs thrust through her front belt loops, under her dress, they met eyes with King Jonathan. Tom snorted as if something about him was funny.
"This is Kind Jonathan, Tomora." Alanna said very officially, even if it was evident she didn't want to be.
" 'Ello and wud'up t' ye, your highness." Tomora answered, to relieve the feeling of formality.
The black haired man looked completely baffled, but, though dignity, refused to ask her to repeat herself.
"Jon, this is my daughter, the one I told you about." Alanna said, agreeing to Tomora's unspoken wish and speaking casually. Jonathan knew about her because her mother and him spoke many times using magic, mirrors, and fire on the trip to the castle. He knew all about Tomora's adventures and unuasual origin.
"Hello, Baroness Tomora of Pirate's Swoop." Jonathan said, holding a hand out for her to kiss.
Tomora arched an eyebrow over the rim of her glasses and said, "No thank you."
"Tomora-" Alanna started in a voice that gave warning as Jonathan withdrew his hand.
Tom interrupted her, already knowing that Alanna was going to say that that was no way to greet the King. "Uh-uh. No. I don't have to use manners until some one teaches them to me. That's why I'm here, right? So I ain't kissin' anybody's hand, so they better keep them to themselves." She ended with a little shiver, as if of disgust.
As she expected, Alanna sighed. Surprising her, though, the king did to. " Your going to be another one of them, aren't you?" He said, finally dropping the formality. Tomora nodded, though she didn't fully understand what he was talking about. "Alright. So you've decided to take after your mom. That's no surprised, because you obviously have her attitude. Except she had the sense of when it's better to keep your opinions to oneself. Well, most of the time. While you obviously lack this quality."
Jonathan expected Tom to bristle at this. She didn't. Alanna, however, did.
"You misjudge me, your Highness." Tomora said, startled that those formal words came so easily to her mouth. "I know and understand perfectly fine when to keep my thoughts to myself. Actually, I have more sense than most. The difference is simply that I choose not to. Only three times have I ever restrained what comes first to my mind, and that was only 'cause it was an emergency. I'm not going to change myself because things would be less stressful that way."
"She's going to be a hard one to break, Your Highness." the other man said.
"Good luck, haMinch."
"Excuse me!" Tomora said in a very demanding way that caused Alanna to put a hand on her shoulder to silence her. It didn't work. "I *am* still in the room you know. Don't speak as if I'm not!"
Alanna gave the king a sort of pleading look right before Padraig said in a very dangerous voice, "Alright, Tomora, your first etiquette lesson starts now. Don't raise your voice to some one of higher nobility than you."
Tomora looked as if she realized that she should apologize, but just couldn't bring herself to do it. The king decided to move on. He signaled the training master to proceed. Lord Padraig continued with his speech.
"Are you sure you're up to this? Girls are more emotional, they aren't as strong. Training will be very hard on you, and-"
"Oh, do, not, ev'en-start!" Tomora said slowly, each syllable seeming it's own sentence. Alanna thought that she was going to far. She moved forward and strongly grasped Tom's shoulder, pulling her back. Tomora jerked out of her grasp, which wasn't easy. Resisting the urge to rub her soon-to-be-bruised shoulder, Tomora continued full force. "Do not give me that crap. 'Oh, well, your just girl. You're useless for anything but popping out babies. I'm a man. I'm strong and tough and never say what's on my mind or show my feelings! I'm a male and I'm better than you because I can pee standing up!' Uh-uh. No, your not." Tom said, using a voice to imitate the nobleman. She was pretty sure that she saw them all flush. There was a dangerously dead silence.
After a pause, Jonathan said in a friendly voice, "Alright. Your sure about it then."
Tomora calmly nodded her head. To the other's in the room it was amazing how quickly she calmed her apparently fake fury.
"Okay, next are the rules. Now, don't bristle up. You won't be given any special privileges. You'll be treated just like everyone else."
"Then what's there to talk about?"
"Well, there are still rules. You cannot fight with your peers. You will be expected to finish all your work within the given time limits. If you do not, you will be assigned more work as punishment. You are obligated to help any noble who asks for assistance. If they comment that you have not, then you'll be ask a valid explanation as to why from your teachers. You'll attend your training classes in the morning, and scholarly classes in the afternoon. You'll study as a page for four years, and then, if your teacher's think you're ready, you will become a squire and may have a knight ask you to serve him. Do you understand these guidelines?"
"Or her."
"Pardon me?"
"And may have a knight ask you to serve *him or her*."
"Yes, I suppose that's right. Now, there are a few more rules. You cannot bathe in the swimming pond at he same time as the boys, of course. You may not have a man in your room with the door closed. It must be open at all ti-"
"Oh my gods, you are *such* a hypocrite!" Tomora said, amazed on how her one time favorite fictional prince had turned into such a stuffy king. She wasn't sure that hypocrite was exactly the word she was looking for, but she couldn't think of a better word. "'Okay, you're going to be treated like everyone else so here's a list of special rules for you.'"
"I know it may not seem fair, but these rules were set for a reason."
"Yeah, because you wanted the boys to feel better about being boys and not having to bide by those rules. If the boys are uncomfortable with me bathing in the same pool, they can leave."
The king started to say it would be unfair to the boys if all them had to leave because of her, but she wouldn't hear it. "Don't worry, I ain't gonna go bathing in the same pool as the boys. I'll listen to that rule. But what's with the 'no boys in your room with the door shut'? That's crap! The boys can have all the court ladies in their room that they want! You certainly did! Lady Delia, the nut job, and mom here." She jerked her thumb behind her at a very red Alanna, making Jon- uncomfortable, to say the least. Lord haMinch, however, seemed amused.
"It doesn't make any sense. Why can't have males in my room? Not that I'm going to be doing any of *that* in there, mind you. But still..."
King Jonathan sighed. "I'll take the matter up with the council, alright? But until then, bide the rules."
"Yeah, okay. I'm okay with that."
"Now, things may be a little tougher on you- No, no, don't interrupt me, not because your a girl. It's just because your a bit older than most boys when they come here, so you'll be older than the rest of the first years pages."
Tomora hadn't been paying full attention, so wouldn't have interrupted him anyway. She hadn't caught him saying that. But she did catch him saying 'most boys' so corrected him by saying, "a bit older than most boy *or girls*."
"Yes. Any protest with that?"
"Nope. Not at the moment, anyway."
"Thank the Gods. Melianne will escort you to your room and to get your clothes." He said, gesturing to a serving lady behind him.
"Great, thanks Jon." Tom said, and was lead away by Melianne. As Jon rubbed his temples in a way that said he was too old for this and Alanna was apologizing to him for her rude daughter, Tomora called back the them, "Oh, and King-y? Kudos for changing the lessons around, I think having fighting lessons in the morning is much better than in the afternoon, like when Alanna and you were training." She turned back around and Alanna followed at a distance. Once the door had closed and the king was alone in the room with the duke, he said quietly to the closed door, "Glad I meet your approval."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Melianne unlocked Tomora's door. Tom walked into the was-just- cleaned-for-the-first-time-in-a-long-time-so-it-still-smells-dusty room. Of course, it had stone walls, floors, and ceilings, like the entire castle, but that was to be expected. As Tom dumped her load of a weeks worth of a page's uniform, gold tunics and scarlet hose, on her new bed in the center of the room, she scowled at the ten-foot-high ceilings. Not only was it a waste of space, she just didn't like big spaces. They gave her the feeling that she was being watched. She was like an anti-claustrophobic, if there was such a thing. She examined the bed. Made of wood. Simple, *thin* feather mattress that wouldn't do much to soften the hard wood beneath, and a hand quilted, uh, quilt, on top. Well, yeah it was hand quilted. It's not like they had sewing machines around here.
The room was pretty big. It was, like, thirty-feet by fifteen feet. The bed wasn't actually in the center, but it was perpendicular to the center of the thirty-foot wall opposite the door, which was in the corner on the wall. Her lioness mom was already in the room, roughly opposite the bed, digging in Tom's new dresser, unpacking for her. To the right of the bed was a door leading to the fifteen-by-ten foot privy, with a sink, bath tub, and a built in stone bench with a round wooden thing covering up the hole that she was supposed to use as a toilet. Eww. She didn't even *want* to know where that hole lead, though she could imagine.
[Author's note: Diagram of room available if you e-mail me]
Melianne took her absence and left Tom there with her mom. She sighed and walked over to help her unpack her things. her eyes did a quick analysis to make sure everything was there. It was.
"Your father will be here shortly. You going to be okay?"
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, you going o be away from home for awhile..."
For once Tomora didn't interrupt, but her effort was in vain because Alanna couldn't think of anything else to add to the sentence. After realizing this, Tomora said "I'm a big girl now. I don't mind being left all on my lonesome. Remember, I lived here for three years before finding out that I had parents. It's just like camp, or a dorm room, just there's no roommates to bug me."
Alanna shrugged as George came in carrying packages- no, wait, parcels. Was there a difference? Who knew? She could figure it out on a rainy day, right after she found the difference between a book and a tome.
"What's all that? Everything's here already, isn't it?" Tom asked. She would be disappointed with her sense of organization. Not that she was a very organized person, but usually she could look at a pile of junk and know what's there and what's missing.
"You don't think we'd send you to become a knight without making sure you're well outfitted for it, do you?" Alanna asked.
"I wasn't expecting anything... And I would think you'd have given it to me if you *were* going to give me anything."
"No, we decided to wait until now."
"Whatever."
"Don't act too grateful, now. You'll embarrass us." George said sarcastically.
"What should I act grateful for? You haven't given me them yet. And for all I know they could just be garbage. They're wrapped, so I can't see them."
George laughed but Alanna had an indecipherable look upon her face.
"Should we give them to her, then, Dearest Lioness?"
"I'm not so sure now, if she's going to have *that* attitude..." The woman he addressed said. Tom was happy to note that it was in a playful way, not a hurtful one.
"Oh come one- You know I'm just kidding. Don't be insulted..." Tomora said. She *had* been acting some hat rude lately, and she didn't want people that she was always like that. Especially not Alanna or George. Or Jonathan.
The first of the Tom's gifts baffled her. It was a simple clay pot, flat, with cool looking lettering painted along the outside. All in all, it was neat, but she didn't understand why they gave it to her, she had expected a tool to help he with her page training. Upon opening it, she found a few coins. Before she could even say thank you, her mother explained the gift to her. She told Tom that every once in a while, coins would appear in there. At first Tom didn't understand, but then she made out that it was like an allowence. When her parents felt it was due, they would put coins in to a dish that mirrored this one that they had at Pirate's Swoop. Once they closed the lid, the coins would disappear from their jar and appear in Tom's jar. Alanna warned her that it didn't work when Tom's jar's lid was off, and also mentioned that it was best to take the coins from her jar as soon as possible, because it helped the spell work truer. If it was too crowded in the jar, then when new coins try to settle on the bottom, they'd have to overlapp with the coins already there, melding togher or exploding. The jar wasn't made for that. Also, and more realisticly, when they put new coins in the patnerring jar, then closed the lid so the contents of their jar would trade places with Tomora's, Tom would get the new coins, but George and Alanna would get the ones already their. Tom was to check the contents often.
"What happens if I happen to be oppening the jar at the same moment your transferring coins?" Tom asked.
Alanna shrugged. "Then the coins won't teleport, they'll just stay in my jar until your's has you lid on." Tom nodded. This made sense. She took the coins and placed them in her pocket.
George and Alanna gave her another package then. When she opened it she found some of her mother's patent 'Bruise Balm'. Tomora laughed and thanked her. The next was a knife with a black leather hilt that Tomora recognized to be the really high quality raven whatever kind that her mom (at least she was sure it was her mom, but technically it wasn't said so in the book...) gave to Kel. She examined it. Indeed, it was a very fine knife. The hilt was soft and felt as if cushioned underneath to making it more pleasant when holding it tightly for a long period of time, though she couldn't think of a situation where you'd have do that and would actually care about comfort. It also had texture on the hilt to insure a good grasp, even if your hand was a little sweaty. It was like tread on a hiking boot or tire.
Of course, the hilt wasn't the only good part. The blade was nicely balanced and shaped, and looked razor sharp. Actually, razors could be dull, but this knife's edge look like it would have a long life span before it would need sharpening with the whet stone that also came with it.
She enthusiastically thanked them both. She loved it, and realized what it must have cost.
The last (and largest!) of her gifts was a good sturdy looking saddle made of leather and a light wood, accompanied by saddle bags, and a pad and blanket for the horse's comfort. She accepted these completely gratefully.
"And of course, you may choose any of our mare's or stallions for your own. We should've had you choose while we were still home, but we brought the best three with us on the journey here, anyway." Alanna offered.
"Oh, thanks, but no. I'm going to bring one of my horses' from home, if that's all right? You do have great horses, though, I see George hasn't lost his eye for horse flesh."
"Of course that's alright."
After a bit more talking, George left the room. Almost immediately afterward, Melianna made her reappearance. As Melianne took some of Tom's things to have them freshened out; de-wrinkled. The equivalent to throwing something in the drier. It was a good thing, because many of her clothes had gotten mussed in her travel bags.
Suddenly her mom turned to her with a more serious face: they'd been laughing at something a moment ago.
"Tomora? You- Your thirteen now, right" she said, not really a question. She knew Tom's age. " So you've- uh, you've already started getting your cycle, right?"
Tomora would have blushed if she was the type, but she wasn't. "Yeah, of course." She said instead. She felt awkward because Alanna felt awkward. Normally she never would feel so uncomfortable. Actress as she was, though, neither Alanna or Melianne picked up on her feeling.
"Right. So you have a necklace? "
"What? Oh, a pregnancy charm? I don't nee-"
Her mom interrupted her, handing Tom the golden chain that Melianne handed to her. "I know, I know. But you never know when you might change your mind. Just take it." Alanna said hurriedly. She seemed to want to end the conversation as soon as possible. Tom took it and shrugged. She had always pictured it as the [male] O- symbol and the [female] symbol O+ combined, joined at that circle.
She was pleased to see that she wasn't far off. It was combined at the circle, but also on the, uh, stick. O+ It looked like an arrow. She forced her face to stay still, though she wanted to smile at her joke. It couldn't possible look good to her mom and her, uh, servant or whatever, if she smile after receiving such a 'gift'.
The Melianne came to her holding a pair of blunt looking scissors and a brush. Tom shied away from these. "What are you doing?" She asked, somewhat alarmed.
"Relax Tom, she's just going to cut your hair."
Tom grabbed her shoulder long hair. "Don't you dare! I've only cut my hair once in my entire life. I *like* my hair!" She exclaimed, not actually alarmed, just being dramatic.
"You can't expect to last long with hair like that. That's the first thing people'll grab in a fight." Her mom explained calmly.
"Too bad. If they're going to sink to that level, so will I. I'll just kick 'em in the nuts."
Alanna gave her a look.
"Oh, come one, let me keep it. If it's that big of a problem I'll cut it all off, okay?"
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you."
"Deal."
After a little while, right before Alanna was going to go, she looked at and studied Tom. Tomora simply stared back at her worried expression. Why was she so worried about her? After a moment, Alanna said, "Wasn't your hair much darker when we meet? And Curlier? And your eyes a bright green?"
Tom looked at her wavy, medium brown hair. "Oh. Yeah. My hair was just died, tinted really, and slightly permed. How it is now is it's natural state. Well, if I let it dry naturally. If I comb it while it's still wet after washing it, then it's straight, not curly. Mostly. It's because the top layer of my hair is straight, and the bottom is curly, so if I brush it, it's half curly, half straight, but if I don't brush, the straight hair is stuck to the curly hair by the water, so it's curled, liked it is now."
"Ah. And your eyes?"
"My eyes change depending on what I'm wearing. They don't change to match, they just change. They should be soft green or yellow, right?"
"Yeah, they're green." Alanna thought for a moment. "Why did you ask where your features came from then?"
Kenret shrugged. "Well, I wanted to know where my curly hair came from, and until about a week or so ago, since my tenth birthday, my eyes had been the same green, so I thought maybe that that was their natural color, and my eyes only changed in the other world, because of a side affect of being in the wrong universe or something. Also, I found it strange that you were my real parents, 'cause I look *just* like my mundane parents. I never thought it possible to be adopted."
Alanna continued unpacking her stuff in silence. She looked lost in thought. Tom was thoroughly confused.
[Author's Note: Okay, I admit it. I wrote that scene, then I decided to make her like me, and have freaked up hair a changing eyes. I didn't want to undo everything I wrote, and some people already red it, so, uh, yeah. I made up an excuse. Actually, my eyes haven't changed for quite some time, and it's really sad. I loved my eyes..]
Soon after this, both the maid and the Lioness retreated from Tomora's presence. She was left to turn this drafty castle into a home. A friendless, family-less home. She sighed. you'd think maybe that would bother her, make her lonely, but truly, it didn't. She was always a loner. But it didn't bug her, she chose to be that way. She never knew why, but solitude was what made her happy.
She looked around her room. Better get busy. She opened a portal home, still baffled and almost upset that she had such a strong gift. It wasn't really fair. Alanna and Thom had to have the strongest. That theirs was made a spec in the shadow of her upset her: It totally butchered Tamora Pierce's whole world. But she understood as well. She needed her gift. How else could she live in two worlds? Realizing that the swirling tunnel of voided existence was just sitting in front of her, doing who-knows-what to reality, she stepped through, placing the proper time-holding spells as she went.
It was night in the "real" world. It was dark, but since she was so close to the closet, she could use her Gift. Because the portal had meditated in the closet for ten years, each day a portion of Alanna's gift being given to it so it could become closer to being complete, a ambiance aurora of magic had radiated off of it. It reminded her of the Demon E(a/r)th, no, wait, X(a/n)th from Piers Anthony's 'pun'-ish Xanth series. Currently, the aura reached to about five feet from the door.
She did use her Gift just then, to light a candle on the small round table near the closet that also was home to a digital clock. The glowing red letters told her that it was about ten o'clock.
As she held the candle by it's glass container, she made her way to the corner of her attic. There she expected to find, and did find, two small, eight-by-six carpets; one light blue, the other light pink. Not exactly stylish, but warmer, more comfortable, and easier for the eye to look at. She spread them out near the door to the closet. Then she headed for her bedroom.
From there, she took a small, heart shaped, whicker chair that was panted white. She also had a small white whicker mirror, and a large, round head board for her bed. She took the mirror, but not the head board. Her bed in Tortall already had a nicely stained wooden headboard attached to it.
Next, she took the denim looking comforter and her pillow. It wasn't real denim, just a soft cotton made to look like it. She loved it. The sheets on her bed matched her carpets, one pink, one blue, so she decided not to take them. She headed then to the linen closet, and she took from there a set of white sheets that look good with the denim things.
She dragged all this up the attic stairs and tossing them on the rugs, then she went back down stairs. From the bathroom, her bedroom, living room, kitchen, and the garage, she received a large number of candles. Almost all on them were burnt down to the point that most would consider the useless, but not her family. She also seized from the garage a pack of thirty emergency candle in a blue cardboard box. They got several boxes of these a long time ago, but she didn't know where from. She didn't think they paid for them, though, so it was from a friend or something similar.
She took all this to her pile in the attic. She wrapped the glass ones in her comforter to keep them safe. Then took all the corners of the rugs in her hands, making a basket out of it all. Then she looked at the clock as she limped it all to the closet. ten-thirty. That took to long. Then she stepped in, activating four spells at once. One to carry her to her other self in her room in Tortall, one to stop time in the world she was coming from, one to activate time at where she was going, and one the *copy* everything she was holding, so that she'd have one set of it in each realm. She'd have to remember that, just as she had to remember the time.
She needed to remember the time because when she left Tortall to stay in the real realm for a week, she'd have to leave at about the same time, in order not to screw up her sleeping cycle to much. If she left the castle when it was night and she was tired, but she showed up at her house when it was morning, she wouldn't be able to sleep until night fell there, and that could be a very bad thing.
The reason she needed to remember that she duplicated things because next time she came home, she would be tripping over a large pile of junk.
Back in her new room, she set things up, put her new things away, decorated. The she dawdled and vegetated until lights out. By then the butterflies were back. The next day would be her first. But she couldn't figured out why she was nervous. What's the big deal? After all, she'd just be making her first impression on the people she'd be spending the next eight years and more with.