Chapter 4. This is going to be pretty long, so don't rejoice yet. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! A while ago a bunch of people pointed out in some fic that Ozorne was Kaddar's uncle, not his father. If I make any more mistakes like that, let me know and I might fix it when I get around to it. On with the show…
Disclaimer: I didn't create any of TP's stuff etc. etc.
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Chapter 4: Orphan- or is he?
Arandiall sat at the table, moving the spoon around his bowl of thin gruel. He was silent; so many took him for stupid, but he was not so. Aran was eight, but he looked maybe six, for all he was tall. His mop of shiny black hair got in his eyes, and he brushed it back. Finishing his scant supper, Aran left the table and went to his rooms. In there he had a small collection of animals, from rabbits to lizards. Nobody knew where they came from. Except himself, of course. It had started a while ago, maybe three years, when he first came to the orphanage. Children who vexed him mysteriously disappeared, and were never seen again. Aran had Wild Magic, but he called it the golden touch. Only his was different- he couldn't use it on himself. But he could use it on other people. Saturne was turned into a rabbit, Darshan a mouse, Gwendolyn a snake… the list went on. The orphanage didn't care, it was just one less mouth to feed. Sometimes his pets were gone in the night; a mouse eaten by a cat or an owl flew out the window. But Arandiall didn't care; he could always have more.
Aran hadn't always been in the orphanage, only since he was five. He remembered his mother and his father, though not too well. He took after his father, though he had little bits of his mother. They ware always moving, at some inn or tavern or in some dark alley, but they did okay. They were both mages, His ma had a thing with animals, his pa he remembered as the black and spark man. He would often do little tricks of juggling for Aran, and tickle him. He loved his father, he didn't know why they abandoned him, but they had, for whatever reason. Now he was alone.
Sometimes, he didn't turn people into animals. If they made him angry, he made them think they were animals. He didn't seem to care; he just did whatever he felt like. Sometimes he would disappear for days at a time, and then return without a word. But one time, he just left. He left, and he was gone for a long, long time. Finally the caretakers of the orphanage just gave up, assuming he was lost or dead. Nobody knew where he had gone, and nobody cared.
He took with him only the clothes on his back and a little copper bracelet, one that he said his ma had given him. They didn't believe him, they thought he had stolen it. But no one could make him let go of it, and eventually they just gave up. Now he was gone, forgotten…
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That was short. But I can't stretch that chapter out any longer, that's as good as this one gets. No flames please.