Disclaimer: The characters and world which this fic takes place in belong to Mercedes Lackey, I state no claim except for the plot among my fellow fanfiction authors.
Chapter 5
Everything had gone pretty well since she'd apologized, none of her fantasies had come true but that was to be expected. The rest of the day hadn't gone that bad either, although she was still sore from the equitation lesson, a hot bath had taken care of most of that.
At the moment she was laying on her new bed, her long wet hair falling down her back and making the bed and her clothes damp. She wondered if it would be possible to light a candle with out waking up Geri, Mishel, and another girl who hadn't yet introduced herself. She'd been thinking about her mother and brother, the only two people who were likely to wonder what had become of her, and yearned to write to them, simultaneously wishing for paper and a pen.
Just as she thought that, an orange glow illuminated her from the bed next to hers and she glanced up to see Geri cradling an orange sphere in the palm of her hand.
"Silver for your thoughts?" she said, then cocked her head to the side and smiled "though I can probably guess at them, your thinking about your family aren't you?" Savil nodded, not really surprised but curious, a lot of people were good at reading facial expressions, but Savil was good at eluding the best of them. She wanted to know how Geri had guessed at it.
"It's my gift" she answered before Savil asked the question, "I can sense your emotions, I felt your loneliness for someone close to you and guessed at family."
"You can sense emotions?" Savil made no move to conceal her eagerness to learn more about the gifts and was rewarded with a stretch of the smile from Geri for her enthusiasm.
"Yep, and control them, though my gift is only strong enough to concentrate on one person at a time and I can't use it as an offensive weapon. I used it on you today, when you were talking with my father, he's not very good with people especially young adults; he was in the guard before he was chosen and more used to trying to intimidate people. The newly Chosen are usually already confused and scared; he's not the best at comforting and it hurts him when the younger ones cry. I helped him out by making him seem not so threatening to you, you know, just kinda took the fear away so you could see the person and not the "oh-so-threatening" Herald."
"Oh" so that's why I felt like I knew her Savil realized smiling, then her eyes lighted on the sphere. "What is that?"
Geri looked at the ball in her hand confused and then turned back to Savil smiling again. "This is a mage light; here, I'll teach you…" After a few instructions given by Geri and a demonstration, Savil clumsily tried to copy her actions and in moments, was holding her own mage light; though hers glowed a pale purple instead of orange.
Geri yawned and then smiled tiredly, "well, I guess I should get to sleep, you should too" then she looked at her, tilting her head to the side, she reached under her mattress and pulled out five sheets of paper. "You should write them a letter, this is going to be the only time you have to do so, I advise you to take advantage of it." She handed Savil the papers and a pen on a small table beside her bed and then turned onto her side to sleep. "good night and sweet the dreams to you" she said.
"To you to, and thanks" she answered absently, concentrating on what she was going to write and to whom. Finally she decided she'd write them both a brief letter and set to putting it down on paper.
To Lady Karen Ashkevron
From Savil Ashkevron
Dear Mother, how are you, I'm in Haven now, laying in bed. I'm terribly sorry if a worried you, my eternal apologies for leaving like that. I thought that it would be better if I left instead of bringing more possible danger down on you. I have something to tell you, I hope you'll be proud but I'm not sure. I've been Chosen! Can you believe it? I'd never have guessed. They say I'm a Herald-Mage trainee now and that my other gifts are mindspeech, farsight, and healing. I would explain them but it is atleast a candle mark passed the time I would usually be dreaming and I am exhausted! I start my training tomorrow so I better get my rest. Please write back soon.
Your daughter Savil
To Withen Ashkevron
From Savil Ashkevron
Dear Brother…
GUESS WHAT! I was Chosen today! Can you believe it? Me? A Herald? Well, Herald-mage trainee actually. I hope you are not mad at me for leaving so abruptly, I really did it to help everyone, I am sorry I didn't say goodbye to you. I miss you. How is everyone taking my leave? Is Father rejoicing?! Sorry for the bitterness, but he didn't seem like he would've missed me much and I have been curious if my observations were correct. Well regrettably I have to go, I will write you when I can, good bye dear brother, and please write me back soon, my eyes yearn to see what you have to say.
Savil
As she signed the second letter she folded them in half and tucked them neatly under her pillow, placing the unused paper on the table and the pen atop them. Yawning, she pulled the blankets up around her and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
*****
The next morning, Savil was jerked awake to hands shaking her shoulders. She looked up to see the shining brown eyes of the girl who hadn't given her name and Savil stared at her, not comprehending what was going on.
"Savil, that's you name right?" she asked, still shaking her shoulder gently, "It's time to wake up. We have to bathe before breakfast, the bell has already rang, hurry, or they'll be no hot water left." Savil sat up slowly, nodding in answer to her question and blinking owlishly at the bright yellow light that was bobbing obediently over the girls head; wondering what it was. Then memory came back to her and she stared up at the girl.
"Who are you?" she asked, grabbing a pair of her student grays from under the bed and a robe hanging off the bed post from last night.
The girl blushed, realizing that she hadn't introduced herself, "My name's Elspeth" She replied casually as Savil swung her legs off the bed. She stopped and starred dumbfounded.
"The heir designate?" She asked before thinking, not quite believing it. No, she can't be, I can't be sharing living space with the princess of Valdemar, it's a different Elspeth, the names a popular one, she could just be-
"That's me, but I'd rather you thought of me as just another herald-mage trainee. We better hurry, like I said, there might not be any hot water left and I don't recommend we start the day with a cold bath." She said, grabbing Savil's arm and tugging her along after her, barely giving her enough time to snatch up her boots and get her slippers on.
*****
Savil walked slowly to her first class, her wet hair up in a tight bun; despite what Elspeth had said, they were one of the first there and Savil had finished her bath earlier than the others. She'd gotten a hot biscuit with sausage and cheese cooked into it from the kitchen by their room, and was currently nibbling away at it.
She turned a corner -Mishel having given her directions while they'd taken their baths last night- and stopped dead. The dog that Erik had been watching the day before was beside the building not five feet away watching some pigeons peck at the bird feeders that were all around the palace. The birds saw her and lifted into the sky with a flurry of wings and some left behind feathers. The dog turned to look at her and Savil very nearly ran; but the dog just cocked his head to the side, wagged his tail, then got up to leave.
"Wait," she called, suddenly not wanting the dog to go now that she believed it friendly, "Are you hungry boy?" she tore her biscuit in half, and then tore that into four smaller pieces. The dog turned around and looked at her curiously, then scented the food and came towards her quickly; he snatched one of the pieces out of her hand viciously, grazing her fingertips with his teeth, then looked at the rest of the food expectantly.
She couldn't help but laugh "Okay, just don't take my hand off with it this time." Savil held out another piece for him and he looked at it awhile before taking it gently, taking care not to bite her fingers as if he'd understood her. She reached out a hand to pet him and he watched it suspiciously, but made no violent move so she kept going.
Suddenly, his eyes diverted to the side and the hair rose up on his shoulders and trailed down his back to the half curled tail that was standing straight up. A low, barely audible growl crawled its way up from his throat and Savil snatched her hand away just as someone else grabbed her from behind and jerked her away from him, causing her to drop the contents in both hands. She looked up to see Mishel starring at the dog with a worried and angry expression on her face.
"What were you thinking!" She all but yelled, eyes still locked on the dog. "He could be dangerous!" Savil saw him brace and the growl shot up to a snarl as he prepared to attack Mishel. Funny she thought as she signaled frantically for the animal to calm down, I know the reactions of animals as if they were my own, but I couldn't tell what a person was feeling if they gave me an emotional slap in the face! Finally he stopped snarling and stared at her with his head cocked to the side, -though one eye still watch Mishel threateningly- then, as if noticing it for the first time, he stepped forward and snapped up the biscuit pieces in two bites before turning a corner and loping into an ally.
"You're crazy" Mishel said in a perfectly conversational tone, standing up from her half crouch and holding out a hand for Savil; she took and allowed the other girl to pull her to her feet. "Well, come on, lets get to class" and they started to walk down the street towards their first class.