DISCLAIMER: The usual… Tenia belongs to me, everything else belongs to Ms. Wrede… la la la…..
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hee hee hee…. Oooh boy, it's taken me awhile to get this chapter out. So much stuff been going on…. I got a job! It's a government job in the library. Fifteen hours a week at about five and a half bucks an hour… pretty small salary, but the taxes are pretty good… Also had Spring break, we went down to Disney World (Yea Star Tours! Five times!). I got slightly sunburned, but I'm all right now. Ahh…. carrots…..
AUTHOR'S NOTE TWO: Now it's June, almost July… sheesh, I've been slow lately. Forgive me! I hope you'll like this chapter all the better for the wait! But school's out! And I went to France! Yay! I miss crepes… and their strawberry ice cream… ~Noala
The person's form was pitch black against the eerie blue light. Its edges were slightly blurry and seemed to shimmer. The staff it held grew wider and narrower in time with the pulsing, and Daystar felt himself being mesmerized by the effect. The figure's head tilted down and seemed to take in Shiara, still unconscious on the ground, and Nightwitch, sitting next to her mistress and hissing for all she was worth. Daystar slowly lowered his sword as the unseen gaze shifted to him, compelled by some unknown force he didn't have the knowledge to fight. Invisible hands calmly pried open his fingers, letting his sword drop. It landed point-first in the soil, the hilt within easy reach, but the same force would not let him retrieve it.
The four were frozen in that tableau, the lights still flashing in the cottage, for what seemed an eternity. Then Daystar mentally jumped: he couldn't really jump because his body was no longer his own. Instead it was bending at the waist, and his arms were extending by themselves. He tried to pull back, stand upright, anything, but nothing responded to his commands. His body kept stooping over, and finally it picked up the unconscious Shiara and began walking towards the cottage door, leaving his sword in the middle of the path and a suspiciously silent Nightwitch sitting next to it.
Whoever was controlling him had powerful magic. Daystar was a prisoner in his own mind, confined in a cage built inside his head, rattling and shaking the bars, yelling for help, but not breaking free. It was as if he was under hypnosis. His body was ten steps from the door… time itself was slowing, he was moving through quicksand… eight… five… he couldn't fight it, there was no breaking free… three… two… he felt if he could he would scream… one… there. The face was still unknown to him; he was looking directly into the blue light, which was surprisingly settling down at its brightest, no longer pulsing.
A ragged gasp came from the mystery person, who quickly backed away a few paces from the door; at the same time Daystar's thoughts, mind, and body snapped together, and he shook his head, being careful not to jostle Shiara. Nightwitch let out a loud yowl and bounded up the path to him, then leaped onto his shoulder and began to hiss at the person again. Daystar absently told her to shush, but kept most of his attention focused on the person he still could not see for the blue light.
"Oh, how stupid of me," a feminine voice remarked. The same voice murmured under her breath, a long, complicated sentence, and the blue light abruptly vanished to be replaced by a soft yellowish glow, much as the sunlight at noon.
Daystar blinked at this new light and gave his eyes a few moments to adjust. Nightwitch mewled inquisitively and jumped off his shoulder, walking up to the woman who was now clearly visible in front of them. Daystar, fairly sure she was not going to attack them, turned his attention to more important things. The cut on Shiara's head was still bleeding, and a reddish patch was forming on his shirtsleeve. He carefully stepped through the door and walked across the main room, then through a door that had led to his mother's room. He was in luck; the bed was still there, and miraculously the pillow as well. He gently deposited Shiara on the bed, arranging the pillow so it would support her head.
"I have bandages if you want them," remarked the same voice from before. Daystar whirled; the woman was standing in the doorway, Nightwitch by her feet. How she had gotten there without him hearing, he couldn't guess. The cat bounded up and sprang onto the bed, settling down by her mistress' face. "It seems the least I can do after giving Shiara such a nasty cut."
"Thank you, I- wait, how do you know her name?"
The woman laughed and turned around, started to walk back into the main room. "I know several things about her. And probably you as well, Prince Daystar."
His jaw dropped. He followed in her wake, watching her as she searched through his mother's ancient cupboards for something. In the sun-like light he could clearly see her: she looked to be about twenty-five with light auburn hair in a cut a little past chin-length, and had a rather slender figure. She glanced at him when he did not respond and smiled, showing him hazel-green eyes and making her look quite pretty. He blinked and shook his head again as she gave a small cry of triumph and removed a box from a cupboard, then sat down at the old weather-beaten table, using a chair he remembered from his childhood, holding the box in her hands. He quickly glanced around and found everything else almost exactly as he had expected it: the door to his old room open, as he had left it, the rest of the furniture in very bad shape, the fire place cold and unused. The woman had obviously attempted to clean the place up though, as there was no debris covering the floor and a broom was leaning in the corner next to the staff she had been holding. He blinked away a sudden sense of vertigo and dragged the second chair over to the table and sat. "How do you know all this? Have we met you before?"
She smiled again, opening the box and sifting through the contents. "Shiara I know very well, although I haven't met you before. I've heard a lot about you though." She pulled a wad of bandage out of the box and a small pair of scissors. "Let me put this on Shiara and then we'll talk."
"All right."
The woman smiled (It seems to be a habit with her, Daystar thought) and went into the room where Shiara now lay. Daystar took the opportunity to groan softly and let his head fall on the table, thinking. How can I be sure I can trust her? She says she knows Shiara, but does she? How could she tell I'm me? How… just how? And why. Why should she help us? Why would she be this nice? How can I be sure this isn't a trap? Oh, get a grip on yourself Daystar!
The woman came back, her bandage significantly reduced. "She'll be fine. She needs to rest, but she's definitely had worse than this before." She sat down again and replaced her supplies in her box, shutting it when she was done. She left her hands on the box for a moment, staring down at it, her mind clearly elsewhere. Daystar chose not to say a word. Then she narrowed her eyes and pushed it away from her with a determined gesture, letting her short hair fall forward to hide her face. "As to the questions I'm sure are running through your head-" (Can she read minds or something? Daystar thought) "- I do not want to kill you, rob you, hurt you, possess you, or sell you into slavery. My name is Etenia. You can call me Tenia for short if you want."
Etenia… Etenia… why did that name sound so familiar to him? He searched through his memory, bit by bit, trying to recall where or when he might have heard that name…
A cold, rainy day two years ago. Shiara was on a brief visit to the castle. They had begun talking about family, for lack of anything else to do, and she had said…
His jaw dropped again. "You're her sister!"
Etenia laughed. "Yes, her older sister. Shiara isn't the only black sheep in the family." She pushed her hair behind her ears, exposing her face again; for a moment Daystar was sure he saw a look of sadness and regret on her face, but he couldn't be sure.
Remembering more of what Shiara had told him that day, he proceeded cautiously. "Not to pry, but she told me you had…" He searched for a diplomatic way of putting it. He didn't find one.
"Run away, disgraced my family, disappeared without a trace, given up, been renounced?" she filled in, gesturing with her right arm. A small, sad smile appeared on her face as she finished. "Yes, all of that's true."
He decided to give up being diplomatic. "But why? She didn't say."
"That's because she didn't know." Etenia sighed and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. "Do you wish to know why?"
"How'd you guess?" he asked wryly.
She smiled slightly again. "I was right about you." He didn't ask what she was right about. "About…. oh, ten years ago, I was fifteen. Our family is made up of fire-witches. Most of us are perfectly normal, or as normal as a fire-witch can be. Shiara wasn't, as you know. She couldn't get anything to work, and had a very great temper about this." She sighed again. "But she was the only one. I, too, am a fire-witch, and for me everything worked like it was supposed to. Anyway, when I was fifteen, Shiara was eleven. She wanted to get her magic to work, more than anything in the world, but it never would. Mother and Father, although they were angry at her not being able to do anything, were secretly proud of her for trying so hard." She smiled ironically. "And I was jealous. I loved her dearly, yet I envied her. For me everything came as it should, nothing out of the ordinary, no great mishaps, nothing. I barely ever received any attention, being sandwiched in the birthline between Shiara, the lovable blunderer, and our older brother, who could do everything perfect and with a whiz-bang finish. I was the ordinary one. I began to resent Shiara for receiving any attention, even if it was the wrong kind. At the same time I was starting to get bored with the 'fire-witch' way of life. I was a restless teenager, and it was all I had ever known, so I started looking for something else I could do… and that would earn my parents' praises. I considered and rejected many things before I finally hit on something that might work: wizardry."
Daystar gasped and quickly looked at the staff in the corner, then looked at her with a question in his eyes.
Etenia saw him and nodded. "Yes, that's a wizard's staff. I became nearly obsessed with the idea of becoming a wizard. Read about it, dreamed about it, lived with the idea for a year before it finally became too much to bear. One night I packed my bag and walked in to my mother and father's room, and announced I was leaving with or without their consent. They yelled at me, screamed, forbid me to go, but I was determined and nothing would hold me back. So I calmly bid them farewell and left the house. I haven't been back since." She paused and bit her lower lip. There was a look on her face, one of someone reliving painful memories that had been long buried, eyes bright with unshed tears. Daystar put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked at him in gratitude and drew a shaky breath to continue. "I wandered for a long time, living hand-to-mouth, until I found the Wizard's School. I banged on the door and asked if they would like another pupil. They wouldn't let me in, just yelled at me to go away. After three days of that I gave up and left. I wandered more. I think I've been almost everywhere now. Awhile later I managed to find the home of a kind elderly wizard, although I didn't know it at first, and asked for food and lodging for the night. He took me in and fed me, gave me an excellent room. He was so nice I stayed with him the next night too. I found out then he was a wizard and begged him to teach me. He just smiled and said 'My dear, as long as you want to learn I would be happy to teach you everything I can.'" The suffering look had vanished, she looked happy again. Then she looked at Daystar and frowned slightly. "My mentor never was a member of the Society of Wizards I'll have you know, and I have not been and will never be."
Daystar laughed and folded his arms across his chest, leaning back in his chair. "For some reason I didn't think either of you were. Go on."
She nodded. "I just know that you've had enough problems with that group to last thirty lifetimes. Anyway, he took me in and began to teach me. I stayed with him for four years, learning not only the wizards' way of magic but how to use it around and in conjunction with my fire magic, making me stronger than my teacher quickly. He confessed to me the reason the school would not let me in: female wizards are always stronger than male wizards." She grinned impishly into the middle distance. "Their egos couldn't take it. He didn't mind though, as long as I wanted to learn." The sadness came into her voice again. "Four years ago he died."
He replaced the hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. He must've been really special to you."
"He was. He was like a favorite uncle, or a father." Etenia wiped at her eyes with her hand. "But he had a peaceful death, thank God. It was what he wanted."
Daystar didn't say anything, but squeezed her shoulder.
"After he died, I wandered again, doing wizardries to earn my living as I traveled. I ended up here two days ago. It seemed like a quiet place to stop and work for awhile, once I made the place livable. So far it hasn't been too bad."
"What hasn't? And didn't I hear the word wizardry in there somewhere?" The new voice made them both look up. Shiara was standing in the doorway, a bandage wound around her head over the cut and her hair, looking slightly groggy. Nightwitch was there too, wearing a cat's version of a cross expression and glaring up at Shiara from the floor. Shiara ignored the cat though. "And who are you?" She peered in Etenia's direction, making her eyes focus. "You look sort of like…" Her mouth opened slowly as the realization dawned on her. "Tenia…"
Etenia stood up and smiled, pushing her hair behind her ear again. "Shiara, you should be in bed. That was quite a bad cut that, err, I gave you."
Shiara didn't seem to hear her sister. She walked slowly forward, wobbling slightly and leaning against the wall for support. She waved away Daystar's help when he stood and went to her, instead continuing towards Etenia, a look of mixed hope, disbelief, and shock on her face. Tenia stood where she was, a small smile on her face, waiting for her. Daystar could see now that Shiara was taller than her sister, had more red in her hair, and greener eyes. For all that there was something similar between the two: the same determination, strength, individuality. Daystar almost groaned: he had enough trouble putting up with those qualities in Shiara sometimes. Now he'd have to put up with someone practically the same. It was almost comical.
The sisters ignored him. Tenia put up her arms, still silent, waiting for Shiara to make the next move. Shiara was still leaning against the wall, facing her sister with that same look, but not moving forward a step. They were frozen in a tableau, one more to add to the already interesting night.
Suddenly Shiara's legs gave way. She sank against the wall, waving to her sister that she didn't need help. "I'm… fine…"
Tenia grabbed her around the waist as she passed out cold and shook her head. "Always stubbon, Shiar," she remarked. "Daystar, I'm putting her back in bed. You can have the other room over there." She nodded in the general direction of the door. "I'll share Shiara's." She began to half-carry, half-drag the taller girl back into Cimorene's old room, Nightwitch following her.
Daystar watched her for a minute, then shook his head and walked into the other room. The bed was still there, rather smaller than he remembered, and the dresser as well. "Well," he said to the air, "I can't say today's been boring for once."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: IT'S FINALLY DONE! YAY! **grins** Sorry, no volcano this time. Since it's finally summer (and I now have FREE TIME!) I'm gonna try and write a lot more, so look for updates in the future! ~Noala.