Chapter 10: Two Herald-Mages!?
Tanja and herself lagged a bit at the door a bit, glancing around the room. Three young boys were huddled together around an attractive blonde, who was enjoying it so much she simply glowed.
The trio around her looked to be from the south, dark hair and eyes with a more strong, stocky build. They seemed to range from 14 to maybe 18, and were very, very interested in this girl.
Sophi made a face and looked away from the fair over to the other side of the room. A girl around maybe 15 sat at a table, reading, her dark wavy hair pulled into a ponytail. Two other boys sat at a table behind her, talking to each other. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
She sighed and looked back over to the other side of the room, into a corner with scant light. A figure sat there as well--or rather leaned, but thanks to the light, or lack thereof, there was no particulars that could be seen as far as she was concerned.
Tanja nudged her and pointed over to a table. Sophi nodded and followed in her wake, taking the seat closest to the darkened corner.
A few more people entered, surprisingly enough, Tavan was one of them. She waved to them and immediately sat down with the blonde, who was still surrounded by the trio.
"Wow, a Haven yuppie," Sophi whispered to Tanja as she gave Tavan a strained smile and wave.
"There's always one," Tanja respond, not bothering to smile as she gave a sort of half-wave to Tavan.
They both shook their head lowly as Tavan looked away, giggling at something the taller of the trio has said.
"Alright all of you, take your seats," A new voice announced in the back of the room, and with that, a new figure. Sophi turned in her seat as Tanja looked over her shoulder at the speaker.
About Tanja's size, a man in his middle 30's walked to the front of the room in long strides. Long, black hair was tied into a tidy tail at his neck and streamed behind him in a way that reminded Sophi of Ezra's rail. He turned to face the room, setting a hand on the front table as he did so, watching as the trio and the blonde took their seats, his eagle-like features and eyes watching closely. Sophi doubted that much ever got past this man without him knowing about it.
"That means you as well, Ethan." As he spoke again, he looked to the back of the room, to the odd figure in the corner.
Sophi turned her full attention to the back of the room as the figure pushed off the wall and took a seat at a table beside them without a single word.
This lad of about 17, was just short of Tanja's height with an agile figure and was it just her, or did he have white hair?! Yes, hair the color of corn silk hung over his eyes, long bangs and shorter in the back. White hair and, as he looked over at them sidewise, Sophi could see he had gray eyes as well.
He leaned back in his seat and began fiddling with a small knife, blade no longer than two inches at the most.
It then clicked that that was what he was best suited to. He had the quick and agile figure of a cat and the way he played absently with the knife proved that he was used to handling it. His background suited something of a thief or assassin. He reminded her of Skif in that manner.
She jumped as Tanja nudged her, slowly standing up as the man at the front of the room introduced them both. Sophi managed to get to her feet before looking too disoriented as he said her name. She looked around to each of the people in the room and each of them stared back as the fellow in the front of the room introduced each of them.
The trio was Dez, Gisle and Baructt, who were all still stealing glances over at Audry, the blonde. The girl with the book was Isa, or so she thought, Isa didn't really look up from her book to nod or give any sign to who she was. A half dozen other names and faces and they sat down again, with much thanks involved in Sophi's case.
"Alright, with that out of the way, it's time to get down to work." The front man said, rubbing his hands together.
* * *
Sophi set down her stick of graphite and rubbed her eyes.
Huddled over a couple history books. "We've been here around what, two months now? And the stuff just keeps piling up! It never ceases!"
"History isn't much better, I'll warn you," she replied, looking to her sidewise.
"What is there to say? Guy escapes from the Empire, creates kingdom, the selfish bastard names it after himself then gets a Companion, the end!" Sophi groaned and leaned back until her back popped, then sighed. Tanja gave a sort of chuckle and nodded.
"Yea, I know. You can hardly write one book on that alone, not to mention what all of these say about it."
Sophi nodded absently and looked out the window in her room, which was looking more and more like home, if not only in the respect that it was very disorganized and had things piled everywhere you looked.
"Gods, what a nice day," she pushed away from her desk and stood to look down into the gardens.
She heard Tanja's furious scribbling returning as she set her hand against the window pane. Her deep brown eyes focused on two figures in the midst of the gardens, both sitting under a large decorative tree, which was now covered in wilting apple blossoms.
Both were obviously female, one with short, reddish-brown curls that could only be tamed with a scissors edge. The other, and younger, with dark hair as well and in Grays while the other was in full Whites. They seemed typical enough, except one thing caught Sophi's eye, a glimmering from the trainee's brow. A circlet surrounded her head, Sophi finally put together. Elspeth and Talia, they both looked like nothing more than distant figures in streaks of gray and white, knotted bits of dark colors for hair and the glimmer from Elspeth.
Sophi frowned a little and looked closer, squinting her eyes. A glimmer that bright shouldn't be coming from a little bitsy circlet that far away like that. Her brows knitted as she strained to get a better look at Elspeth. Was she, shining? Yes, it seemed to her that around Elspeth there was a halo of light that surrounded her, illuminating her slightly.
"I must be sleepy, I think Elspeth down there is glowing," She reported to Tanja, but speaking at the window.
"Hmm?" Tanja pushed from the desk and stood beside her, looking down into the gardens. "Oh, she is," she responded plainly, as if she was stating facts from Valdemar's history records.
"So you see it too, eh?" She glanced to Tanja, who nodded plainly. "And I'm not crazy?" Tanja shook her head. "Perfectly sane..." Sophi crossed her arms, looking to her skeptically as Tanja gave her another calm nod.
"Come on, it's not that big of a surprise, I mean she is the first Herald-Mage. You and I must just be picking up on it somehow. Besides," she shrugged as she walked away, "you sometimes shimmer, too." She sat down and leaned over her books again.
Sophi's mouth fell open, her eyes went wide and she felt her hands go hot. "What!?" She screeched at Tanja, rushing to her side.
Her companion jumped and looked at her, giving her an exasperated sigh. "Jeez, no big deal, you shimmer a little, probably from your gifts. No need to make me lose all hearing on one ear." She rubbed one ear, glowering at her friend.
"B-but I can't shimmer! You're going to be the Herald-Mage!" She blurted out in defense.
It was Tanja's turn to stare, then she shook her head as she held her hands up.
"Whoa now, what's this about being a Herald-Mage? All I said was that you shimmer and you come up with me being a Herald-Mage."
Sophi shook her head and spun around in place once before grabbing the seat and spinning it around to face Tanja. She sat down and leaned in closely, whispering quietly to her friend.
"Alright, well I was teasing Ezra about the gray mare that one day we reached Haven. I said 'Looks somebody has an admirer', jokingly, you know? Well, he gets all nervous and says to me 'Anaya?' I kinda laughed and told him he sounded hopeful, but he said the oddest thing." Sophi paused and shook her head, sitting back.
"First tell me this: Do all Companions keep dibs on each other?" She decided to ask first. Tanja paused a moment to think.
"I believe so, yes. What's that have to do--,"
"And do Anaya and Ezra look full grown?" Sophi interrupted, gripping her hands as she leaned forward again, half afraid of what she might say.
"Yes! But why does that--,"
"Just listen," Sophi wetted her lips as Tanja shut her mouth and leaned back. "OK, Ezra then scoffed and told me it was stupid and that he 'hasn't known her that long'." She rose her hands to signify the quote, then stopped a moment to let that all sink in. "How's that possible unless one of them is Grove-born? Meaning the Chosen is something significant! That means a Herald-Mage! Anaya's your Companion, meaning you're going to be a Herald-Mage!" Sophi thrust a finger into Tanja's shoulder.
Tanja swallowed, looking quite pale and disturbed as she let this all roll around in her mind.
"Wait, wait," she held up a hand, "Who's to say you aren't the Herald-Mage?" She pointed "Either one could be Grove-born, Ezra too. Besides, even if they were both Grove-born, we are Outworlders. They might be here because of that." She sat back, looking almost completely back to normal.
Sophi opened her mouth, then shut it again, rubbing the back of her neck.
"You have a point. There's only one way to find out, then," she dropped an arm over the back of her chair.
"And how's that, oh-plotting-one?" Tanja gave her a skeptical look.
Sophi grinned and wrote on a sheet of paper, then turned it to show Tanja. It read:

Ask Ezra and Anaya if they're
Grove-Born.
Tanja laughed as she read that, shaking her head in protest.
"Never work! They could just erase our memories afterwards."
"That's what the paper is for! To remind us if they do. That way, if they do, we have this, and this." Sophi held up her notepad and put the new note in it's pages.
"I've written every one of my theories on why we're here, everything we know about Companions, and briefly about Elspeth and the Vales and all of that. If they erase our memories, we'll have it still."
Tanja raised her brows and nodded in a surprised, if not impressed sort of way.
"Good idea. We'll go ask them tonight after Alberich kicks us around a while," she smiled a little and nodded again, looking to the time-candle in the far corner of Sophi's room. "We have a candlemark left so let's just get what we can done. I'm going to write my theories and all of that down in your notebook here, and you think of things to ask, remember, they can't lie mind-to-mind but they can warp things to fit them, so be specific." She pointed her glass pen at her in reminder, accentuating her last words.
"Sounds like a plan, then." Sophi stood and dragged her chair with her foot over to the window to lounge in the remaining sunlight. She heard another sheet of paper being picked out and Tanja's writing pick up again.