Chapter 2
~ 4 years later
'Now, Safhia, you must concentrate…do not let your thoughts wander…'
Safhia closed her eyes and lifted her hands, cupping them around an imaginary orb before her chest. Her brow furrowed in concentration and she breathed deeply. 'I am ready,' she sent, and the Lady Ashanti closed her own eyes.
'Good girl,' she said. 'Now, we've practiced mental projection, and you've been successful at performing the task with simple objects like eggs and flowers. Today we're going to try something a little more complicated.'
In the next instant, an image began to form itself in Safhia's mind. Bit by bit it became larger and clearer, and within a few seconds she could see with her mind's eye the image of a common Kinmokian soldier. Safhia resisted the urge to open her eyes and glare at her teacher.
'Its too big! I can't project something so large!' she sent, but Ashanti remained silent. Realizing this was a battle she would not win, Safhia sighed and focused on the image in her mind. She breathed deeply and evenly, imagining the soldier as a real, living being, using the power of her thoughts to "push" the image out of her mind. This was the most difficult part of the exercise, and a few beads of sweat appeared on her forehead before she was through. In the space between her hands, a fuzzy image of the soldier was beginning to appear, looking a bit like the miniature men used by her father and his army generals in planning and practicing battle strategy. When she could feel that the image she held was clear and complete, she gave it an extra push with her mind, causing it to drift away from her to a spot about 5 feet away. Now it was a little easier; she willed the image to expand and grow, becoming taller and more filled out, until it stood almost 6 feet tall and had the look of a well- built man. Cautiously, trying hard not to lose her focus, she opened her eyes to see her handiwork. Before her stood what looked, for all intents and purposes, to be one of her father's men prepared for war, right down to the curl of his hair below his helmet ad the reflection of the light on his shield. She glanced over at Ashanti, who's eyes were open and watching her. The mage smiled and nodded slightly, and Safhia smiled in return.
'That is good work, young princess. You have learned well.' Ashanti sent with a hint of pride in her voice. 'But I have one final challenge for you, and then you may leave for the day. Can you make the soldier move?'
Safhia's eyes widened and the image wavered, but she regained her focus and lowered her brow in concentration. 'I'll try…' she sent, and this time keeping her eyes open she tried to imagine the soldier in front of her taking a step.
'Remember, the image is only an extension of your mind and your imagination. You can manipulate it as you wish, once you can realize that.' Ashanti whispered into the back of her mind. Safhia heard her words and let them sink in, trying to visualize the line of connection between herself and the image. After a moment or two, she suddenly understood, and when she closed her eyes she could still see the soldier, life size and looking at her as if her were, in act, alive, and she could see a line of pale blue energy coming from the center of the image and running to someplace above her line of vision. Anyone with mage sight who was watching the young princess would have seen what looked like a softly glowing thread connecting Safhia's forehead with the stomach of the soldier.
Now she understood. With a hint of a smile and new confidence, Safhia sent a command down the connecting line:
'WALK!'
She opened her eyes and saw the soldier take one step, then two, just as she had imagined it. Knowing now how to control her image, she then made him stop walking, draw his sword, and kneel before her, bowing his head. She grinned and looked at Ashanti, who was gliding over beside her, beaming with pride.
'Very well done, my little one. That is a highly advanced skill you have just mastered. Many mind-mages do not learn to do so until they are twice your age. You should be extremely proud of your accomplishment.' Ashanti placed a hand on her young charge's shoulder and squeezed it gently. Safhia smiled up at her, then turned and pulled the image back into her mind just as she had been taught, slowly, bit by bit, so that she would leave no stray energy or thoughts behind. When there was nothing left, she finally allowed her concentration drop along with her hands, and turned to face Ashanti, a question in her eyes.
"I don't understand Ashanti-sensei, what good will such a trick ever serve?" she asked aloud. The mystic never spoke except through mindspeech, and while they were working Safhia would normally do the same, but when training was through Safhia preferred to use normal speech wen she could. Ashanti understood it just as well as mindspeech, and so she did not object. "The image is just that, an image; it cannot be touched or held and it cannot affect its environment…"
Ashanti placed a hand against the small of Safhia's back, pushing her gently in the direction of the path that would lead back to the palace and walking beside with her. 'Well, the more advanced mind-mages who have mastered their skills will often use that particular trick simply for entertainment, especially for others. But the images CAN perform useful functions if one is able to manipulate them effectively.' They walked slowly through the mystics' vale, a mage-created hideaway in the grassy plains about a mile or so from the palace. It was an enormous place, almost a city in itself, though only the three mystics and their faerie servants resided there. Inside the vale it was always warm and comfortable, the humidity kept at a perfect level. It was created to resemble a sort of rainforest, with huge trees whose branches created a canopy overhead, and soft moss like a thick green carpet underfoot. There were paths weaving in and around the trunks of these enormous trees, along which were hung softly- glowing mage lanterns which were attached to the trunks of the trees themselves and made to look as if they were in fact parts of he trees as well. The lanterns were always lit, for the canopy of branches and leaves shut out most of the sunlight during the day, and at night they would simply glow more brightly. They were kept alive by the current of magical energy that ran calmly throughout the vale, and the single thought that had created them was enough to keep them lit as long as that energy existed.
In some of the trees, high above the ground, were many small hut-like dwellings in which lived the childlike but intelligent faeries that had served the mystics for at least a millennia. They were similar to the faeries and sprites who played and lived in the vast Kinmokian plains in many ways, but unlike their smaller cousins the mystics' faeries grew to be almost four feet tall. They also had a great deal of physical strength in addition to their powers of limited magic, though you would never know it to look at them; they looked almost as thin and fragile as the playful plains faeries. No one seemed to know exactly how the faeries had come into being (the mystics knew and kept it secret for reasons of their own) though there were plenty of theories. Some believed that a group of the more common plains faeries had wandered into the vale and had been unable to find their way out, and had become what they were today from the centuries of constant exposure to unfamiliar magic. Others believed that they had been created by the mystics themselves when the vale itself had been made. However, the Kinmokian public was agreed on one fact: the faeries had undoubtedly been created by magic. They were immortal, as were many such creatures on Kinmoku, but their immortality was dependent on their proximity to magic. A few adventurous ones long ago had tried to leave, and had not even made it to the capital city before they perished. They would live for as long as they remained within the mystics' vale, and for a short time after leaving it, but within a day or so they would become weak and die. It was the mystics' magic which had created them, and it was that same magic that kept them alive. With the exception of those first few, however, they were not unhappy with the arrangement; faeries by nature were uncomfortable with unfamiliarity and rarely if ever left the place of their birth, and these faeires were no different. The vale was familiar and comfortable to them, and they had no desire to leave it. And though the mystics required much of them, they treated them exceptionally well, providing them with good food and allowing them more leisure time than any palace servant, not to mention the tree-huts they had built that were as comfortable inside as any faerie's nest in the plains, perhaps moreso for here they were safe from the dangers of weather and climate changes, as well as from larger creatures who might trample or even try to eat them, a horrible fate for a creature who cannot die but can certainly feel pain. No, the faeries were perfectly happy right where they were, and they were loyal to the mystics to a fault.
One of these faeries stood on the path in front of Safhia and Ashanti as they came around a corner, holding a basket of what looked like brightly colored fruits and looking up at a hut high in the large tree she stood beside. As they approached, the faerie turned to look at them and, seeing who it was, flashed a brilliant smile and touched two fingers to her forehead, then her chest, in the traditional greeting of her people. Safhia and her mentor smiled and returned the greeting, recognizing the faerie as Toki, one of the clan's leaders; the faeries, like Safhia's people, were primarily led by women.
"Good evening to you, young princess, milady," the faerie said in a slightly accented, lilting voice, shifting her basket of fruit in her hands. "Finished your training for the day, I see."
:Yes, she's off for home, now,: Ashanti sent with a smile. :And so are you, it seems.: Toki smiled again and nodded, her wings slowly spreading and closing. The faeries' wings, like those of a moth, were covered in a soft, featherlike, iridescent powder, and when they moved it looked as if their color were changing. They were like beautiful prisms, catching all the colors of the rainbow.
"Aye, that I am milady. I've finished today's work, and the vale seems quiet, so I'm off to take some rest."
:And it is certainly rest well deserved,: Ashanti replied. :And I will certainly not be the one to keep you from it. Have a good rest my friend.:
"And you, milady, Princess," Toki replied, nodding her head to Ashanti and her young apprentice, before turning and leaping into the air, her glittering wings carrying her high into the treetops as she held her basket tightly. Safhia waved until the faerie had disappeared into her hut high in the branches, then turned back to the path at the touch of Ashanti's hand on her shoulder. As they continued down the path, Safhia's mind returned to her earlier question.
"Ashanti-sensei, you said those images could be useful, but you never told me how," she began, and Ashanti chuckled.
'I certainly admire your persistence, young one,' Ashanti said with a hint of humor in her mindvoice, and Safhia looked defensive.
"I only want to know the proper use for my powers, sensei," she said, looking at her. "You and your sisters, and even my mother…especially Mother…always tell me how important it is that I learn to use them well. What good is it to know how to use my powers if I do not know when to use them?"
Ashanti chuckled. 'As always, little one, you are very wise for your age,' she sent as they turned another corner and neared the portal that served as the entrance and exit to the vale. The only signal that you had come to the portal was a slight waver in the air; the natural illusion of the vale was perfect in that respect. Nothing of the outside world was visible while you were inside, and this perfectly disguised portal was the only way in or out of the vale. In fact, if someone unfamiliar with the vale were to stumble across the portal on the other side, it was entirely possible that that person might never find the way out. The mystics always guided Safhia to the exit, but she had spent so much of her young life here that finding her way was almost second nature to her. Coming upon it now, she immediately knew it for what it was, and was careful not to step into the boundary of the portal until she and Ashanti were finished speaking. She turned to face her now, and Ashanti looked down on her young apprentice with a slight smile on her face. She cupped her cheek in one hand; her touch was soft and warm against Safhia's cheek, and tingled slightly with the magic that ran throughout the mystic's body.
'Yes, you are a very intelligent little girl, and you have done exceedingly well in your lessons these past years. I fear there is little more that I or my sisters will be able to teach you. The most important lessons you will not learn from us, but through experience. Very soon, my little one, you will be on your own, and we will be unable to help you further. But before that time, if there were only one thing I would have you learn from us, it would be this:' she paused here, and knelt, looking straight into Safhia's eyes, and when she spoke again her mindvoice was serious and insistent. 'You must never, no matter how you feel justified, use your powers to cause harm to one who does not deserve it. Your mind is a weapon, Safhia, and like any weapon it is both dangerous and deadly, and must not be abused or used unjustly. You have been given a gift, a gift that one day you may need to keep those you love safe, and you have the strength in your heart to use it for great good. But do not let yourself be tricked into using your powers for evil by pride, jealousy, or hate; any misuse of your powers, however small, will make it easier for the dark powers of the world to catch and hold you. You must always shield your heart against hurtful feelings, and try always to love those around you, even those who may hurt you.'
Safhia stared breathlessly into Ashanti's depthless, searching silver eyes and nodded slowly. "I understand…..I will do my best, sensei," she said quietly, and Ashanti smiled.
'I know you will, princess. If I thought otherwise, I would never have agreed to teach you.' She stood once more and turned Safhia back towards the portal, pressing her hand against the small of Safhia's back and pushing her towards the boundary. 'And now you must run along home, your mother will be worried.'
Safhia blinked, then her eyes widened and she looked over her shoulder at Ashanti, just as she stepped over the boundary. "Wait, Ashanti- sensei, you still didn't answer my question…"
Then there was a sudden instant of disorientation, a sensation of falling, and before she could say another word Safhia found herself outside the vale, surrounded by the waist-high grasses of the Kinmokian plains, and looking towards the capital city, the crystal spires of the palace rising above the horizon and glowing orange and red in the last light of the setting sun.
'That is for tomorrow's lesson,' came Ashanti's voice in her mind, sounding amused. 'Goodnight, princess.'
Safhia's mouth dropped open in surprise, but a moment later she was laughing. The mystics, for all their wisdom and power, certainly had a sense of humor. 'But,' she thought as she began walking through the grass towards the palace, 'she won't get away with that tomorrow. I'll make sure of it!' She smiled to herself as she skipped through the grass and neared the palace gates, holding her skirts up to keep them from getting dirty or caught between her legs, her red hair reflecting and glowing in the equally red light of sunset.
~ 4 years later
'Now, Safhia, you must concentrate…do not let your thoughts wander…'
Safhia closed her eyes and lifted her hands, cupping them around an imaginary orb before her chest. Her brow furrowed in concentration and she breathed deeply. 'I am ready,' she sent, and the Lady Ashanti closed her own eyes.
'Good girl,' she said. 'Now, we've practiced mental projection, and you've been successful at performing the task with simple objects like eggs and flowers. Today we're going to try something a little more complicated.'
In the next instant, an image began to form itself in Safhia's mind. Bit by bit it became larger and clearer, and within a few seconds she could see with her mind's eye the image of a common Kinmokian soldier. Safhia resisted the urge to open her eyes and glare at her teacher.
'Its too big! I can't project something so large!' she sent, but Ashanti remained silent. Realizing this was a battle she would not win, Safhia sighed and focused on the image in her mind. She breathed deeply and evenly, imagining the soldier as a real, living being, using the power of her thoughts to "push" the image out of her mind. This was the most difficult part of the exercise, and a few beads of sweat appeared on her forehead before she was through. In the space between her hands, a fuzzy image of the soldier was beginning to appear, looking a bit like the miniature men used by her father and his army generals in planning and practicing battle strategy. When she could feel that the image she held was clear and complete, she gave it an extra push with her mind, causing it to drift away from her to a spot about 5 feet away. Now it was a little easier; she willed the image to expand and grow, becoming taller and more filled out, until it stood almost 6 feet tall and had the look of a well- built man. Cautiously, trying hard not to lose her focus, she opened her eyes to see her handiwork. Before her stood what looked, for all intents and purposes, to be one of her father's men prepared for war, right down to the curl of his hair below his helmet ad the reflection of the light on his shield. She glanced over at Ashanti, who's eyes were open and watching her. The mage smiled and nodded slightly, and Safhia smiled in return.
'That is good work, young princess. You have learned well.' Ashanti sent with a hint of pride in her voice. 'But I have one final challenge for you, and then you may leave for the day. Can you make the soldier move?'
Safhia's eyes widened and the image wavered, but she regained her focus and lowered her brow in concentration. 'I'll try…' she sent, and this time keeping her eyes open she tried to imagine the soldier in front of her taking a step.
'Remember, the image is only an extension of your mind and your imagination. You can manipulate it as you wish, once you can realize that.' Ashanti whispered into the back of her mind. Safhia heard her words and let them sink in, trying to visualize the line of connection between herself and the image. After a moment or two, she suddenly understood, and when she closed her eyes she could still see the soldier, life size and looking at her as if her were, in act, alive, and she could see a line of pale blue energy coming from the center of the image and running to someplace above her line of vision. Anyone with mage sight who was watching the young princess would have seen what looked like a softly glowing thread connecting Safhia's forehead with the stomach of the soldier.
Now she understood. With a hint of a smile and new confidence, Safhia sent a command down the connecting line:
'WALK!'
She opened her eyes and saw the soldier take one step, then two, just as she had imagined it. Knowing now how to control her image, she then made him stop walking, draw his sword, and kneel before her, bowing his head. She grinned and looked at Ashanti, who was gliding over beside her, beaming with pride.
'Very well done, my little one. That is a highly advanced skill you have just mastered. Many mind-mages do not learn to do so until they are twice your age. You should be extremely proud of your accomplishment.' Ashanti placed a hand on her young charge's shoulder and squeezed it gently. Safhia smiled up at her, then turned and pulled the image back into her mind just as she had been taught, slowly, bit by bit, so that she would leave no stray energy or thoughts behind. When there was nothing left, she finally allowed her concentration drop along with her hands, and turned to face Ashanti, a question in her eyes.
"I don't understand Ashanti-sensei, what good will such a trick ever serve?" she asked aloud. The mystic never spoke except through mindspeech, and while they were working Safhia would normally do the same, but when training was through Safhia preferred to use normal speech wen she could. Ashanti understood it just as well as mindspeech, and so she did not object. "The image is just that, an image; it cannot be touched or held and it cannot affect its environment…"
Ashanti placed a hand against the small of Safhia's back, pushing her gently in the direction of the path that would lead back to the palace and walking beside with her. 'Well, the more advanced mind-mages who have mastered their skills will often use that particular trick simply for entertainment, especially for others. But the images CAN perform useful functions if one is able to manipulate them effectively.' They walked slowly through the mystics' vale, a mage-created hideaway in the grassy plains about a mile or so from the palace. It was an enormous place, almost a city in itself, though only the three mystics and their faerie servants resided there. Inside the vale it was always warm and comfortable, the humidity kept at a perfect level. It was created to resemble a sort of rainforest, with huge trees whose branches created a canopy overhead, and soft moss like a thick green carpet underfoot. There were paths weaving in and around the trunks of these enormous trees, along which were hung softly- glowing mage lanterns which were attached to the trunks of the trees themselves and made to look as if they were in fact parts of he trees as well. The lanterns were always lit, for the canopy of branches and leaves shut out most of the sunlight during the day, and at night they would simply glow more brightly. They were kept alive by the current of magical energy that ran calmly throughout the vale, and the single thought that had created them was enough to keep them lit as long as that energy existed.
In some of the trees, high above the ground, were many small hut-like dwellings in which lived the childlike but intelligent faeries that had served the mystics for at least a millennia. They were similar to the faeries and sprites who played and lived in the vast Kinmokian plains in many ways, but unlike their smaller cousins the mystics' faeries grew to be almost four feet tall. They also had a great deal of physical strength in addition to their powers of limited magic, though you would never know it to look at them; they looked almost as thin and fragile as the playful plains faeries. No one seemed to know exactly how the faeries had come into being (the mystics knew and kept it secret for reasons of their own) though there were plenty of theories. Some believed that a group of the more common plains faeries had wandered into the vale and had been unable to find their way out, and had become what they were today from the centuries of constant exposure to unfamiliar magic. Others believed that they had been created by the mystics themselves when the vale itself had been made. However, the Kinmokian public was agreed on one fact: the faeries had undoubtedly been created by magic. They were immortal, as were many such creatures on Kinmoku, but their immortality was dependent on their proximity to magic. A few adventurous ones long ago had tried to leave, and had not even made it to the capital city before they perished. They would live for as long as they remained within the mystics' vale, and for a short time after leaving it, but within a day or so they would become weak and die. It was the mystics' magic which had created them, and it was that same magic that kept them alive. With the exception of those first few, however, they were not unhappy with the arrangement; faeries by nature were uncomfortable with unfamiliarity and rarely if ever left the place of their birth, and these faeires were no different. The vale was familiar and comfortable to them, and they had no desire to leave it. And though the mystics required much of them, they treated them exceptionally well, providing them with good food and allowing them more leisure time than any palace servant, not to mention the tree-huts they had built that were as comfortable inside as any faerie's nest in the plains, perhaps moreso for here they were safe from the dangers of weather and climate changes, as well as from larger creatures who might trample or even try to eat them, a horrible fate for a creature who cannot die but can certainly feel pain. No, the faeries were perfectly happy right where they were, and they were loyal to the mystics to a fault.
One of these faeries stood on the path in front of Safhia and Ashanti as they came around a corner, holding a basket of what looked like brightly colored fruits and looking up at a hut high in the large tree she stood beside. As they approached, the faerie turned to look at them and, seeing who it was, flashed a brilliant smile and touched two fingers to her forehead, then her chest, in the traditional greeting of her people. Safhia and her mentor smiled and returned the greeting, recognizing the faerie as Toki, one of the clan's leaders; the faeries, like Safhia's people, were primarily led by women.
"Good evening to you, young princess, milady," the faerie said in a slightly accented, lilting voice, shifting her basket of fruit in her hands. "Finished your training for the day, I see."
:Yes, she's off for home, now,: Ashanti sent with a smile. :And so are you, it seems.: Toki smiled again and nodded, her wings slowly spreading and closing. The faeries' wings, like those of a moth, were covered in a soft, featherlike, iridescent powder, and when they moved it looked as if their color were changing. They were like beautiful prisms, catching all the colors of the rainbow.
"Aye, that I am milady. I've finished today's work, and the vale seems quiet, so I'm off to take some rest."
:And it is certainly rest well deserved,: Ashanti replied. :And I will certainly not be the one to keep you from it. Have a good rest my friend.:
"And you, milady, Princess," Toki replied, nodding her head to Ashanti and her young apprentice, before turning and leaping into the air, her glittering wings carrying her high into the treetops as she held her basket tightly. Safhia waved until the faerie had disappeared into her hut high in the branches, then turned back to the path at the touch of Ashanti's hand on her shoulder. As they continued down the path, Safhia's mind returned to her earlier question.
"Ashanti-sensei, you said those images could be useful, but you never told me how," she began, and Ashanti chuckled.
'I certainly admire your persistence, young one,' Ashanti said with a hint of humor in her mindvoice, and Safhia looked defensive.
"I only want to know the proper use for my powers, sensei," she said, looking at her. "You and your sisters, and even my mother…especially Mother…always tell me how important it is that I learn to use them well. What good is it to know how to use my powers if I do not know when to use them?"
Ashanti chuckled. 'As always, little one, you are very wise for your age,' she sent as they turned another corner and neared the portal that served as the entrance and exit to the vale. The only signal that you had come to the portal was a slight waver in the air; the natural illusion of the vale was perfect in that respect. Nothing of the outside world was visible while you were inside, and this perfectly disguised portal was the only way in or out of the vale. In fact, if someone unfamiliar with the vale were to stumble across the portal on the other side, it was entirely possible that that person might never find the way out. The mystics always guided Safhia to the exit, but she had spent so much of her young life here that finding her way was almost second nature to her. Coming upon it now, she immediately knew it for what it was, and was careful not to step into the boundary of the portal until she and Ashanti were finished speaking. She turned to face her now, and Ashanti looked down on her young apprentice with a slight smile on her face. She cupped her cheek in one hand; her touch was soft and warm against Safhia's cheek, and tingled slightly with the magic that ran throughout the mystic's body.
'Yes, you are a very intelligent little girl, and you have done exceedingly well in your lessons these past years. I fear there is little more that I or my sisters will be able to teach you. The most important lessons you will not learn from us, but through experience. Very soon, my little one, you will be on your own, and we will be unable to help you further. But before that time, if there were only one thing I would have you learn from us, it would be this:' she paused here, and knelt, looking straight into Safhia's eyes, and when she spoke again her mindvoice was serious and insistent. 'You must never, no matter how you feel justified, use your powers to cause harm to one who does not deserve it. Your mind is a weapon, Safhia, and like any weapon it is both dangerous and deadly, and must not be abused or used unjustly. You have been given a gift, a gift that one day you may need to keep those you love safe, and you have the strength in your heart to use it for great good. But do not let yourself be tricked into using your powers for evil by pride, jealousy, or hate; any misuse of your powers, however small, will make it easier for the dark powers of the world to catch and hold you. You must always shield your heart against hurtful feelings, and try always to love those around you, even those who may hurt you.'
Safhia stared breathlessly into Ashanti's depthless, searching silver eyes and nodded slowly. "I understand…..I will do my best, sensei," she said quietly, and Ashanti smiled.
'I know you will, princess. If I thought otherwise, I would never have agreed to teach you.' She stood once more and turned Safhia back towards the portal, pressing her hand against the small of Safhia's back and pushing her towards the boundary. 'And now you must run along home, your mother will be worried.'
Safhia blinked, then her eyes widened and she looked over her shoulder at Ashanti, just as she stepped over the boundary. "Wait, Ashanti- sensei, you still didn't answer my question…"
Then there was a sudden instant of disorientation, a sensation of falling, and before she could say another word Safhia found herself outside the vale, surrounded by the waist-high grasses of the Kinmokian plains, and looking towards the capital city, the crystal spires of the palace rising above the horizon and glowing orange and red in the last light of the setting sun.
'That is for tomorrow's lesson,' came Ashanti's voice in her mind, sounding amused. 'Goodnight, princess.'
Safhia's mouth dropped open in surprise, but a moment later she was laughing. The mystics, for all their wisdom and power, certainly had a sense of humor. 'But,' she thought as she began walking through the grass towards the palace, 'she won't get away with that tomorrow. I'll make sure of it!' She smiled to herself as she skipped through the grass and neared the palace gates, holding her skirts up to keep them from getting dirty or caught between her legs, her red hair reflecting and glowing in the equally red light of sunset.
