The world Cyrene's eyes opened onto was not hers, she knew that instantly. Nor was it any place in her imagination either, she'd never imagined a place like this. The sky was clear and cloudless as blue as...well a cloudless sky. The large hill she stood on bore rolling grass of a lush and well-tended green, and the enormous white house before her spoke of a wealth she never even dreamt of having. Not far to her right was a small forest, a creek running through it, past the house, under a bridge nearby the mansion-like building. Why would she be needed here? She made an attempt to stand up, but paused at genderless something near her that said ~~Not yet. Too soon.~~ A sudden inrush of air transported her to a place of freezing cold and darkest blackness with a loud pop bringing her back to reality.
The room is which she appeared was large, well-lit...and empty. She shook off her light-headedness and looked around. Slowly, as the dizziness began to wear off, she realized she had done it, she had successfully worked a spell. Her excitement was only tempered buy the memory of the casting and the scene before this one. But she quickly remembered her original mission and set off to look for Liam.
It wasn't an easy task. The place was immense, twist and turns everywhere with people traveling in different imaginary lanes, some of them in packs. Cyrene had only been here once, before the doors had opened for the day, and had spent more time trying to see everything rather than find out where it was all located. Ten minutes of aimless wandering had gotten her lost, another five minutes and it became hopelessly lost. She scanned back in her memory but it was all a jumble.
{Weren't gems and minerals exhibit by the fossils? Ocean Life? What? Holy Carp that's a big fish-er mammal. Hall of Bi-o-d-ver-city? Who makes up these names? Maybe I'm on the wrong floor. AH! Sunnava--that was my foot ya damned **censored**. Where's the stairs?}
At the top of the third flight, Cyrene paused, panting a bit. Voices floated from the other side of the door and she could make out Liam's baritone. Old habit turned instinct overrode her plan. She needed to hear what was going on before she just showed up. Cyrene slipped through the door into the Hall of African Mammals. The voices themselves came from the Rose Center Space Theatre. This whole floor seemed to be deserted save for her and the four voices. To her left was a large "Closed for Renovations" sign. She sidled over to a group of migrating elephants and sat on the steps that supported them, her legs and the balls of her feet braced for a quick escape.
Liam was speaking. "...but she's only just started."
A second voice, with a Hispanic accent replied. "We know that, but we can't control what they decide."
"They didn't decide. Only One did." piped up a third voice. This close Cyrene recognized it as Callahan's. She forced herself to keep her place. If she kept still, they'd let on why they were here.
"They let Him take her away?!" Liam's voice was a mixture of anger and panic.
"No." A fourth voice joined in, like Callahan's, but younger. "He reworked her spell."
"Why?"
"I think you can guess."
There was a long pause, the sound of pacing, then Liam "But, that's not a fair fight is it, Dairine? She's only just taken the Oath, she's not prepared...""Calm down." said the fourth "We managed to re-route the spell ba–."
"You did what?"
"Something incredibly stupid and dangerous ta say the least." grumbled the other man.
"What about her? What happened to my girl?!" Liam demanded. "Nita?"
Callahan spoke after a pause to choose her words. "Her spell will more or less go according as planned. I'm sorry Liam, but it takes a lot of energy to do something of that magnitude and we can't be sure where exactly interception took place, I can only assure you that she is unharmed."
There was a loud exasperated sigh, the sound of moving feet and shuffling boxes. Cyrene took this opportunity to peek through at the crowd. Directly ahead of her, Liam leaned on the railings, shaking his head, his face unusually solemn. In one of the stadium seats to his left reclined the man with the foreign accent, a tall man with dark hair and eyes. Beside him sat Nita Callahan, and few seats off sat the youngest of the party, a woman with Nita's eyes but red hair and a thicker pair of glasses. At the end of the aisle nearest to her sat an outdated laptop computer with legs.
Legs?
As Cyrene watched, the laptop scuttled it's way towards her, beeping as it walked. {Oh carp! It's gonna spot me eavesdroppin'. Shoo. Shoo, go 'way ya obsolete hunk a scrap} Too late. The red-haired lady had stood and was following the computer calling out "Spot come back here." Her eyes noticed the girl crouched in the next room and she paused to call out "Hey you. Who're you? What're you doing here?"
Cyrene stood up and stepped into the theatre. "Boss?"
The look of relief one Liam's face was so brief Cyrene wasn't sure she'd even seen it. The other adults stood to face her as the spider-like piece of metal stopped at her feet. Cyrene padded in on soft feet, right up to the four adults, aware of her steps repeating themselves in the air around her. This close she noticed that Liam's companions seemed tired, out of breath.
"Cyrene." Liam said, running a hand through his hair. "How'd you get here?"
Cyrene hesitated, looking warily between the other three in the room. He knew her reason and spoke as normally as possible. " So you've made it through your first spell alright then. That's great. Oh..uhh... I suppose this is as good a time as any. Cyrene these are some old friends of mine; Nita and Dairine Callahan and Kit Rodriguez."
The girl nodded politely enough, but kept her hands behind her back and looked at her guardian. He continued. "I told them about your recent discovery and thought you should get to know each other soon's possible. They're the Advisors for our area."
"Our area. Ya mean you--?"
"No. I mean around our neighborhood."
"Oh."
A rock settled in the pit of Cyrene's stomach. She had hoped that Liam was a wizard too, that he was more than just her "legal guardian." She perched herself on one of the railings as Kit prompted. "Did you run into any trouble in the spell?"
"Trouble? Like 'nunciations or somethin'? No."
"What about during the spell?" They were all staring very hard at her. Warning flags went up in her mind. Why were they so interested? Has she messed up somehow? Had she broken some rule, law, or part of the Oath without knowing it, during that one simple spell? The rock in her stomach grew heavier. Where they here to take the magic away from her already?
"Cyrene, we need to know; did anything unusual happen during your spell?"
{Is that a trick question?} She thought again of that beautiful place by the river. That was unusual wasn't it. She couldn't exactly lie, not anymore, not when words meant so much. She'd decided it, she would tell them.
NO
It was something more than a voice, a large something, echoing in her head. Apparently the other four hadn't heard it, they were sitting, waiting for her answer. She looked to Liam for reassurance, but he couldn't help her.
{I have ta tell them}
DON'T TELL
{ I can't lie. I gotta tell them}
CAN'T TELL
It was right. She couldn't explain it. Even those small simple, clear English words: I, house, saw; words she'd used for almost 20 years; she forgot how to pronounce them.
{But I have to tell them something }
"I thought I saw something, it was real quick though, so I couldn't be sure what." It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a lie either and it satisfied the adults.
The room is which she appeared was large, well-lit...and empty. She shook off her light-headedness and looked around. Slowly, as the dizziness began to wear off, she realized she had done it, she had successfully worked a spell. Her excitement was only tempered buy the memory of the casting and the scene before this one. But she quickly remembered her original mission and set off to look for Liam.
It wasn't an easy task. The place was immense, twist and turns everywhere with people traveling in different imaginary lanes, some of them in packs. Cyrene had only been here once, before the doors had opened for the day, and had spent more time trying to see everything rather than find out where it was all located. Ten minutes of aimless wandering had gotten her lost, another five minutes and it became hopelessly lost. She scanned back in her memory but it was all a jumble.
{Weren't gems and minerals exhibit by the fossils? Ocean Life? What? Holy Carp that's a big fish-er mammal. Hall of Bi-o-d-ver-city? Who makes up these names? Maybe I'm on the wrong floor. AH! Sunnava--that was my foot ya damned **censored**. Where's the stairs?}
At the top of the third flight, Cyrene paused, panting a bit. Voices floated from the other side of the door and she could make out Liam's baritone. Old habit turned instinct overrode her plan. She needed to hear what was going on before she just showed up. Cyrene slipped through the door into the Hall of African Mammals. The voices themselves came from the Rose Center Space Theatre. This whole floor seemed to be deserted save for her and the four voices. To her left was a large "Closed for Renovations" sign. She sidled over to a group of migrating elephants and sat on the steps that supported them, her legs and the balls of her feet braced for a quick escape.
Liam was speaking. "...but she's only just started."
A second voice, with a Hispanic accent replied. "We know that, but we can't control what they decide."
"They didn't decide. Only One did." piped up a third voice. This close Cyrene recognized it as Callahan's. She forced herself to keep her place. If she kept still, they'd let on why they were here.
"They let Him take her away?!" Liam's voice was a mixture of anger and panic.
"No." A fourth voice joined in, like Callahan's, but younger. "He reworked her spell."
"Why?"
"I think you can guess."
There was a long pause, the sound of pacing, then Liam "But, that's not a fair fight is it, Dairine? She's only just taken the Oath, she's not prepared...""Calm down." said the fourth "We managed to re-route the spell ba–."
"You did what?"
"Something incredibly stupid and dangerous ta say the least." grumbled the other man.
"What about her? What happened to my girl?!" Liam demanded. "Nita?"
Callahan spoke after a pause to choose her words. "Her spell will more or less go according as planned. I'm sorry Liam, but it takes a lot of energy to do something of that magnitude and we can't be sure where exactly interception took place, I can only assure you that she is unharmed."
There was a loud exasperated sigh, the sound of moving feet and shuffling boxes. Cyrene took this opportunity to peek through at the crowd. Directly ahead of her, Liam leaned on the railings, shaking his head, his face unusually solemn. In one of the stadium seats to his left reclined the man with the foreign accent, a tall man with dark hair and eyes. Beside him sat Nita Callahan, and few seats off sat the youngest of the party, a woman with Nita's eyes but red hair and a thicker pair of glasses. At the end of the aisle nearest to her sat an outdated laptop computer with legs.
Legs?
As Cyrene watched, the laptop scuttled it's way towards her, beeping as it walked. {Oh carp! It's gonna spot me eavesdroppin'. Shoo. Shoo, go 'way ya obsolete hunk a scrap} Too late. The red-haired lady had stood and was following the computer calling out "Spot come back here." Her eyes noticed the girl crouched in the next room and she paused to call out "Hey you. Who're you? What're you doing here?"
Cyrene stood up and stepped into the theatre. "Boss?"
The look of relief one Liam's face was so brief Cyrene wasn't sure she'd even seen it. The other adults stood to face her as the spider-like piece of metal stopped at her feet. Cyrene padded in on soft feet, right up to the four adults, aware of her steps repeating themselves in the air around her. This close she noticed that Liam's companions seemed tired, out of breath.
"Cyrene." Liam said, running a hand through his hair. "How'd you get here?"
Cyrene hesitated, looking warily between the other three in the room. He knew her reason and spoke as normally as possible. " So you've made it through your first spell alright then. That's great. Oh..uhh... I suppose this is as good a time as any. Cyrene these are some old friends of mine; Nita and Dairine Callahan and Kit Rodriguez."
The girl nodded politely enough, but kept her hands behind her back and looked at her guardian. He continued. "I told them about your recent discovery and thought you should get to know each other soon's possible. They're the Advisors for our area."
"Our area. Ya mean you--?"
"No. I mean around our neighborhood."
"Oh."
A rock settled in the pit of Cyrene's stomach. She had hoped that Liam was a wizard too, that he was more than just her "legal guardian." She perched herself on one of the railings as Kit prompted. "Did you run into any trouble in the spell?"
"Trouble? Like 'nunciations or somethin'? No."
"What about during the spell?" They were all staring very hard at her. Warning flags went up in her mind. Why were they so interested? Has she messed up somehow? Had she broken some rule, law, or part of the Oath without knowing it, during that one simple spell? The rock in her stomach grew heavier. Where they here to take the magic away from her already?
"Cyrene, we need to know; did anything unusual happen during your spell?"
{Is that a trick question?} She thought again of that beautiful place by the river. That was unusual wasn't it. She couldn't exactly lie, not anymore, not when words meant so much. She'd decided it, she would tell them.
NO
It was something more than a voice, a large something, echoing in her head. Apparently the other four hadn't heard it, they were sitting, waiting for her answer. She looked to Liam for reassurance, but he couldn't help her.
{I have ta tell them}
DON'T TELL
{ I can't lie. I gotta tell them}
CAN'T TELL
It was right. She couldn't explain it. Even those small simple, clear English words: I, house, saw; words she'd used for almost 20 years; she forgot how to pronounce them.
{But I have to tell them something }
"I thought I saw something, it was real quick though, so I couldn't be sure what." It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a lie either and it satisfied the adults.