Chapter 1: Girl in a Boat
First of all, my disclaimer, ALL of the characters and settings mentioned below, besides Fi and things directly to do with her, are from the great mind and imagination of Tamora Pierce. Secondly, this is the shortest of all my chapters, they WILL get longer. So be warned! : - )
Keladry of Mindelan stared out over the deep ocean. Six months ago she had taken the Ordeal. It was not something she wished to repeat. At her side stood the famous Wildmage whose eyes matched the body of water she looked across. Daine had come with her when Kel decided it was time to meet the lady knight she had so desperately wanted to follow. Now, standing on one of the Swoop's highest balconies she looked across at the young woman beside her. When she saw the frown on Daine's face and watched her eyes change to the golden-brown colour of a hawk's, Kel knew that she could see something that wasn't quite right.
" What is it Daine?"
"It's a boat, heading here."
"What's so strange about a fishing boat?"
"There's an immortal on board"
"An immortal!" exclaimed Kel, losing her Yamani calm, "What type"
" A cat. Kel could you go and get Alanna please. Tell her...." Daine stopped, as if lost for words, "Tell her that Faithful's back. She'll know who I mean."
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Fiona sat in the boat as the gentle waves lapped the sides. Her sharp blue eyes were looking at the book in her lap. On the front of the huge volume it said in hand-written letters:
Fiona,
This is all your world knows about Tortall
Use it to your advantage
The map will always show where you are
I will watch over you
Flicking her bushy brown hair behind her ear in one swift movement, Fi turned the first few pages to a map of the Eastern Lands. On it was a small blue circle heading towards a barony marked 'Pirates Swoop'? In the rest of the document she found the books she loved, the ones she had thought were just very good fiction. She shook her head.
" This isn't a dream you know" mewed the black cat lying by the mast lazily, "Tortall is real, as was your old world; what was that place called?"
Fiona looked up, her grey flecked eyes giving nothing away, "Earth. I lived on Earth but my country was England." The girl looked upwards, "I don't know how I made it here, but I'm sure it's a God's doing." She sighed, and sifted through the stories of Alanna, Daine and Kel.