~evil-cat saunters in and erects a large sign reading Danger! Angst!~

~cat looks at it~ Well that's a bit extreme, tis not that bad…. ~trails off as evil-cat whispers in her ear~ Oh…well yes I suppose there is that…ummm…yes...note the sign people…  On a brighter note! Thank you to my reviewers!  The checks are in the post! ~evil-cat indicates that due to etcetera-cat's status of student, the checks are of proton money, and any attempt to cash them will result in explosions, death destruction, and a surplus of bananas~  Yes well…we know you don't like bananas dear, but those people could like them, in which case a surplus of them would be welcome. ~evil-cat thinks there will not be a welcome for these bananas~

~cat sighs~ Well…you lot on with the fic!! ~shooes people in the direction of the story~ I have to go sort out the evil one before she starts with the anti-banana leaflet campaigns again……..

Chapter Two- Brooding Lessons.

  ~…look better in the morning… How wrong could I be?~  Saff thought wistfully as she stared out of the window of the village church.

  As per the Law, all Valdemaran children had to be taught reading, writing and figuring by the local Priest.  Until recently the children of Bolten had had to make their way to the nearby village of Asten, as Bolten itself had a church, but no Priest since old Father Malken had died of a brainstorm two winters ago. 

  This had all changed when Father Jaric had arrived in the spring.  Much to the delight of Orst, the Mayor of Bolten, Father Jaric was a Priest of Astera, to be based in Bolten itself.

  The majority of the villagers had immediately taken to the charismatic new Priest.  The notable exceptions to this were Ma Keman, the village Herb Healer (and in the opinion of most of the village; crackpot) and Saffri.

  With reluctance Saff dragged her eyes from the window and fixed them on a point just to the left of Father Jaric's grey-robed form, in an attempt to feign interest in the lesson.

  The tall, saturnine priest was holding forth on Changecircles and the dangers thereof, pacing back and forth in front of the class, black eyes sweeping the classroom, one hand occasionally straying to his forehead, as if he was developing a headache.

  Saffri couldn't tell if he was or not, as he was the only person she'd encountered who she couldn't hear in the back of her head.  He made her think of a stone, cold and dark, with no thoughts or feelings.

  For as long as she could remember Saff could hear things that weren't said.  Not out loud at any rate.

  ~At first I told people, and got patted on the head for my active imagination and my stories about the animals in the Forest.  Then they got suspicious of know-it-all Saff, 'Changechild Tree-girl'.~

  She hadn't been able to block out the voices, so had gotten used to her head being the nexus point of every random thought and internal grumble in the village.

  ~Well… I coped.  I didn't run mad with a cleaver.  I just stayed away from people, stayed in the Forest.  At least the wolves and owls don't fling silent accusations and buried secrets at me.~

  By the time Saffri was twelve she had learned that if she pushed hard enough with her mind she could dim the voices, and, unless they were emotionally charged, blocked them out entirely.  Since that point Saff had begun to use her 'knack' actively, to scout for likely animals on a hunt and to watch for trouble to be avoided.

  ~Trouble like Lorshi, nose in the air bitch.  And the rest of them.  Cowards the lot of them.~

  As always, thinking about 'Lorshi's Court'  caused Saff stomach to clench and a sour taste announced itself into the back of her throat.

  Lorshi was the daughter of Mayor Orst.  An only child who was doted on by her parents and had her every whim indulged.  Lorshi was also petty minded and creatively cruel, in the way that only some children could be.

  Despite being simply the daughter of a rural village Mayor, Lorshi acted like she was a Lady of the High Court itself.  In keeping with this Lorshi had collected the children of the village of Bolten around her, in a parody of a Court's social coteries.  The one exception to this was Saffri.  Saffri the loner.  Saffri the freak.  Saffri Tree-girl.  Lorshi shared Nerla's ideas of how a girl should act, and Saffri most decidedly did not fit these.

  ~And I didn't fit in.  Not in any way.  I could out hunt the boys and would rather sit in a rainstorm than titter about nonsense and mimic Court fashions.  Which in Lorshi's eyes made me a threat… and a target.~

  Saffri-baiting became the main pastime of Lorshi's Court, but only out of sight of the adults.  Saffri also knew that it was no use complaining to anyone, in the eyes of the village Lorshi's Court was endearing and innocent and Saffri was the half-mad loner.  The child who's own mother had been heard to wonder if her girl little had not been swapped with a changling as a babe.

  Saff was roused from her nebulous thoughts by the sensation of wet on her cheek.  Raising her hand she realised it was caused by a wad of wet paper, launched at her by Garen, one of Lorshi's cronies.  Glaring at him she wiped her cheek clean, ignoring the muffled giggles and whispered taunts.

  "That'll teach you to wit wander Tree-girl."

  "Freak.  Saffri the freak!"

  Shaken out of her reverie Saff became aware of the pounding headache she was developing and the fact that her eyes were tearing up.

  ~Oh, Gods.  I can't cry in front of them.~

  Unsure whether the incipient tears were caused by the whispered comments or the sharp pain that was lancing between her eyes and through her head, Saff blinked furiously and kept her head down for the remainder of the lesson, which luckily, wasn't for long.  The Holy Father also seemed to be suffering from a headache, his skin had turned an odd shade of green and he was sweating heavily.

  "Children, you may go."  This was said in almost a groan as the Father slid down into his chair.  Waving away the concerned fawning of Lorshi and Garen he indicated that everyone should leave.

  Saffri didn't need telling twice, she was up and out of the door of the classroom, into the main chapel and away before anyone could corner her or trip her up.

  Upon reaching her house Saff peered through the window, with eyes that watered furiously and refused to focus.  ~Damn, mum's in the kitchen…eesh my head!~

  As quietly as she could, Saffri balanced her slate and other school things on the doorstep and eeled her way out of the garden.  Just as she reached the picket fence marking the edge of the village her mother's voice rang out behind her.

  "Saffri! Get back here young lady!"

  Pretending not to hear, Saff hopped the fence and vanished into the Forest, running as fast as her pounding head and fast evaporating sense of balance would allow.

~***~

  Marks later, or so it seemed, after crashing through undergrowth and bushes like a blinded pig Saff dropped to the ground next to a small pond, lungs and legs aching, gasping breaths like sobs.

  ~It hurts.  It really hurts.~

  Saff gasped and clutched at her head, scrabbling and rubbing at it as if to pull out the pain, both physical and mental.

  It wasn't just a headache.  As the pain had increased, back there, in the classroom, she hadn't been able to keep her concentration on pushing the others out of her mind, and worse, once she'd lost some of the wall she always imagined she was pushing against, the rest of it seemed to crumble, almost as if someone was pulling it down.

  As the wall had fallen they had flooded into Saff's head, a seething mass of petty cruelty and eye-jarring colours.  Silent taunts and acidic green contempt had washed over her, and Saff had been caught, drowning.  Not able to block them out, she had been forced to listen.

  Now, out in the silence of the Forest Saffri attempted to push her wall upright, to block out everything.  It wouldn't raise.  The village was still there in her mind, a blurred mass of acid green and ichor yellow off to the east, and above she could Hear the mindless preening of a wood pigeon.

  ~Work!  Work damn you! Please…please work…~  Shouting at the wall, pleading with it, made no difference.  Saffri still felt like her mind was impossibly full of other people, other minds, and achingly empty of herself.

  Curling into a foetal position, tears soaking her hair and the ground, Saffri Felt her mind flow outwards, like smoke on the breeze.  Like smoke she could feel it shredding and tattering, spreading out and out into nothingness.  Just when she thought she could stand no more a darkness, blessed oblivion swooped down on her and carried her off.