Chapter Two

Herald Talia, Queen's Own, second only to the Queen, raced down the dark, deserted hallways, the pain and suffering consuming her until she could think of nothing else. The pain was less prominent as the suffering but they were both there with a heavy feel of self-hate. She darted left down a side passage that would take her to the library faster than the hall that she had been on. She felt the plain emotions surge. Now she could feel anger, hot, potent, and uncontrolled. She raced up to the closed double doors and threw them open. She paused, panting, trying to regain her breath. She had many memories of this place, including when she had first met Kris. Her breath caught slightly when she thought of him and she stood there for a moment savoring his memory. Talia felt the anger surge again, reminding her why she was there. She sprinted to the far corner, clutching her aching side. As she rounded about the last shelf of books, she saw a girl around the age of 12 sobbing like there was nothing left in the world for her. The Queens Own immediately threw her arms around her and with her Empathy tried to calm her down.

When the girl was coherent enough to speak, Talia held the young girl, no Heraldic-Trainee, an arms length from her. Now up close she, Talia could see that she was older than she had first assumed, maybe 14 or 15, and very pretty. She would've been if her nose wasn't bright red and there were tear streaks all down her cheeks. Golden-brown hair streamed down her body in tangled torrents, it was obvious she hadn't brushed it lately. As Talia's power gnawed at the black mountain of despair, hatred, and remorse, the Trainee flung herself into Talia's arms, her sobbing renewed, twice now as strong.

"Shhhh..." I murmured in her ear, "It's okay. Everything will be okay." I felt her tense beneath me and she thrust herself away.

"Nothing will ever be okay," she sobbed into the soaked pillow, "I killed him, I'm a murderer. I shouldn't be alive. I killed him!" Talia had heard this quite often from Heralds. "I deserve to die!"

"No..." Talia whispered soothingly, "Honey, it's okay. You didn't do anything. Everything will be okay. Don't worry about anything."

"No!" she yelled, "Your wrong! It won't be okay! I killed him!" Already her arguments were getting half hearted, "I'm a murderer! I shouldn't have been chosen!" Slowly her tears subsided.

Talia breathed a sigh of relief. Now the slightly easier part. "Alright. Now, what's you name? And please explain why you are so unhappy right now."

She, too, sighed and pushed herself away. "I killed him. I killed Lotak. I lured my lover into a rockslide which killed him." Talia saw the tears come perilously close to the surface again and quickly headed that off.

"Did you purposely lure him into the rockslide?" Talia asked tactfully, and at the girl's tiny shake of her head she took as a no, she said, "Then what's the problem?" at the Trainee's body betrayed her dislike of that, she quickly said, "No don't answer that. For now just consider it. Now, please tell me your name." The Trainee murmured something. "What? I didn't quite catch that."

"It's Ayalati of Zalmon," she named a small town in the South-West of Valdemar, just North of the Comb, "Lotak and I were in the Comb, uh, having some fun," a faint pink crept into her cheeks, "And I, umm, ran away for fun, and he chased me. I let out a great shout and the rocks I had just passed from under fell upon him. Nobody seemed to want to comfort me, just hisparents and friends," she added bitterly, "They seemed to think that I had caused this disaster. And it didn't help that Lotak was the village mayor's first son."

I winced sympathetically, and Ayalati nodded resentfully, "They sent me into outcaste," Talia gasped, "Thinking I was bad luck."

"I'm sorry Ayalati," I began but she cut me off.


"Don't be. And I go by Aya. Only Lotak called Ayalati and I have bad memories of that time." Slow tears trickled down her cheeks, not the furious sobbing, but tears of sadness over-running every other emotion. Talia's heart ached for her.

Talia let Aya cry herself out then felt her slowly drift off to sleep. Talia carefully in pictures told Rolan to get Ahrodie to have Dirk to come and help her carry the sleeping Trainee.

They got her into bed together and, as if in a dream, walked back to their suite.

"Did you see the power she has inside?" Dirk asked in awe, "I could hardly breathe!"

Talia sighed and replied, "Yes, I did, but I am so exhausted now I wouldn't stay up for the world. Goodnight!" She ended forcefully and as if to reinforce her statement she put her back to him. He sighed and did the same and whispered

"It had something to do with the elements."