[Authoress's Notes:  Did you know you're not supposed to use the word "authoress"?  Apparently it's not PC.  But since I'm the one that gets accused of being a feminazi, and I like the word authoress, I say it's alright to use.

[Dictionary, cast of characters, and random references have been updated.  It might be helpful to look at them.

[Thanks go to Julia for informing me that Nature's symbol is not a muffin or a loaf of bread, as I had feared.  (Because the Fremoth are weird).

[Random aside to Christine:  Baaaaa

[I'm sane.  I swear.]

Chapter Four

"Save thou the child, so we may all be safe."

-- Demetrius, II.iii, Titus Andronicus

Tessan and Selma were minor mages in the matriarchal L'ai'kiva tradition.  L'ai'kiva had once been prominent across Talsyra, but was dying out in all but the most remote regions.  Fortunately for the mages, the small town of Jivata was located in the center of one of these regions.  The two sisters has been living together for years.  Neither had taken a consort, though that was the typical method of propagating the species in the L'ai'kiva tradition.  Selma had often hinted that she might've wanted to pair up and have children, but there were no men in the area worthy of fatherhood.  At these times, Tessan would just smile to herself and nod along with whatever Selma was saying.

And so when Selma opened the door one morning and found a emerald-eyed babe on her doorstep along with the milk, she was extremely pleased.

"Tessan!  Tessan!  Look what I've found!"  She left the milk bottles outside and rushed into the kitchen with the child in her arms.

"Good heavens!" Tessan exclaimed, standing up.  "That's a baby!"

"I'm aware."

"Where have you been hiding it?"

"Tessan, it isn't mine!  She was on the doorstep."

Tessan hesitated before speaking.  "Isn't that how tragic plays start?"

"Oh, don't be silly, Tessan.  Look!  Isn't she darling?"

Tessan had to admit that the little girl was precious. She was staring up at them, eyes wide, looking quite comfortable wrapped in the dark green swaddling clothes.  "Wait a minute…"  Tessan reached into the folds of clothing and pulled out a small scroll.  "What's this?"  Selma was too busy cooing over the infant to bother with the letter, but Tessan unrolled it and began reading immediately.  "'My dear mages,'"  The letter was written in thick green ink, penned in a careful and neat hand.  "'We entrust to your care this child.  Take good care of her.  Keep her from harm and keep her from… turning evil?'"  The questioning inflection was not included in the note, but was rather Tessan's own contribution to the reading.  "'She may be in great danger some day.  We give her to you because We believe you can guide her and keep her safe.  She is the…'"  Tessan paused and swallowed.  Selma belatedly realized that she had stopped talking.

"She's the what?"

"'The…' uh… 'the Daughter of Flame…'  is… what it says…"

Selma nearly dropped the girl in her shock.  "You can't be serious."

"I think I am… it's not signed… but… er… well, look at the symbols…"

Tessan thrust the parchment out so Selma could see that at the bottom of the scroll were two markings – one a silver, eight-pointed star, the other a small, green floral design.

"Oh, mercy heavens…"

"Indeed.  Oh, look, there's a postscript."  Below the two symbols, in a script which curled and flowed all over the page, was the message in silver ink, "'Give her a good name.'  A good name?  What's a good name?"

"By all the stars in heaven…" Selma murmured, cooing down at the infant in her arms.  "The Goddesses have given you to us, they have."

"Selma, how do we go about caring for a child that isn't even entirely human?"

"What do you mean, not entirely human?"  Selma unwrapped the babe a bit.  "Look!  Ten fingers, ten toes, all the requisite parts…"

Tessan snatched the girl up and rewrapped her.  "You daft girl, she'll catch cold if you do that.  And she's got the body of a human… it's her soul I'm worried about."

"Well, the Great Ladies obviously think it'll do her good if she stays here…"

"I'm aware of that… I'm just worried about how we take care of her."

They both stood in thought for a moment.  The little girl reached up and grabbed one of Tessan's blond curls and started playing with it.  "Ouch!  Why, you little rascal!"  Tessan set about disentangling the infant from her hair and tried to reprimand her, but it was difficult to scold a child who just kept beaming at everyone she saw.  "Certainly doesn't act like the Daughter of Flame…" Tessan mumbled.

"Oh, Tessan!" Selma suddenly cried.  "What are we going to tell people?  I mean, it's fairly obvious that neither of us have been pregnant these past nine months… and she looks to be older than a newborn, anyway…"

"We'll just tell them… we're her aymas."

"Her aymas?"
"Yes… we'll say we've got a sister who couldn't take care of her, and left her to us."

"A sister we've never before mentioned in our thirty-couple years here?"

"Speak for yourself, I've only got twenty-nine years to my name.  And, yes.  We only moved here ten years ago, so they don't know that we don't have a sister… we could just say… she's not the sort of lady you talk about."

After a moment, Selma caught the inflection, and went stark white, clasping a hand to her chest.  "Oh, Tessan, we couldn't say such a thing!"

"Certainly can."

"But she's family!"

"She's not real!"

Selma blinked.  "But still.  We're going to tell people that this is the daughter of a… of a…"

"You'd rather we tell them she's the Daughter of the Goddess of Destruction and Mayhem?  They wouldn't believe us.  They'd think we were crazy.  And if they did believe us, they'd probably try to drown the poor girl for a demon.  We can't let that happen."

Selma sighed.  "Alright, fine.  The prostitute sister story it is, then."

"Good.  Now go fetch the milk.  The poor babe's hungry…"

"What are we going to call her?" Selma asked as she went back to the door to retrieve the forgotten milk bottles.

Tessan rocked the girl back and forth in her arms, lulling the child to sleep.  "I don't know… what do you think of Cassadraine?"

Selma returned with the milk, and smiled sweetly at Tessan.  "I think it's perfect."

~~*~~

"Chaos isn't happy."

"I'm aware."

"And when Chaos ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

"I'm aware of that, too."

Vigor and Disarray were skulking around outside Chaos's chambers, listening to the Goddess rant, rave, and – as could be guessed from the various crashes and bangs heard – throw things.

"I wonder what happened," Disarray whispered.

Vigor looked left, then right, then leant in to Disarray.  "Y'know that thing she made… the Human?"

Disarray twisted her tail like a corkscrew.  "Yeah."

"Well… I heard – and mind you, this was coming from Confusion, so Dela only knows if it's true or not – I heard that she got stolen."

"Stolen!"

Vigor nodded.  "By Life and Nature."

"Who was on duty?"  Disarray's eyes widened.  "It wasn't me, was it?"

"No, no one was on duty… that's the thing… they were down with the mortals, waging war on Auraeria.  And she just… disappeared."

"Wow…"

"Wow, indeed," a third voice intervened.  Vigor and Disarray squeaked and leapt up, belatedly trying to look as though they had been working.  When they cared to look up, they noticed that the Supreme Demon Blaze was standing over them, swishing her fiery tale back and forth.  "Shouldn't y' two be working?"

"Err… no one's given us orders," Vigor offered.

"D' I really have to?  Go wreck some havoc!  Destroy something!"

Vigor looked insulted.  "Destruction isn't in my job description."

"Then go be vigorous about something!  What do I care?  Just work!"

The two Lower Demons skittered off.  Blaze gave a heavy sigh, then returned her mind to her duty.  She wasn't at all looking forward to it.  She raised on enormous clawed hand and rapped on the large bronze door.

There was a scream, then the unmistakable crash of something hitting the door and shattering.  "Go away!" came the petulant order from within.

"My Lady…"

"Now!"

Blaze sighed again.  Knew I should have made Havoc do this… She rapped on the door again.  "My Lady, it's important!"

The door swung open.  Blaze did a check to make sure there were no vases, candelabras, or cauldrons aimed at her head, and then entered.  She dropped to one knee in front of her Goddess, who was currently slouched in her throne with one leg draped over the armrest, sulking.

"My Lady, we think we have news… as t' the abduction of your Daughter."

The red eyes flashed to an excited golden shade.  "Really?" Chaos exclaimed, sitting up straight.  "Where is she?"

"We don't know that, yet, but we think we've got 'er down to th' mortal plane of Kavran."

"Kavran… do they know about Us there?"

"Some do.  Some just won't admit it.  Your Light Sisters have a number of followers there, in th' land called Talsyra.  Your Sister Death seems t' have a following to th' north of Talsyra, in a place called Misok."

Chaos nodded.  "See what you can find out."
"Yes, My Lady."  Blaze kowtowed, then swiftly left the room, not wanting to outstay her welcome.

When the Demoness had gone, Chaos picked something off of a table and toyed with it.  The Red Necklace had been left when Cassandra had been abducted.  Obviously, Life and Nature feared the power it had, even when taken out of the divine realm.  Chaos clasped the enigmatic red gem in her palm.  If I can find her… I must get this back to her… this will return her to me!  No matter what Life and Nature have done to her, this will bring my Daughter back to me!

~~*~~

By the time Cassadraine was eight years old, she was as beautiful a child as anyone could ask for.  She had grown strong and healthy, with sun-bronzed skin and a hearty flush in her cheeks.  Blond curls bounced whenever she moved, accentuating her merry skipping motions, and she looked out at the world through jade-green eyes fringed by dark lashes.  The child's spirit was lively and vivacious; Cassadraine was the darling of the village, adored and spoiled by all the mothers.  All remarked that when she came of age, she would have her pick of the men.  In the L'ai'kiva tradition, the men and women lived separately.  Men were viewed as largely primitive, and lived primarily nomadic lives.  The women built cities, advanced culture, and tamed the wild forests.  When the season was right, the men joined the women in the cities, and nine months later, there would be a new crop of babies.  The women did the choosing; L'ai'kiva women were not prizes to be won, not rewards handed out or the spoils of war.  Marriage was unknown to them.  A woman who was particularly fond of a man would take him as a consort, and he might even live in the city for a time, but marriage was not part of the culture.

Among the duties of women – particularly those related to mages – were to learn basic spells and herbology.  Tessan and Selma had always taught their skills to whoever desired the training, but now found that they had a child who had to learn the craft for her own good.  Cassadraine had always been a precocious child.  She had mastered basic telepathy at the age of four, and simple telekinetics not long after that.  She seemed to have a special affinity with animals – most notably the wolf cub she had brought home when she was six years old – and preferred to spend her time outside, communing with the world around her.  All of this suited Tessan just fine.  It was when the eight year old girl suddenly developed an affinity for telepyrotechnics that she became worried.

"Aym Tessan!  Aym Selma!  Look what I can do!"

The backyard suddenly erupted into a colorful blaze.

"So much for the elm tree," Tessan remarked.

"Oh!  Cassadraine!  Don't do that!"

"It was bound to happen sooner or later."  While Selma was retrieving the child and dragging her into the house, Tessan quite calmly waved a hand and extinguished the fire with a gentle rain shower.

"Cassadraine, you really mustn't do that!" Selma tried to scold.  "You can't just go around creating conflagrations at will."

"Yes, I can!" Cassadraine insisted.  "Look!"  She started to point a finger at a house plant, but Tessan scooped her up before she could do any damage.

"Cassadraine, sugar, we need to have a talk."  She set the girl down on the kitchen counter.  "What Aym Selma meant to say is that it isn't right to burn things just because you can.  It's a misuse of your powers."

Cassadraine looked confused.  "But why do I have these powers if I'm not supposed to use them?"      

"They may benefit you some day, sweeting," Selma added.  "Just… not right now."

"There's a time and a place for all magic.  The middle of a battlefield, maybe, or if you're fighting to protect someone you love.  Those are the right times to summon a blazing inferno."

"A warm Saturday afternoon in our backyard is not."

"Oh.  I see."

"Besides which, darling," Tessan said, tucking one of the unruly blond curls behind Cassadraine's ear.  "You've got to learn to properly control your powers before you can use them whenever you feel like it.  You've got to study."

"Teach me, Aym Tessan!  Teach me!"

Tessan smiled.  The little girl was so inquisitive, so eager to learn.  "Not right now, darling.  Selma and I have to start dinner."

"Soon?  Will you teach me soon?"
"Of course, little one!  Of course!" Selma exclaimed as she tied an apron about her waist.  "Now, how'd you like to help me make some gingerbread?"

"Ooooh!"  Cassadraine clapped her hands, squealed excitedly, and leapt off of the counter.

Tessan smiled to herself and leant against the wall, folding her arms.  The little dear… hasn't got a clue who or what she is… and it must stay that way… if she knew…  She shook her head and reached for her own apron.  Dear, dear Cassadraine…  Tessan thought often of the serious nature of the charge they had been given.  They had received no further instructions from the Goddesses in the eight years since finding the golden-haired babe on their doorstep, but Tessan and Selma had taken it upon themselves to cast protection spells over the house and the surrounding area.  They hoped that Cassadraine would stay within their sphere of defense, but Tessan often wondered and worried what would happen when the girl was grown and ready to leave the nest.  How are we to keep her safe then?  She looked over at the bouncing, giggling girl, eager to help her Aym Selma bake.  We must simply raise her the best we can… so that when she does go out into the world by herself… she will be prepared… we must teach her our ways… so that if she is temped by the Dark powers when she is older… she will have the strength to turn her back to them…

"Aym Tessan!  You look so serious!  Come!  Bake with us!"  Cassadraine was already covered in flour, an accident which had happened just opening the sack.  The little girl loved to cook, though Tessan honestly didn't know if it was out the joy of the culinary process or the joy of making a mess.

"Alright, paola.  I'm coming, I'm coming.  Try not to get molasses in your hair, it took ages to wash out last time."

~~*~~

"She seems to be doing alright," Nature said.  "Except for that fire incident… but the mages handled it quite well."

Life sighed.  "Are you sure we've done the right thing?"
"We did the only thing we could do to save Auraeria and Fremoth.  If you hadn't noticed, Chaos has been unusually subdued ever since she lost her Daughter."

"Wouldn't you be?"  Life was still for a moment, then stood.  "Which reminds me.  I've got some blueprints I need to finish."

"Oh?"

"Yes… I've decided I'm going to have a Daughter of my own."

"For your Opera?" Nature asked.

Life smiled serenely.  "You'll see… she has a purpose… you'll see.  But I need to get back to work on the sketches.  Creating a Human is a very delicate business, you know.  And Chaos claimed to have done it so quickly…"  She shook her head; there was a warm burst of light and a gentle breeze, and She was gone.

[A/N:  Please review!  Did you like the aunts?  I love the aymas.  They're wonderful.

[Anyone who wants to know what's going on with Life creating a Daughter ought to go read Waiting for Twilight by Christine Persephone.  It's on ffn.  I'm going to occasionally reference things that happen in there, and sooner or later it'll be important… so I highly suggest reading Waiting for Twilight.  And Regina Perditorum.  And The Summons as soon as it's back up somewhere.

[Next time… Chaos has an idea!  (Which takes longer than it ought to).  What exactly happens with the Red Necklace?  And what happens when Cassadraine comes of age and finds herself wanting for male companionship?  ::grins::  Tune in!  I can't promise when I'll have the next chapter out… school and all that… but in the meantime, review!]