[Authoress's Notes: I'm very proud of myself for getting two chapters out in one day. Of course, most of this one was already written… please review! If the chapters outnumber the reviews for very long, I'll be very sad.
[I really like this chapter.
[Random aside to Christine: Because, for some reason, they always meet in very odd ways.
[Random aside to Jamen: Ditto to Christine's random note to you in Chapter Eight of Regina. If you're reading, do me the courtesy of letting me know you exist, please!
[Enough said. Read on!]
Chapter Six
"We were strangers, starting out on our journeyNever dreaming what we'd have to go through"
~~At The Beginning, Anastasia
"She's getting worse by the day, Tessan."
"I know, Selma, I know…" Tessan gave a heavy sigh. "I fear we may have failed Them…"
"No! No, don't say that."
"Oh, but, Selma… it wasn't so bad up until a couple years ago… but when she hit puberty…"
"I know. But… oh, we can't give up yet!"
"But, Selma, she's an adult
now! What else can we do?"
Selma looked down at her knitting. "She
hasn't shown any sign of wanting to leave.
We can still help her."
"But how, Selma, how?"
"There must be a way."
"I fear we may have done all we
can. Anything else… may be up to
someone else."
Selma gave her a strange look. "What do
you mean?"
"I mean… if she were to find a consort…"
"Oh! Tessan! She's only just turned seventeen!"
"We must do what we can. If we can find her a consort who would be a good influence on her… some noble, chivalrous man…"
"Tessan, if we knew any of those, we'd've had consorts ourselves long ago."
"But this new generation may be different. There must be a man out there for her, Selma. There just must be…"
~~*~~
Nature had been scratching things down on paper for days, blueprints and sketches and lists, trying to design a match for the Daughter of Flame. "Bother, bother…" She had a small list of things which she thought really had to be included, from herself and Life and Death, but She couldn't finish off the ingredient list. For one thing, she needed contributions from Chaos… who was not, she supposed, going to fork them over willingly.
"Well? Have you got it?"
Nature looked up at her Sister. "Well… ye see, there's got t' be more than him than this…"
Life picked up the list. "Bronze, iron… black dragon's blood, eww… a stone well-washed by a waterfall from Fremoth…"
"For steadiness."
"Ah. Pyrite… oh, that's from me!"
"Aye."
"And… blue ink?"
"He's going t' need t' be protective. Especially wi' tha' girl…"
Life nodded. "There's nothing here from Chaos."
"I know… I figure… there 're going t' need t' be some things in 'im tha' were also in Cassandra…but we dinnae know wha' those are…"
"I do."
Life shrieked a little, startled by her other Sister's entrance. Nature just blinked. "Death. Glad ye could make it."
"You invited Her?"
"O' course."
"But… does she know what we're doing?"
"Aye."
"And she agreed to help?"
"Aye. Figured Chaos had it comin'. An' we need her help, like I tol' ye."
Death smirked. "Of course you need my help. How were the two of you going to make a creation with a bit of darkness in him?"
"Nae th' same darkness yer Son had in 'im, mind ye," Nature said. "This one cannae be so burdened."
Death raised an eyebrow, but nodded her assent. "He won't be like my Son, I promise."
"Alright, then. What else does th' lad need?"
Death looked over the list. "You mean to meld bronze and iron? Well, that's… an idea." Nature just nodded. "But he needs more balance… something that isn't metallic. I would suggest wood from a tree in Tyrzenor." She tapped one black-painted fingernail against her chin. "That'll do well to give him some emotional depth, as well."
"Do… do you know what Chaos put in Cassandra?" Life timidly ventured.
"Parts of it… if you're aiming to make them similar… well, the dragon's blood will do that… though I think hers was red… but that'll do. Bloodwine. There was a lot of bloodwine in her. Essence and passion, She said. And… clippings from a lion's mane, for pride and charisma. That's all I can really remember…"
"Alright… can ye go get th' ingredients we need from Chaos's workroom? And yer own? Life an' I will get our own t'gether."
Death nodded, and in a moment was gone.
When all three reconvened, Death had brought the ingredients She had been sent for and a few others besides. "The clouds which covered a full moon… and a Raeglythan midwinter midnight, for mystery. If he's going to have that much charisma," She said, pointing to the 17 written down on Nature's paper as the man's charisma quotient, "it ought to be mysterious and not just plain amiable."
Nature nodded. "What else 've ye got there?"
"From Chaos, a ripe thundercloud. For… temperament." And temper, she silently added. She had also neglected to mention that the clouds she had selected would grant the man considerable deception skills. "What have you got?"
"Well… th' bronze, f'r one… th' stone… a violet thread spun by one o' my nymphs."
"For…?"
"Nobility, o' course! He needs t' be a noble character. And, for courage and valor, a dragon heartstring."
"Oh!"
Nature gave Life a Look. "He died o' natural causes."
"Good."
"An' one las' thing…" Nature produced a loaf of bread.
Life giggled. "You're not serious," Death challenged.
"O' course I am! This'll keep 'im grounded, keep 'im simple… in a good way. She's so very complicated… he'll need to counter tha' in some way."
Life nodded. "That makes sense, I suppose… well, I've got the pyrite you asked for, and the blue ink… I also brought the talons of a gryphon… well, the clippings, really, he needed a trim… loyalty and ingenuity." Life smiled. "He must be loyal, of course. And resourceful, if he's going to deal with Cassandra. Oh! And a scarlet pimpernel."
"What's that?"
"A humble wayside flower, nothing more. But it will give him a certain sense of… noblesse oblige."
Nature nodded. "Good, very good. Let's go to it, then."
The ingredients were mixed, and then Nature and Life turned back to the sketches and blueprints, trying to settle on what the man should look like.
"Blond hair, I think."
"Nae, nae… russet."
"And eyes of… gold."
"Dim them t' hazel."
"With flecks of gold, then."
While they were discussing his genetic makeup, Death turned back to the mixture, reached inside her cloak, and pulled out a small, squirming lizard. It had been fished out of the Tyrzen swamps. I can't make this too easy on them, She thought with a malicious smirk, and tossed the wriggling creature into the potion. Let that keep things interesting… after all, I told Chaos to make Cassandra. Chaos may have deserved to lose her for not keeping a close eye on her… but I wouldn't want to make my dear Light Sisters' job of reforming the girl easier than it needs to be. They need a challenge. Let him have secrets, secrets which make him shamed and remorseful. No matter what the life… let him have something to hide.
"Right!" Life finally pronounced. "I think we've got it. Death, lend a hand in the actual creation, will you?"
Death turned back around, glad her Sisters had not noticed her surreptitious contribution. "Does he have a name?"
"Oh, yes. We're calling him Jamen. Isn't it lovely?"
"… Sure."
"But we're going t' think o' summat else for th' first mortal life," Nature said. "Tha's just his residual name."
"Very well." Death raised her hands, black fabric draping from her arms, and prepared to assist in calling the man Jamen into being.
~~*~~
On Kavran, the world was no longer quite so simple and plain as the Light Goddesses would have liked. War had broken out between the nation of Talsyra and their northern neighbors, the Misokans. The L'ai'kiva peoples were caught up in the middle of it, as their lands came nearly to the Misokan border, but most preferred to let the Talsyran armies handle the danger, and keep their attentions focused on their homes.
It was hard to ignore the crisis, though, with scouts and troops roaming the lands between the Red and White Alienor Rivers. Such movement of the armies had not been seen in ages, since the last Great War with the Misokans. The grudge went back millennia, so far that no one could remember why the two countries hated each other. But they did, and every once in a while one nation would attack the other, and the wars would start up again.
The war had dragged on for nearly two years when Etien Aswold was sent as a scout to head north and discover the positions of the Misokan troops. He jogged through the woods, hoping he was headed in the right direction. He misliked these forests. The lowlands between the Talsyran mountain range and the Red Alienor were backwards and strange lands. Here, one had to fear elves, goblins, orcs and ---
"Halt!"
Etien whirled. And madwomen, apparently. Before him stood a girl of about sixteen or seventeen summers, dressed in a deerskin tunic and what looked like nothing else, holding a bow, the arrow notched and pointed at him. Etien dropped his left hand down, nearer to his scabbard.
"Stop! You will not live to unsheathe it!"
Etien hesitated, then looked the girl over. She appeared wild and untamed, but strong and fierce. Her arm muscles rippled, taut as the bowstring. "I believe you," he said quietly, moving his hand away from the hilt of his sword. "I'll go now."
"No!" The bow was aimed for his heart now.
"Lady! Peace!" Etien fell on his knees. When he knelt, he found he actually got a better view of the girl, less obstructed by leaves and branches. Blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders, nearly waist-length and held back with a thin leather strap.
"Who are you? Why are you on my land?" she barked.
"Only a hunter, lady, straying in the woods. I did not realize I had stumbled onto someone else's property."
"You are trespassing. I should kill you."
Etien decided another strategy was necessary. "You wouldn't kill a noble soldier, would you?"
"Soldier!" Her eyes flew wide, then narrowed suspiciously. "Which side?"
"I fight for Talsyra, of course." He prayed he had given the right answer, and this firebrand before him was not a Misokan sympathizer.
She was quiet for a moment. "If you're a soldier, where is the army?"
"Half a league to the south," he lied, in case she was a spy.
"You're a scout, then?"
"Aye."
"Why lie to me?"
"So you wouldn't shoot me."
Here she finally put down her bow and leant against a nearby tree. "I should anyway. What's the latest news?"
"The Misokans are charging from the north. If your village is within two leagues of here, you're in danger."
The girl's hand gripped her bow again, a look of terror in her eyes. "You don't really mean that, do you? The Misokans – here?!"
Etien noted her fright and nodded slowly. "That's why I'm out. Tryin' to find people and warn them."
Her eyes narrowed again. "Why should I believe you? You could be a Misokan spy."
Etien chuckled inwardly, appreciating her suspicion and obvious intelligence. He then spoke to her in the old tongue of Talsyra, a language no Misokan would know. "Peace, dear lady, for I am a friend, a sword to fight for your freedom."
"It is true, then…" she whispered in the old tongue, then, in modern language, "Oh! I must go! I must warn everyone!"
"Wait, lady!" Etien called, jumping to his feet. "Let me go with you. I would see the town we are protecting."
She paused. "Aye, and I suppose you'd do well with a bit of supper in your stomach. My aunts will have food to spare, I'm sure. Come on, come on."
The girl took off through the woods, sprinting like a nymph, darting around tree trunks and thorn bushes Etien nearly did not see until it was too late. "What's your name?" he shouted after her.
"What?"
"Your name?"
"Cassadraine. Yours?"
"Etien."
They spoke no more in the dash through the forest, not slowing their pace until they reached the small village nestled amid the trees. "We'll see my aunts first," Cassadraine said. "They'll decide what and how we should tell the rest of the village."
Etien looked around, at washer women with baskets of laundry on their hips, women sitting out in the sunlight and sewing, young girls playing games in the streets, old women telling stories to babes in frocks. It then occurred to Etien that there was something strange about this village. "Err… Cassadraine… forgive my asking, but where are all your menfolk?"
"Oh, didn't you know? You've wandered into a part of Talsyra that's entirely matriarchal… the L'ai'kiva tradition. The men have their own village, further off, except for the very young boys who stay with their mothers… they come around on the holidays."
Etien blinked. Oh, good… just what I needed to run into… a tribe of radical feminists… The L'ai'kiva had for the most part died out in all of Kavran, but he had known that sects survived and thrived in the forests of Talsyra. He had just never expected to run into one.
Cassadraine's home was on the outskirts of the village. There was no door, but, like most of the village houses Etien had seen, a leather curtain stretched over the threshold. It was this Cassadraine pushed back as she entered, calling out, "Aym Tessan! Aym Selma! You'll never believe what I've found!"
"Just so long as it isn't another of those little things with wings," Etien heard someone from the back of the house say.
"Now, Selma, she learned her lesson about those after one of them nearly burnt her hair off."
From another doorway appeared two middle-aged women; one was tall and slender, with blond hair that was beginning to gray, and the other was smaller and rounder, her black hair pulled back in a bun so that the silver streaks at the temples showed clearly. The shorter one had been rubbing her hands in her apron when she entered, but dropped the cloth when she saw Etien. "Great mercy, she's collectin' men now."
The taller one smiled. "Find him under a rock, did you?"
Cassadraine grinned for the first time since Etien had met her. "Nae. In the shrubs. Etien, my aunts, Tessan and Selma." She gestured to the tall one first, then the dark-haired one. Suddenly Cassadraine seemed to remember her purpose. "Aymas, Etien's a scout with the army. You must hear what he's got to tell you!"
Tessan approached. "Well, missy, you look as though you've been out in the forest for weeks. Go get yourself cleaned up and we'll listen to this young man." Cassadraine nodded and disappeared from the room.
"Errr…" Etien ran one hand through his tousled auburn hair, looking a little nervous. Tessan and Selma exchanged glances interpretable only to themselves, then flanked Etien and led him to a sitting room.
"You're with the army, then?"
"Come, tell us what you know."
"Alright…" Etien launched into an explanation of the position and movement of the Misokan troops, completely unaware that the aunts were not even listening to him.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Tessan thought at Selma.
If you're thinking that this man is the answer to our prayers, yes! Selma returned. Mercy heavens… he is a bit rough around the edges, though, isn't he? You'd have thought the Goddess could have found a nice boy…
She knows what she's doing, Tessan insisted. Cassadraine wouldn't have fallen for a nice boy. This one… he's of her spirit.
Oh, just what we needed around here, more o' that.
But he's tempered. He's not completely wild, like she is. He's got military training in him, and that tempers the storm. He might even rub off on Cassadraine a bit, if we give him the chance.
I do hope you're right, Tessan…
"Aymas, what's for dinner?" Cassadraine interrupted. She had taken the time to wash up and change into a dress. Tessan smiled approvingly.
"Chicken, dear."
"Want me to start the fire?"
"That would be lovely."
Cassadraine meandered over to the hearth and started making a fire. Etien found he could not tear his eyes from her. The girl in the woods had possessed a sort of wild beauty, an untamed quality that had excited him more than he'd like to admit. She had been beautiful. This young woman before him now was too stunning for words. The emerald green kirtle complimented her eyes perfectly, her blond curls had been brushed out and tied back with a black ribbon, and the dirt and grime had been washed from her face and limbs, leaving only ivory skin and cheeks flushed from the chill in the air.
"You were saying, Master Aswold?" Tessan prodded, though she was grinning at Selma. Told you so. This will be perfect.
"Uh… er… yeah… well, like I said, we're expecting the Misokans to make a full charge southward before winter falls… 'course, they're used to the snow, so it shouldn't slow them down much."
"You don't think they'd come here, do you?" Selma inquired, fanning herself cautiously.
"They might," Etien said. "I'm trying to decide what route they may take. It's hard for me, though. I don't know the land around here well enough to make more than educated guesses."
Cassadraine stood up from the fire, tying an apron around her skirt and then brushing her sooty hands off on it. "I know the land."
"Better 'n anyone else alive, I'd wager," Tessan affirmed. "Our little Cassadraine's been wandering these woods since she was knee high to a pup."
Etien blinked. He'd had an idea, one that would benefit him greatly in more than one fashion. "You know… I could really use some help… The quicker I can finish these reconnaissance missions, the sooner I can get back to camp and tell the generals how to prepare."
"I could help!" Cassadraine offered. "Aymas, may I? I could go out scouting with Master Aswold and teach him about the territory."
Tessan allowed herself a small smile. "I don't see why not."
"Tessan, are you quite certain? Wandering the woods with a complete stranger?"
Tessan raised an eyebrow. "You're forgetting how neatly she dispatched those bandits the time they tried to seize upon her." And forgetting the benefits of this situation. She spends time with him…
He might get close to her… I'm just worried about him getting too close…
Oh, what difference does it make, Selma? She's old enough.
Yes, but… Selma looked over at Etien, the gaze Etien was giving Cassadraine, and the flirtatious glances Cassadraine was returning to him. Oh, alright.
"Well, Cassadraine, if it's alright with Master Aswold, it's fine with us," Tessan said.
Etien started, wondering how they'd come to a mutual conclusion without considerable discussion. Cassadraine just smiled, then flickered her eyes over to Etien. "Well, Master Aswold? What say you?"
He raised a glass of ale to his lips before speaking. "I would be honored if you would join me, mistress."
"Wonderful!" Tessan exclaimed. "You'll stay the night here. It's too dark to be traveling these woods alone at night. The two of you can set out tomorrow morning."
Cassadraine tried to hide her disappointment. Sooner I get out from under the Aymas' watchful eyes… she thought, glancing over at Etien's chiseled jaw and broad shoulders. …the better.
[A/N: ::grin:: It gets better. Oh, it gets better.
[Just for everyone's reference, At The Beginning is the ultimate Cass and Jamen song. It just is. I highly recommend getting the Anastasia soundtrack and listening to it. (And Jamen looks vaguely like Dimitri. Because Dimitri is hot).
[Next time… what effect will that little lizard have? How effective is this man going to be? And where, exactly, is Puck with that necklace?]
