A whisper.
A rustle.
The sun beat down remorselessly onto the clearing with not a cloud in the sky to block its fiery rays. It was hot. For a moment, Summersea wanted to forget about her mission and just go back to the ekele where it was nice and cool and where there was possible a nice, tall glass of iced juice waiting for her. And then she remembered Kirai's mocking jeers and half-closed her eyes instead as she listened to the almost imperceptible scratches in the bush below her. Kirai thought she couldn't trap, did he? Well, she was out here just to prove him wrong! That, she admitted privately, and she was getting sick of salted meat for dinner; fresh meat would taste wonderful with some basil and rosemary in stew.
A tree hare poked out its head cautiously, its bright, beady eyes ever alert as it considered the lure of tasty cabbage and thyme leaves in front of her. Its ears twitched once, then twice, swiveling uneasily. Summersea bit back a smile.
Smart bunny. I guess you've heard the Shin'an saying too; that there is no such thing as a free meal. It was an unmated doe that was seasons too old to throw a litter and when she hopped forward suspiciously, her hind leg buckled a little as if it had been broken and left half-mended a long time ago. She was old, fat, and probably wily as a hungry bondbird, but greed was beginning to overcome caution as she moved closer several more hops, then paused to stare at the tempting fare.
Summersea leaned farther off her tree branch, carefully placing her fingers around the gritty bark to keep any telltale rustle of leaves from betraying her. Patiently, she tracked the hare's movement with her eyes, willing the animal to come a little closer, a little faster, as she silently pushed aside the foliage to get a clear shot.
A dead twig snapped off in her hand.
The hare froze.
Summersea froze.
Drat! The rabbit's whole body tensed, as if preparing to flee and for a few minutes, Summersea was sure that it would go darting back into the bush with a crackle and snap and there would go dinner tonight. Then the hare cautiously crept a little closer to the lure and Summersea allowed herself to relax marginally.
You almost lost her! She mentally scolded herself. Stop being so impatient and be more careful!
After what seemed to be an eternity, the rabbit began to nibble on the outer edges of the leaf pile, and when nothing happened, she grew bolder, foraging for the carrots that lay juicily in the center.
Summersea grinned, taking careful aim with her hunting knife. Bunny gets to eat salad, and I get to eat bunny. Thank you for your sacrifice, little sister. We will use your gift wisely. She flicked her wrist experimentally once and—
"Summersea!!"
Summersea jerked her head up in surprise, taking her gaze off her prey for a split second, just as her twin come stumbling from out of the trees, snapping branches and making a general racket as he went.
Oh no no no no no!
She swung back towards where the rabbit was….
…just in time to see it grab a carrot, give a mocking flip of its puffball tail, and bounce back into the bush. If tree hares could, Summersea was sure that it would have laughed at her too.
"No!" Summersea wailed, slumping against the branch. "I waited for her for hours!! Summerwind, I could skewer you! Why couldn't you have waited another second before you started crashing around like that?"
Summerwind scowled irritably, brushing a bleached lock out of his eyes. "Mother's just about to skewer you. Or in your pursuit of rabbit stew, did you forget to take heed of the time?" Summersea blinked, consulting her inner time sense.
"Oh, Bright Lady!" With an ungainly wobble, she fell to the forest floor, roughly scrambling to her feet. "My magery classes!"
"Yes, your magery classes!" Summerwind replied mockingly, following his sister's long-legged lope towards the Vale, "You know, that insignificant, two-hour session you have every morning with Master Featherblade? It's well past noon now, closer to dinnertime actually, and you've already missed twice this week!"
Not slowing down in her headlong rush, Summersea cried, "I forgot! I don't mean to!"
Summerwind shook his head in disgust. "Why does that not surprise me?"
"Leave me alone! I can't be expected to remember everything that I'm supposed to be doing!"
"Unfortunately, you can't remember any of it and therein lies the problem!" He almost tripped on a raised root, barely righting himself before he plunged face first into the dirt. "Sometimes I wonder how you can be my twin. Ever since you got that stupid, hare-brained idea to go to K'Leshya—" Summersea stopped abruptly and swung around to slam her twin against a nearby tree.
"It—is—not—stupid!" She emphasized each word with a slam of her fist against Summerwind's chest. "You're the one that's stupid. And hare-brained." She backed away, her emerald eyes flashing angrily, "And I'm sorry that I'm your twin! I couldn't help that either!" Summerwind's eyes widened, realizing a little too late that he had stuck his proverbial foot in his mouth.
"I didn't mean it like that, Summersea," Summerwind began placatingly, but she shook her head fiercely.
"No, you did. I can Feel it. But don't worry; I'm sure if you ask nicely, maybe Mother will give you another sister. And I'm sure she'll want to be a Mage, just like the rest of the family!" Bitterly flinging the painful words at him, she ran off towards Featherblade's ekele, her feet thudding hard against the rich loam of the undergrowth.
::Summer—:: He felt the exact moment when she slammed down her shields, cutting him off in mid-thought. ::—sea.::
"Havens help me!" Summerwind dragged his fingers through his long hair, not caring that he was wrecking the careful feather and beadwork that had taken hours for the family hertasi, Tanny, to do. Not for the first time, Summerwind felt bewildered and completely out of element with his twin sister. Whoever said twins understand each other better than normal people don't know how dead wrong they are. Sometimes, I don't understand her at all!
What was wrong with becoming a mage? Summerwind grew up knowing the Tayledras responsibility to guard the leylines as magic slowly settled back into their former pathways and he knew Summersea knew it too. It was their duty, a familial obligation that had spanned generations.
It had taken seven generations to even consider putting up temporary Gates in order to transfer foodstuff and non-organics from Vale to Vale, and even then, all of the mages still absolutely refused to even think of sending people across one of those unstable and oftentimes unreliable portals. But they said with careful observation and judicious tinkering, in another three generations or so, the Gates just might be able to handle human travelers again. And that meant that everyone in the Vales with more than a hint of Mage Potential was very much encouraged into that line of work.
Moonwind was one of the strongest Adepts in K'Valdemar right now, just as his father had been before him, and his father before him. Summerwind expected that his older brother, Winterstag, would probably follow in the steps of their father too. To keep the leylines free and settling magic back into their former organized pathways was something of a family profession now, a great source of pride for all of them.
For Summersea just to want to walk away from it all to become some kind of fighting foot-soldier….
Summerwind shook his head. He didn't understand. He didn't understand it at all.
~*~
Summersea's legs burned as she finally came to a stumbling halt outside Featherblade's tree. She slumped against the trunk for a moment, struggling to control her shudders, even as her heart pounded in steady tandem with her laboring gasps. But it wasn't that long a run to Featherblade's ekele…was it because she was still upset with Summwind? Maybe. Probably, it was a little of both.
::So you're finally here, youngling.:: the Mindvoice that fiilled her head was gentle and soothing with just a hint of spice that reminded her of cinnamon. Summersea looked up as Featherblade almost glided down the tree in his oddly graceful steps. ::but your shields are slammed so tight they almost vibrate and you run as if a pack of wyrsa were on your heels.::
He finally alighted on the ground, his misty blue and gold bullion lined robes floating and fluttering around him as delicately as butterfly wings. His handsome features were twisted slightly in a frown, and he caught her chin in his hand, tipping her head back until she met his eyes. "What has you so upset that I can't read you?"
For a moment, Summersea's mind whirled. She didn't want to talk about it. He would probably be sympathetic, and Gods knew he agreed with her more than anyone else she'd talked to but still, no matter how much Summerwind and she didn't agree with things, their bond was intensely private and any disagreements they had were even more so.
What should I say? Perhaps that Summerwind put snakes in my shoes and I'm blocking him? It wouldn't be the first time…but then he'll say that's a childish answer and insist that I take off the blocks. I was upset that Father accidentally set fire to the ekele because of a failed experiment? No…that's just stupid since news like that travels fast and it would be all over the Vale right now! And besides, Father does his work in a magically contained ekele on the far edge of the Vale. Mother cooked breakfast? Well, her porridge does taste like it's been steeped in bitterweed and hemlock, but I don't think that he would believe that excuse. Some evil mage put it up to punish me for stealing his canary??
…
That last excuse doesn't even make sense, Havens curse it. Why do I have to be so bad at lying!?
"Summersea?" He was still waiting for an answer, his expression growing even more concerned.
He wasn't going to drop it. There was only one thing to do in this situation.
Play dumb.
"Uh…mm…..I didn't even realize my shields were up. I guess I was being a really good student and practicing outside class? Or no…wait, I hate magery. Why would I be practicing outside class? Stupid stupid……maybe I was trying to keep the tree hare from reading my thoughts because I was thinking about really juicy rabbit stew? But animals don't have mind-gifts so that really won't work. Erm….." She took a deep breath and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "It was an evil mage and his canary."
Teacher and pupil stared at each other for a second.
"Drat it, I was thinking not to say that!"
"Indeed." There was a hint of dryness in Featherblade's voice. "You never were very good at lying, you know. And it doesn't help that you're tossing out excuses then refuting them yourself. If more people were like you, it would make the Truth Spell absolutely obsolete."
She flushed. "I'm sorry I'm late, Featherblade." Summersea got out in a rush, "I—"
"Slow down." Featherblade interrupted soothingly. "Take your time and rest a little. You were running pretty hard from what I could sense."
Summersea smiled gratefully, both at the consideration and his decision not to pry. With his flowing white hair and eyes that had been kind even when she was a toddler, Featherblade had always been like an uncle to her, supporting hands when she fell, a listening ear when she had first dreamed up the idea of being a Silver Gryphon. He had also been there to comfort her with a sweet cup of chava one week ago when her family had dismissed her declaration as the childish fantasies of a sixteen year old girl.
He sat down on the grass beside the tree, and after a moment, Summersea joined him.
"I am really sorry about being late…again."
Featherblade chuckled. "When I was your age, I was never on time for classes. I was always poking around the edges of the forest for magical creatures and Change Beasts and my Master had to haul me in by my hair when our learning sessions started. So how can I blame you for doing the exact thing? Living on the outskirts of the Peligars is fascinating. One can't help but feel the need to explore every inch of it."
"Yes," A strangely dreamy look came across Summersea's eyes that had Featherblade grinning.
"Ah, a kindred spirit. Dare I guess that that was what you were doing all morning then?"
Summersea blinked, then smiled sheepishly. "Something like that. Kiria said that humans are worthless hunters with no talons or beak to speak of and if humans were bad, Mages were the worst of that lot. She said that even if we tried to be quiet, we'd alert our prey before we got within three feet of it and that if it were left up to us, we'd have no fresh meat for days and would probably starve and die."
Featherblade grimaced. "Sad, but true. And that would explain your previous tree hare comment. I had wondered about that."
The young girl grinned and shook her head. "He has this really sharp sense of humor."
"I gathered," The mage muttered, his expression so comical that Summersea had to laugh, "And then?"
"And then he challenged me to prove him wrong and said that if I actually could, he'd let me pluck one of his loose primaries so I could work it into a braided hair-tie." Summersea sighed wistfully, leaning her head against the trunk of the trea as she remarked forlornly, "I had this really beautiful design worked out too. Leather inlayed with silverwood. Beaded clasp and chain entwined with some of her painted secondaries. It would have gone beautifully as a birthing day present for Neema's new baby."
"I assume you weren't able to catch the rabbit then?" he leaned back with a sigh, "It is always hard to prove your bondbird wrong when it comes to the hunt. That's one thing that they always excel at and humans, without knives or some other sort of fashioned weapon, do not."
"Well it was a close thing! The doe came right under my tree." Her face fell into unhappy lines as she remembered what came after that, "And then I got a little….distracted." And royally reamed by my brother.
"Ah." Featherblade waited a moment, but his student didn't volunteer any more information. When it was apparent that the silence was growing uncomfortable, he stood up, dusting the grass stains from his robe with his long fingers. "Well in any case, you're rested and I'm fresh, so let's practice controlling that Gift of yours, shall we?"
A long-suffering groan was his only answer but Summersea was all too happy to get off that subject and got obediently to her feet.
"What are we going to do today? Should I call in Kirai?" She closed her eyes and Featherblade could almost hear the quick flickering conversation between her and her bondbird. It went on for a little more than half a minute, but when she opened her eyes, she was frowning. "He won't come. He's sunning up there with your Gryth and he's just eaten and wants to sleep it off." She sighed, "And he also added something along the lines of 'Hah hah hah. Knew you couldn't do it'."
Her teacher smiled. "Don't worry. We won't need Kirai today."
She examined his face warily, "I don't like it when you grin like that. Somehow it doesn't inspire trust."
Featherblade actually threw back his head, his laugh musical and so deep that it seemed to reverberate out of his chest. "Don't worry," He repeated soothingly, "It'll be easy."
And he set out immediately to teach her all new meanings of the word 'easy', a definition of 'easy' that seemed to be anything but.
Easy? HAH! That was a laugh!
The lesson was grueling, and by the end, sweat had soaked through her shirt in damp patches and she almost collapsed as soon as the last flare of mage energy was flung at her. She was tired, trembling on legs that were barely supporting her, and somewhere between dodging Levin bolts and deflecting the more physical thrown rocks, the band that had held her hair at the nape of her neck had snapped off, leaving her long, snarled hair to fall down to her waist in a tumble of brown, gold, and platinum. Not only did it leave her hair hopelessly ensnarled, but the few sparks that had gotten through her barriers left small burn spots smoking on her leather jerkin, furthering her appearance as a rag a bag.
She eyed Featherblade owlishly as she examined her clothing , muttering under her breath. "Tanny is beginning to hate our sessions together. You're a bane on new clothes. She says she's resewing and patching our clothes so much that in another month, they will be nothing of the old material in it."
He grinned back at her, smoothing out his own barely wrinkled gold and blue robes a trifle smugly. "You'll improve as you go. You are getting better all the time."
"Of course I am. I'm getting better all the time, even when I come home with the same amounts of burn spots on my clothes and some in rather…embarrassing places." She rubbed the new hole in the seat of her pants pointedly, feeling some of the ash crumble against her palm. "I think that even if I weren't, you would say I was, just to sooth my pride in not being as good as Summerwind or Winterstag."
"Summerwind and Winterstag will grow up to be very good Mages when they grow up," Featherblade acknowledged calmly.
"Exemplary mages. Just like Mother and Father," Summersea agreed lightly. She bent down to search around for her broken hair-tie, calling over her shoulder, "Could you use some of that magic and help me find that dratted hair band? I seem to have lost it somewhere in the grass."
"Sadly, Scrying is not one of my main talents," Featherblade got to his knees as well, running his hand lightly across the grass in an attempt to find it through all the thick undergrowth. "How are you and your family lately?" His tone held a hint of more than that gentle question, but Summersea ignored it, flashing him a smile.
"We're wonderful. The Gate Project that Father is working on is getting nearer and nearer to completion; they've got most of the calculations down and are checking and rechecking the numbers, just in case. And Mother finally found a girl in town that has Empathy to be her apprentice."
"Summersea—"
"She's thinking that the girl will probably make a great MindHealer when all her power is firmly netted under her skin. Before Mother found her, she said that the girl, her name is Asuka by the way, was broadcasting like a teleson."
"Summersea—"
"And Winterstag finally made Journeyman! We're so proud of him, and Summerwind is positively green with jealousy at all the attention he's getting. He swears that he's going to take the Test next year and he's working hard to pass it too. I'm helping as best I can, but…" She laughed a little, her voice slightly suffocated, "you know that he's way ahead of me in his studies so I can't do much."
An arm slipped around her shoulders, and suddenly she was enveloped by Featherblade's robes as he held her against her chest. She swallowed convulsively, knotting her hands in his immaculate robes.
"I can't find my hair tie….the grass is too long." She whispered hoarsely, "You need to get someone to trim it and pull some out or else the grassroots are going to choke the tree. It can't get enough water or nutrients."
He reply, other than to simply say, "You are allowed to cry sometimes, Summersea."
"No, I really mustn't. Any more water on that grass and its going to grow another three inches. Then you'll never be able to cut it. It'll probably cut you." She smiled up at him, but though her cheeks were dry, her eyes were suspiciously bright. When the quip couldn't coax an answering smile to his face, she sighed. "You're worrying too much, Uncle. I am perfectly fine and my parents…are fine too."
"I see." He studied her with intent blue eyes and Summersea had the uneasy feeling that he saw more than she wanted him to, "Then are the Vale and town children still calling you names?"
Her eyes slid away from his. "No…not really. They…haven't since last summer." I've been avoiding them so technically, they can't call me names if I'm not there.
His slight snort told her he didn't believe her. "You have told your parents that they've been—"
She glared at him, "Really," She insisted, "I'm fine. The others stopped calling me names a long time ago so there's no reason to carry tales now. It would just get Mother and Father upset for no reason at all!" When he was about to retort, she shook her head, pleading, "Won't you just let it go? I said everything's fine!"
He studied her silently for a moment. "Okay, he said quietly, "Okay, I understand. But…" he hesitated then continued warningly, "If in the event that something was wrong and in that if you don't tell someone, it's going to keep on growing in your chest until it finally bursts. And with your Gift, it would be a very large explosion." For a moment, she looked torn, a lost looking muddying the clear green of her eyes and she seemed on the verge of saying something when a shrill cry caused both of them to snap their heads up.
Kirai arrowed down on his bonded as if drawn by a magnet, his wings held close to his body in a sharp dive. Instinctively, Summersea held out her arm for him to land and was immediately assailed by a combination of fear/alarm/concern as Kirai bobbed his head anxiously, hopping up her arm to rest at her shoulder. He preened her sweaty hair and snuffled against her neck like a lapdog trying to make sure she was safe and unhurt.
::I'm fine.::
::Not.:: He replied shortly, and went back to his investigation, distractedly nibbling at her earlobes as he clung to her hair, trying to switch shoulders.
She chuckled, her emotions once more firmly in hand. "He's worried about me." She explained, "Silly bird."
Featherblade just sighed, folding his hands together. "I'm sure he has ample reason to be. But," He held out a hand, "I won't say anything more tonight, and I'm sure you don't want to hear me say more. But just remember, if you ever want to talk…"
"You'll be the first person I seek out," She promised immediately. Careful not to knock Kirai off her shoulder, she gave the older mage a quick hug. "Thank you for trying to find my tie for me, but I'm afraid it's a lost cause."
"Very probably," Her mentor agreed. "You should run home now; your Tanny is probably warming dinner and she won't be pleased if you weren't there to enjoy it."
She blinked. "I didn't even notice how dark it was getting." She turned to go, then hesitated, fiddling absently with the loose ends of her long hair. Then, almost reluctantly, she turned back and said, "Featherblade, can you…well, you see, my parents are…"
"I won't say a thing." He replied solemnly and she looked a trifle relieved.
"Okay then, thanks! I'll see you tomorrow!" With a wave and a somewhat strained smile, she took off, Kirai squawking indignantly at the jouncing pace she set. Even after she had run off, Featherblade watched the glowing path lights somberly for a long time before he went up to his own ekele. His thoughts were on more than just missing hair ties and his too-long grass.
~*~
It was late. Summersea grimaced a little as she gingerly pulled back the flap of the ekele, letting it fall silently behind her as she stepped out of her shoes. She opened her mouth to call out but before she could, her mother's soft voice carried to her, quiet and worried.
"I don't even know what's wrong with that girl anymore, Moonwind. Ever since she mentioned going to K'Leshya, she's forgotten all her responsibilities. Summerwind didn't say it, but I'm sure that she didn't go to Featherblade's ekele to practice again." Her father's words were quieter, a mere rumble and Summersea couldn't make it out. She clamped her mouth shut, biting her lips so hard that she tasted copper at the tip of her tongue. Kirai started to hiss again.
::Quiet, Kirai.::
::You are unhappy! You—:: He spread his wings up in vexation, mantling a little until Summersea pressed a hand to his beak and he subsided grudgingly.
"We had her tested, and she has the Potential but she's not using it! Winterstag and Summerwind are ahead of her in all aspects of training and one wonders if she even tries anymore. She's not improving at all! She's a well brought up girl, but if she doesn't train, what good can she ever be? If she applied her concentration to actually studying magery instead of attaching herself to the scouts like a limpet…but everything she doesn't! Everything she does is half-hearted. And when we try to correct her, all she does is cry."
I do try, Summersea cried silently. You don't understand how hard I try. But then she remembered all those time that she had not tried, all those times when she had only skimmed her books and all those times she had been late for her classes. She hadn't wanted to go…wanted to stay near the hunters and the scouts and the occasional visiting gryphon. They had been so much more interesting….
She pressed her fingers against her mouth to hold back a sob. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes but she pushed them back violently. She wouldn't be accused of always crying again. She did always cry, almost as much as an eight year old or infant. She was too old to cry. She wouldn't cry.
Her father was rumbling again but Sera cut him off, "Well, I'm a parent, it's my duty to be worried about my child! Especially when she's behaving so very oddly…"
Summersea hadn't realized that she had been slowly back away from the sound of her parents voice until the back of her foot connected with the wall of the ekele with an audible thump.
"Summersea? Winterstag? Summerwind? Are you back?" Immediately, Sera broke of the conversation and walked rapidly towards the door, but when arrived in the common room, the door flap was still tied neatly to the frame and there was no one there.
Tbc…..
Preview to the next chapter:
Can you run far enough tonight?
She pushed herself harder, feeling her legs scream with pain. Her breath was already wild, ragged and her body protested from having to work again so soon after Featherblade's training session.
Can you?
She drew a ragged breath and felt her chest cramp.
Can you?
No.
Yeah, it's only a snippet….I hope to get the next part up next, next week.
Now it's time for one of my favorite parts:
Magdellin: thanks for clearing up what's what Vale and where! I was very worried that I got everything completely wrong and that all the hardcore Mercedes Lackey fans out there contemplating a burning-at-the-stake episode. Yes, unfortunately, all my books are down in Southern California and I'm….not. T_T I need the Fetching gift to bring them to me…that or Foresight so I would have foreseen the need for my books! Also thank you for your encouragement and I hope that this chapter didn't disappoint you, (too badly). ^^:; I hope that nothing else in this chapter is too obviously wrong!
Trina Ti: Thank you! I'm kind of new at this (points at very empty profile page) and when I reread the prologue, I was like "err….what am I DOING??? WHAT AM I WRITING??? I can't do this…omg, no way no way no way!" and was on a knife's edge of scrapping the whole thing (before it even started. As usual. I think that's my life's story. Anyone else out there like me?). But somehow, I got this chapter written and I hope that you continue to enjoy this.
Sage Twilight: ^^;; I don't know if you would call this soon, but I guess compared to some writers who take months per chapter, this is going at somewhat of a good pace. Although truthfully, the people that take months to write usually write beautifully and I…..don't. xP But still, I felt the need to exercise my brain cells, which have been laying dormant ever since Winter break and they're slowly creaking back to life again (with much complaint and clinging-to-oblivion, I might add) and I hope that as I continue to write, I'll improve.
Thank you to those that read and most of all, to those who reviewed! Please give me feedback? I'll give you cookies….*shameless bribery*