A/N: Ahhh! I am so stressed out. I have a test today that I didn't study for. I feel like there's this huge hand just sucking all the life from me. I'm exhausted. For my Shakespeare English class, we went to a play that's an hour away. So we left at 6pm hoping to be back by 10pm. Yeah. There were three one hour-long acts. I didn't get home till 12:30. And I was dead by then and didn't get any of my work done. Oh well…. I have a new chapter for you. I wrote it earlier this week, which is why it hasn't taken me so long. Do you know why? Because I know what I'm writing about! I wasn't so sure on the plot before, but now I have it. I know where this story is going and how to get it there. Yeah! Some new characters in this chapter. Read and Review please! Oh yeah, and enjoy (if your not as stressed as I am)!
Aer: I think this is the record for a fast update. Let me know what you think of this chapter, and if I'm going in the right direction or not. All my other chapters have been so slow, so I'm hoping to pick up the pace with the story.
Raziella of Nosgoth: I'm so happy that you read my story! And it makes me even happier that you like it!
Tigress FN: Yeah, you like her mum! I don't know if I'd go as far as shooting Lord Feroun, but it made the review funny. You'll just have to wait and see if the training master will be unfair to her…
Lilith Ha: Lord Feroun does have a strange way of doing things, but you have to understand that he was trapped into the situation. Also, he's confused about it himself. On one side, he wants it to be so hard for her that she fails, and so doesn't become a knight. And on the other hand, he wants her to get her shield for the only purpose of bringing honor to the family. Really, that's all her cares about.
Genevieve: Thanks-so much for reviewing my story! I was so worried that I wouldn't be getting any more reviews till I updated next. I was so happy that I danced around the room. I hope you like this chapter.
Chapter 7: Meetings
Noise filled the brightly lit room. Colorful tapestries depicting battle scenes hung along the walls of the large hall. Tables and benches were lined up in the middle of the room. Pages were pushing and making their way towards the food line. After Christina had her tray, she followed her sponsor and her friends to a table and sat down.
"I am so hungry," she said, taking her fork.
"Not yet," Bradley said. "We have to wait for Lord Laeorn." She sighed, putting down her fork and looking at her plate. The mounds of mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables we begging her to eat them. The smell of the delicious food made her stomach groan.
"Jeez… you must really be hungry," Collin stated looking at her stomach.
"Don't remind me," she said.
Then George came and sat down next to her. She stiffened a bit. She didn't like being around him. Ever since that night…He knew too much about her. Somehow, he had known about her dream to become a knight, and on top of that, he knew she had a powerful gift. She couldn't hide it completely; some knew she had the gift, but didn't know how strong it was. That scared her, the fact that he knew something only extremely powerful mages could figure out, and he didn't even have that strong of a gift.
"Mmmm hmmm, this sure smells good," George smiled, ignored the fact that Christina moved towards her sponsor a little.
"We're not supposed to talk about food. It makes Christina hungry," Peter joked. She gave a weak laugh.
Suddenly, all the pages stood. Lord Laeorn had entered the room. He walked to the front of the hall and cleared his throat. "I hope your day was as hard as mine was," No one laughed at his failed joke. "There is a new page among you. Her name is Christina of Heron's Grove. She's her to become a knight, just like the rest of you." He glanced around the room to see the reaction. Some didn't care; others stretched their heads to try to get a look at her. "Quiet. May Mithros and the Holy Mother Goddess hear our prayer and protect us. So mote it be."
"So mote it be." The hall echoed. Christina sat down hastily and dug her fork into her meal. She stuffed her face full of potatoes, and washed it down with a swig of cold milk.
"Ok," Collin said through a face-full of food, "I should probably let you know who's who." Christina nodded her head, her mouth too full to answer.
"Well, there's really only a couple of people to look out for," added Bradley.
"Yeah," Collin swallowed. "I was getting to that. Over there, at that table," Collin pointed to a group across the room. "Watch out for them."
"Their names are Cyrus of Xiphoron, Laoighis of Primgale, Geta of Wexiam, and Walter of Aesthium. Cyrus and Walt are cousins," said Brad.
"Yeah, can't you see the resemblance?" said Peter sarcastically. Walt had red hair and clear green eyes. Cyrus, on the other hand, had golden hair and chocolate colored eyes. Christina tried hard to match the names with their faces, and remember it.
"So, why do they hate you?" questioned Christina. Silence answered her question. Then someone unexpectedly spoke.
"Because Cyrus hates George," Brendan, who had been silent all afternoon, offered.
"Why –" But Christina was cut off.
"I don't want to talk about it." George spoke, looking down at his plate as he twirled his fork in his potatoes. She took the hint, and made a mental note to ask him about it later. 'Maybe in a month or two,' she thought after seeing the grim look on his face.
After dinner, the group gathered their homework and headed to the library. There, Christina proceeded to try to catch up on all the work she had missed. History and lettering came easily to her. It was math and logistics that gave her trouble. Brendan tried as best he could to try to teach her, but it was useless. She just didn't get it.
Latter, once Christina was finished with her work, or rather given up, she retired to her room. She entered and realized that she still had to unpack her room. All her things were in bags scattered about the cubical. Too tired to do the task then, she moved the things that were on her bed to her floor. Changing quickly, she crawled in to bed.
'What a long day this was. And it was only a half-day at that! I'm never going to get the hang of all this work. And what about George? What happened between him and Cyrus that makes him hate George so much? It must be something awful, but the look he had on his face. I wonder…' But she never finished her thought. Sleep overtook her tired body.
~*~
She didn't recognize her surroundings. She was in a strange place. A strange blue gray fog with golden sparkles reached up to her waist. There was no sky, or if there was, it was completely gray. No traces of stars, moon, or sun. In any other situation, she might have been scared. But somehow, she felt at home. Peacefulness of the mind took over her thoughts. Nothing could have disrupted her happiness.
Christinaeara, a strange, but beautiful voice called from beyond the fog. It seemed to echo all around her, playing with the thick mist and beckoning to her. She couldn't answer it. No words she could say could match the beauty of it. The word resonated all around her for what seemed like forever. Then the mist parted in front of her to reveal a woman.
The lady wore a sparkling blue robes tied with a gold cord. Her golden blonde hair hung loosely around her face, descending in waves down to her waist. Her white hands were folded over her stomach. Her pale complexion only added to her beauty. Rosy cheeks and full pink lips complemented her shocking blue eyes. They seemed to sparkle at the girl.
Chrisinaeara, the word came from the woman's lips. Frischiaen kci diandes morchardé. She spoke in an ancient tongue, which the girl had never heard before. Without thinking twice, the girl gave a deep bow before the lady.
Rising, she said, "Yes."
Aie diandi lonjer quetindé chet nuwesant. Get heisenm de kcir veastiang iote koular surour kcir histibaculerae. Kci westes uil iorele octoa zienae amead de kci liogourer giom get mouchardant jiondelore. Suelio kci diandes get bioulg et get sdtaer cgafoer get diechruen, the lady spoke gently and kindly.
"What must I do," the young girl replied.
The lady gave her a warm smile. Kci hwouculai skio get taema morcharde. Koular, senicula. The lady started to disappear into the fog, but the girl stopped her.
"Wait, please. I do not know who you are."
The woman gave a loving smile towards the girl. Aie beareri get Joides de Westion, Salaria.
The girl just stared at the woman, understanding all the woman told her in the ancient tongue. Somehow, the language was familiar to her. She watched as the mist wrapped around the goddess, enclosing her in blue fog and gold sparkles. The last thing she saw was the woman's luminous smile before she disappeared entirely behind the curtain of haze.
And then she was alone, with only the words the woman had said to keep Christina company.
~*~
The sun rose over the eastern hills lighting the city, and driving the darkness towards the horizon. With each morning, the sun rose later and later, making it harder to get out of bed. The birds in the courtyard began their morning duties, singing as they did so. Christina's body ached all over. She wasn't used to the tough work out she had exposed her body to the day before. It hurt to sit up.
'Why, oh why must I get up so early!' She thought. She groaned when she stood. Weaving in and out of the scattered bags, she dragged herself to the washstand. The cold water felt nice on her face. 'I had the strangest dream last night. Who was that woman and what was she saying to me? All I remember is understanding everything she said. But I don't remember now…' She was lost in her thoughts as she pulled on a pair on breaches and a shirt. The clothes gave more than enough room for movement.
She twisted her hair into two braids, pulled on her boots, grabbed her homework, and headed out to the hall. Collin was standing there, about to knock on her door, with a half-asleep look on his face. He was startled to see her.
"Looks like you have no trouble getting up in the morning," he commented.
"Looks like you do," she smiled and he gave her a helpless look. "Come on, sleepy head, let's go to breakfast." She dragged him off his feet as they walked towards the dinning hall.
Once she got her tray, she sat down at the long oak table next to Bradley. He seemed awake, but when she started talking to him, he only continued to stare at his plate. Exasperated, she poked him. Nothing. So, she poked him again. Sill, no reaction.
"Hey, what's wrong with Brad?" Christina questioned.
"Hm?" Peter said looking up. "Oh, he fell asleep again."
"What?" she said confused. "With his eyes open?"
"Yeah, he does it a lot in the mornings. Just knock him around and he'll wake up."
"Knock him around?"
"Yeah, just push him a bit," Peter shrugged. Christina looked at Brad again, and gave him a hard push. Sure enough, he woke up.
"Huh, wha.. wha… where… oh." Brad said, glancing at his surrounding. "Did I fall asleep again?"
"Yup," Peter and Christina chorused. Brad groaned. Just then, George came crashing through the doors. He paused, looked around, and when he spotted them, came running.
"I over slept again," he was breathing heavily. "Uh, hey.. are you going to eat that?" George said, pointing to a blueberry muffin on Christina's tray.
"You can have it." He snatched the muffin up, and it was gone within a couple of seconds. The bell rang, signaling that it was time to go to the first class, math. Christina groaned, took her stuff, and followed her year mates to the classroom.
The class passed by slowly. She had to prove to Sir Gaudfridus that she knew at least some math. He had a hard time teaching her word problems, and she had a hard time understanding them. He assigned her four problems for homework.
When the next bell rang, Collin pushed her off to reading and writing. Again, she had to show the teacher what she could do. Sir Laomeden was impressed with her ability. For homework, he assigned her to read a chapter of a very large book. Groaning, she followed her sponsor to her next class, philosophy.
All the pages were goofing around. The teacher was already 10 minutes late, a nice break for the pages who had no free time. Then a man in his mid forties entered. Her wore a faded navy tunic and old white hose. His graying blonde hair was uncombed and fell casually in his face. Despite his untidy appearance, his coffee colored eyes sparkled like the stars at twilight at the group before him.
"Good morning!" He said cheerfully.
"Good morning, Sir Theophilus," they answered.
He frowned. "Not as jovial as I would have liked, but no matter. I see we have a new face with us." He looked at Christina.
"My name is –"
He interrupted her. "Please stand when you speak in this class," he said kindly. Slowly, she stood.
"My name is Christina of Heron's Grove." She said clearly.
"Welcome to my class, Christina. You may take your seat. Now, who did their homework and is well briefed on the philosopher Kwanbito Zoiromin."
Brendan's hand shot up, and the teacher called upon him. "Zoiromin is said to be the greatest philosopher of the his time, which was about 200 H.E. He specialized on human behavior. He argued against the idea that there is good in everyone. He believed that there are some people who are born without any goodness in their heart."
"Very good. Can anyone tell me what he based his research on?" The room went silent, all save Brendan's movement of raising his hand. "No one except Brendan?" Theophilus sighed. "Thank you, Brendan. Ok, we're going to try something different. I'm going to pair you up, and after the two of you write a paragraph on it, you may leave." Voices started traveling through the class. "Ok, ok, quiet. George and Peter, Collin and Walter, Christina and…"
She held her breath. 'Please let me be paired with Bren or Brad,' she gave a silent prayer to the goddess. "… and Cyrus…" She gulped, and looked over at him. He wore the same shocked expression on his face. 'What rotten luck I have,' she thought. 'They tell me to stay away from four people, and I can't escape them.' She sighed, took up her books and sat down next to Cyrus.
"Hi, I'm Christina," she offered.
"I know who you are," he replied.
She didn't know what else to say, except, "I guess we better get started. Did you read the reading? Because I didn't. I had so much catch up work to do, and I was completely exhausted on top of that. They really do work you so hard here. I wonder why they do that?" When she was nervous, she tended to talk a lot.
"Ok, stop," he rolled his eyes. She sighed and looked over to her friends. Collin and Peter gave her sympathetic looks.
"Well, I don't want to sit here all day. I don't know about you, but I value my free time. Are you going to talk to me or not?" she said.
"Fine. Sure. Whatever," he sighed. "Zoiromin based his research on powerful leaders of his time, and the people around him. Happy?"
"No. What leaders?"
"King Huilion of Aplisté in Tyra. Zoiromin claimed that he was born evil because throughout King Huilion's life, he caused unnecessary wars to increase the country's wealth. He always won, in the end, but it caused him huge numbers of casualties and much damage. Then, he used all his newfound wealth to build a magnificent castle. The idiot built it on a swamp, and the thing is ruins now. Zoiromin predicted that because of the king's evil heart, the country would never be able to rebuild itself to the powerful country it once was. He was right."
Christina was shocked. She hadn't expected him to know so much about history. She thought she knew a lot about history, but her knowledge didn't go as far back as his. "Well, that wasn't so hard. I didn't know you knew so much about history," she said.
"Yeah, my mother loved everything about history. She taught me everything that I know. I don't see what the big deal is," he started writing it all down on a scroll to hand in to Sir Theophilus. When he was done, he wrote both his and Christina's name on it, then handed it in.
"That was nice of you," she observed.
He just shrugged. "It's nothing." Then he gathered his things and walked through the door. She struggled after him, pencils and paper flying as she ran out of the room. "Wait!" she called.
He was already at the end of the hall. He stopped and slowly turned around, giving her a strange glance. She ran up to him. She opened her mouth, but then closed it again, unsure of what exactly she wanted to tell him.
"What is it?" he questioned.
She paused. "Uh.. I'm not sure how to say this, exactly. But, uh.." She looked into his eyes. "Um.. why do you hate George?" He raised his eyebrows.
"He didn't tell you?" She shook her head.
"Is it really bad?" she asked.
He nodded then redirected his gaze to the floor.