Chapter Two
Disclaimer: Raistlin, Caramon, Flint, Tanis, Tas, and the Heroes of the Lance in general belong to the Dragonlance series owned by WotC. Magnus D'Armand (Gar) and Alea Larsdatter belong to Christopher Stasheff, as does Herkimer. The rest are mine, unless I forgot someone, and then you'll recognize them. NO money for me from this!
Over the next month, Nire learned much. She came to Raistlin's tower for an hour and a half every day. She was a quick learner, and had a lot of talent. She had learned more in one month than Raistlin thought was possible for one person. To be quite honest, he was a tad but jealous. But, strangely, not filled with the rage he had been during his Test, when the image of Caramon had possessed magic. As Nire became comfortable in his presence, her accent became apparent, even when speaking Common. She tended to say ah instead of ar, for everything, and left the t out of words, just ending them abruptly in the spot where a t was, with a sort of click in her throat. On the end of ing, there was no g, and there were more little things that he couldn't really describe.
Her memory was phenomenal. She only had to see or hear a thing a couple times to commit it to memory. Her penmanship was truly terrible, though, and she spent a lot of time working on that. She quickly learned to make the tea Raistlin drank for his cough. One thing he appreciated about her was that she did not fuss over him like Caramon did. The first time he had a coughing spasm in front of her, she merely stood calmly until he was done, asked if he was okay, and when he sad yes, continued on with the lesson as if nothing had happened.
Despite herself, Nire found that she was actually beginning to like the mage. Not every day was spent learning. Some days, they merely talked. Raistlin found that she reminded him of himself as a child, bitter and cynical. After a month, Nire still had not met any other than Raistlin, had never been out of his tower, although she wanted to do both.
The day she finally met Caramon was one of those talking days. She and Raistlin were having an argument.
"But ya can't jus' rely on magic alone!"
"A mage will always defeat a soldier."
Nire growled in frustration. "Oh yeah? What if somehow ya happened t' lose yer magic? What then? Any mage'd be defeated in 'n instant, cuz y'all can't fight fuh shit!"
"What are the odds of that happening?"
"What ah th' odds o' it not?"
"A mage doesn't need to fight. In a war, the soldiers will protect the war mage."
Nire interrupted him. "An' what if th' soljahs ah killed, huh? What then?"
"Then the mage would use his magic to kill the enemy."
"Ah, bu'cha fuhget, ya lost th' magic, somehow."
Caramon happened to be walking by the little room. He had head about Nire from his brother, and wanted to meet her. What kind of child would his brother have the patience to teach? He didn't really mean to eavesdrop, but he paused outside the door anyway. After listening for a few minutes, he thought Nire was right, so he knocked on the door and went in.
"I think she's right, Raist."
"Well who asked you?" Raistlin said exasperatedly. "You wouldn't understand, anyway." Caramon writhed uncomfortably under his brother's gaze.
"Oh, do shu'up, Rais'lin. Jus' cuz he agrees wi' me…" She turned her attention to the big man. "Hiya. Ah'm Nire."
Caramon bemusedly shook her had. "Caramon." This child couldn't be more than ten, and yet she was not afraid of Raistlin - hell, she was just arguing with him - and was very bold. He liked her already!
"What she's saying does make sense, Raist…" Caramon looked at Raistlin.
Raistlin threw up his hands. "Fine. Yes, Nire, you're right. Happy?"
Nire had a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Yeah. An' now Ah wanna learn t' swordfight."
"I'll do it," Caramon immediately volunteered, earning a glare from Raistlin. "Well…"
Raistlin just shook his head. "Fine." He seemed to repeat that a lot around Nire.
She flashed a bright smile, one of her rare smiles. "Sweet!" Then she looked expectantly at Caramon.
"Well…" He tried to figure out how to say this politely. After all, she was only nine or ten.
"Wait, wait, let meh guess. Ah can't learn anythin' 'till Ah lose some weight, o' get some muscle, o' some shit lahk that."
"Uh, yeah."
"Well, how'm Ah s'posed t' do that?"
"I'll show you some stuff."
Raistlin cleared his throat. "How about every other day with Caramon?"
"Deal!" Nire said happily.
Over the next months, that was what she did. To her dismay, instead of getting thinner, what Caramon had her doing merely changed the fat to muscle. Her family - and schoolmates - never found this out, however. She continued to play the role of the fat, non-athletic girl, and played it well. Raistlin taught her to form her own gate, to wherever she wanted. Of course, the only place she really used it to go was to Raistlin's tower and Solace. Caramon would take her wherever she wanted to go. He bought her whatever she wanted - a sword, clothes, anything. She was remarkably good with weapons, too. She met the rest of the Heroes of the Lance, too. The lot of them became, friends, even though she was only nine. Flint taught her to fist fight and wrestle, Tanis taught her to shoot a bow, and Tasselhoff taught her to "borrow" things (better than she could before). The little girl and the kender made quite a pair; none of the people of Solace were safe from them. She had fun with them, but she still did not feel that she really fit in. She held herself aloof from them, keeping her distance a little, and not letting them get close to her.
Her birthday was better than usual. Raistlin got her her own spellbook. From Caramon, came a truly beautiful sword. There was a wooden carving from Flint of a unicorn and a dragon fighting - and, knowing her preference for dragons, the dragon was winning. Tanis gave her her very own bow, and Tas gave her some pretty baubles. Her family and friends just got her the usual mundane stuff.
Under her bed was now a plethora of weaponry. All was masked with an illusion of nothing. None of her family was aware that they were there, nor were any of her friends. She was becoming more withdrawn, more disenchanted with the world. Her father suddenly decided to try and get involved in his kids lives. Nire's mother understood that the girl didn't like to be touched all that much, but her father didn't. He drove her absolutely nuts. And he didn't understand that she truly did not like him.
She was a cutter, now, and no one knew. She was careful - she only used a safety pin, and only in places where no one could see, like her stomach. The pin hurt just enough, and scratches from it bled a lot. After a while, the scars faded to nothing - it was the perfect tool. The first time, she did it on her wrists, but learned that was what stupid people did. She had pushed up her sleeves to eat a lunch one day, and her friends had seen the marks. Luckily, she was able to convince them that they were only cat scratches.
Nire spent more time outside during the winter, so she could spend more time with her friends. Sometimes, she could get three hours at a time. Raistlin had rigged up a new spell with each gate that allowed her to hear when someone called her name. That way, she could stay until that one moment someone started to want her.
On Christmas Day - only ten days after her birthday - she was able to get away, and go party with the Heroes of the Lance. Their winter celebrations were close enough the Christmas, and Nire got her first taste of beer there. And wine. The wine, she liked. However, to her, beer tasted like the bile that come up after you puke. It was a wonderful day, one where she was happier than most.
Raistlin was having Nire practice gating to different places, creating portals and using them. At first, it was only around Krynn. Then, it was to different worlds. He had discovered the land of Faerûn, and began to travel there on occasion, and had her gate there, too. She had discovered books on the place, the Forgotten Realms series, and started reading those. One winter day, as Nire prepared and cast a gate spell, she realized immediately that something was wrong.
"Oh, shit," she muttered to herself as strange surroundings began to fade in.
* * * * *
Magnus d'Armand and Alea Larsdatter were eating dinner aboard Herkimer, when they got a warning from him that there was an intruder aboard, and heard the very strong mental broadcast from the intruder.
Shit, what did I do, Raist is gonna kill me, oh monkeycrap, where the hell am I? A ship? A spaceship? Oh fudge. Oh hell, ha ha ha. This place looks cool, maybe I'll 'splore a bit 'fore goin' back to Raist, make 'im worry a little.
The two of them hastened to where the person was. He/She had blocked any attempts at probes, so neither Magnus nor Alea knew who (or what) this intruder was. In the area that served as a living room was where they found her - for it was a her. She was a little girl, that much was obvious, wearing what a man would have worn on Midgard. Yet, she did not look afraid in this ship, more curious. Before they could talk, she turned to face them.
" 'Ello. Don't s'pose ya could tell meh whe-uh Ah am?"
Magnus and Alea blinked - they couldn't understand her until Herkimer translated.
"She's using the language of old Earth," he informed them.
The girl said something else and made a few gestures. Then she was speaking their language.
"Hello-o. You can talk, right?" Nire was, once more, trying to eliminate her accent, to make it easier for the people to understand her. She had "borrowed" Raistlin's spellbook one day, and learned the spell so she could understand and speak a language.
"You're on my ship, Herkimer," Magnus told her, puzzled. "How did you get here?" He and Alea were still on the defense, prepared in case she was a spy, or heralded the coming of more people.
"Well, my teacher was having me practice using a gate spell," she said cheerfully, "and I kinda screwed it up. My sincerest apologies for disturbing you."
They both clearly heard her thought, Holy shit these people are tall. And on the tail of that, Where have I heard the name Herkimer before?
Alea glanced at Magnus, then crouched down so she was at eyelevel with the girl. "What's your name, sweetie?"
They both saw the slightly raised eyebrow and heard, What is with people?! Must everyone crouch down to be on my level? That is so insulting!
This kid is weird, Alea.
Yes, she is. Alea slowly straightened up as the child said, "Nire."
Nire waited patiently for them to tell her their names, as was polite. She did not wait in vain.
"I'm," beat, "Gar, and this is Alea."
"Pleased to meet you, Gar and Alea." Aha! I know! Those books Raist got me! Raistlin had, for Christmas, gone into Earth's future for her - to the year 2002, to be precise - and bought her a few books in a series he thought she'd enjoy - The Rogue Wizard series by Christopher Stasheff.
Gar and Alea both wondered what she was thinking about. This girl intrigued them. She was obviously a powerful telepath, for she did not realize that she was broadcasting, and she was able to block their probes. They had a quick telepathic conference.
Can you figure out how old she is, Gar?
Ten, I think. She's very young.
Do you think she can read our minds? My shields are up, but…
They heard from Nire, Why are they looking at me like that? Should I just leave? Nah, this could be fun. Maybe I've got some sort of telepathic talent and they can teach me…
Could she figure out how to read minds by herself? If she could, then if no one's taught her the ethics…
I honestly don't know, Alea. Do you want to?
If you'll help.
Gar fought the urge to kneel down to be on eyelevel with the child, as she watched them both calmly.
"Yes, you do have telepathic talent. But how did you know Alea and I were telepaths?"
"Oh, well, you see, in my world, we got books about you. At least, I assume they are." She managed to sound cheerful without smiling. "Wait a sec." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Were you prying in my mind?" She had stopped broadcasting, her mind closing up even tighter.
"No, of course not," Gar was quick to assure the girl. "You were just broadcasting your thoughts very loudly."
"Well then, can you teach me to read minds and all that other stuff?"
She's bold. Bold and fearless. What do you think, Alea?
"Sure we will, Nire," Alea answered for Gar. "Would you like to sit down?" Alea motioned to a chair.
"Sure." Before Alea could warn her of how the chair would adjust to fit her, the girl had sat down. Surprisingly, she did not ump, nor make any noise, just glanced at the chair approvingly and said, "I gotta get me some of these."
Gar and Alea sat down in their own chairs. Nire patiently waited for one of them to say something.
Gar spoke first. "How did you get onto our ship? We're out in the middle of space."
"I told you. Magic." The two telepaths heard, Ha ha ha. They don't believe me. Stupid adults.
Alea fought against the urge to glance at Gar with
raised eyebrows. "What do you
mean?"
"Just
what I said. Magic. Hocus pocus. Abra kadabra alakazam. It was a
spell. That's why I can speak your
language, too. That was another
spell. Well, I can see that you don't
believe me, but there's really nothing I can do that will prove it to you that
you couldn't do with psi powers."
Wait, wait, wait, Alea said to Gar. If she was speaking a different language, then how could we understand her thoughts?
No clue.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"We were just wondering how we could understand your thoughts if we couldn't understand your language," Alea said gently.
"Because you could. Maybe the gods smile down upon you." Nire snorted. "Don't question little blessings."
"Didn't you…think…someone was going to be worried about you?" Gar asked.
"Monkeycrap, you're right." Nire stood up. "Would you seriously be willing to teach me how to use this talent I apparently have?"
"Of course," Alea said.
"Then, when can I come back? Cuz after going back to tell Raist I'm fine, I'm going to have barely enough energy to get home." Blast it all, why did I just tell them that?! Nire's suspicious nature flared up, causing her to add, "I've been gating all day, and after fifty or so, you tend to start getting tired." That was believable, if a completed lie. It only took two gates before a mage would be tired. Four would make the person almost comatose.
"How about two hours earlier, tomorrow?" Gar asked.
"Okey-dokey. See ya!" Nire faded out from their view after making a few gestures and mumbling a few words.
Once she was completely gone, Alea and Gar slowly looked at each other.
"What did you two get yourselves into?" Herkimer asked dryly.
"Since when do ships have a sense of humor?" Gar returned.
"Remember what I was like the first time I came on Herkimer?" Alea asked Gar. "Well, she looked like she came from a world like mine, yet she seemed right at home on the ship."
"Yes, she did." Gar sat back in his chair, thinking, his chin falling to his chest and his fingers steepled. Alea patiently waited for him to speak, which he finally raised his head to do. "Yet, she did not seem to be of that type of world. It seemed like it was something knew to her, do you know what I mean? Did you get any glimpses? Her shields went down once or twice, and then all her thoughts were broadcast."
"Yes, I did. She's a very suspicious, untrusting child, no matter how she appears on the exterior. I wonder why."
"Who can say. But she's powerful Hopefully, we can get the ethics firmly stuck in her head."
"D'you think her claims of magic are true?"
Gar sighed again, thinking deeply once more before answering. "Once more, I can't say. It could be - we've seen faeries, so magic is possible. But then, it could be her psi talents manifesting in a different way."
"Your dinner is getting cold," Herkimer reminded them.
"Come, let us eat," Gar said to Alea. "We'll think about this girl later."
* * * * *
"Where were you?! What happened?!"
The instance Nire returned to Raistlin's tower, she was beset upon by his ire - his worried ire.
"Worried 'bout me?" she said with an arched eyebrow.
He just glared at her with those golden eyes. He had been worried about her, a rare thing for him to care for anyone other than himself. "Well?"
"Well, obviously, Ah screwed i' up, jus' lahke Ah thought Ah would. But Ah did get t' meet some new people. An' know what? Ah've got telepathic talent. An' they're gonna teach meh ta use i'."
"You don't even know these people! And why didn't you come right back, once you knew you'd screwed up the spell?"
"Ah know them th' same way Ah knew you. An' whah di'n Ah come back? 'Cause i' was interestin' there."
"That gives you no right to leave people worrying about you back here."
Nire finally saw that he really had been worried about her, oddly enough. "Okay. Ah'm sorry. Ah guess Ah jus' wasn't thinkin'."
Raistlin smiled at her. "Shall we get on with our lesson, then, or are you too tired."
"Actually, Ah am kinda ti'ed. C'n ya make meh a gate back t' mah room?" She looked at him with puppy-dog eyes. Her few friends in this realm were the only ones she would stoop so low as to doing that to.
"Of course. In the meantime, between now and your next visit here, I shall create a spell that will gate me to the person of my choice, not just the location." He broke off in a coughing fit, struggling to breathe. Nire patiently waited for him to finish and wipe the blood off his lips.
"Want some tea?"
"No. Come, I'll cast you the gate now."
* * * * *
The next day, Nire gated to the living room of the ship a couple minutes late. Gar and Alea were already standing there, waiting for her. She didn't bother with an apology, however, just cocked her head at them, waiting. The three of them looked at each other for a long moment. Truth be told, the girl daunted Gar, and he did not know why. Alea found her interesting; she did not know the reason, either. They had come to the agreement that morning to let the ethics work themselves in along the way.
"Well," Gar finally said. "Shall we get started?"
Nire nodded once.
"Have a seat." They all sat in the same chairs as before. "The first thing you must learn is to clear your mind."
Nire fought back a groan. "Meditation?" Raistlin had tried to get her to do some meditation, claiming it would help her magic - not that she needed help. She had just never gotten the hang of it.
Alea nodded. "It's not that hard. Just relax your body and close your eyes. Now, picture a blank gray wall, and let it fill your vision. Then picture a black dot in the middle of that wall, and let it grow. Let your thoughts grow calm and leave your mind blank."
Nire tried. She really did. But, apparently, meditation just wasn't her thing. She tried for an hour, Alea thinking of almost everything she could to help. Gar did, too. Outwardly, Nire was calm, laughing at herself. Inwardly, she was ready to kill something.
"Look," she finally said. "This just isn't working. Call it quits for the day?"
Gar and Alea both agreed. "Can you come again tomorrow, same time?"
"Of course. See ya then."
Once Nire was completely faded out, Gar and Alea turned to each other.
"Talk over dinner," they both said at the same time, then went to the eating area. Herkimer had their dinners all ready for them and waiting.
"Well, what did you think?" Gar asked.
"She's really bad at meditation."
Gar laughed. "Could you feel how frustrated she was getting towards the end? So, not only can she project thought, but emotion, also."
"Yes, and she was so calm on the outside. She's a marvelously good actor, able to hide her emotions well."
Gar nodded. "Well, this could take a while."
"A very long while."
