***Disclaimer: Everything except Aislinn, Justine, Ellen, etc. belong to Mercedes Lackey.

**Thank you all for your reviews. I didn't think I'd be getting as many as I did on my first chapter. In the next chapter you will learn all about Aislinn's family, etc.

:Mindspeech:

"Aislinn's Mindspeech"

Chapter 2: Chosen

"Well, what do we do know?" Ellen asked. "I mean, I've never read any of the Valdemar books."

"Using my wonderful powers of deduction, I'd say we are in Companion's Field." Aislinn said.

"You just know that because you can see the Companions!" Justine accused, pointing at the white horse-like beings in the distance. Aislinn nodded, and started laughing. Her laughter abruptly stopped when she saw one of the Companions split off from the group and start walking towards them. Aislinn hit Justine in the arm to get her attention, and pointed to the Companion that was making its way to the girls.

"Why is that horse coming over here?" Ellen asked.

"That's not a horse! That's a Companion!" Justine yelled. Aislinn normally would join Justine in enlightening Ellen, but she couldn't take her eyes of the gorgeous Companion who was only a yard away. The Companion kept walking until she was right in front of Aislinn, and then stopped. They stared at each other for a minute, then Aislinn jumped when she heard a voice in her head.

:Aislinn, my name is Kiari. I Choose you.:

With that, Aislinn felt heart-wrenching joy and love fill her heart as she drowned in the sapphire depths of Kiari's eyes. Ellen and Justine had fallen silent, watching as the Companion chose their sister, unable to take their eyes of the glorious sight. Finally, Aislinn tore herself away from Kiari's gaze and looked at her sisters, her eyes filled with happiness.

"She Chose me!" Aislinn cried. Justine nodded, and Ellen rushed up and hugged her Aislinn. Even though Ellen didn't really understand what had happened, she knew that whatever it was had made her sister very happy, and so Ellen was happy for her.

"What should we do know?" Justine asked. Ellen shrugged, and Aislinn looked at Kiari for her opinion.

:I think that we should go to see Queen Selenay,: Kiari's voice echoed in Aislinn's mind.

"Yeah, I agree," Aislinn said. When she saw that her sisters were looking at her funny, she said,

"Kiari thinks that we should go see the Queen, and I agree. I also don't think that we should tell many people where we come from. It could damage their society." Kiari nodded in agreement, which made Ellen giggle, to see what she still thought of as a horse nod.

:It will be hard to stop people from wondering, considering the clothes you are wearing,: Kairi mentioned. Aislinn nodded in agreement, and looked down at herself. She was wearing black jeans and a grayish-blue t-shirt that said FU on the front, and on the back said Fun University in big, black letters. It was one of her favorite shirts, but Aislinn didn't think that the people here would get the joke. Ellen and Justine weren't that better off. Ellen was wearing a Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings t-shirt with gray pajama bottom like pants. Justine was wearing jeans with torn knees, and a Goo Goo Doll t-shirt. They all still had their backpacks, and they were all wearing sandals.

"Well, we can't help our clothes, so let's give these people the shock of their lives," Aislinn commented. Justine and Ellen grinned mischievously. They were happy that Aislinn had started to act like her own self. She hadn't been talking very much, and it had them worried for her health. Kiari nudged Aislinn, wanting her to ride, but she shook her head. Aislinn used mindspeech to tell Kiari her reasoning.

"Sorry, love, if my sisters walk, so do I." Kiari nodded her head, and started walking towards the palace.

:I've told Rolan about you three and he will tell his Chosen, who will in turn inform the queen. I think that we should only tell a few select people. Maybe only the queen and her consort, Elspeth, Darkwind, Talia, and Dirk,: Kiari commented. Aislinn related what Kiari told her to Ellen and Justine, who agreed.

"I'm sorry to ask this, but since I haven't read the books, who are all these people?" Ellen asked. Justine turned to Ellen and started blabbing about the Queen's Own and how Elspeth had met Darkwind, etc. Aislinn rolled her eyes, anticipating the long hours that she would have to bear of Justine talking nonstop about Darkwind, who happened to be her favorite character. Now, Aislinn was a different matter. Her favorite character was Firesong, who had the most awesome taste in clothes. She couldn't wait to meet him and Silverfox. I bet that Ellen's favorite people, well non-humans, will be the griffins. With that thought, Aislinn started laughing, she could just imagine Ellen freaking out when she saw the griffins. Griffins had always been Ellen's favorite. She had loved them since the moment she had seen a picture of them on one of Justine's books.

"Hey, Kiari, would there be a way to convince Firesong to leave k'Valdemar vale for a bit and come to Haven?" Aislinn asked silently. Kiari was silent for a minute, obviously thinking.

:I'm not sure, Chosen. We can try, though. I understand that he is your favorite 'character' in your books, so I will try my hardest to get him here if it will make you happy. I don't think it will be very hard, though. You seem to have a very strong Mage gift, and you will probably turn out to be a Healing Adept. The only gifts you have other than that are Mindspeech and a small Fetching gift. You will be able to fetch small things from a short distance, but nothing more than that.: Kiari's head shot up in shock when Aislinn squealed loudly in delight, and started jumping up and down. Even Justine stopped lecturing Ellen to look quizzically at Aislinn.

"What's up with you, Aislinn?" Justine asked. Aislinn stopped jumping long enough to answer,

"I'm gonna be a Healing Adept!" She proceeded to start jumping around again, this time in circles around her Companion.

:Is she always like this?: Justine and Ellen looked around to see who was talking to them before looking at Kiari.

"You just broke the Code!" Justine shouted. Aislinn stopped jumping and looked at Justine strangely.

"What code are you talking about, Justine?" Ellen finally asked.

"Companions aren't supposed to talk to anyone other than their Heralds. It's the rule," Justine insisted.

"Well, damn it all, Justine, you're my sisters. Of course Kiari can talk to you!" Aislinn said impatiently.

"Well, then that's okay. Anyway, to answer your question, Kiari, this is nothing compared to her when she is hyper," Justine claimed.

:You mean she gets worse?:

"Just remember this, never let her have much sugar," Ellen commented. "If she does, then she will not calm down. Ever. She just keeps going and going and going and going until you want to kill her just to get her to shut up."

"Hey, I heard that!" Aislinn yelled.

"Oh, and also, she cusses a lot, too," Justine said. Aislinn's eyes widened as she thought of something she hadn't before.

"Uh, Kiari, am I gonna be allowed to cuss? 'Cause I don't think I'll be able to stop. I don't cuss as much as some people, but sometimes I can't help it, and I don't want people to get mad at me."

:No, Chosen, I don't think that anyone will care if you cuss, as long as it isn't around the nobles.:

"Ah, Kiari, come on, that's not fair. They're the people I really want to scare!" Aislinn complained. Kiari looked at Aislinn and shook her head, an affirmative no.

"Hey, Kiari, do we have any gifts?" Justine asked.

:I'm not sure, I can only tell what my Chosen's gifts are, not anyone else's. Sorry.:

"It's alright, we'll see when we get to the palace," Ellen said reassuringly.

"Well, if we want to get to the palace before dark, we had best hurry!" Aislinn yelled. With that note, Aislinn raced off towards the palace, obviously eager to get there. With a startled snort, Kiari hurried after, with Ellen and Justine not far behind. In the merriment of the moment, the happy teens and Companion didn't realize that they were being watched from afar.

***There, done with the 2nd chapter. I hope that you all like it. I may not be able to get the other chapters out as fast, because the internet at my house is screwed up right now, and it may take me awhile to write the following chapters. And thanks to all those who reviewed, I really didn't expect as many as I did in the first couple of days. Hopefully you'll like this story, so review using the pretty gray button below this writing. J