~ Chapter 3 ~
Keli didn't have the strength to protest when he carried her to his rooms and set her on the bed.
"Are you feeling better?" He offered her a glass of water.
"I am sorry for that." Keli tried to apologize.
"Nonsense." He smiled a reassurance. "The Companions rarely stop to think that their Chosen may need a chance to say good-bye. I am surprised more trainees don't arrive as upset as you."
"Kenyon isn't my Companion." She tried to explain.
Tristen gave her an odd look. "He certainly looked like he was yours."
Keli shook her head. She knew she was making a mess of trying to explain everything. She reached out and touched his temples.
She shared her memories with him, showing him exactly what happened.
"By all the Gods." He said as he emerged from the memories. "Those are your memories?"
Keli nodded.
"No wonder you are so…upset." He looked concerned. "Out of curiosity, what was that thing you were in?"
"A car. They are part of the reason why there are so few Heralds. They can cover ground much faster than a Companion ever could. Other inventions allow ordinary people to speak across the world without magic or paper or Heralds. About a century ago, by my reckoning, the Companions stopped choosing new Heralds. Slowly the Heralds died off until the only Heralds remaining were the same as the first three, King, Heir, and King's Own."
"All that happened in a hundred years?" Tristen said in disbelief.
"Problems started long before then." Keli swung her feet over the side of the bed. "Kenyon and Solaris brought me back here to modify the treaty that led to all the wars and death that I think of as history."
"Solaris?"
"The Cat."
"That is the name of the High Priest of Karse." Tristen commented.
"According to my history books, she was a queen. Most of the records of this time were destroyed in a great fire that destroyed most of Haven about three hundred years in your future."
"Perhaps we can avert that now." Tristen sat on the bed next to her. "It is rather hard to wrap my mind around. You came from the future and you are the last Herald ever Chosen. Who else have you told?"
"The Queen. Two Companions. A bit to Herald Teren."
"And did any of them understand?"
"No. Selenay thinks I have lost my wits. The Companions were very sceptical." Keli tried to stand.
"I'll take you back to Teren. I am sure he will understand." Tristen offered her his arm.
Keli shook her head. "I should get my backpack from the grove before the storm breaks."
"We can do that."
Keli rested her hand on his arm and let him choose the way outside. No one was in the Grove when they got there but her backpack was still leaning against the tree.
Tristen collected it for her and led her back to the palace, the winds whipped about them but it wasn't raining yet.
"I am sorry to burden you with this." Keli said as they returned. "Normally I am not so…emotional."
"You are only human." He assured her. "No one can expect you to remain calm through everything that has happened to you in the past twelve candlemarks."
Keli thought back to all she was taught. "Actually, that is-was-exactly what was expected of me. An Empress does not allow her emotions to control her; if she does she may make an emotional decision that can cause the deaths of her people."
"That doesn't sound right." Tristen shook his head in bewilderment.
"Your Queen has to do the same thing." Keli pointed out.
"You are no longer the Empress or even the Princess. You don't need to have iron control of yourself."
Keli nodded. "I know. But if I don't I will be useless."
"You don't need to worry about that for now." Tristen stopped and turned to her. "You have time to grieve. The treaty isn't up for review for a year at least."
"A year?" Keli was shocked. She didn't think she would have so much time to wait.
"Do you want to go talk to Teren now?" He asked.
Keli drew herself up regally. "It would be best."
"Being an Empress again, Sia?" He asked.
"What else am I supposed to be?" Keli asked in genuine confusion.
"Just Sia?" Tristen suggested. "No one here is watching every move you make. You can ride out those gates and while a few of us would worry, no one would run after you to drag you back."
Keli let that sink in. "I never thought of that."
"Do you want to talk to Teren now?"
"No." Keli answered honestly. "I don't feel up to it."
"Very well. We should still get inside before the sky bursts."
Keli looked up. She could Feel the power of the storm. Reaching out she found the knot that had been created by her arrival and carefully undid it. The clouds started to thin perceptibly.
"You must be an adept." He commented and looked up at the quickly clearing sky.
"Yes. I haven't had many chances to use it. The monarch's of Valdemar have been adepts for hundreds of years, at least by my reckoning."
"Was Rodry a Mage?"
Keli felt the pain well up again and looked away from him. Tristen tipped her chin up.
"Yes. He taught me. He was an Adept." Keli finally answered.
"You sound like you loved him." Tristen observed.
"I do…I did, whatever." Keli took a shuddering breath. "I never told him, he always treated me like a daughter and it drove me nuts. He was twenty years older than I so I guess it isn't too far fetched."
"What about your father?" He urged sensing she was willing to talk.
"I rarely saw him, he was too busy being Emperor to be father so I was turned over to Rodry to be raised from the age of five."
"How about your mother? You never mentioned her."
"She died of cancer when I was a baby. She was a Herald too."
Tristen guided her towards the Stable.
"I feel guilty for leaving my Haven. My people were being slaughtered but there was nothing I could do for them. The revolutionaries had become a mob. The only one who would have any chance of controlling them was Rodry, but he was cornered in the palace."
"I saw those strange black club things in your memory, what were they?" Tristen asked.
Keli took her bag from him and pulled out a handgun. "They were different versions of this."
Looking around she created a magical target that would stop the bullet and fired. Tristen jumped and the Companions all flashed into attack stance.
Tristen left her side to examine the bullet now hovering in the air. "This is…incredible."
"They are horrific. The ones the revolutionaries were firing can hold dozens of bullets, each one capable of killing someone from a distance or up close."
Keli examined her gun. "This is the worst creation humanity has ever thought of."
Tristen picked the bullet out of the air. "I can see that. What are you going to do with that one?"
Keli considered it for a moment. "I brought it in case we were caught by the rebels. I guess I don't need it."
She dropped it on the ground and it quickly melted into a pile of unrecognizable metal.
"Are you a firestarter by chance?" Tristen asked as he stared down at the unrecognizable lump of metal.
"If that means causing things to burn, yes. I am the product of centuries of careful breeding. More useless gifts than you can shake a stick at." Keli said sarcastically.
"Interesting. Gifts are useless in you time?" Tristen picked up the now cold lump of metal, it didn't even resemble the weapon it had been.
"We have inventions that allow us to do everything a Gift can with out the energy expenditure. There are still Mages but even they have little reason to use their abilities. The remaining schools of Mages are very secretive and are reluctant to share their secrets." Keli explained.
Tristen dropped the gun and rubbed his hand unconsciously on his uniform. "Will you go back?"
"No." Keli said quietly. "I don't think I can.
Kenyon stepped up next to her and looked down at the mass of metal. :You gave us a hell of a scare. I am glad you destroyed that thing.:
"What is going on?" Teren led several people dressed in grey and white.
"It was nothing." Tristen assured them.
"Are you felling better Keli?" Teren placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I am fine." Keli insisted.
"Perhaps it is better if we wait for tomorrow to get her on the rolls." Tristen suggested.
Teren nodded. "How about we show you to your room?"
With Tristen on one side and Teren on the other Keli let herself be escorted back into the Collegium and up the stairs. She was shown into a small chamber with a bed, wardrobe, and desk. Her saddlebags were on the bed.
Teren looked uncertain about leaving her alone. "Would you mind talking to Talia? I think it would help you."
Keli sensed he was very disturbed by her. "If it would make you feel better." She consented.
"I'll make certain she gets something to eat." Tristen assured Teren.
"Very well." Teren still looked concerned but left.
Keli sank on to the bed. "You don't need to baby sit me."
"I know." He sat on the chair to her desk. "Can you blame us if we are a little worried?"
"No, I suppose not." Keli opened her saddlebags.
"Would you like some help unpacking?"
"If you wish." Keli withdrew several frames from the first saddlebag and set them on the bed with out looking at them. "Those can go on the desk."
One was a picture of Selene, one was a formal looking picture of her father and his Companion in full royal gear, and the third was a candid picture of Rodry grooming Kenyon.
Tristen marvelled at the detail. He couldn't find any brush strokes. Sensing she wasn't ready to look at them he placed them face down on the desk.
She removed a blue leather bound book next.
Tristen opened the book and found it empty.
"My diary. Rodry gave it to me several years ago." She blushed.
Tristen set the book on the desk as well.
"Most of this is, um, ladies garments." She said, rather embarrassed that Solaris had packed her so many undergarments. Moving on to the other side she found white velvet wrapped haphazardly. She pulled it out and found it was the white dress she wore only a month ago, by her reckoning, for a fancy ball.
She had danced with many people that night but the only one she really remembered was Rodry. The rest were a blur of names, faces, and platitudes.
"Oh damn." She said quietly. How had Solaris known she wanted to keep this dress?
Tristen moved so that he was sitting next to her. She leaned against him and stared blankly down on the dress.
"I think I would like to lie down for a while." She said softly.
"I understand." He took the dress and folded it over the back of the chair and placed the saddlebags on the ground then left.
Keli lay back and stared at the ceiling. The feelings she had been trying to keep at a distance flooded her.
A weight pulled down the side of the bed and Solaris sat next to her.
:Time to sleep little one.: Solaris said softly.
Darkness washed over Keli.