The Faith
Chapter 6 - Old World
(Sarah)
"Jai… you have not seen him? Kethe… thank you. Please tell him I called. Thank you." I hung up the phone gently. I still was not happy with Marco… but, he was the only one whose phone number I knew that I could call and explain a situation like this. Four Gods forbid I call Jake or Rachel and I did not know Cassie's number off the top of my head - but Marco was not home. The meeting had gone possibly longer then they had planned it to… that was the best excuse I could come up with.
"Your friends will be worried about you?" I settled into a chair across the table from the Caster and nodded - this man was different and had the air of a Healer about him, as opposed to his sons, who simply possessed egos. He looked like he was about the age of my foster father, with very little gray in his brown hair, but a tired look in his blue eyes. "As they should be - my sons acted rashly and for that, I apologize. Has the Sleep Cast worn off?" I gave another nod and he smiled. "That's good. But, it is to be expected. The old World Weapons were stronger then ones we have here - mostly because of the Head Caster's role in the ceremony." He sipped his tea while I attempted to understand what he had said - Old World?
"What do you mean?" I asked him, accepting a cup of tea from him. I had no intention of drinking it, of course, but it would have been rude to do not so. "Old World?" He nodded.
"No doubt the Academy is still around - it's a tough system to break, is it not? And, since you are a Weapon, then you know some of Academy lore - like the Transgates." He sipped his tea again as I thought on that. Transgate lore? From how long ago? There were many stories involving Transgates, most of them coming from when the Gates started to… warp.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," I said truthfully. "There is no Academy in New York nor-"
"But you don't come from New York," interrupted the Caster flatly, setting his teacup down. "There are no Teslahni descendents in New York. Not only that, your Weapon mark is on a different arm then that which we mark our people. We usually do it on the other arm." The kitchen filled with a disturbing silence as I tried to figure out something to tell him. My mind struggled and finally gave up.
"Kithe," I muttered. "All right, what do you want?" I asked, making my voice as impassive as I could. "I will not tell certain things, but I will tell you as much as I can, I promise you that." He gave a small nod, then chuckled.
"You're very much a Weapon, child," he told me. "And I only want news of the old World, nothing more. Well, that, and an explanation of how you got here."
"Jaia, that I will not tell you," I informed him. "But I will tell you of the Old World. Then, possibly, you can tell me just exactly what you have been doing here for the past century." He nodded again as the kitchen door opened.
"Daniel, Kayden called me and told me you had… oh, hello." The man stopped in the door- I was already half out of my chair, my hand raised to grab a short sword that was not on my shoulder in reality, but was present to my Weapon's instinct. "You must be the one Kayden was telling me about - the Weapon from New York." I wanted to relax, or at least feign relaxation, but there was something about the way this man looked... - he was strikingly familiar and it was disquieting.
"Sarah, sit," said Daniel sharply, in the commanding tone only a Caster can manage. I sat, without thinking, because I was completely used to subconsciously following orders from Casters. "Good. Steve, come in. My son, even though he can't keep his mouth shut, has done me a favor. You're a Weapon - if she goes off into a Weapon lingo ramble, you can translate." The new man, Steve, laughed, as if there was some kind of joke involving Weapon "lingo" - whatever "lingo" meant.
"All right, all right, I'll stay. But you'll have to explain to me why Kayden told me she was Teslahni - she doesn't look Teslahni." That set off something inside of me and I jumped up with a strange anger burning in my blood. I was Teslahni, damn it, I was.
"Iades Teslahni," I told him harshly. "Do not think otherwise." He seemed a little taken aback at my anger and, truthfully, I was surprised too. Then again, I had not had to defend my ethnicity before - not that I remembered, anyway. And I was proud of being Teslahni and no one could ever mistake me for anything else.
"Well, then," said Daniel calmly. "Steve, sit, join us, have some tea, and we'll talk. I've made quite an interesting discovery about this one."
"Oh?" Steve grabbed an empty kitchen table chair and pulled it up next to the Caster - jaia, his Caster. I sat back down, finally able to feign relaxation, at least. Now it simply irritated me that I could not place this Weapon's face.
"She's from the old World." Leave it to a Caster not to dance around the subject.
"The… Old World? Daniel, how in the hell did you reach that conclusion?" And leave it to a Weapon to back-talk a Caster.
"Because I am from the old World?" I suggested, almost a little too coyly. These people were, no doubt, good people, albeit possible Controllers, but regardless of the state of their minds, I would need to know how much of my true self I could reveal. You cannot hide anything from a Weapon and Caster team, but, as a Weapon, I needed to test how easily they were able to deduce a person's personality.
Steve was silent a moment, then rubbed his forehead with a sigh.
"We thought this day might come, but… now?" Daniel shrugged.
"If my hunch is right, she wasn't sent here," he said to his partner. "But it was accidental, like before." He looked to me and I nodded. "So then, for the time being, she's stuck too."
"If I may ask a question?" From arrogance to politeness and not a change in their faces. Kithe. "If the Transgate accident involving your descendents was one hundred years ago, why do you consider the other place home? Is this not your home now?" Daniel took a sip of his tea and looked to Steve, who was looking at him. Finally, Daniel sighed.
"Sarah, this is our home now, don't get me wrong, but… there are a lot of things about Casting that we don't know and not knowing them could be dangerous. There have been a lot of bad awakenings lately and there are a lot of powerful Caster trainees under us, but… eventually, the secret will get out and everyone who isn't afraid will want to be a Caster - or a Weapon, don't give me that look, . We'll test everyone we can but, if the ratio rate is like it was one hundred years back ho- back in the Old World, we won't be able to teach them all. We need to find a way to use Gates to get back and forth between this world and that. The Academy can handle our extra students - we hope, at least, it can."
"No one in the home world has not used Transgates since the Gate incident that brought your descendents here." I sat back in my chair and rested the teacup onto my lap. "To be honest, the Transgate that brought us here was a total accident - my sister and mi itala were having a practice Caster duel when their elements crossed - from what I have been told, one was using earth and water and the other was using fire and air. But I… I have not been in contact with them. We were separated when we arrived here." Casters, Weapons, and my home I could discuss - the Yeerks I would not. I could not.
"Another dead end," sighed Steve. Daniel arched an eyebrow and cleared his throat. "All right, not completely. We do have a new Weapon, sort of… kind of. Hopefully." He looked at me and I had the distinct urge to laugh. He has such a boyish optimism - it was amusing.
And familiar...
"Sort of," I said, nodding. "I have other things that I am needed for, but, in the mean time, I can assist you." Steve grinned.
"Good to know. Welcome aboard, Sarah Tylyr."
"Haelien forbid you ever learn the proper way to address a Teslahni," said Daniel, standing. "Tylyr matalan Sarah, nades kelant mi reinan." I smiled - no one had said that to me in a long time.
"Veraha," I said to him, standing. "And thank you to you as well, Weapon Steve."
"No need to thank me, trust me," he said. "Now, Daniel, while you go have a nice talk with your three about kidnapping people, I'll take Miss Sarah on a tour of our facilities down below."
""Talk" is an inadequate word, . I'm gonna rip those children a new one." He smiled at me as Steve laughed, than left the kitchen with doom preceding him - not that I felt sympathy for the three idiots. Whatever they got, they most certainly deserved.
