A/N Ok I know I know. I haven't updated in ages, but I have been very busy. I'm 17 now, that number looks so strange to me, I don't feel 17, 17 year olds are kinda old aren't they. Well you turn 17 (if you haven't already) don't expect to feel old. This is not a very long chappie, but at least I have updated it. Also be sure to look back on chap 1 because it has been revised (thank goodness). I'm revising all my chaps but not as drastically as 1. Ok on with the thanks. M'cha I don't know if Alanna and Zira will ever be good friends. I want them to be friends but watching your mother get killed I think may make it a little hard for you to understand the point of view the killer is coming from. We shall see. I feel sorry for Liam too. I don't know what will happen to him, but I do have a naïve trust that everyone has some good in them. Reese is Liam's sidekick, he has red hair and worships Liam. Ani ;-). Shadowflame thanks for the review. Blue Eyes, I don't know if really my endings are unlife-like, you see I like to break off in the middle of things, every conversation has a climax (well most do anyway) and I just like to stop there. I'll try to make my last phrases less dramatic, but also I want to keep people reading. Fntyangel, who get Zira? That's the question. I know, no one else (well actually that isn't true all of the people that I know who have read this get told the plot line and how it ends). Kathryn and Zurizip thanks for the reviews. Lady Redbird, I'm sorry my chappies are so short. You see I myself am a fan of short chappies that you can finish easily between classes, so I write mine alittle on the short side, I like them to be at least a 1000 words though this one is just above that so just makes the grade. I'm sorry that it took me so long to update too. Ammarice I wanted Zira to be vulnerable, so she had to lose. You guys had seen her beating people like Falkin and Shae but I didn't want her to be invincible with the knife. Kalika, I think Zira and Alanna may grow to understand eachothe but I don't see a bosom friendship between them ever. Kel, now Kel is hard to write, I haven't put her in yet because she probably would end up just a lump. I may try to include her, but I don't know. Pen Mage, I'm glad that I rescued Zira from Mary-Sue land by having her lose. Everyone is falling in love with her because she is a surprise. No one thought of her as a girl before and now this person they all thought they knew looks completely different. Golden Goddess I have a feeling that this won't be long enough for you, sorry. But at least I updated. Daemon, thanks for the review. I'm sorry I don't think that this counts as soon though, it's only 2 and1/2 months since you reviewed. Reviewer of Zira, you know when you mentioned the horse I was thinking "what horse?" The horse that Zira describes is a horse in the town that I live in. She is gorgeous. MY BELOVED EXROOMIE!! I will miss you next year.
Jip Thanks for all the reviews. Jasson may or may not be perfect for Zira we shall see but at the moment she is with Falkin. Sorry I haven't updated. Kalika thank you so much for saying that this is one of your favorites that means a lot. Aer oh wait that's me hehe. No writer's block is not good. I had to change the beginning of this chap, originally it had Alanna and Jonathan (or George (sigh)). I'll have to think of Titles and I'll put them in my next A/N so you guys can choose (I'm thinking of changing the title again). Barannilwen (cool name) I'm glad M'cha recommended this to you.
Wow my A/Ns are getting LOOOONNGG. Read Review and enjoy!
Chapter XXI: Eyes Opened and Closed
Numair ran his fingers through his long dark hair and laid down the book he had been looking through all night. Six years of searching and still no results, Jonathan was becoming impatient. Numair turned back to the locked box on the table behind him. There lying on the surface next to its prison was the Dominion Jewel; it was glowing faintly amber from within. Numair stared. He had felt nothing yet the stone had slid threw the iron of the chest and layers of his, the King's, Alanna's and Jasson's gifts, as if it were all no more trouble than water. Numair gingerly picked up the jewel and as he did so the last glimmer of amber died. There was not a scratch on its smooth exterior. Numair dropped it in fear and stared at it lying on the floor at his feet. Then ever so carefully he picked the stone up and slid it into its pouch. He tied it to his belt and ran out of the room.
Neal was in the infirmary. He was worried Zira hadn't come that morning, he was thinking of going to her room when Numair burst into the room.
"Neal!" he said, brushing his thick hair out of his eyes. "Neal! The Jewel!" Neal stared at Numair, and then motioned him to a chair. Numair collapsed into the chair and began telling him about the box, and how the Jewel had passed through some of the strongest warding spells ever created without even alerting him. Neal's level green eyes were fixed on Numair's face.
"So the Jewel has been stolen? Why do you come to me, Jonathan would know better what to do." Numair shook his head, and untied the pouch from his belt.
"No it wasn't stolen, and that is why I came to you and not to Jonathan. I found it lying on the table beside the box." He handed it to Neal. "There really isn't anything to report to Jonathan, and if it went through the spells we placed on it then there really isn't any way to prevent it." Neal looked interested.
"What kind of thief takes it from the box but not the room?" he murmured to himself. "Do you think it was a kind of taunt?" Numair took the Jewel back and stared long and hard at its smooth plain surface.
"It is an interior spell," he said at last. "Whatever is calling the Jewel is connected with it, maybe even more deeply than Jonathan himself. It wants to go with it as well, the Jewel is not resisting," he sighed. "What do you know of the history of the Dominion Jewel?" Neal stretched out his long legs; his green eyes took on a vague misty look.
"Very little is actually know about it. It seems to have been around for forever. Back in the oldest legends it existed. It must have been created, but there are no records where and how," he shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "The descendants of the creator may have enough of a connection with it to make it wish to return to them." Numair looked down at the stone.
"Neal you have the records for this type of project, could you look into it?" Neal looked up at the corner of the room then at Numair.
"If I can find anything I will report it to you." Numair smiled and turned to go. "Numair." He turned back. Neal stood and looked at the older Mage. "Please understand though that some of my research is very delicate, I cannot promise the results you want."
"Don't worry if you can't find anything," Numair replied. "I've been working for six years and still haven't uncovered anything."
"That's not what I meant. I go by my own code, you must understand that. If I do not tell you everything," he paused, " you have to know and trust my judgement."
~*~
Falkin stared at the canvas wall of his tent. Zira's smile was going through his mind; he smiled in unison with the vision. He had had to leave two days after the ball, and he was only just coming to grips with being in love. Or maybe he had been in love the entire time without knowing it, without seeing it. He never had flings with the local girls like many of the other knights. He had never really seen them. All he had seen was that none of them could hold a decent conversation, like Zira. None of them could be both passionate and reserved, like Zira. None of them could be so proud and so vulnerable, like Zira. All this he had noticed before, he just hadn't notice the way Zira's amber eyes seemed to be on fire when the met his, the way he was the only one that she would look away from first, the way that her scarred hands gripped the hilt of a dagger, the way that her hair was twisted up out of her face, and the way that it swung when it was let loose, the way the fine hairs at the nape of her neck brushed his palm, and the way her lips felt against his. He was hers, wholly and completely. He sighed and opened the tent flap to the world outside.
~*~
Zira slept. Shae looked down on her, her deep brown eyes registered every breath, and her own chest moved with the sleeping girl's. She hated Alanna. She would never forgive her for winning. Shae knew that Alanna had robbed Zira of everything, her mother, her brother, and now her own pride. She brushed a loose wisp of ebony hair off Zira's cheek.
Zira didn't wake in the morning. Shae worried, but the steady rising and falling of her chest reassured her. She sat there watching her friend. She did not sleep, she hardly even blinked, her intent eyes rested on Zira as if just by looking she could bring her back into the waking world.
~*~
Neal searched through his dusty volumes, they were full of legends and philosophies and histories. He found nothing, so he delved into older and older volumes. Paper turned to parchment, parchment to velum, velum to papyrus. The years flowed back the dialects grew more and more archaic. Then a chance phrase caught his keen green eyes, and he feared. He was trapped in the middle. Using the words as reference he picked up an older volume, blowing dust off its cracked surface. The pages were stiff with age and fragile with decay. As he turned the pages his understanding grew, and his fears found more and more foundation to stand on. He ran his fingers through his brown hair making it stand on end. Loyalties pulled him in many directions. He laid down the book and stared into space trying to work out his complex thoughts.