Disclaimer: *gasp* I am actually changing it! Right I still haven't worked out a way to legally steal ideas or imaginary places so Valdemar is still safely in the hands of Mercedes Lackey… But my characters are mine … all mine!
A/N hopefully this will go quicker than the last one, I am finished my college applications last night so that will certainly help that along. I would like to take this moment to mention that we had our first snow of the year last week, on Tuesday October 21 … we actually had snow until May last year… anyway the funniest part about the snow is that there are still a few deciduous trees with all their leaves (all their green not even remotely fall colored leaves) with snow on and around them… it's quite humorous. Anyway on to the actual chapter. (This is Cymon and he has finished school because school was getting very boring.)
I woke up early on my first morning as a full bard. There was nothing about the day to show my accomplishments. My room looked much the same as it had when I had first moved in. The only real difference was the roommate. When Eben had finished his schooling two and a half years ago I had acquired a new roommate. The boy was quiet and introverted, especially for a bard, but he was nice enough. Still I had missed having Eben around to do composition and laugh with.
I sighed and gathered up the last of my few belongings and headed for the horse stables. As I had always planned I was going to be a traveling bard. I had said my goodbyes to Asia and Ralph the previous evening. Jed had left on his training circuit recently and Melly, her companion, my friends, and family had all been included in the previous night's farewell. So I really didn't expect to meet anybody in the stables. I had arranged with the collegium to take Cookie with me as a mount. She was getting old, but she was still a solid enough mare. She hadn't been bred this year so everything had worked out in my favor.
I arrived at the stable and put my packs down by the entrance. Then I looked down the aisle and saw two white uniforms. Surprised, I looked again.
"Mom, Dad?"
My parents turned toward me and smiled benevolently.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"We got you something," Mother said leadingly.
"What could I possibly need? I have uniforms, my harp, provisions, and a horse."
Father smiled and gestured toward the stall behind him, "You sure do have a horse.
I strode over to join them, more than a little perturbed by this turn of events. I peered into the stall and was at a loss for words. A pure white horse stood in the stall. For a heart-wrenching moment I thought it was a companion. Then I caught the chocolate brown eye and saw the black hooves. Not a companion, just a constant reminder that I didn't have one.
"He is Shina'in trained as a war steed. That mare you like so much is his half-sister."
"You're giving him to me?" I asked woodenly.
"Like you said there was nothing else you really needed, and he turned up," Dad said.
"This guy will be a partner for you, he'll keep you safe on the road," Mom added.
"He sounds perfect," I whispered, admiring the stallion despite myself.
"You like him?" Mom asked.
"Yeah Mom, he's great," I said. I hugged both of my parents and mechanically went about getting the stallion loaded with my gear. As it turned out my parents had already taken care of new arrangements for Cookie and I was ready to go before breakfast was being served in the dining hall.
My Mom had gone back to the collegium to get Ginger up, she was training as a blue, much like Seph and Griff. Ashton would have already gone to her job as a nanny for one of the nobles who lived near the palace. Father was still in the barn though.
"We thought he might be the next best thing to a companion for you Son."
"There is no replacement for that Dad," I said blinking and biting my lip to keep back tears, "Impartially, he's probably the best horse I have ever laid eyes on. He just reminds me so much of a companion…"
"You can always dye his coat dear, but I bet with some work you can do some real showboating with this old boy."
"How old is he?"
"Three, they said for you to name him."
"I'm going to miss you Dad."
"We love you, Son," Dad said. I watched him follow Mom and then confronted my horse, "If we're going to be partners you are going to need a new color."
He snorted and I laughed. I led him outside and noted that he acted up and pranced. I mounted up and headed out. I contemplated the most permanent method for dyeing my mount's coat. It finally came down to magic. I could pick any coloring I wanted that way, and it would be permanent.
:Asia?: I asked tentatively.
: Cye?: Asia asked with mild surprise.
:What would be the best way to magically color my horse's coat?:
:Well, I suppose you could do that…:
I passed through Haven in deep conversation with Asia about the best method to dye the stallion's coat. I was barely still within sight of the city by the time Asia finished giving me the instructions. I needed a name for the stallion I decided. Unfortunately no names came to mind.
Instead of racking my brains for a good moniker I decided to try out what I had just learned. I decided that I would go for something subdued, to fit my dark mood. The opposite of a companion, black, was the eventual result. I dismounted around noon to admire my handiwork and eat a quick lunch. There was nothing particularly striking about the new coloration, and it certainly did not do the fine animal justice. Not only that but I lacked an anchor for the magic. I finished my lunch, still discontent with the dye job. I had no other ideas though so I bent my mind to puzzling out an appropriate name.
No human names, and none of those sentimental fluffy ones either. No descriptives, Blackie just didn't seem right. This horse was probably smarter than a good number of the political minds in the queen's court. War-trained by the Shina'in he was a better fighter than me for sure, and probably a good many of the palace guard as well. He needed a powerful name. Something loud and showy would be the best. A bardic name, I thought through the many ballads, epics, histories and songs I had just spent 6 years learning. Nothing in them jumped out at me.
Finally I gave up and simply enjoyed the countryside. I would either come up with a name or not. My thoughts then were free to wander. And they most certainly did. It never failed that one particular herald and her companion came out on top of my contemplative lists. A herald who I had only spoken to once, and who had ignored my existence while I in turn ignored hers.
Azori. Not so much her as what she stood for. I felt compelled to know everything about her, not difficult, as the ever-vocal twins were her best and only friends. Yet, it was Savannah who I really wanted to be near. My plans to follow the companion and he herald around on circuit had been postponed, though. Azori and Savannah had been sent out on circuit nearly a year before I was finished my training. She was somewhere on one of Valdemar's borders with another herald. A herald-mage to be precise.
The twins had always been adamant in their insistence that Azori was terrified of mages. Mage craft she could handle expertly but get her around a mage and there was trouble. I certainly did not envy the poor herald-mage who had been assigned to take her as an intern.
Alas, I had two options, find Azori and trail her and a fully trained herald who may doubt my benevolent intents, or wait until Savannah and Azi had finished this circuit and then follow them. Neither option really appealed so I had decided to wander around and see what happened. Admittedly not a perfect solution, but the best one I had.
The name jumped out at me as I once more contemplated Azori. It was from one of those memories the healer had given me. Justus, her eldest brother's name.
"Are you up to that name boy?" I asked the stallion rhetorically. He snorted and sidestepped spiritedly. I chuckled and rubbed his neck affectionately; "We're going to be partners Justus, so I guess I can't hold it against you that you aren't Savannah. We'll just have to put up with each other and see what we can do hmm?"
A/N Okay, now this chap is done. Confused? Enjoy it? Hate it? Review it … make your opinion known, on fanfics you do have a voice J!!!!