Ok, I suppose I should reveal Kalita's past, on what makes her sad, mostly
since it was requested twice. I have been avoiding it, because her past
isn't the best thing to read. So, here is the next chapter, and to start
out will be a dream of Kalita.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kalita, Rajani, Jasmine, and Orion, and the plot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Tiger Lady
Chapter 9
*~ Five years of age, a young child walked though a forest she knew so well. She walked down the paths that lead toward her home. A smile lit up her cheerful face, enjoying the scenery. A scream, no, two screams sounded out from the child's home. Suddenly scared, the child gasped and ran toward her home. She stopped suddenly when she made it to the edge of her house, horrified. Her house, her home is destroyed, her mother and father. it seems there were dragged away by.by something. A horse lay down next to a stall that used to stand tall, dead, with a slit through the neck of the beast. The child fell to her knees, tears running down her cheeks. Nothing was left living. ~*
Kalita awoke abruptly, her body sweat soaked and tears falling down her cheeks. "No, no," she choked out in between sobs.
~ Kalita! ~ Rajani said, worried. "Go! Go tell someone, anyone! It's time. ~
Kalita nodded and got out of bed. She dressed and ran out of the room, with Rajani close behind.
She ran straight to George's room and banged on his door. "George! George!" she yelled almost hysterically.
George opened the door, alarmed then concerned when he saw Kalita's tear stained face. "What's wrong?"
"I-I have to tell you something. Gather everyone, Daine, Numair, and Alanna. Please!" She looked up into his face, her eyes filled with fear and worry.
"Alright," George said. He picked her up just as she fell to her knees sobbing uncontrollably. He held her tight against his chest. He looked at his wife who came to stand next to him at the door. "Alanna, go tell the others to meet us in the Library."
The lioness nodded and ran straight to Daine and Numair's room.
Kalita gripped George's shirt and kept crying in against him, as he headed straight toward the Library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daine woke up, shaking. She could feel something was different. She shook Numair, "Numair! Numair! Wake up, something's wrong."
Numair groaned and looked at her, "Do you know what time it is?"
"Yes, time for you to wake. Now, hurry, something's wrong."
He sat up, now concerned. "What is it?"
"I don't know, but I think its Kalita."
Just as she spoke, a knock came to the door, then a female's panicked voice, "Daine, Numair, it's urgent. Open the door."
Daine rushed to the door in dismay. "Alanna!" she cried as she opened the door and saw the red headed knight. "What's the matter?"
"I'm not sure, but it's Kalita," the knight replied as Daine looked at Numair in horror. He stood next to her and put his arms around her. "She wants to talk to us, in the library." Alanna finished.
Daine took both her friend's hands, and ran straight to the library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as they were in the library, they all sat down. Kalita sat on George's lap, her head buried against his chest; she needed his comfort if she was to tell her story. Alanna didn't really like this, but she said nothing, for she is such a nice person.
George put his hands firmly on Kalita's shoulders and pulled her from him, but still allowing her to stay on his lap, he knew that what ever she needed to say had to be hard for her, so he would give her as much comfort as possible. "Kalita, little one, relax, we're here for you, and you can tell us when you're ready," he said gently while handing her a handkerchief. She took it and dried her tears, and blew her nose.
She took a deep breath and refused to look anyone in the eye. "I-I called you a-all here be-because I-I had a d-dream," she stuttered out. Rajani who was next to her, rose on his hind legs and put his front paws on her lap, to give her courage. Kalita smiled slightly and went on, staring hard at the floor, "T-this dream is the s-same dream I-I've b-been having for the past twelve years. I have told no one but Rajani, and I can't hold it in no longer. I have to tell of my past, of why I am the way I am, what happened that caused to put me on the road when I was five and why I have a tiger." She leaned down and whispered something to Rajani. The tiger nodded and ran out of the library.
All the humans sat their quietly waiting for Kalita to speak again, but she didn't, she seemed to be waiting for something else.
Moments later, Rajani returned with Jasmine and Orion, caring something. Looking closer, they all saw that the tiger held a sword and its sheath in his teeth, Jasmine had another sword. And Orion had a small pack. All three tigers laid their items by Kalita's feet and took a step back, watching the young girl.
All four adults looked at Kalita curiously, wondering about the things the tigers brought and what she's going to say.
Finally, Kalita picked up both the swords, one was from the Weaponry, and the other was completely different, and yet the same, the other seemed older and was not familiar to any of the adults. The girl spoke, softly, and surprisingly, calmly, holding the sword from the weaponry, "I found this sword in your weapon room yesterday; it looks almost exactly like my fathers."
She handed the weaponry sword to George, and then held up the other on. "This was my fathers." She unsheathed it and fingered the ancient writing carved on the blade. It was true; the sword did look almost like the weaponry sword, with one slight difference. It was much older, and looked like it was made from somewhere much farther than Tortall, a place that they never even heard of. And the blades ancient writing is unreadable, it was rubbed off from ages, but the writing is in a language are unknown. Its gems where the same emeralds and red rubies, that was the only similarity between the two swords.
"What does the sword say?" Numair asked.
Kalita read from the sword, it was clear she knew the language well, "'For every sorrow, there come happiness, for every death, there comes life, for every hate, there comes hope'."
Numair looked around, and smiled. "Well, that was interesting."
Kalita glared at him, "Don't get all cheerful on me, you'll hate what it does to your looks."
Alanna sighed and looked at Kalita, "Ok, look, we're not here to mock you, and Numair, keep your comments to your self. Now, Kalita, dear, you may continue when your ready."
Kalita nodded and took a deep breath. "This sword was past down from generation to generation, it's been in my family for years. The only thing was that it went to the boys when they were old enough. It was named years ago, before I was even born, its name is Ailis." She is avoiding telling what about her past, but the sword has a great deal in her past, so she's working toward it, making it less painful.
Alanna was interested in the sword, she wanted to look at it, and feel it, but she thought against it. She smiled gently giving Kalita silent courage to continue.
Kalita sighed and went on, "You know, I used to be happy. I had a mother and a father, and a nice pony. Well, that all went away when one day I went to get my mother some flowers. I was so excited that I found some flowers, some new one's I have never seen. When I came back to the house, I found that.." She took another breath and tried again, "that-that my house." She started to shake, she felt strong arms wrap around her, giving her comfort, she leaned against George's chest, and he tightened his grip around her. "My house was destroyed. My-my mare killed, and-and my pa-parents gone, I think-think they were dragged away." Tears started falling down her cheeks as she remembered. "In my dreams, I live that moment, that day over again. That memory will haunt me for life."
Everyone was silent when she told what happened, they were.shocked. Such a young girl, having to go through all that, and she's so young, so small.
George hugged her tight and gently smoothed her hair. "It's alright little one, it'll be alright." He wiped her tears away and hugged her again.
"Do-do you know who took your parents?" Daine asked cautiously.
"No, I don't. I don't know what happened to them, where they went, or if their still alive," Kalita said slowly. "But-but there's more." She took George's hand and held it tightly, he squeezed her hand gently.
"Kalita, are you able to tell us the rest?" George asked as he sat the sword he held down on the floor.
"No, but I have to try." Kalita replied and took a deep breath, which she seemed to do that a lot. "Years after I found my home destroyed, I was barely alive, nothing but skin and bones, living off of fruit and fish. That changed somewhat when I came upon a lady to did magic."
"A mage," Numair interrupted.
"I don't know, but hers was really powerful." Kalita glared at Numair and went on, "The lady told me I had to protect the tigers all around. I didn't know what she meant, but I went with it. Then she told me that I had magic in me. But I didn't have the Gift, she wasn't sure what I had, she could just feel magic. Then she led me to a cave where a mother tiger and full grown cubs were playing. There was another tigress, one who was full grown, fresh from being a cub. A male stood next to her. And the lady told me to pick one of those young tigers, and I obeyed her and picked the male. The female looked as though she wanted to attack me. Do you know how those two tigers were? Rajani and Jasmine." Kalita paused and looked around.
Alanna couldn't help but ask a question, "Kalita, why are you afraid of magic?"
Kalita didn't answer right away, but finally, she answered, "Because in order to combine my soul with Rajani's, I-I had to," she paused and lifted her arm. She bore a long scar on her forearm; it ran from her elbow to her palm, and it was barely seen, but it was there. "The lady put a spell on Rajani, and he scratched my arm, and once he scratched me, one speck of blood fell into a bowl and the wound healed quickly, leaving a scar. Next Rajani was to be scratched, not by my nails, but by my dagger, and the lady put a spell on me as well. Only one speck of blood fell into the same bowl as mine did, and his wound healed. The two drips of blood mixed together and the lady said strange words and a magical bond came between me and Rajani. Rajani could then feel my feelings, my pains and happiness, and I could feel his as well as every other tiger in the world. I can't explain why I'm afraid of magic, just something happened that day that made me fear magic." Tears ran down her cheeks as she told the story.
Kalita quickly dried her tears and pushed back her thoughts as she picked up the pack Orion brought. She opened it carefully and rummage through it. Finally, she pulled out quills and scrolls, along with bottles of ink. She set those on the table; those weren't what she was looking for. She dug further, and she smiled and pulled out a dagger and a block of wood.
She brought the dagger's blade to the block of wood and chipped away wood. The entire adults watched what she was doing, curiously. She finally spoke when she got a head of a horse on the block of wood, "My father was a carver, and he carved things out of wood and made the most beautiful animals. He wanted to teach me when I got older, but when I got older, he wasn't there, for I was only five when he was taken away, so I taught my self." She finished carving the horse, which turned out to be a horse with wings and gave it to George. "You can have it."
George took the winged horse with a smile, "Thank you, I will treasure it always." He gave her a hug.
Kalita smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm hungry, can we end this talk, and eat something?" she practically demanded.
George nodded and let her slide off his lap, then led her toward the kitchen, with the others following her. They were all wondering about what they just heard, and wondered how she felt about telling them, even if she doesn't know them at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm going to end the chapter there, because I don't know what else to write and there's not much left of her past to tell, and I'm tired of this chapter, after two days of trying to write it. I hope you liked. Oh, I think I don't have any ideas for the next chapter, who has some ideas? If you tell me, I'll give you a cookie. *holds a cookie out in the air for who ever gives the best idea*
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kalita, Rajani, Jasmine, and Orion, and the plot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Tiger Lady
Chapter 9
*~ Five years of age, a young child walked though a forest she knew so well. She walked down the paths that lead toward her home. A smile lit up her cheerful face, enjoying the scenery. A scream, no, two screams sounded out from the child's home. Suddenly scared, the child gasped and ran toward her home. She stopped suddenly when she made it to the edge of her house, horrified. Her house, her home is destroyed, her mother and father. it seems there were dragged away by.by something. A horse lay down next to a stall that used to stand tall, dead, with a slit through the neck of the beast. The child fell to her knees, tears running down her cheeks. Nothing was left living. ~*
Kalita awoke abruptly, her body sweat soaked and tears falling down her cheeks. "No, no," she choked out in between sobs.
~ Kalita! ~ Rajani said, worried. "Go! Go tell someone, anyone! It's time. ~
Kalita nodded and got out of bed. She dressed and ran out of the room, with Rajani close behind.
She ran straight to George's room and banged on his door. "George! George!" she yelled almost hysterically.
George opened the door, alarmed then concerned when he saw Kalita's tear stained face. "What's wrong?"
"I-I have to tell you something. Gather everyone, Daine, Numair, and Alanna. Please!" She looked up into his face, her eyes filled with fear and worry.
"Alright," George said. He picked her up just as she fell to her knees sobbing uncontrollably. He held her tight against his chest. He looked at his wife who came to stand next to him at the door. "Alanna, go tell the others to meet us in the Library."
The lioness nodded and ran straight to Daine and Numair's room.
Kalita gripped George's shirt and kept crying in against him, as he headed straight toward the Library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daine woke up, shaking. She could feel something was different. She shook Numair, "Numair! Numair! Wake up, something's wrong."
Numair groaned and looked at her, "Do you know what time it is?"
"Yes, time for you to wake. Now, hurry, something's wrong."
He sat up, now concerned. "What is it?"
"I don't know, but I think its Kalita."
Just as she spoke, a knock came to the door, then a female's panicked voice, "Daine, Numair, it's urgent. Open the door."
Daine rushed to the door in dismay. "Alanna!" she cried as she opened the door and saw the red headed knight. "What's the matter?"
"I'm not sure, but it's Kalita," the knight replied as Daine looked at Numair in horror. He stood next to her and put his arms around her. "She wants to talk to us, in the library." Alanna finished.
Daine took both her friend's hands, and ran straight to the library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as they were in the library, they all sat down. Kalita sat on George's lap, her head buried against his chest; she needed his comfort if she was to tell her story. Alanna didn't really like this, but she said nothing, for she is such a nice person.
George put his hands firmly on Kalita's shoulders and pulled her from him, but still allowing her to stay on his lap, he knew that what ever she needed to say had to be hard for her, so he would give her as much comfort as possible. "Kalita, little one, relax, we're here for you, and you can tell us when you're ready," he said gently while handing her a handkerchief. She took it and dried her tears, and blew her nose.
She took a deep breath and refused to look anyone in the eye. "I-I called you a-all here be-because I-I had a d-dream," she stuttered out. Rajani who was next to her, rose on his hind legs and put his front paws on her lap, to give her courage. Kalita smiled slightly and went on, staring hard at the floor, "T-this dream is the s-same dream I-I've b-been having for the past twelve years. I have told no one but Rajani, and I can't hold it in no longer. I have to tell of my past, of why I am the way I am, what happened that caused to put me on the road when I was five and why I have a tiger." She leaned down and whispered something to Rajani. The tiger nodded and ran out of the library.
All the humans sat their quietly waiting for Kalita to speak again, but she didn't, she seemed to be waiting for something else.
Moments later, Rajani returned with Jasmine and Orion, caring something. Looking closer, they all saw that the tiger held a sword and its sheath in his teeth, Jasmine had another sword. And Orion had a small pack. All three tigers laid their items by Kalita's feet and took a step back, watching the young girl.
All four adults looked at Kalita curiously, wondering about the things the tigers brought and what she's going to say.
Finally, Kalita picked up both the swords, one was from the Weaponry, and the other was completely different, and yet the same, the other seemed older and was not familiar to any of the adults. The girl spoke, softly, and surprisingly, calmly, holding the sword from the weaponry, "I found this sword in your weapon room yesterday; it looks almost exactly like my fathers."
She handed the weaponry sword to George, and then held up the other on. "This was my fathers." She unsheathed it and fingered the ancient writing carved on the blade. It was true; the sword did look almost like the weaponry sword, with one slight difference. It was much older, and looked like it was made from somewhere much farther than Tortall, a place that they never even heard of. And the blades ancient writing is unreadable, it was rubbed off from ages, but the writing is in a language are unknown. Its gems where the same emeralds and red rubies, that was the only similarity between the two swords.
"What does the sword say?" Numair asked.
Kalita read from the sword, it was clear she knew the language well, "'For every sorrow, there come happiness, for every death, there comes life, for every hate, there comes hope'."
Numair looked around, and smiled. "Well, that was interesting."
Kalita glared at him, "Don't get all cheerful on me, you'll hate what it does to your looks."
Alanna sighed and looked at Kalita, "Ok, look, we're not here to mock you, and Numair, keep your comments to your self. Now, Kalita, dear, you may continue when your ready."
Kalita nodded and took a deep breath. "This sword was past down from generation to generation, it's been in my family for years. The only thing was that it went to the boys when they were old enough. It was named years ago, before I was even born, its name is Ailis." She is avoiding telling what about her past, but the sword has a great deal in her past, so she's working toward it, making it less painful.
Alanna was interested in the sword, she wanted to look at it, and feel it, but she thought against it. She smiled gently giving Kalita silent courage to continue.
Kalita sighed and went on, "You know, I used to be happy. I had a mother and a father, and a nice pony. Well, that all went away when one day I went to get my mother some flowers. I was so excited that I found some flowers, some new one's I have never seen. When I came back to the house, I found that.." She took another breath and tried again, "that-that my house." She started to shake, she felt strong arms wrap around her, giving her comfort, she leaned against George's chest, and he tightened his grip around her. "My house was destroyed. My-my mare killed, and-and my pa-parents gone, I think-think they were dragged away." Tears started falling down her cheeks as she remembered. "In my dreams, I live that moment, that day over again. That memory will haunt me for life."
Everyone was silent when she told what happened, they were.shocked. Such a young girl, having to go through all that, and she's so young, so small.
George hugged her tight and gently smoothed her hair. "It's alright little one, it'll be alright." He wiped her tears away and hugged her again.
"Do-do you know who took your parents?" Daine asked cautiously.
"No, I don't. I don't know what happened to them, where they went, or if their still alive," Kalita said slowly. "But-but there's more." She took George's hand and held it tightly, he squeezed her hand gently.
"Kalita, are you able to tell us the rest?" George asked as he sat the sword he held down on the floor.
"No, but I have to try." Kalita replied and took a deep breath, which she seemed to do that a lot. "Years after I found my home destroyed, I was barely alive, nothing but skin and bones, living off of fruit and fish. That changed somewhat when I came upon a lady to did magic."
"A mage," Numair interrupted.
"I don't know, but hers was really powerful." Kalita glared at Numair and went on, "The lady told me I had to protect the tigers all around. I didn't know what she meant, but I went with it. Then she told me that I had magic in me. But I didn't have the Gift, she wasn't sure what I had, she could just feel magic. Then she led me to a cave where a mother tiger and full grown cubs were playing. There was another tigress, one who was full grown, fresh from being a cub. A male stood next to her. And the lady told me to pick one of those young tigers, and I obeyed her and picked the male. The female looked as though she wanted to attack me. Do you know how those two tigers were? Rajani and Jasmine." Kalita paused and looked around.
Alanna couldn't help but ask a question, "Kalita, why are you afraid of magic?"
Kalita didn't answer right away, but finally, she answered, "Because in order to combine my soul with Rajani's, I-I had to," she paused and lifted her arm. She bore a long scar on her forearm; it ran from her elbow to her palm, and it was barely seen, but it was there. "The lady put a spell on Rajani, and he scratched my arm, and once he scratched me, one speck of blood fell into a bowl and the wound healed quickly, leaving a scar. Next Rajani was to be scratched, not by my nails, but by my dagger, and the lady put a spell on me as well. Only one speck of blood fell into the same bowl as mine did, and his wound healed. The two drips of blood mixed together and the lady said strange words and a magical bond came between me and Rajani. Rajani could then feel my feelings, my pains and happiness, and I could feel his as well as every other tiger in the world. I can't explain why I'm afraid of magic, just something happened that day that made me fear magic." Tears ran down her cheeks as she told the story.
Kalita quickly dried her tears and pushed back her thoughts as she picked up the pack Orion brought. She opened it carefully and rummage through it. Finally, she pulled out quills and scrolls, along with bottles of ink. She set those on the table; those weren't what she was looking for. She dug further, and she smiled and pulled out a dagger and a block of wood.
She brought the dagger's blade to the block of wood and chipped away wood. The entire adults watched what she was doing, curiously. She finally spoke when she got a head of a horse on the block of wood, "My father was a carver, and he carved things out of wood and made the most beautiful animals. He wanted to teach me when I got older, but when I got older, he wasn't there, for I was only five when he was taken away, so I taught my self." She finished carving the horse, which turned out to be a horse with wings and gave it to George. "You can have it."
George took the winged horse with a smile, "Thank you, I will treasure it always." He gave her a hug.
Kalita smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm hungry, can we end this talk, and eat something?" she practically demanded.
George nodded and let her slide off his lap, then led her toward the kitchen, with the others following her. They were all wondering about what they just heard, and wondered how she felt about telling them, even if she doesn't know them at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm going to end the chapter there, because I don't know what else to write and there's not much left of her past to tell, and I'm tired of this chapter, after two days of trying to write it. I hope you liked. Oh, I think I don't have any ideas for the next chapter, who has some ideas? If you tell me, I'll give you a cookie. *holds a cookie out in the air for who ever gives the best idea*