Winddancer: Hawk-sister does not own Mercedes Lackey characters, only some of the books. So if you see one of her peoples, don't flame her. But Calsa, Kaya, and Tor are her's. Don't steal, or even borrow them. This is her first fanfic, so if she make a mistake, please correct her. She never listens to me.
Shadowwalker: Just for all you who don't read M.L. words written between colons are mindspeech. Words in italics are thoughts, words in quotation marks are speech. Got it? Good.
***
The dark haired child stood at the entrance to the marketplace. In the years following the magestorms, the Empire had grown strong again, or at least the capital had. That was all that really affected Calsa. Even the richest places have their poor, but at least the poor can get by on the leavings of the richest.
Next time, Cal reflected, I come later in the day. There are usually shopkeepers to get some food from by keeping thieves from their stalls, or maybe I could help a group for a share. Even though her skills were equal to the average thief, the seven year old had been on her own for as long as she could remember. Her black hair and silvery eyes were too remarkable for any thieves' gang to accept her, and no mage school would take a girl.
As she walked back to the inn where she knew she could do something, she sensed someone behind her. Cal froze, then prepared to spin and run to their left. No one ever anticipated that. Though why anyone would try to rob me …
But when she turned around, she knew that the man behind her was anything but. He was much more ordinary than her, she thought with a hint of envy. Dark brown eyes and hair, he could have been the sibling of any number of people. And as such he'll blend in, not like me.
He had his hands open and at his sides. 'Peace,' said the accented voice. Calsa glared at him suspiciously. 'I just need someone to show me to a lodging place that won't rob me blind. My work will be keeping me here longer than expected, and most places charge ridiculously high prices by the week.'
She smiled. Bringing customers to Ililia was one of the best ways of making a bite to eat, and if they were long term customers, she could probably count on food for a week. 'Certainly, sir,' she said carefully. It wouldn't do to insult someone in a position to do her good. 'Would you follow me?'
***
Herald-Mage Tor was very tired. So tired in fact, that he had resulted to asking one of the street rats about shelter. :Toralith!: commented Kaya, his Companion. :That's extremely impolite to think about the only person here who could get you decent lodging at an amazingly cheap price.:
:You've been eavesdropping again, horse. And it wasn't impolite. It was true.:
:Still… and about a girl: Tor sighed. Kaya was fussy over the silliest things, considering the comments she routinely made about anyone who did anything stupid. In short, everyone save the Weaponsmasters, whom she idolized.
The girl, he wasn't about to ask Kaya how she could tell that, was leading them through the areas of the Empire's capital that he had tried to avoid. Before he could ask Kaya if he had led them into an ambush, the kid led them off into an alleyway. At the end was a well light building. He hitched Kaya to one of the posts, certain that if he didn't, he might not see her again, and walked into the building.
A stout old lady sat behind the desk. Fine wired glasses perched on her nose, and her grayed hair was pinned back into a severe bun. She glanced up sharply as he entered.
'Who brought you,' she barked at Tor, shocking him so much that he nearly jumped into the wall.
'I did, Ililia,' the kid said. He relaxed as the woman grinned at the girl.
'Scamp,' she said affectionately. 'Here I was thinking you had finally found yourself another place to stay. You,' she directed at Tor, 'will have the last room down the hall on the third level. Five silver a moon, comes with the use of the bathing room. If you can't agree to that, scat. I'm not going any lower.'
Tor nodded quickly. That was, from the looks of the entrance, the best deal he'd get if he searched for the next two moons, and they had a bathing room. 'Lady?' he asked cautiously. 'Do you have lodging for beasts here? One mare, she's very sweet tempered.'
Ililia stared at him a moment, as if contemplating. 'Another silver for the stables.' He nodded, then exited to go strip Kaya of her gear.
:I told you this was a good deal.: Kaya mindspoke smugly as he rubbed her down. :And they have fine oats here, too. Go find the girl.: Tor pretended to consider for a minute, then agreed. After all, I could use someone to help me bring up the luggage.
It was a long way up the stairs for Tor, who had been riding all day, but he managed. As he regarded the rooms, he decided that he would have to shield it. It was too risky to stay unshielded in this pit of mages. To make sure he knew just what he would have to cover, he explored carefully, coming up with two bedrooms, one privy of the flushing kind, a storeroom and a main room that served as kitchen, dining room and living room.
The shields only took a minute, he had been doing them since before he was Chosen. But he let his own personal shields down an instant to do it, and by letting them do so, he noticed something odd. A faint light to his Magesight stood next to him, in the form of … the kid.
'Ah, kid?' he asked cautiously. No point in scaring her.
'Calsa,' she returned proudly.
'Are you aware of the fact that you have Magegift?' Even Kaya never would have anticipated her reaction to this.
***
'Are you aware that you have Magegift?' the idiot asked.
'How could I not,' she demanded. 'All the thieves saying that they would have taken me if I wasn't so odd looking, the mages always staring when they first see me, as if they can't believe a girl,' bitter emphasis on that last word, 'could possibly have Magegift.'
'Well then,' the fool asked, 'I could teach you. I'm a mage.' Calsa's estimation of the man rose a few notches.
'Yes, oh yes. But what's your name?'
'Toralith. But please, only call me Tor. People call me Toralith when they're annoyed at me.
'Anyways,' he continued, 'could you please let down your shields. Somehow, you seemed to have picked up how to do that.' Calsa nodded. The wall she used to keep the voices of others out slid down.
'Gods, Kaya, I'm going to kill you for not warning me about this.' She looked at Tor in alarm. His hands were over his eyes, and he moaned very softly. 'What is it?' she asked curiously.
:Can you here this?: said a voice like Tor's, except inside her head.
:Yes, what is it?:
: Well, it appears that along with Magegift, you have Mindspeech, Farsight, Fetching, minor Empathy and Foresight. Nice record.:
:Huh?:
:The most gifts in one person that I've seen before you is three. And they were all minor. None of your Gifts go under average strength, all but Empathy and Foresight are much over:
:Oh. Who's Kaya.:
:She's my Companion. That's what made me a Herald-Mage. She'll help teaching too.: Calsa noted some faint swearing coming from Tor.
'Language, language,' she chided the Herald
***
Winddancer: So what do you think? I like it. ^_^
Shadowwalker: R&R so that Hawk-sister doesn't think no ones reading it and puts me into odd situations. And no non-constructive flames, or Winddancer will haunt your fics.
