Aether Winds
Chapter ten- Seibutsu Bond
By- IceWind
A/N:
This is my first fanfic for The Protector of the Small books by Tamora Pierce. The names, places, things, ect, all are credited to her. This fanfic is set in an alternate universe. I.E: Joren is NOT dead, Cleon and Kel are not together (hehe), and other incidents that have I messed up on and don't feel like making it exactly like the book. Please REVIEW *grins* and as long as its not flames on how Kel and Cleon should be together or something of that trivial nature, flames are fine. This story is PG-13 for anything that might come up lol.
IceWind: *goes big-eyed* do you know how many people REVIEWED??? KEWL! *dances around*
Raen: *is somehow so happy that he joins her*
Kaori: *hops up with a disgusted look* LOOK AT THEM? A bunch of FOOLS!
IceWind: *sticks out her tongue* why stay with us then?
Kaori: *…*
Raen: *laughs* Thanks to…
Lady k: yay! You like it! Lol. And YES there will be SOMETHING happening between Joren and Kel! *makes a mock frustrated face* how many times do I have to tell you people that? *giggles* ^.~
Queenscove: oo thanks! ^.^ Well… you can keep on going liking Neal I suppose…. *chuckles* :P I think that when he compares to Neal he's even better! *laughs* But to each their own I'm told!
Pinkpanther: *grins* Thanks.
Dj_dim_sims: *hums* two people gave me their e-mail addies, does that mean I e-mail you guys when I get a chapter up? *grins* sure! I can take some time to do that. If anyone else wants me to do that for them also, leave your e-mail addresses in the review place k? And ok, the fight scene wasn't graphic, I know, I didn't try my best to be my evil icky self when writing. I think that I'd keep it this way though.
Sd_tenshi_: Well, I give you guys two choice, longer chapters but longer time coming out or shorter chapters with shorter times coming out. ^.^ Though I prefer shorter (easier on me lol)
The author formerly known as miss julep: hehe, people should keep their names shorter, makes my job easier when writing replies… but its ok! And ooo thanks! *bows*
Caitie: No, I PREFER it if he really didn't! Then it wouldn't mess up the coming parts of my story lol. Hmm… I'll TRY (keyword is TRY) to have some Kel/Joren stuff in this one, I SUPPOSE. ^.~
Still Wishin: *pouts* awwww… *perks up* It's ok! I don't really mind! And there is a reason why that Kel is so weak in the last chapter… but I won't tell you here!
Jaya: *nods* yup! Magical appearing stuff alright! *whispers* and the signs that tell you when there is a great writer is that they NEVER answer everything at once and quickly, they let the readers come back for more *winks* ehh… I'm not saying that I'm a great writer of course! I'm just emulating some! Hehe.
Rokjai: I try I try, that's all I have to say! *smiles*
Squire Kali: Arctic Wind and Demon Wind huh? Where is there? *smirks* You'll just have to read to find out ne? *chuckles evilly*
HShuler888: ^.^ AWWW how nice! (happy icey!) And I try to update at least once a week or at LEAST once every 2. *prays she doesn't get writers block* lol
Rhysati: Good thing you don't mind long fics because I promise you that this fic will be one of them… O.o; How long it will be exactly? I don't really know, I can't even estimate hehe. And I don't know why ff.net only lets you review once for each chapter. And the monster thing was NOT a dinosaur, you'll find out what it is (I THINK hehehe *evil laugh*) Fine, I'll leave it on PG-13 no matter WHAT I do… (errr maybe lol) And I wasn't trying to be graphic and gory, when I try… you notice lol. I'll keep them like that I suppose, it seems like a better idea to me! ^.^
Raven: *grins* How can I write so well? *thinks* I really don't know, I blame it on an over active imagination! (my teachers can testify to that, watching me daydream in their classes and not pay attention to them… *sighs*) And nope, I don't do chapters in advance and make you guys wait for them! (your already waiting, but that's different, I'm actually writing them)
Emerald Rose: Thanks! And I will! Hehe seee??? *points down to the story*
I'm asking for 9 reviews again! 9's a weird number to ask for ne? but I like that number! (yes I'm strange, didn't you know that already?) Everyone, thanks again for reviewing *hugs them all* Makes Icey happy! Anywayz… onto the story!
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Kel sat by the fire, cold and shivering, still slightly wet from when she and Joren went off to go clean themselves by a stream. Glancing at her partner from the corner of her eyes she watches him, why is it that everything bad that happens to us seems to be my fault? That monster wouldn't have came if this crystal didn't transport us here… Her fingers lightly ran over the form of the necklace, her face appearing to be one in deep thought. Kel's and Joren's wounds were bound up as best as they both could and they were exhausted by the day's activities.
Joren gave a yawn, not even bothering with hiding it, to tired to care. Casually, he stretched out next to the fire, trying to keep the cold at bay, the firelight flickering softly in the moonlight. Looking over at Kel, he called out, "Get some sleep Mindelan, we have to get a move on in the morning," he started using his arm as a pillow, "We have to find out where the hell we are."
She sighed and lied back, hazel brown eyes staring up at the moon, he's back calling me Mindelan… why?… not that I care if he calls me Mindelan or Kel anyway, Kel turned over on her side, eyes slightly troubled, we are still enemies…
Are you?
She looked up with a start, only spotting a resting Joren by the fire, wha??? Who was that? Silently she mulled over the question, finally saying defiantly to herself, Yes we are! Nothing changed!
The bodiless voice gave a light and airy laugh, Kel sensing that she was the only one hearing her, My dear… maybe you think that, but I know better. Think about it. And as quickly it came, the voice departed, leaving a nervous and slightly wondering Kel alone.
~
They started walking along the road, keeping a steady pace. Kel stifled a yawn and grimaced slightly, this would have been much easier if they had horses with them, the only time she remembered that she had to walk this far without one… well… I don't remember. She smirked at herself and resolved to not complain, Joren was holding up without a word anyway, and she decided to be just as stubborn as he.
Joren walked next to Kel easily, a silence upon them both, but it was a comfortable one. He sidestepped a root and bumped shoulders with Kel, looking over at her, then quickly back to the road. Finally he asked, "Where do you think we are?"
She looked over at him, a light wind rustling the trees, birds chirping in the shadows, "I don't really know. The forest looks like it could be right out of Tortall, think that we're home?" the last part was spoken with slight excitement on her voice. Strapped on her back was her long silver glaive, and belted at her side was her sword griffin. Those were the only weapons that she was openly wearing. Joren was only wearing his sword out in the open, assorted daggers hidden on his body with other nasty surprises.
He thought for a second then shook his head, "No, remember the monster last night? I've never seen that one before, nor have I heard about it."
Kel gave a soft sigh, looking around the bend of the road, "But it could be a new immortal…" she trailed off as she saw that Joren was looking at her with a rather incredulous expression and she hastily added, "I KNOW that there are no new immortals, but it would be nice to hope right?" She mentally sighed as she saw him shake his head.
"No, what's the point of hoping if you know that it's not true?" Joren's voice was slightly bitter, and he began to walk faster.
She looked at him with slight surprise, wondering if she should voice a question, no, I don't think I should, he seems rather mad and I don't want that directed at me. Deciding to be like herself, hehe when did I stop? Kel began to scold him, "Joren! You'll get tired before we take a break if you don't walk slower!"
He glanced behind him at her, raising a brow slightly, funny, she's talking to me like she talks to one of her friends… like Neal or Cleon.
"What?"
"Nothing," without saying a word he began to walk slower, keeping at pace with Kel.
~
It was about mid-afternoon and they both were getting tired; not only from the walking but the activities they had done in the past several days. Kel was now visibly limping, from the gash on her leg that the monster has given her, and Joren walked trying not to let anything bump his hurt arm. They were still silent, not having said a word in over a candlemark, each trying to conserve enough energy till they reached a village, neither having eaten since yesterday morning. Already the sky was darkening, clouds hovering over the horizon, threatening rain in the near future.
Kel tried to keep her pain behind a blank mask, knowing that the blood seeped through the bandage, she could feel it. No matter what though, she couldn't keep herself from limping in front of Joren, and resigned herself to that fact. She peered up ahead, hoping to see some sort of light, preferably from a village, when she spot a large black thing in the middle of the road. She caste a glance at Joren, saying the first words since over a candlemark, "What is that?"
He looked up ahead, squinting slightly, "What?"
She looked at him with slight surprise, a brow raising slightly; "Can't you see it? Up there," she pointed down towards the thing, watching it warily. It was lying down, but it was too far away for her to tell what it really looked like except for its color.
Joren shrugged and looked once more, hand resting lightly on his sword as he did so, "Hmmm… that black thing?"
"Yes."
His eyes narrowed a trifle, now walking over there faster; maybe we can surprise it… "That's probably another monster thing, get ready." With those words, Joren deftly unsheathed his sword with his unhurt arm's hand, holding it loosely and ready to attack.
Kel rolled her eyes, making sure that he doesn't see her, geez, and I thought that I was paranoid, he's even worse, even though she thought that she unsheathed griffin fluidly, much of it to keep Joren from yelling at her than to keep the 'monster' at bay. With painful steps she matched his pace, grimacing only slightly as she walked closer to the 'thing'.
When they reached it Kel gave a soft gasp, seeing it for the first time. It looked to be a large black cat; panther sized, with a white diamond gem on the middle of its, his, forehead. The only difference between it and a panther was that his ears were longer and pointed, his claws were bigger, and he seemed to be more graceful and lithe, though you wouldn't think so with the state he was in right now. He was liberally covered in gashes, cuts, and scrapes, the blood forming a crimson pool around his body, staining his black fur. She immediately sheathed her sword, walking towards it at a fast pace, her eyes expressing concern.
As she neared Joren yelled at her to come back and the cat-thing weakly opened his eyes, revealing two dark blue eyes. They looked disoriented until they fixed on Kel's rapidly approaching body, and the cat-thing gave a low hiss, signaling her to go away. He tried to raise his head, ears laid back, to somehow scare her off, struggling through the pain to accomplish his task.
Joren caught up with Kel and roughly pulled her back on her arm, eyes narrowing as he looked down at her face, "Mindelan! Don't try to doctor that thing! It will take off your arm without even trying!"
She glared at him and struggled to pull her arm away. With a low voice she muttered angrily at him, "It's hurt Joren! It can't even stand up! How will it be able to attack me?" At that she wrenched her arm away from his gripped and kneeled down next to the cat-thing's head, stroking it with a light hand, but still cautious, knowing that it might be able to hurt her even if it was so badly injured. How did this happen? Poor thing… She looked down at her tunic and grabbed her dagger, its blade gleaming.
At that sight of the dagger the cat hissed loudly, unable to even move away from the girl. His dark eyes glared at her balefully, as if a challenge to make her strike down on him. He futily tried to get up and away from her, but he failed. With his eyes locked onto hers he awaited the blow that would finish him off.
Kel raises a brow at it, he seems so intelligent… and used her dagger to cut some cloth strips out, using them to clean the wounds and try to bind them, her eyes narrowed in concentration.
Joren looked down at her, trying to control his anger, figures that Mindelan would be so foolish to attempt something like this, wordlessly he took out his own dagger and added some cloth strips to her rapidly diminishing pile of them.
The creature looked up at them in surprise, eyes seemingly highly intelligent and calculating, as he watched them work.
~
Her stomach growled loudly, Kel sighed and grimaced, staring deeply into the fire with an annoyed expression on her face. Joren had went out to hunt while she was here with the cat-thing, not that I mind of course, it's just that I'm so HUNGRY and this thing can't exactly talk to me. With that thought she looked over at it where it was resting beside the fire, warming its coat. Mumbling out loud she mused, "What are you anyway?"
She blinked when she saw its eyes turn to look her way and she felt like she was being evaluated and studied closely. The cat thing flicked his tail lightly, it was much better now; to her and Joren's surprise the thing seemed to heal fast, extremely fast, and they didn't really know what to do with it. It couldn't exactly get up and walk away from them yet, but if Kel got in the range of those claws, she wouldn't be surprised if she got cut up into little ribbons before a minute has passed.
I am a hizar…
Kel's head jerked up and she looked around wildly, "What the?" There was a voice inside her head, AGAIN, but this time it was different, more masculine, tinged with barely controlled power. It was also plainly well spoken and seemed to know what it was talking about, I am? What does that voice thing mean?
You seem foolish, you asked a question and I answered
Her eyes locked onto the cat-things, hizar, her mind mentally told her, eyes. Hazel to dark blue, both were staring at each other. Finally she gave a slightly trembling smile at it, "H-hello. I'm Keladry Mindelan, you can call me Kel." Her eyes looked shocked with some tinges of amusement.
The hizar raised his head and gave a grave and cordial nod towards her, Kel… hmmm… I am called Raen
She blinked and nodded, loosing some of her shock, saying with a smile, "Nice to meet you Raen!" Kel studied the hizar, wondering why he didn't say anything before. Deciding to voice her question she asked him, "Why didn't you talk before?"
He flicked his tail lightly, mulling over the question; You are not from here
Shock once again emerged from Kel's eyes, "How did you know?"
It was as if the hizar could display facial expressions, because Kel would swear that she saw him smirk, You do not know about the hizar and I find that… strange
She gave a hollow laugh, "You find that strange? I find this ENTIRE thing strange!"
Raen stared at her for several moments, seemingly in deep thought, finally asking, Who was that with you?
Kel smiled, "That was Joren, Joren Stone. Errr… well don't take offense if he wanted to… kill you. We had a bit of trouble with this large ugly green and brown monster," remembering her wound she unbound it and frowned at the sight of the blood, trying to clean it with a rag and binding it up again.
The hizar watched her with interest, Why didn't you tell him that you were hurt before? Raen looked at her with slight puzzlement.
She laughed softly, "And show weakness to him? Or anyone else for that matter?" she grinned at him briefly before securing the bandage, "No thanks, I rather be the Yamani 'Lump' then show weakness."
He stared at her, appearing to be deep in thought, a far away sound of leaves crackling entered their hearing and Kel mummered, "That should be Joren now with SOMETHING to eat."
The hizar gave a slight nod, recognizing the steps to be indeed the one the girl Kel called Joren, Good, you are hungry and I am also
Kel gave a grin at him, "I think that I like you already."
Raen sighed and closed his eyes, Thank you…
~
Joren walked back to the campsite, holding 4 rabbits that he had managed to surprise and kill with a couple of throwing knives, humph, one skill that nobody would know about till it's to late, he looked at Kel and the creature, handing her 2 rabbits, "Skin them," while she glowered at him, he tossed the other two towards the hizar, "Anything happen while I was gone? And what are we going to do with that?" motioning to the cat-thing.
A voice answered I his mind obstinately, I am not a thing, I am a hizar and my name happens to be Raen he looks at Kel and suddenly announces decisively, and she is going to be my bonded
Joren jerked his head towards the hizar, eyes widening slightly, "The FUCK!" he turned to Kel, "What the HELL is going on????"
She herself stared at the hizar with wonderment, ignoring Joren, "What? Bonded?"
Raen looked at her straight in the eyes and nodded gravely, I have decided to become the lady's bond seibutsu he turned his head to look at Kel, With your acceptance of course He then sniffed delicately at the rabbits and wolfed one down easily.
Joren looked at Kel and shook his head, "NO! I don't exactly know what has been happening but Mindelan, you are NOT going to bond with that creature or hizar or whatever it calls itself!"
She glances at Joren sharply, "This is my decision to make! Not yours!" she then turned to Raen, asking softly, "What will happen when we do?"
He answered her seriously; We are bonded then, feeling each other's emotions. I protect you, you protect me. A partnership if you will; only I cannot leave you, nor can you leave me. If I die you will feel a deep pain, but you won't die, the bond does not extend as far as a lifebond. There is more… but that knowledge will come later. Now do you accept a seibutsu bond?
Kel looked deeply into the dark blue eyes, sensing trust and protectiveness from him. Licking her suddenly dry lips she whispered her answer, "Yes…"
Joren stood there shocked as he watched them.
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A/N:
IceWind: OH YEAH! CLIFFHANGER! *giggles*
Raen: *he jumps up* IM THERE IM THERE!
Kaori: *smirks* Who CARES?
IceWind: *glares at her* I DO!
Raen: *sticks out his tongue at Kaori* Hey readers, how did you like me? HUH?
IceWind: *hugs him* I LOVED you!
Raen: *laughs* awww how cute, and I'm going to be BONDED! YAY!
Kaori: *snorts* Being bonded isn't that great
IceWind: *glares at her* Shut up
Kaori: *…*
Raen: *smiles* Well… I think there was nothing else to say so JA!
~
Facts:
Seibutsu Bond: A bond between a creature and a humanoid. (don't ask)
I think that seibutsu means creature in Japanese, but I might be using it wrong, just don't mind it too much. If I'm wrong just pretend it means creature ok? Hehe ^.^
~
My e-mail address is flyby311@hotmail.com and put Aether Winds, so I know what the e-mail is about. Anything you want to add/criticize/comment/whatever you guys just review it… please? Thanks for listening to me ramble for that you get a cherry pie *hands person a cherry pie*
Raen and Kaori (hizar and rabblite) are MINE! GET IT? MINE!!! *they sweatdrop in the background* no stealing or else I'll blow you up! MWAHAHAHA! Also any other made up characters in the story are mine to, if you want to use any of them please ask before doing so, same goes for Raen and Kaori. ALSO, the poems that appear in the story are also mine (duh) I'll tell you if I use any that aren't. BYE NOW!