Aether Winds

Chapter eighteen- The Fog Begins to Disappear

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. The word Aether goes to Juliet E. McKenna, but the way I use it and the gem idea is all mine. 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: *grimaces* My parents say that I can't go on the computer on the weekdays until I bring up my grades. *sighs* I got ONE C+ in HONORS biology, and over half of my other grades were A's! *looks highly annoyed*

Raen: *shrugs and starts to speak* That means that Icey's chapters would most probably come out later then usual.

IceWind: *gives a miserable nod* Yeah… *pouts* Oh well, I'll find some way to sneak on *winks* On to the story!

Jarna Hill: *chuckles and tells Raen that he was superb, Raen poses and seems to smirk* Good enough for you? Now his ego is gunna be even BIGGER!

Nightshine: *raises a brow at Ti-Ti and gives a slight shrug, she turns to the other person* Confusing how? In what parts? Do you mean the chapter in general was confusing, or the part that was confusing was how Kel could be an aunt or stuff?

Shadowcat: *chuckles softly* Your review was great and kept me entertained lol. ^.~ Three times? Even I haven't read this story three times! *Kaori pouts and hides under Icey's bed. Raen wags his tail and speaks* CATS RULE! ^.^

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They stood in front of a large, silver door. The door by itself was mind-boggling; it seemed to be made of a dark silver crystal, with many strange images and words imprinted on it, words that could not be understood to either Kel, Joren, or Raen. It towered over them imposingly, but… Kel felt tranquillity and peace wash over her just by standing in front of the door, and they weren't even in the room yet! She hesitated, for one of the few times in her life deathly afraid of something as mundane as opening a door.

The elf queen, Arylanth, looked to the side of her, at her aunt, with a slightly pitying expression on her face, she didn't ask for this… but it is who she is, her heritage, and not even she can change that. Her warm hazel brown eyes, so much like Kel's, looked at the girl beside her worriedly, wondering if she would even open the door, or bolt, like she looked like she was going to do any second now.

Joren cast a glance towards Kel, his ice blue eyes unreadable. She looked nervous and hesitant to open the door; I don't completely blame her… Something's happening that's changing the way she thinks and looks at things. He stored that thought away to examine it better later, his forehead slightly creased with his thoughts. Finally he asked Kel, tired of just standing in front of the doors, "Are you going to open it or not?"

She gave him a slightly startled look, having been shaken out of her own thoughts. Kel bit her bottom lip and gave Joren a curt nod, finally murmuring, "I will." Bolstering up her courage without even knowing why she was so nervous, she placed her hands against the smooth, cold door and pushed it open.

The two great doors swung inward silently, revealing a mist filled room. As the group made their way in, Kel noticed that she couldn't see two feet in front of her, nether the less the walls or even the floor. The mist was cool and slightly wet, its presence felt slightly eerie and strange. With no help at all, the doors swung silently shut as the entire group moved into the room. The elves and Raen were calm and confident, Joren looked emotionless, though his hand crept towards his dagger, and Kel kept glancing around, eyes slightly wide.

Kel suddenly stifled a scream as the mist disappeared and the room was suddenly visible. It was emptiness, not pure blackness, but as if you were in space. There seemed to be no floor or walls, as if they were floating on thin air. Light seemingly speckled from far away, silver streaks occasionally shooting through the black space, occasionally one of the streaks hit a person, or hizar, but it did not hurt them, it passed through harmlessly. She looked around frantically, spotting with relief the rest of the group. She went to Joren's side without a second of thought, positioning herself between him and Raen as her hazel brown eyes looked around cautiously.

The silver streaks suddenly changed their direction and sped towards the group, spinning around in tight, fast, circles in front of them. As more of the streaks joined in the spinning, the ball of light begin created began to get larger and larger in size. With a soft explosion, a woman suddenly stood in front of them all. What was the most surprising about the person was that she was transparent and seemed to flicker now and then, slowly getting clearer as time went on. She had long, beautiful brown hair, was tall and willowy, and was clearly not an elf; yet strangely enough; she had on around her neck a purple gem. Bright hazel brown eyes looked down at Kel with a kind and wistful expression when at last she spoke, "My daughter… Your younger brother took the throne when you were meant to have it, but I see now that you are destined for things greater then being a ruler."

Joren stared at the ghost in front of him, his hand clenched over his dagger's hilt. Ice blue eyes narrowed at the woman, wondering for a moment if you can kill someone already dead. What the hell is going on?! Fuck this! I didn't even believe in damned ghosts! He looked over to Kel who was white and shaking and suddenly looked back at the ghost woman, they look almost exactly alike… Shock coursed through his mind as one last thought floated up, throne? Younger brother?

Raen looked at the woman solemnly and lowered his body, front end going down in a sort of bow. With his head bowed down his mind-voice resonated into everyone's minds, Late elf queen Sephia, it is a honor to meet one such as yourself who managed to stave off the Great Evil for such a long time For once, it seemed, he was being humble and not arrogant.

Elladon gave an exquisite bow before the former queen, not saying a word, while Arlyanth gazed upon her grandmother with a joyous expression on her face. It was clear that she got her hazel brown eyes from her fathers side of the family for elves eyes were usually green and blue, not brown.

Kel looked at the long dead queen with wide-eyes, finally asking in a soft voice, "How are you my mother? I have a mother in Tortall! In my own world!" She seemed to be in the denial stage, even though the resemblance between Sephia and herself was apparent.

"I am so sorry," the dead queen Sephia looked at Kel with a sorry expression on her face, vaguely acknowledging the others in the room with a nod, "But you are my daughter. Your parents in Tortall… you were placed with them because I could not get you back… not while I was alive anyway." She gave Kel a sad smile as she continued, "You didn't leave on purpose, when you found your gem…" she trailed off.

Curtly, Joren cut in, his manner still highly suspicious, "When she found her gem? She just woke up one morning and it was there!" His looked slightly ticked off when the ghost was only focusing on Kel and not even giving them any straight answers. Kel looked entirely to shaken to even ask the right questions it seemed.

The ghost queen swung her head to look at Joren, eyes cold until something akin to recognition appeared. She then gave a slight smile at him; "The gem was spent, for she used it when she was younger when she just got it. Contrary to many people's beliefs, elves do not get their gems when they are born; they get their gems a few years later and that's when the bonding between the elf and gem occurs. My daughter just received her gem when she used a highly complex spell on it, being so, the bond strained slightly and the gem went into hiding for a few years until it regained its former power. If she was at the strength she is now with the gem, she wouldn't have lost it when she was younger." The queen seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing, "And when she arrived in your world, the gem wiped out most of her memories because it knew that she wouldn't be able to get back to Medea, and so not to make it's bearer unhappy, it reformed her memories to fit your world."

Joren cut in once more, before Kel could even open her mouth to talk, his voice curt, "Then why haven't her parents in Tortall tell her that she was found? And why do they look so much like her if they are not her biological parents?" Kel gave a slight nod to show that she wanted to know the answer also.

Sephia sighed, eyes troubled, "If the elves pooled a lot of their power… we could have gotten her back. But, we were fighting the Great Evil directly at that time and had no energy to spare. I had to choose between the lives of my people and getting back my daughter… I had no choice but choose the former." She then proceeded to answer Joren's questions, "And as much as I wished for my daughter back, I knew it was safer in your world for her. So my husband and I did what any responsible elf would do, even if it did drain us; we made sure she was sent to people that looked like her, they were chosen to be her parents and we… rearranged their memories and every else around them, to make them all think that they really did have a daughter named Kel." She paused before continuing, "That drained us for some time, it's difficult to rearrange other's memories, but at the scale we did it at, and the fact that you were in another world…" Sephia trailed off and didn't continue.

Suddenly Kel spoke in a softly accusing tone, "You could have at least told me about who I was and where I came from, you have enough power for that little trick if you could change what everyone is thinking." She tried to make sense of her situation, striving to become cool and detached from it all.

Sephia seemed to wince before her expression smoothed over, looking down at her daughter imploringly, "I am not all knowing. I thought that you could go through life without ever knowing about Medea or me. I do not know the future, I only know the glimpses the psy elves tell me about, and the future is always subject to change. It is not like the past, which is a set road, but rather a series of roads branching, too many to know everything of what will happen and what won't." Her head bowed slightly in thought, every now and then a sliver of silver light hit her and she absorbed it.

Arlyanth watched the proceedings silently, knowing how hard it was for them all to accept what they see before their eyes. Next to her, Elladon caught her hand and gave it a light squeeze in comfort, he's not always demonstrative, but he loves me just the same, she smiled at him lovingly.

Joren looked at the dead elf queen without an ounce of pity in his eyes, she looked relatively calm and only slightly repentant. Finally he glanced to his side, at Kel, and his ice blue eyes almost seemed to soften for a bit before becoming hard once more, she was staring down at the speckled inky darkness, where the floor should have been, avidly; and not looking at anything else. Determined to bring her out of her stupor, he nudged her with his elbow and gave a scowl as she looked up at him with surprise.

Raen almost seemed to, but not quite, smirk at the scene, the hizar having been quiet for some time. Now he spoke, eager to ask questions pertaining to what they have to know, and what they want to know. Tell them how you ended up to be an elf queen, how my mistress was sent away to another world, what the great evil is, and what aetheric magic means; Queen Sephia He focused his entire question on Sephia, ears pricked in her direction.

Sephia flickered even more as the ghost laughed at all the things the hizar asked. She then sobered slightly and spoke in a great regal tone, answering Raen's questions, "How I became queen of the elves when I am a human?" She smiled slightly, her eyes growing distant as she remembered, "I was just a peasant, a young woman around 18 years of age," she gave a nod towards Kel, "same age as my daughter." A wistful smile appeared, "That's around the age that many soul bonds occur."

"Soul bond?" Kel finally looked at Sephia, her interest in the tale reluctantly growing with each word that came out of the queen's mouth.

The ghost queen gave a nod and continued, "Soul bonds are relatively rare, but a few occur each generation. I was out in the forest, picking plants for my dinner, my entire family had died when I was you; and of course, a person needs to eat. I had slipped on a wet rock near the river and fell in," her lips twitched slightly, "I was saved by being dragged out of the river by an elf… your father." She cast a glance at Kel, a loving smile on her face, "The rest is history." She gently raised her hand to her throat and softly fingered a pale and wispy purple gem necklace, "Imagine my surprise when your father turned out to be the crown prince of the Elfin Kingdom Lorynthia."

Raen and the elves looked at Sephia as if they were expecting more, and when it didn't come; confusion appeared in their eyes. Slowly understanding appeared as they thought to themselves about what the missing information was. Sephia looked at them and they silently acknowledged what was not said with nods. Kel and Joren were unaware of the silent exchange and they continued to look at Sephia, clearly expecting more.

Sephia looked at Kel with a touch of a smile on her face, "So you wish to know how you came into Tortall specifically?" The ghost mused silently to herself, murmuring softly, "I thought I gave you that memory back in a dream."

"Dream…" Kel gasp as the memory hit her… the gem floating up into the air, I was running… running so fast to get away. Fear… I was so scared that they would catch up. But who are they? I saw the altar and the gem and took it, holding it in my hands and I wished… I wished that I was far away where I couldn't get hurt. And I blanked out as soon as I saw my parent's faces instead of that evil that I was expecting. She shuddered, her hazel brown eyes wide, "I remember… when I woke up I had forgotten everything again except for the gem, but now I remember… and every other dream that had something to do with Medea, evil, or this gem." She held up her necklace and looked at the innocently sparkling gem, her eyes saddened as she looked back at Sephia, "I thought there was something evil after me, and I had to get away, but then it was only you… but I couldn't stop it."

Joren watched, wondering what he should do now, should I do anything? Damn, not cut out for this sympathy stuff… might as well tell Kel to stuff it and forget about it, he gave a mental shrug and told Kel exactly that, "Forget about it, it was in the past, you have plenty of time to wail over it later, after we get back to Tortall."

She glared at him, all other occupants in the psy tower forgotten, "How can I feel better when you say idiotic, heartless things like that?!" Her glare became more pronounced at the smirk he had on his face.

"Because I'm not here to make you feel better Kel," he rolled his eyes, "You should know that after all of this time." At least she isn't drowning in sympathy anymore… not that I care.

Sephia cut in on their conversation, decidedly amused, "That's enough." Suddenly she became very grave and seemed to flicker even more in her agitation, "Now I must tell you about the Great Evil, listen and listen well young ones, for this is very important." She frowned, anger now displayed clearly in her eyes, "It is… like Chaos on your world, only much, much more potent and dangerous. It has no name except for the ones given to it; the elves call it the Great Evil. It feeds on negative energy and hate, and grows stronger and stronger over time. It has no definite form, it can change its form to suit its will, and it only wants one thing in any world; to kill and to gain even more power. It subverts others to its side, making them more powerful then thought possible, but even his minions do not contain even a percentage of his power." She paused and gave a light shudder, "For a millennia he has been fought and the first elf with the silver gem managed to lock him away for an indefinite time… but only by giving up his own life. Now the Great Evil has managed to break away from the elf's spell and is wreaking havoc once more. I do not know if it can be killed, for it is rumored that the Great Evil comes from the same eternal blaze that the gods and Medea was formed in, all that can be hoped for at the most is that it is locked away once more…"

Sephia winced suddenly, and her form flickered even more violently as she cried out, "No! I am not done here! Not yet!" She seemed to struggle against invisible binding, calling out rapidly at Kel, "The Great Evil is now in your world and seems to have grown even stronger, I do not know what it wants, but I do believe that you have to go and fight it… As much as I hate to send you out against it, that is the only thing that would work, nothing is even near powerful enough to have as much chance as you, my daughter. We…" she flickered out, before reappearing, her form getting lighter, the silver light now leaving her body, "We sent someone to your world to try to get information. Arlyanth will tell you the rest Kel and answer the remaining of Raen's questions!" She called out desperately, her last words faint, "I love you my daughter, I wish things had been different…" And the ghost queen vanished from sight.

The group stood there slightly stunned, all of them with confused looks on their faces. They didn't know what had happened to the ghost queen, but it was apparent that she couldn't come back to talk anymore. This being so, Arylanth looked at Kel, saying in a quiet voice, "We should go now." At Kel's nod, the elf queen waved a hand and the double door appeared once more, but the darkness and the sparkles didn't go away, it looked as if it was floating in mid air. They all went out of the room, Joren being the last to leave.

Cold one…

Just before Joren left, an extremely familiar voice entered his thoughts and he glanced around for the Sephia. Finally shock entered his mind, no wonder that queen's voice sounded so familiar before, I heard it while Kel and I were traveling, she called me the same thing. He glared in the darkness, his voice echoing, "Show yourself."

I can't, I can only communicate with you now through telepathy, and even then it would not last for more then a few minutes. Heed my request cold one, will you listen?

He frowned, his thoughts whirling with this sudden revelation, why is she speaking to me? Isn't Kel her daughter? His eyes glinted with indiscernible emotion and he spoke coldly, "Speak, but I will not say if I will follow your request or not." Suddenly he wondered if a dead ghost could do anything to him if she got angry. He felt a shifting in the air, as if the queen had smiled,

Please take care of my daughter, you are one of the only ones capable of doing so. Whether she shows it or not, she is not perfect, and cannot be expected of being perfect.

Joren gave a soft snort in derision, muttering to himself, "Already one step ahead of you." He suddenly stopped speaking, his eyes stormy and cold.

Good… and please take this, this shall help you in the coming battles, Raen and the elves will help train you. You are the first to receive such a gift, the elfin children will start receiving powers such as this one, but you are the first. Hold out your hand.

He hesitated for a second before complying with Sephia's wishes, holding out his right hand, not fully aware of what she was talking about. Light suddenly started to swirl around his hand, but he just stood his ground and glared at it, for some reason not feeling the least bit afraid. The light suddenly seemed to implode and form a small circle; it started to materialize, forming into something solid. He brought it closer to his eye and simply gaped at the object.

Like it? The first of it's kind, and soon other elves would start gaining gems like the one you hold in your hand.

It was one of the elfin gems… only different. It was an ice blue color for most of the time, but if you peered into it closer, you could see flickers of purple and red swirling around inside. It was in a teardrop shape and it shimmered once, forming a silver chain around his neck where it hovered in front of him, attached to it. Joren gave a sharp gasp and spoke sharply, "What? I thought only elves… or those with elfin blood, could have one of these." Soft laughter seemed to fill his mind,

I am not of elfin blood, yet I have one, or have you forgotten? You shall know how it is possible when the time comes, and I for one am not going to tell you. You contain the powers of ice, psy, and fire; rather powerful really. It was genius for the gods to come up with something like this to battle the Great Evil. Now cold one… I must go and my daughter is waiting for you to come out.

And with that, the presence in his mind lifted and vanished. The gem stopped hovering and dropped down onto his chest, lightly swinging on the silver chain, gleaming softly. Joren gave a soft sigh, knowing he wouldn't be spotted, and placed the necklace under his tunic where none would see it, he would tell the others about it when he got out. That done, he turned around and strode through the double doors, back into the castle and away from the psy tower.

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A/N:

IceWind: *stretches* That was kinda boring, and now everything is about set for them to go back to Tortall, just more information to cram into your heads, a little surprise for you all, and they get to go back!

Raen: *makes a face* This story is waayyy to perfect.

IceWind: *nods in agreement* But NOT ANYMORE! *snickers evilly* I have BIG BIG plans for everything and let me just say, things do not bode well for Kel and company. *smirks* Another thing, have you noticed how many bond sort of things are in this story? O.o;; A lot! I'm going to have to kill one of those off or something *sweatdrop* Maybe, maybe not, depends on my mood.

Raen: *gives her a weird look and suddenly yells* YOU CAN'T KILL ME OFF!

IceWind: *gapes and clamps a hand over his muzzle, smiling sweetly at the readers* I never said I was going to kill you off… of course it's a possibility…

Raen: *muffles yells of no*

Kaori: *smirks from her spot under Icey's bed*

IceWind: *giggles and waves* Bye!

~

Facts:

Seibutsu Bond: A bond between a creature and a humanoid. It is less powerful then a life-bond yet it is strong none the less. The bonded can thought-speak to one another and they also feel the others emotions. If one of the bonded dies, the other feels a deep and wrenching pain in themselves, but they don't die also.

Seibutsu Items: These are the items that Raen and Kel got when the bonding was over. Kel had gotten a dagger and Raen a chain. If one of them breaks it symbolizes that one of the bonded has died.

Hizar: A highly intelligent species who are organized like wolf packs with a dominant male and female. All hizar are black and look like large cats, panther sized. They are lithe and graceful, all of them agile and fast. Each one has their own type of magic and that type, and power, is shown by the color of the gems on their forehead. When using their power the hizar's eyes turn that color. The types of gems are fire, water, earth, air, light, dark, ice, lightening, psy, and a silver unknown color. The alpha males must have the silver kinds of gems to lead; the alpha females can have any kind and are chosen by the males.

Jerogil: A type of creature in the world of Medea. They are usually peaceful animals and tend to stay away from others except their own kind. Their color range from black to a muddy gray and they have large eyes for seeing at night. Their tails are curved like a monkey's and can pick things up in that fashion. All over their body they have hard plates for armor, something not easily dented or broken through. Running along their backs is a series of sharp spikes.

Elves: They are tall human like creatures with pointed ears. They all live extremely long lives and each one has magic gems, such as the ones the hizars have, only their powers are stronger. They are a peace-loving race, but they will fight if they have to. They have one king and one queen, both who watch over their lands justly.

Soul Mates: Soul mates are extremely rare in any type of creature. Two people share one soul, literally. They can feel their beloved's emotions and in some occasions, talk to each other mind-to-mind. If one dies, the other dies also because half of their soul just died. You do not know you have a soul bond until you and another acknowledge your feelings for one another, you may go through your entire life without knowing that you have a soul bond. As soon as you acknowledge it, your souls connect and you cannot stay away from the other in a great distance for very long or else you get weak and might even die after an extended period.

Kalyrath Horses: These are extremely intelligent living beings with high stamina and running speed. These horses all have blue eyes, in varying shades, but it is all blue to symbol their purity. They chose their rider, and only one person is allowed to ride the kalyrath horse that is bonded to you unless you are soul mated to a person. Occasionally, there pops up a human/humanoid that can talk to their kalyrath horse, and the horse can talk to any of its kind up to a certain distance. Kalyrath horses are in-tune with their rider and it's rare for any none elf to bond with one since they usually only dwell in Elfin land. They are adept at fighting with their chosen and can be extremely protective depending upon their nature. It is said that they were a gift from the great mother goddess of the elves and they cannot be subvert by any dark magic for that reason.

Aether: The last element, the other nine elements are- fire, water, air, earth, psy, lightening, ice, dark and light. This element is the strongest by far and rare for hizars, extremely rare for elves. It controls all of the elements and its color is always silver for hizars and either a silver or white for elves. White is the most powerful, but none knows why. Aether is not an element known too much about, especially for the elves, all they could discern is that it has something to do with stars… The last elf to have this kind of gem died in a great battle, saving the world of Medea from certain doom.

~

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 bubble gum *hands person bubble gum*

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!