Ok…I have absolutely no excuse for not updating in a while; I just didn't do any writing. Anyways, time to get this story going again. It's summer time now, so I can update a lot more often. This last semester was just an absolute nightmare of classes and papers. Considering I wrote my entire first story in one semester and I'm only 1/3 of the way done for the second chapter, it really is interesting to note.
Oh, and I would like to thank Forget Me Not for nominating me for an award! Your awesome…I blushed scarlet when I got that email. Thanks!
Anyways…Thanks for all the support. HERE WE GOOOOO!
The Secret Magic: 2: The Uncontrollable
Tapestries
It was like being in a room of ancient statues, all of them grave and telling of not-so-promising things to come. Of course, to a five-year-old, so many strained and gray faces made an interesting mixture of fear and reservation churn malignantly in her stomach. She knew all those in the room, they were all people she absolutely adored on a day-to-day basis.
The King sat in a cushioned chair at the end of an intricately designed rectangular table. He was whispering softly to his wife, the Queen, with a strained intensity that was visible to any who bothered to look, one hand gripping the arm of the chair with strained knuckles while the other tapped a pointed finger on the table as if he were trying to get a point across. She, on the other hand, seemed calm and collected, though a telling frown on her face made it quite clear that his words were having at least some impact on her train of thought.
Situated in the corner of the room, Onua leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and one leg casually crossed over the other in a perfectly laid-back position. Though her bodily features were just as calm as the Queen's, the blazing eyes locked onto her own feet betrayed the fury she was so carefully restraining.
Uncle George sat in a chair not to far from Onua. Though, surprisingly, he didn't look at all upset. He almost seemed… 'glad?' to see her. And it was a relief, because she didn't think she could handle not having at least one non-related adult who didn't absolutely hate her after today. He was all kind eyes and mischievous grins, as if it had all been a fun joke he had helped her plot out and execute perfectly. And when he unexpectedly winked at her in reassurance, she felt her entire body give a massive sigh of relief, because, if it was going to be like an execution, she didn't think Uncle George would be so happy to see her. And she didn't think she'd ever be so grateful to Uncle George as she was at that very moment, when he made this terrifying ordeal seem just a little bit less stressful, if only for a few seconds. No wonder he was the only close adult friend of the families that she always attached an 'uncle' to the front of. It only seemed to obvious now.
Alanna was still standing slightly behind her, one hand gently resting on her shoulder as she slightly nudged Jade forward towards her parents who sat a small cushioned couch off to the side, in perfect view of everyone. And while her Mama was still half in tears over Gods-knew what conversation had taken place in here, she didn't look angry. Just…slightly sad.
And Papa…Papa was never to hard to figure out. He was not at all reserved when it came to Mama or herself. Today was no different. He was…angry…yes…but not at her, she could tell by the way he smiled reassuringly at her and then motioned for her to come over to him. She obeyed of course, walking meekly towards them with hands clasped tightly in front of her, ignoring the tight sting of her broken fingers.
She stood in front of her parents with trepidation growing in her stomach, because it was suddenly becoming really hard not to cry. As if a protective barrier had just vanished from around her, insecurity and fear crept into her spine at what they might say, what they might do. The shock was wearing off, though she didn't know it. It had settled upon her when Amena and she had climbed off the roof, dulling her emotions from the harsh realities of what she was seeing in a protective natural anesthetic provided by her own body, fighting to protect her mental and emotional state from completely crumpling under the pressure. It was becoming too much for her to handle. Inside this room, with so much tension radiating off every body was making her nerves ring in absolute panic. She felt her almost non-existent control completely falter within seconds of reaching her parents. Her eyes suddenly stung and filled with moisture as a small cry escaped her lips. She didn't notice the alarmed faces of her parents, or the softening facial features of all those in the room at her obvious distress. All she noticed was that the stinging in her eyes got worse and worse, tears spilling over her clenched eyes and her mouth opening to release screaming sobs barreling through her lungs, throat and mouth.
Daine jumped forward immediately, falling to her knees in front of her daughter. She had noticed Jade becoming more and more frightened as she had approached, though, for the life of her, couldn't figure out why. Her little body had been wired with tension as she walked towards them. And just as she was going to ask her to come sit with her, Jade had clenched her eyes shut and let out a soul-shattering cry. Her face was already turned a deep shade of red and was straining to let out holler after holler of frightened cries. "Oh sweetling…it's alright." She reached out and pulled Jade to her strong sure arms. Sitting on her lower legs and knees, Daine clutched Jade to her chest with loving arms. It was only a breathless second later that Jade flung her arms around her mother's neck, buried her face in the crook of Daine's neck and cried for all she was worth, small muffled screams erupted from Jade as she only seemed to cry harder.
The others in the room squirmed in their seats. Jon felt his heart twist painfully at Jade's heart wrenching cries. Thayet covered her mouth as a small sob escaped her lips at the realization that Jade was frightened, frightened of them. Alanna came and sat next to George in her own chair, gripping his hand tightly. Numair sat in the same spot, unable to move, as like Thayet, he realized that they had frightened Jade beyond words. He felt self-disgust settle in his stomach as he watched is daughter clutch madly at Daine. 'Probably thinks we hate her', he reprimanded himself. He wanted to comfort her himself, but she was clutching so heavily to Daine, he thought better of it and let her get armfuls of reassurances from her mother first.
Onua felt just as lousy at having made the mistake of putting Jade through such emotional fright after what had happened that day. She'd come in here and looked at each and every one of the adults, trying to find a friendly face. They weren't mad at her, not at all; but the fights that had been roaring for the last two hours regarding their options had most of them in foul moods, probably being misinterpreted by Jade. She looked away from the mother and daughter clutching each other with a sigh. She focused on a corner plant, trying to ignore the guilt unsuccessfully, focusing in on its withering leaves. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling before doing a double take back to the plant. Her eyes grew wide as the 5 foot large leafed plant was withering right in front of her eyes. She swung her head to the other corner where a similar plant was cracking and drying into dusty ash. "Gods!" she whispered loudly. George and Alanna, being closest to her, turned at her exclamation, just loud enough to hear over Jades cries. When she didn't look at them, they followed her gaze to the plant and noticeable stilled. Alanna leapt up to her feet and stumbled over to the ashing plant with amazement. It was flaking to pieces right before her eyes, as if time had sped up for the little plant and she could watch its effect.
"Jon!" she called.
After his own shock, Jon turned to Numair, when the window caught his attention. He really wasn't sure why he had the curiosity to look. He approached the window and visible gaped at what he saw. Outside the window was a small garden that held a lilies and violets. It was a small garden, only about 10 feet by 10 feet, but it was utterly amazing non-the-less. The flowers, which had been healthy and vibrant not five minutes ago, were withering in front of his very eyes. "Numair…"
"A moment, Jon," Numair said as he gently stroked Jade's heaving back as she continued to cry.
"Numair, now," Jon ordered.
Numair scowled and rose to his feet. "What is it, Jon? Can't you see I'm…" he trailed off as he looked out the window with Jon. He quickly turned back to Daine and Jade, then back to the window. "Mithros!" He mind started churning a million miles and hour. Amena had adamantly declared that Jade had caused the roots to spring from the ground when she thought she was lost. Numair had reluctantly agreed, but made it clear he thought Jade's magic just decided to act up for the first time during and emotional moment, not necessarily repetitive. He took it all back now. While the magic may not have been activated by her emotional distress, she certainly lost control of it. He was transfixed by the dieing greenery outside. And he just gaped when Jades cries died down to hiccups while Jade hushed and whispered loving words to her and the withering just stopped, damage done, but still, stopped.
"This changes everything," Alanna said softly from behind Jon and Numair. "Jon, I don't think this is magic that even Numair understands." They had argued for hours on proper training for Jade, since it was apparent she had a powerful 'gift' that would require much attention… 'Or not,' Alanna thought. 'Nope, definitely not the Gift.'
Numair visibly grimaced in acknowledgement. This was completely foreign to him. Magic that controlled plant life, plant function, plant…everything and anything possibly. It wasn't the Gift, because it was part of her, like Daine's magic, because when Daine was upset, animals visibly were too. Had it been like the Gift, it would have been normal…because there were plenty of people that had a gift with plants; Daine's Ma had been one of those. But it wasn't like wild magic either…wild magic was a connection between two minds….did plants even have minds? Fear crept into him as he realized they had very limited options. How would Jade learn to control such magic? How does someone learn something when it has never been learned before, because this, this wasn't Wild Magic, a magic thought of as an old wife's tale. This…this was absolutely unheard of. There were no records…NONE…of any human…EVER…to have magic like this. And that scared him. "Your right, Alanna…this changes everything."
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A/N: Oh fun! Next chapter coming soon!