Ok…This is a really long chapter….so I hope you like it.  Just so we get this straight before you guys start wondering.  I AM NOT GIVING JADE SPLIT PERSONALITIES OR MAKING HER A SKITZO!  That is not what's happening…so I don't want to hear it.  Lol…anyways, hope you like it.

Enjoy!

*****

Complications: Uncontrolable

A Science trick!

*****

"I don't understand."

            "What is it that you don't understand?"  Atune reached for the roll of parchment that rested gently against the palace gardens newly sprouted grass.  Bringing it up to the small bench in which Jade and she sat working on her science.

            "You said that the nature, the laws of physicals…"

            "Physics," corrected Atune while reading the parchment silently.

            "Physics…" Jade repeated.  "You said they couldn't be changed."

            "I did."

            "Right."  Jade looked with expectant eyes at the woman.  "Sooo, now your saying that you can change things to the way we want them to be?"

            "Yes."  A quick smile and glance up.  "You added 11 + 4 incorrectly, Jade."

            The small green eyes girl narrowed her eyes at the woman.  "I did?"

            "Yes.  Your answer was 14."

            "Well.  I meant 15."

            Atune looked up and sighed.  "Jade, you must remember to check your work.  You know this material.  Silly mistakes like this will not do."

            Jade looked sour for a moment before jumping to the previous subject.  "So how can it be both?"

            Atune looked suitably confused for a moment.  "Both what?"
            Jade sighed in exasperation.  "How can there be rules in nature that we can't change but we can change things the way we want them?"

            Atune set down the parchment and looked at Jade for a moment.  "Come with me."  She stood up and took Jade's hand, leading her to the kitchens.  Jade followed obediently, a look of utter confusion across he face.  They walked the end of the courts where one of the many kitchens were situated, calling inside, "Shini, could I have an egg and milk bottle please?"  With an egg in one hand, Jade's hand in the other, and a glass milk bottle in Jade's free hand, Atune proceeded back through the courtyards and into the gardens from where they had begun.  "Sit."  Jade slowly folded down and crossed her legs.  Atune gracefully lowered herself down onto the grass, her skirts fluffing up around her tiny waist.

            Atune placed the milk bottle on the ground.  It had a fat bottom that narrowed into a slender neck.  She then placed the egg at the opening of the bottle.  It rested there, to large fall through the slender neck.  After a moment of silence, Jade peeked up through her eyelashes.  "Nothing is happening."

            Atune smiled.  That egg is too big to get into the bottle, correct?  At least, not without breaking it first."

            "Uh huh." Jade nodded.

            "The laws of physics say that this object," Atune tapped the egg, "cannot get into this space," she then tapped the empty bottle.  Its environment will not permit it."

            Jade nodded, raising her brows in mock amusement.

            "But…" Atune ripped some paper from a spare piece of parchment.  She lifted the egg in one hand with the piece of paper in the other.  She whispered a word, and a small flame caught the paper.  Jade stared in curiosity.  Atune let the now growing flame and paper fall into the bottle, where the paper began to burn quicker.  She then placed the egg back onto the bottle.  It rested there.  The air inside the bottle began to fog and there seemed to be pressure building.  "If we change the environment in which the law exists…" Suddenly the egg dropped into the bottle, sucked straight through the narrow passage by lack of air.  Jade caught her breath in wonder.  "The law no longer applies."  They didn't pay much attention to the grass around them suddenly sprouting in a quick burst.

            Jade's eyes where large and round as she stared into the bottle.  "Mithros!" she whispered in awe.

            "Don't swear, Jade."  Atune smiled at the young girl.  "There are laws in our world that are set.  No matter what, we can't change them.  But, if we simply change the situation, we can get around those laws.  We can get the egg into the bottle," she gestured towards her proof.  "Anything is possible Jade.  Remember that.  The hard part is figuring out how.  It's a valuable lesson.  Not only does it apply to our natural world, but also, to our own personal world."

            Jade, who had been leaning up on her knees and peering into the bottle in curiosity looked up with sparkling eyes.  "What do you mean?"

            "I mean, if you want it bad enough, one day, you can learn how to manage your magic.  I know all the practice and lessons you've had all winter have been exhausting, but you have to remember that your mother just wants you to find a way to control it."

            Jade sighed, leaning back away from the bottle.  She had been rather uncooperative lately.  The winter had been long and hard.  She felt smothered and cold the entire time.  More than not she had woken up from the depths of what she assumed were nightmares of suffocating under blankets of white.  The palace plants had been rendered dead at the very beginning of winter and the winter evergreens had grown to such a size that they were in danger of falling over.  With Papa gone, there didn't seem to be anyone around who could explain everything.  Atune was smart, but she was not Papa.  On top of that, Mama had to leave three times already.  She wasn't gone long, two weeks at the most on each trip.  It made her unusually happy to know that she was due back anytime.  And now with spring just around the corner, that cloud of suffocating air seemed to float away with the winter.

            Her social life hadn't improved much.  If anything, it seemed to get worse.  Molena was nothing short of horrid towards her.  She had convinced most the other palace children that she was dangerous.  Somehow, she had managed to turn that fear into physical anger towards her.  On a number of occasions, Jade had been forced to run to an area with adults in it just to save herself a painful punch or two.  Amena, well, Jade was safe with Amena.  For some reason, they left her alone when Amena was around.  She guessed it was because that last person who shoved Jade down in Amena's presence had gone home with a black eye and a split lip.  That had startled Jade.  Amena packed a punch for such a little body.  But, much like the other children, Amena had to go to school during the day.  And with Jade having magic lessons most evenings, it left little time for time together.

            Jade sat back in thought, considering all this.  Atune simply smiled and pushed a stray golden lock behind her ear.  That caught Jade's attention.  She looked at Amena's soft crystal blue eyes and her soft white skin.  Her nose was flatter than most of the others around, but it wasn't ugly at all.  In fact, it seemed perfect for her.  Her eyes were wide set and her pink mouth was long and yet full.  She sat there in her blue and white skirts like a perfect lady, back straight, head up.  She looked younger today than she normally did.  Less…weighed down…by her thoughts.  "Atune?"

            "Hmm?"  She raised her eyes in question.

            Jade quirked her head to the side.  "How old are you?"

            A beautiful smile spread across the pale face.  "22."

            Jade scrunched up her nose and eyes.  "Why were you not married in Scanra?  I thought noble girls got married young there."
            The smile faded only slightly, but her eye's crystal blue turned almost gray at the question.  "The king has been against children like me for many years now.  Almost 5, officially.  I was 17 then.  At marrying age.  When the declaration was made that we were filth children, that's what they called mixed children, none of the Scanran nobles wanted to risk angering the King by marrying me."

            Jade sighed and looked down in thought.  After a moment, "Were you going to marry anyone? I mean, did you want too?"

            Atune smiled and blushed.  "No.  I really didn't know that many men.  I grew up on my family's estate.  They only boys I knew were my older brothers."

            "Oh."  Jade got back up onto her knees and leaned over the bottle once more.  She peered inside the whole with one eye in childish curiosity.  "Atune?"

            "Yes?"

            Jade peeked out from the mass of curly hair that spilled around her face.  "How do we get the egg back out?"

            A smile churned at the corners of Atune's mouth before she burst out in laughter.  "I don't know."

            Jade looked back down at the bottle and egg before looking up once more.  Soon they were both laughing.  The grass around them spurted once again before turning brown and shriveling.  Jade's laughter died away as she watched the grass.

            Atune glanced at the grass and then at Jade.  She reached over and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders.  "Do not worry.  Remember, anything is possible.  We just have to find the way."

            A small smile played across Jade's lips.  Feeling a bit better she nodded.

            "Good."  She picked up the parchment with the math problems once again.  "Let's get back to these arithma…" A shout from the palace catwalks caught their attention.

            "Journeymen returning home!" The traditional call for returning palace officials sounded through the front courtyards and gardens.  Jade's head snapped around towards the gates that were out of sight as Amena looked up from the parchment.  "Journeymen returning home!"  Came the call again.

            Jade swung around to look at Atune with hopeful eyes.  Atune smiled warmly and nodded towards the garden wall door.  "Go on."

            Jade jumped to her feet and raced towards the wooden door.  She reached it in seconds and wrenched it open, disappearing on the other side.  Atune couldn't help but raise her eyes in curiosity as the vines that would eventually cover the stone walls of the gardens at the end of spring sprung to life from the ground and crawled nearly 4 feet up the wall in two blinks of the eyes.  She rose from the ground in a fluid motion and walked towards the door herself, stopping a moment to observe the plants.  They weren't very healthy vines, she noted.  They were almost yellow and dry looking.  She bit her lip in thought and her shoulders dropped as if coming to a conclusion she wasn't much happy about.  Mumbling her words, which were nothing more than thoughts spoken out loud, Atune walked out the wooden door towards the courtyards.  "Her power is growing."

*****

            Daine swung her leg over the spotted gelding and landed on the ground with a loud sigh.  She was tired, cranky, anxious, and above all in a good need of a long bath.  She patted down her forest green cloth coat and watched as dirt flew into the air.  She wanted to take the thing off, but it was still cold outside in the dying winter air.  She stepped through a puddle thinking it would wash off some of the dirt on her brown leather boots when she stopped in her tracks and raised one of the boots an few inches off the ground.  Groaning she spoke, "There's a hole in my boot."

            In the group of travelers, another woman, slightly younger with dull red hair, blue eyes and a face full of freckles laughed in mirth.  She patted down her own Hunter green jacket and proceeded to try and wipe off some of the dirt on her tan pants.  Readjusting her two belts, she then stretched her arms.  "I'd think it wouldn't matter at this point.  We look like we took a bath in mud."

            Daine snorted.  "It's a good thing these are just traveling uniforms.  I'd hate to think how much it would cost if we did this to our state uniforms."

            The woman laughed.  "Mine would cost 5 nobles to clean all the gold threads.  Yours however…It's to wonderful to clean.  You should keep it in a glass case for all time.  I'm almost envious."

            Daine smiled.  "Don't be.  It's may look pretty, but when you put it on, you don't want to move it cost so much.  You'd think the dratted thing was made for a Princess."

            "Well…" said the woman.  "It is…in its own way.  It was made for the first Wild Mage.  That's worthy of a Princess's dress, don't you think?"

            Daine snorted.  "Catalina, there is nothing to be envious about."

            The woman, who was at least three inches taller than Daine smiled warmly and motioned past Daine's shoulder.  "Oh, I wouldn't say that."

            Daine turned around to see a small figure climbing the courtyard steps as fast as it could.  Brown long curls blowing in the wind wildly as a thick brown outer cloak, heavy cotton shirt and pants and small booted feet came into view.  Her flushed cheeks showed as she ran towards them stood as proof of the still somewhat chilly air.  The small girl looked into the crowd of returning travelers for a familiar face.

Daine broke into a smile and stepped away from the group of dirty and worn travelers.  The little figure finally noticed her and with a loud and shrill "MAMA!" picked up her pace to an all out headfirst run.

Daine herself was not immune to the happiness.  She jogged towards her daughter, ignoring the squish in her boot and the cramp in her leg.  They finally met up in the middle.  Daine swooped jade up from under her arms and swung her around into a firm embrace.  Jade locked her legs around Daine's hips as she wrapped strong arms around her neck.

            "Oh, sweet!"  Daine kissed the small girl on the cheeks and nose and forehead over and over, shoving aside her thick curly hair with a free hand and then kissing some more.  "Jade! Oh, my Jade.  Mama missed you to pieces!"  A few more kisses, just for good measure.

            Jade squeezed as hard as she could.  "I missed you Mama!"

            "Oh, I know!  But not as much as I missed you!"

            "No.  I missed you more."

            "No way.  I definitely missed you more."  Another kiss…can't be to many kisses, right?  They passed off the falling evergreen tree right outside the palace walls near the forest as being cut down for wood.

*****

"What did you do on your trip, Mama?"  Jade curled up onto her side in the bed as her mother tucked her in.

"Oh, a lot of stuff."  Daine ran fingers through the girl's mass of curls.  "Mostly, I was just a messenger."

Jade yawned and nodded.  "Doesn't sound like to much fun."

Daine smiled.  "No.  It wasn't.  But someone has to do it."

"Oh."  Jade looked troubled for a moment.  "Mama?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you going to go away again?"

Daine sat down on the small bed beside the curled up girl.  "Not for a while, no."

"You promise?"

Daine smiled sadly.  "I can't promise that sweet.  I don't know what will happen."  Jade looked sad momentarily.  "But I can promise you this.  I will try my hardest to always be here, ok?"

After a brief moment of thought, Jade nodded.  "Mama?"

"Yes?"

"When is Papa getting home?"

A small smile.  "Soon.  Very soon."

"Ok."

"Now it's time for you to go to sleep."

Jade nodded softly, drifting more and more off to sleep by the moment.  "Mama?" came a drowsy murmur.

"Hmm?"  Daine stoked her hair some more.

"Sing me a song?"

A soft smile.  "Ok."

"Every voice is silent 'round the world.

All the earth is sleeping on this night,

My tired little one, you are in my keeping.

I can hear you softly as you breathe,

Your tiny heart is beating,

Savor ever moment now my child,

For youth is surely fleeting.

I am here now,

Have no fear now.

I will keep you safe until the dawn.

Come, the sunrise in your young eyes,

All your tears and worries will be gone.

O, young you are,

But strong you will grow,

I watch your life unfolding.

So gently now,

I cradle in my arms

This miracle I am holding.

I am here now,

I will keep you safe until the dawn.

Come the sunrise in your young eyes,

All your tears and worries will be gone."

Jade had drifted off to sleep sometime during the song.  With a soft smile, Daine leaned down, gave the small girl a kiss on the forehead and lifted herself from the bed.  With tenderness, she covered the young body snugly and closed the door on her way out.

*****

            Daine flopped down on a cushioned chair in the common room and sighed.  "I need a good long night of sleep."

            Atune smiled.  "You must be so tired.  After such a long journey in such a short amount of time, what else is to be expected?"

            Daine smiled warmly at the young girl.  "I want to thank you, Atune.  You have been such a big help these past months.  It's more than what you signed on for by far.  None of this was expected of you."

            "Nonsense," snapped Atune.  "It's no trouble.  Jade is a wonderful child.  No trouble at all."  She smiled sadly.  "I like it.  Feeling useful.  I've never felt that way before.  In Scanra, growing up, I was just a prize for a noble man to win from my father.  Here, I have a purpose.  I feel needed."

            Daine leaned forward.  "You are needed.  We need you."  She smiled and reached into her pocket, pulling out a folded parchment paper closed by a wax seal.  "I managed to get this out.  You might find it interesting."

            Atune's eyes grew wide as she recognized the seal and then they watered in happiness.  "How did you get this?"

            Daine shrugged.  "I had to pass by on my way to the capital.  I thought they might want to hear news from you, and you might want to hear news from them."

            Atune held the letter to her chest and wept silent tears.  "I can't thank you enough, Daine.  This…" She gestured at the small letter.  "This…means so much to me."  She sniffed and then began her questions.  "Did you see them, speak with them?  How are my parents?  Well, I pray?  Have they heard from my brothers?  And the estate?  How was it?  In good condition?"

            "Whaa…wha…calm down."  Daine laughed.  "I think you mother does a good job at description in that letter.  She took a good two hours to write it."  Atune opened the letter with shaking hands.  There were at least ten pages of rapidly scribbled words, information on her far away family crammed into the letter.

            "I…I…I don't know what to say.  She wiped tears away from her blue crystal eyes before lunging at Daine, giving her a strong yet lady-like hug.

            Daine laughed and patted the girl on the back.  "It was no trouble.  Honestly!  I wanted to meet the family of the woman who is doing wonders for my daughter.  Jade seems so much happier lately.  Not so withdrawn.  I can't thank you enough for that.  I was afraid the incident in the market-place would never leave her mind."

            Atune smiled.  "She seems to be doing better, emotionally.  Although I fear some of the other children still continue to be cruel to her.  As far as her studies…" she groaned.  "I have a hard time understanding her.  Her learning style is nothing like I have ever seen before.  At the monastery, I taught younger girls.  They all had a pattern, a form of learning.  Jade…well, she has none.  It's the oddest thing.  She understands most anything you explain to her.  She catches on right away.  Practical skills are easy for her.  Even reading comes naturally to her.  But she seems to have problems with writing.  Which doesn't really make sense, considering how extensive her vocabulary already is.  She is progressing in arithmetic, though she could certainly try harder.  She has an unusual interest in science, though she has trouble in it.  It's almost as if…" Atune hesitated for a moment.

            "Almost as if what?" Daine prompted.

            Atune pushed on, trying to explain.  "It's almost as if I'm teaching two different children.  Two different personalities that clash.  They don't mix well together.  One always suffers while the other excels, depending on the subject.  I don't know how to better explain it."

            Daine concentrated on Atune's words with confusion.  "That's sounds so odd."

            "I know!  I don't know what it is.  But Jade is not a normal child, we already knew that.  It just…sometimes is seems like there's two Jade's in her head.  Do you understand?"

            Daine tried to piece together a puzzle for which she didn't have all the pieces for, the picture incomplete and indefinable.  She didn't want to believe that there was something wrong with Jade.  There didn't seem to be a problem on the outside.  But when she thought about it, she started to see things as they were and not as she wanted to see them.  She recalled the fact that Jade always seemed to switch from one personality to another.  One day she would be a normal child her age, with the normal skills and growth.  The next she would seem to be able to understand anything you put in front of her.  "So…Is this bad?"

            Atune shook her head slightly.  "I don't see why it would be.  It's not like she has two entirely different personalities.  It just, maybe she sees things in to different ways…and hasn't quite figured out how to put those two perspectives into one picture yet.

            Daine nodded.  "Her magic…"

            "Is most likely a big part of it," Atune finished.

            Daine nodded.  "She's already so powerful.  If we could just find the switch…"
            "It's not just that.  This magic…from what I understand, it's not entirely hers…" Daine nodded.  "That could be a problem in itself.  Draining spells only work for a short period of time because the caster can't hold on to magic that isn't his for a long period of time.  What if that's what's happening with Jade?"

            Daine squinted.  "Maybe.   But she's been fine, physically up to now.  Wouldn't it have shown signs of stress before?"

            Atune sighed loudly.  "I don't know."  A moment of silence between the two passed before Atune spoke up again.  "But it's getting stronger."
            "What?"

            "Her magic…" Atune explained.  "It's stronger.  Before the winter came, most of the magic that showed was in small doses, save for the market place, which is accounted for by high stress levels.  Her magic seemed to…. slumber…I guess is the best word for it, this entire winter…"
            "Like the rest of nature," Daine added in thought."

            "Right.  But it's picked up again.  And I've noticed, the last few weeks.  The effects are much stronger now."

            Daine rubbed her eyes in strain.  "She doesn't need this."

            "I know," Atune agreed.

            With a great heaving sigh and a moment of silence, Daine concluded, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it tonight.  Let's get to bed, huh.  I'm sure you want to read that letter."

            Atune looked down at her lap where the letter sat and smiled.  "Yes. I would."

            Daine stood and walked towards her room.  "And to think," she said as she walked through.  "All this magic talk without Numair here.  He'll be green with jealousy."  Both women laughed as they blew out the candles.

*****

Ok….hope you like that.

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