Wow, I haven't updated in…what is it, two months? Well, here's your present for May: a brand new chapter!!! You guys are all really cool for keeping up with this even though it's been so long since the last post. Oh, and a warning about this chapter: Lirael is a bit out of character in the end, and no, you don't see the Dog right now, because she is much too cool for that. This chapter is extremely short, and really doesn't have any relevance to anything. Yes, it's probably the worst chapter up, but you people wanted an update, so here it is. The only thing this chapter does is throw some hints out into the open. Don't worry, I promise that the next chapter will be action-packed and full of happy-goodness!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Garth Nix, Sabriel, Lirael, Touchstone, or anything like that. However, I do own Sanar (sorta), Elixima, Eroutte, and Matredo. Garth Nix owns all his stuff, including himself and stuff (so descriptive, aren't I?)
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Sanar awoke to a brightly lit room, and it seemed to be the next morning. As soon as her eyes blinked open, a sending dragged her out of bed and into a soft red robe, which she wore over her dirty traveling clothes that she had not had time to change out of. The sending then became a sending-chair and carried her out of the room as fast as it could.
In a few minutes, she was in the Dining Hall, and Touchstone, Lirael, Eroutte, Matredo, and Elixima were all seated there, eating and all clad in robes similar to hers. However, seeing everyone gathered at this table made Sanar think about Sabriel's death even more. Why weren't people being sent to look for her? It hadn't even been a year since her disappearance, and already people seemed to have forgotten about her, and about the fact that she may still have been alive. Almost in support to Sanar's thoughts, Touchstone smiled at her. "Ellie's coming back today. Wrote in her letter that she found enough suitors to fill a colony." He chuckled. "But, of course, you can all choose your own spouses. Ellie just has these crazy ideas hat she can be a diplomat through marriage. Ridiculous, in my opinion. Toast, Sanar?" he said, offering her a piece of browned bread. She shook her head.
"Actually, I'm not really hungry. The sending just made me get down here. Could you get them out of my room, by any chance? They're extremely bothersome."
Touchstone sighed exasperatedly. "I told them not to pester people! Some of them never learn… I'll try to remove them, but some are extremely servile and won't even obey the king. They have no sense of anything except doing their duty."
After having a slice of fruit, Sanar made for her room, but Lirael grabbed her wrist and gave her a warning look. "Sanar will be coming with me later. We need to talk." If this exchange had taken place in Sanar's Science classroom, everyone would have said, 'Oooooh,' but Touchstone just shrugged.
"Very well."
She left the table quickly and quietly, but did not noticed Eroutte give Matredo a warning glance that clearly said, 'I will talk to you later,' and then proceeded to eat her bacon in an extremely proper way. Elixima stared suspiciously at her sister before also excusing herself to join Sanar, who was walking down the hallway. Elixima jogged to catch up with her.
"So you're Sanar?" Sanar looked accusingly at the older girl, before silently nodding. She didn't know why, but she felt like her second cousin was prying. Elixima's eyes darted distractedly over her shoulder to the table, all of whose occupants were still seated. "Listen, Sanar, I really shouldn't be seen with you, or Eroutte'll go crazy. On the subject of Eroutte—be careful around her and Matredo. They could really make your life a living hell if you get on their bad sides. And by the way—call me Elix. Everybody does, and the name Elixima's just too long for everyday use."
Sanar nodded slowly. Elixima—or Elix—seemed nice enough. Not like her sister and cousin.
When Sanar was back at her quarters, she had just barely flopped onto the bed when her door burst open. It was Lirael.
"Ready to go?" she asked her daughter briskly, not noticing that the dark haired girl was trying to get back to sleep.
Sanar looked up with a bored expression on her face. "Go where, exactly?"
Lirael smiled mischievously. "It's a secret, of course. You'll find out when we get there. We're taking a Paperwing, if that helps."
The twelve-year-old groaned. "Not another one of those dratted things. Why can't we just take the bus?"
The older woman laughed. "There are no buses around here, Sanar. I thought you might have remembered that, of all things. But it's no contest. You're going with me and that's that. I think you'll like it where we're going, but you'd better say goodbye to everyone. We might not be back for a while."
Sanar's ears perked up, and suddenly she felt as awake and alert as she'd ever be. "Are we going to go kill Dead…things?" Now that I'm the Abhorsen-in-Waiting I have to learn these things."
"It might do you well to wait a while until you meddle with Death. I myself didn't walk in Death until I was nineteen, while when Sabriel was younger than me she was saving the world. I didn't get to that stage until I was at least twenty."
The girl smiled at her mother's dry sense of humor. "Are all the Abhorsen glorious and victorious? Do we always save the world countless times?"
Lirael coughed evasively. "Well, no. There are a few Abhorsens who've turned bad, over the years, you know."
"Who?"
"Well, there was always Chl—the few that hunger for power beyond necessity."
"Chlorr was an Abhorsen?"
"Did I say that? Now, we've got to be saying our goodbyes, because we're leaving today. You should pack, too."
Sanar groaned again and walked after her mother. They would have, of course, said farewell to Sabriel first, but since the entire palace was thinking it taboo to mention her, they did not. Nobody would even hold a proper funeral or memorial for the former Queen and Abhorsen.
Lirael walked to the Throne Room and said goodbye to Touchstone, while Sanar nodded her head, still a little intimidated by her uncle. The cousins were nowhere to be seen. Sanar followed Lirael to the airfield, where a Paperwing, painted red and gold, was resting. "The sendings have already gotten you your bags—the clothes are all clean, and being the anal-retentive little creatures they are, I've no doubt that they've sorted them by color and season. Come on, now."
Sanar cautiously approached the Paperwing, arms outstretched in front of her face. Was it possible for someone to be mauled by an aircraft? But no, she climbed into the cockpit and shut her eyes, hoping that this journey wouldn't be as bad as the last one.
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Bit of a boring chapter, wasn't it? Oh, well, the next one (as soon as I write it) will be much better. I believe that's it, and you might get the next chapter anywhere from in one week to a few months, but it will be there sooner or later (thought: a 100-year old me, sitting at the computer, saying 'Ha! They didn't think I'd put chapter six up, but I did! Ha!') !!!! That's all for now!!
—Heather (moi!)